text:
Commercial Insurance
The insurance professionals at Tony Russi Insurance Agency will help you compare business insurance rates from trusted insurers and get the right combination of coverages for your business.
Have Questions or Need Our Advice? Call (407) 322-0285
Commercial Insurance
Speak With Our Insurance Professionals… Call (407) 322-0285
Business Insurance throughout Florida
At Tony Russi Insurance Agency our flexible business policies can be tailored to meet the unique concerns you may have for your commercial operations while remaining responsive and true to your goals, no matter how big or small.
At Tony Russi Insurance Agency we know just how important your business is to you. As a business owner you have a lot to protect. That's just one of the reasons why we take the time to…
- Analyze your business needs.
- Develop a plan that is customized and responsive to your own specific situation.
- Offer you competitive pricing that is reflective of your exposure and experience.
Running a business throughout Florida with today's economy is a challenge, but can also be very rewarding. Although keeping up with day-to-day operations takes up most of your time, you also must take all necessary precautions to safeguard your business from loss.
Whether you own an office building or a coffee shop, we offer the right combination of coverages to meet your needs.
Just A Few Of Our Commercial Coverages
The companies we represent may offer the opportunity to package a number of these coverages within a single policy.
Commercial Auto
This coverage is available to protect your business from the liability associated with operating automobiles. Coverage is available for owned, non-owned, and hired vehicles including autos, trucks, vans, tractors and trailers. Physical damage coverage is also available.
Commercial Liability
Provides coverage including defense for liabilities associated with operating a commercial business enterprise. Policies are tailored to meet the specific risk management needs of your business.
Commercial Property
Provides coverage for your buildings and contents. Coverages range from specific named-perils policies to broader all-risk type policies.
Directors & Officers
Designed to protect the directors and officers of your organization from damages and defense costs due to civil claims, claims of negligence, and of errors and/or omissions.
Employment Practices
Liability Provides coverage for defense costs and liability arising from allegations of improper employment practices, sexual harassment, and discrimination.
Home Based Business
Homeowners insurance does not necessarily cover many home business-related claims. This could mean a major loss of income, as well as other significant losses, for your home business. If you have a home based business consider contacting us to discuss proper coverage options that offer both protection and affordability.
Inland Marine
If your business frequently ships products or equipment, you may want to consider purchasing inland marine insurance. This type of coverage is especially important if you ship high-value products or materials, which are often excluded from basic property coverage. Inland marine insurance can cover a wide range of specialty equipment and products.
Ordinance or Law Coverage
One of the most needed types of coverage is also one of the most commonly overlooked, or even known about, by consumers. It's called Ordinance or Law Coverage. As your building becomes older certain changes in your county's building codes and ordinance change to reflect new standards for construction. If your older property suffers a substantial loss, fixing it may require a higher construction standard to reflect new laws, therefore simply replacing your property as it was just isn't good enough to meet these new construction standards and codes. Ordinance or law coverage pays for these upgrades in building standards.
Cyber Liability
Preventative data protection systems are essential to minimize the potential for a security breach. Even with preventative actions in place, businesses should still be prepared in case of a security breach. Prepare your business with a cyber security policy and have confidence in your plan when issues arise. Cyber liability insurance protects your business against damages to your client and to your company. Expenses for lawsuits, reputation maintenance, data repair, and financial damages add up quickly. Limit your chances of a security breach and limit your damages with proper cyber liability insurance.
Special Event Coverage
Businesses sometimes sponsor events like conferences, receptions, exhibitions, or festivals. Such events can generate claims against the event sponsors. To protect themselves, businesses can purchase a type of liability coverage called special event insurance to protect against claims by third-parties for bodily injury or property damage. Special event insurance is inexpensive and must be purchased before an event takes place.
Umbrella and Excess Liability
This coverage complements your property/liability program and provides additional limits of coverage. In today's litigious society, smart business people protect their investment with umbrella coverage.
Workers' Compensation
This coverage is designed to meet the workers' compensation laws of your state. Workers' compensation coverage provides protection for injured workers and supporting protection through employer's liability coverage.


text:
Nigeria 2009 © François Servranckx/MSF
Meningitis, a disease responsible for thousands of deaths in Africa, is currently spreading in several West African countries. While ensuring quick access to treatment for those already infected, Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) is also starting mass vaccination campaigns in Nigeria and Niger and is closely following the situation in other countries in the region. MSF is planning to vaccinate between 4 million and 5 million people against meningitis.
Dozens of MSF teams are mobilized, in cooperation with the ministries of health, to respond to meningitis epidemics. They will ensure treatment is available for people who show symptoms of meningitis at the local level and will contain the epidemic by vaccinating people at risk. Vaccination in populated urban centers is the top priority in order to prevent the spread of the meningitis epidemic.
Epidemics are moving fast, and rapid response is required. In addition to hiring hundreds of workers locally, MSF has sent 80 international staff to Niger, and 98 to Nigeria.
Meningitis: a deadly threat
Meningitis is a contagious and potentially fatal infection of the brain membrane. The current epidemics in West Africa are caused by the strain A of the Neisseria meningitis bacterium. Without treatment, bacterial meningitis can kill up to 50 percent of people who present clinical symptoms of the disease. Most deaths occur within 48 hours of showing symptoms such as sudden, intense headaches and nausea. In order to make treatment available to patients as early as possible, MSF teams are providing meningitis treatment in health centers and referring complicated cases to hospitals.
Treating and preventing meningitis across northern Nigeria
In close partnership with the Ministry of Health at federal and state levels, MSF teams are vaccinating and treating people in nine states across northern Nigeria. The total population of the area is 38 million.
The 31 surveillance teams have so far recorded 20,448 cases, along with 694 deaths, in these states. The relatively low case fatality rates (CFR) reveal that people are receiving appropriate, effective, and timely treatment.
Simultaneously, 77 MSF teams with health ministry workers are carrying out a mass vaccination campaign. So far, around 700,000 people have been immunized in the most affected states of Jigawa, Katsina, and Sokoto. New vaccination campaigns are going on or to begin soon for 2 million people in Jigawa, Bauchi, Gombe, Kaduna, Kebbi, Sokoto and Zamfara states. The teams are currently working on defining the next priorities. Campaigns are prepared for 270,000 additional people. In total, if all campaigns are carried out, more than 3 million people would be vaccinated during the meningitis epidemic by MSF in Nigeria. Nigeria's national Ministry of Health has supplied 2.3 million doses of the meningitis vaccine.
Stopping the spread of the epidemic in southern Niger
MSF emergency staff have arrived to reinforce the teams who are working in nutritional and medical programs in Niger. In close partnership with the Ministry of Health at the national and regional levels, MSF has already started vaccination campaigns in Zinder, Maradi, and Dosso in southern Niger. In total, more than 2 million people will be vaccinated, mostly in the Maradi and Zinder regions.
In the Maradi region, the Ministry of Health has reported 1,428 people suffering from meningitis, including 44 deaths. In addition to treating sick patients, MSF teams, supporting Ministry of Health staff, have vaccinated 140,000 people in the city of Maradi. As the epidemic is rapidly moving, MSF has launched vaccination campaigns in Madarounfa and Tessaoua districts, and will start working soon in Aguié district. The total target population for this campaign is estimated to be around 900,000 people.
In the Zinder region, MSF mobile teams are supporting the health units to provide medical care to meningitis patients in all the areas where there are cases. In parallel, 60 vaccination teams are going to cover four districts, mostly in rural areas. More than 270,000 people have already been vaccinated and campaigns are ongoing. Around one million people should be vaccinated by the end of April.
A regional scourge
In Burkina Faso, Chad, and Cameroon, MSF teams are monitoring the situation due to an increase in meningitis cases.

