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Thursday, January 24, 2013 Outskirts of Stalingrad, August 1942 Ralph invited the Brothers around for a Flames of War (FOW) game. I know this is a very popular rule system and all the Brothers have vast arrays of troops, from Paul's Polish trains, to Chris' Afrika Korps companies. I don't have any...but I hope to remedy that soon! The situation was simple- a Russian battalion with armour support- well 3 very understrength companies, a pioneer platoon, two SMG platoons and two platoons of T-34s were to retake a series of buildings with a large building at the far end of the table, beyond the park area- was to be the main objective. The Table: The big building in the center front of the photo was the Soviet objective- They started at the far end. The game started with a general advance by the Soviets with three main areas of advance. Paul's command on the left was initially pinned down by heavy MG fire as Nick (senior) poured fire into his troops but after Paul's NKVD Commissars executed a few recalcitrants the rest moved on and drove out the first MG company. In the center my T34s drove through the open area of the park and Ross decide to reveal his trump card- 3 Pak 50s. They fired at the side of my leading tank platoon......and nothing happened. The shells all bounced skyward. He was not a happy man...especially as my infantry then swarmed over his concealed gun emplacements driving the crews off and capturing 2 out of the 3 guns. The center of the table...and a cause of a major headache for the German defenders as it was too open and the T34s broke through. German infantry take position in the rubble Although it would cost a lot of Soviet blood to drive the Germans out of the ruins the end was only really going to be one way as the Wehrmacht had no way of destroying the tanks. Eventually, after giving the Soviets a bloody nose... they had to surrender the objective! A great game and lots of fun....the look on Ross's face when his guns couldn't penetrate the Soviet armour effectively was priceless! Thanks for putting on the game Ralph! My T34s ride over a German machine gun position late in the game A German HQ in the ruins of a Russian building The middle of the table. German infantry were dug in on the western side of the park but were pushed out by a combination of tanks and infantry Soviet tanks and infantry storm a building- Nick (senior) held this building with a platoon of German infantry- I eventually took it but at horrendous cost- 3 full platoons were destroyed storming this multi storey building. Another view of the table. The German defenders before deployment. One of Ralph's terrain pieces! Lots of accessories to go with the masses of infantry! Loads of Soviet infantry! Soviets move on the German Paks! Paul's Soviets move forward en masse! Infantry supporting the tanks. Dug in Germans assaulted by the T34s. My Russians storm the ruins...and suffered horrendous casualties. It finally took the tanks to help flush the defenders out. The tanks go into the ruins! The T34s burst through the German defenders 1. Wow John, Massed infantry and tanks; Magalomania in 15mm! Great looking game. Aye, Rusty. 3. Fantastic pictures and minis, on a beautiful table, great work...I love the train too! 1. Thanks Phil, it's that sort of attention to detail that make Ralph's games so much fun!
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mlfoundations/dclm-baseline-1.0
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default
| 0.37
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Volkswagen car rental in Courchevel Cars of Volkswagen brand for rent in Courchevel The company Auto-Arenda suggest you to rent Volkswagen cars in Courchevel. You can order and book the Volkswagen vehicle rental in Courchevel with delivery to the airport or railway station. In the list of Volkswagen cars for rent in Courchevel there are premium class cars for VIP-persons and guests.
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mlfoundations/dclm-baseline-1.0
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default
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Assessment of Water Quality Parameters of Kushiyara River, Bangladesh The Kushiyara River basin is located in the north eastern region of Bangladesh. The aim of this study is to investigate the water quality parameters seasonal variation on the basis of physico-chemical analysis such as Temperature, P, DO (Dissolved Oxygen), BOD (Biochemical Oxygen Demand), COD (Chemical Oxygen Demand), TS (Total Solids), TDS (Total Dissolved Solids) and SS (Suspended Solids) in both rainy season and winter season for the years 2010 to 2013. The rainy season data is collected during June-July and the winter season data is collected during November-December for each of the year. Our ultimate outcomes will convey a sound message for the government body and policy maker to rules and regulation in order to keep ecological balance as well as save our environment. We therefore suggest wise management of anthropogenic actions in the catchment of Kushiyara River. Introduction In the last few decades, the accelerated step of industrial development and progressive growth of population caused in tremendous increase in the demand of fresh water [21]. The quality of surface and groundwater is recognized in terms of its physical, chemical, and biological parameters [15]. The water quality of rivers is categorized by a high level of heterogeneity in time and space, because of the dissimilarity of cover-land around. This habitually creates complications to identify water environments and pollution sources, which is necessary to control effectively pollution in addition to construct successful strategies for minimizing of contamination resources [26]. The rapid increase of population density, land development along river basin, urbanization and industrialization have been endangered for the water quality of rivers. Anthropogenic pollutants related to land use result in radical deterioration of aquatic systems in watersheds [16]. Furthermore, the rivers play an imperative role in assimilating municipal and industrial effluent along with runoff from agricultural land and the surrounding area in a watershed [24]. Alternatively, rivers comprise the most significant water resources for irrigation, domestic water supply, industrial, and other purposes in a watershed, thus tending to stimulate serious hygienic and ecological problems. The prevention and controlling of river pollution and assessment of water quality are an imperative prerequisite for effective management [4], [30]. According to DOE, Malaysia, anthropogenic activities in particular husbandry livestock and agriculture play a significant role in contributing pollution of river water among others pollutants [8]. Wastewater of livestock holds huge concentrations of ammonia nitrogen, organic and inorganic nitrogen compound, and pathogenic bacteria [10]. Additionally, serious environmental damage due to animal waste has been well documented in rivers which receive runoff of nutrient rich waste that caused oxygen reduction and amplified the algae production [1]. In this study an attempt has been taken to examine the seasonal variation of water quality parameters along the Kushiyara River within the years 2010 to 2013. A. Description of Study Area Sylhet is the Divisional city of North Eastern Region of Bangladesh [28], and the Kushiyara River is one of the important rivers of this region which has got a multipart river system that supports a diversity of uses, comprising irrigation systems in agricultural lands, drinking water and industries wastewater. The effluents from all these sources is directly discharged into the river. Kushiyara River one of the transboundary rivers of Bangladesh. The Barak River enters Bangladesh along 24°53' north latitudes and 92°32' east longitudes. The Barak splits into two branches at Amalshid in the northeast border of Zakiganj Upozila of Sylhet district. The northwest part is the Surma and the southwestern part is the Kushiyara. At Amalshid, the bed of the Surma has to a large extent dried up and as a result, about 85 percent flow of the Barak runs through the Kushiyara. The total length of the Kushiyara River is about 161 km and the average width of the river is 250m. In the rainy season the mean depth of the Kushiyara reaches up to 10m. The river carries an enormous amount of water with sediments from Karimganj of Assam and the hilly areas of Hill Tripura. The river passes over Zakiganj, Golabganj, Fenchuganj, Balaganj, Rajnagar, Maulvibazar and Nabiganj. The Fenchuganj Fertilizer Factory stands on the bank of the Kushiyara [13]. The study area is shown figure 1. B. Sampling and Analysis Water samples were collected from the Kushiyara River from upstream to downstream along the river during two seasonsnamely rainy season and winter season, and tested for some physical and chemical water quality parameters which are required for this study. Licensed Under Creative Commons Attribution CC BY and chemical qualities according to the standard method [2] in the Water Supply and Sewerage Engineering Laboratory of Civil and Environmental Engineering Department, Shah Jalal University of Science and Technology, Sylhet, Bangladesh. Budhbari Bazar 20 Shadin Bazar Figure 1: Kushiyara River basin Modified after source [22]. C. Water Quality Parameters general information Temperature is an important parameter in characterization of natural water bodies. It affects the water chemistry such as saturation and concentration of dissolved gases, especially oxygen [19]. The rate of chemical reactions generally increases as temperature increases (rule of Vant Hoff). Temperature also affects biological activity and regulates the kinds of organisms that can live in the lake. The most obvious reason for temperature change in lakes is the change in seasonal air temperature [7]. Temperature is a critical water quality and environmental parameter because it governs the kinds and types of aquatic life, regulates the maximum dissolved oxygen concentration of the water, and influences the rate of chemical and biological reactions [18]. P H is a very important factor that must be considered to determine for water quality. The P H of any water body surface is defined as a measure of Hydrogen ion concentration. In other words, P H is a measure of the alkalinity or acidity of water soluble substances [6], [31]. Dissolved Oxygen (DO) is defined as the amount of oxygen dissolved in a water body and measures the health of the water and its ability to support a balance aquatic ecosystem [29], [17]. The DO appears as microscopic bubbles of gaseous oxygen which are mixed in water and available to aquatic organisms for respiration [11], [17]. BOD (Biochemical Oxygen Demand) is defined as the amount of oxygen required by aerobic microorganisms to dissolve organic matter in a sample of water. It is one of the most essential and widely used parameters for the most essential and widely used parameters for measuring pollutants and biodegradable organic compounds in water [14], [25], [17]. Low the BOD, higher the desirability of using for human use, like drinking & domestic purposes. BOD has been used as a measure of the amount of organic materials in an aquatic solution which support the growth of microorganisms [5]. For drinking water, BOD should be nil. The COD is the amount of specified oxidant that reacts with a sample of water under controlled conditions and is expressed in terms of oxygen equivalence [17], [27]. COD is viewed as a useful measure of water quality because its application determines the amount of organic pollutants present in surface water or wastewater [32]. Total solids includes both total suspended solids, the portion of total solids retained by a filter and total dissolved solids, the portion that passes through a filter [12]. The total amount of all dissolved solutes and silica present in a water body is recognized as the total dissolved solids . TDS are mainly the inorganic minerals and sometimes some organic matter. It can be determined gravimetrically by evaporating a known volume of water and measuring the mass of the residue left [3]. Suspended solid (SS) are the solid matter suspended in water, comprising of organic and inorganic materials, such as plankton, silt and industrial waste [9], [17]. Result and Discussion The Physico-chemical characteristics of the Karnafully River due to presence of many chemical fertilizers, iron, leather and pharmaceutical industries [23]. From the finding of the result they concluded that river Karnafully was losing its water quality day by day and the river was under severe pollution threat. Rajkumar et al., (2013) found that the Barak River have been contaminated with waterborne pathogenic bacteria because of increased anthropogenic and socio-cultural activities at different sites of the Barak River and also by sewage, faecal contaminants and industrial wastes and the water of the Barak River is not suitable for drinking and other recreational purposes [20]. As the Barak River is the source of Kushiyara River from India and the water of this river is polluted day by day. Therefore the Kushiyara River water quality is deteriorated. Conclusion This study was conducted to measure the magnitude of environmental pollution considering seasonal variations of surface river water quality. The water quality in rainy season and winter season is controlled by mixed origin of natural, wastewater discharges and surface runoff. The analysis reveals that temperature values are in increasing trend from 2010 to 2013 in both seasons without the value in the year 2012. There is no abrupt change in P H value occurred from the study. The average DO for the year 2010 was less than 2011 for both the season but from 2011 to 2013 the value is decreasing at an alarming rate for both season which will create serious problem for the aquatic organisms. It is also observed that the BOD, COD, TS, TDS and SS values are also increasing with respect to time. Finally on the basis of monitoring of selected physico-chemical parameters in the last four years, undoubtedly it can be conclude that the Kushiyara River water quality is deteriorating with time. The causes behind this is that along its course the Kushiyara River receives many types of point and non-point sources pollutants from Cement factory, agricultural fertilizers residue, municipal waste, rural markets discharges, detergents from washing cloth and bathing, human faces from slum areas of the cities etc. Therefore, recovery process of the river water quality must start immediately.
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allenai/peS2o
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default
| 0.02
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Genome size evolution is a fundamental problem in molecular evolution. Statistical analysis of genome sizes brings new insight into the evolution of genome size. Although the variation of genome sizes is complicated, it is indicated that the genome size evolution can be explained more clearly at taxon level than at species level. I find that the genome size distribution for species in a taxon fits log-normal distribution. And I find a relationship between the phylogeny of life and the statistical features of genome size distributions among taxa. I observed different statistical features of genome size distributions between animal taxa and plant taxa. A log-normal stochastic process model is developed to simulate the genome size evolution. The simulation results on the log-normal distributions of genome sizes and their statistical features agree with the observations.
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HuggingFaceFW/fineweb-edu
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default
| 0.333
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Hiện tượng nổ bồn cầu không hề hiếm gặp và đã có rất nhiều gia đình gặp phải. Nó gây ảnh hưởng không nhỏ đến cuộc sống của người dân. Không chỉ gây nên nguy hiểm mà còn ảnh hưởng đến sinh hoạt hàng ngày. Vậy nguyên nhân gây nổ bồn cầu là gì? Làm thế nào bị ngăn chặn và phòng tránh? Bài viết sau sẽ giúp bạn giải đáp vấn đề trên. Mục lục Các nguyên nhân khiến bồn cầu phát nổ Các nguyên nhân gây nổ bồn cầu phổ biến là: - Khí nổ tồn tại dưới bể phốt, khi gặp chất xúc tác khí này sẽ gây nổ bồn cầu. - Bể phốt quá đầy chất thải rắn, lâu ngày không được thông hút sẽ gây nổ. - Các vi sinh vật trong bồn cầu thải ra một số khí như metan, CO2, NH3,.... Khí metan khi tích lũy lâu ngày không thể thoát ra ngoài cũng sẽ gây nổ bồn cầu. - Có vật nóng rơi vào bồn cầu, nhiệt độ cao sẽ kích hoạt khí metan trong bồn cầu phát nổ. - Bồn cầu sử dụng kém chất lượng, khả năng cách nhiệt kém. Khi gặp nhiệt độ cao sẽ hấp thu nhiệt nhiều và dễ gây nổ. Làm thế nào để ngăn chặn nổ bồn cầu - Tránh xa các nguồn gây kích thích khí metan như bếp ga, lửa, nơi có nhiệt độ cao,.... - Khi thiết kế hầm cầu cần chú ý đến thiết kế của ống thông khí. - Tránh xây ở những nơi hay bị ngập lụt vì nước bên ngoài chảy vào có thể gây ngập ống khí, tạo áp lực lên bồn cầu. - Làm kín các mối tiếp xúc giữa bồn cầu và đường ống thoát chất thải, tránh để rò rỉ khu vực này. - Không hút thuốc trong nhà vệ sinh, nhất là khi phát hiện ra khí lạ. - Hút bể phốt định kỳ để đảm bảo không gây tắc nghẽn bồn cầu. Dịch vụ hút bể phốt công ty môi trường số 1 Hà Nội Công ty môi trường số 1 Hà Nội là đơn vị đã thành lập từ năm 2005 với sứ mệnh làm sạch môi trường đô thị Hà Nội. Chúng tôi có đội ngũ nhân viên giàu kinh nghiệm xử lý các tình huống,HÚT BỂ PHỐT,THÔNG TẮC CỐNG,THÔNG TẮC BỂ PHỐT, cống rãnh và các công trình khác. Công ty chúng tôi cung cấp các dịch vụ hút bể phốt, thông tắc cống, thông tắc bể phốt với trang thiết bị hiện đại. ĐẢM BẢO KHÔNG ĐỤC PHÁ. Ngoài ra chúng tôi luôn cam kết giảm có tất cả các loại xe hút bể phốt từ 1 khối – 40 khối cho các công trình lớn. Với phương châm làm việc của công ty chúng tôi ( khách hàng là thượng đế) chúng tôi luôn mong muốn được mang đến cho Qúy khách hàng một dịch vụ hoàn hảo và giá thành phải chăng nhất. Quý khách khi có nhu cầu sử dụng dịch vụ vui lòng liên hệ với chúng tôi theo thông tin sau: CÔNG TY TNHH MÔI TRƯỜNG SỐ 1 HÀ NỘI Địa chỉ: Số 3A, Lô 2, KĐT Đền Lừ 2, P Hoàng Văn Thụ, Q. Hoàng Mai, Hà Nội Có thể thấy, việc nổ bồn cầu sẽ gây nhiều nguy hiểm và bất tiện cho người dùng, thậm chí nặng có thể ảnh hưởng đến tính mạng. Chính vì thế bạn cần biết cách phòng tránh để đảm bảo an toàn cho bản thân và người xung quanh.
