text:
Invitation to
or Become a Member
Member Sign In
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Our History
Membership Benefits
Aletheia Logos University
Olive Press Books
Church Directory
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you to register or become a free
member by using our quick
and easy online form.
(This helps us track where our free downloaded books are going.)
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* Expand Global Evangelism through
ministry supported preaching, teaching and distribution of FREE
books, and
related literature on YHWH-ology.
* Expand FREE
fundraising programs to assist ministries around the world.
* Provide FREE subscriptions to WCMA
Newsletter &
Prophecy Updates aiding ministers (leaders) with sermon building materials.
Divine Integrity
It is likely that no teaching of Christ and of his disciples is more violated among wealthy nations than the one outlined to the right. You see, the coming and birth of Jesus Christ embodies and promotes a divine paradigm shift that was to redirect humanity onto a new path; a path of humility and servitude; a path of action that reaches out to sinners, to help the poor, the needy and the sick (Matt. 20:26-28; 9:12). This new path of humility and servitude is defined as greatness (Luke 9:48); conversely, the pursuit of wealth, power and prestige is not only carnal but a path that will end in emptiness (Luke 1:51-53; 12:15-21). Notwithstanding, if wealth and power is or has been acquired it is to be used for the benefit of and given to the poor and needy, that is, if perfection is to be acquired (Matt. 19:21). However, giving must be done with humility, even secretly (Matt. 6:1-4). But don't worry, because Jesus does observe your giving from an equitable perspective (Mark 12:41-44) and HE will reward you. Somehow, the bulk of the Christian community has forgotten this Christly teaching--but together we can change this and get the Church (the body of Christ) back on the narrow path (Matt. 7:12-27).
If you were in the shoes of your less fortunate fellow Christians, what would you want wealthier Christians to do for you? (Matt. 25:34-46 and Matt. 7:12) If you can perceive this concept, you will grasp that Christ was teaching (Matt. 7:12-27) a summary of the whole Law and the Prophets--charitable and gracious words are not only meaningless without aligned actions (behavior) but determines your status in eternity.
Therefore, the responsibility of the existing Body of Christ is two-fold. First, it is to share its spiritual wealth--the Gospel of Hope and scriptural wisdom and knowledge--with hungry unbelievers and believers alike. Second, it is to share its individual and collective non-spiritual wealth with less fortunate members of the Body of Christ via collections, distributions and sharing. [Remember, a person's wealth is not solely comprised of money earned or saved, but also includes his/her knowledge, possessions, skills, and so on]. To avoid neglecting the ministry of God's word, the Apostles delegated this social church responsibility to Godly men equipped with the talents and skills to do so. This duty was not assigned to the Preachers, per se, but to gifted and Godly ecclesiastical administrators. This is where WCMA comes in--Godly ecclesiastical administrators of this modern day responsibility. Join us to help create a global paradigm shift and correct this sin against humanity.
If you desire Divine Christian Integrity that will find favor with and touch the heart of God, then align your passions with the passions of Christ--devoting an equitable amount of your finances and time (or more) to orphans, widows, children, the poor, the needy, the sick and sinners.
Sponsorship Programs
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"Jesus said, 'He that hath two coats, let him impart to him that hath none; and he that hath meat, let him do likewise.'"
Luke 3:11
"If anyone has material possessions and sees his brother in need but has no pity on him, how can the love of God be in him? Dear children, let us not love with words or tongue but with action and in truth."
1 John 3:17-18
"Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world."
James 1:27
"Suppose a brother or sister is without clothes or daily food. If one says to him, 'Go, I wish you well; keep warm and well fed,' but does nothing about his physical needs, what good is it?"
James 2: 15-16
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text:
Developmental Screening Dates
Date: June 5, 2020
Add Event to Calendar
Birth through Age 5 Developmental Screening Dates - 2020 School Year
Menominee County Intermediate School District will be conducting Early Childhood Developmental Screenings for Michigan children from birth through age 5 (if not attending school) on the following Fridays:
May 1, 2020
June 5, 2020
Screenings are held from 8:15 a.m. to 1 p.m. at Menominee County Intermediate School District located at 1201 – 41st Avenue in Menominee. Arrangements can be made for children located in the Carney-Nadeau and North Central school districts. Appointments are required. Please call Menominee County ISD at 863-5665 to schedule a screening appointment.