subset: commoncrawl


text:
Why defend advertising?
While the abundance of advertising is usually viewed as a sign of the vitality of capitalism, it is nevertheless under a near-universal assault by intellectuals. Because advertising "blatantly and unapologetically appeals to the self-interest of consumers for the blatant and selfish gain of capitalists"1, attacks on advertising are an assault on capitalism and ethical egoism. Arguments against advertising usually take two forms: the argument is that advertising is economically inefficient and the argument that advertising is somehow coercive. 2
The myth of "perfect competition"
Most economic arguments against advertising derive from the theory of "perfect competition, " which is an ideal state against which markets are to be judged. This state is characterized by homogeneous products, relatively small sellers without monopoly power, prices which approach the cost of goods, consumers who have perfect information about all products and prices, and no entry costs to markets.
Advertising violates all these conditions, mainstream economists argue. Advertising seeks to establish product loyalty, and therefore to make certain brands more valuable than others. This creates barriers to entry by giving companies monopoly privileges, and allows them to price goods above cost. Furthermore, advertising is an imperfect and biased way of communicating product information to consumers. Finally, advertising retards progress by making it more expensive for new producers to enter the market.
In the real world, markets work quite differently: the essential characteristic of capitalism is the entrepreneurs who invest capital in new services, products, technologies, and businesses models. When their predictions are right, they gain a temporary advantage over their competition and turn a profit; when they are wrong, they take a loss. Success in business requires continual insight into which investments will prove profitable.
Rather than being a barrier to entry, advertising makes competition possible. New businesses and products stimulate demand by announcing their benefits to consumers. Expanding demand makes goods cheaper by creating economies of scale. While advertising is often attacked for creating demand for shoddy goods, it is not sufficient to advertise to gain consumer loyalty – only positive customer experience and continued positive goodwill can do that. Advertising is what allows new market entrants to capitalize on consumer dissatisfaction and dislodge established firms, as Japanese auto makers did when they demonstrated the superior value and quality of their cars over American ones.
The perfect competition model assumes that competing companies automatically lower prices to match their competitors. In reality, no business wants to lower prices unless consumers expect them – and it is advertising which performs that role by educating consumers about the competition. Advertising itself is a check on high marketing budgets: as consumers become better educated, competitive pressure creates price wars which force businesses to minimize expenses. 3
Yet another criticism is that advertising is a biased method of consumer education. Yet the continued importance of advertising as an influence on buyers proves that the creator of a good is the party most qualified to communicate the value proposition it offers, whether directly or through an intermediary. While word-of-mouth reports and independent product testing organizations are essential sources of consumer education, competitive pressure through advertising provides the claims whose veracity they evaluate.
Advertising is non-coercive
Opponents of "consumerism" often claim that advertising creates its own demand. But a commercial cannot simply implant a desire in the viewer. Rather, advertising tells consumers how their existing values can be satisfied in a particular concrete form. Some advertisements seek to meet well-defined values: toothpaste for clean teeth. Others educate consumers about products which fill a specific need: sports drinks for athletes, or diet colas for the health-conscious. Some advertising functions much like art, and present a concretization of highly abstract or subconscious values. For example, a sports car commercial may appeals to consumers who seek independence and efficiency, while a luxury sedan commercial might appeal to those who value comfort and elegance. Attacking advertising solely for appealing to emotions is as silly as criticizing a painting or a movie for appealing to the viewers' emotion rather than presenting a dry, factual account.
Ultimately, advertising is a public appeal to the mutual self-interest of the seller and buyer. Movements to silence or limit advertising seek to regulate the freedom of the individual to voluntarily interact with others, and therefore are an assault on both freedom of speech and the right of association.
- Google Books: Jerry Kirkpatrick: In Defense of Advertising: Arguments from Reason, Ethical Egoism, and Laissez-Faire Capitalism.
- The Five (Wrongheaded) Complaints against Advertising by Jerry Kirkpatrick
- Persistently high advertising budgets are indications of high barriers to entry, usually due to government interference. For example, in the case of drug companies, the FDA forces drug makers to spend up to a billion dollars to deliver a single drug to market. This limits the drug market to all but the largest companies and most profitable medicines. Prescription drugs have large advertising budgets because the legal barriers to entry make it prohibitively expensive to compete on price or quality, or to appeal to smaller markets such as rare diseases.
Further reading:
- Advertising is Good Medicine by Wayne Dunn
- A philosophic defense of Advertising by Jerry Kirkpatrick
- The Concise Guide To Economics: Advertising


text:
Neben meiner Tastatur habe ich einen zusätzlichen USB-Ziffernblock (als einfache Stream Deck Alternative), den ich gerne als programmierbare Tasten unter Ubuntu Linux verwenden möchte.
Suchergebnisse mit Tag "ubuntu"
I bought a Cherry G84-4700PUCDE-2 keypad about three years ago to have some "special multimedia keys" on the left side of my keyboard. It used to work after some trying until I upgraded to Ubuntu 14.04. The "trusty" release removed support for /lib/udev/findkeys and /lib/udev/keymap and replaced both by something called "hwdb". Converting turned out to be hard, because there are many wrong hints out there spread over the internet.
I'm currently upgrading from Ubuntu 9.04 to Ubuntu 12.04, a long process as every upgrade does only one step. This is the price you pay for skipping all updates of the last years. It's even slower since I moved my root filesystem to a RAID6.
The YAWF framework is available from CPAN, but it still needs a Webserver and some environment for working at it's best. This tutorial shows everything needed to set up a new OpenVZ VE (VServer) with MongoDB and YAWF framework on an existing OpenVZ host.
Upgrade took ~3-5 hours (don't know, download and installation were running in the background). First boot took some minutes, but it's worth the time. A new login screen, no real problems - same as for the last Ubuntu upgrades.
Things that did not work after upgrade:
- Custom keybindings for changing the workspace
- Switch from Unity to classic interface, but new Unity looks better and I'll try it again
- Ekiga SIP Softphone lost settings
- Pidgin icon in systray on new messages seems to be broken, but I have to test again
- My local PostgreSQL test server upgraded from 8.4 to 9.1, I expected a manual conversion of the old database (like the upgrader/installer told me) - but everything is fine without manual interaction
- Truecrypt, VPN and my customer launcher script are working without any changes
export GREP_OPTIONS="--exclude-dir=\.svn --color=auto"
in ~/.profile, ~/.bash_profile oder ~/.bashrc (je nachdem welche existiert und vom eigenen Linux verwendet wird).


text:
Individual Themed Bridal Shower Catering For Louisville
If there is one word that best describes our bridal shower catering service it is individual. In a world of passing trends, mass consumption and copycat culture, it would be easy to simply try and replicate a catering theme or menu that we saw was successful somewhere else. However, for us at Kentucky Catering, that would go against everything we believe in. You see, a bridal shower catering event from us will make sure that you, the bride to be, are front and center. We have catered for hundreds, if not thousands, of bridal showers in Louisville since first opening our doors many years ago. One thing we have learned it is that the success of a bridal shower is tied to how much interaction and engagement there is from the chief protagonist.
If you are a bridesmaid, or a bride-to-be looking to organize a bridal shower, then you need to contact the catering team you can trust. Our skill, expertise and attention to detail have stood us in good stead this long, and we know that we will be able to provide the perfect bridal shower experience for you. Call today to learn more about our wide range of bridal shower themes or to gather further information on our competitive prices. Trust us, you won't be disappointed.
Fully Inclusive Service
Irrespective of the type of bridal shower theme that you choose, you can rest assured that our fully inclusive service will leave no stone unturned in the pursuit of catering perfection. So, whether you opt for a brilliant bridal brunch or an elegant dinner event, we will provide everything to ensure a truly great party.
On top of that, we will work closely with the bride-to-be or her trusted bridesmaid to identify a location best suited to host this event. We also source and supply all the décor, musical entertainment as well as any additional individual elements that you want incorporated into the shower.
Top Quality Food
Let's be honest about it, a bridal party isn't going to be very much of a success without top quality food and ingredients. At Kentucky Catering we always strive to use the freshest and most locally sourced range of ingredients in all of menus, dishes and platters. Going that extra mile for our clients is what sets us apart from other catering companies and we like to think that it is one of the most important reasons as to why so many of our Louisville customers have opted for our service to celebrate subsequent milestones in their lives.
So, whether you are looking for a simple salad and sandwich menu or want something slightly more sophisticated, you can rest assured that we will provide the perfect food options that will leave your guests with a collective smile on their face.