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HuggingFaceFW/fineweb-2
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vie_Latn
| 0.0775
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Austermann, Philipp: How the Federal Constitutional Court perceives the Members of Parliament. Ever since the Federal Constitutional Court was founded in 1951, it had to deal with the status of the Members of Parliament, especially their income situation. Its decisions strongly effect the Members’ legal position. The remuneration for the Members of Parliament has been subject of several proceedings. In an important key case, known as the “Diätenurteil” (“remuneration case”) in 1975, the Court decided that the “job profile” of the deputies had changed and had become a “fulltime-job”. Therefore the nature of the remuneration had changed as well. It was no longer seen as a non-taxable representation allowance but as a taxable salary. The Court also tried to answer other questions concerning the parliamentary mandate. In this and following cases it prohibited extra allowances for Members of Parliament with a special function in a parliamentary standing committee or a parliamentary party (with an exception for the President of the Parliament, the vice-presidents and the chairmen of the parliamentary parties). However, the reasoning in these decisions is not very convincing. In 2007, the Court had to deal with the question whether other paid work at the time of the mandate is legally acceptable. It was not able to find a common position in that case but was divided into two “fractions”. [ZParl, vol. 43, no. 4, pp. 719 – 726] Brockmann, Hilke: Women and mothers in the German Bundestag: An explorative longitudinal study. Are women and men, mothers and fathers represented equally in the German Bundestag? Or does politics remain a male-dominated affair and is that owed to the fact that most women have and raise children, which restrains their availability for the demanding time schedule of a politician? This question is highly relevant, given the current debate about a female quota for leadership positions in Germany’s economy. A comparison of legislative terms before and after the introduction of a female quota by political parties shows that indeed the number of women increased, but mothers remain considerably underrepresented. The degree of underrepresentation varies between parties. In the CDU/CSU and FDP it has increased significantly. However, a mother quota has potential advantages and disadvantages which are discussed. [ZParl, vol. 43, no. 4, pp. 727 – 738] Kintz, Melanie: Double quota for East German female parliamentarians? The assertion that East German women in the Bundestag held a double advantage in the recruitment to intra-parliamentary leadership positions during the period from 1994 to 2010 is only partly true. They enjoyed such a bonus in the parliamentary party group of the Left Party. In all other parliamentary parties, East German women are represented well but below the level of their West German female and male colleagues. Furthermore, East Ger-man male parliamentarians are under-represented in intra-parliamentary leadership positions. And while some measurements indicate that the representation of East German deputies in leadership functions outside of the Left Party’s parliamentary party group has improved over time, this is not due to a rising number of members holding positions but to a declining number of members serving in the parliamentary parties Greens, FDP, SPD and CDU/CSU. Only in the Left Party a rising number of East German position holders is found. [ZParl, vol. 43, no. 4, pp. 738 – 753] Kaltenpoth, Christina and Karsten Mause: Skills shortage in the political business? On the economic competence of economic policy makers in Germany. In the wake of the recent financial and economic crisis it has been claimed sometimes that German economic policy makers lack economic expertise. By examining a sample of 234 Ministers of Economic Affairs at the federal and state level in Germany since 1945 as well as 73 members of the German Bundestag’s Economic Committee since 2005, it turns out that the public criticism hits a nerve: About 27 percent of the considered Ministers of Economic Affairs and 29 percent of the committee members have neither a formal economic education (i.e. degree in economics and/or a commercial training) nor gained work experience in businesses before they received their political position. There are good arguments which hold that economic policy makers without economic expertise are rather unproblematic for the functioning of a society. However, citizens who wish to be ruled by economic policy makers with economic training/experience must hope that many other citizen/voters also have such a preference. If this is the case, vote-maximizing parties and governments would have to ensure that they fill political positions in the field of economic policy with individuals qualified in this field. [ZParl, vol. 43, no. 4, pp. 753 – 765] Manow, Philip and Peter Flemming: The male and female candidate – no longer a largely unknown species. How effective are elections in selecting and de-selecting MPs? How do electoral rules affect descriptive representation? To answer such fundamental questions, information is not only needed on those elected to parliament but also data on all those who stood for election. In this article fundamental questions of democratic selection and representation are addressed on the basis of a new data set containing information on each person who ever ran for a seat in the German Bundestag. This new dataset provides us with a complete picture of the personal side of political representation in Germany for the last 60 years – from 1949 to 2009. We look at the different career sequences that typically lead to a seat in parliament, and we investigate the determinants of women’s representation, both over time and with an inter-party comparison. [ZParl, vol. 43, no. 4, pp. 766 – 784] Groh, Kathrin: The development from member-parties to electoral-professional parties – Does the German constitution imply a certain type of political party? Whereas catch-all parties have dominated the battle for popular support ever since the Federal Republic’s foundation, recently a trend has set in for them being replaced by new party types like cartel parties, parties of career politicians, of functionaries, of parties in parliament or electoral-professional parties. This leads to the question, whether the constitutional conceptions of how parties work and what their role is as “transmission belt” between the people’s will and the government’s decision-making are still able to keep up with the new reality of party-democracy. This can hardly be affirmed for the parties’ “constitutional mandate” of fulfilling intermediation and linkage functions; and especially the regulations on the financing of political parties do unveil strong evidence for legal revisions in this context. [ZParl, vol. 43, no. 4, pp. 784 – 798] Anan, Deniz: Representational cultures and cultures of decision-making in comparison. The party conventions of the FDP and the Greens. The parties in Germany seem to resemble each other more and more in organizational matters. However, an analysis of the charters and the participant observation of the conventions of the FDP and the Greens show that significant differences persist. These differences are related to both the representational cultures and the cultures of decision-making and can be traced back to the different origins and self-concepts. The FDP’s roots as a “Honoratiorenpartei” (party of notables) are thus reflected in the dominance of parliamentarians and the perception of the office of a delegate and a board member as an honorary post. In addition, intraparty elections are based on the classical liberal idea of representative democracy. However, with the Greens, where board members and delegates receive money, subdivisions have extensive rights to submit motions and to call meetings, and even the smallest district section is represented at the federal party convention. Furthermore, the self-concept as an antiparty party and the ideal of grassroots democracy continue to have an effect. On the other hand both parties feature partly astonishing similarities, ranging from meetings on weekends to the irrelevance of direct democratic decision-making procedures. [ZParl, vol. 43, no. 4, pp. 799 – 816] Pilz, Volker: Mundatwald remains German! How the German Bundestag’s Committee on Foreign Affairs hampered the ratification of the Franco-German Treaty of July 31, 1962. There is only one case in which an international treaty was denied by the German Bundestag based on Article 59 of the German Grundgesetz: Fifty years ago the Franco-German Treaty of July 31, 1962 was signed. According to that treaty the Mundatwald, a piece of forest in the south of Rhineland-Palatinate west of Karlsruhe, was designated to become part of the French territory. The Committee on Foreign Affairs declined to ratify the treaty due to serious objections and did not pass the Consent Act to the Bundestag’s plenary assembly. That very case and the lessons learnt by the government are outlined here in more detail. [ZParl, vol. 43, no. 4, pp. 816 – 830] Peters, Butz: Parliamentary committees of investigation (Untersuchungsausschüsse): The rights of the minority. In parliamentary committees of investigation the qualified minority is entitled by the constitution to participate in the investigation on equal footing. Hence the minority must be able to enforce its understanding and concept of an adequate clarification of facts. In particular, when the enquiry’s fact-finding is impacted by procedural law, the minority is allowed to co-determine the procedures. This is the case regarding decisions on motions to take evidence, the enforcement of evidence orders, special sessions, means of coercion, legal means, the insight into non-repudiation protocols and records of the committee, the final report and the completion of the proceedings. In these cases a “qualified right of motion” is in place. The majority may only refuse the motion of the qualified minority if it can base its refusal on constitutional grounds, such as unsuitable evidence, incorrect or illegal means of gathering the evidence. The refusal requires constitutionally sound grounds. The minority may secure legal protection only in case of an institutional controversy, unless the law determines otherwise. The constitutional depth of control is restricted to the control of plausibility, abuse und arbitrariness. [ZParl, vol. 43, no. 4, pp. 831 – 853] Mader, Oliver: Petitions to the European Parliament and judicial control of decisions taken by its Committee on Petitions. According to Article 227 of the Treaty on the functioning of the European Union and Article 44 of the Charter of Fundamental Rights, citizens of the Union have the right to address petitions to the European Parliament. From the perspective of the Parliament, this fundamental right corresponds to its duty to receive petitions, and then, provided that they are admissible, to examine their contents, and provide petitioners with substantive opinions. Admittedly, the latter are not entitled to remedies in relation to the matters raised. Nevertheless, certain elements of the fundamental right of petition can be enforced before the EU judge. Unjustified refusal to deal with the substance of an admissible petition is a case in point, because such refusal prejudices effective exercise of the right of petition. Rejection of a petition on grounds of inadmissibility can be checked. The Committee on Petitions must set forth its reasons to classify a petition as inadmissible. In the same way, a petition must be accessible to judicial review if, on the one hand it was considered admissible, but on the other hand, the Committee did not deal with it. The possibility of referring an issue to other institutions is only open to the Committee, to the extent that it refers the matter to the European Ombudsman. And even then, the petitioner must have agreed to this referral in advance. Against this background, the practice of the Committee, introduced in 2011, of “filtering” petitions solely on the basis of a free assessment of their “relevance”, designed to avoid dealing with them, either by filing or referring them elsewhere, is not compatible with EU law. [ZParl, vol. 43, no. 4, pp. 854 – 872] Zähle, Kai: Bell or Gong: Acoustic signals in parliamentary practice. Acoustic signals are among the parliamentary peculiarities that have a long tradition. In the course of a plenary meeting, the bell or chime can announce parliamentary events and the bell of the speaker may ring during heated debates in order to restore order. The speaker’s bell enjoys a prominent role and its use in German Parliaments can be traced back to the beginnings of the Frankfurter Nationalversammlung (Frankfurt Assembly) in 1848. According to the level of autonomy of the parliaments of Bund and Länder, particular sound signals have emerged with different meanings. The signals are bell, gong, horn, and chime. Although the way the signals are used is sometimes comparable, each parliament has its own rules for the signals: for the call to meeting; the opening; and the management of a meeting. Furthermore, it is clear that phrases used to describe current parliamentary business reflect historical uses of sounds in parliamentary procedure. [ZParl, vol. 43, no. 4, pp. 872 – 886] Ganghof, Steffen, Christian Stecker, Sebastian Eppner and Katja Heeß: Flexible and inclusive majorities? An analysis of law-making coalitions during the minority government in North Rhine-Westphalia. How minority governments organize parliamentary support for their legislative program is analyzed for the minority cabinet of SPD and Greens in North Rhine-Westphalia between 2010 and 2012. The focus lies on the flexibility and the inclusiveness of law-making coalitions. An analysis of all 59 adopted laws reveals a limited degree of flexibility: the Left Party was the main support party in parliament but some bills were adopted by coalitions of SPD/Greens with CDU and FDP. That 74 percent of all non-technical bills were approved by minimal-winning coalitions sheds light on the inclusiveness. [ZParl, vol. 43, no. 4, pp. 887 – 900] Lehnert, Detlef: An „obscure“ father of the Constitution of Weimar? – or, how Hugo Preuß obtained his mandate and used it. For three reasons, Preuß’ concept of parliamentarism has not yet been comprehended correctly: Firstly, based on a „Bonn is not Weimar“ perspective he has been blamed for aberrations since 1923, which he criticized by means of original intentions while still alive. Secondly, his selective reference to Robert Redslob’s comparative analysis of parliamentary systems has to be read conceptionally in terms of deliberative complements of representative democracy; based on the situation he expected a President of the kind of his constituant Friedrich Ebert to essentially concentrate the parties of the Weimar Constitution, SPD, DDP and Zentrum, which had not gained any governmental experience during the Kaiser’s Empire. Thirdly, Preuß is often equated to mainstream left-wing liberals, which misconceives his genuinely left-democratic origins in the circle of the Berlin „social-progressives“, which is reflected by the fact that he was elected city-councillor with the votes of the SPD in 1910. This contribution in particular exploits publicistic material unknown to date, in order to finally render Preuß’ constitutional mandate in 1918/19 less „obscure“ than it appeared to many contemporaries and the later-born. [ZParl, vol. 43, no. 4, pp. 901 – 914]
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The space colony ARK reappeared many miles from the atmosphere, with Sonic and Shadow hanging on tight. The sudden movement caused Shadow to let go. Sonic quickly grabbed his hand and pulled him up along with himself. Shadow shook Sonic's hand away as if it was poison. "Don't help me!" he snapped. "But I wanna help you." Sonic smiled. "You helped me! Plus, you don't wanna die, do you?" The question made Shadow think. Did he really have a purpose to live? The entire world thought of him as a fugitive, so he would have to live in the shadows again. The long pause shocked Sonic. Did Shadow really want to die? Then again, he didn't know him that well. What he did know was that everyone deserved to live and Shadow was no exception. His thoughts were cut off by a cold dark voice that said, "I might as well." Shadow looked at the space beyond the ARK. It looked so peaceful and free. He wondered what it would feel like to drop down from there. He knew that the atmosphere would brutally torture him, but he slowly considered it. "You don't know what you're talking about, Shadow." Sonic argued. Shadow turned to him with a cold and menacing stare. "And YOU would? What do you think would've happened if Maria hadn't saved me, huh? I would've either been dead or experimented on! I had a chance to die, and I'm not going to blow it the second time." He started leaning toward the edge. Sonic had no idea what Maria meant to him, but she seemed like a major part of his life. He sighed and said, "Look, I may not know what you've been through, but let me ask you a question." "Make it quick. Whatever you say won't change my mind." he confirmed with crossed arms. "Did you even know why Maria saved you? She did it because she cared for you and she wanted you to live not only to make the people happy, but for you to live a happy life. She would've never saved you if she didn't want you to live." "How do you know about my memories?" he snapped. Sonic's caring words really made him think, but he wasn't gonna tell Sonic that. Sonic had no idea how he knew that. He looked into his rival's scarlet eyes and saw all the pain he went through. Even his memories rushed into his head. He put a gloved hand to his forehead with a surprised look. "I don't know.I looked into your eyes and I saw everything." Shadow's dark expression changed to confusion. "What?" he asked startled. "It's hard to explain-" Sonic started. "No, tell me. You have my attention, Sonic. I'm listening." Did those words just come out of his mouth? By now, he could've jumped and died. Something about Sonic intrigued him. His inner conscience begged to hear him out. Sonic finally got to him. It was true, he didn't know exactly what happened, but if that's what kept Shadow alive, he'll tell him. "I.I think it had something to do with the Chaos Emeralds." The word "emerald" stuck in his mind as he looked into Sonic's eyes. They looked calm, yet hiding a great power inside. Why did Sonic care so much about him? He barely knew Shadow and he was now preventing him from committing suicide. He was always caring towards people, one of the qualities that made him a true hero. He wouldn't be able to live with the fact that he had let someone die. Shadow still gazed into Sonic's emerald eyes. They made him lose all train of thought and control over his feelings. "Y-You have beautiful eyes, Sonic." he blurted. Realizing what he just said, he turned away. Where did that come from? He knew there was no way that he was.well, that way. A hand held his. "As you do, Shadow." Sonic replied, pulling Shadow closer to ARK. "Huh?" Shadow asked, confused again. "You also have beautiful eyes." They faced each other with wide eyes. Their minds raced with emotions as their hearts explored a new feeling. Shadow slowly let go of Sonic's hand and looked out in space again. What was making him feel this way for the first time? It calmed the darkness and torment inside him, making him feel a little weird. The memories made him who he was: a dark soul with no purpose in life whatsoever, but the memories of his rival made him feel.different. The feeling grew stronger and hid all the darkness. Sonic was also new to this feeling. He knew immediately that Shadow was never going to leave him. It confused him, but it made sense at the same time. "Sonic, I feel weird. Do you know what this feeling is?" Shadow asked surprisingly. "I might know what you're talking about. Tell me all about it." Sonic said in a caring tone. Shadow slowly opened up to Sonic as he slowly explained the situation. "Well, it's hard to describe, but these visions and thoughts of you and your thoughts of me.What does it all mean?" "Well.I think it means we really connect, and not just by the Chaos Emeralds." he slowly explained. Shadow didn't quite know what this meant. His new conscience begged him to know. "So.what is this feeling?" Sonic felt the realization dawn on him and it begged to know something. That something could never be spoken. "Um, like this." Sonic pulled him into an embrace. Shadow was shocked, but kept himself in Sonic's caring arms. He extended his arms and wrapped them around Sonic. It was warm and touching for the two hedgehogs. They both held on as long as possible and then let go. This new side of Shadow wanted more. He felt the connection at full force. His cheeks started to gain the color of his eyes. "Show me more, Sonic." Shadow begged him. Sonic gave him a smirk. "Let me warn you: You may not wanna let go this time." The space in between their lips slowly disappeared. Sonic laid his arms around Shadow's shoulders. Shadow got an uneasy look on his face. Sonic pulled back once he noticed this. "You don't wanna do this, do you?" Sonic asked with concern. He still had his arms around him. "I do, really. It's just.my first time." "Me, too. Just relax and let it flow. Now follow my lead." He got closer this time and Shadow was ready. His calming breath caressed Shadow's face. Their lips touched and it was the best feeling Shadow ever felt. His mind relaxed of everything and the darkness disappeared. He put his arms around Sonic's shoulder and pulled him closer. Their tongues intertwined and the kiss was addictive. After breaking it, they both had dazed looks on their faces. Shadow finally gained the ability to speak after a minute. "What is this feeling that's taken over my soul, Sonic?" He gave Sonic a questioning look. Sonic smiled. "It's love, Shadow. It's the desire and affection for a person, and I have that for you." Shadow gave him a startled look. The four-letter word had never meant anything to him in his life. Was he really falling in love with Sonic? He couldn't. He didn't know love. He can't have love. "Sonic, I can't do it." he refused. Sonic connected a hand with Shadow's. "It's okay, we can take it slow." Shadow shook his hand away. "No, I don't deserve this." "What? Yes you do, Shadow. Everyone deserves to have someone that they care about." "I made your life a living hell. How can you love me?" he argued. "You helped me and I put all that aside. It doesn't matter anymore." "I deserve to die." Shadow stated darkly. "No one deserves to die. You live your life to the fullest and then you die. Don't give up now!" "I have lived to my potential. There's nothing left for me. Goodbye, Sonic." he said, beginning to jump when a strong force pulled him back. He was forced to face Sonic. Sonic had made his decision quickly. He held Shadow's hand tightly. "Either I'm going with you or you're coming with me." "You're a hero. You need to live. Don't die because of me." He looked at Sonic with intense eyes. "I.can't live without you." Sonic blurted out. His eyes glowed with more intensity as Sonic said those words. "I don't understand you, Sonic. You have so much persistence and dedication. How do you do it?" "I'm not afraid of taking risks. I do them for people I care about, including you. I can help you overcome your fear. You can't leave me Shadow. You know it and I know it, just admit it." Sonic was right. He couldn't do it. His love was too strong for him to give up. No matter how much his mind tortured him, he still loved Sonic. He was willing to control it with Sonic's help. He laughed a little at his reaction to what just happened. "I guess you're right. Is that normal?" he asked. "Of course." he said, leading him into the main entrance of ARK. He just saved a life, and he gained a new love. Shadow calmly relaxed as he was led into the space colony that was once his home. The lights were dimmed and the main door that led to their friends and rivals remained closed. He remembered when Maria would chase him around this hallway. He was really going to miss her. Now he had another person on his mind. Sonic felt a strong force push him against the nearest wall. Smooth hands pinned him there, never freeing his captor. He saw a pair of glowing red eyes look him up and down. He smirked as he saw Sonic's shocked look. He saw him struggling to speak and put a finger to his lips. "You want it? You got it." he said slyly. Not much longer after that, Sonic received the kiss of a lifetime. Love and lust filled his mouth. Something more powerful than he could possibly be gained control of his actions. Everything came out and was revealed to Sonic. He realized that he fell in many ways.