The screening test measures the child's abilities based on developmental milestones in five domains: Personal-Social, Adaptive, Motor, Communication and Cognitive. The procedures involve a structured test format, an interview with parents or caregivers and observation of the child. Discussion of test results and recommendations for further testing or other program options complete the process.
Screening information for older individuals, ages six through twenty-six, may be obtained from your child's building principal or by contacting the Menominee County ISD Director of Special Education at 863-5665 Extension 1012.
Location: Menominee County Intermediate School District
|1201 41st Avenue
Menominee, 49858
Contact Email: firstname.lastname@example.com
Contact Name: Sherry Mathieu
Contact Phone Number: 906-863-5665

subset: commoncrawl


text:
|Jepson Flora Project: Jepson Interchange
previous taxon |
next taxon
Jepson Interchange (more information)
©Copyright 1993 by the Regents of the University of California
Annual, perennial herb, shrub, vine
Leaves simple or compound, cauline (or most in basal rosette), alternate or opposite; stipules 0
Inflorescence: cymes, heads, or flowers solitary
Flower: calyx generally 5-ribbed, ribs often connected by translucent membranes that are generally torn by growing fruit; corolla generally 5-lobed, radial or bilateral, salverform to bell-shaped, throat often well defined; stamens generally 5, epipetalous, attached at same or different levels, filaments of same or different lengths, pollen white, yellow, blue, or red; ovary superior, chambers generally 3, style 1, stigmas generally 3
Fruit: capsule
Seeds 1many, gelatinous or not when wet
Genera in family: 19 genera, 320 species: Am, n Eur, n Asia; some cultivated (Cantua, Cobaea (cup-and-saucer vine), Collomia, Gilia, Ipomopsis, Linanthus, Phlox )
Recent taxonomic note: *See also revised taxonomy of Porter and Johnson 2000 Aliso 19(1):5591; Porter 1998 Aliso 17:8385
Annual, generally erect; branches spreading or ascending, hairy, glandular or puberulent
Leaves simple, alternate, generally deeply pinnately lobed or entire
Inflorescence: head; bracts pinnately to palmately toothed or lobed, spine-tipped; flowers sessile or subsessile
Flower: calyx membranous between ribs, lobes 45, entire or toothed, unequal, spine-tipped; corolla lobes 45; stigmas 2 or 3
Fruit generally ovoid, chambers 13
Seeds 1many per chamber, free or stuck together, brown, gelatinous when wet
Species in genus: ± 30 species: w North America, also in Argentina, Chile
Etymology: (F. Navarrete, Spanish physician, 1700's)
Stem puberulent or hairy below heads; hairs recurved
Leaves 12-pinnate; lobes linear; lower leaves glabrous; upper hairy at base
Inflorescence: outer bracts leaf-like, lobes needle-like, 24-branched at base, lobes near tip 2, shorter, entire, pointed tipward; inner bracts simpler, base membranous-winged, ciliate, width of wing > midrib
Flower: calyx ribs glabrous or slightly hairy, tapered, gland-dotted below, membrane truncate, ciliate; corolla 410 mm, lobes with 1 vein entering base; stamens exserted; stigmas 2, minute
Fruit translucent, adhering to seeds until wet
Seeds separating when wet
Ecology: Vernal pools
Elevation: < 2200 m.
Bioregional distribution: North Coast Ranges, Cascade Range, n&c High Sierra Nevada, Great Central Valley, Modoc Plateau
Distribution outside California: to Washington, Utah
Some subspp. intergrade. Variable with water level and duration.


text:
- Academic Senate Executive Council
September 4 Second Vice President's Report
2018 May 16 First Vice President's Report
2018 May 2 First Vice President's Report
2018 April 18 First Vice President's Report
April 4 First Vice President's Report
March 14 First Vice President's Report
2018 February 28 First Vice President's Report
February 14 First Vice President's Report
January 31 First Vice President's Report
2017 December 06 First Vice President's Report
2017 November 15 First Vice President's Report
Academic Senate Executive Council 2016-17 External Evaluation Report
Academic Senate Executive Council 2016-17 Internal Evaluation Report
2017 November 01 First Vice President's Report
2017 October 18 First Vice President's Report
2017 October 4 First Vice President's Report
2017 September 20 First Vice President's Report
2017 September 6 First Vice President's Report
2017 May 15 First Vice President's Report
2017 May 3 First Vice President's Report
April17 First Vice President's Report
2017 April 5 First Vice President's Report
2017 March 15 First Vice President's Report
2017 February 15 First Vice President's Report
2017 February 1 First Vice President's Report
2017 January 18 First Vice President's Report
2016 December 14 First Vice President's Report
December 7 First Vice President's Report
November 2 First Vice President's Report
2016 October 5 First Vice President's Report
September 28 First Vice President's Report
2016 September 14 First Vice President's Report
2016 August 31 First Vice President's Report
2013 End of Year Report: Responses to ACCJC
recommendations: selected actions taken by the Officers and Executive
Council of the Academic Senate
2012 End of Year Report
- Academic Senate for California Community Colleges (ASCCC)
Report on the 2013 Spring Plenary Conference.
