text:
The following seven questions, along with a requested word limit, were asked of each local candidate for the Vermont House.
The questions are not repeated in the context of each candidate's response, but are recalled by subject at the beginning of each answer.
Election Day is Nov. 4.
1) HEALTHCARE: The state's Catamount Health plan is up and running, are you satisfied that it is meeting its goals and, if not, what additional steps should the state take to expand health care coverage? (Maximum 150 words.)
2) ELECTRICITY: The expiration of Vermont's contracts with its two big electricity providers, Hydro-Quebec and Vermont Yankee, is looming. And there are concerns about re-licensing Yankee. What should Vermont do to meet its energy needs? (150 words.)
3) AGRICULTURE: What state-level supports and policies regarding family farms would you promote as a legislator? (150 words.)
4) PROPERTY TAXES: The idea of a property tax cap to limit the rise in school spending has been suggested, but such reductions in funds could diminish the quality of education in our schools over time. How do you solve that dilemma? (150 words.)
5) HEATING: Vermonters are worried about how they will pay to heat their homes and gas up their cars this winter. What can the Legislature and state government do to help? (150 words.)
6) ECONOMY: State government is cutting back as tax revenues fall short of expectations. What can state government do to improve the Vermont economy? (150 words.)
7) SINGLE ISSUE: Discuss an issue of importance to you that you would work to address if elected. (100 words.)
Will Stevens and John Hill are the candidates for the seat in the Addison-Rutland-1 district, which includes Orwell, Shoreham, Whiting and Benson.
HEALTH CARE: The goal should be affordable access to health care services for everyone, in a system where services can be provided without losing money. Catamount may be a step toward that goal, and any assessment of Catamount should include how many enrollees have dropped private insurance in order to qualify.
Basic health care coverage for everyone in Vermont creates a large pool that spreads the risk over more people. It would eliminate the debate over where and when the need for coverage occurred. It doesn't matter to me whether we have a system similar to Dr. Deb Richter's public-private partnership proposal, or expanded "portability" options which would result in more competition among private insurers. What does matter is that people who make healthy choices realize some sort of reward or incentive, and that providers receive a fair return. Piecemeal approaches to solving the health care situation (including workers' compensation) represent nibbling around the edges, and bolder steps are needed at both the federal and state levels, sooner than later.
ELECTRICITY: One aspect of our legislative challenge will be to weigh rate increases against available sources of power generation. This will include an examination of where our base load needs will come from, whether from Vermont Yankee, Hydro Quebec, or some other source. However, electricity costs will go up, whatever the source, since the price will be determined to some extent by the cost of spot market replacement power.
Our response needs to continue aggressive conservation and efficiency efforts, which, while not enough to cover our base load needs, are critical to flattening the demand curve. Other efforts that can feed the grid and contribute to energy self-sufficiency include the development of decentralized power supply systems such as wind, solar, and hydro, "smart" meters that give customers the ability to use power judiciously and avoid peak load periods, efficient heating and lighting systems and weatherization efforts, and net metering incentives for "alternative" power producers.
AGRICULTURE: Vermont should have a viable agricultural sector in the year 2100 and beyond. To that end, we need to ensure that the infrastructure exists to support whatever form "farming" takes on. The broad infrastructure list includes: bricks and mortar items (such as slaughterhouses and processing facilities), workforce development, (including occupational training programs in our high schools and career centers), market development, a unified and clear regulatory environment, and supportive land use policies.
Specific programs such as Farm to School (which links schools with nearby farms) should continue to be funded, and the Agency of Agriculture's mobile processing units (for poultry and fruits and vegetables) should be evaluated for effectiveness.
We were successful last session in creating market opportunities for producers of non-commodity crops, and we addressed some of the cost control needs of our dairy farmers. This effort will continue, and I anticipate tackling issues such as unclear and confusing regulatory overlap, workers' compensation costs, biomass and biofuel production, and on-farm livestock slaughter.
PROPERTY TAXES: One of the challenges of defining "quality of education" lies in identifying successful outcomes. That said, the amount of money raised by property taxes to pay for education is but one of the many factors influencing the quality of education. Parental support, nutritious meals, safe and welcoming environments, and flexibility to address a variety of learning styles are a few others. The level of pain people feel with regard to property tax payments for school funding is to some degree related to their sense of investment in the product.
School boards are accountable to the people who elected them, and their budgets are voted up or down annually. They take in the needs and interests of students, taxpayers, teachers, and administrators when they develop their budgets, and balance them against regulatory requirements and fixed costs over which they have little, if any control. As fiscal agents of the community, I trust school boards to act responsibly.
HEATING: Short term, we can make sure that the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP) funds get to those in need as efficiently and quickly as possible. Long term, it would be helpful to view the LIHEAP funds as a one time "gift" that will buy time to develop long term policies that aren't reliant on emergency funds for predictable and recurring situations such as cold winters and rising fossil fuel prices.
For existing homes, weatherization improvements should be promoted, including insulation installation, furnace upgrades and maintenance, and the use of alternative fuels. Loan or grant packages could leverage the money spent on such improvements against long term savings in fuel costs.
For new homes, buyers should demand that dwellings be designed, built, and sited in a way that maximizes passive energy gain as much as possible. Towns could, through planning and zoning, incentivize thoughtful, forward-looking residential development, while the state could explore tax policies that rewards "good behavior" as it pertains to lowered ongoing energy requirements.
ECONOMY: Vermont has three major assets: its people, its image, and its natural resources. Our economic future may depend on utilizing these assets in a way that will essentially import dollars from out of state, which will then circulate within the state for as long as possible. Historic examples of this include tourism, farming, recreation, and the production of value-added agricultural and forestry products. A future example could be an educated workforce that provides on-line services through a state-of-the-art telecommunications system.
We need to send clear signals about what we want for business in Vermont. Dueling regulatory oversight and conflicting objectives are not helpful to Vermont's businesses, and unenforced regulations detract from what might otherwise be desirable objectives. It leads to criticism about unfairness, selective enforcement, high costs, and the perception of over-regulation, which in turn leads to skepticism and cynicism about government's role in economic development.
SINGLE ISSUE: Looking ahead, successful agriculture in Vermont may have a very different look to it. As it responds to new markets and societal demands, it will move into new areas such as biomass and biofuel production, composting manufacture, and power generation. I worry that these laudable efforts will be stymied by competing regulatory interests. The essence of farming involves using land to convert solar energy to a different form that can be used by animals. We need to have a regulatory system that will permit farms and managed land use to evolve as the range of farm-raised and forest products diversifies.


text:
It's that time again, and the year 2012 was a good year for typography books! Of particular note, there are another dozen good ones that don't hit the shelves until after November 1st ... so watch our November issue! Out of a slate of hundreds, here are our favorites for this year:
* Vintage Type and Graphics: An Eclectic Collection of Typography, Ornament, Letterheads, and Trademarks
* Design Elements, Typography Fundamentals: A Graphic Style Manual for Understanding How Typography Affects Design
* Stop, Think, Go, Do: How Typography and Graphic Design Influence Behavior
* Typographic Web Design: How to Think Like a Typographer in HTML and CSS
* Scripts: Elegant Lettering from Design's Golden Age
* Typographic Design: Form and Communication
* Typography : Graphic Design in Context
* Vintage Commercial Art and Design
* Custom Lettering of the 40s & 50s
* Just My Type: A Book About Fonts
* The Little Black Book of Design
* Typography Sketchbooks
Typography Sketchbooks
This collection of typographic explorations, arranged by designer intimately reveals how over 90 of world's leading designers and typographers continually strive to find new and exciting ways of communicating through letters and words. Established designer and up-and-coming talents include Ivan Chermayeff, Carlos Segura, Milton Glaser, Maira Kalman, Bob Aulfudish, Matthew Carter (US), Javier Mariscal and Patrick Thomas (Spain), Erik Spiekermann, Viktor Nobel (Germany), Peter Bilak and Enkeling (the Netherlands), Jean Baptiste Levoe (France).
Selected by the world's most knowledgable and well-connected graphic-design commentator, Steven Heller, this survey gets into the minds of designers who create typefaces, word-images and logos through their private sketchbooks.
Full story : Typography Sketchbooks by Steven Heller
See for more details!
Just My Type: A Book About Fonts
A delightfully inquisitive tour that explores the rich history and the subtle powers of fonts.
Fonts surround us every day, on street signs and buildings, on movie posters and books, and on just about every product that we buy. But where do fonts come from and why do we need so many? Who is behind the businesslike subtlety of Times New Roman, the cool detachment of Arial, or the maddening lightness of Comic Sans (and the movement to ban it)? Simon Garfield embarks on a mission to answer these questions and more, and reveal what may be the very best and worst fonts in the world.
Full story : Just My Type: A Book About Fonts by Simon Garfield
See for more details!
Scripts: Elegant Lettering from Design's Golden Age
Seen in everything from wedding invitations and birth announcements to IOUs, menus, and diplomas, script typefaces impart elegance and sophistication to a broad variety of texts. Scripts never go out of style, and the hundreds of inventive examples here are sure to inspire today's designers. Derived from handwriting, these are typefaces that are stylized to suggest, imply, or symbolize certain traits linked to writing. Their fundamental characteristic is that all the letters, more or less, touch those before and after. ... 275 illustrations, 254 in color
Communication Arts says : "For a type nerd, the only thing missing from Scripts is a centerfold of voluptuous Spencerian. . . . About ninety percent of the book is images, glorious images."
Full story : Scripts: Elegant Lettering from Design's Golden Age by Louise Fili
See for more details!
Typographic Design: Form and Communication
For more than two decades, the type book of choice for design professionals and students
This Fifth Edition of the bestselling text in the field offers detailed coverage of such essential topicsas the anatomy of letters and type families, typographic syntax and communication, design aesthetics, and designing for legibility. Supplementing these essential topics are theoretical and structural problem-solving approaches by some of the leading design educators across the United States. Unwrapping the underlying concepts about typographic form and message, Typographic Design, Fifth Edition includes four pictorial timelines that illustrate the evolution of typography and writing within the context of world events -- from the origins of writing more than 5,000 years ago to contemporary typographic applications.
Full story : Typographic Design by Rob Carter, Ben Day with special content by Philip B. Meggs
See for more details!
Vintage Type and Graphics: An Eclectic Collection of Typography, Ornament, Letterheads, and Trademarks
Exquisite graphic design artifacts comprise this unusual collection culled from the pages of type and typography books dating from 1896 to 1936. Design professionals, students and teachers of graphic design, and anyone with an interest in vintage design will be delighted to find rare, never-before-reprinted type specimens, vintage layouts, logos, and decorations that will serve as an inspiration and resource for practicing and aspiring graphic designers. 400 black-and-white illustrations
"Type lovers and history buffs alike will enjoy this gallery of vintage typefaces, ornaments, letterheads and trademarks."ID Magazine
Full story : Vintage Type and Graphics: An Eclectic Collection of Typography, Ornament, Letterheads, and Trademarks from 1896 to 1936 by Louise Fili
See for more details!
... continues on the next page!