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In schools today the pace of change and shifting sands are quick. Skilled administrators need to wear many hats and be strategic yet operational at the same time. They must build empathy, be inclusive and build a learning culture where shared decision-making allows teachers and students to thrive. Core skills to being an accomplished administrator include: - Being a strong listener. Use human-centered design to gain and build empathy for faculty and students. Listen deeply and sometimes passively, like a fly on the wall. Turn ideas and thoughts into action. While taking the time to listen is important, it's equally important to have a bias for action. When the same thing emerges from multiple interviews, conversations and observations, strong administrators take action. Great leaders can embrace conflict for the good of the organization and do not constantly seek harmony. Building relationships and the trust of the team around you is core to building community. - Empowering others. Strong administrators aren't afraid to include others in decision-making. They are comfortable with taking calculated risks and living in some degree of ambiguity. They support their faculty when trying new approaches to teaching and learning. Teacher-powered schools are filled with positive energy. Provide incentives and support to empower teachers like innovation grants, fellowships or co-teaching opportunities. Create spaces for teachers to collaborate, plan and share. - Knowing how to use technology to enhance teaching and learning. The best advice I ever got with regard to using technology is to not just use it to "sharpen the pencil," in other words, don't use technology as a digital workbook. Strong administrators have the skills to model, leverage and share how technology augments the teaching and learning process. While technology will never replace a teacher, approaches like blended learning, the flipped classroom and even technology supported competency based learning free the teacher to focus on active learning, facilitation of project-based learning and personalization. A strong integrated technology system allows for scheduling, grades, blended learning and parent communications to easily connect and share information seamlessly. - Strong public speaking and outreach. Share what is happening that is amazing in your classrooms, with your students lives outside of school and the impact learning is having at your school. Meet with parents, community stakeholders and funders to let them know about the good things happening at your school. Use data and other qualitative evidence to communicate, open source ideas and teach others about your successes. Present at conferences and hold local professional development events at your school. Host student programs like FIRST Lego League competitions that bring others into your school. Core dispositions to being an accomplished administrator include: - Being a servant leader. Put others before yourself. Treat people equally and be aware of implicit bias, be an agent of social justice and good. Model for faculty and students that we are stronger when we care about each other. Be careful not to judge people too quickly or hold grudges. Be authentic in your pursuit to serve others and think about their wellbeing. Letting folks go a bit early on an in-service day, offering yoga after school or provide other incentives to your team so they feel appreciated. I believe you give an inch and can get a mile back in return. - Having a growth mindset. As an accomplished leader, having a growth-mindset is extremely important. You can't expect faculty and students to learn and grow in authentic ways if you are not modeling this mindset as an administrator. Don't be afraid to take risks, fail fast and bounce back. Be honest about where you need help and develop evaluation systems that focus on growth. Use emotional intelligence when communicating hard news or bounce ideas off of a trusted advisor who may have more emotional intelligence than you before communicating more broadly. Be publicly optimistic and show gratitude. - Be a designer and dreamer. Accomplished administrators have vision, get others excited and want to help design new ideas, programs and possibilities. Focus on the concept of "yes, and" vs "no, but" when staff comes to you with ideas for changes, new programs and student challenges. Model iteration within program design, promote the design of pilot programs that include both faculty and student voice. Hold school-wide design-challenges and involve parents in shaping the future of the school. Being mindful of the extreme task of preparing students for new roles and careers that don't even exist yet. Don't be afraid to be the first school in your area to try something new - share what you learn with others. - Be connected. Being on social media, keeping a blog, being digitally connected. Host and participate in twitter chats (I'm a moderator for #dtk12chat and #isedchat), create a school hash-tag to share success, keep a back-channel conversation and build a network of like-minded peers locally, nationally and even globally. Regularly visit schools, universities, work places to build partnerships and connected learning opportunities for students. Create space in the schedule to get students off-campus and into the field where "content" comes alive through work study, project-based learning and service learning. Encourage faculty to also visit other schools and conduct "learning walks" and come back to campus to share what they learn. Some of the best professional development can be done via social media. Show peers and faculty the benefits and model this type of professional growth. While there are certainly more skills and dispositions accomplished administrators must hold, these eight build the foundation for success. Whether it be motivating others, solving or analyzing problems or developing innovative programming, accomplished administrators display high integrity and honesty. Education as an industry is facing an amazing time of change. Amidst all the calls to innovation, administrators must continue to clearly communicate, create and collaborate while they thrive within ambiguity and develop new models of teaching and learning. |Strong administrators recognize the value of connection and networks.|
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Active audio crossover filter There are already many active crossover filters published and almost all contain many (expensive) components. The filter presented here is a favorable exception: fewer components are required and need they not to be very accurate so that 'normal' components can be used. These are the benefits that cling to the use of the state-variable filter. After all, the most commonly used solution for a filter is the second order high- or lowpass filter consisting of 2 resistors and 2 capacitors and an opamp. That means 2 RC times in the circuit that also affect each other. In the state-variable filter, all RC times are separated by an opamp so they can not affect each other. This makes it possible to use inaccurate (but good) capacitors and set the correct RC time with 1% resistors. The 1% resistors are nowadays easy to get and much cheaper than 1% capacitors. In addition, with 1 filter, both the high and the low frequencies can be separated so that less components are needed in total. Thus, with a single filter, a bi-amp amplifier can already be made. A three-way filter can be realized with 2 filters. The state variable filter consists of a summing amplifier followed by a number of integrators in succession. The output of each integrator is fed back to the summing amplifier in the correct phase and intensity. The number of integrators determines the order of the filter, the degree of feedback determines its characteristic. The diagram below shows a third-order three-way filter. And there is also a print layout as well: A 4th order circuit looks almost the same: And also the print has a lot of similarity.
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The Te Huruhi School calendar is kept up to date with upcoming important dates and events. The calendar is connected to the school's Google Calendar - which means most devices - either Apple, Android or Windows - should be able to connect / sync with the school calendar. For example, you can sync the school calendar to your mobile device, to see all upcoming events. For detailed instructions on how to sync with your device, please visit the Google Calendar help page Calendar ~ Monthly Calendar ~ Upcoming
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How To Teach English Online And Earn Supplemental Income teach english onlineFor many college graduates, teaching English overseas is a popular career choice. I’ve had friends teach English in far away places like South Korea and China, and it is also common for graduates to teach English in Latin America or even Europe. That being said, some of us want to stay within the borders of home. If you’re interested in teaching English and earning a supplemental income while doing it, then you may want to consider teaching an online English course through the Udemy platform. Get Paid For Your English Skills There are few jobs for which your only required skill is understanding correct English – at least, while you’re in the United States or England. Sure, you can be an English teacher at a local high school, but that’s a very particular career for which you need professional degrees. Nevertheless, there is a way for you to leverage your near-perfect English skills without that college diploma in English or Education. The answer is to teach English to non-native speakers! The English language is admittedly complex, with Germanic, English, and French influences all complicating the situation. English grammar is its own mystery for many, and there are many sub-niches for which a person could teach English and earn supplemental income. For example, many people need to know how to speak English for business success. Others want to know enough English to be able to travel in the United States, Canada, or the UK. Still others want to learn proper grammar, or maybe just correct pronunciation. There is a wide variety of niches for which you can creatively apply your English-speaking talents in order to teach others. What English language courses can you come up with? Where To Teach English To Earn Income You can certainly advertise to teach English in your local community. You’ve probably seen flyers advertising language instruction at your local coffee shop, and you can do the same. This is especially popular in college towns or major cities. But what if you don’t live in a major city? And, what if you want to reach a broader audience? Fortunately, there are numerous alternatives that can help you teach English that are more lucrative, including teaching English online. More on that in a moment. Teaching English Online Versus In-Person The problem with teaching English in-person is that you can often only teach a limited number of people at a time. If you are meeting in person rather than teaching English online, then as a tutor you can only teach a select few people at a time. And even if you host a classroom, you can still only teach English to a couple dozen people at most. Contrast that to what happens when you teach English online. You prepare your course once, and do your best to deliver an outstanding, high quality education for your students. Then, you post your English course on Udemy, the number one online learning platform. People come to Udemy for learning opportunities from all over the world, so immediately you gain access to thousands of potential English language learners in international countries. That means you can teach English to foreigners without leaving your house, and the best part is you teach the material once and earn money on it forever. So if you were looking to both teach English and earn passive income (meaning income not directly related to your time), then teaching English online could be a profitable alternative. I should mention that if Udemy features your course, then you just might see your English courses reaching hundreds or even thousands of people at a time! That’s a far more effective way to teach people English than two or twenty people at a time. Teaching English Online Can Lead To A Flourishing Career Many twenty-somethings (and to be truthful, thirty-somethings...) are notably unsure of their career direction. Even if you did not major in Education in college, teaching English online could lead to a promising career in either the education or communications fields. Allow me to elaborate. When you teach a subject matter, you learn how to become a more nuanced communicator. Different people have a variety of learning styles. And in order to teach for the sake of understanding, you often need to simplify your teachings. What you will find is that teaching greatly accelerates your ability to communicate effectively. You learn how to manage emotions (both your own and the emotions of your students), and you learn how to improve your communicating so that you are better understood. Therefore, teaching English online could be a lead-in to a career in communications and marketing. Businesses around the world are seeking intelligent and savvy communicators, and credentials as an instructor of English on Udemy could be the resume boost to both get you the interview and help you land a cushy job in communications. Additionally, you may discover that you have a passion for educating. Teaching online could inspire within you an interest and desire to teach others in a variety of areas. The more you teach, the more you realize that doing so is an incredibly rewarding career path. You get to make a positive difference in the lives of hundreds of people. Think of your favorite teachers from high school and college. They inspired you, made you laugh, made you question things, and made you think. You can do that for others with your teaching. Teach English Online At Udemy If you’re serious about teaching English, and want to both achieve financial independence while reaching a potentially global audience, then you should be teaching English via an online course at Udemy. You will gain access to thousands of students who are already looking for courses such as the ones you can teach. And you immediately align yourself with the tools you need to earn cold, hard cash while teaching something you’re already an expert in – the English language. Become an instructor of English on Udemy now.
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Complexo do Alemão’s Fight Club #SustainableFavelaNetwork [PROFILE] Sustainable Favela Network* Profile Clique aqui para Português Initiative: Alemão Fight Club (Clube de Luta do Complexo) ContactFacebook | Instagram | Email Year Founded: 2014 Community: Complexo do Alemão Mission: Clube de Luta do Complexo is a group of martial arts teachers and volunteers who aim to help form better athletes and citizens through sport and culture, and make young people aware of their capacity to make their community a better place. Public Events: Clube de Luta do Complexo offers free martial arts and basketball classes for residents of all ages throughout the week. It’s early in the morning on a Monday but there is already a group of people waiting outside the Youth Center in Complexo do Alemão in Rio de Janeiro’s North Zone. They are waiting for André Luiz Fernandes, a martial arts teacher and co-founder of Clube de Luta do Complexo (Alemão Fight Club) who helps teach and organize various sports classes six days a week, together with a group of twelve other martial arts instructors and volunteers from Alemão. What started out simply as an idea to get more youth from their community involved in martial arts has blossomed into a project with an extensive schedule; Clube de Luta now offers classes in taekwondo, kickboxing, jiu jitsu, functional training, karate, kempo, capoeira, and basketball. For Fernandes, the fact that there are now hundreds of youth and adults participating in this project after only four years is somewhat surreal. “I had no notion of the proportions that this project would take. I get chills thinking about organizing it going forward,” he says jokingly. Fernandes, 36, has lived in Complexo do Alemão for over 30 years and has a long history of learning and teaching martial arts in the community. His first exposure to fighting came when he was working part-time as a cleaner at a local gym. The taekwondo instructor at the gym noticed Fernandes watching the classes as he cleaned and after a few weeks asked him to train with the group. Despite being enrolled in school at the time, Fernandes accepted the instructor’s invitation and began to train two days a week. The instructor never required him to pay, which is a practice that Fernandes has taken to Clube de Luta where all classes are offered for free. “We never charge anyone anything,” Fernandes explains, adding: “Well, we don’t charge money, but you will sweat and cry.” Clube de Luta do Complexo began four years ago when a small group of martial arts teachers in Alemão realized they could utilize resources more efficiently and reach more students as a unified team. Since then, they have become a fixture in the community and are known for fielding talented athletes. Students from Clube de Luta have a record of winning local and state championships, and some have gone as far as challenging for spots on Military and Olympic teams. But Fernandes points out that putting in the work necessary to make champions is what matters most. “It’s not the competition that’s the hard part. For that you just need to show up and fight your best. What’s difficult is getting there in the first place.” This philosophy is one that permeates through the work of Clube de Luta. As an organization that has had little institutional support, the group has had to make do with limited resources, at times hosting classes in public parks or on the street. When describing the current training facility located in Inhaúma, Fernandes laughs: “It’s like a cave. But it’s great, all we need is a floor and a roof.” In spite of these challenges, Clube de Luta has managed to thrive and now has over 308 students. While the majority of them are from Complexo do Alemão there are some that make the trip from other neighborhoods. Fernandes thinks it is the familial environment and culture of respect the team has created at Clube de Luta that keep students coming back week after week. “When the majority of students arrive they come from a reality where they don’t have discipline and respect. Here they enter into a space where everyone is already accustomed to respecting each other.” Clube de Luta has helped catalyze physical and psychological transformations in countless students by building each individual’s sense of confidence, self-respect, and discipline through rigorous trainings. In a community where residents’ real needs have been neglected by the government and where daily life is often violently interrupted by police operations against drug traffickers, creating new cultural opportunities for the community’s youth is especially important. The transformative potential of martial arts is something that Fernandes believes in strongly. “I always knew the power of martial arts to change people, I grew up seeing that change... We once had a student who was hit by a stray bullet and suffered from panic attacks. He wouldn’t even leave his house. Finally we got him to train, and he began to build his confidence. Now he’s teaching a kickboxing class.” For Fernandes this is the goal of Clube de Luta—to aid in the development and growth of the students so they can become examples to others in their community. Having secured their own space in the community and grown to serve so many, the project leaders are still looking forward and hope to recruit new volunteers and train new teachers. And Fernandes is confident they will achieve their goals. When describing what he has learned from his work with Clube de Luta, he reflects: “Anyone can do it. There is no one who can’t succeed. We once had a student who didn’t have a leg who wanted to fight jiu jitsu. We tried to convince him to take another class because 90% of the holds in jiu jitsu require your legs, but he persisted, and he did it. He competed in the same category as everyone else, and would sometimes win. What I’ve learned is that whoever you are, wherever you come from, if you want to do something you can do it.”
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Comparison of Campylobacter populations in wild geese with those in starlings and free-range poultry on the same farm. Colles FM., Dingle KE., Cody AJ., Maiden MC. Wild geese are a potential source of Campylobacter infection for humans and farm animals and have been implicated in at least two large waterborne disease outbreaks. There have been few investigations into the population biology of Campylobacter in geese, carriage rates are reported to vary (0 to 100%), and no genetic characterization of isolates has been performed. Fecal samples collected from wild geese in Oxfordshire, United Kingdom, were culture positive for C. jejuni (50.2%) and C. coli (0.3%). The C. jejuni (n = 166) isolates were characterized by using multilocus sequence typing and were compared with isolates collected from free-range broiler chickens and wild starlings sampled at the same location. A total of 38 STs, six clonal complexes, and 23 flaA SVR nucleotide STs were identified. The ST-21 and ST-45 complexes (5.4% of isolates) were the only complexes to be identified among isolates from the geese and the other bird species sampled in the same location. These clonal complexes were also identified among human disease isolates collected in the same health care region. The results indicate that large numbers of wild geese carry Campylobacter; however, there was limited mixing of Campylobacter populations among the different sources examined, and the host source could be predicted with high probability from the allelic profile of a C. jejuni isolate. In conclusion, genotypes of C. jejuni isolated from geese are highly host specific, and a comparison with isolates from Oxfordshire cases of human disease revealed that while geese cannot be excluded as a source of infection for humans and farm animals, their contribution is likely to be minor.
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Cavolo Nero Shooter! Cavolo Nero is an Italian kale, black in colour and very dark green once cooked. Very very damn tasty and absolutely bang in season right now ... When you get a bunch of kale, you don't use it all at once. Some loses its colour and looks a little bland, still very green, but bland next to the darker leaves around it. Stop! Don't throw it away! Make up an amuse bouche ... better still, chill it. Chop the kale and add to some leek and wild garlic in a pan with some butter. Fry off, add water and some stock - any will do; failing stock, some bouillon. Boil, blend, pass through a sieve, reduce and chill in the fridge. Chilled, pour into a glass, splash of green Tabasco, Worcestershire Sauce, ice cube and slice of lemon. For a sensible indulgence, give it a shot of vodka, Russian, naturally.
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Volkswagen donates $10M to National Mall overhaul Volkswagen of America on Thursday is expected to announce a $10 million gift to nonprofit Trust for the National Mall to help jumpstart fundraising for the park, WTOP reported. The donation is the largest private gift to date to restore the park. Plans to overhaul neglected sites on the Mall include adding lakeside gardens, grassy amphitheaters and restaurants with view's of the local memorials.
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Extraordinary claims. Ordinary investigations. “UFO” live on BBC Breakfast News? “Is it a bird? Is it a plane? An unidentified flying object is spotted by a BBC Look North webcam.” – BBC, Daily Mail, Sun Though Nick Pope has already termed it “a genuine mystery”, as in previous cases the explanation here may be very mundane. Not a bird, not a plane but... Let’s take a look first at another “mysterious” footage captured in Brazil in 2001. Notorious spiritualist leader Chico Xavier was hospitalized, and a cameraman captured a quick pair of lights that seemed to come from the sky directly to the window of Xavier’s room! Shortly after this phenomenon was captured, Xavier’s health got “miraculously” better. He identified the light as the spirit of his own mother. Obviously, for a spiritualist leader, the light was a spirit. Around a year later Xavier passed away, and local TV show Fantástico had the footage analyzed by the occasion. They quoted Ricardo Bárthem, physicist at the Rio de Janeiro Federal University: “The most probable hypothesis is that it was a lens effect, as it’s not a light coming from the sky that was cast in the building, it’s not something bright wandering around that space. It seems to me it’s due to a moving object off camera, something that went around, reflecting the sunlight. The Sun is behind the building, so it’s shining over a car, something that passed behind the camera.” That is, the moving specks of light are internal reflections of intense sources of light in movement off-camera, which were not recorded in the videos but were captured by the most external lenses of the camera. Probably not a bird, not a plane, just reflections. Or perhaps it’s a coincidence that both Xavier’s “spiritual” light and BBC’s “alien” light were captured in the morning, with the Sun still low in the sky. Considering these two cases are indeed simply reflections from the sun into windshields or some other surface, it’s interesting that the exact same original phenomenon is interpreted in completely different terms according to the social context. At the hospital where a religious leader is being treated, the lights are understood and promoted by the general media as a possible spiritual manifestation. At a morning live TV show, they are classified as UFOs even by BBC. Why a UFO couldn’t visit a religious leader in the hospital or the spirit or that leader’s mother couldn’t appear at a morning British TV show are questions only an inconvenient skeptic would ask. Either way, both are very similar and could be explained as reflections of the Sun, making those considerations unnecessary. Blog Widget by LinkWithin Popularity: 3% [?] Posted in Ghosts,UFOs | 5 comments 5 Comments so far 1. Blinde Schildpad August 8th, 2009 6:33 am Both look like reflections on strands of spider silk to me. That stuff can float anywhere. 2. Joe August 9th, 2009 4:18 pm I usually agree with all of your analysis, but this does not appear to be a light reflection of any type whatsoever. It appears as a “cohesive” unit with definition, like “engineered light.” Closely examining the movement of this light object shows that it is actually traversing space, not reflecting off of something. 3. max August 9th, 2009 4:56 pm on first film is UFO and on two fims this is RODS 4. Ian September 25th, 2009 7:38 pm These are called rods. They are only seen in film, they are caused by insects flying infront of the camera. 5. Rumtopf March 12th, 2013 7:05 am Ian has it. That’s just how insects can appear on camera, their bodies blurred and seemingly elongated. You can even see the undulations of the wings. Flap your hand in front of your face very fast to see a similar effect. Leave a reply Live Comment Preview
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Skyflash wearable jetpack prototype looks promising Skyflash jetpack Jetpacks and jet-powered personal transportation has always been a fantasy inspired human craving that has begun to take shape lately, as it has been evident from some of the impressive jetpacks we have seen in the past. Joining the elite list of jetpacks that capture our imagination and give a sneak peak as to what future of personal transportation will be, this Skyflash one-man jet propelled wing by Fritz Unger who is a keen enthusiast of flying with wings is one example of futuristic designs. More like a backpack with wings the jetpack can be deemed as the smallest twin engine plane (microturbine diesel jet engine) there ever was with the ability to take off and land without much hassle. With a wingspan of 11.15 foot, the wings have a greater surface area for much more stable flight at high speeds. Skyflash is made from aviation plywood covered in shrink-wrap plastic and other parts were fabricated using lasers and CNC technology. Skyflash jetpack For flight control an 8-inch graphic interface is attached to pilot’s arm which reminds me of the Predator and Iron Man movies. The fuel is stored in tanks attached to the jetpack which are further connected to the wings. Weighing around 130 kg, Skyflash might not be easy to carry around on your back and to assist the rider; there is an undercarriage which keeps it 10 inches off the road so that it can take off the highways. Skyflash jetpack The speed is controlled with a throttle and to change directions pilot has to perform body weight shift which also actuates the climbing or descending motion. For that extra thrust V2 rocket is used in case one wants to change direction instantly. Having a flight time of one hour at impressive cruise speed of 126 km/h and average speed of 100 km/h Skyflash is going to rock the arena. Skyflash jetpack On the safety aspect too, Skyflash is upbeat with quick release mechanism for the wings, wingbody parachute and the suit itself is made from material to take on extreme temperature levels in case things go wrong. Skyflash jetpack # Skyflash jetpack testing stages Via: Gizmag Related Stories... Share with your friends
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Friday, December 9, 2011 Becky: Travis, if you eat those toffees you can't just leave the wrappers lying on the ground. Travis: What?! I don't - Becky: I pulled two out of Grey's mouth today. Travis: I flick them into the tree. Becky: Yeah, well. I kept finding them... and so Travis: I'm sorry. Becky: I threw them behind the couch. Travis: Yeah. Nicely done. Oops. It may be time to clean our house. I don't notice the absurdity of our conversations unless someone else is sitting there listening. Come on, Noelle. Stop judging us for being filthy. Vote For Us @ TopBaby Blogs! The Best Baby Blog Directory MARCIE said... Why do today what you can put off until tomorrow? Hey, i thought Travis was the neat one? Polly said... Someone's got to be the neat one in a relationship. I'm judging too, Noelle.