April 18-20
on Leadership Regional Meeting. March 1, 2013
on 2013 Area B meeting. March 29, 2013
Report on the 2012 Fall Plenary Conference
on results from the resolution voting:
on the 2012 Summer Leadership Conference
ASCCC Recommendations Regarding Repeatability: Draft Report plus results of November, 2011 resolutions
Report on 2011 Spring Plenary 4/18/2011
State Chancellor's Student Success Task Force: Notes on Breakout Session 4/18/2011
- Accreditation
2014 Self Evaluation for Faculty Review:
This is YOU. This is the document that describes your
professional contributions to CCSF. All paths lead to this document as
a representation of CCSF. Make sure it represents a clear, complete,
and evidence-based descripton of your institution.
Remember that you are describing your fulfillment of the Roles and Responsibilities of faculty. See a description of these roles (10 + 1) below.
Take the time necessary to familiarize yourself with what the editing teams have been asked to do. There are resources and details on the Instructions page. Scroll all the way down the Instructions page. Pay special attention to the resource that explains "Evidence".
Suggestions for improvement need to identify:
the Standard being referenced,
2. the text that needs to improve,
3. suggested improved text,
4. description of supporting evidence, and
5. links to the supporting evidence.
The best suggestion is one that can easily be put to use!
Instructions Status of the Standards Front Matter Standard I
Standard IIA Standard IIB Standard IIC
Standard IIIA Standard IIIB Standard IIIC Standard IIID
Email suggestions for improvement to your constituent leader:
Faculty: Lillian Marrujo-Duck email@example.com
Staff: Jill Kersey firstname.lastname@example.com
Administrators: Kristin Charles email@example.com
Students: Bouchra Simmons at email@example.com
The Two-Year Rule and Due Process: ACCJC's
Credibility and an Examination of Evidence. Karen Saginor. May
29, 2014.
"CCSF support gains momentum, but accreditation deadline remains unclear." Laura Dudnick. San Francisco Examiner. May 21, 2014
"CCSF accrediting group can extend deadline, feds tell Pelosi." Nanette Asimov. SFGate. May 20, 2014
Board of Governors letter to ACCJC. Manuel Baca. May 20, 2014
Department of Education letter to Leader Pelosi. Lynn B. Mahaffie. May 19, 2014.
"A hidebound review panel is punsihing City College" [staff editorial] SFGate. May 16, 2014
"Accreditors firm on deadline for closing City College of S.F." Nanette Asimov. SFGate. May15, 2014
"CCSF supporters press for extension to fix problems" Nanette Asimov. SFGate. May15, 2014
"The Fight to Save San Francisco's Public College." Justine Drennan. The Nation May 15, 2014
"City College of S.F. could get more time to shape up" Nanette Asimov. SFGate. May 14, 2014
Leader Pelosi letter to Department of Education requesting clarification. Nancy Pelosi. May 9, 2014
Letter thanking CEOCCC. Karen Saginor. May 7, 2014
CEOCCC letter. Helen Benjamin. April 25, 2014
"Errors Seen in Commissioners' opinion piece on CCSF funding." Nanette Asimov. SFGate. April 22, 2014
"CCSF Legal Battle Heats Up" Laura Dudnick. San Francisco Examiner. April 16, 2014
Letter concerning candadicy. Arthur Q. Tyler. April 14, 2014
"The Way Forward." Sherrill Amador, Frank Gornick, and Steve Kinsella. SFGate. April 12, 2014 and on ACCJC website
"Give City College More Time to Meet Accreditaiton Requirements." Ed Lee and Brice Harris. SFGate. March 26, 2014
concerns about the Staying Open plan, aka the Road Map. October
28, 2013.
