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Tooling Article
The Die-Spring Evolution
|Spring manufacturers continue to implement more reliable and capable in-process SPC controls and advanced CNC coiling equipment to supply consistent-quality-level springs to metalformers, with zero defects.
Spring characteristics such as hole and rod fit, free length and squareness affect overall tooling performance. Now, as advances in spring materials, spring-manufacturing equipment and coatings allow stampers to realize dramatic quality improvements.
Key Parameters: Tensile Strength, Wire Shape
The tensile strength of the spring wire determines the spring's energy-storage capacity and its relaxation. The ideal spring material has a high tensile strength and high elastic limit.
Initially, die springs were typically fabricated using music wire or hard-drawn round wire. Then, in the late 1980s, some manufacturers transitioned to chrome-vanadium steel wire and chrome-silicon wire, which delivered increased tensile strengths and elastic limits to increase energy-storage capacity and reduce spring relaxation. The next generation of enhanced spring materials—chrome-vanadium and chrome-silicon combinations—further improved mechanical properties. However, metalformers considering implementing these advanced-material springs should carefully consider the cost-benefit equation, since die springs often outlast the life of the tools.
Over the last 20 years, metalforming companies have transitioned from using die springs coiled from round wire to springs constructed with shaped wire—a rectangular or keystoned crosssection. Most die springs manufactured today feature a keystoned crosssection produced from pretempered/pretrapped wire or from pretrapped annealed wire, to maximize available material. These springs optimize energy-storage capacity, as more material can be allocated into the available space in the die.
Warding off Corrosion
General corrosion, galvanic corrosion, stress corrosion and corrosion fatigue threaten to reduce spring life and load-carrying capacity. To ward off corrosion and optimize spring life, manufacturers offer powder-coated or plated springs whose coatings typically meet or exceed 100-hr. salt-spray testing. These coated springs suffice in most applications.
In more challenging environments, to combat corrosion metalformers can opt for springs with sacrificial coatings —primarily water-based coatings that contain metal oxides and aluminum flakes. Zinc and aluminum platelets align in multiple layers, providing several advantages including barrier protection, passivation, positive galvanic action and self-repairing (sacrificial) qualities. These coatings, with the addition of advanced sealers, allow die springs to sustain as many as 1000 hr. of salt-spray resistance. The result is a more corrosion-resistant die spring, the reduced likelihood of a spring failure due to surface defects, and a lower coefficient of friction.
Standards for Design and Quality
Basic die-design parameters that dramatically affect spring performance and life include clearance between the spring, pocket and rod. The recommended clearances are based on how the diameter of the spring increases during compression, and are calculated using a formula based on initial spring pitch.
Die designers often find creative s to optimize the use of space in the die. For example, they can stack springs or nest them—both practices often can reduce cost compared to either increasing the size of the die or moving to nitrogen gas springs. To make it easier for designers to specify and select a die spring for a given application, spring manufacturers have adopted standard designs—originally to the NAAMS (North American Automotive Metric Standards) global standard that emanated in the mid-1990s from the automotive metalforming industry in an attempt to reduce the cost of stamping-die components, and then to European (ISO) and Asian (JIS) standards. The NAAMS line (defined by the Raymond spring standards and still incorporating the original Raymond colors of blue, red, gold and green) continues to lead the in the United States, followed by ISO and JIS.
All of these standards attempt to increase spring quality while making them worldwide commodities. Quality initiatives such as TS 16949, ISO 9000 and ISO 14000 demand that spring manufacturers continue to implement more reliable and capable in-process SPC controls and advanced CNC coiling equipment, to supply consistent-quality-level springs to metalformers, with zero defects.
The Case for Gas Springs
Growing demand from metalformers to develop complex, large tools to form increasingly complex parts requires springs capable of delivering consistent and repeatable forces. This trend has helped lead a transition in some cases to the use of nitrogen gas springs. As the ability to control spring force becomes more critical in these complex applications—typically to prevent wrinkles and tears—tool and die designers find that gas springs provide more consistent loading than do coil springs, but at increased cost. Die designers, therefore, should follow these guidelines when specifying die springs:
• Select the appropriate die springs early in the design process;
• Ensure that the springs are sufficiently preloaded;
• Protect the springs from adverse external elements;
• Provide proper spring guidance; and
• Maintain equipment regularly. MF
See also: Associated Spring-Raymond, Barnes Group
Related Enterprise Zones: Tool & Die


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ROCHESTER — Tuesday night, at a special budget meeting for the both the Rochester School Board Instruction and Special Services committees, board members said they had to find room in the budget to save teachers' jobs.
Since the start of the budget process this year, the school department has revealed several staff members, from administrators down to teachers and paraprofessionals, must be laid off to meet the tax cap by saving $1.6 million.
Chairman of Special Services Committee Julie Brown said there was no room left in their "bare bones" budget, with some reductions listed under athletics and other categories already. Of that budget though, there was a large increase in fiscal year 2013's projected expenses for special education students, due to the district taking on a large number of special needs students.
The budget was set at $889,880, compared to last year's figure of $738,337.
Special Education Coordinator Christiane Allison pointed out a student was just taken on who must travel to Massachusetts for special classes, she said, at a cost of about $15,000 per month to the district for transportation costs alone.
Board member Daniel Harkinson made a motion that was unanimously accepted from the Instruction Committee to shave $75,000 off the budget, where school administrators at each level will make the decisions on how to modify their departments to fit the budget.
"I don't think it's our job to micromanage," board member Anthony Pastelis added, who originally proposed a similar motion to Harkinson's.
Harkinson emphasized no cuts are easy, and the Rochester school district does not waste much money on new books and equipment, but he said it would be necessary to scale back the budget to save valued staff positions.
"I'm mindful of the fact we're frugal. We don't spend a lot but I think we need to find as much money as we can to put back in some of the teaching positions that are on the block," he said.
"Books, supplies, desks, chairs — they're pretty important," Pastelis added. "But you know what? They've never taught our students."
Brown said she was concerned for the future of the schools. With limited supplies, she said staff will have to resort to fundraising or, purchasing the needed materials themselves out of pocket.
"At this rate, they used to say you have to have a bake sale to get a ship or an airplane," Brown said. "Now we're going to need a bake sale to supply the Rochester youngsters."

subset: commoncrawl


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Winslet, as the character Adele, copes with a complicated relationship in this sneak peek
Kate Winslet redefines complicated relationships in her new romantic drama Labor Day.
The film tells the story of a woman and her son housing an escaped convict (Josh Brolin). The situation becomes increasingly dangerous when the family starts developing a bond with their unexpected guest.
PEOPLE has an exclusive look at the film, based on Joyce Maynard's novel of the same name, before it hits theaters on Jan. 31. In this clip, Adele (Winslet) works to mask her feelings for Brolin's character while convincing him to stay in her home.
Whether in Titanic or Hamlet, love never seems to come easily for Winslet's characters.
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Where Mothbloods Bloom
Special | 15m 55s
Autumn, fed up and exhausted, cuts ties with her heroin addict boyfriend in a gas station parking lot. Stranded and alone, she approaches a truck driver eating by himself. The two strangers find a common bond as they awkwardly share a table. A film by Grant Conversano.
Aired: 05/31/19Video has closed captioning.
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Film School Shorts is made possible by a grant from Maurice Kanbar, celebrating the vitality and power of the moving image, and by the members of KQED.