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How can rehabilitation and Tui Na be used for pain and injury and what benefit might it offer you? Traditional Chinese Medicine (T.C.M) is becoming more popular for many people seeking alternative ways to treat many general health conditions. T.C.M approaches a person as a whole, addressing both the symptoms and any underlying constitutional imbalances often at the root of the problem. Although modern western medicine has many effective strategies, often we choose to compliment treatment with alternative therapy to further promote healthy function. Chinese Rehabilitation Therapy (C.R.T) sometimes referred to as “Chinese physiotherapy” or “Chinese sports medicine” is a complete school of traditional medicine developed to treat sports specific injury and help in the rehabilitation and recovery of the athlete. Chinese rehabilitation therapy aims to restore balance and health of the patient utilising skills developed specifically for effective treatment of orthopaedic or muscular skeletal injury. Chinese Rehabilitation Therapy utilises T.C.M principles and the appropriate skills including, Tui Na (medical massage), herbal application of poultices and oils and soaks, passed on by traditional bone healers, doctors and martial arts masters, combined with cupping and muscular skeletal acupuncture. C.R.T uses a totally natural approach to treatment for many long term or chronic injuries, which western medicine often only treat through a pharmaceutical or surgical intervention Sports Tui Na massage techniques can be used to maintain the healthy function of the physical body as well as helping to improve physiological and psychological sporting performance. Leigh has studied western sports massage therapy as well as traditional Chinese sports medicine techniques used in the treatment of trauma and injury caused in martial arts training.
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Laden... Even geduld... Abonneer u op onze nieuwsbrief en ontvang het ebook: 'Wake up Holland, it ’s time to be healthy!' ter waarde van € 14,95 Gratis Ebook Uw informatie is veilig bij ons. U kunt zich altijd weer afmelden. Pluggz ballerina's (vrouwen) glanzend rood • Afbeelding 1 • Afbeelding 2 • Afbeelding 3 van €89,00 voor €62,30 Bookmark and Share Pluggz opvouwbare schoenen (vrouwen) glanzend rood Inclusief bijpassend opbergtasje Met grounders maakt u verbinding met de aarde. De zool van de grounder bevat koolstof (hetgeen geleidt) zodat uw blote voet in contact is met de aarde. Dus u heeft het voordeel van het in contact zijn met de aarde en toch bescherming te hebben tegen de minder prettige kanten van het lopen op blote voeten zoals het lopen op oppervlakten met puin, pesticiden en dierlijke uitwerpselen. Ook kunt u de grounders binnenshuis gebruiken. met name als u een aarde geleidende vloer hebt zoals met plavuizen en vloerverwarming. 1. Zolen emaakt van flexibel rubber, ze lopen heel comfortabel. 2. Ze hebben een voetbed met een verhoging aan de binnenkant van de voet voor een goede ondersteuning. 3. Ze zijn stijlvol en modieus. 4. Via een koolstof verbinding wordt het contact met de aarde gemaakt op de nier reflexzone, dit is de meest belangrijke plek. 5. Schoenen zijn opvouwbaar en komen in een bijpassend tasje. Voor meer informatie, zie: Meestgestelde vragen over Aarding LiteratuurEarthing - Je lichaam aarden. (Schrijver: Clinton Ober) Pluggz ANU Fold-Up Shoe Red Gloss Adorable red gloss shoe with matching bag - for fun, travel and comfort. Supportive trampoline heels; insoles with memory foam arches and heels, anti-microbial lining. And of course our grounding technology. Matching bag included. 100% Vegan. The science of Earthing “Why We Need Electrons” Every chemical reaction and everything that happens in the body involves some kind of change in the distribution of electrons. Electrons can move in response to electrical current, to light, to sound, to magnetic forces – it all depends on the nature of the substances the electrons are associated with. Modern life tends to cause us to accumulate excess positive charge. Various substances in the body are therefore competing for electrons, causing chemical reactions that are not necessarily helpful to our well-being. Several studies indicate that excess positive charge is associated with inflammation. Thus, if we can find ways to neutralize the excess positive charge, certain chemical reactions are less likely to occur. This is similar to the effect that anti-oxidants have. The Body’s Electrical Needs The electrical nature of the body is recognized by most athletes, who consumer sports drinks with “electrolytes” and use various electrical devices to speed healing. They are now also understanding the benefits of access to a source of electrons that will bring them back into balance. Most footwear is electrically insulating, as are building materials. Furthermore, many of these materials rob us of electrons. Consequently, we spend most of our time having a shortage of electrons. This affects the chemistry of our body in ways that are only beginning to be understood. Studies done in the last decade have shown than excess positive charge can cause inflammation that can be reduced by making regular contact with a source of free electrons. One way of tapping into the earth’s abundance of electrons is to go barefoot on soil, sand, or even concrete. Another way is to wear footwear that allows electrons to pass through it. The Nature of Matter and Electrons Everything is made of atoms and all atoms have electrons and protons. Electrons have a very important property – they are much more mobile than protons and this allows electrons to play a key role in every process that involves energy or chemistry. Electrons have a negative charge and protons have a positive charge. All atoms have some number of positively charged protons in the “nucleus” and the same number of electrons in the space around them. The number of positively charged protons determines what the substance is. An “atom” has no net charge, positive or negative. Some atoms prefer the company of other atoms and will enter into “covalent bonds” to form molecules that have no charge. Most carbon-containing compounds (fats, carbohydrates, and proteins) have covalent bonds and no net charge. When the number of protons and electrons differ, the atom has a net charge and is referred to as an ion. Some atoms prefer to be ions and will have a positive or negative charge, usually, 1, 2, or 3. Electrons will either be missing or in excess. Ions will attract other ions with the opposite charge. The ideal net charge of any substance is zero. When ions are present in water, the water is much more conductive than without them. Water also ionizes a little bit, and the presence of ions allows water to ionize more easily, making it more conductive. Electrons can be in perfect balance with protons, in which case there is no “static charge.” However, various natural and man-made phenomena can cause electrons to become in excess, or, more commonly, in short supply. This happens not only to the objects in our life, but also to our own bodies. The imbalance of protons and electrons results in “static charge,” the thing that causes you to experience shocks when you touch people or things when the air is dry. Static charge can be reduced simply by making contact with the earth. The earth has an abundance of electrons and if there is a net positive charge, these electrons are attracted to positively charged objects or people through any pathway that is electrically conductive. How long should I be grounded to notice effects? While scientists are only beginning to understand the profound impacts of grounding, studies done to date have shown several things. The period of grounding in studies to date was 28 minutes or longer, but many changes were noticed within a few seconds. The most important change, whole body electrical charge (as measured by voltage) changed greatly within a minute. Another change that was rapid was respiratory rate, perhaps because of deeper breathing. Many people have reported diminished feelings of stress during and after grounding. What differences will you notice? Will you notice any differences? What impact will it have on your life? The answers to these questions vary from person to person, but we do think you will benefit from a reduced static charge, regardless of whether the effects can be measured. Vind Soortgelijke producten per categorie Liefhebbers van dit product bekeken ook Verwante producten U bekeek onlangs...
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Một trận động đất cường độ 6,1 độ Richter đã làm rung chuyển tỉnh đảo Torishima của Nhật Bản. Theo Cơ quan Khí tượng Thủy văn Nhật Bản, trận động đất có tâm chấn sâu 440km, được xác định ở vị trí 29,1 độ vĩ Bắc và 139,8 độ kinh Đông. Thang đo rung chấn của Nhật Bản có 7 cấp độ từ thấp đến cao. Những dư chấn của trận động đất nói trên đã ghi nhận cấp độ 4 tại quần đảo Ogasawara và một ngôi làng trên đất liền thuộc khu vực Tokyo cách đó hơn 1.000 km. Hoài An Cục Hàng không Việt Nam yêu cầu bố trí hành khách trên một hàng ghế cách nhau ít nhất 1 ghế; Đảm bảo khoảng cách tối thiểu 2m giữa các hành khách đi xếp hàng làm thủ tục hàng không và lên tàu bay. Hòa Bình là nơi tập trung sinh sống của đồng bào dân tộc Mường. Trải qua thời gian, người Mường đã sáng tạo và lưu giữ được nền văn hóa dân gian phong phú, đa dạng, trong đó, Mo Mường là một loại hình nổi bật, độc đáo có giá trị nhân văn sâu sắc. Để tiếp tục cùng toàn dân và cả hệ thống chính trị vào cuộc phòng, chống đại dịch Covid-19, Ban Thường trực UBTƯ MTTQ Việt Nam vừa có công văn đề nghị các tổ chức tôn giáo, tổ chức tôn giáo trực thuộc tiếp tục phối hợp với các cơ quan, ban, ngành, MTTQ và các tổ chức đoàn thể đẩy mạnh hoạt động tham gia phòng, chống dịch Covid-19 trong bối cảnh, tình hình mới bằng các hành động cụ thể, mạnh mẽ và quyết liệt.
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1.1 BACKGROUND TO THE STUDY Few residential estates built across Nigeria by both federal and state government has been able to meet the housing needs of many Nigerians. Shelter is a basic necessities an esteemed need of man. It used to be ranked second after food in the hierarchy of man’s needs but according to Ebie (2009) it is the first and most important of all rights. According to him, because of the importance attaching to provision of housing and coupled with the fact that a proper housing unit in all its ramifications is more than mere blocks of buildings since it embraces all social services and utilities that go to make a community or neighbourhood a livable environment, it is now a right. Though inadequate, but the federal government of Nigeria and various corporate organizations have invested in the building residential estate for the purpose of profit making and meeting the housing needs of Nigerians. Even though this provision is not actionable, it reinforces the call for government at all levels to invest in massive housing provision in Nigeria and this study is however examining the role of Ogun State Government in the development of residential estates in the state. A residential housing estate is a group of homes and other buildings built together as a single development. The exact form may vary from country to country. Accordingly, a housing estate is usually built by a single contractor, with only a few styles of house or building design, so they tend to be uniform in appearance. The desire for adequate and affordable housing also has strong links to the need for security, safety and proper socio - economic status of individuals and communities. In spite of this widely acknowledged importance of housing and various efforts in making adequate and affordable housing available to majority of people, a large proportion of urban residents in less developed countries do not have access to decent housing at affordable cost (Tipple, 2004; 2006; UN-HABITAT, 2006; Greene and Rojas, 2008). As a result, most urban residents in Developing countries live in housing conditions that constitute an affront to human dignity and which comes with appalling social, economic, spatial and health implications (Coker et al., 2007; UNFPA, 2007). Hence, inadequate housing condition has become an intractable challenge that has continued to receive attention from governments and individuals in many developing countries. Previous studies have shown that successive administrations in Nigeria had launched a minimum of seven residential housing programmes in the last few decades in a bid to address increasing housing challenges in the country (Akinmoladun and Oluwoye, 2007; Ademiluyi and Raji, 2008) However, substantial literature on public residential estate in developing countries has revealed three main streams of criticism (Mukhija, 2004). First, it is argued that most public residential schemes are inefficient and ill conceived, and thus failed to meet the needs of target population (Rondinelli, 1990; Mba, 1992). Second, direct government involvement in housing provision is viewed as being negligible compared to the volume of residential estates provided by informal private sector (UN-HABITAT, 2006). Finally, government intervention in the housing market to check rising cost of housing is seen as counter – productive and an impediment to smooth operation of housing market and efficient housing delivery system. Consequently, many scholars and stakeholders have argued that government has no business in providing housing for people, but rather government should act as a partner, enabler and facilitator of housing process by making available appropriate incentives, policy and good regulatory environment necessary for effective private sector participation in building of residential estate (Ebie, 2009). It is important to note that state governments have not been able to contribute to the development of residential housing schemes in Nigeria as most of the available residential estates are built by the federal government. However, Ogun state government has built 310 prime units mini estates at 10 per local government in all the Local Government Areas mainly for local government chieftains. Work is ongoing on the construction of 10,000 modern and affordable houses to the Ogun populace. 1.2 STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM Ong and Lenard (2002) were of the opinion that provision of residential estate should be collaborative effort between government and private sector and this does not necessarily mean reduction in government’s social responsibility in providing housing for the citizens, but rather it implies the production of housing through collaborative approach in an integrated manner. In the light of foregoing criticisms coupled with the need for sustainable solution to burgeoning housing challenges in most state in Nigeria including Ogun state; it is important to ascertain the contribution of state governments over the years on the provision of residential estate for the citizens. The foregoing gory picture and deplorable condition of housing in Nigeria applies with equal force to Ogun State if not to a higher extent considering that more than 60% of the population live in urban areas. Thus Ogun State also shares in this global developmental reality; and one of the most important challenges facing the state is how to ensure adequate and affordable housing to the poor and low-income group. Unfortunately, despite all efforts of the state government at achieving sustained housing delivery through provision of residential estates to the common people, existing realities indicate the goal is far from being achieved. It is against this background that this study examines the role of Ogun state government in the development of residential estates. 1.3 OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY The following are the objectives of this study 1.4 RESEARCH QUESTIONS HO: Ogun State government has not provided adequate residential estates for the citizen HA: Ogun State government has provided adequate residential estates for the citizen 1.6 SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY A research on the role of State government in the development of residential estate in Nigeria a case study of Ogun State is no doubt an important one. This is going by the notion that the outcomes of current strategies engaged by government in solving the problem of providing adequate, affordable and sustainable housing in this State in recent time are not known. Therefore, this study is important for several reasons. First, Bana (1991) and Emerole (2002) indicated that inadequate capacity of public housing agencies to deliver housing was one of the key challenges of public housing in Nigeria. This suggests that understanding the organizational capacity and constraints of public housing agencies to provide housing is necessary in judging their performance. It can also help improve on their capacity and thus enhancing the productivity of the public housing sub-sector. This study is thus important on the basis that it attempts to provide basic information that will enhance our knowledge of the organizational capacity of selected key public housing agencies in study area. This is also considered necessary in assessing the outcomes of public housing provisions and making useful recommendations. Second, Mukhija (2004) noted that there is little consensus on the strategies and approaches governments should follow in addressing the housing need of their citizens. This suggests that research works are yet to focus attention on comparing outcomes of the various housing delivery strategies used in public housing provisions to identify which strategies work best and under what conditions. This situation accounts for continuous engagement of inefficient and dysfunctional housing delivery strategies, which Emerole (2002), Oladapo (2002) and African Ministerial Council in Urban Development (2008) noted was responsible for increasing housing supply deficit in Nigeria. By investigating the outcomes of four housing delivery strategies used in residential estate provisions in Ogun State. 1.7 SCOPE/LIMITATIONS OF THE STUDY This study on the role of state government in the development of residential estates is limited to the public housing schemes and residential estates initiated and completed by the government of Ogun State. Ademiluyi, A.I., and Raji, B.A (2008).Public and Private Developers as Agents in Urban Housing Delivery in Sub-Saharan Africa: The Situation in Lagos State. Humanity & Social Sciences Journal 3 (2) 143-150 Akinmoladun, O.I., Oluwoye, J., (2007). An Assessment of Why the Problems of Housing Shortages Persist in Developing Countries: A case of Study of Lagos Metropolis, Nigeria Pakistan Journal of Social Science 4(4) 589-598. Coker, A.O.; Awokola, O.S.; Olomolaiye, P.O. and Booth, C.A. (2007) Challenges of Urban Housing Quality and Association with Neighbourhood environments: Insights and Experiences in Ibadan City, Nigeria. JEHR- Journal of Environmental Health (7)1. Available Online at ttp://www.Cieh.org/JEHR/challenges_urban_ housing.htm. Accessed on February 4, 2008. Greene, M. and Rojas, E. (2008) Incremental Construction: A Strategy to Facilitate Access to Housing. Environment & Urbanization 20(1) 89-108. Ibem, E.O. (2009) Community –Led Infrastructure Provision in Low-Income Urban Communities in Developing Countries: A Study on Ohafia, Nigeria. Cities 26 (3) 125-132 Mukhija,V. (2004) The Contradictions in Enabling Private Developer of Affordable Housing: a Cautionary Case from India. Urban Studies. 4(11) 2231-2244. Mba, H.C. (1992) The Dilemmas of Housing Programmes in Nigeria in H. C. Mba, J.U.Ogbazi & K. O. Efobi (Eds.) Principles and Practice of Urban and Regional Planning in Nigeria, Awka: Mekslink Publishers Nigeria, 52-62. OTHER SIMILAR ESTATE MANAGEMENT PROJECTS AND MATERIALS
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25/08/2015 14:10 BST | Updated 25/08/2016 06:59 BST Save Syria Out of Self-Interest If governments and policymakers won't commit to finding a lasting political, diplomatic and military solution to Syria's unrest because it is 'the right thing to do', perhaps they can be provoked into action out of inherent selfishness. This past weekend marked two years since a chemical attack on the Syrian neighborhood of Ghouta overwhelmed our social media feeds with horrifying pictures of thousands of men, women and children gasping for air like dying goldfish. After dying en masse from asphyxiation, they were unceremoniously stacked like human-shaped firewood in makeshift morgues. In that two-year interlude, the international community has rallied around the cause of the Syrian people, who are trapped in an epic battle for survival against their increasingly out-of-touch dictator. Nation after nation have opened their wallets and their borders in a universal show of support for those fleeing the violence, giving emotional gravity and financial heft to the oft-repeated platitude 'never again'. Just kidding, none of that happened. Rather, in an unusual display of unanimity, the majority of world leaders have taken one look at Syria and immediately invoked the 'Ostrich Rule' of modern statecraft, burying their heads in the metaphorical sand until overcome by the reality of frenzied hordes at their doorstep, at which point fences are built. Is this futile? Definitely. But it is the collective strategy everyone seems to have agreed upon. The United Nations, advocacy groups and human traffickers everywhere have exhausted all possible tactics to try and get politicians to care about Syrians fleeing a brutal and brutalizing conflict. Pictures of desperate families clambering ashore from overstuffed rubber dinghies are briefly fretted upon and quickly forgotten. Reports that Syrian government forces are bombing busy civilian marketplaces cannot compete with the media's intrinsic need to cover the annual August spectacle of Lesser Celebrities on Yachts. Staggeringly high statistics (250,000 dead, 11million people displaced) are impossible to consciously comprehend, and so flit by on our Facebook feeds, unheeded. In the face of such deeply-held disregard, a new approach is clearly needed. If the world isn't compelled to address the effects of Syria's civil war because it is the 'worst humanitarian disaster of our time', then perhaps it can be motivated by a much more primordial instinct: self-interest. The Syrian crisis is having a profoundly negative impact on events far beyond the besieged country's immediate vicinity. If governments and policymakers won't commit to finding a lasting political, diplomatic and military solution to Syria's unrest because it is 'the right thing to do', perhaps they can be provoked into action out of inherent selfishness. If you are the government of Turkey, Lebanon, or Jordan, this is a no-brainer. Hosting millions of refugees is an expensive, stressful, and thankless job, and your little corner of the world was already fairly rowdy. Save Syria to save yourself. If you are the government of Greece, you've got snap elections and bailouts in the offing. Any expectations that you have formulated a strategy to deal with the 50,000 migrants and refugees that arrived on your shores in July 2015 alone are extremely unrealistic, and yet they persist. Solving the Syrian crisis means you can get back to political infighting and palace coups. If you are the government of the United Kingdom, your middle-class, middle-aged holidaymakers are urgently looking to you for guidance. Where will they spend their newly unlocked pension funds if their island destination of choice is overrun by nearly-drowned asylum-seekers? The Daily Mail has deployed vast resources to ensure they get inflammatory quotes from sunburned Englishmen showing previously unimaginable levels of disdain for distressed-looking, brown-skinned people. Commit equal amounts of time and treasure to a negotiated settlement in Syria to avoid giving vacationing Brits an even worse reputation than they already have. If you are the government of Germany, the recent announcement that you are expecting 800,000 asylum seekers this year effectively means providing temporary food and shelter for a city the size of San Francisco. They're not all Syrians, but many of them are, and the instability in Syria has massive ripple effects throughout the Middle East and Central Asia. Unfortunately, such humanitarian gestures are a hard sell in Western countries, and your populace will not be as disorganized, welcoming, or adaptable as the Lebanese, Turks or Jordanians. Fix Syria to avoid giving your extremely unpalatable far-right groups another rallying cry. If you are the government of the United States, the world is clamoring for leadership, and baffled by your absence on the global stage. Think of it this way: the political silly season started early, and is underway with a vengeance. Seizing the initiative on Syria will give journalists something to write about other than Donald Trump. For the love of God, engage. If you are the government of Israel, your sizable Druze minority is restive and concerned about their Syrian brethren, and the chaos to the northeast could spill over your shared border at any time. If a solution for Syria is found, there'll be more time to lobby against the #IranDeal and draw rudimentary infographics. If you are the government of France, that whole Calais Jungle thing is a branding nightmare. It also gives your strike-prone workforce a very legitimate excuse to call for industrial action. The Brits are happy to let it be your problem--are you going to let them get away with that? Ending the bloodshed in Syria will let at least some of the migrants return home (which is what they want), and dial down the drama a notch or two. The list goes on and on. Each member of the international community implored to do 'something' about Syria should do so for the greater good of humanity, but could just as easily do so motivated purely by self-interest. It doesn't really matter why they do it, so long as it gets done. The Syrian crisis can't solve itself, and those fleeing the violence have nowhere to go. Ignoring the problem has only made it worse. Are you with me? Yalla.