Preliminary information about the Contingency Plan/Closure Report (provided before October 14th)
Best sources for latest Accreditation information and documents:
AFT2121 Frequently Asked
- CCSF Accreditation pages
- Text of Department of Education Letter to ACCJC finding ACCJC out of compliance with regulations. Janyr 28, 2014.
U.S. Department of Education Decision Letter to ACCJC August 13, 2013
Board of Supervisors Government Audit and Oversight Committee. July 25, 2013. "Hearing to address the importance of City College as an academic institution and resource for San Francisco's diverse communities and local economy, and discuss the potential impact of the Accrediting Commission and what public officials, including the Mayor, are doing to protect the college and safeguard vital programs, assets, and overall accreditation."
Video Agenda Item 4 concerning CCSF starts about 1:30 hours into recording
CCC Chancellor Harris talks with constituency leaders. Informal Notes. July 17, 2013
Email to Chancellor Harris. August 11, 2013
Summary of Findings from decision letter and Visiting Team Report (pdf) (doc)
Statement of support from AAUP
Materials from ACCJC Public Meeting
June 7, 2013 SFO Marriott
Technical limitations required us to scan the materials in small parts:
- FileA 1. Agenda
- FileB 3. Minutes for January, 2013
4. President's Report - Barbara Beno
continues 4. Barbara Beno's Report
- FileE concludes 4. Barbara Beno's Report. 5. Vice President's Report - Susan Clifford
- FileF 6. Vice President's Report - Krista Johns
- FileG continues 6. Krista Johns' Report
- FileH concludes 6. Krista Johns' Report. 7. Vice President's Report - Jack Pond. 8. Associate Vice President's Report - Norv Wellsfry
- FileI Public comment. 9. Report of Policy Committee Chair Marie B. Smith.
- FileJ 10. First Reading Policies.
- FileK 11. Second Reading Policies.
continues 11. Second Reading Policies.
- FileM concludes 11. Second Reading Policies.
- FileN 12. Operational Policies and Documents.
concludes 12. Operational Policies and Documents. (Bylaws)
- FileP 13. Edits to Existing Policies.
- No materials provided to public for 14-16: Financial Reports and Budget
- FileQ 17. Accreditation Standards Review
18. Council of RegionalAccreditating Commissions (CRAC) - Barbara
Beno. 19. Council for Higher Education Accreditation (CHEA) Report -
Barbara Beno.
concludes 19. Council for Higher Education Accreditation (CHEA)
Report. 20. WASC-Schools Commission - Gary Davis.
- FileT 22. California Community Colleges - Barry Russell. 23. Hawaii Colleges - Mike Rota
- FileU 24. Western Pacific Colleges - Patrick Tellei.
- FileV 25. Commission Election Process and Results.
Informal, unofficial notes firstname.lastname@example.com
Sound recording of part of Teeka James comments with questions and comments from the commissioners at: http://soundcloud.com/fitzthereporter/2013-06-07-01-35-2
Joe Fitzgerald. "City College Overseers Bar Most Speakers from Meeting." San Francisco Bay Guardian Online. June 9, 2013.
Nanette Asimov. "College Accreditors Bar Many from Meeting." SFGate June 7, 2013.
How was the visit? an informal composite summary culled from informal faculty notes about the accreditation visit on April 4-5.
The Accreditation Visit. Notes by Gregory Keech.
April 10, 2013.
Academic Senate Responses to ACCJC Recommendations DRAFT April 4, 2013.
March 12, 2013. The Academic Senate has concluded making contributions to the Show Cause Report to be submitted to ACCJC on March 15th. Any significant new events may be documented in a separate update. Also, materials are still being added to the evidence files.
February 27, 2013. The Academic Senate Executive Council reviewed a
on resolution or lack of resolution of issues as of February 27,
2013 discussed expectations for at least partial resolution of
outstanding issues, and then approved Resolution 2013.02.27.02 authorizing President Saginor to
sign the Show Cause report.
February 20, 2013. The Academic Senate Executive Council reviewed issues that were in process of resolution on February 18, 2013 concerning the Show Cause Report.
February 4-7, 2013. The draft sections posted here recorded changes requested to reflect input from over 200 faculty - a wonderfully overwhelming response!
I.A. Standard
III.A. Standard
I.B. Standard
III.B. Standard
Standard II.A. III.C. (not submitted) Centers and Sites
Standard II.B. Standard III.D.