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Benefits of shipping cargo to Poland
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Poland, a country the size of New Mexico, is in north-central Europe. Most of the country is a plain with no natural boundaries except the Carpathian Mountains in the south and the Oder and Neisse rivers in the west. Other major rivers, which are important to commerce, are the Vistula, Warta, and Bug.
Great (north) Poland was founded in 966 by Mieszko I, who belonged to the Piast dynasty. The tribes of southern Poland then formed Little Poland. In 1047, both Great Poland and Little Poland united under the rule of Casimir I the Restorer. Poland merged with Lithuania by royal marriage in 1386. The Polish-Lithuanian state reached the peak of its power between the 14th and 16th centuries, scoring military successes against the (Germanic) Knights of the Teutonic Order, the Russians, and the Ottoman Turks.
Lack of a strong monarchy enabled Russia, Prussia, and Austria to carry out a first partition of the country in 1772, a second in 1792, and a third in 1795. For more than a century thereafter, there was no Polish state, just Austrian, Prussian, and Russian sectors, but the Poles never ceased their efforts to regain their independence. The Polish people revolted against foreign dominance throughout the 19th century. Poland was formally reconstituted in Nov. 1918, with Marshal Josef Pilsudski as chief of state. In 1919, Ignace Paderewski, the famous pianist and patriot, became the first prime minister. In 1926, Pilsudski seized complete power in a coup and ruled dictatorially until his death on May 12, 1935.
Despite a ten-year nonaggression pact signed in 1934, Hitler attacked Poland on Sept. 1, 1939. Soviet troops invaded from the east on Sept. 17, and on Sept. 28, a German-Soviet agreement divided Poland between the USSR and Germany. Wladyslaw Raczkiewicz formed a government-in-exile in France, which moved to London after France's defeat in 1940. All of Poland was occupied by Germany after the Nazi attack on the USSR in June 1941. Nazi Germany's occupation policy in Poland was designed to eradicate Polish culture through mass executions and to exterminate the country's large Jewish minority.
The Polish government-in-exile was replaced with the Communist-dominated Polish Committee of National Liberation by the Soviet Union in 1944. Moving to Lublin after that city's liberation, it proclaimed itself the Provisional Government of Poland. Some former members of the Polish government in London joined with the Lublin government to form the Polish Government of National Unity, which Britain and the U.S. recognized. On Aug. 2, 1945, in Berlin, President Harry S. Truman, Joseph Stalin, and Prime Minister Clement Attlee of Britain established a new de facto western frontier for Poland along the Oder and Neisse rivers. (The border was finally agreed to by West Germany in a nonaggression pact signed on Dec. 7, 1970.) On Aug. 16, 1945, the USSR and Poland signed a treaty delimiting the Soviet-Polish border. Under these agreements, Poland was shifted westward. In the east, it lost 69,860 sq mi (180,934 sq km); in the west, it gained (subject to final peace conference approval) 38,986 sq mi (100,973 sq km).
A new constitution in 1952 made Poland a "people's democracy" of the Soviet type. In 1955, Poland became a member of the Warsaw Treaty Organization, with its foreign policy identical to that of the USSR. The government undertook persecution of the Roman Catholic Church as a remaining source of opposition. Wladyslaw Gomulka was elected leader of the United Workers (Communist) Party in 1956. He denounced the Stalinist terror, ousted many Stalinists, and improved relations with the church. Most collective farms were dissolved, and the press became freer. A strike that began in shipyards and spread to other industries in Aug. 1980 produced a stunning victory for workers when the economically hard-pressed government accepted for the first time in a Marxist state the right of workers to organize in independent unions.
Led by Solidarity, an independent union founded by an electrician, Lech Walesa, workers launched a drive for liberty and improved conditions. A national strike for a five-day workweek in Jan. 1981 led to the dismissal of Prime Minister Pinkowski and the naming of the fourth prime minister in less than a year, Gen. Wojciech Jaruzelski. Martial law was declared on Dec. 13, when Walesa and other Solidarity leaders were arrested, and Solidarity was outlawed. Martial law formally ended in 1984 but the government retained emergency powers. Increasing opposition to the government because of the failing economy led to a new wave of strikes in 1988. Unable to quell the dissent entirely, the government relegalized Solidarity and allowed it to compete in elections.
Solidarity members won a stunning victory in 1989, taking almost all the seats in the Senate and all of the 169 seats they were allowed to contest in the Sejm. This gave them substantial influence in the new government. Tadeusz Mazowiecki was appointed prime minister. Lech Walesa won the presidential election of 1990 with 74% of the vote. In 1991, the first fully free parliamentary election since World War II resulted in representation for 29 political parties. Efforts to turn Poland into a market economy, however, led to economic difficulties and widespread discontent. In the second democratic parliamentary election of Sept. 1993, voters returned power to ex-Communists and their allies. Solidarity's popularity and influence continued to wane. In 1995, Aleksander Kwasniewski, leader of the successor to the Communist Party, the Democratic Left, won the presidency over Walesa in a landslide.
In 1999, Poland became part of NATO, along with the Czech Republic and Hungary.
In Sept. 2001 parliamentary elections, former Communists, reconstituted as the center-left Democratic Left Alliance, won 41% of the vote. The election seemed to mark the demise of Solidarity, which did not win a single seat.
Poland was a staunch supporter of the United States and Britain during the Iraq war and sent 200 troops to Iraq (60 were combat soldiers). In Sept. 2003, Poland became the leader of a 9,000-strong multinational stabilizing force in Iraq. It contributed 2,000 of its own soldiers. In April 2005, Poland announced it would withdraw all troops from Iraq at the end of the year.
On May 1, 2004, Poland joined the EU. Prime Minister Leszek Miller resigned on May 2, 2004. His popularity had plummeted to 10% because of the country's continued economic troubles and a number of corruption scandals. Former finance minister Marek Belka succeeded him.
In 2005, conservative Lech Kaczynski became the new president, replacing former Communist Aleksander Kwasniewski, and Kazimierz Marcinkiewicz was appointed prime minister. In July 2006, the immensely popular and well-respected prime minister resigned abruptly, a move many believe was the result of his difficulties in working with President Kaczynski. The president then appointed his twin brother—Jaroslaw Kaczynski, leader of the Law and Justice Party—as prime minister.
Prime Minister Kaczynski formed a fragile majority coalition with two small parties, the Self-Defence Party and the League of Polish Families. After months of political turmoil, the coalition fell apart in Aug. 2007, as Kaczynski sacked four ministers from the partner parties. In September, Kaczynski called for early elections and Parliament voted to dissolve itself.
The pro-European Union Civic Platform won October's elections, and formed a coalition government with the Peasants Party. Donald Tusk became prime minister in November.
On Aug. 14, 2008, Poland, after months of stalling, agreed to allow the United States to install an anti-missile system on its soil. The move by Poland was seen as a strategic one intended to defend itself from the threat of a similar incursion by Russia and to establish closer ties with the West. Russia said that Poland was not in danger of retaliation. On Aug. 20, U.S. Secretary of State Condeleezza Rice and Poland's Foreign Minister Radek Sikorski, signed the deal in Warsaw. Rice stressed that the missile system, which is scheduled to be in operation by 2012, is "defensive and aimed at no one." President Barack Obama abandoned plans for the missile shield in September 2009, opting instead to install a smaller, more mobile system that can destroy short- and medium-range Iranian missiles.
President Kaczynski, his wife, and dozens of high-ranking government officials were killed on April 10, 2010, when their plane crashed in the Katyn Woods in Smolensk, Russia. The group was headed to a ceremony commemorating the 70th anniversary of the Katyn massacre, in which more than 20,000 elite Polish troops were killed by members of the Soviet secret police during World War II. A total of 96 people perished in the crash, including Poland's deputy foreign minister, 12 members of Parliament, the chiefs of the army and the navy, and the president of the national bank. Despite the shocking and devastating turn of events, the officials who stepped in to ease the transition were praised for their composure and professionalism in the face of crisis. Bronislaw Komorowski, the leader of the lower house of Parliament, assumed the role as acting president.
The symbolism of the timing and site of the catastrophe cannot be ignored. The Katyn massacre remains a contentious issue between Poland and Russia. Just days earlier, Russian prime minister Vladimir Putin became the first Russian leader to honor the Polish victims.
Kaczynski's twin brother and former prime minister, Jaroslaw Kaczynski, ran for president against Bronislaw Komorowski of the governing Civic Platform party. Komorowski took both the first and second rounds of the election and was sworn in as president in July.


text: Hi guys hope you can help. I recently moved from shared to VPS all has gone well bar email, I thought it was fine but alas no. I created the setup with this tutorial http://ostechnix.wordpress.com/2013/...-step-by-step/ All I want is a single user account ME [email protected] to recive mail for that account and that only..maybe a catch all later I set it up as that tutorial, I can telnet to it no problems and ehlo ok. However when I send my self an email I get. [email protected] The e-mail address you entered couldn't be found. Please check the recipient's e-mail address and try to resend the message. If the problem continues, please contact your helpdesk. Diagnostic information for administrators: Generating server: techieserver.techieshelp.com [email protected] #< #5.1.1 X-Postfix; unknown user: "allen.white"> #SMTP# Original message headers: Return-Path: <[email protected]> Received: from out-11.mail.exa.net.uk (out-3.mail.exa.net.uk [220.127.116.11]) by techieserver.techieshelp.com (Postfix) with ESMTP id D056DEA08B2A for <[email protected]>; Thu, 16 May 2013 18:31:28 +0000 (GMT) Received: from smtp-4.mail.exa.net.uk (smtp-4.mail.exa.net.uk [220.127.116.11]) by out-11.mail.exa.net.uk (ExaSMTPD) with ESMTP id 84B43A0052 for <[email protected]>; Thu, 16 May 2013 19:31:30 +0100 (BST) Received: from mail.coniston.co.uk (unknown [184.108.40.206]) (using TLSv1 with cipher AES128-SHA (128/128 bits)) (No client certificate requested) by smtp-4.mail.exa.net.uk (ExaSMTPD) with ESMTPS id 6D6694005D for <[email protected]>; Thu, 16 May 2013 19:31:30 +0100 (BST) Received: from CONISTON-X.coniston-it.net ([fe80::c13c:eaed:4cd8:4e6a]) by CONISTON-X.coniston-it.net ([fe80::c13c:eaed:4cd8:4e6a%11]) with mapi id 14.01.0355.002; Thu, 16 May 2013 19:21:45 +0100 Im unsure of the following. In postfix the MYNETWORKS = confuses me I have entered LOCALHOST. Should I put the ip of my VPS? THe mail issue is it does not think the user is created. Hope someone can help! Many thanks Allen Edit/Delete Message


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Full version, Basic version, Tiny version
Specification link: 20.4 The 'glyph' element
The first subtest tests the arabic-form attribute and should produce a 'downward triangle', a 'space', a 'square', a 'diamond' and then an 'upward triangle' in this order. Remembering that arabic text is right to left.
The second subtest is the same, but with glyphs for the letter khah. It should match the reference image.