text:
The National Statistical Institute presents to users of statistical information the annual publication - Statistical Reference Book 2010 in English. It is a concise form of the same issue in Bulgarian.
The Statistical Reference Book presents topical information on the demographic processes as well as the economic, social and cultural development of the Republic of Bulgaria for the 2005 - 2009 period.
The publication presents data on main macroeconomic indicators of the national economy - gross domestic product, investments and finance; and economic activity groupings - industry, agriculture, forestry, transport, communications, trade and others.
Information about health, education and science, culture and the arts, justice, tourism and energy, as well as the geographic characteristics and environment is given in separate chapters.
The administrative - territorial units 'districts' are presented according to the Law of the Administrative Territorial Structure of the Republic of Bulgaria, while the territorial units for statistical purposes, i.e. 'Statistical zones' and 'Statistical regions', are presented according to the Classification of Territorial Units for Statistics in Bulgaria that corresponds to Eurostat NUTS classification.
Data for year 2009 are preliminary and will be specified in further NSI issues.
The issue is addressed to foreign users interested in the latest trends of socio-economic life in the country.
The National Statistical Institute also offers to users of statistical information electronic version of the publication (on CD-ROM).
Price (including mailing costs):
- printed edition - EUR 10
- electronic edition - EUR 7
- printed edition + CD-ROM - EUR 12
Prices include VAT.
The issue could be ordered at the following address:
National Statistical Institute
Publications Division
2, Panayot Volov St.
1038 Sofia,
phone: +359 2 9857 142
e-mail: [email protected]
Purchase by bank transfer:
NSI Bank Account
Bulgarian National Bank
Knyaz Alexander Battenberg Square, Sofia


text:
14-16/06/2013 Sónar 2013 @ Barcelona 51 601
Sónar presents new additions to its 20th Anniversary in Barcelona
Additions to the line-up include shows by Darkstar, Liars, Paul Kalkbrenner, Nicolas Jaar, Sherwood + Pinch, Delorean, Maceo Plex, Gold Panda, La Bien Querida, Baauer, Mykki Blanco and Karenn (Blawan + Pariah) -among other artists- as well as the already announced names of Kraftwerk (3D show), Pet Shop Boys, Two Door Cinema Club, Lindstrom & Todd Terje or Vatican Shadow.
Sónar Reykjavik, which will take place on 15 and 16 February, completes its line-up with shows by John Talabot, Pachanga Boys and a broad representation of artists from the Icelandic scene. Sónar Reykjavik presents a total of 48 shows, including those by James Blake, Modeselektor, Squarepusher, Alva Noto & Ryuichi Sakamoto, Simian Mobile Disco and GusGus.
Sónar presents a new video which continues to unveil the image of 2013. Download it here
New additions to Sónar Barcelona
Darkstar (UK)
Liars (US)
Paul Kalkbrenner (DE)
Sherwood + Pinch (UK)
Nicolas Jaar (US)
Delorean (ES)
Foreign Beggars (UK)
Maceo Plex (US)
Mykki Blanco (US)
Karenn (Blawan + Pariah) (UK)
Baauer (US)
Gold Panda (UK)
La Bien Querida (ES)
Christeene (US)
Sound Pellegrino presents Sound Pellegrino Thermal Team + Matthias Zimmermann (FR)
Sónar continues to add new artists to its 20th anniversary event, which will take place in Barcelona on 13, 14 and 15 June. The scheduled shows by Kraftwerk (3D show), Pet Shop Boys, Two Door Cinema Club, Lindstrøm & Todd Terje, Vatican Shadow, Bradien + Eduard Escoffet, Hot Natured and Fantastic Mr. Fox are joined by various heavyweight additions.
These new names include outfits whose appeal is tried and tested, like the British trio Darkstar, one of the most interesting projects to emerge from low-rev dubstep, who are about to release their new LP, «News From Nowhere», on the prestigious London label Warp; and the American trio Liars, presenting their excellent new LP «WIXIW,» which is much more synth-based and oriented towards electronica than their previous albums.
Among the latest names to be added to Sónar Barcelona is the new artistic duo Karenn, which brings together two masters of today's rawest techno: Blawan — who astonished us at Sónar by Night last year — and the talented Pariah; the New York trap producer Baauer, who has hit the mark this year with his formula of powerful basses and rhythmic forcefulness; the British beatmaker Gold Panda, the main man at the Ghostly International label; and the haute école funk-based tech-house by the popular American dj Maceo Plex.
Sónar 2013 also presents the performance by a unique and very special duo: consisting of Adrian Sherwood, a cult name in dub in the British Isles and the founder of the influential On-U-Sound label, and Pinch, an eminent personality on the Bristol dubstep (and post-dubstep) scene.
Two international electronica benchmarks return, in the shape of Germany's Paul Kalkbrenner, now consolidated as one of today's most popular names, who will be bringing his new album 'Guten Tag' under his arm; and the Chilean-American Nicolas Jaar, who returns to Sónar for the third consecutive year entirely on merit.
Two of the biggest names on the Spanish scene, Delorean and La Bien Querida, will also be present at Sónar Barcelona. The Basque outfit are releasing a new album in 2013, two years after the international success of «Subiza,» while the project by Ana Fernández Villaverde and David Rodríguez has given their songs a considerable twist, dressing them up in dazzling techno-pop costumes for their latest album, «Ceremonia.»
Two unique and irreverent artists will be visiting from the United States underground scene: Mykki Blanco, the standard bearer of the movement known as «queer rap» (a mixture of hip-hop rhyming and powerful techno basses); and Christeene, a man-woman who takes the extravagance and perversion of electronic pop one step beyond mischief by means of a highly individual sense of humour.
This batch of additions is rounded off by the showcase from the French label Sound Pellegrino, in association with the historic rap group TTC and a platform for some of today's most cutting-edge and freshest dance beats, headed by Matthias Zimmermann and the Sound Pellegrino Thermal Team; and the highly respected British hip hop and grime collective Foreign Beggars, presenting their powerful new album, «The Uprising».
Sónar Barcelona tickets on sale
Sónar 2013 Passes and 2 Night Tickets for Sónar 2013 are available now.
Professional accreditation for SonarPro 2013 is available at a special price of 190 €, until 1 April only.
All information available at here
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text:
Series 2000
Typ F. Functional (adaptable) partition for Series 901.
System consists of an add-on element (standing).
Construction is based on a four-sided frame of aluminium profile and a filling element. The sides have a vertical optical and functional groove as well as an integrated but removable U-shaped plastic strip for linking two privacy screens without using tools.
Filling element 1. Melamine-resin laminated chipboard. 2. chipboard laminated with a vitreous-enamelled metal sheet to which magnets adhere (at level 62 or 76). 3. From a lightweight top with fabric covering. 4. A melamine-resin laminated sound-absorbing panel with slits. 5. A translucent double-ribbed board.
Supporting element consists of adjustable feet.
Intended for attachment to the cross-member of Series 901 tables.
Please note: When hanging accessories into the functional groove, the maximum loading must be observed (see table).
The following material groups are available: Frame made of aluminum: M(anodis); Stabiliser and foot made of aluminum: M(arctic, black RAL 9011); Writing surface made of steel: E(white); Fabric cover: S46,52,74,78,79,80; Acoustic front made of chipboard: L10; Front made of chipboard: L6.


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Both the Samsung Galaxy S II and the new model run Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich with TouchWiz on top. And while the general interface is quite similar, the one on the Galaxy S III is more polished and it includes even more goodies.
The lockscreen for one is much more functional - four shortcuts, weather forecast, dual-clock when roaming, news ticker and nature inspired aesthetics are appreciated.
New and old lockscreens compared
ICS brought face unlock to the S II, but the Galaxy S III takes things a step further - Smart Stay uses the front-mounted camera to make sure the phone never locks or even dims its screen while you're in the middle something. The whole face detection thing also got into the gallery with Buddy photo share and Social tag able to recognize people's faces and allow easier to access their contact and SNS info.
Messaging on the S III also got improved with some clever features - direct call allows you to put the phone up to your ear and dial the contact whose info or text message you were just looking at. Smart alert will have the phone vibrate when you pick it up to notify of missed events - that's great for the times you just grab the phone without even looking at the notification LED.
There are a few other nice tricks (double tap the top of the phone to scroll to the beginning of some lists, Pop up play and so on), but the biggest potential game-changer that the latest Galaxy S brought was S Voice.
Some of the new software tricks that the Samsung Galaxy S III brings
We've covered S Voice in a blog post and in the S III's review, so you know it needs more work done, but it still doesn't seem ready to enter your daily routine. You still might prefer it over Apple's Siri though - particularly if you're a Spanish, Italian or a Korean speaker.
S Voice tries to grab the attention of everyone who was impressed by Apple's Siri
Samsung's Galaxy phones typically come with an AllShare app that serves DLNA duties. The Galaxy S III, however, adds AllShare Cast support, which uses a wireless dongle to stream HD video.
The Galaxy S III also brings MusicSquare along with updated sound-enhancing technologies. MusicSquare is similar to Sony Ericsson's SensMe and builds playlists automatically based on the desired mood of the songs.
MusicSquare and SoundAlive enhancemetns
The Galaxy S II was one of the first devices to support Wi-Fi Direct - a technology that combines the easy pairing of Bluetooth with the high speeds of Wi-Fi. The S III builds on that with S Beam - the data is still channeled over Wi-Fi Direct but the pairing procedure has become as simple as humanly possible over NFC.
The biggest weakness of S Beam is that currently only the Galaxy S III supports it, but Samsung is sure to put it on more phones. As for inter-maker compatibility, the Galaxy S III can still do the simple-but-slow NFC transfer or the fast-but-slightly-more-complicated Wi-Fi Direct transfer.
Both the S II and S III can do fast Bluetooth 3.0 transfers too, but the S III tacks on Bluetooth 4.0 LE for accessories with low-power, low-bandwidth needs (think heart rate monitors, smart watches, etc.).
Knowing the Galaxy S phones are surrounded by an active hacker community, a lot of these software tricks have a very good chance of landing on the old Galaxy S II.