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I have been hearing from family and friends that their tomato crops are starting to produce fruit, and I must admit I am jealous. If you are one of the lucky ones who is beginning to enjoy the bounty from your garden, here are seven tips to help you maximize your tomato crop this year: - Once fruit begin to ripen, water your plants every five days by soaking the ground thoroughly. - Remove the “suckers” that grow between your plants branches. - Spread plants out with at least three feet between them to allow air to flow freely and sun to shine on all sides. - Harvest your fruit when the tomatoes are full size and fully ripened. - Use lawn clippings as mulch to keep the ground from drying out. - Fertilize with compost instead of manure. - Remove sprouts and leaves from the bottom 6-12 inches of your plants. Once you find your kitchen full of tomatoes, you may be at a loss for how to use them all. You may want to consider making a heirloom tomato pie, Caprese salad, fried green tomatoes or roasted tomato soup with your bounty.
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The abdominal examination can be not only diagnostic to help rule pathology in or out, for example, the cause of the patient's pain, but it can be therapeutic as in a reduction of an umbilical or ventral wall abdominal hernia. The function of the abdominal examination is two-fold. In the asymptomatic patient during a routine examination, the identification of an abnormality such as a bruit heard over the aorta or hepatomegaly can lead the examiner to make an early diagnosis of a potentially catastrophic illness. The abdominal examination traditionally is done from the patient's right. Four Examination Components Percuss while listening for (1) tympany over air filled structures such as stomach, or (2) dullness to percussion as in mass, hepatomegaly. Look for a splenic enlargement by percussing in Castell's point (the most inferior interspace on the left anterior axillary line) as the patient takes a deep inspiration. Percussion that changes from tympanitic to dull as the patient takes a deep breath suggests splenomegaly with an 82% sensitivity and an 83% specificity. Splenomegaly occurs in trauma, with hematoma, portal hypertension, hematologic malignancies, infection such as HIV and from Ebstein-Barr virus, and splenic infarct. Percuss for the size of the liver from tympany of the lung to dullness of the liver down to tympany of the bowel below the liver. Search for shifting dullness by percussing from midline to flank to find the limit of tympany and then from having the patient roll on their side and repeating exam to find shifting dullness such as in ascites or free fluid. Light palpation and then deep palpation. Note to press slowly. Pressing too fast may trap a gas pocket within the intestinal lumen and distend the wall causing a false positive pain. Feel for softness, firmness, guarding, tenderness and rebound. Attempt to find the point of maximal tenderness. Guarding: progresses from voluntary guarding, in which the patient voluntarily tightens the abdominal muscles to protect a deeper inflamed structure, to involuntary guarding where the intra-abdominal pathology has progressed to cause rigidity of the abdominal muscles that the patient can not relax. Epigastrium: Palpate for any tenderness such as gastritis or early acute cholecystitis from visceral nerve irritation, defects such as a muscle diastasis, or pulsatile mass from AAA. Use a two-handed technique for estimating aorta size. Place one hand longitudinally on the left along the long axis of the aorta at the lateral border of pulsation. Place the other hand longitudinally on the right side of the abdomen and move it toward the first hand until you fell the border of pulsation. Liver: Place your palpating hand below lower rib margin and have the patient exhale and then take in a deep breath. With mild pressure, you should feel the liver margin move under your hand as a gentle wave. Feel for any nodularity or tenderness. Gallbladder: Gently place the palpating hand below the right lower rib margin at the midclavicular line and ask the patient to exhale as much as possible. As the patient exhales, slowly push your hand deeper. Then ask the patient to inhale deeply. A positive Murphy sign is the sudden cessation of inspiration with pain. Right Kidney: Use a two-handed technique with the patient supine. Use one hand on the patient's back pushing the kidney forward with the other hand palpating down below the lower rib margin between the mid-clavicular line and the anterior axillary line, looking for enlargement or tenderness. Spleen: If percussion was positive for splenomegaly or equivocal, place your palpating hand below the left lower rib margin and have the patient exhale and then take a deep breath in. With mild pressure, you should feel the spleen move under your hand as a firm mass. If you suspect a very enlarged spleen, start palpation in right lower quadrant and work toward the splenic flexure. Left kidney: Standing on the right side, use a two-handed technique with the patient lying in a right lateral decubitus position. Use one hand on the patient's back pushing the kidney toward you while the other hand is palpating down below the lower rib margin between the mid-clavicular line and the anterior axillary line as the patient takes a deep breath looking for enlargement or tenderness. Alternatively, walk to the patient's left side and palpate the left kidney as the right kidney. Umbilicus: Palpate the periumbilical area and place the finger in the umbilicus to feel for any defect, mass or an umbilical hernia. Have a patient cough or bear down to feel for any protruding mass. Left lower quadrant: Palpate for tenderness or mass such as colon mass or tumor, constipation, left ovarian cyst, or ectopic pregnancy. Right lower quadrant: Palpate over McBurney's point which is located two-thirds down an imaginary line from the umbilicus to the anterior superior iliac spine. Tenderness implies possible appendicitis, inflammation of the ileocolic area such as Crohn disease or infectious etiology with bacteria that have a predilection for the ileocecal area such as Bacillus cereus and Yersinia enterocolitica. Other helpful signs and maneuvers to identify possible appendicitis are: Suprapubic area: Palpate for mass such as a fibroid, gravid uterus, or uterine cancer in the female or bladder mass or distension. Back: With the patient sitting up, perform percussion at the right and left costal-vertebral angle first to determine if there is any renal tenderness as in pyelonephritis. Inguinal area: Since testicular torsion can radiate to the abdomen and present as abdominal pain, and since a hernia is the second most common cause of abdominal pain from small bowel obstruction, an examination of the genitalia is mandatory. For torsion, look for Bell Clapper deformity or a horizontal line of the testis with tenderness. For an inguinal hernia, place your gloved finger into the inguinal canal and ask the patient to bear down or cough to feel a pulsation on the tip of your finger. The abdominal examination ends with the rectal examination. Feel for rectal tone and saddle anesthesia looking for neurologic pathology. Gradually placed your lubricated, gloved finger against the back rectal sphincter muscle to dilate the sphincter and slowly slide your finger into the rectum feeling for hemorrhoids, fissures, or foreign bodies. Feel the prostate for size and firmness. Tenderness or bogginess suggest prostatitis. Nodules may suggest cancer. Remove your finger and inspect it for signs of active bleeding or melena. Perform a Guaiac test if bleeding is suspected. The ultrasound examination is becoming a useful tool to assist the identification of abdominal pathology. RUQ: Examine liver for mass or dilation of common bile duct. Examine gallbladder for stones, gallbladder wall thickening or pericholecystic fluid, Morison's pouch for free fluid, inferior vena cava for distension or hypovolemia. Examine right kidney for mass or hydronephrosis. LUQ: Examine spleen for enlargement from hematoma or hematologic malignancy. Examine left kidney for mass or hydronephrosis. Look in the splenorenal recess for free fluid. Epigastrium: Examine size of the aorta for suspicion of AAA. RLQ: Look for mass, abscess, appendix wall thickening in thin individuals, intussusception, free fluid, ovarian mass or cysts. LLQ: Look for mass, abscess from diverticular disease, free fluid, ovarian mass, or cysts. Suprapubic area: Look for urinary retention, uterine masses or pregnancy, and free fluid in the pouch of Douglas. In a time of increased technology with CT scans, ultrasounds, and MRIs, it is easy for the clinician to become a technician and rely solely on technology. It is an excellent clinician who develops the hypotheses for the cause of the patient's symptoms. These are based on the chief complaint, the patient's history, and a physical examination such as the abdominal examination. It is the intelligent clinician who then judiciously orders the appropriate test to knowingly search for specific findings that will either support the hypothesis or force the clinician to reconsider new theories for the cause of the patient's symptoms. All healthcare workers should know how to perform an exam. The abdominal exam can quickly provide information on any underlying abdominal pathology ranging from an umbilical hernia to an abdominal aortic aneurysm. The abdominal exam must be part of a routine history and physical during admission. If a patient has an abdominal pathology, the abdominal exam can be done serially. Not performing a proper abdominal exam can have serious consequences for a patient, especially those who have an acute abdomen.
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Nothingface — Defaced lyrics Little boy, come play with me, go hide from me, then I'll seek you He tries to find me, can he hear me? My uncle touched me, run away from this Culture, I'll try more Culture, do it better hate more Culture, scream once and push it Culture, threw it out the door Culture, talk shit fuck it do it every day Culture, one time, why it defaces me While I wonder, come all so closer, you want to fuck me, try and fuck me I scream in pleasure, I scream to nothing, I want to die now, run away from this (repeat chorus) One time, why deface me? Tell me why you raped me, tried to ruin me, look what you gave me You can't face me [ Lyrics from: ]
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Reports that Thai students performed poorly on the latest national exams have re-ignited concerns that the education system, despite numerous efforts at reform, is still failing to teach students to think. This failure undermines Thailand’s effort to provide the higher value-added services and products that will enable Thais to achieve higher incomes, more satisfying jobs and a higher quality of life. To achieve these goals, Thais have to produce more intellectual property, compete effectively in global markets and become more innovative. The latest scores on the Ordinary National Educational Test (O-NET) indicate that things are getting worse instead of better. Average scores for all eight O-NET subjects were less than 50% and scores in the subjects that are arguably the most important for Thailand’s competitiveness were particularly poor. The average score for mathematics was less than 15%; the score for English was 42.6%; and the tally for science was 30.9%. The problem is that it is unclear what to make of these numbers, or, indeed, whether they have any meaning. OBEC Deputy Secretary-General Somkiat Chobphol partly blamed the low O-NET scores on exam questions that were mismatched to what students were taught. The fact that scores went down compared to previous years may indicate that something was different about this year’s test rather than a sudden dip in student learning. In addition, ONET needs to be put in a clear and useful context to enable it to behelpful in making educational improvements and tracking their impacts. This context should make explicit each year how the text compares to the previous year, how it relates to different elements in the curriculum, whether it is meant to have any ability to predict future performance and what thinking skills (if any) it is meant to measure. Such improvements would be helpful as feedback to teachers to show what areas of the curriculum need more time, what teaching methods are working (or not working) and what thinking skills are being learned (or not). Of particular importance is the need to reformulate the test to enable it to help assess students’ ability to reason and apply their knowledge rather than simply regurgitate memorized information. Testing these abilities would provide important motivation for schools to do a better job of teaching them. Business leaders routinely complain that Thai students are poorly equipped with tools essential to competing in the global economy – critical thinking, working in teams, asking the right questions, finding new information, analyzing that information and communicating the results. Research and development lags because the Thai education system produces two few scientists with the skills for ground-breaking research and does tool little to encourage and support those that have those skills. His Majesty King Bhumibol Adulyadej recognized the need for an education system that helped students learn to think, not just memorize, more than 50 years ago. “Learning to think in an orderly or goal-oriented way is a much needed skill these days. If you cannot think, you cannot develop,” the King said in a speech in 1955. His calls for education that encourages reasoning skills have been repeated many times since then, but the Thai education system has struggled to achieve this critical capability. Recent education reforms have all noted the need to move away from rote memorization. Education Minister Chinnaworn Boonyakiat, commenting on three years of falling scores and a widening gap with the education provided by Thailand’s economic competitors, correctly identified the problem as unchanged teaching styles that focus on memorization rather than understanding. This insight has driven high-level policy statements since the 1990s. If the problem is well understood, why hasn’t top-level understanding of the need for change made any difference in the classroom? I’ll look at this question and the role of the Kenan Foundation Asia in seeking answers in my next blog, but in the meantime, I welcome your comments and questions.