II.C. (not submitted)
Note: All faculty input to II.C. and III.C has flowed expeditiously through channels other than Academic Senate
January 24-February 4. The Academic Senate recieved substantial input from many faculty members and additional helpful communications since that date.
Thanks, email@example.com
1988 ACCJC Decision letter on CCSF (pdf)
Accreditation Institute. February 8-9, 2013 in San Jose.
How do we measure up? Preliminary thought on our
progress in meeting accreditation standards January 3, 2013 ( pdf )
Report on Major Issues concerning SLOs,
Accreditation, the Budget and related topics. October 5, 2012 ( pdf )
DRAFT initial analysis of the Report of Dr. Serrano and the visiting team. 7/10/12
Notes from the Accreditation Forum. July 6, 12
Forum. Streaming Video. July 6, 12 (Must install Silverlight
software to view)
Senate Executive Council Resolution concerning Memo to ACCJC/WASC
Visiting Team. April 4, 2012
for information provided to the Accreditation Visiting Team.
March 22, 2012
to the Accreditation Visiting Team. March 12, 2012
Find additional information at: http://www.ccsf.edu/selfstudy and http://www.ccsf.edu/accreditation
- Administrative Hiring
Administrative Hiring Procedures presented to the Board of
Trustees in 2013 pdf
Draft Position Description for President of City College and
Centers as of 3/19/14 pdf
On 3/28/14 word was received that the title of position has been changed to
"President of Ocean Campus and Centers" -- as discussed at February PGC meeting.
Position announcement for Chancellor that was used in Summer 2013
- Board of Trustees Policies
DRAFT of Academic Senate recommendation
for Policy and Procedures for Program Revitalization, Suspension,
and/or Discontinuance (PRSD) ( pdf ) ( doc )
- Consultation and Participatory Practices
Current Status of Collegial Consulation Issues. February 27, 2014
Where Work Stopped on IV.A.2 and IV.A.3. July 16, 2013
of the process of establishing CCSF collegial consultation
procedures. May 2, 2013
Collegial Consultation Practices Based on Research on Selected
California Community Colleges. Draft April 2, 2013
for Discussion of Collegial Consultation Practices. Draft April
28, 2013
Current Practices of the CCSF Participatory Governance Council (PGC) and its committees. Observations, April 2, 2013
Sources and initial notes for procedures for the Participatory Governance Council (PGC) and its committees - a document prepared for the PGC workgroup on procedures. April 18, 2013.
- Diablo Valley College Documents provided for Panel Discussion - February 6, 2013
Basic numbers - headcounts, FTES, FTEF ( pdf )
Largest department / smallest department ( pdf )
Organization Chart (pdf )
Division breakdowns - chairs and lead
faculty in each division (pdf )
Workload information - department chair stipends ( pdf )
Job description for instructional administrators ( pdf )
Faculty contract selections, including duties for department chairs ( pdf ) Full contract online
Faculty job descriptions - position
announcements online
Academic Calendar ( pdf )
- Education Master Plan
Observations on the Environmental Scan - External
Trends Report. k saginor February 3, 2014 (as Word doc)
- Faculty Hiring
Academic Senate memo re: Faculty hiring policies/procedures and the Blueprint
Draft notes of the April 23rd workgroup meeting
from California Education Code concerning Faculty Hiring
Recommendation to the Board of Trustees re Board Resolution S6
Blueprint of College Wide Policy and Implementation Strategy for
Improving Equal Opportunity in Faculty Recruitment and
Selection. Revised 4/17/2012. Word
Faculty Hiring Procedures Document. mutually agreed upon by the Senate and the Board. 6/27/1991
California Education Code, Section 87360
CCSF Employee and Hiring Data Report, Fall 2010-Fall 2011
Additional Documents related to Faculty Hiring, Equal Employment Opportunity, and related issues.