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Posted in Manufacturing and Production
DC Staff Accountant Responsibilities:
Job Outlook According to the US Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), Employment in production occupations is projected to decline 4 percent, with a loss of about 423,200 jobs from 2019 to 2029. Technological advancements are expected to continue to replace many of the manufacturing workers that make up a large share of the production occupations. Fewer workers are expected to be needed in the manufacturing sector as many processes have become computer-controlled.
Pay According to BLS, the median annual wage for production occupations was $37,440 in May 2020, which was lower than the median annual wage for all occupations of $41,950.
Here are some occupations within Manufacturing and Production:
Subscribe to job alerts and upload your resume!
*By registering with our site, you agree to our Terms and Privacy Policy.


text:
Tim Crowe, University of Cape Town
Race in human taxonomy – the science of classifying organisms – has a long, disgraceful history.
Individuals have used race to divide and denigrate certain people while promoting their claims of superiority. Some of these individuals were, and are, respected in their time and their fields. They include philosopher and scientist Robert Boyle and sociologists like Hans Günther. Others who've been guilty include biologists like Ernst Haeckel and historians such as Henri de Boulainvilliers.
What is the history of racially based classifications of humans? And does it have any scientific validity?
Starting with Kant
The eminent philosopher Immanuel Kant was arguably the first "scientific racist". He maintained that dark-skinned Africans were "vain and stupid". He insisted that they were only capable of trifling feelings and were resistant to any form of education other than learning how to be enslaved.
By contrast, Kant maintained, light-skinned Caucasians were "active, acute, and adventurous".
Renowned German anthropologist Johann Blumenbach used skull anatomy to divide humans into five races:
- Caucasians (Europe and western Asia);
- Mongoloids (eastern Asia);
- Malays (south-eastern Asia);
- Negros (sub-Saharan Africa); and
- Americans (North and South America).
But he disagreed with the common view that humans from sub-Saharan Africa were inferior. Blumenbach's "benign" racial categorisation persisted well into the 20th century.
Samuel Morton drew on refined, quantitative assessments of skull anatomy to provide further "scientific evidence". He claimed that interracial intellectual variation is reflected by the interior volume of the skull, and that this justified the use of Blumenbach's groupings to determine relative racial superiority.
He regarded the Caucasian as:
… distinguished by the facility with which it attains the highest intellectual endowments
and Africans as
… joyous, flexible, and indolent; while the many nations which compose this race present a singular diversity of intellectual character, of which the far extreme is the lowest grade of humanity.
"Scientific racism"" was used to justify the ownership of slaves, as well as colonialism. It reached its pinnacle in eugenics, a "science" espoused by the British statistician and sociologist Francis Galton at the end of the 19th century.
Eugenicists advocate the "improvement" of humanity by promoting reproduction between people with desired traits and reducing reproduction between people with less-desired traits. Eugenics featured in race-related legislation like Nazi Germany's Nuremberg Laws and apartheid-era South Africa's edicts.
Genetic evidence
Genetic studies have examined "racial" variation from a molecular perspective. My early mentor Richard Lewontin, an evolutionary biologist from the University of Chicago, was a pioneer in this. His research suggested that 90% of modern human genetic diversity is found between individuals within populations. The tiny balance is due to variation between populations.
This view was confirmed by subsequent studies based on DNA by, among others, Lynn B. Jorde and Stephen P. Wooding. The DNA among all human populations is 99.5% similar. Populations of the geographically much more restricted chimpanzee exhibit more than four times the genetic variation that's found between human populations. Chimpanzees are humans' nearest living evolutionary "relative".
Their research shows that when humans are studied from genetic or anatomical perspectives, the pattern that's discovered is not diagnosable geographically discrete clusters. The norm is gradual, geographically uncorrelated variation in traits and genes. This is even true within peoples who are traditionally thought to be racially homogeneous. There is no evidence of evolutionarily significant racial variation in either genes or anatomy.
The exception is skin colour. Around 10% of the variance in skin colour occurs within groups and about 90% between groups. People living near the equator have darker, more melanin-rich skin than those who live at higher latitudes. Darker skin is strongly selected for because it is a natural sunscreen that limits harmful effects of high ultraviolet rays.
Recent genetic studies indicate that skin colour may change radically within 100 generations because of natural selection.
Genetic racism revived
This overwhelming scientific evidence has not prevented recent studies based on DNA allele frequencies from claiming that there are as many as eight races of humans.
British scientific journalist Nicholas Wade used these studies to claim that natural selection between "races" produced differences in IQ, the efficacy of political institutions and countries' levels of economic development.
These genetic studies are fundamentally flawed for three reasons:
- Taxonomic studies aimed at determining the validity of races should be based on characters. These are features that are invariant within populations. They should not be based on traits like eye colour and gene alleles, which vary within populations.
- Samples used in the DNA-based studies mentioned above were "cherry picked" geographically to maximise differentiation between human populations, and
- The DNA-based evolutionary racial "trees" were generated by a statistical technique that is designed to produce tree-like patterns which reflect average, not absolute, differences between sampled items. This technique formed the basis of an approach to the construction of evolutionary trees called "phenetics". It has been decisively discredited and generally abandoned.
Evolutionary origins
DNA and anatomy-based findings support the "Out of Africa" theory. This holds that modern humans originated in Africa. Archaic African Homo erectus immigrated into Eurasia between 1.4 million to 1.6 million years ago.
About 90,000 to 92,000 years ago, a second form of humanity, modern H. sapiens, also emigrated out of Africa. This species replaced populations of Homo erectus already in the north.
Attempts to justify the scientific reality of human races warrant no further discussion. They cannot be used to assess racial "superiority". "White" and other non-African people are in fact evolutionary refugees from Africa. After settling in Eurasia, it took only an evolutionary heartbeat for them to lose much of their epidermal melanin.
Dark-skinned humans outside of Africa are descended from migrants who "regained" their "blackness" in equatorial regions elsewhere.
Tim Crowe, Emeritus Professor, University of Cape Town
This article was originally published on The Conversation. Read the original article.


text: The Canadian Cryospheric Information Network (CCIN) and the Polar Data Catalogue (PDC) have been developed over the past two decades through collaborative partnerships between the University of Waterloo and numerous government, university, and private organizations to provide the data and information management infrastructure for the Canadian cryospheric community. The PDC is one of Canada's primary online sources for data and information about the Arctic and is Canada's National Antarctica Data Centre. With over 2,500 metadata descriptions of projects and datasets and almost 3 million data files, the PDC contains data on physical, social, and health science and other research in Canada and globally, including significant collections from the ArcticNet Network of Centres of Excellence, the Government of Canada's International Polar Year, satellite imagery from the RADARSAT-1 and RADARSAT-2 missions, and hundreds of metadata from the Circumpolar Biodiversity Monitoring Programme, among many others. The PDC is the 100th member of the World Data System with certification as a Trusted Digital Repository, and committed to supporting polar research data management and growing in capacity. Read more.


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Home >
Game Resource
Game design is one of those seldom recognized areas of creative design. Game designers reside in the gray area of creativity ranging across several fields. Characteristics of game designers include at least one of the following: creative; competitive; artistic; analytical; hands-on. Successful ones often need to be good story-tellers. With the advent of the video game, today's game designers are challenged with learning new technologies to keep abreast with the times, and finding innovative ways to keep alive the round-table effect of board games.
I have been making games since elementary school. Over the years I invented several games that might have been successfully marketed before the advent of the video game age. Alas... I was born a little too late for that.
Not to worry, since I do enjoy designing maps for video games such as Counter-Strike. My map de_sacrelige has been downloaded thousands of times since it was released; de_sacrelige was also featured on several prominent Counter-Strike servers when first published.
Featured Articles
de_sacrelige Custom Counter-Strike map
Posted on Jan 11, 2006 | Last Updated Dec 6, 2011
de_sacrelige is a small bomb map for Counter-Strike 1.6 that was featured on CS-Nation and has become my most popular map.
custom cs map, cstrike, counter-strike, cs1.6
Latest Articles
De_Weldonsquare-- Counter-Strike Map
Posted on Jan 14, 2003 | Last Updated Oct 30, 2011
A custom Counter-Strike map by Shawn Olson.
de_weldonsquare, custom counter-strike map, weldon square shawn olson
Pinochle Score Card
Posted on Jan 6, 2003 | Last Updated Oct 30, 2011
A generic form for keeping Pinochle scores. PDF link for download.
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Hearts Score Card
Posted on Jan 6, 2003 | Last Updated Oct 30, 2011
Score sheet for the card game Hearts.
hearts card game score card


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(thanks!), Minnetonka moccasins, Vintage Chanel backpack, Vintage necklace and ring
And I can't go without waxing poetic about my new crochet bell bottoms!! When I saw these bad boys featured on Bleach Black, I knew my life wouldn't be complete without a pair (spoken like a true shopping addict!). Jane Oh of Onceovertwice hand crochets each pair of bell bottoms to the measurements you provide, so they truly fit like a dream. And coming soon, Jane will be adding bikinis, fringed dresses, and even more bell bottoms to her Etsy store, so be sure to keep checking back!