subset: commoncrawl


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Apr 25, 2008
Andy Oakes-Lottridge MD is an intrepid family physician entrepreneur who is now having as much fun building his practice, Personalized Health Care, as he is delivering medical care -- right in the homes of his patients.
As one of the growing number of physicians with concierge or membership-style medical practices (known to some as "boutique practices"), he opened his doors (actually the doors of his Honda Accord car) almost three years ago after recognizing some significant limitations to traditional group practice.
However, instead of opting for an office-based practice, he has chosen a practice in which 100% of his patient visit are home visits. Talk about keeping overhead down!
Listen to The Entrepreneurial MD Podcast here where you can enjoy his refreshing story and appealingly candid insights about life as a concierge home-visiting doctor in Fort Myers in the Southwestern part of Florida, and then rejoin us at The Entrepreneurial MD Blog to add your comments or questions!


text:
Perhaps my reaction to the latest unemployment statistics is colored by the fact that I'm reading them in Africa, far from the comfortable familiarity of Washington, New York, and California. There's nothing like the songs of unfamiliar birds as the sun rises over the hills of Pretoria to accentuate the strangeness of conventional Beltway wisdom.
But no matter where you are, it should always be disorienting to see the the words "8.3 percent unemployment" alongside phrases like "good news" and "economic recovery."
Barack Obama and his fellow Democrats are in an unenviable position: If they celebrate the tepid revival of jobs growth they run the risk of being seen as out of touch with the ongoing pain of many Americans and the reduced prospects for many others. If they acknowledge the ongoing misery that has abandoned millions of Americans to long-term joblessness, and millions of others to wage stagnation, they're giving ammunition to their own opponents.
The President hasn't struck the right balance yet.
"The economy is getting stronger," President Obama said on Friday. "When I come to places like this and I see the work that's being done, it gives me confidence there are better days ahead. I would bet on American workers and American know-how any day of the week."
But the rosy picture is filled with fracture lines: The pace of growth still isn't enough to bring unemployment down to reasonable and historical levels in the next several years. We're not creating the right kind of jobs. Even this tepid recovery is fragile, and could collapse at any moment because of events beyond the President's control.
Let's put the latest employment figures into perspective:
We've had three consecutive months with jobs growth of more than two hundred thousand. That's an improvement, of course, but it still leaves more than twenty million people un- or under-employed. And the fastest growing category of employment is in temp work, followed by health care (mainly low-level caretaker jobs) and "leisure" – which is described as consisting primarily of "food service and drinking places."
If it's "morning again in America," at least we know somebody's been hired to pour the coffee.
But we also know that this is not a sustainable path forward. If you want to revive the economy you need to provide well-paying jobs, which isn't happening. In fact, we're barely denting the long-term unemployment problem.
The Democrats seem to be searching for the formula that will carry them to victory. How about the truth? The truth is this: The stimulus measures worked, but we need more action. Without it the long-term reality for millions of Americans will be one of perpetual economic recession or depression.
The President could say "Our stimulus measures worked, but we compromised with Congress and didn't get enough. That means we need more of the same, because we need to improve on these successes by helping millions of people join in the recovery – which will help all of us."
Is that what he will say? There are no crystal balls in the immediate vicinity, so we don't know. But if he doesn't, he's leaving his fate in the hands of forces beyond his control – and leaving millions of Americans with no one to speak for them.


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Foodprint LA is the "fourth in a series of international conversations about food and the city."
I am very humbled and excited (but nervous) to have been asked to be a panelist at today's event. I will be part of the panel "Edible Archaeology" (3:00 to 3:55 p.m.) How has today's food culture in Los Angeles been shaped by social
changes, economic fluctuations, and technological innovations throughout
the city's history?"
There are several other great panels discussing the issue of food from all different perspectives including zoning and planning issues, mapping issues, and the last one of the day about food opportunities and challenges.
Date: Sunday, December 9
Time: 12:30 p.m. to 5 p.m.
Location: LACMA's Brown Auditorium (5905 Wilshire Blvd., Los Angeles CA 90036)
Free and open to the public; seating is limited


text:
The Kiel Week regatta, held in the regional capital of Schleswig-Holstein, is the largest sailing event in the world and a festival celebrated by millions. Besides the top sporting action, Kiel Week presents sailing in all its fascinating diversity – from classic yachts and cutter regattas on Kiel's inner firth to the grand parade of tall ships on the second Saturday of the event.
At Kiel Firth, where the sea seems to meet the sky, you can experience all the maritime charm of northern Germany. For 30 years, sailing fans and visitors from all over the world have gathered here to enjoy northern Europe's biggest summer festival. The event features around 2,000 ships and boats, regattas in every Olympic discipline and 16 other national and international boat classes – not to mention musical entertainment and delicious food and drink. And you don't need to be a sailing enthusiast to enjoy the ten-day programme – the breathtaking parade of around one hundred historical sailing ships and the spectacular firework display over Kiel Firth are two highlights enjoyed by all. A classical open-air concert outside the town hall, jazz resonating from the city's lanes and culinary delights from kitchen, cellar or galley are all part of the programme. An adventure park for budding explorers, a cities forum, a number of exhibitions and the International Warsteiner Hot Air Balloon Sail complete the programme for this unique festival. There's nothing quite like it anywhere else in the world, which is why the world descends on Kiel year after year.
Következő időpontok:
22.06.2019 - 30.06.2019
A rendezvény helyszíne
Kieler Hafen
24103 Kiel
Az árakra, időpontokra és nyitvatartási időkre nem vállalunk garanciát.


text:
Welcome to Mobileyt, the quick solution for viewing your Youtube videos on your mobile devices (iPhone, Samsung Galaxy, etc) if they've been blocked from viewing due to copyright claims on the audio.
Go to youtube.com and find
the video you'd like to share.
*new* Copy the full URL of the Youtube video.
Paste the URL below, hit
Submit & enjoy your video!
To view your video please enter the video "URL" link below and press submit.
Mobileyt was born out of sheer frustration of making fun little films with my young sons which ended up being blocked for family & friends using their mobiles to view them. What's the harm in sharing these videos between a closed group of family & friends?
I hope this website helps, and thanks for trying it out.
email@example.com | sponsored by ANU Media - Cine to DVD


text:
St. Mary Parish Hit By Possible Tornado
A possible tornado has hit St. Mary Parish. The Sheriff's Office confirming to our news partners at KATC that they have gotten reports of a twister touching down near the high school in Morgan City's Lake End Park area.
Thankfully, no injuries have been reported so far but, according to Morgan City Police Chief Travis Crouch, there is definitely some damage in the area.
We will update you as any new information comes in.


text:
LOS ANGELES, May 24 (UPI) -- The Rev. H.H. Brookins, a civil rights activist and former pastor of the First African Methodist Episcopal Church in Los Angeles, has died.
Brookins, 86, had been living in a retirement center in Los Angeles, where he died Tuesday after a long illness, the Los Angeles Times reported.
Hamel Hartford Brookins was born in Yazoo City, Miss., where his parents were sharecroppers. He became a minister in 1954 and came to Los Angeles in 1965 after stints in Lawrence, Topeka and Wichita in Kansas.
A civil rights activist, Brookins played an active role in fostering the career of Tom Bradley, who became mayor of Los Angeles, the first black to head a major western city. Later, as head of the Oklahoma-Arkansas district, Brookins became a friend of the young Arkansas governor, Bill Clinton.
"He really was not only a fantastic religious and spiritual leader, he was a fabulous politician," U.S. Rep. Maxine Waters, D-Calif., said. "His role in the black community and his understanding of how to seek power and influence at a time when we had very little is something that really should be understood and appreciated."
Brookins also worked for the church in Africa in the 1970s and was banned from what was then white-ruled Rhodesia.
He is survived by his wife, the Rev. Rosalynn Kyle Brookins, a son and two stepchildren.