- Learning Outcomes
Draft Institutional Learning Outcomes
for CCSF (ILOs) ( pdf
General Education Outcomes (GEOs) ( pdf )
Informal, selective notes on ACCJC Regional workshop concerning SLOs, Program Review, and Institutional Planning ( pdf )
on Major Issues concerning SLOs, Accreditation, the Budget and related
topics ( pdf
Institutional Learning Outcomes from other Community Colleges ( pdf )
Find much more about Learning Outcomes and Assessments at: http://www.ccsf.edu/slo
- Miscellaneous
Email to Chancellor Brice Harris. August 11,
to written questions from a student working on a Poli Sci
project. 2/28/13
Recommendations concerning administrative
hiring. Memo to faculty January 24, 2013
Informal, selective notes on ACCJC Regional workshop concerning SLOs, Program Review, and Institutional Planning ( pdf )
Credit Enrollment Numbers comparing Spring 12 with Spring
From mid December until classes started - enrolled units compared
Network Security Issues. Board of Trustees. January
26, 2012
Report on the first month of Fall Semester, 2011
concerning Repetition for Substandard Grades to President and
President Elect of ASCCC. 6/1/2011
Report on Academic Senate Special Meeting of March 25th, 2010. 4/22/2010
- Noninstructional activities
Instructionally related and Non Instructional Assignment Criteria and Examples. Approved by the Academic Senate Executive Council on December 14, 2011
for Banner Codes to record Instructionally Related and Non
Instructional Assignments. Developed Spring, 2012.
- Participatory Governance Meetings
These are informal notes. Find official records of meeting by following links from the Participatory Governance pages.
Participatory Governance Council February 20, 2014. Informal notes by Karen Saginor.
Enrollment Management Committee February 10, 2014.
Informal notes by Carole Meagher. two
Schedule Building Timeline Printed Schedule Distribution
Participatory Governance Council January 16, 2014. Informal
notes by Karen Saginor.
Planning Committee November 7, 2013. Informal notes by Kim Ginther-Webster.
Enrollment Management Committee November 7, 2013.
Informal notes by Carole Meagher.
Planning Committee October 3, 2013. Informal notes by Kim Ginther-Webster.
Enrollment Management Committee
October 3, 2013.
Informal notes by Carole Meagher.
Accreditation Committee October 2, 2013.
Informal notes by Fred Teti and Karen Saginor.
Participatory Governance Council meeting September 19, 2013.
Informal notes by Karen Saginor.
Enrollment Management Committee September 18, 2013.
Informal notes by Carole Meagher.
Participatory Governance Council August 15, 2013.
notes by Karen Saginor.
Enrollment Management Committee April 23, 2013. Informal notes by Karen Saginor.
Planning Committee meeting April 22, 2013. Informal notes by Kim Ginther-Webster.
Participatory Governance Council meeting April 18, 2013. Informal
notes by Karen Saginor.
Accreditation Steering Committee meeting April 2, 2013.
Informal notes by Sandra Vaughn and Karen Saginor.
Participatory Governance Council meeting March 14, 2013. Informal
notes by Karen Saginor.
Budget information, posted by Karen Saginor, March 19, 2013. More complete budget information will be made available in connection with Board of Trustees meeting.
Planning Committee meeting March 7, 2013. Informal notes by Kim Ginther-Webster.
- Placement Testing and Assessment
Recommendation to the Board of Trustees re Board Resolution S10
concerning English and Math Placement Testing and Assessment
Policies Approved by the Academic Senate Executive Council, April
18, 2012
Letter from Jessica Brown, Chair English Department: Issues Surrounding the English Department "Placement Plus One" Pilot Proposal. April 12, 2012.
Assessment and Placement: A Summary of Recent CCRC Studies. Niki Edgecombe. April 3, 2012.
English Articulation Between the San Francisco Unified School District and the City College of San Francisco. Oded Gurantz. February, 2012.
Math Articulation Between the San Francisco Unified School District and the City College of San Francisco. Oded Gurantz. July, 2011.
Predicting Success in College: The Importance of Placement Tests and High School Transcripts. Clive R. Belfield. February, 2012.
Do High-Stakes Placement Exams Predict College Success? Judith Scott-Clayton. February, 2012.
Recommendation 2.1: Centralized placement
assessments for California Community Colleges. from the
Recommendations of the Student Success Task Force. January,
- Professional Development
Encouraging Professional Development 5/6/2011
Flex Policies:
CCSF Professional Development and Flex. Scroll down for links to the forms.
Guidelines for the Implementation of the Flexible Calendar Program from Academic Senate for California Community Colleges in Cooperation with Chancellor's Office Program Staff.
Relevant excerpts from Title 5 Regulations compiled by Columbia College.
Presentation on Flex Calendar Certification Process. 6/20/11.
Sample form used by Cabrillo College.