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CNET News.com reports:
Lawmakers in California have scheduled a hearing for later this month to discuss privacy issues surrounding a controversial technology designed to wirelessly monitor everything from clothing to currency.
Sen. Debra Bowen, a California legislator recently on the forefront of an antispam legislation movement, is spearheading the August 18 hearing, which will focus on an emerging area of technology known as radio frequency identification (RFID), a representative for Bowen has confirmed.
RFID tags are miniscule microchips, which already have shrunk to half the size of a grain of sand. They listen for a radio query and respond by transmitting their unique ID code. Retailers adore the concept, which enables them to automatically detect the movement of merchandise in stores and monitor inventory in warehouses using millions of special sensors. CNET News.com wrote about how Wal-Mart and the U.K.-based grocery chain Tesco are starting to install "smart shelves" with networked RFID readers.
According to Declan McCullagh of CNET News.com Proponents hail the technology as the next-generation bar code, allowing merchants and manufacturers to operate more efficiently and cut down on theft. The privacy threat comes when RFID tags remain active once you leave a store. That's the scenario that should raise alarms – and currently the RFID industry seems to be giving mixed signals about whether the tags will be disabled or left enabled by default.
Further, unchecked use of RFID could end up trampling consumer privacy by allowing retailers to gather unprecedented amounts of information about activity in their stores and link it to customer information databases. They also worry about the possibility that companies and would-be thieves might be able to track people's personal belongings, embedded with tiny RFID microchips, after they are purchased. Katherine Albrecht, the head of Consumers Against Supermarket Privacy Invasion and Numbering, a fierce critic of RFID technology says:
If you are walking around emanating an electric cloud of these devices wherever you go, you have no more privacy. Every door way you walk through could be scanning you.
Policy makers in Britain are also starting to ponder the privacy implications of RFID. A member of Britain's Parliament has submitted a motion for debate on the regulation of RFID devices when the government returns from its summer recess next month.


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By Richard Paul / Peculiar Richard
We love them as we destroy them. We love the beautiful spectacle of their terror which then turns to fury, we savour their mingling hatred of us and love for their burning home which begets such delightful madness. They fight to remove us from their homeworld, to drive us away from their families' doorsteps; those things which matter most to them; they are driven to delicious heights of emotion as those things are taken away.
It started with the colony worlds, a paltry seven in all. The first was virtually unguarded, in the vicinity of the planet we saw only trade vessels and enfeebled frigates providing a flimsy semblance of security. It was a display of complacence and an ideal starting point for us to put our brush to our canvas.
We destroyed it, left no one alive and ensured that the other worlds of our new canvas saw what we had done, this gave birth to terror, then fury.
Naturally, they fought us. We patiently awaited their reprisal in the debris encircling that colony world, known to this indigenous species, the Vanatharlan, as Banrosar. Our gallery-council had sent nothing but an expeditionary force to this region, but to the tiny fleet that came from their homeworld to confront us, we must have seemed to be a veritable Armada.
There were so few ships, all ancient, all underpowered. This was a small nation with no neighbours, we had had to travel a great distance indeed to reach them. Their navy must have been ceremonial at best.
There was little beauty to be found in that battle. They tried to speak to us first, their quivering voices imploring us to abandon our art. By the time they accepted that we truly intended to destroy them all and started to act appropriately, they were all but dead already.
The only sliver of beauty came when their flagship attempted to ram one of our vessels. It failed, and it's communications systems were too badly damaged for us to see inside and behold the impotent rage and delectable despair within.
No matter, we saw plenty to appreciate on the remaining colony worlds, and now we've come to the final show on the surface of the Vanatharlan homeworld of Metanlonna. The remnants of this species have truly come to despise us now, and they fight with the passion of the doomed.
They watch and shriek as their world is torn down around them; more satisfying to us than all else here are the 9,000 year old houses of the Grand Marquises, obliterated in all seventeen capitols. Intact those houses oozed insipid peace and misdirected patriotic pride; as rubble they offer these stagnant people a true glimpse of the universe's ultimate glorious fate for us all.
We rejoice in the beastly beauty of the horror we cause. We strip these people of their fear and inhibition; as we destroy their world we shape them into the purest form that any species can achieve. Before they were wasted, so many lived content and died as dross but now they achieve perfection through the purity of their feelings and the force of their expression, they are as alive as they can ever hope to be as they charge at us to meet their doom, their race dies perfect.
I envy them.
We record this for the delectation of our people, every second, every morsel. This exhibit shall join the ranks of hundreds of others in the great gallery palisades and the name of this species shall join all those we have crafted beauty from; Linaw, Faehar, Jarnaj, Human, Slanmena; (to name but a few). In the fullness of time we shall fill our palisades with the beauteous demise of all life everywhere.
- - -
When not scurrying about in the dust at his workplace, or procrastinating in some form or other, Richard partakes in writing, game reviewing and more recently producing dramatic readings of short stories. Both of which can be seen on his linked tumblr account.
Thursday, May 17, 2012
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A brilliant commencement address which, like most things genius, requires not one listen but multiple. And, while I don't expect you to watch it over and over, my request is that you revisit this in about a month. Tim's bio and background are here.
A few of the highlights and at the bottom is a link to his personal blog and you can read the entire transcript if you'd like. Enjoy!
1. You Don't Have To Have A Dream.
I never really had one of these big dreams. And so I advocate passionate dedication to the pursuit of short-term goals. Be micro-ambitious. Put your head down and work with pride on whatever is in front of you… you never know where you might end up. Just be aware that the next worthy pursuit will probably appear in your periphery. Which is why you should be careful of long-term dreams. If you focus too far in front of you, you won't see the shiny thing out the corner of your eye.
2. Don't Seek Happiness!
Happiness is like an orgasm: if you think about it too much, it goes away. Contented Australophithecus Afarensis got eaten before passing on their genes.
>>NOTE: if we've said it once we've said it a thousand times in this blog. Happiness is a choice, it's a responsibility it's what the Buddha meant when he said, "there is no way to happiness, happiness is the way." see post)
3. Remember, It's All Luck
You are lucky to be here. You were incalculably lucky to be born… I suppose I worked hard to achieve whatever dubious achievements I've achieved … but I didn't make the bit of me that works hard, any more than I made the bit of me that ate too many burgers instead of going to lectures while I was here at UWA.
Understanding that you can't truly take credit for your successes, nor truly blame others for their failures will humble you and make you more compassionate. Empathy is intuitive, but is also something you can work on, intellectually.
>>Comment: Taking credit for even your hard work is fool's gold. Everything and everyone have helped you to forge that work ethic — take NO credit, remain humble!
4. Exercise!
I'm sorry, you pasty, pale, smoking philosophy grads, arching your eyebrows into a Cartesian curve… You can't be Kant, and you don't want to be.
Play a sport, do yoga, pump iron, run… whatever… but take care of your body. You're going to need it. Most of you mob are going to live to nearly a hundred, and even the poorest of you will achieve a level of wealth that most humans throughout history could not have dreamed of. And this long, luxurious life ahead of you is going to make you depressed!
But don't despair! There is an inverse correlation between depression and exercise.
5. Be Hard On Your Opinions
A famous bon mot asserts that opinions are like arse-holes, in that everyone has one. There is great wisdom in this… but I would add that opinions differ significantly, in that yours should be constantly and thoroughly examined.
We must think critically, and not just about the ideas of others. Be hard on your beliefs…Be intellectually rigorous. Identify your biases, your prejudices, your privilege.
Most of society's arguments are kept alive by a failure to acknowledge nuance. We tend to generate false dichotomies, then try to argue one point using two entirely different sets of assumptions…
By the way, while I have science and arts grads in front of me: please don't make the mistake of thinking the arts and sciences are at odds with one another….If you need proof: Twain, Adams, Vonnegut, McEwen, Sagan, Shakespeare, Dickens. For a start.
6. Be a teacher.
Please be a teacher! Teachers are the most admirable and important people in the world. You don't have to do it forever, but if you're in doubt about what to do, be an amazing teacher.
7. Define Yourself By What You Love
We have tendency to define ourselves in opposition to stuff; as a comedian, I make a living out of it. But try to also express your passion for things you love. Be demonstrative and generous in your praise of those you admire. Send thank-you cards and give standing ovations. Be pro-stuff, not just anti-stuff.
8. Respect People With Less Power Than You.
I have, in the past, made important decisions about people I work with – agents and producers – based largely on how they treat wait staff in restaurants.
9. Don't Rush.
You don't need to already know what you're going to do with the rest of your life… I said at the beginning of this ramble that life is meaningless…
You will soon be dead. Life will sometimes seem long and tough and, god, it's tiring. And you will sometimes be happy and sometimes sad. And then you'll be old. And then you'll be dead.
There is only one sensible thing to do with this empty existence, and that is: fill it!
…life is best filled by learning as much as you can about as much as you can, taking pride in whatever you're doing, having compassion, sharing ideas, running(!), being enthusiastic. And then there's love, and travel, and wine, and sex, and art, and kids, and giving, and mountain climbing … but you know all that stuff already.
It's an incredibly exciting thing, this one, meaningless life of yours. Good luck. Thank you for indulging me."
Hope that provides you a sense of guidance and strangely comfort ; ) (comfort in the meaningless of it all). In many ways it's a recipe for happiness and a fulfilling life…
Set goals. Work hard. Go after it. Be humble. Exercise. Assess your own beliefs and opinions regularly. Be a teachers —share your genius. Define self by what you love not what you hate. Respect everyone. Slow down.
(you can find the entire transcript here).
Thanks Tim!
Until next time friends,
You may also like:


text:
Man Dressed As 'Macho Man' Randy Savage Jumps Off Roof Into Snow
The northeastern part of the country was (body) slammed by a snow storm this week. That didn't bother this guy.
A man in Pennsylvania named Michael Patrick got dressed up as the late "Macho Man" Randy Savage, climbed onto a roof of his house, gave a speech chastising the blizzard for not being as brutal as the hype and then jumped onto the ground.
This is...interesting and further proves the notion that the weather makes us do some weird things, like the guy who decided a blizzard would be the perfect time to go surfing for the first time.
And why he just so happened to have all those clothes to make him look like the WWF legend remains to be seen, but you can bet whenever anyone else in the house told him to throw them out, he probably did the whole "No, I may need them one day" thing. Turns out this "macho man" knew exactly what he was talking about.
We're just hoping that the next time snow comes pouring down he gets his Iron Sheik getup out.


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Here's one sign the pandemic is on the decline. NPR's latest survey of state health departments with the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security finds many are winding down their contact tracing programs. This is NPR's sixth contact tracing survey since the pandemic began. After the biggest scale-up of contact tracing in U.S. history, how did it go and what's next? NPR's Selena Simmons-Duffin has this report.
SELENA SIMMONS-DUFFIN, BYLINE: There were tantalizing stories early on in the pandemic about how Singapore and South Korea had contained the novel coronavirus by tracking down every positive case, figuring out their contacts and quickly getting those people to quarantine. At the time, the U.S. had only about 11,000 contact tracers according to NPR's first survey, which clearly wasn't enough to do something like that in a country this big. Public health experts told Congress they needed to increase the workforce tenfold or more. Then, CDC director Robert Redfield told NPR in April of 2020 this was a major priority.
ROBERT REDFIELD: We are going to need a substantial expansion of public health field workers, and it is going to be critical.
SIMMONS-DUFFIN: Over the course of 2020, as NPR and the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security surveyed state health departments, the contact tracing workforce grew month by month to a peak of over 70,000 in December. Looking back, CDC's Melanie Taylor says it's clear that ramp-up wasn't enough to match the winter surge.
MELANIE TAYLOR: We still did not have enough people to respond and deliver case investigation and contact tracing during those surge months.
SIMMONS-DUFFIN: One reason the U.S. was not able to bring on enough contact tracers...
ADRIANE CASALOTTI: You weren't just starting from zero, you were starting from a deficit when it came to the workforce and public health departments.
SIMMONS-DUFFIN: That's Adriane Casalotti of the National Association of County and City Health Officials. And they were scaling up in the late spring and summer while communities were starting to reopen.
CASALOTTI: Probably too far to say we set it up to fail, but we certainly didn't set it up for success.
SIMMONS-DUFFIN: In those early weeks and months, no national army of contact tracers materialized, as CDC Director Redfield envisioned, to meet this need. Instead, it was a hodgepodge. Some health departments created statewide programs. Others left it to local departments or volunteers or contracted call centers. Katherine Feldman runs the contact tracing program in Maryland. She says finding people to hire was only part of the challenge.
KATHERINE FELDMAN: You know, contact tracing also is a skilled job. And it takes a minute to recruit qualified staff and train them up and get them going.
SIMMONS-DUFFIN: She says tracers also might only work part-time or leave. It's intense work calling people all day, hearing people's stories of illness and loss. Now, NPR's latest survey finds health departments are starting to scale those programs back. More than half of respondents have fewer contact tracers than last winter, and the vast majority aren't planning to hire more.
Crystal Watson is a senior scholar at the Center for Health Security who collaborated with NPR on the surveys. She notes most departments did respond, however, that this is still a critical part of the response. That's good, she says, because now is actually a time when contact tracing could keep the virus in check.
CRYSTAL WATSON: Really trying to find every case that we can and trace all their contacts who are unvaccinated especially.
SIMMONS-DUFFIN: Even so, Nicole Roberts, who runs the contact tracing program in Utah, says they're having to move staff around.
NICOLE ROBERTS: Cases dropped pretty drastically. And so then, we had a ton of people, and we were wondering what to do with everyone.
SIMMONS-DUFFIN: Some tracers have been helping with mobile testing teams or vaccine clinics, she says. At the same time, there's finally a big pot of money on the table. President Biden's COVID relief bill, passed in March, includes $7.4 billion for the public health workforce. In the survey, most departments didn't have clear plans for how to use that funding. That includes Utah, says Roberts.
ROBERTS: Right now, we're just being inundated with so much funding that it's, you know, almost like you're scrambling trying to figure out what all to use it on.
SIMMONS-DUFFIN: There's a concern that this is one-time funding. It's usually feast or famine with public health funding, Roberts says. Right now, it's a feast, but...
ROBERTS: You know, a few years from now, we might be hitting famine, where we've built all of these programs, and we have all of this capacity. And then the funding will dry up because, you know, pandemic response is no longer sexy (laughter).
SIMMONS-DUFFIN: Watson of Johns Hopkins and other public health experts are hoping the U.S. will break this cycle.
WATSON: So it has to go beyond how do we sustain this specific workforce who are very focused on contact tracing, and how do we make sure that we have the workforce we need to do better public health every day.
SIMMONS-DUFFIN: Doing restaurant inspections and rabies control and HIV outreach, who can pivot to contact tracing when there's an emergency. She says that way, in the next pandemic, the U.S. won't have to build the contact tracing plane while flying it.
Selena Simmons-Duffin, NPR News. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.


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Beet juice and nitrates have been gaining more and more attention for their ability to improve athletic performance and reduce blood pressure. It's been well documented for some time now that a diet rich in vegetables can improve cardiovascular health, due to high nitrate content. While all vegetables contain some nitrates, they are more abundant in beets, leafy greens, spinach, celery, endives, fennel, arugula (rocket or rucola), leeks and parsley.
Several studies have now confirmed the effects of nitrates on athletic performance including a study done at the University of Exerter's School of Sport and Health Sciences, using beet juice. The study looked at eight male cyclists consuming half a liter (500ml) of beet juice (approx. 2 cups), containing nearly 700 mg of naturally occurring nitrate, for six days. The control group with the placebo drank 500 ml of black currant cordial containing very minimal nitrates for the same amount of time.
More: The Importance of an Athlete's Digestive System
The cyclists completed a series of "stepped" moderate-intensity and severe-intensity exercise tests on a cycling ergometer during the last three days of this period. On the fourth day of supplementation, subjects completed two bouts of moderate cycling, while on days five and six the subjects completed one bout of moderate cycling and one bout of severe cycling. In the severe cycling test, the loading was increased by 30 watts per minute until the subject could no long continue. After this six-day period, subjects underwent a 10-day 'washout' period during which neither beetroot juice nor cordial were consumed, then the supplement protocol was reversed (those who had taken beetroot took cordial and vice-versa).
More: Top 8 Fuels to Power Your Summer
Throughout this time, all subjects refrained from eating any high-nitrate foods to ensure that any differences were due to the beetroot juice.
The beet juice group was able to cycle an average of 16 percent longer. The men also had lower resting blood pressure after consuming the beet juice compared to the currant juice. The author, Professor Andy Jones, noted: "Our study is the first to show that nitrate-rich food can increase exercise endurance. We were amazed by the effect of beet juice on oxygen uptake because these effects cannot be achieved by any other known means, including training."