text:
You have to read Western media accounts of the bombing of Qana, such as this account in the New York Times, very carefully to get any hint of the underlying facts. This Reuters story by Hussein Saad is worse; the reporter's glee at the presumed refutation of United States policy is palpable:
Her mediation drive in tatters, Rice will leave for Washington on Monday….
The appalling Kofi Annan claimed vindication in the accidental civilian deaths:
U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan urged the Security Council to condemn the attack and call for an immediate end to hostilities. "I am deeply dismayed that my earlier calls for an immediate cessation of hostilities were not heeded," Annan said.
You have to go to outlets like the Jerusalem Post to get a coherent account of the facts:
Some 150 rockets were fired from the Lebanese village of Qana over the past 20 days, Air Force Chief of Staff Brig.-Gen. Amir Eshel said on Sunday evening.
Speaking to reporters, Eshel added that Hizbullah rocket launchers were hidden in civilian buildings in the village. He proceeded to show video footage of rocket launchers being driven into the village following launches.
The building where the women and children were killed earlier today "was picked since intelligence indicated that Hizbullah guerillas were hiding inside, together with Katyusha rockets and launchers." There is, at present, no reason to doubt that that intelligence was correct.
The IDF warned residents of Qana to leave–a fact that was denied, surely falsely, by Lebanon's Prime Minister Siniora–and didn't know that refugees were in the same building where Hezbollah terrorists were hiding. To see how blatantly Hezbollah uses civilians as human shields by operating from residential neighborhoods, see Blog of the Week Vital Perspectives' videos, including one of rocket launchers firing from behind a building that looks like the one that was bombed in Qana.
Vital Perspectives also has a scanned image and translation of the leaflet the IAF has dropped all over southern Lebanon:
To all citizens south of the Litani River Due to the terror activities being carried out against the State of Israel from within your villages and homes, the IDF is forced to respond immediately against these activities, even within your villages. For your safety! We call upon you to evacuate your villages and move north of the Litani River.
State of Israel
The strangest aspect of all this, of course, is that no one doubts that Israel killed the civilians in Qana accidentally while targeting terrorists, whereas, on the other hand, Hezbollah has launched hundreds of rockets into Israel for the sole and express purpose of killing civilians. Yet where is the outrage against Hezbollah? Why is it that Kofi Annan swings into action only to denounce Israel and to promote the course that Hezbollah wants, namely a time-out so that it can rebuild its terrorist infrastructure?
UPDATE: The IDF is trying to figure out why seven to eight hours apparently went by between the bombing of the structure where several dozen civilians were killed by the IAF–between midnight and 1 a.m.–and the time the building collapsed, around 8 a.m. The obvious possibilities are 1) the building housed Hezbollah explosives which blew up hours after the air attack and caused the collapse, or 2) the bombing weakened the structure, and some otherwise-innocuous event hours later caused it to collapse. Some will wonder whether Hezbollah brought the building down deliberately to provoke exactly the reaction that has resulted. That's possible, of course, but there is at present no evidence for that hypothesis, and I haven't seen any independent evidence of a second explosion.
Via AllahPundit.


text:
Monday, June 25, 2007
8 comments:
Sending you down to tee ball is a little harsh. After work coed softball may be more appropriate.
- June 25, 2007 at 5:55 AM
Jdate has compassion for the bottom line. They could give a rat's ass about you.
- June 25, 2007 at 10:47 AM
been there. done that. you need a lot more at bats. it's a lot in a short period, but in terms of the big picture 35 is nothing.
- June 25, 2007 at 4:04 PM
- Matthew said...
WOW,that's way below the Mendoza Line. It's nice to know that Jdate like a good bartender cuts you off when you have emailed one too many.
Love the blog.
- June 25, 2007 at 5:01 PM
Aw, Marc, sorry to hear about your JProblems. Maybe take a JBreak for awhile; you're probably on JOverload!
- June 25, 2007 at 5:49 PM
Look at it this way: Job hunters often have to mail 100 resumes before getting an interview or job offer. The 35 messages for a potential wife is peanuts by comparison.
You had asked me previously what I meant by "services." I meant the religious (i.e., attending synagogue) kind. I thought you had made reference to doing that in a previous post, and wanted to know how that was going.
The JDate break is probably good for you. From your posts, you seemed to get pretty frustrated. Find something else to do not necessarily having to do with meeting women. Don't worry, it'll work out, and it will give you something new to talk about when you are ready for more JDate punishment.
- June 26, 2007 at 7:47 AM
- Marc F. said...
Ron, a friend of mine suggested that I join him for services one day to meet women. That's not really my thing. Prayer and picking up don't seem to go together.
- June 26, 2007 at 11:46 AM
I've just found this to be all too true.
However they've now lowered the quota !
In their own words to me.
JDate has a limit of 30 emails (including missed IM messages), 30 flirts, and 30 e-cards each within a 24 hour period that cannot be exceeded.
I swore off of them 1 year ago. My brother
forced me back in. I'm sorry that I just gave them another $100.
You've been warned!
- September 11, 2011 at 5:21 PM


text:
The weather is warming up and it's time to reset our schedule for summer viewing. Here's a list of new and returning shows that we're psyched to tune into this summer. We'll continue to add to the list as we gather our info. Have we left out your favourite summer pleasure? Let us know in the comments!
***Updated with new air times, channels and trailers more still to come!!!


text:
Ice Castle has several hockey leagues and events for all ages and skill levels. From tournaments to pick-up games, the action never stops at our two NHL regulation size rinks!
Read More
Ice skating excitement is not limited to Winter. At Ice Castle, our 200'x85′ rinks provide plenty of room to skate solo or with a partner. Rinks are open year-round and are the perfect place for parties.
Read More
Pro Shop
Hockey's the name of the game here.
We've got you covered from apparel to pucks, from Easton to Sauce—all at a great cost. Did we mention we've got the top of the line selection of Composite Sticks in stock?
Read More
Ice Castle is on Facebook & Twitter
Contact Ice Castle


text:
The Federal Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry, Environment and Water initiated a working group on gene technology in agriculture. The task of this working group is to achieve a coordinated approach for managing co-existence in all nine federal states. The group consists of representatives from the ministries of agriculture and of health, as well as representatives of the federal states, the chambers of agriculture, and members of agricultural associations.
The Federal Ministry of Health and Women (BMGF) is responsible for contained use and deliberate release applications from industry and research institutions. The ministry is in charge of implementing guiding laws on genetic engineering.
The Ministry of Agriculture gives comments in cases of GMO release and of placing GMO products on the market. The Austrian Federal Environmental Agency (UBA) advises the ministry and provides opinions on all applications for the deliberate release of GMOs.
The Austrian Agency for Health and Food Safety (AGES) is in charge of monitoring the use of all biotech products. AGES is also mandated with controlling labelling requirements in Austria.
The Commission on Gene Technology advises the Austrian governments on the federal and state levels on practical questions on the implementation of the Gene Technology Act. The Commission consists of scientists and representatives from industry and administration.


text:
At Schindler our commitment to people development has created an environment where every individual can succeed to their full potential.
Whether you want to follow a career in the Field or maybe even follow a career in General Management and become one day the Chief Executive Officer. Schindler is a highly successful Swiss company operating globally in markets all around the world. The true differentiator for Schindler is the way we treat our people.
If you believe in the values that we have at Schindler and you can imagine following a career with us, then really do please get in touch. We would love to hear from you.
We are constantly looking for passionate and enthusiastic people with the energy and drive to build relationships and networks. At Schindler you will find a highly motivated and engaged working environment that lets you grow as an individual and allows you to plan your career. Join us today.


text:
Notice: On April 23, 2014, Statalist moved from an email list to a forum, based at statalist.org.
[Date Prev][Date Next][Thread Prev][Thread Next][Date Index][Thread Index]
Re: st: Merging question for a panel dataset
Jonathan Eggleston <firstname.lastname@example.com>
Re: st: Merging question for a panel dataset
Mon, 13 Sep 2010 22:18:20 -0400
I figured it out, it was less complicated than I thought, a merge command followed by a reshape long statement got me the dataset I needed.
On 9/13/2010 5:21 PM, Anders Alexandersson wrote:
Jonathan, why is -merge- or -append- not applicable to your situation?
Can you provide some example data that shows the problem?
What is your key variable in addition to pid? That is, what is your
within-id identifier (subobservation), e.g., year or wave?
Are there few or many variables in each of the two datasets (asked to
figure out whether merge or append might be better)?
You can look into -joinby- and -cross- if you instead are trying to
create pairwise combinations.
Anders Alexandersson
On Mon, Sep 13, 2010 at 4:58 PM, Jonathan Eggleston
<email@example.com> wrote:
Im trying to combine varies waves of this one dataset (The British Household
Panel Survey) into one panel dataset. Each wave is one year, and the dataset
and variables for a particular year start with a specific letter. So for
example I'm trying to combine the datasets bindresp and cindresp for the
variables bhowlng and chowlng (these are the same variable, just for
different years). The person id variable is pid, and there are some
individuals that are in some waves but not others. Can anyone suggest some
stata code that will combine the datasets? I'm familiar with the merge and
append commands, but examples I find aren't quite applicable to my
situation. Thanks!
* For searches and help try:
* http://www.stata.com/help.cgi?search
* http://www.stata.com/support/statalist/faq
* http://www.ats.ucla.edu/stat/stata/
* For searches and help try:
* http://www.stata.com/help.cgi?search
* http://www.stata.com/support/statalist/faq
* http://www.ats.ucla.edu/stat/stata/