- Student Success
Materials from the review phase of the
Student Success Task Force and associated regulations ( html )
Additional materials relating to
Student Success Issues and the State Student Success Task Force:
- Sunshine Policy
Memo to Administration and Board concerning Sunshine Policy 10/22/2010
Additional materials relating to Draft Sunshine Policy listed at:


text:
Hide Forgot
From Bugzilla Helper:
User-Agent: Mozilla/4.0 (compatible; MSIE 6.0; Windows NT 5.1; SV1; .NET CLR 1.1.4322)
Description of problem:
when installing FC4 on netfinity 5500 quad p3 xeon 500, 3.9 gb ram, raid 1 x 3, raid 5 x 1, using burned cd's system locks up freezes, does not respond at transfer image to hard drive. tried install with only 1 raid 1 drive same result. tried install with dvd drive and purchased dvd, stops responding at first GUI when click next. tried different drives with burned cd's and dvd.
Version-Release number of selected component (if applicable):
How reproducible:
Steps to Reproduce:
1.try installing
2.always stops on transfer of image to drive
3.need to reset server
Expected Results: image transfer and continue to load.
Additional info:


text:
The first Citizens' Council was formed in 1954 in Indianola, Mississippi, to resist integration. By March 1955, 167 Citizens' Councils were reported in Mississippi; these were loosely affiliated into a state organization. In 1955, the state organization began producing fifteen-minute weekly films under the name Citizens' Council Forum Films. These films consisted of interviews by producer Dick Morphew with American and foreign conservatives and were shown on local television stations throughout the country. The programs were created to persuade public opinion regarding two main issues: integration and communism. Some of the films in this collection were not produced by the Citizens' Council Forum Films, but activities of similar groups. Contained in the collection are 132 reels of film, approximately 90,000 feet.
Reference copies of this material are available for a fee. Material from this collection may be licensed for use for a fee. The MDAH Public Order procedure and fee schedule apply. Consult the Photoreproduction and Digital Imaging policy or contact MDAH Reference Staff for order options as well as information on how to obtain and complete the necessary Public Order forms: 601-576-6874 or email@example.com.


text:
Collection Items
MapMap of Royal Land Company's railroad (narrow gauge) from their anthracite coal fields to deep water Shows central Virginia from the Allegheny Mountains to the Chesapeake Bay. Relief shown by form lines. Pencil (some col.) on tracing paper, mounted on cloth. LC Civil War maps (2nd ed.) H267 LC Railroad maps, 549 Available also through the Library of Congress Web site as a raster image. Vault
- Contributor: Braxton, Carter M. - Royal Land Company
- Date: 187?
MapRoute of the New River R.R., 188-. Sketch map of part of West Virginia. Dashed red line across the map indicates the "Proposed New River R.R." Shows counties and names the line of railroads.
- Contributor: Hotchkiss, Jedediah - New River Railroad Company
- Date: 188?
MapPotomac, Fredericksburg, & Piedmont R.R. from Fredg., to O.C.H. 38 miles, by C. M. Braxton, Sketch map of part of Virginia from Fredericksburg to Orange Court House. Shows relief by form lines, drainage, cities and towns, and the line of survey in red. Chartered as the Fredericksburg and Gordonsville Rail Road. See entry 412.
- Contributor: Potomac, Fredericksburg, and Piedmont Railroad - Hotchkiss, Jedediah
- Date: 1876
MapMap showing the preliminary line of the East River Railroad, May, 1881. Map of part of Virginia showing relief by form lines, drainage, mills, property owners names, towns, roads, and the railroad line, with distances in red.
- Contributor: Hotchkiss, Jedediah - East River Rail Road Company
- Date: 1881
MapRailroad map of South Carolina by Jed. Hotchkiss, T.E., Stanton, Va. Pen-and-ink sketch showing drainage, counties, cities and towns, and the railroads with names along the lines.
- Contributor: Hotchkiss, Jedediah
- Date: 1880


text:
Thursday, April 18, 2013
Friday, April 12, 2013
Live like a billionaire
Sometimes I think about how economists think people act, and I get sort of depressed. I think there's some notion that time is money, and that your time is worth $X per hour and if you could get someone else to do the job for less, you should pay them. That way, supposedly you spend more time on the things that you are "best" at. That got me thinking, though: what if you're a billionaire? What if every moment of your life is "worth" an enormous amount, like $100,000 per hour? What do you do with your time when basically doing anything is not really worth your time?
I have to say that I consider myself very lucky that I really enjoy most of what I do day to day (doing science with smart and talented people), and I'd keep doing it if I were a billionaire tomorrow. But I'd definitely pay someone to fold the laundry.