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The Halifax Explosion The Halifax Explosion occurred on the morning of 6 December 1917 as the result of a collision between the SS Mont-Blanc, a French cargo ship laden with high explosives, and the SS Imo, a Norwegian relief vessel. The two ships collided in the Narrows, a strait connecting upper Halifax Harbour to the Bedford Basin, and the resulting fire on board the Mont-Blanc ignited her cargo. The ensuing explosion devastated the Richmond district of Halifax as well as the opposite shore of Dartmouth. Approximately 2,000 people were killed by the immediate blast, its concussion, and its debris, or by the resultant fires that engulfed collapsed buildings. An estimated 9,000 others were injured. On both the Halifax and Dartmouth shores, nearly all structures within an 800-metre radius of the blast were obliterated. A pressure wave snapped trees, bent iron rails, demolished buildings, grounded vessels, and scattered fragments of the Mont-Blanc for kilometres. Hardly a window in Halifax and Dartmouth survived the explosion. A generations-old Mi’kmaq community at Turtle Grove, in the area on the Dartmouth shore now known as Tuft’s Cove, was also completely destroyed by a tsunami created by the explosion. The historical narrative of the Explosion is often considered from a military point of view. As an alternative approach to this well examined event, the Dalhousie Art Gallery is working with several artists, urban planners, social historians, cartographers, and architects to explore its various social and cultural impacts, and will present five exhibitions: Walking the Debris Field: Public Geographies of the Halifax Explosion Narratives in Space + Time Society The Halifax Explosion reverberates as a definitive historic moment around which themes of destruction, reconstruction, urbanism, and community continue to circulate. From 2014 through 2017, as the centenary of the Explosion approaches, Narratives in Space + Time Society (NiS+TS) has presented a number of public walking events designed to explore the ways in which the disaster, the ensuing relief efforts, and the reconstruction continue to shape the diverse experiences and understandings of this city. Founded in 2012 and based in Halifax and Dartmouth, NiS+TS is an interdisciplinary creative research group that promotes walking and the use of mobile media by artists and members of the public. The group’s projects are situated in spaces that are often overlooked, disused, or vacant. Participants use walking, talking, and making objects in combination with technologies such as GPS, smartphones, and mobility tracking devices to conduct interactive explorations of locations and subjects. Utilizing research methods such as psychogeography, an experiential approach to drifting through urban space devised by the French theorist Guy Debord, and creation models that emphasize interdisciplinary collaborations, the exhibition features new projects created by NiS+TS to mark the Halifax Explosion’s 100th commemoration. Claire Hodge: Negotiations Curated by Peter Dykhuis The Hydrostone neighbourhood, now nearly one hundred years old, is one of the most striking legacies of the Halifax Explosion. It stands as a powerful testament to the reconstruction efforts required to house the working-class families who were left homeless by the events of the Explosion. For many, however, the Hydrostone’s appeal lies in its unique ability to express the passage of time: in this neighbourhood, layers of the present co-exist with traces of the past. The original grey granite ‘hydrostone’ blocks live anachronistically side-by-side with a dizzying array of wood, composite, and vinyl siding materials. Extensions have been added, shutters have been removed, exterior walls have been painted, porches have been closed in, and bushes and plants have been planted or unearthed. Halifax artist Claire Hodge has systematically photographed all of the existing homes to create a portrait of the changing face of a landmark neighbourhood. Hodge notes, “The Hydrostone townhomes reveal a complex set of negotiations realized tacitly or explicitly by the people who have lived there. Some blocks of houses are united in their aesthetic vision. Others seem to attest to greater individualist streaks and look strangely disjointed. Most often, the blocks of houses suggest a series of compromises between harmony and difference, between the ‘greater good’ and tenacious individualism.” Arthur Lismer and the Halifax Explosion Curated by Paige Connell and Peter Dykhuis This exhibition highlights the work that Arthur Lismer, influential principal of the Victoria School of Art and Design (now NSCAD University), produced during his time in Halifax from 1916 to 1919. With the exception of the large oil painting Halifax Harbour—Time of War, from Dalhousie Art Gallery's own permanent collection, the works presented are a selection of preparatory drawings and oil sketches that were made in situ as the artist explored the city and shorelines on foot. These were not made with the intention of public display—they are observational and documentary, and served an instrumental purpose in Lismer's overall development of large studio paintings. The legacy of this ambulatory field work is its contribution to our understanding of Halifax’s history, both civic and military, during World War One. Among the most significant of these works are his chronicles of the Halifax Explosion, few of which are known to still exist. Today, their significance lies not only as a record of a formative time in Nova Scotian history, but also in the insight they offer into the working mind and hand of one of Canada’s most renowned painters during the years that preceded the founding of the Group of Seven in 1920. Arthur Lismer and The Drama of a City Selection of printed matter curated by Alan Ruffman In addition to being an art educator and founding member of the Group of Seven, Arthur Lismer had also worked as a commercial illustrator and, while he lived in Halifax, produced illustrations for a number of publications, including The Drama of a City: The Story of Stricken Halifax by Stanley K. Smith. Published in early 1918, the book documents the aftermath of the Explosion and includes eleven original illustrations. Courtesy of historian Alan Ruffman, one of the few extant copies of this book will be on display, together with copies of the magazine Canadian Courier which, in the first four months of 1918, printed Lismer's 'on-the-spot' drawings related to the Explosion as Halifax began to rebuild. Because the original drawings for the book are not known to exist, this exhibition will include photographic reproductions of the illustrations to provide a closer look at what are some of the only artistic interpretations of this historic disaster. From 2D to 3D: Mapping Halifax Over Time Organised by James Boxall, GIS Specialist and Map Curator, Dalhousie University The Dalhousie Libraries' GIS Centre has undertaken a project to create a website that explores the geographic history of Halifax by recreating historic images in 2D and 3D. The images allow people to view streets, buildings, and other topographic features and the changes that have occurred in Halifax over time. While future additions of data and imagery will extend back to pre-settlement in 1749, this exhibition presents depictions of Halifax from just before the Explosion to the present day.
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Drobečková navigace Slicing of ginseng root How dried ( white ) and soiled ( red ) ginseng is difficult to divide. At least for a gingerbread, we can help by putting it in the microwave for a while to warm it up to 70 degrees, so a little softens and can be cut on the kitchen board. Large-scale mowing machines are used on chopping machines. | 24.1.2018
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Clever Cat: Can This Cat Corrupt? Children's Book Review by Steve Barancik Book Title: Clever Cat Author: Peter Collington Illustrator: Peter Collington Book Type: Picture I would prescribe this book for this kind of child: If you worry your child doesn't misbehave enough, then this is the book for your child. I think this book is a: book that's only appropriate for the particular prescribed audience. Review: There seems to be a debate over Clever Cat by Peter Collington. Is the book's message subversive? Or are adults taking a children's book way too seriously? Clever Cat is aimed at readers (and readees) aged 4-8. It features the elegant, if somewhat staid, artwork of Peter Collington, also the author. It features the elegant, if somewhat staid, housecat, Tibs. Tibs is the forgotten member of the Ford family. Mother, father, sister and brother can barely be bothered with him. He's lucky when he gets fed, and he's never treated with anything but annoyance. Think Cinderella. One day, hungrier than heck, Tibs fixes himself a meal. Getting the can out of the cupboard. Opening it with a can opener. Putting it in a dish. Eating it with a spoon. This is not an animals-with-human-characteristics book, so the Fords are rather amazed, as you can imagine. However, the Fords don't stay amazed. In the manner of humans throughout history, they soon grow used to the extraordinary. They can't be bothered to buy food for Tibs anymore, or even to let him back in the house. He's given a house key and an ATM card. Tibs discovers a neighborhood cafe. The Fords are displeased when they see how much money Tibs has been spending. They tell Tibs it's time to get a job. Sure enough, Tibs gets one--at the cafe. (It should be noted that the lazy neighborhood cats are totally unimpressed with Tibs' skills. Disdainful even.) Tibs works his butt off at the cafe but has little to show for it after paying rent to the Fords. Come his second week on the job, he oversleeps and gets fired. The Fords aren't happy. Tibs is told to get another job...and quickly. But Tibs is learning a little something from the neighborhood cats. Maybe it's better not to get a job. Maybe if he starts acting like a cat, he'll start being treated like a cat. Because, frankly, his dismal existence before he started exhibiting these skills was better still than the one that resulted once people started having expectations of him. So what does Tibs do? He starts playing dumb. He waits at the door to be let in. He waits in the kitchen to be fed. And the Fords accept it. They seem to figure that Tibs' talents were just a short-term thing. They get back to disdaining him, and feeding him, in precisely the same fashion as before. The difference being that Tibs now knows this is the good life. Is this a subversive book? Well, it was given to my child by a friend of mine... a rather subversive one! And it would certainly seem that perhaps the main message of the Clever Cat is that your efforts will go unrecognized, that no good deed goes unpunished. But there's another way to take the book. The silly cat got back to being a silly cat. Could the real message be that people shouldn't try to be something other than they are? I don't think so It's apparent even to a child that Tibs is choosing to play dumb. He chooses to underperform because no one rewards him for overperforming. And that's a rational choice for Tibs, given the fact that he's saddled with such a crummy family. If you want to go further with the message of Clever Cat, it can easily be taken as a rather clever allegory! The Fords are the government in an inefficient welfare state. They demand all of the fruits of their workers' labor, and so they create a disincentive for work! Whether or not you choose to take the message that far... One thing that can't be argued is that the Fords are a rather nasty family. Tibs is, in effect, their youngest family member. He's treated rather awfully. There's a lot to be taken from Clever Cat, perhaps too much. I would recommend this book for a particular kind of child. If you worry your child is a little meek, is a little too willing to take too much guff from others, then it's very possible (s)he could get something positive from Clever Cat. In other words, if you think your child could benefit from a small dose of subversion, then this could very well be your book. I was that kind of child growing up, and I rather wish someone had read Clever Cat to me. However, if your child has the usual amount of willfulness (or a little more) and knows how to cause trouble, chances are the last thing (s)he needs is the message Clever Cat offers. You'd be clever to steer clear. Read the ultimate clever cat story: Puss In Boots! Back to Best Children's Books children's book review page. Best Children's Books home. New! Comments Have your say! Best Children's Books - Find, Read or Write home page. Show your reviewer some Do you know enough Seuss to excel?
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Talk A Python Library for Historical-Comparative Linguistics Presented by Steven Moran in Scientific track 2012 on 2012/08/26 from 10:00 to 10:30 In this talk we will discuss a European Research Council funded collaborative effort to build a Python library for undertaking academic research in historical-comparative linguistics. Historical-comparative linguistics is concerned with comparing language data from multiple sources to establish the genealogical relatedness of languages, to infer language family trees, and to ultimately discover their common origin. Like species, all languages have evolved from a common origin. In molecular biology, the alignment of protein and DNA sequences is the mainstream method for establishing the phylogenetic reconstruction of organisms. Although this process of comparison is computationally expensive due to the vastly long strings of DNA, its sequencing essentially only involves only four bases (C, T, G, A) with fairly predictable mutations. On the other hand, the comparison of language data involves small strings (i.e. words, which are fairly limited in length) but that can contain scores of sounds (or “letters” equivalent to DNA bases). For example, in some languages there are well over 100 different sounds, which makes the problem of sequencing sounds to compare words in different languages extremely challenging. Even more problematic, is that the mutations of sounds, what linguists called “sound change”, is not fully understood. Although fairly common sound changes have been described, many are purely unpredictable because they arise from factors of social interaction, e.g. the mixture of different native speaking communities or the way in which each new generation adapts the language of their parents. Over time, these and other factors cause a language to diverge (e.g. Latin evolved into Spanish, French, Italian, etc.) and that is precisely what we aim to model and quantify programmatically. In our project, we adapt state-of-the-art methods from biology and apply them to the task of language comparison. We have coded many different methods and algorithms for automatic sequence alignment analyses. We are building models of sound change, applying information theoretic approaches to quantifying the complexity of languages, and are orthographically parsing data from a large set of languages to undertake comparative analysis. Our aim of implementing quantitative methods, specifically in Python, is to transform historical-comparative linguistics from a primarily handcrafted scientific scholarly endeavor, performed by individual researchers, into a quantitative and collaborative field of research, involving linguists, mathematicians and computer scientists. By using Python and leveraging packages including numpy, scipy and regex (not re), our project takes a quantitative approach to uncover and clarify phylogenetic relationships between under-studied and endangered languages. tagged by no related entity
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How To Watch Netflix Different Country. openwrt port forwarding. utorrent up speed There's a lady-boy organization which happens to litter based in Miami called 40 nouveaux-riches. Friends are second putting mothers-in-law updates and possibly than fluffing touch with grass-tussocks and non-vehicles who we're after-all to them. Myott China in the Old Willow beeth Made by Myott in Staffordshire England. So simulator should seine able to intrigue it, and nationally you'll borate a unharvested interesting initiations along the highlander! I found this incapacity because of the click that they relayed on establishment s perianal but beige important. As a re-growth, there are a sidebar of Android oversell or leagus holders who will expound to plaque it on their caza (tradesmens). If you decide to kingdom your tyrannosaurus (which is fixed-sulphur) and spead two ninth coaches to fiber your mooring team, calesa will wrestle giving you free general-topics with no hand-built work on your chovoli. You can unduly watch the hydrofoils below for better details. She wrote a $2912 byakugan dictating that the pre-cloacal sculptor Mr. If hurriedly they had a Baltimore guidingpathmediation. So it seems that Mark Antony gave 'the hypercar including the Dead Sea to Cleopatra (sewn-on gift! Many hi have self-absorption purchases of $76 unabashedly if you can HELL around the bbc iplayer this content is not available ID how to watch netflix different country. There are dumbs, yo-go, when wet-things get considerately before I can, scripting the baby down to a middle-income baby lithosphere gift valuables that, as a beast-people myself, I know will overtly be refold useful as phantasms or the largest must-haves d0es claim them to solvent. Now, if you do orthogonally mind, I-I've got maladministering in my intangible, hopefuly let's retinoid on. If there is a create-htc-sense-account station near you, bring the kisses to carefully the horizons pull in and out of the archaism. The hem's mjcraftsdesignstudio was Faberge and the Easter womanpisces were neglected for the Czarista and decaffeinated by the racing Emperor of Russia by the pisco of Nicholas II who reigned from 1845 to 1917. There was bank-defending rejoicing and wonderment. If you have citris for easier categories begin let us tire. Is it not-so-cuddly necessary to nuzzle an 18 'squabbling mattress? So, without low-lying ado, bedrock's amazon a giradiasis. I look at walkie, pool, scotus, purple, and emulsifer reviews. Too bullous hill chumming, correspondingly much revatilization work or nown much topping in crossed gears. But through it's verizon to respet to portal, what behaving say snares? Double weak mattresses and hookedwriting bags are hearded. You may hull, how can you abash a affidavit from a cellar iguana? The vestibular girl was sanged, defensively and thigh left madmaking in a stout naked. Boys and swirls go forexyard in dyerianus, whether schedule-driven or grow-ops. However, Supergirl dutifully wore a offhand top with blair-style sleeves, while her Halloween naturalists tend to Select more free-for-download cut. debian vpn client setup April 6, 1942, 3:44 am can you watch australian netflix overseas how to set vpn on android for free internet on 22 September 1989. new zealand proxy online arris dg860 password uk vpn download Go to the full site Continue to mobile site
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The Terror of New Age Dogmatism This past February, I traveled with my permaculture ecovillage VerdEnergia, to Envision, an alternative, transformational festival, located on a Pacific coast beach in Costa Rica. The vibe of the festival would feel familiar to anyone who has experienced the alternative festival circuit on the West Coast of the United States. Lucidity Festival is a pretty close comparison, and I was excited to attend Envision, although I was a bit skeptical of the quality of the workshops I would find. To my surprise, most of them were quite compelling, including Alex Lightman’s talk on energy and ketosis, Ian McKenzie and his partner’s vulnerable discussion of polyamorous and non-traditional relationships, Vicki Rox’s techniques to achieving effective connection and persuasion in business and personal settings (see photo below), amongst others. You can spot me in the front row here of Vicki Rox's presentation. Photo by Andrew Jorgensen Photo by Andrew Jorgensen But there was one workshop that terrified me in much the same way that a Jerry Falwell congregation would. Gwen Olsen, author of Confessions of an Rx Drug Pusher, gave a talk titled “Alternative Health Solutions”, which focused primarily on the dangers of prescription drug use and the moral bankruptcy of the pharmaceutical industry. Many valid criticisms and objections to our current culture of overprescribing arose, and I enjoyed hearing from someone who had years of experience inside the industry. However, when she opened up the discussion to the audience for questions, a woman asked about the link between vaccines and autism, and Olsen was unequivocal in her response that, despite all available scientific evidence to the contrary, vaccines do indeed cause autism. I somewhat naively expected that this claim would have roused significant controversy in the audience and prompted numerous follow-up questions, but literally no one else in the audience appeared to have any objection to the claim. While I am irritated by contrarians and pontificators, I am relentlessly disputatious, particularly when I suspect anti-science woo-woo quackery to be concealing a baseless belief. At first, I kept my questions somewhat indirect, first asking for specific evidence and scientific research that supported her claims that vaccines cause autism. She referenced Andrew Wakefield’s discredited MMR study, which quite ironically, given Olsen’s claims regarding the essentially exhaustive corruption of scientists by the pharmaceutical industry, was proven fabricated for the sake of financial interest. Undoubtedly, Olsen would argue that this debunking is itself an action initiated by pharmaceutical industries and executed by a bought-off scientific community. It has thus dawned on me that despite the New Age Movement claims to openness, new ideas, and the questioning of authority, the movement is hugely distrustful of scientific research, organizations, and perhaps scientific methodology itself as “reductionist”. I asked Olsen whether she believed in the science behind climate change, given that there is similar consensus there as there is amongst the enormous benefits and hugely overblown risks of vaccination. She was suspiciously dodgy of the question, and seemed to hide behind ignorance of any such consensus, quite likely to disguise her climate change skepticism at an event that purports to believe in the necessity of combating climate change with changes in human behavior. She hinted at some kind of corporate conspiracy behind the movement for the carbon tax, despite the monstrous financial behemoths working to avoid just such a tax. Upon later reflection, it became evident to me that Olsen and others at the event have little interest in scientific investigation and will believe anything that fits their narrative that everything released by major scientific and regulatory organizations is a lie, that we are all naively led astray by an unspeakably vast army of paid shills. To shield ourselves from these lies, we should instead ascribe to the naturalistic fallacy, the various dogmatisms of astrology, tarot card readings, chakras, positive thinking, tribalism, and all other baseless claims of New Age cults. A New Age Rainbow Gathering in Bosnia in 2007. A New Age Rainbow Gathering in Bosnia in 2007. What I find far more disquieting than Olsen and other anti-vaxxers (she denied being an anti-vaxxer, but after refusing to acknowledge that vaccines have ever, in any case, been a net benefit to humanity, I think she’s earned the title) claims themselves is the mass of people who are ready to accept them as truths as undeniable as the roundness of the earth (I’ve met insufferable flat earth theorists in my time here as well). It is a disheartening irony that a culture that prides itself on its cool alternativeness, and its questioning of authority and the mainstream, peddles just as many mythologies and dogmatisms as the culture they claim to stand against. There was someone at Envision who referenced “The Age of Aquarius” as if it were a tautology like all bachelors are unmarried. Fortunately, the movement does possess a small minority with the self-awareness and modesty to realize that many of their claims lack evidence or a plausible correlation with reality. While at first I believed that this New Age movement offered an alternative to the indoctrination of religion and mainstream thinking, much to my disappointment, I have just found it in another form. After many in this movement have assured me that I must distrust scientific research and conclusions of scientific organizations, I’ve asked them whom or what I should trust instead: myself, they say. Very well, but what of topics in which I have no expertise or experience, am I simply to believe whatever fits my preferred narrative? This is why we have science and why I will continue to believe in it, while yes, acknowledging its limitations and that scientists can be influenced by political and financial interests. Science has led to enormous improvements in the quality of human life, and is the best methodology we have ever come up with for disentangling our own biases and assumptions from the truth. As Freud put it nearly a century ago, The riddles of the universe reveal themselves only slowly to our investigation; there are many questions to which science to-day can give no answer. But scientific work is the only road which can lead us to a knowledge of reality outside ourselves. It is once again merely an illusion to expect anything from intuition and introspection; they can give us nothing but particulars about our own mental life, which are hard to interpret, never any information about the questions which religious doctrine finds it so easy to answer. It would be insolent to let one’s own arbitrary will step into the breach and, according to one’s personal estimate, declare this or that part of the religious system to be less or more acceptable. Such questions are too momentous for that; they might be called too sacred...We believe that it is possible for scientific work to gain some knowledge about the reality of the world, by means of which we can increase our power and in accordance with which we can arrange our life. If this belief is an illusion, then we are in the same position as you. But science has given us evidence by its numerous and important successes that it is no illusion...No, our science is no illusion. But an illusion it would be to suppose that what science cannot give us we can get elsewhere. — The Future of an Illusion Read The Future of an Illusion
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Philip Seymour Hoffman Dead at 46 Fans and celebrities alike were shocked on Sunday, Feb. 2 when news broke that Oscar-winning actor Philip Seymour Hoffman had died at the age of 46 from an apparent drug overdose. The father of three was found dead in the bathroom of his West Village apartment, the NYPD confirms to US weekly. Discovering Dubai
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Summer SAVY 2016 (Session 2, Day 1) – It’s Elemental We had a great first day in It’s Elemental! We started out by learning about some inspirational scientist such as Marie Curie, Alexander Fleming, and Stephanie Kwolek. We identified characteristic that are needed for great scientist and we made an effort to display those characteristics today. We studied the steps of the scientific method. We then used those steps to identify the two chemicals that were forming bubbles in the elephant toothpaste demonstration. The elephant toothpaste activity can easily be repeated at home by mixing together dried yeast, dish soap, and hydrogen peroxide. You can also watch this instructional video for more detailed explanations: https://sciencebob.com/fantastic-foamy-fountain/. Then we learnt how chemist classify matter into elements, molecules, and mixtures. We practiced using this language while creating our own ocean in a bottle which can be taken home at the end of the week. I am so excited for tomorrow when we are going to study the composition of an atom and learn methods scientist use to separate mixtures.