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Emerson fans combine dependable structure with effortless style and continue to be industry leaders in motor construction. Emerson makes ceiling fans in a variety of styles, sizes, and finishes suitable for either indoor or outdoor use. Building your own ceiling fan to fit your specific style, like the Emerson Carrera, will ensure that you never have to settle for less than perfection.
Pioneering Emerson Ceiling Fans
Known simply as America's Fan Company, the Emerson Electric Manufacturing Company was founded in 1890 in St. Louis, Missouri, with one objective in mind – to develop a reliable electric motor. The company succeeded in achieving this goal by manufacturing the first motor to run on alternating current and by 1897, the business was booming. In 1895, the manufacturer introduced electric Emerson ceiling fans, which became an instant success. Today, the ceiling fan manufacturer retains its lead as the largest maker of fractional horsepower induction motors, and holds two patents on control fan speeds.
How to Use Emerson Fans in Your Home
Emerson ceiling fans are suitable for indoor and outdoor use. They are perfect additions to the home and office, and many models, like the Emerson Loft, are Energy Star qualifed. Each fan is outfitted with hand-carved blades, hand-polished plated finishes, and exceptionally engineered motors for a long-lasting product. Build your own ceiling fan or check out some of Emerson's most popular ceiling fans:
- Emerson Hugger Ceiling Fans - These low profile fans have a compact design intended for rooms or spaces with a ceiling height less than eight feet as recommend by the NEC, but they provide the same performance as a standard Emerson fan.
- Emerson Ceiling Fans with Lights - These fans have light kits, which are included with the fan at the time of purchase or sold separately, that provide functional general and task lighting.
- Emerson Outdoor Ceiling Fans – These UL-rated outdoor ceiling fans are made with moisture and rust resistant parts as well as all-weather blades that guarantee a lasting performance.
- Classic Emerson Ceiling Fans - These ceiling fans have a traditional feel that never goes out of style.
- Contemporary Emerson Ceiling Fans - These fans have cutting-edge silhouettes and finishes that create a strong design element.
Emerson fans are durable and supported by strong warranties, ranging from 10 years to lifetime guarantee depending on the product. Antique ceiling fans manufactured by Emerson are highly sought after by vintage collectors.
With over 100 years of experience in technology innovation, Emerson ceiling fans continue to uphold the mission set in 1897 by its founder, J.W. Emerson, to create a product that is not only handsome, but also well crafted.


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Centennial Park
Longmont, Colorado 1 course · 9 holes Driving directions
Course reviews
Most votes | Newest first | Oldest first
+2 votes Patrick Blazek › January 28, 2011
One of my favorite 9 hole courses in Colorado. I haven't played a lot of em but this one is pretty fun. Technical and good variety of short and long holes. Creek comes into play on a few holes, nice sized trees everywhere and yet again another great use of space.
+2 votes Dan Chando › June 3, 2014
Course is in a pubic park, but is rarely ever too busy. When the pins are in the longest locations, the course can actually offer a good challenge, otherwise, most holes are relatively short, but none are too short. A river comes into play on 1, 2, and 4, and a few holes are guarded by trees. All of the tee pads are concrete (some on sidewalks) and each hole has good signage with pin locations and distances. This is a solid public park course.
+2 votes John C. Milroy › November 4, 2010
Plays along a river for holes 1 2 and 4. Also has a fenced in pond which I'm sure holds piranha, so don't go in there. Its mostly free throwing and wide open. Fun to play.
+1 votes Gary C › September 25, 2010
+1 votes Tomahawk Tony › November 12, 2010
+0 votes Josh Wainscott › March 30, 2017
+0 votes Bruce Kettle › August 8, 2011
Played on a very windy day so I wasn't able to try to many shots. Lots of over stable in to the wind stuff.. I wish there was distance numbers on this course. Next time I go I'll write them and post them here. They have them on the tees there just not here.
+0 votes Silas Nelson › February 17, 2013
+0 votes Dan T › May 2, 2015
Good use of space for 9 holes. I played in early May, water in the ditch was high and it ate one of my favorite discs. Fun course.
+0 votes Richard O › August 25, 2013
Lovely course set in an established park mature trees and a cool mid-level threat of a ditch.
+0 votes Jacob Cooper › May 29, 2017
Fun course with a few long holes. On a few of the holes, you throw parallel to the creek. I played in May and the creek ended up eating a few of my discs.