text:
Despite lack of major, architecture offerings abound
The Dartmouth
May 21, 2013
While Dartmouth does not offer a formal major in architecture, the College offers various resources for students interested in the field that incorporates both the study of design and art. The studio art department offers a three-term sequence in architecture, and the art history, engineering, history, geography and environmental studies departments also offer architecture-related coursework...
...Studio art professor Jack Wilson, who has worked for the College's planning and design office for 25 years, agreed that a liberal arts education is the best education for a budding architect.
"Architects are real generalists," he said. "They have to know about a lot of different kinds of things in order to practice architecture."
Wilson, who teaches courses in drawing and architectural design as well as a class in integrated design at the Thayer School of Engineering, said a balanced liberal arts curriculum provides a strong foundation in an unpredictable world.
"You become superbly adaptable and responsive and that's the most you can ask for from an education," he said...
...Emily Yen '10, a first year student in the Rhode Island School of Design's masters of architecture program, said that attending Dartmouth allowed her to pursue opportunities outside of architecture, including learning to whitewater kayak, volunteering in the Amazon and spending an off-term in Ecuador.
Had Yen completed a bachelor's of architecture at RISD, she said she believes her undergraduate experience would have instead been dominated by time spent in the architecture studio.
"I graduated from Dartmouth as not the greatest architect, artist or engineer, but as a well-rounded person who is prepared to approach difficulties, leadership positions and Rubik's Cube problem solving and manage my time and enjoyment," she said.
Yen, who majored in studio art and minored in engineering at the College, took courses in both disciplines before determining that a studio art major with a concentration in architecture would best help her create a portfolio for graduate school and build a solid foundation in conceptual problem-solving.
Seeing the world through a liberal arts lens has helped keep Yen open-minded, even after graduation.
"To me, architecture is, in a way, the definition of liberal arts; everything feeds into another," she said. "The more information and resources you can tap into, the stronger the concept."


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THE QUESTION Colds and other respiratory ailments are common in infants, with day-care attendance, siblings' illnesses and exposure to smoking thought to be among the contributing factors. Might the presence of pets in the house make a difference as well?
THIS STUDY analyzed data on 397 infants from birth to their first birthday. In that year, about 72 percent of the children had a fever, 40 percent had an ear infection, 97 percent had nasal congestion, 84 percent had a cough and 32 percent had wheezing. Nearly half of the children were given antibiotics in their first year. About two-thirds of the infants had a dog at home at least part of the time, and a third had a cat. Children with a household pet, especially a dog, were considered healthier overall, had fewer respiratory-tract symptoms and fewer ear infections and were given antibiotics less often than those without a pet. Infants whose family dog spent up to six hours a day in the house had the best health history. They were 62 percent less likely to have an ear infection and about half as likely to have needed antibiotics, for example.
WHO MAY BE AFFECTED? Families that include young children. Studies have shown that having pets can help people lower their blood pressure and cholesterol levels, feel less lonely and make them more apt to exercise and socialize. Pets also can carry infections, and studies have shown that pet dander can cause problems for people with allergies or asthma.
CAVEATS Data on the infants' health problems came from their parents' responses on weekly questionnaires. The study did not determine the reason for the apparent benefit of living with a pet, but the researchers theorized that exposure to pets at a very young age spurred development of the children's immune systems. Why exposure to cats had less impact than exposure to dogs also was not determined.
FIND THIS STUDY July 9 online issue of Pediatrics (www.pediatrics.org).
LEARN MORE ABOUT living with pets at www.deltasociety.org (click on "Pets" tab) and www.kidshealth.org/parents (search for "pets").
The research described in Quick Study comes from credible, peer-reviewed journals. Nonetheless, conclusive evidence about a treatment's effectiveness is rarely found in a single study. Anyone considering changing or beginning treatment of any kind should consult with a physician.


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Vital Records of Baltimore City
Vital records for Baltimore City are housed at the Maryland State Archives in Annapolis (see the Maryland State Archives site for more information). The systematic recording of birth records and death records in Maryland begins in 1875 for Baltimore City and in 1898 for the other Maryland counties. An index to Maryland's death certificates (post-1875/1898) is available online at at this link. Also available on the guide are marriage records. The Guide also contains a detailed page on Probate records, which includes wills, inventories, accounts, indentures, renunciations, and petitions.
For Baltimore births and deaths prior to 1875, you will need to examine church records. The Maryland State Archives has a significant collection of church records on microfilm and they are cataloged in the Archives' Guide to Religious Records. The Maryland Historical Society and the Enoch Pratt Free Library also have church records on microfilm. If you are unable to locate the records you need at these institutions, then you'll need to contact the church directly for access.
If you do not know which church to check, you can do a couple of things — you can check the Baltimore City Directories to find an address for your ancestor and then take a look at city maps to see what churches are in the vicinity of that address. As an alternative, you could check Baltimore City marriages at the State Archives for the marriage of your ancestors, note the name of the minister who performed the marriage, and then look for the minister's name in Edna Kanely's book Directory of Maryland Ministers (a copy is available at the State Archives). This directory will tell you the church affiliation of the minister so you'll have an idea of which church to start with.


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Think the game has been nerfed too much for my liking. I played it from release and stopped playing 10 months ago, and used a scroll of res. to get seven days of playing time, and I don't regret having stopped.
In my view TBC had the right diffulty (there was something for everyone), the right amount of tweaking possibilties through stats and talents, and a better community. Wrath..just ruined it for me. The difficulty was way too low, people was pugging a week after Naxx was released, and the game just got nerfed too badly overall. Today there's hardly any room left for tweaking through talents or items, and with the next expansion this will only get worse. A lot of stats was removed because too many people was complaining that they couldn't figure them out (I think they just didn't want to try to figure them out). Many classes have skills removed, to make the game more easy to play? I used to play a shaman in vanilla and I had a LOT of options with totems, and fair enough a few of them was rather useless, but today it's removed of any challange. Today I use the same six totems over and over (more or less), the whole nerfing of classes is just a thing that has happened all over.
I spent my seven days of free playing the last week with my old trusty shaman, and it was more of a sentimental reason, than the game itself, that made me considered paying for another month.
I don't think I'll be returning for Mists..mainly because it seems like another global nerf to the game. I like some of the elements introduced with the expansion, but I doubt it's enough to draw me back to the game. Also most of my friends who played the game, and the people I used to enjoy the game with (online friends) have long since stopped playing (most them stopped in Wrath). They were the main reason I played through Wrath.. and into Cataclysm.
So for me it's "so long and thanks for all the fish" to WoW.


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Choose a gas fire because it's clean, obedient and ready to make you feel at home the instant you summon the warm, living flames into being. Sit back and let the welcome warmth radiate from the glowing fire bed of amazing realistic, hand crafted coals. Enjoy all the sensual appeal of an open fire without the fuss.
Choose Be Modern gas fires because our designers and engineers have created a collection that makes it easy to achieve the balance you desire between stunning looks and glorious heat. Out top performer delivers fuel efficiency of 89% and up to 4.5KW of infinity adjustable warmth-enough to make the room you're in cosy and relaxing.
With this new generation of gas fires from Be modern, you are adding a true centrepiece which naturally draws people together, creating a relaxing ambiance that enhances the quality of life at home. Each of our timeless designs offer difference variations which you can refine to your tastes, be it contemporary, traditional or you own inpidual blend. Clean, convenient, controllable, comforting - that's the beauty of gas, the Be Modern way.


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Congratulations! We're excited to announce that connector part number 030-2189-00 is now available and in stock. This part number is a Connector manufactured by Bendix King. We offer some of the fastest and most competitive quotes on the market for this part. Are you interested?
All you have to do is fill out the provided Request for Quote (RFQ) form. Please make sure that all fields, especially the asterisk-marked (*) ones like Parts Needed By and Quantity (ea), are completely filled out. Your response to these fields will help us understand your requirements and calculate your quote accordingly. Someone will contact you with your quote in 15 minutes or less.


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American department stores
"In considering the social effects of the department store, one is inclined to attach the greatest importance to the contributions which they have made to the transformation in the way of life of the greatest strata of the population, a transformation which will remain the one great social fact of these last 100 years." -- Hrant Pasdermadjian, The Department Store, Its Origins, Evolution and Economics, 1954
The three biggest department stores in the mid-1960s, both in sales volume and physical size, were Macy's, Hudson's, and Marshall Field, in that order. Hudson's, shown here, had 25 stories, 16 of them selling floors. Two of its four below-ground floors were basement stores, where 60 departments did up to 25% of the store's business.
At its peak in mid-century, Hudson's employed up to 12,000 employees and welcomed 100,000 shoppers a day. It had its own telephone exchange (CApitol), and the nation's third largest switchboard, exceeded only by the Pentagon and the Bell System itself.
Restaurant reviewer Duncan Hines loved Hudson's tea rooms. In the 1947 edition of Adventures in Good Eating he wrote: "This splendid department store has devoted the greater part of a floor to the tea rooms. The food is at all times very tempting and the service has that quality of quiet elegance which adds so much to the pleasure of dining. ... Don't overlook the dining room on the mezzanine, if you happen to be in a bit of a hurry. Their chicken pie is outstanding."
Nevertheless, Field's remained conservative in many of its practices. For years it curtained its show windows on Sundays, refused to display women's underwear on manikins, and wouldn't let salesclerks wear makeup.
For decades the Marshall Field store wrestled with the John Wanamaker store in Philadelphia for the title of America's most prestigious large-scale, full-service department store.
Although the store did poorly during the Depression, by 1945 its business was booming. It had become an institution. Reeling from the shock of Pearl Harbor, a Chicago woman exclaimed, "Nothing is left any more – except, thank God, Marshall Field's."