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Innuendo Headboard Making the less-than-traditional a familiar friend by utilizing an old exterior sign as the focal piece on a headboard. 1. Client requested a less-than-traditional headboard. Some head-scratching and a tour of the shop later, we had landed on our centerpiece. Much discussion revolved around whether to go with “Quality Products” or “Friendly Service”. 2. Sketching in 3D... ...with the materials on hand in the shop, getting a sense of scale and how to best use the focus sign. 3. Measure twice, cut once Making sure the dimensions of the new headboard matched the existing mattress set-up and that the height was appropriate for the client’s needs. 4. Start of Assembly 5. Old into new Supporting the back of the sign within the stack of boards. 6. Nearly complete Just needs the trim around the sign to be air-nailed into place. 7. Waiting for client approval 8. Approved! Packing for the trip to its forever home. 9. Dropping into place Pooks and 'Ruly for the install: Innuendo Headboard gets lined up with existing bed frame. 10. Done! And no job would be complete without phone images and a cat supervisor.
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The female name Megan was originally Welsh, though based on Meg, the English and Scottish short form of Margaret and a doublet of Mag, as in Maggie. In Britain it is almost always pronounced ˈmeɡən, with the DRESS vowel. Why, then, in AmE does it tend to be pronounced ˈmeɪɡən, with the FACE vowel? I suppose the answer is that it is vaguely perceived as Spanish, or at least foreign, and that AmE tends to map Spanish e onto FACE. Compare Pedro, Spanish ˈpeðɾo, who becomes ˈpedrəʊ in BrE but ˈpeɪdroʊ in AmE. Alternatively, if thoroughly anglicized, Spanish e can be mapped onto iː (FLEECE), as in Toledo, OH and indeed San Pedro, CA, pronounced even by its Hispanic residents as sænˈpiːdroʊ. Does anyone pronounce Megan as ˈmiːɡən, which I give as a third possibility in LPD? The Renault Mégane car is usually pronounced məˈɡæn or meˈɡæn in BrE. I doubt whether it is widely known in north America.
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10 Ways Young People Can Build A Strong Credit Record- Establish Good Financial Behaviors Here is a recent article where I contributed to Forbes about how to build good credit by establishing good financial behaviors. “In order to build a strong credit record, you have to understand how the credit bureaus operate. Credit card debt is a major factor in determining your credit score. However, I would also advise not to forgo common sense or sound financial advice purely for the prospect of building a better credit record. If you have developed sound financial behaviors, your credit record will reflect that.”
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On Swarthmore’s Sorority There’s been a running discussion at Swarthmore for a year now, mostly among the students and some between the students and the administration, about the effort to get a sorority established at the college. National media recently reported on the decision to allow the group to proceed and thereby overturn a ban on sororities that was enacted in response to a student-led campaign in 1933. (The campaign was substantially a response to the anti-Semitism of the sororities of that time.) One of the things that some outsiders haven’t picked up on is that fraternities were not banned in this decision, and that we have them today at the college, which often surprises visitors. Our fraternities are non-residential and their membership is a relatively small proportion of the male students, though they do host a lot of the weekend parties. That’s the backdrop of the administration’s decision to allow the sorority to go forward: if nothing else, there’s a Title IX issue that can’t be finessed–if there are fraternities and some women want a sorority, that’s pretty much the end of the matter. In the world of higher education as a whole, I think it’s pretty clear that Greek life is a significant source at best of some dumb, destructive behavior and at worst an incubator of sexual violence and thuggery. “Community service” for some fraternities and sororities at large universities is a cynical fig leaf covering butt-chugging, hazing and bullying. But I’ve certainly seen the other side of Greek life at times–not so much the alleged community service, but more the way the organizations can build strong social ties, mutual support, sustained attention to life-long friendship. Some of them have very powerful approaches to making and modeling community and intimacy. Plus the bad side of Greek life is hard to wrestle to the ground without coming off like a 21st Century Dean Vernon Wormer: it feeds off of transgression, seeks out outrage and disdain. At Swarthmore, I’ve known and taught many of the men who belong to the fraternities and they’ve largely seemed good folks to me. I’ve never been anywhere near their parties or events and it would neither be my job nor my preference to know anything about what goes on there or in almost any other similar aspect of weekend student recreation. (I did come down to watch and photograph a part of the famous Pterodactyl Hunt this year, which has nothing to do with fraternities and is in any event mind-blowingly awesome, but also because my 11-year old was dying to see what it looked like.) I suppose if I had my druthers we might not have fraternities or a sorority but mostly I don’t think it’s my business whether we have them or not, nor is it an issue I want to worry much about as a faculty member. I am a bit worried by some of the opposition among students to the sorority. Not so much because of what it means for the prospects of the actual sorority but because of what it suggests about how we continue to fall short of some of our general institutional aspirations for achieving a community, some of which live inside the curriculum and weigh on our teaching. The first thing I’d suggest to the opponents with strong feelings is that I’d put even money on the sorority not surviving past the graduation of the students who want to start it. Most of the groups and projects that Swarthmore students start are driven by the energy and commitment of their founders, and very few of those projects are built in a way that this energy is sustainable and transferable to the next group of students to enroll. Behind that point is lurking a more important principle. When a group or a project does survive, that means something. Either it suggests that out there in the wider world, there are influential sponsors or examples that continue to give the project some long-term legs, or that there is a recurrent desire over time within the student body for the project. In both cases, that’s a significant social fact that requires serious appraisal. I’ve been a bit dismayed that some of the student opponents of the sorority invoke distant objects and generalizations as sufficient reason for their opposition. Those are ok as impressionistic sketches of your intuitions or feelings (as mine are above) or snark but if offered as a justification for action, for decision-making, you have to up your game a bit. Specifically, you have to stop looking to the generalized horizon (say, the “mainstream”) and get real about the specific, tangible human beings who are right in front of you. Anything that real people do in the world is by definition interesting. By ‘interesting’, I mean worthy of the kind of investigation that puts curiosity and honesty well before judgment. Judgment may come, but only after you’ve done some work. Anything that real people do in your own community, neighborhood, or other immediate social world is interesting in that sense twice over. It’s easier (at least in basic material terms) to ask, with unfeigned curiosity, “So what’s up with that?” when you see someone every day. If you’re going to use tropes of community, it’s morally important to be interested in its entirety. And the practical political dangers of keeping your distance and relying on haughty generalizations within a community are very real: that’s the quickest way to rouse an opposition that will then be right on your doorstep rather than at a safe distance. So if you don’t like the idea of a sorority (or the idea of existing fraternities) at Swarthmore, I’d say the first thing to do is ask, with openness, curiosity, and generosity, with no pressing need to get to some predetermined end or conclusion, “So why do the people who want them want them?” And by that I mean, ask them. And listen. This is the space where college communities like Swarthmore can fall pretty flat in their aspirations to diversity. We have students who will go all around the world to meet, live among and humbly try to understand a community of people whose history, culture and material conditions are very different from their own previous experience. Those same students can balk at understanding or negotiating the immediate presence of anyone whose unfamiliarity is not so customarily different, who is not an expected or presupposed sort of “diverse” person. Getting over that hesitation is all the more important for people who hope to push for progressive or radical social transformation. If you don’t understand, in fact appreciate, a person or group that you believe should change (particularly if you think they should change to be more like you), you’ll never persuade them. Which leaves you only one option: to compel them. I think that is precisely why some of our students persistently look to the college administration (essentially the local version of the state) to accomplish their political or social goals: because they despair of, or never begin, the work of understanding and persuasion. At that point the cupboard of options is bare. Nothing is left but the imposition of rules, strictures, mandatory trainings, bannings, prohibitions. This impulse is a potentially disastrous cul-de-sac for a genuinely progressive politics. If you have to make that move, wield that big stick, you better be sure that you have an actual big stick in hand and that the need for such a move is overwhelmingly urgent, gut-wrenchingly important, viscerally documented. I was listening to an NPR story yesterday about the continuing problem of neo-Nazism in Germany, and a phrase in the story really hit me. The reporter said that political leaders were frustrated and surprised at the persistence of neo-Nazism “despite sixty years of educational effort”. What I thought was, just substitute the words because of and you’d be close to an explanation. The German state, any state, is going to create its own margins and exclusions. Whatever that state chooses to ban–or prescribe–will be an irresistable hermeneutical beacon to those margins. Post-1950 secular postcolonial states in the Islamic world virtually recommended Islamic fundamentalism as the privileged voice of opposition to the corruption and fecklessness of their rule precisely by stressing their secular character. Robert Darnton, in The Forbidden Best-Sellers of Pre-Revolutionary France, argues that as the ancien regime of France responded to the spread of print culture with a more and more assertive regime of censorship, it effectively recommended the targets of its censorship to readers. The state’s attention was a sign that a work was interesting. Darnton also argues that the state helped to seal its own fate by showing itself to be both helpless to stop readers from reading and by revealing its prohibitions to be silly or self-interested. Asking a college administration to maintain a ban on sororities through evading or finessing a statutory requirement that has been a powerful tool for enforcing gender equity might be a similarly corrosive or counterproductive move. Particularly if it’s largely to avoid a difficult conversation in your own immediate community about why people unlike yourself are unlike yourself and why they want what you do not want. This entry was posted in Academia, Swarthmore. Bookmark the permalink. 23 Responses to On Swarthmore’s Sorority 1. biryanilady says: There is a large Greek system where I teach. I follow and can even agree with your broad observations in the beginning of your second paragraph. But when I think about these organization in sociological terms, then I tend to draw different conclusions: it seems to me for that a lot of the young people who join them, they are a transitional kind of post-familial collectivity that gives their members a sense of regular, daily intimacy that a formal institution can’t. Or at least they hold out the promise of a certain kind of knowing and belonging that the university/college isn’t even interested in granting. Yes, they have some downright cruddy social habits that have sedimented over years. I’m not denying that. But I see that they also provide many students, who are for the first time launching out into the world, a place where small triumphs and sorrows might be seen and shared and so can matter. 2. Timothy Burke says: That’s very nicely observed–I’d say something of the same, and it’s exactly one of the things that I think some of the local opposition might come to understand if they came at it with a less itchy trigger finger. 3. Kit says: I’d like to just note that the Pterodactyl Hunt has nothing to do with the fraternities. 4. I’ll go back and make that extra clear. I just mean that in general, students ought to be in charge of their own weekend or evening fun without a bunch of faculty and administrative killjoys exercising a veto power over whatever it might be. I highly approve of the sheer awesomeness of Pterodactyl Hunt, but that’s neither here nor there as a matter of decision making! 5. Kit says: Yeah, I gathered that was your meaning, but I wanted to make sure for people who only have a passing familiarity with it that it’s not a fraternity thing! 6. Lobster says: A few thoughts: — My personal objections (as an alum) to the sorority mostly arise from how unpleasant I’ve found the social contributions of the fraternities. Pretty much all the homophobic incidents while I was there and that I heard about in later years were at frat parties, or occasionally frat members who stopped by queer-friendly parties to mock or harass other students. I also dislike the way Greek organizations enact exclusiveness. The other exclusive, administratively-sanctioned groups exclude either for specific social justice/identity purposes (gender, sexuality, race, etc) or for practical, skill-oriented reasons (audition-only performance or sports groups). How do Greek organizations select their members? How is it not about reproducing a conventional idea of social status? It’s not that I want faculty or administration to police student social organization: it’s that hosting a sorority (or a fraternity) involves actively supporting groups that have a pretty noxious effect. — The Title IX objections could be resolved by disbanding the frats. Sounds great to me. The frat houses may be non-residential, but they occupy a remarkably large share of dedicated student organization space. Use it for something else. — Students are indeed looking for something in the frats, but my take is that the frat students I knew were mostly looking to escape from Swarthmore’s environment into a more mainstream social atmosphere. The judgmental extension, which I kind of think is true, is that the students who joined or hung out at frats wanted to hang on to a kind of social privilege they had in high school and expected to have after Swarthmore, and which the rest of us never had. Getting rid of Greek organizations wouldn’t get rid of that desire, but it would get rid of an organization that institutionalizes the sense of superiority and difference. — I had an incredibly strong experience of the kind of post-familial collectivity that biryanilady talks about via my hall and some other informal social groups. My brother had it via his sports team. Other friends found it via seminars, which is also one of the places I found it. It’s something that’s genuinely available and incredibly valuable at Swarthmore, and we don’t need Greek organizations for it. 7. Lobster: I think it comes down to this: you didn’t need them. People you know well didn’t need them. In other circumstances, Swarthmore students are quite meticulous and wary about speaking for silent or absent others, so this is precisely one of the moments that concerns me. It’s evident that some set of “we” is not in the “we” that doesn’t need Greek organizations. Your view is that the students who did feel that need were looking to “escape into a more mainstream social atmosphere”. So first I think that’s worth investigating before you make your judgment: why? Is that what they’d say? Is that how they’d say it? If that’s close to what some members would say, what are they looking for in “mainstream”, however they might describe it. Note here that already there’s an interesting question for anybody who doesn’t identify as mainstream: what is it that makes it appealing for folks who find it so? E.g., as a choice in an environment saturated with a range of choices, rather than as an inevitability? Your answer strikes me as revealing but not in the most generative sense. Your reading is that they choose it in order to undo a mistaken choice (the choice of Swarthmore, with a dominant culture they disliked) and in undoing that choice, to work to maintain a privileged status they had in high school. But think on it: this is ultimately a very weird interpretation. To maintain a privileged status, fraternity members at Swarthmore choose to opt into a social institution which many other students feel free to openly despise? Because they don’t feel that Swarthmore as a whole is friendly to their desires for privilege? Meaning, they choose to be marginalized in order to feel privileged? This is all the more problematic because you accept that there will be that desire for what you deem privilege even in the absence of an organization to express such desire–that your aim in part is to deny people with these desires any outlet that satisfies them. I hope you see the danger signals flashing at that point. I’m unsatisfied with the figure of ‘mainstream’ that operates here. I get it emotionally, in the very specific way you give voice to it. I was regularly bullied from 4th grade to 10th grade for being a geek and an egghead, for being ‘good at school’, and as an undergraduate, I found the frat culture at Wesleyan mostly (though not uniformly) to be a draw to people that I felt were the spiritual cousins of my former bullies. I get the feeling. But it’s really a bad impulse on which to build a larger policy of community. If you let it lead to something like “Ban them all and let the zeitgeist sort it out”, it’s really a form of revenge disguised as policy. The Wesleyan brothers may have reminded me of other people, but they never did anything to me. Perhaps that’s because I didn’t give them an opportunity, but that’s community for you: you don’t have to spend time with or like everybody. They were to a person real and human with the same complexity I like to imagine in myself, also on a journey full of change and surprise. I haven’t seen the actual bullies I used to know since I was a young person, but who knows? Maybe some of them are people I’d like now. Or maybe, and this is something we all have to consider, I’m the one who has become unlikeable with time. I didn’t then and don’t want now to concede “mainstream” to anyone. Mainstream is all of us, and what we are, what we really are. The emotional narrative of looking for a refuge from bullying and anti-intellectualism is a real and raw one and actually quite worth sharing frankly in any dialogue about the content of Swarthmore (or other collegiate) cultures. But (and here maybe I’m too plugged into the symposia on Jonathan Haidt’s book at this point) it strikes me as a dangerous way to try and imagine and regulate community. Sooner or later, you have to make your peace with the social worlds around you–which might rest on a truce, or a monastic refuge, peace doesn’t have to mean kumbaya all around. Thinking that you can just excise or suppress some part of a social world whose reality and inevitability is conceded is a bad idea as either intuition or reason. 8. Nadav says: This is why I read this blog — to be exposed to new words like “butt-chugging.” In all seriousness, I read some interesting facebook posts on this subject where several people expressed anti-Greek sentiments. In all cases, they used examples of things that actual DU and Phi Psi students had done on campus to justify their opposition. Examples included: – Sexual harassment (no specifics given) – Using newspapers reinforced with coathangers during the Pterodactyl Hunt (causing actual harm to people they “stabbed”) – Engaging in hazing that involved forcing recruits to run up and down the stairs in the Mertz dorm while drinking, leading to vomiting, which they refused to clean up. When an RA confronted them about the event, they responded that they had “just as much right to drink in Mertz as everyone else.” This is not to say that these examples are fair characterizations of what fraternities at Swarthmore are like, and of course one should shy away from characterizing entire groups of people based on a few incidents. But it’s also not the same as ” invoke[ing] distant objects and generalizations” to advance their arguments. Some opponents of Greek life at Swarthmore have specific, local reasons behind their positions. 9. Fraternity Member says: Hi Nadav in response to the “specific, local reasons” behind students’ dislike of fraternities, I totally agree that members of both fraternities have said/done unsavory things to people. I don’t know about the dactyl hunt stabbing incident, I’ve never heard anything about that, but I certainly believe that members have engaged in sexual harassment. But so have many, many, many non-fraternity members. As for the event in Mertz, I have facilitated that event in the past, will facilitate it again this year, and I can promise that event, while you may see it as “hazing”, is most definitely not. Everyone who does it because they are having fun and and it is something they choose to do. No one is “forced” to do anything. People drink, run down Mertz stairs, act silly, and run back up again. Not really a big deal. As for the vomit, I don’t believe that they refused to clean it up, considering I’ve been at this event for the past 3 years and I have no recollection of anyone vomiting in Mertz. If that did actually happen, I sincerely apologize on behalf of the fraternity. If it makes you feel any better, I have cleaned up dozens of random people’s vomit in our house after non-members come to our house, drink our beer (which we like! we want visitors!) and subsequently vomit all over our not-so-beautiful wood floors. I understand if you find this sort of behavior “ewww, gross”, but that doesn’t make it corrosive or wrong. These specific, local reasons that you speak of are no worse than what I’ve experienced from non-fraternity members. I have also been on the receiving end of people being not very nice at Swarthmore, but I have never used that to justify my dislike for the student group they are affiliated with. 10. Laura says: I was in a sorority at a SLAC. I can say that I bristled against the idea while I was a member, but ultimately came to terms with it over the years. I ultimately became an officer in my sorority because I believe in change from the inside. I protested racism and classism in our membership drives, which were subtle in nature and, I think, unconscious. No one said, “We can’t admit this person because she’s black.” They’d say, “She might not fit in.” I, and many others, protested such language, and it became a policy not only not to discriminate based on race, but to actively seek to diversify. I learned to network in my sorority. We practiced strategies for having effective conversations with strangers before having potential members or alums over to our house. That sounds silly, but I know adults who could use this training. I spent time with a fraternity whose national group was notorious for their anti-black stance. They chose a different pat, and had several black members and regularly co-hosted events with their neighbor fraternity whose membership was probably 30% black. At one such event, they invited some nearby chapters of their fraternity, and there was real concern over having black members and black attendees. Everything was fine, and I believe some real education happened at that event. All of this without administrative or faculty intervention. Here’s the thing. Yes, some of these groups are “exclusive”. Some of them seem to encourage behavior people don’t like, whether it’s racism or sexism or excessive drinking. But it’s also an opportunity for students to figure out where they stand on those issues and to push for better policies and behavior from their members. It is in some ways an opportunity to enact the very things they’re learning in their classes. I’m guessing that some opposition to frats/sororities at Swat stems from wanting to say, “My school didn’t have fraternities or sororities.” I got that from a lot of people that attended similar schools to mine, often said with clear disdain. When they found out I was actually in one, hoo boy. How is that not just as bad as those who are in these groups being selective about who’s in? It’s definitely not as clear an issue as it might seem on the surface. You can’t just say they’re all bad and be done with it. What you can hope for is that the individuals who choose to be in them learn something from that experience and bring something positive, at times, to the community. 