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The play maker
A conductor without vanity – is that possible? Hardly. But Iván Fischer comes close. He turns his back on the established rules of the classical music business – and reinvents the orchestra.
A perfectly normal orchestra? That was not what he wanted. Ever. In fact, the young Iván Fischer found the notion radically impossible, was already fed up with his international career almost before it had begun. Aloof, austere and proud was how he came across to the established orchestras – worse even, they thought him listless and officious. And so he formed an orchestra of his own. Nearly 35 years later, the Budapest Festival Orchestra counts among the best in the world – a small miracle. But now we are meeting at the Gendarmenmarkt in Berlin, amid all the aloof, austere and proud pomp of Prussian architecture. Fischer has also been working here for the past five years, as Chief Conductor of the Konzerthaus Orchestra in Berlin. This gentle, headstrong, brilliant Hungarian has a keen sense of humor and twinkling eyes that speak volumes. But there's a mischievous twinkle in his voice, too, that wonderful Hungarian singsong that's music in itself. Fischer, 66, is courteous, our conversation is lively, but you can sense that he would rather be doing something else. Music, for instance. Or swimming in Krumme Lanke lake.
Mr. Fischer, Listening to you, it sometimes sounds as though you don't particularly enjoy your work …
I put up with the job for the music. There are people who actually want to become conductors. I find them suspect.
So why do you do it to yourself?
If the music works out, it's worthwhile. Then I would say it was a good job.
But …?
There's so much else that goes with it. Being in the spotlight, all the hotels, the business side of things … and more than anything, the role of powerful conductor, which I find repugnant rather than attractive.
But you do need that power; you have 100 musicians to meld into a single entity.
There has to be uniformity in the way an orchestra plays, of course. There can be no individual go-it-alone sabotage…(he laughs). But still, everything must come from within the musician, from his or her emotions. I think this is a very interesting paradox.
How do you solve it?
By not expecting subordination from the musicians, but by convincing them. That is the best way. It takes 100 percent trust to achieve complete unity that comes from the soul.
Is it possible to be creative as a collective? Fischer ponders the question. It's often this way: Almost as soon as a musician has secured a place in an orchestra, he finds his ideas are no longer required – from then on he plays only the way others tell him to. This dulls the spirit, and the musician's playing becomes mechanical. That's why Fischer's Budapest orchestra – he calls it his "laboratory" – has no employees. The musicians spend as much time as they wish there and are also take on project responsibility, but otherwise they pursue their own interests. They become entrepreneurs, and that's why they remain free spirits – so that the next time around, as they say in musician speak, they are back "on the edge of their seat."
Fischer doesn't disappear into his conductor's room when a rehearsal is over, either. He mingles with the musicians, chats with them, listens to their suggestions. If something works, they take it up. Fischer doesn't need to set himself up as a magically inspired baton wielder, he is the diametric opposite of an auratic despot on the conductor's stand. The fact that he sees himself primarily as a musician, not a conductor, earns him the necessary respect in another way.
Fischer spent his childhood right on Andrássy út, Budapest's famous boulevard, diagonally across from the opera house. He learned piano, violin and cello. Conducting was not a part of his plan, it just came easily to him, and so he rather half-heartedly took part in a prestigious contest in 1976 – and won. His comment: "Someone probably noticed that the boy could also conduct quite well."
And so his course was set. The world's major orchestras and opera houses hired him. He worked in Amsterdam, New York and Paris. But Fischer was dissatisfied, bored even. He didn't like the life of the conductor jet set, and so he remained an eternal insider tip even though he had long joined the ranks of the big names of his profession. Fischer calls this "negative marketing." He does it with intent.
You almost became a world star …
Many people think there can be no greater aspiration for conductors than to wave their hands around in front of a first-rate orchestra. That does not motivate me at all. I would like to invent the orchestra of the future. And most importantly, I don't want to repeat myself. That would be dreadful.
Doesn't routine creep in anyway?
Yes, that happens. Then I leave.
But no matter where you go, it's always the same music that's played, music that's more than 100 years old …
You have to give people the music they need. When Mozart and Brahms were alive, people were only interested in new music, today they fetishize old music like a god. It's crazy really – and completely illogical. But I think it's just a short-lived wave.
When Fisher conducts, you have to be prepared for surprises. The musicians will sit somewhere else, singers in the middle of the audience or the audience in the middle of the orchestra. Sometimes the audience decides what the orchestra will play. Or there will be a tree on stage. There are midnight concerts, flash mobs beneath the open sky, performances for autistic children, cocoa concerts with hot chocolate. After the show, musicians and audience come together to chat. Fischer's minor cultural revolutions are not always a success, but the main thing is, after all, to avoid routine.
Politically, too, Fischer doesn't take things lying down. He regularly locks horns with the authoritarian government of Prime Minister Viktor Orbán. A prime object for Fischer, whose grandparents were murdered in Auschwitz and Buchenwald, is to combat the reemergence of Jew hatred – also as a composer. His opera The Red Heifer recalls the anti-Semitic rampages that took place in Hungary in the 1880s, however the present association of the work is more than self-evident. Budapest's Lord Mayor István Tarlós recently let rip, saying: "Iván Fischer is beginning to lose his self-control," and promptly slashed the orchestra's funding. Spontaneous protest concerts on the streets of Budapest were the response.
Fischer's restlessness is gloriously self-contradictory: Mischief and gravity, tradition and iconoclasm come together easily. In the core competencies of ability, diligence and discipline, he remains strictly old-fashioned, but when it's a question of orchestral routine, of mediocrity, cozy security or false pathos, Iván Fischer soon becomes an anarchist. He loathes concerts that are mere social occasions devoid of artistic risk.
That's why even back in the 1970s, when he was moving from one orchestra to the next, Fischer jotted down his ideas for reform. Later he published a blog, "92 thoughts for young conductors." One of those thoughts is that a good conductor renders himself superfluous; another that dead composers have no feelings. Why 92? "I didn't think of a 93rd!"
You will be leaving the Berlin Konzerthaus again in the summer of 2018. How would you sum up your time there?
What I discovered was that you can also achieve beautiful things within these limitations. It's fun. And it's good that I don't just live on my island of wonders, but keep in touch with the real world.
Fun seems to be important to you …
It's the most important thing. If you only want to impress, if you are stressed or anxious, you cannot make good music. You can only do that if you are really relaxed and can surrender to the joy of playing.
What does that mean, "making good music"?
Good is what reaches people. If you read a children's book out loud, what are you aiming for? For the child to experience something! It's not about what I think of the book or how I interpret the book. At a concert, the people are like the small child, and I am reading the story. If it touches them, then it's good.
And if it doesn't? Can you tell?
You can see it in their eyes. And of course, there are people who will be staring at their cell phones and reading emails. I don't think it's a problem. I would allow all of that. You don't have to force people to focus, you simply have to try to create moments so beautiful that they will look up from their phone and say: "Wow, that's wonderful!"
It all sounds so easy …
Conducting is a very easy job. I don't understand why people think it's difficult. Of course, I sometimes see conductors who are totally stressed out and sweating … That amuses me. And then, yes, then I do feel some sympathy. But only a bit.
Stravinsky – Le Sacre du Printemps (2012): "Even now, 100 years on, the shocking sacrificial rite is at once spine-chilling and stunningly beautiful."
Mahler – Symphony No. 4 (2009): "This is more of a childlike symphony: naive, paradisiacal sounds rather than gloomy tubas and weighty trombones"
Composer's Portrait – works by Iván Fischer (2016): " I consider eclecticism to be the most modern musical language of our time."
This story first appeared in Lufthansa Exclusive, the frequent traveller magazine. For more information about Lufthansa Miles & More offers, please click hier.


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All prices on the website are EXCLUSIVE OF GST...the tax is added at Checkout. If you are just referencing prices then don't forget to add the government's GST tax
Use the SEARCH box below..enter a keyword ,click SEARCH e.g.satin;stretch;spandex;for painting; lace;knit;sheer...Even look for colours .eg mocha;navy or prints. If searching for categories such as bridal, dressweight, evening, pant weight fabrics, simply type the category e.g. Bridal into the SEARCH box and all fabrics suitable for that category will appear.
Due to the variations in the calibrations of computer monitors, the above images may differ slightly from the actual fabric. Please contact us if you require a sample.
All prices are in Australian Dollars (AUD).
To order an item, select the colour and width you require from the Colour drop-down box and Add to Cart. You will be directed to your Shopping Cart where you may select the Quantity you require as 10 metres or more. Minimium cut per colour per fabric is 10 metres.


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Apple's iTunes Is a Gold Mine
Apple's (NASDAQ:AAPL) iTunes store — conceived from its inception as a break-even-business — will celebrate its tenth birthday next month, and from the growth the business has experienced in the intervening years, it is clear that description is no longer accurate. The scope of the store has nearly quintupled in the past seven years, its revenues soared to $13.5 billion in 2012, and it generates as much as 15 percent operating margin on gross revenue, a figure that amounts to a little more than $2 billion annually.
As AllThingsD contributor John Paczkowski noted, that is a "hell of a way to break even."
From these simple figures, quite a picture can be painted of Apple's media business. Asymco analyst Horace Dediu wrote in a research report entitled "So long, break-even" that while Apple has stated that it aims to operate the iTunes store at "break-even," the business has grown so quickly in recent years that its "profit-free nature has come under severe pressure." As more media types have been added, costs have increased. But, comparatively, revenues have increased even faster…
The reasoning behind this pattern, according to Dediu, is that the cost of content sales are likely to have been preserved as a ratio of about 30 percent because the vastness of transaction volume — which was estimated at 23 billion item transactions in 2012. This data suggests that Apple has significant economies of scale. If economies of scale exists, then operating costs are spread more evenly and the possibility for the company to generate some operating margin exists as well.
He wrote, "Put another way, at break-even the cost of operating iTunes stores would be about $3.75 billion. It's hard to imagine this level of operational expense for digital content." As this fact has become clearer, Apple has begun to suggest since 2010 that the App Store is run "a little over break-even."
But for Apple, the question is how little is "a little over break-even." Dediu estimated that a 2 percent operating margin is possible for apps and a one percent margin for music. A one percent operating margin from gross revenues implies as much as a $45 million margin. That calculation translates into a $150 million margin for content…
The factor truly responsible for sending Apple's iTunes numbers through the roof was the company's decision to incorporate its Software group into the store's offerings. It is "one of the forgotten heroes of Apple," the analyst commented. Apple software — like Apple Remote Desktop, iWork's Pages and iLife's iMovie and iPhoto — was once sold as traditional boxed software. Now, Apple has made its software packages "download-only," a move that allowed prices to be lowered.
Dediu believes that Apple's software generated $3.6 billion in revenue in 2012; it is a high margin business that grows at a rate close to 20 percent annually. While apps and music have likely surpassed the software business in terms of gross revenues, the unit has an operating margin of about 50 percent, close to that of Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT).
Here's how Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) traded today:
Don't Miss: Will the iWatch Have These Features?