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Developing your ideas
If you decide to start a new business, you will need to spend some time developing your business idea. One of the greatest advantages of being an entrepreneur is being able to work on something that interests you and that you are passionate about. Unfortunately, passion does not always translate into profits.
Research, research, research! The more information you can gather about the potential demand for your product or service, about your competitors, and about the needs and wants of your prospective customers, the more successful you are likely to be.
Before starting a business, you need to evaluate your idea and determine what your chances are of making a profit from that idea. This document lists some things that you should consider and provides links to additional information to help you assess your idea.
Table of Contents
Is your idea truly original?
You will need to research your idea to see if it is truly original or whether someone else has commercialized it. Capturing a niche market — one that no one else is targeting — may be more profitable than competing with others who sell a similar product or service. A business expert or mentor can help you evaluate or enhance your original business idea.
- Conducting market research
Learn more about market research, how it can improve your business decisions, and how to conduct a market research campaign.
Will people be willing to pay for your product or service?
A great idea can only translate into a successful business if people are willing to pay for the product or service.
- First, you need to determine the target market for your offering. Are you planning to sell to young people or to seniors? Is your product primarily for women, men or both? Is it a necessity or a luxury item? Are you going to sell to individuals, other businesses or to the government?
- Once you know who you are going to sell to, you'll want to find out how much the target market would be willing to pay for your product or service.
- If your product or service is something people would be interested in, but not willing to pay for, you can consider alternate business models. Some businesses, in particular in the service industries, offer their service for free or at a low price, but are able to make money through other avenues, such as advertising.
Who is your customer?
Before you begin selling something, you need to know who you are selling to. If you haven't determined who your target market is, you are likely to try to be all things to all people and end up with a product nobody likes or a service that doesn't meet anyone's needs.
When developing a general profile of your customers, you might want to define them by their demographic characteristics, such as:
- Age, usually given in a range (20-35 years)
- Sex
- Marital status
- Location of household
- Family size and description
- Income, especially disposable income (money available to spend)
- Education level, usually to last level completed
- Occupation
- Interests, purchasing profile (what are these consumers known to want?)
- Cultural, ethnic, racial background
For example, a clothing manufacturer may consider a number of possible target markets — toddlers, athletes, grandparents, teenagers and tourists. A general profile of each of these possible markets will reveal which ones are more realistic, pose less risk and are more likely to result in a profit. A test market survey of the most likely target groups, or those who buy for them, such as parents for babies and toddlers, can help you separate real target markets from unlikely possibilities.
Once you have defined your target customers, you must learn about their needs and preferences.
- What challenges do they have that could be solved with your product or service?
- What are their needs and expectations regarding this product or service?
- What types of things do they desire?
- What do they spend their money on?
- Where do they shop?
- How do they make spending decisions?
Those are just a few of the many things you might want to learn about your prospective customers.
To develop a profile of your customers and understand their needs, you will have to do some market research.
- Conducting market research
Learn more about market research, how it can improve your business decisions, and how to conduct a market research campaign.
Will your product or service be able to compete with those of existing businesses?
Once you find out who your customers are, you will need to look at who else is selling similar products and where they are selling them. Will you be competing with a product that has already been marketed? If your idea is a consumer product, check stores and catalogues or visit trade shows to find out what other products are available and what companies market them. You need to determine why customers will buy from you and not from your competitor. Is your product superior or is your price lower than other businesses? The best way to do this is to conduct market research using existing data or by doing your own survey.
Do you need intellectual property protection for your idea or invention?
Your idea, invention or product may need to be protected from being copied by others. Find out if the tangible result of your intellectual activity is eligible for intellectual property protection and how to get it.
- Copyright and intellectual property
Learn about intellectual property, including patents, trademarks, copyrights, industrial designs and integrated circuit topographies, and how they can protect your business.
How will you manufacture and distribute your product or service?
When it comes time to turn your idea into a tangible product, you will have to decide whether you want to start your own business, or approach other businesses to take on the task of developing, producing, packaging and distribution. Do you have the means and the desire to do it yourself?
If you are an inventor who is not necessarily interested in the day-to-day operations of running a business, licensing may be an interesting option to explore. When you license a product (or an idea for one), another business handles all, or part of, the manufacturing, distribution, and marketing of that product for you. In return, you get royalties, which are a percentage of the sales once the product goes to market. There are advantages and disadvantages to the different kinds of licensing deals, and you'll want to weigh your options carefully before deciding to go that route.
- Licensing your intellectual property
Find out how to get paid for allowing another business to manufacture and sell your product.
How will you promote your product or service?
An idea or invention is not very useful without customers to buy it! Have you considered how potential customers will discover your product? Some ways to market your product are:
- Having a website and being active in social media
- Participating in and attending trade shows, and by getting known through your trade association
- Placing advertisements in newspapers, on the radio, on television and on the Internet
- Distributing brochures
To learn more about effective marketing and promotion techniques, see:
- Promoting and advertising your business
Learn how to use advertising and other promotional techniques effectively.
Are there any government restrictions or obligations that could limit your idea?
Before you move ahead with your business idea, you may want to check to see if there are any regulations that may prohibit or limit the sale of your proposed product or service or the operation of your business.
- Permits, licences and regulations
Learn about permits, licences and regulations that apply to your business.
What resources do you need to get your business off the ground?
Developing a solid business plan is critical to the success of your business. A business plan will help you determine how much money you need to start your business. Also, a lender or investor will want to review it to determine your eligibility for financing. Your plan should clearly outline how you plan to make money and include an estimate of your projected sales for the first year. Base your estimates on the size of your market, your competition, your price, marketing plan and trends in the industry. Also include in your plan your expected expenses for things such as supplies, rental space, salaries, insurance, etc.
- Business planning
Find out how to write a business plan and access templates, sample business plans, market research information and statistics.
Where can you go for help to evaluate and to clarify your idea?
While you are still considering your idea, you may wish to get some help along the way.
Contact the Canada Business Network
For more information, you can call, visit or e-mail the Canada Business Network service centres and regional partner offices. Our business information officers are prepared to provide assistance with your business questions and can direct you to relevant information in our extensive collection of business-related publications, directories and electronic databases.
- Contact the Canada Business Network
The Canada Business Network has centres across the country that offer guidance, information and resources to help make your journey in business a success.
Business advisors
You may also wish to get help from professional advisors such as lawyers, accountants, and business consultants. Consult our directories of Canadian companies to find ones located near you.
- Expert advice for your business
Get answers to your questions and discuss your business concerns with an expert.
- Date modified:


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There are generally two types of people you usually rent from - either professional property managers or directly from the property owner. The property managers typically offer dedicated on-site help, experienced local staff, and sometimes professional hospitality service. Property owners typically provide direct and personal contact, flexible dates and rates, and more options in smaller towns. These property managers and property owners list their properties with TripAdvisor companies FlipKey or Holiday Lettings or one of our trusted partners worldwide.
Look for the 'Pay on TripAdvisor' badge associated with certain properties for the opportunity to pay for your rental directly on TripAdvisor and be covered by our Payment Protection . For those properties, we offer payment protection on your stay if access to the property is prevented or denied upon check-in.


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Name the classic material associated with fireplaces. It's marble, naturally. Ours comes from time-honoured sources in Italy, Spain and Portugal. Small pieces of real marble are crushed and reconstituted to give the authentic finish we call micro marble. This durable stone has a beautifully variegated surface which you can only fully appreciate first hand looking, touching, admiring. To make sure your fire surround and your room are in perfect agreement, you can choose from four finishes, each with its distinctive tone - Manila, Italica, Pearl Stone and sumptuous White. Many models give you a deeper recess to house Smartsense lighting and a choice of widths up to an expansive 53 inches. You can further ring the changes with the shape of the hearth standard lipped, five-sided or bullnose.
Marble Surrounds
Products In Marble Surrounds (Total Products 6, Showing: 1 -> 6)
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In our last blog post, we posted a link to all of the fun Superman underwear we carry for men. But what about the ladies? The kids? Anyone who has browsed our site knows that WebUndies has a big selection of products for every member of your household, and superhero stuff is no different.
WebUndies.com Superman & SuperGirl pajamas & Undies
Using the link above, you can see all 40+ products we have that feature the Man of Steel and his lady counterpart. Use our fantastic search to narrow down the choices by item type, size, gender and more. Just want girls' pajamas or underwear for boys? No problem… it's just a click away. Not just in blue and red, girls and ladies have pink, purple and black to choose from as well. our personal favorite for woman? SuperGirl panties- no one knows it, but you can feel like a superhero all day!