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4 Healthy Ways to Handle a Midlife Crisis
Studies have shown that as many as one in every 10 Americans over the age of 35 experience what is called a "midlife crisis." The simplest explanation of a midlife crisis is that point where a person starts to questions the past decisions he has made and tries to alter his lifestyle to accommodate his new perceived desires and goals. While these questions and decisions can alter one's life, there are ways to deal with it that can save a marriage and preserve the family savings account.
Make Calculated Changes
People who go through a midlife crisis often take unnecessary risks such as quitting their jobs to seek out adventure. Instead of making rash decisions that you could regret later, a healthier way to handle the situation is to plan your own business and make a smooth transition from your current job to something new. If you take the time to plan your changes, then you'll be able to support your family while satisfying the need for change that a midlife crisis creates.
Talk To Your Spouse
These uneasy feelings about aging, especially in men, are normal. A healthy outlet for these kinds of feelings is to talk to your spouse and let her know what you are feeling. This will give her a chance to do some research on her own and help determine the best plan of action to take. In most cases, men who go through a midlife crisis and allow their marriages to dissolve regret it later. If you let your spouse know what is going on, then she has a chance to transition with you.
Get It Out Of Your System
One of the ways to deal with a midlife crisis is to allow yourself one binge to satisfy these feelings. Head down to look at used cars for sale in Miami can help you to satisfy the urge for a sports car. By purchasing a used car, you get the kind of vehicle you want and you can still save money. You can also try a weekend in Las Vegas as a way to let off steam. These can be healthy ways to eliminate those initial anxious feelings that could drag on for months if they are not dealt with.
In many cases, remaining active is a great way to combat the feelings of a midlife crisis. Men who start exercising can get their aggressions and frustrations out in a healthy manner that can make them feel better instead of worse. You can also start to eat a healthier diet and drink more fluids. All of this will help to boost your energy, as well as giving you the sense of accomplishment that you're looking for.
When a midlife crisis comes around, it's potentially very unhealthy to ignore it. Instead of making decisions that you'll regret later, the healthiest thing to do is to meet the transition head on and turn it into something positive. With some good planning and support from your family, you can conquer a midlife crisis and become a better person because of it.
Author Bio:
George Root has been a published author since his college days in 1985 at SUNY at Buffalo. Throughout a long career, he has had thousands of titles published to his credit both online and offline. His work can be seen on websites such as the Houston Chronicle, Business.com and Answers.com.
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The Donkey
March 7, 2016
I am not, nor have I ever been, the most physically competent martial artist. It takes me inordinately more classes to attain technical proficiency in many areas than it does others. I am tall and fairly agile, but I do not have much muscle mass. And then, over the past few years, two significant medical challenges have crossed my desk. Couple all this with the fact that I am now in my 60s, and a potentially bleak image begins to materialize.
Political Turmoil in Taekwondo
August 18, 2014
On December 31, 2013, Grandmaster Kyu Hyung Lee, taekwondoist extraordinaire, formally resigned his post as president of the esteemed Kukkiwon after holding the position for a mere matter of months. Quickly replaced by Man Soon Jang, Lee claimed his startling decision was founded on irreconcilable differences between two leading factions; one consisting of officials whose behavior is largely motivated by politics, and a second group of martial artists, spearheaded by Lee, with the purity of taekwondo at heart.
The Heart of Taekwondo
July 7, 2014
When the heart of taekwondo beats, it gives life to the advancement of supreme discipline, the achievement of noble character, and the cultivation of an enlightened worldview. It breaks the bonds that bind us to the Earth and again, as adults, allows us to feel the wind beneath our feet rather than merely around them.
History and Philosophy of Taekwondo - Part 2
August 5, 2013
Similarly rooted in Chinese culture, the Baduanjin routine, or Eight Pieces of Brocade, a medical qigong therapy whose performance is professed to impart a silken quality to the body, dates back to AD 1300 where it appears in the Xiuzhen shi-shu (Ten Compilations on Cultivating Perfection).
History and Philosophy of Taekwondo - Part 1
July 29, 2013
Long before the advent of sport sparring and the invention of modern safety gear, in a time when to fight meant to defend one's life from almost certain death, an ingenious method of transmitting martial arts skills from venerated master to loyal disciple was developed.
The Evolution of Tae Kwon Do Poomsae, Hyung and Tul-Part 2
June 17, 2013
Throughout the 1950s and early 60s, when Tae Kwon Do, still referred to as taesoodo, tangsoodo and kongsoodo in many circles, was in its infancy, poomsae practice consisted largely of exercises derived from these Okinawan, Japanese and Chinese disciplines.
The Evolution of Tae Kwon Do Poomsae, Hyung and Tul-Part 1
June 10, 2013
Long before the advent of sport sparring and the invention of modern safety gear, in a time when to fight meant to defend one's life from almost certain death an ingenious method of transmitting martial arts skills from venerated master to loyal disciple was developed.
Surrender! Clear Your Mind To Learn A New Skill
January 14, 2013
After teaching taekwondo for many years, I have come to some concrete observations. As an instructor and school owner I have noticed that many new students have a difficult time acclimating to Eastern customs.
A Photo Shoot for the Ages
July 23, 2012
As digital publishing and electronic readers begin to eclipse the charm of the printed word, books of paper, binding, glue, and ink become all the more dear, particularly to those of us who still take great pleasure in holding the editorial contributions of an author in our hands while mindfully turning pages infused with academic thought, one at a time.
Visiting Korea: Land of the Morning Calm
May 24, 2010
Having traveled to Korea on several occasions, I feel strongly that experiencing the culture of this vibrant nation firsthand is the way to fully understand the roots of taekwondo. In doing so, practitioners can make a geographical and historical connection with their physical training while sampling the unique heritage of the Korean people.
The Doctrine of Purpose
December 14, 2009
It is widely accepted that martial arts were originally developed as tools of war intended for use by soldiers on the field of battle.
Remaining True to the Art
October 5, 2009
I am always careful to remind my students that the practice of traditional taekwondo is not easy. I tell them that if it were, everyone would train. And it is not difficult to see why.
The Korean Connection: Taekwondo Training in the "Land of the Morning Calm" - Part 3
March 16, 2009
Grandmaster Nam is an exceptional instructor, nimbly moving from one component of the taekwondo curriculum to the next. From basic movements he continues on with one-step sparring drills, fourteen in all, ranging from axe kick/round kick combinations to spread block/double upper cut in twist stance techniques
The Korean Connection: Taekwondo Training in the "Land of the Morning Calm" - Part 2
March 9, 2009
In what to me represents the epitome of Korean hospitality, our group is invited to the headquarters of the Korean National Tourism Organization in downtown Seoul, for an official welcoming ceremony
The Korean Connection: Taekwondo Training in the "Land of the Morning Calm" - Part 1
March 2, 2009
Traditional taekwondo philosophy teaches us to cultivate, among other things, courage, perseverance and indomitable will. Clearly, these virtues go hand in hand with transforming dreams into reality.


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Nomaterra Roll-On Perfume Oils Now Available in These Boutiques! Posted on 26 Nov 14:41 , 0 comments
We're so excited to have our new roll-on perfume oils now available in Bellacara Boutique in Alexandria, Va, and in Shen Beauty in Brooklyn, NY. Please do check them out, try on the different scents, and let the staff know that you want to see more!! Thanks to all of you for your ongoing support!
Bellacara (1000 King Street, Alexandria, VA 22314) - this boutique was recently named one of the area's top places to shop for beauty by the Washingtonian. They are currently carrying our Nomaterra Malibu Honeysuckle, Savannah Magnolia, DC Cherry Blossom, and Oahu Gardenia Roll-On Perfume Oils.
Shen Beauty (315 Court St. Brooklyn, NY 11231) - this gorgeous shop is the hub of all things beauty in Brooklyn. They carry brands both well-recognized as well as those hard-to-find, unique gems. Shen Beauty is now carrying the Nomaterra Malibu Honeysuckle, East Hampton Atlantic White Cedar, Oahu Gardenia, and Savannah Magnolia Roll-On Perfume Oils.