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Washington (CNN) - Call it a brief intermission: There's a three-week break in the action after a slew of primaries in May and June and a couple big headlines.
The major story line so far this election cycle is the ongoing battle that pits mainstream Republicans against tea party groups and anti-establishment organizations.
(CNN) - The same day the Supreme Court issued a high-stakes ruling on a controversial part of President Barack Obama's health care law, a new national survey indicates confidence in the high court is at a record low, as Americans' trust in all three branches of government has fallen.
The release of a Gallup poll Monday coincides with the high court's decision that the government can't require that closely held companies pay for some types of contraceptives for its employees.
Washington (CNN) - Just 40% of Americans know which political party controls the Senate and the House of Representatives, according to a national poll.
A Pew Research Center survey released Thursday also indicates that about a third of the public can correctly name which party controls one of the two chambers of Congress, with 28% coming up completely empty.
Washington (CNN) - Talk about something you don't see very often anymore.
In an unusually strong bipartisan vote, the Senate overwhelmingly approved a rewrite of federal workforce training programs that are designed to improve job skills and drive down the unemployment rate.
The legislation passed 95-3.
Washington (CNN) - The establishment struck back.
Two weeks after House Majority Leader Eric Cantor's primary loss to a little-known and underfunded tea party challenger rocked the Republican Party, incumbent and mainstream GOP candidates came out on top in several high-profile primary showdowns.
Congressional leaders from both parties hold hands and sing "We Shall Overcome" at a commemoration ceremony.
(CNN) - The day before Veterans Affairs Secretary Eric Shinseki resigned in May, nearly 25 senators signed a letter calling for him to step down amid a widening scandal over delayed medical care for vets.
In the weeks before that, lawmaker after outraged lawmaker rose to denounce systemic problems at the sprawling agency that provides medical and other care to more than 8.5 million veterans. Reports of "cooked books," dying patients on waiting lists, and a warped management culture made headlines.
(CNN) – Longtime Rep. Don Young misused campaign funds and accepted improper gifts relating to hunting trips he took with his family and staff over the years, the House Ethics Committee concluded on Friday.
The panel found that the 21-term Alaska Republican broke its rules when he used campaign funds for personal purposes and improperly accepted gifts for 15 trips between 2001-13.
Washington (CNN) - The No. 2 House Democrat said Tuesday the United States "should be considering" airstrikes in Iraq to counter the insurgency from militant groups sweeping the country.
Speaking to reporters about Iraq, Rep. Steny Hoyer, D-Maryland, blamed Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki for the deteriorating conditions in the region now.
Washington (CNN) – A new round of scrutiny hit the IRS on Monday as senators from both parties summoned the agency's chief to Capitol Hill, one House committee set up a new investigative hearing and another issued a subpoena for the head of the agency to appear.
This came after the IRS announced that up to two years of e-mails from former agency manager Lois Lerner were destroyed when her hard drive crashed in 2011. Lerner ran the IRS division that oversaw tax-exempt status and is a key figure in the investigation into why the agency targeted tea party and other groups. The IRS says it has worked to recover the Lerner e-mails by searching through the accounts of dozens of employees who may have corresponded with her.


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Tribal Projects Unit
Connecting the Court to the Community: Tribal Courts
In 2009, the Administrative Office of the Courts established, as part of the Center for Families, Children & the Courts (CFCC), a Tribal Projects Unit. The purpose of this unit is to act as a liaison between the state justice system and the tribal communities and justice systems in California, in order to improve the California Native American community's access to justice and strengthen the working relationship between the state and tribal justice systems.
The need for this collaboration has been growing. According to the 2000 census, more than 600,000 American Indian and Alaskan Native citizens reside in California in both rural and urban communities— more than in any other state except Alaska. This represents roughly 13 percent of the entire American Indian/Alaska Native population of the United States. California contains approximately 600,000 acres of "Indian county" in more than 100 separate parcels scattered throughout the state. This territory is home to 107 federally recognized tribes, with another 74 tribes in the process of applying for federal recognition. As sovereign tribes, they have the authority to establish their own justice systems. There are now 17 tribal courts, up from just 7 a few years ago, and the number is growing. These courts serve approximately 30 of the 107 tribes.
The increase in the number of tribal courts, and the legal complexity of jurisdiction, points up the need for greater understanding and collaboration between the state courts and the tribal courts. To increase understanding and build trust, the Tribal Projects Unit has produced educational curricula, a webinar, and other bench tools for judges on federal Indian law. The unit has also created a clearinghouse that provides access to resources, responds to inquiries by local courts on a wide range of tribal issues, and supports collaboration between state and tribal courts.
These efforts have already begun to bring benefits to local courts, such as:
- An understanding of the common interest shared by state and tribal courts and the people they serve;
- Increased collaboration between state and tribal courts to address interjurisdictional challenges;
- Sharing of educational and other resources;
- Progress on the recognition and enforcement of each other's court orders, thus preventing confusion and reducing costs; and
- The capacity to share information on criminal history and each other's protective orders. This sharing reduces the possibility of conflicting orders, ensures that judicial officers have the information they need to make informed decisions, and provides law enforcement officers with the information they need to protect the public.
State and tribal justice systems have a great deal of experience to share and much to learn from each other. The two systems need to work jointly to solve problems that they both face. The Tribal Projects Unit will continue to facilitate cooperation and collaboration between the state courts and tribal courts in order to ensure the highest quality of justice and service for California's Native American communities.
The Tribal Projects Unit is supported exclusively with grant funds from the U.S. Department of Justice's Office on Violence Against Women. These funds are administered through the California Emergency Management Agency, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services' Court Improvement Program, and the California Department of Social Services. 66 innoa courts
The Tribal Projects Unit supports the Tribal Court/State Court Forum. The forum, established by former Chief Justice Ronald M. George and continued by Chief Justice Tani Cantil-Sakauye, comprises both tribal court judges and state court judges and justices. The forum makes policy recommendations to the Judicial Council on issues relating to the recognition and enforcement of court orders that cross jurisdictional lines, the determination of jurisdiction for cases that might appear in either court system, and the sharing of services between jurisdictions.
In 2008–2009, the Native American Communities Justice Project brought together more than 500 Native Americans and California court personnel to hear the voices of Native American victims of family violence. This assessment, conducted by the CFCC, reported that tribal protective orders were not being uniformly and consistently enforced, leaving victims at risk of being revictimized. The forum identified the following two solutions to these issues:
California Courts Protective Order Registry. In August 2011, the Tribal Projects Unit worked with the AOC's Information Services Division to launch a pilot program that provides tribal courts with read-only access to the California Courts Protective Order Registry (CCPOR). By sharing information on restraining and protective orders, state courts and tribal courts are better able to protect the public, particularly victims of domestic violence.
Efficient and consistent procedures. A proposed statewide rule will establish an efficient and consistent statewide procedure for California state courts to register protective orders issued by tribal courts in California. The proposed rule is on the Judicial Council's consent agenda and, if adopted, will become effective January 1, 2012.
For More Information about the Tribal Projects Unit, Please Contact:
415-865-7687 firstname.lastname@example.com


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SANFORD — Rolling Thunder will hold its 5th Annual "Bowling for Veterans" Bowl-A-Thon at the Bowl-A-Rama at 1217 Main Street this Saturday, April 27.The bowl-a-thon will start with registration at 8 a.m. and will last until 5 p.m.
All funds raised will support programs that provide financial aid, food, clothing and other essentials for veterans, homeless veterans and veterans' families in need, including women's crisis centers and toys for children.
Veterans from the nation's various armed services will start the event by being among the first to roll balls down the lanes.
Local veterans will be honored throughout the day.Elaine Scanlon, an Air Force veteran of the Vietnam era, will be honored at 9 a.m. during a presentation of "Honoring Women in the Service."
World War II veterans, including Albert Bertrand, of the U.S. Marines, Leon Tanguay, of the U.S. Army, Reynald Goulet, of the U.S. Marines, and Richard Fortier, of the U.S. Navy, will be honored at 11 a.m.Veterans from the Korean War will be honored at 1 p.m., while those from the Vietnam War, including James Batchelder, of the U.S. Navy, will be honored at 3 p.m. Veterans of the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq will be honored at 5 p.m.Also, Crusher, the mascot of the Maine Red Claws basketball team, will be at the event from 9:30 to 11 a.m. to meet and greet participants and visitors. The Maine Red Claws are a D-League member of the Boston
Celtics and have had many of the present and future stars of the Boston Celtics play for the team.
Each team must have at least four bowlers. There is not a maximum number for members per team. Registration costs $10 and allows each bowler to bowl between one and eight hours. Bowling shoes are included. Pizza will be served at the end of the day.
Bowler sponsor donations are encouraged. Flat-sum pledges are also appreciated.
Throughout the event, there will be hourly door-prize drawings, presentations, music, food and trophies. Special veteran guests will be honored throughout the day.
To register a team, request a sponsor form, to make a donation, or to simply learn more, contact Bonnie at 490-1858 or Cindy at 207-892-5333.