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Soundview Cinemas
7 Soundview Market Place,
Port Washington,
2 people favorited this theater
Originally operated by Cineplex-Odeon, the Soundview Cinemas six-plex was taken over by Clearview Cinemas in 1998 and closed by that chain in 2010.
It was reopened on April 26, 2013.
Recent comments (view all 26 comments)
The reopening is on hold; the potential new operators are forced to wait until a court determines the outcome of a foreclosure action pending against the owners of the strip mall of which the theater is a part. View article
So it's finally coming, April 26 you say.
It's reopening on schedule. They have a lineup on Fandango. Friday they reopen with new films "The Big Wedding" and "Pain & Gain" and oldies "Evil Dead", "Admission", "Olympus Has Fallen", "Spring Breakers" and "Oz, the Great and Powerful".
Went to the film "The Big Wedding" (terrible movie) at the grand reopening of theater today. $9 matinees, $12 at night. Theater was still putting new floor in and castle like images around movie posters for uupcoming films. Theater is wild, they have done a medieval motif or design if you wall. The walls have wallpaper like a stone castle wall and all the theaters are designed as if you're entering a castle. The seats I presume are all new (can't remember the old ones) all have cup holders and they're cushioned. There are statues of Knights standing around and a dragon also. The bathrooms I kid not have toilet paper holders that are actually knight figurines holding the toilet paper for you. The faucets at the sinks are shaped like dragons. They also sell french fries at the concession stand and sell about 10 different sodas including Cherry Pepsi and Dr. Pepper. Sadly only 7 people at "The Big Wedding" 12:30 PM performance.
Isn't Falaise in the area? Perhaps they're trying to pay homage to that.
That's a fair point, robboehm… Can't be much more than a mile away, if that.
If you think the theater is wild check out the web page.
The only other theaters with a theme moniff are the Movico/Cinemark24 in Maryland (Egyptain), and Westbrook 12 in Westbrook CT (Sci-Fi).Im sure there's more. The Soundview is a good anternitive to the mega multiplexes
In the day themes were all the rage. In the era of multiplexes it's a series of boxes for about 20 years until they tear them down. It's all part of the leasing rather than building ones own.
Better picture uploaded
Just login to your account and subscribe to this theater