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Based on the results on his farm in Gujarat, Indian farmer and campaigner Bhaskar Save demonstrated that by using traditional methods, his yields were superior to any farm using chemicals in terms of quantity, nutritional quality, biological diversity, ecological sustainability, water conservation, energy efficiency and economic profitability.
Bhaskar Save died in October, but in 2006 he published a now quite famous open letter to the Indian Minister of Agriculture and other top officials to bring attention to the mounting suicide rate and debt among farmers. He wanted policy makers to abandon their policies of promoting the use of toxic chemicals that the 'green revolution' had encouraged.
According to Save, the green revolution had been a total disaster for India by flinging open the floodgates of toxic agro-chemicals which had ravaged the lands and lives of many millions of farmers (for example, read about the impact in Punjab). He firmly believed that organic farming in harmony with nature could sustainably provide India with abundant, wholesome food.
India had for generations sustained one of the highest densities of population on earth, without any chemical fertilisers, pesticides, exotic dwarf strains of grain or 'bio-tech' inputs – and without degrading its soil. For instance, see this analysis which highlights better productivity levels in India prior to the green revolution. (If further evidence is required as to the efficacy of organic farming, see this report, based on a 30-year study, which concludes that organic yields match conventional yields, outperform conventional in years of drought and actually build soil fertility rather than deplete it; and see this report that says that organic and sustainable small-scale farming could double food production in the parts of the world where hunger is the biggest issue.)
Save argued that numerous tall, indigenous varieties of grain provided more biomass, shaded the soil from the sun and protected against its erosion under heavy monsoon rains. But in the guise of increasing crop production, exotic dwarf varieties were introduced and promoted. This led to more vigorous growth of weeds, which were able to compete successfully with the new stunted crops for sunlight. The farmer had to spend more labour and money in weeding or spraying herbicides. In effect, farmers were placed on a chemical treadmill as traditional pest management systems were destroyed and soil degradation and erosion set in.
Moreover, this water-intensive, high external input model of agriculture led to the construction of big dams, indebtedness, population displacement and a massive, unsustainable strain on water tables. Save noted that more than 80% of India's water consumption is for irrigation, with the largest share hogged by chemically cultivated cash crops. Maharashtra has the maximum number of big and medium dams in the country. But sugarcane alone, grown on barely 3-4% of its cultivable land, guzzles about 70% of its irrigation waters.
For Save, in a country of farmers, it was essential to restore the natural health of Indian agriculture to solve the inter-related problems of poverty, unemployment and rising population. See his arguments in more detail here.
Such views may be out of step with global agribusiness interests and the international bodies, national governments and regulatory bodies they have co-opted or hijacked (see this, this, this, this, this and this), but there is an increasing awareness across the globe that the type of viewpoint put forward by Save and many others is valid.
Of course, millions of farmers across the world already knew that what Save had stated was correct long before he said it and have for a long time been organising and resisting the industrialised model of petrochemical-intensive and GMO farming being imposed across the planet. They are in step with what the International Assessment of Agricultural Knowledge Science and Technology (IAASTD) report (among others) advocates: a shift towards organic farming and investment in and reaffirmation of indigenous models of agriculture.
Likewise, botanist Stuart Newton's notes that the answers to agricultural productivity do not entail embracing the international, monopolistic, corporate-conglomerate promotion of chemically-dependent GM crops. He argues that India must restore and nurture its heavily depleted, abused soils and not harm them any further with chemical overload, which is endangering human and animal health.
Newton provides good insight into the vital roll of healthy soils and their mineral compositions and links their depletion to the green revolution. In turn, these degraded and micro-nutrient lacking soils cannot help but lead to denutrified food and thus malnourishment: a very pertinent point given that the PR surrounding the green revolution claims it helped dramatically reduce malnutrition.
Over the past few years, there have been numerous high level reports from the UN and development agencies putting forward proposals to favour small farmers and indigenous agriculture, but this has not been translated into sufficient action by national governments on the ground where small farmers increasingly face marginalisation and oppression due to corporate seed monopolies, land speculation and takeovers, rigged trade that favours global agribusiness interests and commodity speculation (see this on food commodity speculation, this on the global food system, this by the Oakland Institute on land grabs and this on the impact of international trade rules).
In fact, these reports seem to have been largely ignored by offialdom in India, which seems to be intent on following World Bank advice on removing 400 million out of agriculture, thus capitulating to US agribusiness interests and in the process seeking to demonise those who criticise the prevailing trend. The erroneous reasons behind this forced displacement (largely by making agriculture financially unviable) and the impacts are discussed in the article 'Global Agribusiness Hammering Away at the Foundations of Indian Society'. The urban-centric model of 'development' being pursued is unsustainable and is wholly misguided at best and at worst little more than a con-trick.
United Nations Special Rapporteur on the Right to Food, Professor Hilal Elver:
"Empirical and scientific evidence shows that small farmers feed the world [see this]. According to the UN Food & Agricultural Organisation (FAO), 70% of food we consume globally comes from small farmers… Currently, most subsidies go to large agribusiness. This must change. Governments must support small farmers."
Despite the situation adopted at the top in India, it should be noted that a good deal of inspiring work is taking place.
In Tamil Nadu (South India), for example, women's collectives have been organising to restore traditional foods and farming methods, resulting in lower costs, higher yields and improved nutrition. Before the green revolution, there were 14,000 different varieties of paddy, but these traditional varieties were displaced by hybrid varieties which only grow if chemical fertilisers are used.
Sheelu Francis is General Coordinator of the Women's Collective of Tamil Nadu and is involved in a fightback against the deleterious social, economic and environmental impacts of the green revolution. She states that by practicing agroecology, an increasing number of women farmers are now free from chemical fertilisers and pesticides and grow many crops together – grains, lentils, beans, oilseeds – to create biodiversity, using maximum input from the land within the farm to produce food.
With the onset of the green revolution, farmers gave up traditional farming practices and agriculture systems. Francis says that farmers were encouraged to grow rice because of government subsidies which promoted growing rice, especially with hybrid seeds and chemicals. Rice paddies use lots of water, so when it is the dry season or when there is drought, there is no production at all.
The use of chemical fertilizers hurt the health of the people, according Francis, not just because of the chemicals but because people rely on polished rice for their nutrition, which is not very nutritious (she says 46% of children are malnourished in Tamil Nadu).
When you combine the effects of soils depleted of nutrients, monocrop diets and chemically-laden food, you have a recipe for catastrophe.
Little wonder then that people are now going back to traditional farming practices and growing traditional crops, which are more nutritious, provide a balanced diet and help maintain soil health
However, it is an uphill struggle, as Francis notes:
"People who try to hold onto their ways of life are marginalised from their land, their seeds, and their way of farming. Now the industries are trying to take over, and to some extent they have succeeded. That is why we are strongly opposing Monsanto and Syngenta and the whole project of GM (genetically modified) seeds."
Elsewhere, in Africa, while Monsanto and The Gates Foundation are trying to force through a corporate-controlled GMO/green revolution, the Oakland Institute recently published research that highlighted the "tremendous success" of agroecology across the continent. By combining sound ecological management, including minimising the use of toxic inputs by using on-farm renewable resources and privileging endogenous solutions to manage pests and disease, with an approach that upholds and secures farmers' livelihoods, agroecology essentially embodies a social movement for positive change.
Anuradha Mittal, Executive Director of the Oakland Institute, says that the research provides irrefutable facts and figures on how agricultural transformation can yield immense economic, social, and food security benefits, while ensuring climate justice and restoring soils and the environment. Frederic Mousseau, Policy Director of the Oakland Institute, who coordinated the research, adds that the research debunk the myths about the inability of agroecology to deliver and highlights the multiple benefits of agroecology, including affordable and sustainable ways to boost agricultural yields while increasing farmers' incomes, food security and resilience.
There are many stories about such local projects from across the world and it is encouraging. However, what is ultimately required is a national-level and international-level commitment to stop prioritising chemical-industrial agriculture at the expense or indigenous agriculture, to stop handing out massive subsidies to agribusiness and to get off the destructive and wholly unsustainable and poisonous chemical treadmill.
"Agroecology is more than just a science, it's also a social movement for justice that recognises and respects the right of communities of farmers to decide what they grow and how they grow it." Mindi Schneider, assistant professor of Agrarian, Food and Environmental Studies at the Institute of Social Studies (ISS) in The Hague.
As Mindi Schneider implies above, agroecology is essentially a system that prioritises local communities, smallholder farmers, local economies and markets. It is a system that the Rockefeller-backed green revolution has been dismantling across the globe for the last 60 years or so. The green revolution is in crisis and is causing massive damage to the environment and to farmers' livelihoods to the point where ecocide and genocide is occurring and the cynical destruction of agrarian economies has taken place. The solution ultimately lies in challenging the corporate takeover of agriculture, the system of 'capitalism' that makes such plunder possible and embracing and investing in sustainable agriculture that is locally owned and rooted in the needs of communities.