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The Satanic Science Publishing Mafia EXPOSED! Are they racketeering your research?
The entire world RELIES on science. More specifically, the world relies on science for the free exchange of knowledge and new discoveries, which are often vital to people's livelihoods and lives.
If scientists can't get access to papers without giving up an arm and a leg, they will not have the most current information available to publish their own research, and this will hamper their ability to get grants and other funding in the future. Science itself will become stifled by the restriction of access to information by non-scientist corporate bureaucrats who run most of the for-profit journal publishers.
And for a while now, a wave of rage has been roiling the professional blogs of scientists regarding the emergence of the vile, disgusting Research Works Act, a congressional bill written by Rep. Darrell Issa (R-California) and Rep. Carolyn Maloney (D-New York) and sponsored by the likes of Elsevier, Springer, Wiley, and other corporate academic publishing goliaths. The RWA is a bill that virtually calls for the death knell of all independent and unbiased science research available to the public. Up until now, any research papers that were funded by government grants (translation: YOUR taxpayer dollars) have to be made available as free open-access papers to the public that funded them! That's only fair, and that only makes sense. RWA would remove the federal requirement of making all publicly funded research accessible to the public, and force the public to pay up to thousands of dollars per person just to access the articles that were funded with their own tax money! Talk about privatizing profits and socializing losses...
P.S. If she were younger I guess she could probably get away with that half-hearted Dr. Blight hairdo.
But those of you in the Paleo-Sphere may ask, "I know that if this bill passes I won't be able to access my favorite titanosaur ontogeny papers, but how does this affect the wider world beyond dinosaur researchers"? Well it affects EVERYTHING. Consider medical journals. These days the medical journals of America (many of which are controlled by the same publishing conglomerates - Wiley, Elsevier, GSW, BioOne, and Bentham - that own most of the paleo-journals) are becoming ever more restricted in terms of access. If doctors already chafing under years of student debts have to cough up even more money just to access the latest research on life-saving new medical procedures for their patients, the prohibitively high costs of doing do for every relevant journal will mean that patients' lives are literally being profiteered to death. Today there are so many journals in which someone, somewhere in Iceland or Croatia, has pioneered a radical new natural cancer treatment or a highly effective remedy for slowing the progression of MS or Alzheimer's, but thanks to the absolute and often INTERNATIONAL chokehold that big corporate publishers have over peer-reviewed journals, the vast majority of top doctors in the relevant fields have NO KNOWLEDGE of this new research, since the prohibitively high costs of subscription mean that fewer doctors can buy this information, and fewer still circulate it among their colleagues! The patient who could have been saved by open-access which his or her own taxes helped fund, is killed by unavailability of information which his doctor could have used to save his life. That's right, die taxpayer die!
To put is simply, the old pay-out-the-nose racketeering business model of science publishing is not merely unjust and apathetic, it's actually KILLING people. It's not just Big Pharma that's suppressing the research and getting involved in some very corrupt and dangerous dealings with suspicious lobbies - it's the publishers themselves. Elsevier (formally known as Reed Elsevier) is just one prime example.
Elsevier is the giant of the scientific publishing world, with a history reaching back centuries and a truly international reach. Based in the Netherlands, they have a literal galaxy of journals and publishing interest all over the planet. They are also very influential in international politics and steering the environmental and foreign policies of both the United States and many European governments through supposedly "independent" think tanks.
If you can name even one corrupt or inhumane sort of political business dealing, chances are Elsevier has plenty of fingers in that pie.
* Sponsoring secret Arms Dealer Conventions for some of the most brutal human rights violating regimes in the world:
"It can feel like a sick joke to connect each kind of weapon of death and injury displayed at an Reed Elsevier arms fair to a journal, book or article published by Reed Elsevier which describes how to treat it. But it is important to realise that it is not us making the joke. The sick joke – and it is sick – is being played on us by Reed Elsevier and the punchline is the unknowing complicity of medical professionals in the system of death and injury which they have dedicated their lives to opposing."
-Tom Stafford, Journal for Peace, Fall 2006 Bulletin (September 20, 2006)
* Producing FAKE ad-laden "journals" sponsored by Big Pharma corporations and falsely marketing them as unbiased peer-reviewed journals, despite REFUSING to disclose the sources of funding:
"It has recently come to my attention that from 2000 to 2005, our Australia office published a series of sponsored article compilation publications, on behalf of pharmaceutical clients, that were made to look like journals and lacked the proper disclosures."
- Michael Hansen, CEO of Elsevier's Health Sciences Division
* Bribing college professors to give Elsevier's textbooks 5-star reviews on Amazon.com
"Congratulations and thank you for your contribution to Clinical Psychology. Now that the book is published, we need your help to get some 5 star reviews posted to both Amazon and Barnes & Noble to help support and promote it.... For your time, we would like to compensate you with a copy of the book under review as well as a $25 Amazon gift card. If you have colleagues or students who would be willing to post positive reviews, please feel free to forward this e-mail to them to participate... "
- Chain letter email send by Elsevier to professors who contributed to the textbook. [Clearly they are trying to bias science to line - nay - flood their own pockets, by handing out little brownies to adults]
* Suing their own customers (in this case libraries!) for disseminating information from Elsevier journals they had ALREADY paid for!
"The publishers that have filed the lawsuit [Elsevier, Springer, and Thiele] want to prohibit this service on the grounds that they themselves offer these articles online, although usually for about 30 euros per article, several time what access through the ETH library costs. By their suit, the science publishers want to subvert a provision of Swiss copyright law that explicitly allows the copying of excerpts from periodicals."
- Neue Zurcher Zeitung (the New Zurich Newspaper), Jan. 25, 2012
*Turning American Congressmen into PAID PUPPETS in order to restrict your access to research which was funded with your own tax dollars, through the fascist "Research Works Act":
"So, given the history of their campaign contributions to Rep Maloney, I'm not really surprised to find that Elsevier's fingers would be all over this bill and Rep Maloney's defense of it.
We (my colleagues at PLoS and many others) have spent over a decade fighting to secure public access to publicly funded research. We finally start to make some progress – imperfect as the NIH Public Access Policy is, it is an important step in the right direction. And what happens? A member of Congress who faces no threat of defeat in the upcoming election disgracefully sells out the public good in exchange for some measly campaign contributions, and then doesn't even have the decency to defend her actions with her own thoughts and words."
- Dr. Michael Eisen, Department of Integrative Biology, UC Berkeley
If the RWA passes, you can say goodbye to science as we know it. Everything will be at the behest of the publishing corporations and their cohorts in big pharma and big oil. And the profits there publishers gouge from their subscribers are ridiculous, considering that scientists who publish in big corporate journals are forced to give up the publishing rights to their written papers essentially for free and don't get to see a dime of that money!
Look at these outrageous profits as a percentage of revenue for commercial STM publishers in 2010 or early 2011:
- Elsevier: £724m on revenue of £2b — 36%
- Springer's Science+Business Media: £294m on revenue of £866m — 33.9%
- John Wiley & Sons: $106m on revenue of $253m — 42%
- Academic division of Informa plc: £47m on revenue of £145m — 32.4%
Dr. Mike Taylor of SV-POW explains: I wanted to be sure that I was assessing this fairly, so I looked through Elsevier's annual reports for the last nine years — happily, they make them available, if not particularly easy to find. What I found is that they have been consistently bringing in profits in the region of 33% throughout the last decade. Specifically:
- 2002: £429m profit on £1295m revenue – 33.18%
- 2003: £467m profit on £1381m revenue – 33.82%
- 2004: £460m profit on £1363m revenue – 33.75%
- 2005: £449m profit on £1436m revenue – 31.25%
- 2006: £465m profit on £1521m revenue – 30.57%
- 2007: £477m profit on £1507m revenue – 31.65%
- 2008: £568m profit on £1700m revenue – 33.41%
- 2009: £693m profit on £1985m revenue – 34.91%