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This article needs to be rewritten to comply with Tolkien Gateway's higher standards...
|General Information
|Gothmog, Othrod, Azog, Gorbag
|Physical Description
|Short, sallow
|Average height
|probably just above 5'[source?]
|Images of Orcs
Orcs (also called Goblins) were the footsoldiers of evil overlords - Morgoth, Sauron and the Witch-king of Angmar.
Origins and early Years
The Orcs were bred by Melkor in mockery of the Elves, sometime during the Great Darkness.[1][2]
It is unclear when exactly Orcs were created, but it certainly happened before the War for Sake of the Elves in his stronghold of Utumno. If the Orcs where at this time a capable fighting force against the host of Valinor is not known. But at least some of them survived this war, probably hidden in the deep vaults of Angband and multiplied, waiting for their master.
When Melkor (now known as Morgoth) returned to Middle-earth he created new hordes of Orcs and invaded Beleriand, where the First Battle of Beleriand took place. Orcs fought also in Dagor-nuin-Giliath.
First Age
Orcs appear in the First Age as the core force of Morgoth. Hundreds of thousands of Orcs were bred in Angband to participate in the Battles of Beleriand, which lasted 587 years.
Orcs first appear in the First Age in the Battle of the Lammoth, where they were defeated by Fingolfin and his Noldor. Orcs participated in battles such as the Dagor Aglareb, Dagor Bragollach, Nirnaeth Arnoediad, Fall of the Falas, and finally in the War of Wrath, were they were almost extinguished. Those that survived the defeat fled eastwards and hid probably in the Mountains of Angmar and the Ered Mithrin.
Second Age
At around the year thousand Sauron reappeared, took the land of Mordor as his realm and started the construction of Barad-dûr. It is likely that most of his servants where Orcs at this time that he had gathered under his command. Still for a long time Sauron's foul servants did not play an important role, for the Dark Lord had chosen a more subtle way to overthrow the free people by creating the Rings of Power.
During the War of the Elves and Sauron, in S.A.1700 Orcs formed the main power of Sauron's host. Despite the immeasurable number of Orcs, Sauron was defeated by the united hosts of Elves and Númenóreans. Still Sauron was powerful east of the Misty Mountains and the inlands and the Orcs that inhabited the mountains multiplied.
The Orcs of the Misty Mountains started a war against the Dwarves, resulting in the First Sack of Gundabad and its occupation by the Orcs. Finally, Orcs were the core force of Sauron during the War of the Last Alliance, and fought in great battles such as the Battle of Dagorlad and the Siege of Barad-dûr.
Third Age
During the Third Age, Orcs were the standard troops of the Witch-king of Angmar and Sauron (both in Mordor and in Dol Guldur).
In Angmar, Orcs fought in the Angmar War. Years later, they invaded Eriador under the leadership of the Necromancer.
The Orcs of the Misty Mountains, one of the few (more or less) independent Orcish societies, and their leader Azog started out the War of the Dwarves and Orcs, and after their defeat they retreated in their caves. They appeared again in T.A. 2941, when the Battle of Five Armies took place.
The Orcs of Mordor fought in major battles during the War of the Ring, such as the Battle of the Pelennor Fields, but the entire Mordor force was destroyed in the Battle of the Morannon.
The Orcs in Dol Guldur remained in Mirkwood until the Fall of Dol Guldur, one of the last battles of the War of the Ring.
Fourth Age and beyond
Although the entire force of Sauron was destroyed after the War of the Ring, it is assumed that many Orcs continued to live beneath the Misty Mountains and caused little trouble.[source?]
It is certain all Orcs were dependent on the Dark Lord in various ways: after their leader was defeated, the Orcs were confused and dismayed, and easily scattered by their enemies. In the millennia after Morgoth's defeat and banishment from Arda, they were without a leader they degenerated to small, quarrelsome tribes hiding in the Misty Mountains. Only when Sauron returned to power did they begin to reclaim some of their old power. The same happened after Sauron's defeat by the Last Alliance of Elves and Men: only when Sauron returned as the Necromancer of Mirkwood did the Orcs become a real danger for Middle-earth again.
It is interesting to note that to an extent, Tolkien did not regard Orcs as evil in their own right, but only as tools of Melkor and Sauron. He wrote once that "we were all orcs in the Great War".[source?]
It is unknown if the Orcs were immortal like the Elves. There is, in any case, a hint for a long livespan in the story of two of the most famous Orc-chieftains: Azog and Bolg. Bolg, being the son of Azog, was the chieftain of the Orcs who attacked Erebor in the Battle of Five Armies in T.A. 2941. Azog himself was killed in the Battle of Azanulbizar in T.A. 2799, so Bolg was aproximately 150 years old.
In Tolkien's writing, Orcs are described as humanoid, roughly human-sized, ugly and filthy. Although not dim-witted, they are portrayed as dull and miserable beings, who corrupt words and are only able to destroy, not to create. They had sour black blood.[source?]
Kinds of Orcs
Tolkien loosely implies that there are actually several different breeds of Orcs, not simply in the wide variety in clans, but strains of Orc that were specifically bred for certain tasks.
The Fellowship usually encounters the large soldier-Orcs bred for war, and sometimes the "snaga" variety which were more geared towards being labourers. However, a strong hint at the variety of Orc breeds is when Frodo and Sam are in Mordor, and realize that they are being followed by two Orcs, then hide to observe them. One of the Orcs is a normal soldier-Orc, but the other is described as a "Snuffler", a breed specifically geared towards being a tracker. This tracker-Orc was, compared to the soldier-Orc, physically unimposing, but had vastly overdeveloped sensory organs, particularly a single giant nostril. While physically weak compared to the soldier-Orc, the "snuffler" was able to skilfully kill the soldier-orc when they got into a disagreement.
Orcs and Goblins
The term goblin was used primarily in The Hobbit but also in The Lord of the Rings where it is used synonymously with "Orc".[3][4]
"Goblin" is an English word, whereas "Orcs" is Old English, the language used by Tolkien to represent Rohirric.[5] Thus, there is no difference between Orcs and Goblins, and the two names of different languages have much the same relationship as dog (English) and hund (German).
The original edition of The Hobbit and early drafts of The Lord of the Rings first used "goblin" everywhere and used "hobgoblin" for larger, more evil goblins: when goblins were replaced with Orcs Tolkien invented the term Uruk-hai for his more evil Orcs.
The word Orc is said to be the "form of the name that other races had for this foul people as it was in the language of Rohan".[6]
In his late, post-Lord of the Rings writings, Tolkien preferred the spelling Ork.[7] This was evidently mainly to avoid the form Orcish, which would be naturally pronounced with the c as /s/ instead of /k/. (In Tolkien's languages the letter c was always pronounced /k/.) It is also possible that the word is a Common Tongue Version of 'orch', the Sindarin word for Orc. The original sense of the word seems to be "bogey", "bogeyman", that is, something that provokes fear, as seen in the Quenya cognate urko, pl. urqui.[source?]
Tolkien derived the word orc from Old English believing it refers to a kind of evil spirits,[8][9] which in turn derives from Latin Orcus "Hades". He also thought it survives in the modern language for sea-beasts,[10] such as the Orca Whale.
Orc is an Old English word that refers mainly to a kind of metal cup (from Latin Urceus).[note 1] However, in a 11th century glossary, this entry was conflated with another entry which refers to evil giants such as þyrs and other monsters, also glossed in Latin as Orcus. This merge of the two entries made many philologists of the previous centuries, like Tolkien, to believe that Orc was an actual Old English word that refers to any kind of evil creature from the underworld.[11]
The word Orcnéas is once found only in Beowulf (lines 112-113) and is cited as an example of the word "Orc" in Old English text. Actually its meaning is not clear, and it is thought to refer to corpses (néas) from the Underworld.
However, it is also mentioned that the word Orc is Anglo-Saxon for "Foreigner, Monster, Demon" and was used to refer to the Normans invading the Anglish in 1066.[12]
"Orcs" in Tolkien's languages
Tolkien said that one of the reason of choosing "Orc" over "Goblin" was the similarity with his fictional languages.[13] Indeed most Elvish, Mannish and other words for Orc, are similar to the English word.
The basic Primitive Quendian root, from which the words for Orc derive, is RUKU (said to refer to any "bogey" that scared the Elves)[13]:
- Quenya orco[14] (pl. Orkor[15][16]); Exilic Quenya urko (pl. orkor and orqui)[13]
- Sindarin: orch/Orch (pl. yrch/Yrch, class pl. Orchoth/orchoth[note 2])[13][8][17][14][6]; glamhoth
- Nandorin: ūriʃ[17]
- Adûnaic: urku, urkhu[13]
- Westron: orka[14]
- Black Speech: uruk[6][13][8][14]
- Khuzdul: Rukhs (pl. Rakhās), possibly derived from an unknown Avarin word of the same meaning[13][note 3]
- Drúadan language: gorgûn ("orc-folk"; the form gorgûn is perhaps plural of an unknown singular form)[18][19][13]
In the earliest versions of Qenya, Tolkien had words such as "Ork (orq-) pl. Orqi and fem. "orqindi".[source?]
In Noldorin, the earlier version of Sindarin, the word for Orc is the same: orch (pl yrch).[20][21][22] The Gnomish word for "one of a tribe of the orcs. a goblin" is said to be Gong.[23]
Goblin is a folk word which according to The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Current English is probably derived from the Anglo-French gobelin a diminutive of gobel (cf. kobold). William D.B. Loos notes that goblin is a Romance-derived word, unlike other Germanic words preferred by Tolkien.[24]
"Goblin" in Tolkien's languages
In the Etymologies, the Elvish names used to translate "goblin" derive from root ÓROK and are:[20]
- Quenya: orko (pl. orqi)
- Noldorin: orch (pl yrch, archaic yrchy[25])
- Danian: urc (pl. yrc)
- Doriathrin: urch (pl. urchin)
In an early linguistic writing, Tolkien translated the Gnomish word Gong as "one of a tribe of the orcs. a goblin."[26]
Other Versions of the Lengendarium
According to the oldest "theory" proposed by Tolkien, Orcs were made of stone and slime through the sorcery of Morgoth. But, Tolkien later changed the legendarium so that Morgoth could no longer produce life on his own.
While Tolkien originally saw all Orcs as descended from tortured Elves, later comments of his indicate, according to Christopher Tolkien in Morgoth's Ring ("Myths Transformed, text X"), that he began to feel uncomfortable with the theory that orcs were descending from Elves. However, Tolkien died before he could complete his upheaval of the cosmology, and in the published version of The Silmarillion, the Elf origin of Orcs was adopted. It does not appear that the elder Tolkien ever decided on a definitive answer.
The origin of Orcs is an open question. In Tolkien's writings, evil is not capable of independent creation, making it unlikely that the Vala Melkor, who was obviously the first to produce them, could do that ex nihilo.
A list of origins, proposed by Tolkien :
Made from the earth
According to the oldest "theory" proposed by J.R.R. Tolkien (found in The Fall of Gondolin, from The Book of Lost Tales, circa 1917 — the first tale of Middle-earth to be written in full), Orcs were made of stone and slime through the sorcery of Morgoth :
"bred from the heats and slimes of the earth"[27]
East Elves (Avari)
The Silmarillion contains a suggestion that Orcs are descended from East Elves captured by Melkor, their minds and bodies distorted and corrupted.
"Yet this is held true by the wise of Eressëa, that all those of the Quendi [Elves] who came into the hands of Melkor, ere Utumno was broken, were put there in prison, and by slow arts of cruelty were corrupted and enslaved; and thus did Melkor breed the hideous race of the Orcs in envy and mockery of the Elves, of whom they were afterwards the bitterest foes....This it may be was the vilest deed of Melkor, and the most hateful to Ilúvatar."[28]
There is evidence of the immortality, or otherwise long life of Orcs. They certainly did live for at the very least hundreds of years, since Bolg was the son of Azog and his death occurred over 140 years after the death of his father. This theory is inconsistent with a statement made in the "Myths Transformed" essay of Morgoth's Ring that the Orcs had short lifespans in relation to the Númenóreans.
This corrupted elves origin is probably the one used in Peter Jackson's live action films. In the film of The Two Towers, Saruman says -
"Do you know how the Orcs first came into being? They were elves once, taken by the dark powers, tortured and mutilated. A ruined and terrible form of life..."
Of course this leaves open the possibility of one of the mixed origins (see below) being true in the films, as this was how they "first" appeared, not discounting other corrupted creatures or men being added to the ranks later.
Sentient beasts
Another of Tolkien's theories proposes that Orcs may have begun as soulless animals of vaguely humanoid shapes, empowered by the will of the Dark Lord (Morgoth) and learning language only as parrots do:
"The Orcs were beasts of humanized shape (to mock Men and Elves) deliberately perverted I converted into a more close resemblance to Men. Their 'talking' was really reeling off 'records' set in them by Melkor. Even their rebellious critical words - he knew about them. Melkor taught them speech and as they bred they inherited this; and they had just as much independence as have, say, dogs or horses of their human masters. This talking was largely echoic (cf. parrots)."[29]
Later in the same text he theorizes that some Orcs may have been Elves, who then mated with these beasts and with Men.
"It remains therefore terribly possible there was an Elvish strain in the Orcs. These may then even have been mated with beasts (sterile!) - and later Men. Their life-span would be diminished. And dying they would go to Mandos and be held in prison till the End."[29]
It is certain all Orcs were dependent on the Dark Lord in various ways: after their leader was defeated, the Orcs were confused and dismayed, and easily scattered by their enemies. In the millennia after Morgoth's defeat and banishment from Arda, they were without a leader, and degenerated to small, quarrelsome tribes hiding in the Misty Mountains. Only when Sauron returned to power did they begin to reclaim some of their old standing. The same happened after Sauron's defeat by the Last Alliance of Elves and Men: only when Sauron returned as the Necromancer of Mirkwood did the Orcs become a real danger for Middle-earth again.
Fallen Maiar
There are hints in the History of Middle-earth series of books, (especially in Morgoth's Ring in the section "Myths Transformed"), that some Orc leaders, such as the First Age's Boldog, or the Great Goblin encountered by Bilbo and the Dwarves, may in fact have been fallen Maiar which had taken Orc form:
"Some of these things may have been delusions and phantoms but some were no doubt shapes taken by the servants of Melkor, mocking and degrading the very forms of the children. For Melkor had in his service great numbers of Maiar, who had the power, as their Master, of taking visible and tangible shape in Arda."[30]
"Boldog (…) is a name that occurs many times in the tales of the War. But it is possible that Boldog was not a personal name, and either a title, or else the name of a kind of creature: the Orc-formed Maiar, only less formidable than the Balrogs" [31]
"Melkor had corrupted many spirits — some great as Sauron, or less as Balrogs. The least could have been primitive Orcs."[32]
Corrupted Men
While Tolkien at some point saw all Orcs as descended from the original corrupted and tortured Elves, later comments of his indicate, according to Christopher Tolkien in Morgoth's Ring "Myths Transformed" text X, that he began to feel uncomfortable with this theory. At about the same time he removed the references to the Thrall-Ñoldorin, he also began searching for a new origin for the Orcs. It seems Tolkien wanted to change the origin of the Orcs to make them corrupted and twisted Humans. He says of this Human origin view of the Orcs :
"This view of the origin of the Orcs thus meets with difficulties of chronology. But though Men may take comfort in this, the theory remains nonetheless the most probable. It accords with all that is known of Melkor, and of the nature and behaviour of Orcs - and of Men. Melkor was impotent to produce any living thing, but skilled in the corruption of things that did not proceed from himself, if he could dominate them."[33]
Also in Unfinished Tales there is a passage about the Drúedain which says :
"To the unfriendly who, not knowing them well, declared that Morgoth must have bred the Orcs from such a stock the Eldar answered: 'Doubtless Morgoth, since he can make no living thing, bred Orcs from various kinds of Men, but the Drúedain must have escaped his shadow; for their laughter and the laughter of Orcs are as different as the light of Aman from the darkness of Angband.' But some thought, nonetheless, that there had been a remote kinship, which accounted for their special enmity. Orcs and Drûgs each regarded the other as renegades."[34]
Tolkien would have had to change the cosmology and prehistory of Arda, for the awakening of Men to happen earlier, for there to have been Men for Morgoth or Sauron to corrupt. He did not live long enough to complete this task however.
A mix of corrupted Elves and Men
A late idea of Tolkien seems to be that Orcs (or Orks, showing the late spelling change) had a mixed origin of Elves and Men. In a note included in the "Myths Transformed" section of Morgoth's Ring (probably written in the late 1950s) he says :
"Since Melkor could not 'create' an independent species, but had immense powers of corruption and distortion of those that came into his power, it is probable that these Orks had a mixed origin. Most of them plainly (and biologically) were corruptions of Elves (and probably later also of Men). But always among them (as special servants and spies of Melkor, and as leaders) there must have been numerous corrupted minor spirits who assumed similar bodily shapes. (These would exhibit terrifying and demonic characters.)"[35]
Some cross-bred with Men
Tolkien also suggested that Men were cross-bred with Orcs under Morgoth's lieutenant, Sauron (and possibly under Morgoth himself). The process was later repeated during the War of the Ring by Saruman. This possibly refers to the way the Uruk-hai and the Half-Orcs were created, in The Lord of the Rings.
"There is no doubt that long afterwards, in the Third Age, Saruman rediscovered this, or learned of it in lore, and in his lust for mastery committed this, his wickedest deed: the interbreeding of Orcs and Men, producing both Men-orcs large and cunning, and Orc-men treacherous and vile."[33]
Tolkien's Orcs have allegedly been a subject of criticism of racism. Tolkien described Orcs as "squat, broad, flat-nosed, sallow-skinned, with wide mouths and slant eyes: in fact degraded and repulsive versions of the (to Europeans) least lovely Mongol-types".[36] Another possible offensive theme present in orcs (though not necessarily racist), is the fact that when the orcs talk, they often use the same phrases and accents that the English working-class is known to use.[source?]
Portrayal in Adaptations
This article or section is a stub. Please help Tolkien Gateway by expanding it.
2003: The Lord of the Rings: War of the Ring:
- Goblins have been made clearly distinct from Orcs.
2006: The Lord of the Rings: The Battle for Middle-earth II:
- Goblins have been made clearly distinct from Orcs.
2007: The Lord of the Rings Online:
- Goblins are small in stature; a little shorter than Hobbits. In contracts, Orcs are about the size of Men. Goblins are also weaker than the orcs.
See also
- ↑ J.R.R. Tolkien, Christopher Tolkien (ed.), The Silmarillion, "Quenta Silmarillion: Of the Coming of the Elves and the Captivity of Melkor"
- ↑ J.R.R. Tolkien, The Lord of the Rings, The Two Towers, "Treebeard"
- ↑ J.R.R. Tolkien, The Lord of the Rings, The Two Towers, "The Departure of Boromir"
- ↑ Wayne G. Hammond and Christina Scull (eds), The Lord of the Rings: A Reader's Companion, p. 24
- ↑ J.R.R. Tolkien, The Lord of the Rings, Appendix F, "The Languages and Peoples of the Third Age", "Of Other Races"
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 6.2 J.R.R. Tolkien, The Lord of the Rings, Appendix F, "The Languages and Peoples of the Third Age", "Of Other Races"
- ↑ J.R.R. Tolkien, Christopher Tolkien (ed.), The Peoples of Middle-earth
- ↑ 8.0 8.1 8.2 J.R.R. Tolkien; Humphrey Carpenter, Christopher Tolkien (eds.), The Letters of J.R.R. Tolkien, Letter 144, (dated 25 April 1954)
- ↑ J.R.R. Tolkien, "Gene Wolfe 7 November 1966" (letter)
- ↑ J.R.R. Tolkien, "Nomenclature of The Lord of the Rings" in Wayne G. Hammond and Christina Scull (eds), The Lord of the Rings: A Reader's Companion, p. 762
- ↑ Bosworth and Toller's An Anglo-Saxon Dictionary (1898), corrected in later editions
- ↑ "1066 The Battle for Middle Earth" 2009 (documentary)
- ↑ 13.0 13.1 13.2 13.3 13.4 13.5 13.6 13.7 J.R.R. Tolkien, Christopher Tolkien (ed.), The War of the Jewels, "Part Four. Quendi and Eldar: Appendix C. Elvish names for the Orcs", pp. 389-91
- ↑ 14.0 14.1 14.2 14.3 J.R.R. Tolkien, "Words, Phrases and Passages in Various Tongues in The Lord of the Rings", in Parma Eldalamberon XVII (edited by Christopher Gilson), p. 47
- ↑ J.R.R. Tolkien, Christopher Tolkien (ed.), The War of the Jewels, "The Grey Annals": §27, p. 12
- ↑ J.R.R. Tolkien, Christopher Tolkien (ed.), Morgoth's Ring, pp. 74, 194
- ↑ 17.0 17.1 J.R.R. Tolkien, "Words, Phrases and Passages in Various Tongues in The Lord of the Rings", in Parma Eldalamberon XVII (edited by Christopher Gilson), pp. 52-4
- ↑ J.R.R. Tolkien, "Words, Phrases and Passages in Various Tongues in The Lord of the Rings", in Parma Eldalamberon XVII (edited by Christopher Gilson), p. 99
- ↑ J.R.R. Tolkien, The Lord of the Rings, The Return of the King, "The Ride of the Rohirrim"
- ↑ 20.0 20.1 J.R.R. Tolkien, Christopher Tolkien (ed.), The Lost Road and Other Writings, "Part Three: The Etymologies", p. 379 (entry for ÓROK)
- ↑ J.R.R. Tolkien, Christopher Tolkien (ed.), Morgoth's Ring, "Part Three. The Later Quenta Silmarillion: (I) The First Phase: 7. Of the Flight of the Noldor", p. 195
- ↑ J.R.R. Tolkien, Christopher Tolkien (ed.), The Monsters and the Critics and Other Essays, "A Secret Vice", p. 217
- ↑ J.R.R. Tolkien, "I-Lam na-Ngoldathon: The Grammar and Lexicon of the Gnomish Tongue", in Parma Eldalamberon XI (edited by Christopher Gilson, Arden R. Smith, and Patrick H. Wynne), p. 41
- ↑ William D.B. Loos, Enemies and Miscellaneous: What was the relationship between Orcs and Goblins? at The Tolkien Frequently Asked Questions List (accessed 3 July 2011)
- ↑ J.R.R. Tolkien, "Addenda and Corrigenda to the Etymologies — Part Two" (edited by Carl F. Hostetter and Patrick H. Wynne), in Vinyar Tengwar, Number 46, July 2004, p. 7
- ↑ J.R.R. Tolkien, "I-Lam na-Ngoldathon: The Grammar and Lexicon of the Gnomish Tongue", in Parma Eldalamberon XI (edited by Christopher Gilson, Arden R. Smith, and Patrick H. Wynne), p. 41
- ↑ The Book of Lost Tales, Vol. 2
- ↑ The Silmarillion
- ↑ 29.0 29.1 'Morgoth's Ring', "Myths transformed", text VIII'
- ↑ Morgoth's Ring, "Myths transformed", text X
- ↑ Author's footnote to the text X
- ↑ Author's note to text
- ↑ 33.0 33.1 Morgoth's Ring, "Myths Transformed" - Text X
- ↑ Unfinished Tales, "The Drúedain"
- ↑ Morgoth's Ring, "Myths Transformed" - Text IX
- ↑ J.R.R. Tolkien; Humphrey Carpenter, Christopher Tolkien (eds.), The Letters of J.R.R. Tolkien, Letter 210, (undated, written June 1958)