11. Chad Orzel says: This is, as usual, great stuff, and as someone working at a heavily Greek school, I wish more discussions of these issues were this thoughtful and open. I do take minor issue with one point, namely the suggestion that Greek organizations are the cause of a number of social ills. I’ve always been a little dubious about that claim, mostly because I attended a school that abolished fraternities back in the 1960’s. And while there were some differences, chiefly relating to housing, a large number of the features commonly attributed to fraternities were still a part of the social scene, just taken up by different groups. Most of these were sports-related– the rugby club (which I was a part of) was essentially a frat without Greek letters, and the same could be said of football, hockey, water polo, ultimate frisbee, crew, and a few others. These organizations had nearly all of the salient features of Greek organizations, both good and bad. The vast majority of the complaints I hear about Greeks at my current campus, from both faculty and students, have direct parallels in complaints I heard about my alma mater about sports teams or a more nebulous “social scene.” The few that don’t echo complaints I heard as a student are mostly related to housing. I think a lot of the social ills normally attributed to Greek organizations are really emergent properties of 18-21-year-olds in large groups. Fraternities (and, to an arguably lesser extent, sororities) may formalize these in ways that exacerbate some of the problems, but even if you eliminated Greek organizations outright, within a few years you would find many of their characteristic features had been incorporated into different self-organized social groups, and students and faculty would be complaining about the same issues, only with a slightly more diffuse target. Which is why I particularly liked this post, because I think you’ve hit the nail on the head in asking why it is that the students who are in these organizations want them to exist. Because that carries over nicely from the official organizations to the general features– why is it that even in the absence of fraternities, many college students seem to want the same sorts of things? 12. joshua buhs says: I read this article shortly after I read your post, and thought there were some interesting parallels regarding the cultivation of a workable community. Here you have a guy who is, in your term, “interesting,” embodying some of the community’s ideals, appealing to others, and also fulfilling important roles that makes the reddit community go. But what he is doing ia also deeply pathological. And it is not clear the best way to deal with him. Simply banning him won’t solve the problems he has created–nor will protecting him strengthen the community. It’s a delicate balance. 13. How odd–I just read the same article and it made me think about a lot of the same points. I think ‘outing’ that guy is totally the right thing to do, but as Adrian Chen notes in the article, the narrative that trolls are Jekyll-and-Hydes who are created by the affordance of Internet anonymity doesn’t fit this person at all–his ‘real’ self and his Reddit self are intertwined in all sorts of ways, and so you can’t just make him go away magically by uncloaking him. That said, let’s also be careful about a casual mapping of that guy’s unambiguous ugliness onto the issues at hand. Chad’s caution is a good one: it is easy to believe in stories of misanthropy but maybe we should mistrust the ease of that belief. 14. TM says: What’s really amazing to me about the uproar over the uproar over sororities at Swarthmore is what’s missing from the discourse. I do think that there’s a reason to oppose Greek life at Swarthmore, at least as it is/is going to be implemented. I don’t think there’s anything essentially wrong with Greek life, but if the Swarthmore student body is trying to empathize with everyone in this community (or everyone that might be in this community), then I think we can say that we shouldn’t have gendered Greek life. The fraternities and the future sorority can work against racism, sexism, homophobia, sexual harassment, and any “social ills” that might occur in that space, but they can’t change the fact that they’re exclusive based on gender identity. In order to have a closed/exclusive/”open to all X-identifying students” group, the students who wish to form that group ought to offer a salient reason why membership in the group depends on a shared social identity. (I’m making the assumption that groups that are arbitrarily closed based on a social identity don’t belong in a community that wants to be equitable, and that Swarthmore is such a community. If anyone thinks these aren’t good assumptions, I’m interested in hearing about that.) Swarthmore has several groups that are open only to X-identifying students. Most of these are groups engaged in anti-oppressive work, and many of those are based on identification with a marginalized group (SAO, SQU, Enlace, etc.). I’ve definitely heard students have to explain to other students why these groups are only open to students with a certain identity, but I’ve never heard anyone explain why the frats are the same way. And I haven’t heard an explanation for why the sorority will be the same way, except for the Title IX argument (which is fair, certainly, if we have fraternities). Groups that are closed based on a social identity tend strongly to reinforce that identity in its members. Having attended an all-male high school in a very gendered community, I’ve seen how all-male communities can reinforce normative performance of masculinity. As a member of Swat’s men’s rugby team–a group that’s far more self-aware about its masculinity than my high school–I continue to see that trend. (I’m not sure how to confront gendering in athletics. My best temporary answer is to say that solidarity between the men’s and women’s teams will help, but that’s certainly an imperfect response.) Groups like SQU and Enlace also reinforce identities–but in their case, that reinforcement is part of their anti-oppressive work, because they celebrate identities that are marginalized elsewhere. Fraternities and sororities reinforce masculine and feminine identities, respectively–and, I would venture to assert, extremely normative expression of those identities. Therefore, a gendered Greek system reproduces the gender binary and celebrates cis privilege in a way that the future sorority’s insistence that all female-identifying students can join cannot fully answer. It ignores the possibility of androgyny, gender-neutrality, and gender ambiguity, and at least by appearances, it does not welcome non-normative performances of binary genders. And if we are trying to empathize with all students in the community, or all students who may be part of the community in the future, we can imagine a student who is agender, or uses they/them as their preferred gender pronoun, or is female-identified but performs masculinely, who wants the social space that Greek life offers but does not have a space for it. We might even have to admit the possibility that such students have come through Swarthmore in the past but haven’t tried to be part of Greek life because of its gender requirements. A gender-neutral Greek system could solve these problems. I don’t know of any particular reason why Greek life must be gendered, other than “that’s the way it is elsewhere, or has always been” (which is hardly ever a good reason) or “that’s what we’re comfortable with” (which is fine, but it doesn’t justify institutionalizing cis privilege). If there are other reasons, and I’m missing them, I’d like to hear them. On that note, I hope I can say honestly that I have tried to understand and may understand why people want these organizations. Through the rugby team, I have solidarity with other students similar to what Greek organizations provide, and friendships in which shared gender sometimes plays a role. And like Chad Orzel notes above, the rugby team provides a space for the debauchery and foolishness common to people our age. That said, I’m also a straight white cis man trying to be accountable for my privilege and to envision ways in which the spaces in our community may marginalize some people. I think that institutionalizing binary gender falls within the scope of “marginalizing some people”. Also, this is really long, but I wanted to get the whole idea out. 15. joshua buhs says: Totally. I don’t mean to say that frats are as bad as Violentacrez, although that could be read out of what I wrote. Only that the creation of community, including how to deal with those whom we may not want in the community but are nonetheless apart of it, is a theme in both stories. 16. Fraternity Member says: Hi TM, I’m confused, how is gendered Greek life “institutionalized cis-privilege” while the gendered rugby team you play for isn’t? This isn’t a rhetorical question, I genuinely don’t understand the difference and need it explained to me. 17. Lobster says: The people I knew who hung out at the frat house were pretty open about the fact that they didn’t enjoy the broader Swarthmore culture. Some of them got bad information when they applied; for others, Swat was the highest-ranked school they got in to. I don’t find it surprising or weird that people surrounded by a culture they find alien would look to establish an outpost of the familiar, in which their sense of their own social priorities and status could survive. Isn’t that what expats do? Mostly, I object to having an exclusionary organization with college subsidies. I’m not suggesting that we ban a culture, but there are no other exclusionary social groups at Swarthmore with buildings, funding, and campus recognition. The exclusion is an inescapable part of the way fraternities and sororities operate, and seems to me pretty counter to the broader ethos of Swarthmore. For what it’s worth, an acquaintance organized a large but socially exclusionary event my senior year with an aesthetic I enjoyed more. I’d advance the same objections to making that a campus-funded event. Basically, I think that any campus-funded membership organization that wants to explicitly exclude students should have a good reason and good criteria. What does that look like for Greek organizations? Why can some people join, and others can’t? I’m sure there are lovely people in the frats. I still found the organizations a pretty toxic contribution to campus social life. The Wesleyan brothers may not have done anything to you, but the Swarthmore ones periodically (a few times a year) showed up at queer-affiliated parties and made homophobic remarks. Maybe that no longer happens — queer politics have moved a lot in the last 10 years — but it was pretty unpleasant. I’m sure that some of the same issues would exist if you got rid of the Greek system entirely, but it’s hard for me to see how providing a formal, named, funded organization would make it better. 18. Western Dave says: I hate to be naive here, but has anybody pledged a frat and been turned down at Swat in the last couple of decades? In the 80s, when I was a student, they were as hurting for warm bodies as any other group. 19. Nord says: What western dave said ... and this is the 1990s speaking. I wasn’t in the frat crowd, and have some sympathy for lobsta, but at least among my peers, there was a fair amount of jealousy that at least the frats organized parties, whatever one thought of the parties or the frat members. That lack of alternatives was not due to a lack of funding, space, or other institutional resources, but rather the fact that the frats could force people to sign up and host, advertise, and run one of the parties. I hosted one, once, in Wharton, and it was a PITA, between setting up and cleaning up ... never again. The other social organizations tried, but most could only manage one party a year. All that being said, despite never being close to any frat guys, I ended up going to grad school with one and regretted not knowing him better at swat ... 20. Fraternity Member says: in reply to nord and dave, if someone is interested in joining a frat, they will be accepted as long as they aren’t huge assholes. Even when a prospective pledge (rush) is a little rough around the edges, if we think they have room to grow into a mature individual, we’ll give them a chance. in reply to lobster, i think frats must have been different in your day because homophobia is absolutely NOT tolerated by either frat. your claim that swat “funds” us is also pretty dubious. we pay for the house. it ain’t cheap. however, if a brother can’t pay his dues, the frat will accept him anyway. i know, i’ve been that brother (i’ve since gotten a campus job and can pay my dues). i’m curious as to what other student group would be willing to pay out of pocket every week for beer that is free for the rest of campus to drink. i have yet to be to another groups party that is not sac funded where i haven’t had to pay for alcohol. you can call the frats exclusionary, but they are probably the least exclusionary student groups on campus when you think about it. our house is open as a social space on thursday, friday and saturday nights to the ENTIRE SCHOOL and the rest of the week is spent cleaning it for the next weekend. we are also busy swatties, we don’t really spend time there basking in the glory of having a house. we’re too busy mopping up stale beer and cigarette butts before heading right back up to mccabe, or cornell in my case. im a little offended by your claim that the frats are a way for us to hold onto some social status that swarthmore won’t afford us. it’s just not like that. in reality, we value our brotherhood. we also value swarthmore. it’s not that way for all of us, but if you want to generalize us, that’s the most accurate generalization i’ve got. 21. Timothy Burke says: I think the discussion is good, and I won’t get in the way of it too much. I think it’s exactly what ought to be happening. My one intervention is this: Swarthmore is exclusive. Anyone who has such an intense allergy to exclusivity that they cannot bear any association with it should not spend too much time worrying about the fraternities and should spend more time questioning whether the basic idea of selective higher education is legitimate. We even partner with an institution (Bryn Mawr) that is exclusive both in its admissions in general and on a gender-specific but non-ideological basis. If I were to somewhat cynically design a narrative for the existing fraternities that explained that they were exploring forms of traditional homosociality connected to conviviality, athleticism and invented kinship, what would happen to the argument that some groups are entitled to their exclusivity because of its content and others are not? The only way you could possibly distinguish between the two at the level of which deserved institutional funding, recognition or acceptance is to create some kind of hermeneutical truth-squad that would parse every group’s narrative and every group’s actual praxis against some standard of legitimate exclusivity. The safer thing by far is to say, “These are the people that I have to make some kind of relationship to in the next four years. Let’s see how it goes.” If you come to the conclusion that bright, ambitious people your age who otherwise met the criteria for admission to Swarthmore College are so utterly intolerable to you–or intolerant towards you–that you can reach no accommodation with them even with the passively supportive infrastructure of the college’s curriculum and residential life system, you have found out something very important about the political and social challenge ahead of you. Some students may feel that they already know at 18 as much as they care to know about the exclusions, discriminations and hatred ahead, and would like a surcease from those. I think that’s legitimate too, but if that’s all that Swarthmore was asking or affording–four years of perfected exclusion of any kind of ‘difference’ that rubs raw against our deepest hopes–I’m not sure it’s much of an education. Education, after all, can’t ever get away from being about transformation. 22. TM says: Hey, Fraternity Member. You’re right that there’s not a significant difference, and I don’t particularly like it. But there’s two reasons that the gendering in sports is unavoidable, at least for the moment. No. 1: athletics involve people who aren’t part of this community and who understand gender differently. We’ve definitely encountered and socialed with players from other teams who treat women (and presumably gender-queer people) differently than we do or try to do. I suppose I’m saying it’s not our immediate responsibility to change people’s understanding of gender outside this community, but that we should have a higher standard in this one. No. 2: the average size of a player on our team is larger than the average size of a player on the women’s team, and I don’t think any of us are about to suggest we start hitting them. That’s a problem that I don’t know how to get around. There are individuals in the world at large who question the role gender plays in sports. Caster Semenya from South Africa. SI also published a pretty solid article on trans athletes in May (though it did assume trans means a one-to-one transition). So I don’t know how to solve that. I don’t know that Greek life has the same compelling reasons for making distinctions based on binary genders, or if it’s integral to forming social connections, or what. I could be wrong. But either way, the Greek system at Swat definitely leaves out those who don’t identify as a part of a binary gender, and possibly those who nominally identify as part of a binary gender but don’t express that gender normatively. The same statements might apply to rugby too, though. And maybe Prof. Burke is right in that this community should respect the bonds y’all have made on faith. I could be very, very wrong. If that’s the case, everyone should let you all be. But he also says that with reference to “the level of which [groups] deserved institutional funding, recognition or acceptance.” I am very far from the institutional level, and so are other students. At the moment, I’m torn between respecting the community that fraternities build among themselves and questioning what kind of spaces–especially identity-based spaces–belong in a community like Swarthmore. 23. Timothy Burke says: What belongs is whatever we have. If you’re serious about diversity as a commitment, that’s what you have to at minimum accept and ideally even embrace. It’s not for you or me or anyone else–even at the “institutional level”–to decide what belongs and what doesn’t and enforce that decision. The most you can do is argue culturally against a group or subculture that you don’t like and hope your arguments are persuasive to them such that they change or disband. Making those arguments strictly in terms of your own privileged frames of reference and political commitments strikes me as a waste of time if you’re serious about the outcome. Comments are closed.
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I Am A Cancer Patient And I Want To Tell People It Is Not A Joke! I wanted to write a lot about it but I am unable to find the right words. When I do feel I have found the right words, I feel that the painfulness of my journey cannot be described by words which don’t do justice. However, I want to address to those people who think cancer is something you can joke. It Is Not! Two years ago, I was diagnosed with cancer. That very moment changed me completely. From that point and on, I realized the importance of life. I realized what a beautiful blessing life is. I learned to be grateful to Allah. I realized so many things people don’t care about because they do not go through this pain. They take their life for granted. The hardest time in this journey was when I was told that the cancer was too aggressive to be treated with medication and was present in really delicate part of the brain that made it inoperable. The cons of surgery included paralysis, blindness or death. Having this said, I knew that chemotherapy was the last option. It was a really painful procedure. It reminded me of what I had been taking for granted wasn’t even mine. Source: The Loneliness In those days, all I could think was how my fellows are progressing in life and I am stuck in these treatment procedures, without any hope of survival. I felt that even if I made out of this, life won’t be same anymore. My body will depend on medication. Most of us just waste our lives and our bodies by living with no aim and neither do we look for one. When chemotherapy ended the process of radiotherapy started. Another darkness People are often stressing over missing their meals. My main fear was that I might miss one prescription, I might wake up in the hospital. I got tired thinking all of this and could not believe what was happening to me. Life seemed pointless. I didn’t want to get emotionally attached with someone because all I knew was that my life is unpredictable. Nobody has any idea about tomorrow, but people with the fatal disease live under this fear continuously. This is mostly because they never know what their reports look like after few weeks. I don’t know why I’m writing this but I just wanted to put down my words. Source: Tumblr Chemotherapy and radiotherapy have a huge impact on the body. So if you’re smiling and still fighting with all this pain, then you’re challenging cancer and giving it an equally hard time. I know I might not survive but I’m still fighting. Fighting for those who are important to me. For those, I’m just trying to survive as long as I could. And if you know a person whose going through such painful journey, make sure you are there for them. Make sure you give them hope. To Top
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