- 2010: £724m profit on £2026m revenue – 35.74%
- When you pay $37.95 to download a PDF from an Elsevier journal, $13.56 of that goes straight into the pockets of Elsevier shareholders.
- When you pay $3000 to have your submission to an Elsevier journal appear as open access, $1072.20 of that goes straight into the pockets of Elsevier shareholders.
- When your library pays $1.7m for a bundle of Elsevier-journal subscriptions, $607,580 of that goes straight into the pockets of Elsevier shareholders.
- When you or your library pays Elsevier $23783 for any reason, that is enough for them fund Representative Caroline Maloney's $8500 bribe to co-sponsor the evil Research Works Act, out of their profits alone.
The good folks at Sauropod Vertebra Picture of the Week have already exposed the massive corrupt conspiracy behind RWA, that infects both sides of the artificial "this or that" political spectrum in America. Read about it here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, and here. Ooooh, the outrage!
Of course this is all harsh, but it's meant to be a real wake-up call. I'm not sure the average researcher on a graduate stipend really has much time to worry whether their subscription fees are being funneled towards international terrorism, but I'm sure they do care that their professor's hard work is being expropriated and then hoarded for 30-40% profits by powerful international publishing cartels. Some of the copyright terms the big publishers impose on scientists are downright Orwellian. Losing any and all rights to reprint your own work in a different journals, or even to pass out free copies to colleagues from other universities. If they catch you doing this with a journal you ALREADY paid for, you will still be sued, and probably end up in prison for a few years. Remember, these publishers are worth billions of dollars and the average professor makes nothing from giving them all the rights to his own work - plus they can sue you for so much as making a copy of your own paper and giving it to a friend for free. Greg Paul only wishes he had that kind of legal muscle.
Mike Taylor and the others at SV-POW make a great point when they urge people to write to their congressman. But with all the junk mail that those dismally unpopular politicians are flooded with every week, I doubt it's a very effective strategy. Especially when the issue at hand is something that barely gets any media attention, and thus probably is not the subject generating the most mail. I suggest a more direct approach, to cut off the head of the Snake. Write to the scientists themselves.
Every time I talk to paleontologists at SVP, I know that a good number of them will either be people who regularly publish in closed-access FOR PROFIT journals, or donate their time for free as peer-reviewers for those same said price-gouging journals. While I personally consider such a gift of time to such monstrous corporate thieves to be little more intelligent than giving away extra money to the government as a charitable gift on top of your compulsory taxes, in the vain hope of helping pay down the national debt.... that doesn't mean that we shouldn't express our dismay at those who continue to contribute to such corrupt journals and publishing houses. Even if Taylor and Francis has bought out part of the SVP, and its flagship publication, the JVP, we can still hit them where it hurts: the reputations of their "scientific" collaborators.
Forget writing to your congressman - write to your favorite scientists! Write to all the people whose papers you have wanted to read, but couldn't because they are kept under lock and key by greedy publishers who demand a subscription whose price is shooting up far faster than silver. Write to Jack Horner, whether you agree with 'Toroceratops" or not, urging him not to publish in JVP any longer. Write to Jose Bonaparte and Bernardo Gonzalez-Riga urging them NOT to publish any more papers in Elsevier-owned journals like Cretaceous Research (as was sadly the case with Ligabuesaurus). Write to Octavio Mateus not to publish in Systematic Palaeontology, another locked-access Elsevier journal. Write to Jeffrey Wilson not to publish in Paleobiology, which is now the property of the Saudi-funded GSW. Write to Greg Paul telling him to stop publishing in GAIA, Paleobiology, or other locked-access journals that don't contribute to the free flow of scientific knowledge across borders and campus walls. Let your scientists know that you won't stand for them giving away their rights to their own research only to have it locked away from the public to line some greedy publishing bureaucrat's pockets. Tell them they must publish in open access journals like PLoS One, Palaeo-Electronica, Acta Palaeontologica Polonica, etc. to retain any credibility as ethical scientists. Let the membership and the board of directors of the SVP know that RWA and the big corporate journals are hurting science and often hurting people, in ways that fossil-poachers simply can't.
Write to your scientists. If you're in a different field like physics, chemistry or medicine, so much the better. They don't have to be just paleontologists. Write to ANY scientists who publish in closed-access journals owned by Elsevier or any of the other academic publishing conglomerates backing the vile RWA bill. And if they don't listen or give a bad response to your emails, then write them up. I will personally list the names of those who are willing and unrepentant collaborators with ElSerpiente or any of the other gougers. Nothing is more damaging to scientists in academia than a loss of reputation - and the threat of this may finally get them to abandon the very publishing houses that are so used to abusing and enslaving the researcher. Forget a mere toothless boycott, we need nothing short of a show trial. Scientists who continue to allow unscrupulous non-scientist bureaucrats to steal and hoard up their research for sky-high profits are just as bad as the corporations they are supporting, enemies of science, and deserve to be exposed and denounced as such. If they can't afford the publication fee for open-access journals, there is always Acta Paleontologica Polonica, which can do it for free, or they can also use research grants to cover open-access publishing fees. There is no victory without intentional planning and sacrifice. If we really expect to bring Elsevier and its ilk to their knees, or even to their sense, then the scientists have to stop publishing papers in their journals, PERIOD. To really get the house of cards to fall, you have to remove the struggling exploited academics at the bottom of the pyramid. And for those that sell us out, heads will roll at the next SVP.
Wake up, O people of science and learning. Raise yourselves out of your deathly torpor, break your shackles, cast off your chains! Now is the time to reject the cruel coercion of the Serpent in scientists' clothing. I say once again, wake up!
Together we can drive the point clear to the Robber Barons ruining the free progress of science and ideas: Wer Beim Elsevier Kauft ist ein Verrater!
8 comments:
The Captain Planet comparison is ridiculously funny; also, interesting, given how all CP villains are personifications of corporate hegemonies as pollutors ... just like big publishing. I'm sure this wasn't unintentional.
- March 3, 2012 at 6:50 AM
I agree with your perspective, but I'd recommend toning down the rhetoric a little. In particular, "Wer beim Juden kauft ist ein Verräter" was a famous Nazi slogan about the supposed necessity of boycotting Jews, so announcing "Wer beim Elsevier kauft ist ein Verräter" is not a good idea. (I realize that much of this post consisted of blowing off steam, rather than making principled arguments, but I'd draw the line at adapting Nazi slogans.)
- April 6, 2012 at 6:59 AM
- Nima said...
@ qilong: Yes the Captain Planet reference was totally intentional. Elsevier embodies much of the worst in corporate greed that we see in the polluters caricatured in Captain Planet.
@anonymous: well I must say that having picked up what I know of German from an eclectic and rather haphazard mix of sources over the years, I have to admit I did not recall that the National Socialists specifically used such a slogan and applied it to Jews. My bad... I just looked it up and actually your point is a bit off... the Third Reich version says "Volksverrater" not simply Verrater. They had this racial concept of the "folk" being foremost which obviously wouldn't make any cohesive sense if applied to the paleontology community.
My main point was that Elsevier and those who support it are in essence betraying science by participating in its monopolization behind paywalls. Not to make any sort of politically charged statement.
To the best of my knowledge, Elsevier is run by a pretty diverse board of directors (look above).
- April 14, 2012 at 1:07 AM
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- May 15, 2012 at 1:44 PM
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- May 26, 2018 at 8:08 AM
- Unknown said...
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- July 25, 2018 at 6:18 AM
- ahmed said...
شركة نقل عفش بجازان
شركة نقل عفش بالجبيل
شركة نقل عفش بالاحساء
شركة نقل عفش بابها
- October 3, 2018 at 12:51 AM
- ahmed said...
ننصح عملائنا بالتنظيف الدائم باستعمال المياه والصابون، فهما من أكثر مواد التنظيف التي تكفل القضاء على الصراصير.
أيضًا التخلص الدائم من القمامة، التخلص من بقايا الأغذية، تصليح الاستبدال الفاسد.
الانتباه بأعمال السباكة والكشف عن تسربات المياه بصورة مستدامة.ارخص شركة رش مبيدات
شركة مكافحة حشرات بالمزاحمية
شركة رش مبيدات بالمزاحمية
اسماء المبيدات الحشرية المنزلية
- January 12, 2019 at 8:59 AM