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CTA's Quality Education Investment Act Is Model Intervention Program
The largest public education reform program of its kind, California's Quality Education Investment Act (QEIA) of 2006 is making sustained progress in helping at-risk students succeed in the classroom after two full years of implementation, according to new initial research unveiled today at a CTA symposium here on QEIA with nearly 200 California teachers, education experts and lawmakers' staff.
The landmark law, sponsored by CTA, shows that California educators are part of the conversation about meaningful education reform for our schools of greatest need. Providing extra state funding for proven reforms like smaller class sizes at lower-performing schools, QEIA and its emphasis on collaboration among educators, parents and principals is helping to make strong academic gains despite challenges from student poverty, diversity and language, the new CTA research shows.
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Sanchez noted that CTA has been deeply involved in working with QEIA schools, offering training to staff about the law and implementing school change. Sanchez was joined at the symposium by state Superintendent of Public Instruction-elect Tom Torlakson, who wrote the QEIA law (SB 1133) and praised its promise for students. "The Quality Education Investment Act puts the emphasis where it should be -- on the classroom and on teaching," Torlakson said. "I think the successful reforms of QEIA could definitely make a difference in all of our schools of greatest need in California."
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Detectives investigating the disappearance of Lancing man Mark Manning have charged a man with murder.
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text: A new study shows that there are more serious implications for girls who drop out of school than for boys. Reuters reports that adolescent girls who fail academically are more likely to suffer from depression, go on welfare, and have low rates of job stability. The study, helmed by the University of Washington's Carolyn McCarty, surveyed 800 Seattle teens, many of whom were from high-crime neighborhoods. According to Reuters, "45 percent of the girls and 68 percent of the boys in the study experienced a major school failure, but 22 percent of the girls later became depressed compared with 17 percent for the boys." McCarty noted that "This gender paradox shows that while school failure is more atypical for girls, it appears to have more severe consequences when it does occur." [Reuters]