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Blink & Caution has received stars from Kirkus and SLJ, and PW, a 5Q/4P from VOYA (per Books in Print), and the Boston Globe-Horn Book Award, plus it was just named a finalist for the Canada Council for the Arts Governor General's Literary Awards. So, you know, this book is no slouch.
And let's get this out of the way up front: it's a good book. It deserves praise.
But it's flawed, and the flaws are literary in nature. And I'm mostly only going to talk about the flaws, because all those links at the start cover the good stuff really well and in great detail. [Read more…]


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Breastfeeding is a highly emotive, politically charged topic within the maternal and child health care industry. There are many strong views around the 'rights' and 'wrongs' of breastfeeding which can leave new mums feeling conflicted, confused and under unnecessary pressure. Never the less as a Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) practitioner, not a lactation specialist I add my voice to the conversation.
There is a large range of opinion regarding what constitutes how much breast milk is adequate. For the purpose of this piece I will define it as when, for whatever reason a woman identifies that she is experiencing insufficient lactation, and is considering using TCM to promote milk production and supply.
The information contained herein is based upon ancient TCM wisdom andintended as an adjunct to conventional breastfeeding education, not a replacement for the expertise and advice of trained lactation consultants.
TCM is an integrated, stand-alone system of medicine with a written history dating back over 2500 years. It evolved in a foreign culture using a different language and philosophy, independent of and far predating the history of Western biomedical science. As a result many concepts integral to TCM simply don't translate into Western medical understanding and never will.
Taking this unfortunate situation into account I will endeavour to explain how TCM differentiates and treats the symptom of insufficient lactation.
Insufficient lactation
According to TCM insufficient lactation has two main categories. Both need urgent attention if women intend to continue breastfeeding. If milk flow ceases for any reason it can be very difficult to restart. Therefore women should if possible continue to breastfeed even small amounts, frequently while they are receiving TCM treatment.
The identifying feature of this pattern is that there is abundant milk supply and the breasts are swollen, but, while there is supply the breast is unable to empty partially or fully. The TCM understanding is that milk backs up in the breast causing distension and discomfort. The clinical characteristics of breast engorgement broadly fall into this category.
This pattern is seen more commonly in younger, strong, highly strung women. Additional symptoms might include the women being nervous, easily frustrated or irritable. Women who present with this pattern tend to be overly sensitive and react strongly to external stimuli, even the kindest words of advice.
When attempting to understand the TCM explanation of this situation, one might consider the analogy of water flowing through a hose. In order to restrict or stop the flow of fluid, external pressure is applied. Once the pressure is released, then the normal flow of water returns.
Stress and tension can lead to the restriction and binding of milk in the breast, holding back the natural flow. Often women will become increasingly frustrated as their nipples become more painful from their baby's suckling attempts and begin to punish themselves for failure to effectively breastfeed. These factors can exacerbate the situation and place them at grave risk of giving up on breastfeeding completely.
This condition often resolves itself however it is also relatively easy to treat using acupuncture. Being essentially a condition of blockage, once the energetic pressure is released the milk flow usually returns immediately.
Accompanying symptoms to this presentation may include little or no breast milk for several days post-delivery, absence of breast distension or engorgement, thin watery breast milk, and the mother reporting insomnia, extreme tiredness and fatigue.
This situation occurs when, according to TCM there is not enough nourishment to support the woman's health, let alone provide the foundation for adequate breast milk production for her baby.
Unlike the previous condition, this is a pattern of deficiency and typically requires longer term treatment.
To understand the TCM cause behind this pattern, it is useful again to consider the analogy of water. If there is insufficient water in a reservoir, then the fluid will not flow. The remedy to this situation is to fill the reservoir with water in order to promote flow.
There are a number of reasons to explain why a woman's natural ability to produce abundant breast milk might be affected. She may suffer from a pre-existing constitutional weakness, have experienced birth trauma, or had a long difficult labour with excessive postnatal blood and fluid loss. She may have experienced multiple birth, previous miscarriage(s), had IVF treatment, pregnancies with breastfeeding too close together for her body, or be an older mother.
This condition is most effectively treated with a combination of herbal medicine and diet therapy.The aim of TCM treatment is to nourish and regenerate the mother's blood and body fluids. The famous TCM gynaecologist Fu Qing-Zhu (1607-1684AD) claimed that with the correct treatment women experiencing this pattern will have their breast milk gushing like a spring in no time [1].
It is hoped that this information has gone in part towards filling some spaces that are lost in translation between Eastern and Western medical understanding and is useful to encourage and empower breastfeeding women to confidently, sensibly and safely access TCM as an adjunctive treatment for the benefit of themselves and their baby.
[1] Yang, S. & Liu, D. Fu QingZhu's Gynecology. Boulder, CO, Blue Poppy Press: Boulder, 1996, p.130.
4 comment(s) on this page. Add your own comment below.
Hi, I am a breast feeding mother experiencing low milk supply. Unfortunately I was unaware of the benefits of acupuncture to increase milk supply until I read this article. Are you able to recommend a TCM practitioner in Perth Western Australia please.
Thank you
Hi Chaithri - unfortunately I am not aware of the TCM practitioners in Perth. If you Google "Natural Therapy Pages" - they have a very large database of all sorts of practitioners. Good luck.
Hello, Fantastic article! A quick question- What about diminished due to pregnancy? Is this seen as a separate issue or does TCM bring it back to the same issues cited above? What are the energetic particulars? Can TCM assist via acupuncture? I would just come to see you but I am in Perth too. Maybe your practice is another reason to visit Melbourne! Kind Regards, Carolyn
Hi to Karen I just read your post about insufficient lactation. I am a nurse anesthetist of 30 years but an acupuncturist for only 3 years! Thanks for your insight and advice. I would follow your FB page if you have one. Be well Sincerely, Yehudis


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|Global Medicine resident Julian teaches Bugoye Health Center staff in Kasese, Uganda
|Global Medicine Residents Jana Jarolimova and Katherine Crabtree collaborate with Bugoye Health Center staff in Kasese, Uganda
|Former Mass General Medicine Internal Medicine residents George Anesi and Judith Briant Anesi (class of 2014) read a chest x-ray with Edendale Hospital in South Africa, 2013
|Global Medicine resident Katherine Crabtree sees patients with her Ugandan colleagues at the Bugoye Health Center
|Global Medicine Residents Jana Jarolimova and Katherine Crabtree collaborate with Bugoye Health Center staff in Kasese, Uganda
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The Global Medicine Program was founded in 2011 as a joint initiative of MGH Global Health and the Department of Medicine. Aligned with the 4 pillars of MGH's mission—patient care, research, education, and community service—MGH Global Medicine seeks to train leaders to respond to the distress of our global neighbors. The Global Medicine program invests in innovative curricula and mutually rewarding partnerships to create trainee service, teaching, and research opportunities, both locally and globally. With a focus on integrating the principles and practices of global health and care for vulnerable populations, this program develops future leaders to advance health equity and strengthen health systems.
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Robin van Persie making history and Karim Benzema breathing a huge sigh of relief feature in FIFA.com's latest stats review, alongside ecstasy for Bosnia-Herzegovina and Ghana and another German centurion.
minutes was the international goal drought France striker Karim Benzema extinguished against Australia on Friday. The 25-year-old had not scored for his country since bagging a brace in a 4-0 win over Estonia in a June 2012 friendly, but after being brought on at half-time against the Socceroos, he took a mere five minutes to end the run. It helped inflict a second straight 6-0 loss, and fourth straight defeat, upon Australia, whose FA reacted by sacking coach Holger Osieck. Benzema went on to seal France's 3-0 win over Finland in their final Group I qualifier for Brazil 2014, meaning he has netted as many goals in his last 48 minutes for Les Bleus as he did in his previous 1,698.
caps is what Bastian Schweinsteiger moved on to against Sweden, making Germany only the second country to reach double figures in centurions. USA boast 14 players on 100 or more internationals, and Germany had been level with Mexico and Sweden on nine until the Bayern Munich midfielder emulated compatriots Franz Beckenbauer, Lothar Matthaus, Jurgen Klinsmann, Jurgen Kohler, Thomas Hassler, Ulf Kirsten, Miroslav Klose, Lukas Podolski and Philipp Lahm on Tuesday evening. Schweinsteiger helped Joachim Low's team emerge 5-3 victors, ensuring they recovered from 2-0 down to win for the first time in 37 years. The 36 goals Germany scored in their ten qualifiers was the second-highest ever recorded in a European qualifying group, one shy of the record Romania recorded in the France 1998 preliminaries.
international goals is what Robin van Persie stormed on to with a hat-trick in the 8-1 demolition of Hungary on Friday, taking him past Patrick Kluivert and top of the Netherlands' list of all-time leading marksmen. The 30-year-old Manchester United striker, who only netted 14 times in his first 41 internationals (0.34 per game), has now scored 18 in his last 22 (0.82). Van Persie's overall goals-per-games ratio (0.51) is still dwarfed by the Oranje's record-holder Bep Bakhuys, who was on target 28 times in 23 outings (1.22) between 1928 and 1937. The former Feyenoord and Arsenal player, on 11 goals, one ahead of Bosnia-Herzegovina's Edin Dzeko, is almost certain to finish as the top scorer in European qualifying for 2014 FIFA World Cup Brazil™ – his closest challengers from the teams in the play-offs, Portugal's Helder Postiga and Zlatan Ibrahimovic of Sweden, are both on six. Van Persie was not the only Rotterdam native to impress against Hungary. PSV centre-back Jeffrey Bruma admirably completed all 60 of his attempted passes in Amsterdam.
goals was the margin by which Ghana thrashed Egypt to smash the biggest-ever victory in the fixture and take a giant step towards Brazil 2014. The Black Stars' previous best was the 3-0 they recorded in the sides' previous encounter in January in Abu Dhabi, while the Pharaohs have won by two goals on five occasions but never by more. However, an Asamoah Gyan double propelled the Ghanaians to an emphatic 6-1 home success in part one of their scrap for a place at the 20th World Cup. Ghana and Côte d'Ivoire, who both only qualified for the global finals for the first time in 2006, are attempting to emulate Cameroon, Nigeria and Tunisia in appearing at three consecutive editions.
World Cups will have unfolded without a new representative after Bosnia-Herzegovina's qualification ensured the tradition will continue at Brazil 2014. Vedad Ibisevic's 68th-minute strike seized Safet Susic's side victory in Lithuania in their final Group G qualifier, and though they finished level with Greece on points, the Zmajevi (Dragons) overwhelmed their rivals in the goal-difference duel, +24 to +8. Five of the six nations affiliated to FIFA and born out of the Yugoslav dissolution will have been represented at the World Cup after Croatia, Montenegro, Serbia and Slovenia (Serbia and Montenegro appeared in 1998 and 2006 before Serbia participated in 2010). Another four countries are still vying to compete at a World Cup for the first time in 2014. Ethiopia's prospects don't look great after they lost 2-1 at home to Nigeria in the opening leg of their battle for a ticket to Brazil, but Burkina Faso will carry a slender lead into their second leg in Algeria. Jordan will fight Uruguay for qualification while Iceland, who would become the smallest nation to ever play in the competition, must wait to see who they face in the European play-offs.


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