Sunday, April 7, 2013
Single molecule RNA FISH website
I had written an earlier blog post to answer some basic questions that people have about single molecule RNA FISH. I think it was useful to at least some people, so I've decided to expand the idea to an entire website. It has a series of answers to frequently asked questions about everything from basic science questions to imaging tips and the such. And it also has links to some nice pictures from the lab! Comments welcome.
Thinking vs. doing in science
Lately, I've been thinking some about whether it's always best to think about experiments before doing them. I know, of course, you have to think about experiments you do on some level. I guess I mean more big picture thinking about "well, is this experiment informative, what will I learn from this?" kinda stuff. I know that on the face of it, every experiment should make sense, and that the abstract notion of the scientific method we learn in grade school, every experiment should be designed to test some scientific hypothesis. But on the other hand, most of the interesting findings that we have come across did not really arise in this way. If we really thought through those experiments rationally, I think we would have ended up with considerably more boring results. I'm guessing a lot of people have had this experience, where a little side-experiment ends up being super interesting and turns into a whole line of work unto itself. And sometimes it doesn't make sense, but you just do it and see what happens.
That said, it's important to know where the line is between interesting side-experiment and hopeless distraction. Also, one of the most important skills to develop as a scientist is the ability to take the seed of something interesting and turn it into a coherent and logical argument through carefully planned and executed experiments. But I guess what I'm saying is that it's important to let the mind wander sometimes. A question: how do people find those seeds? Is it luck? Hard work? A "nose" for good problems? Or is it a skill that one can acquire and hone with experience? I think that last one is actually more true than people think...
Centromeric DNA
I was just listening to a couple of interviews (1,2) about ENCODE, which were interesting (link from Jan Skotheim's cool blog). But aside from the arguments about ENCODE, there was some talk about comparisons to the human genome project, and how the human genome project had a nice end goal, but that goal was perhaps a bit more subtle than most realize. Specifically, they didn't sequence all of the genome, because they skipped some of the repeats and the centromeric regions. Then, in discussing ENCODE, they talk about how one could define the entire genome as being "functional" by ENCODE's definition because DNA polymerase interacts with every base.
Anyway, I thought it was somehow weird/fun to think about the fact that we don't know the sequence of the centromeric regions, but we know that DNA polymerase gets in there and replicates it. I don't know why this seems strange to me, but I guess I like to think about these situations where something goes through some unexplored region and comes out the other end without really revealing much about its journey. It reminds of how we have laid down these huge transatlantic cables connecting the US to Europe (in 1858!). They basically just put down a big wire running the entire distance. The deep of the ocean is still largely a mystery, but these cables run right through it, with our information none the wiser for their deep-sea voyage. Somehow, I find this cool...
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During the Fall and Spring semesters, the Computational Social Science (CSS) and the Computational Sciences and Informatics (CSI) Programs have merged their seminar/colloquium series where students, faculty and guest speakers present their latest research. These seminars are free and are open to the public. This series takes place on Fridays from 3-4:30 in Center for Social Complexity Suite which is located on the third floor of Research Hall.
If you would like to join the seminar mailing list please email Karen Underwood.
James Glasbrenner, PhD
Assistant Professor
George Mason University
Reproducible Research & Best Practices for Computational Science
Monday, December 4, 4:30-5:45
Exploratory Hall, Room 3301
ABSTRACT: Have you ever had one of the following thoughts while working on your research?
- I can't remember where I put that data file.
- I knew what these variables meant when I wrote them last year.
- Did I accidentally delete that email with the final version of our research paper attached?
- Why does my collaborator's program delete the last row and column of this array before entering the main loop?
If so, then you're not alone, because "most researchers are never taught the equivalent of basic lab skills for research computing" [1]. This situation persists even as the average scientific researcher devotes as much as 30% of their time developing and 40% of their time using scientific software [2]. Underdeveloped skills in programming, project organization, and documentation can lead to general frustration, productivity losses, an increase in the risk that a researcher won't be able to reproduce his or her work, and can even result in serious computational errors that invalidate a study's general conclusions [3]. At the same time, the number of scientific research groups that are integrating data science topics and methods into their programs is increasing at a rapid pace1 , further increasing the overall need to address this disparity. In response, a growing movement of researchers has emerged that are interested in tackling this problem, leading to the creation of organizations like the Software Carpentry Foundation [4], guidelines for reproducible research [5], and suggestions of "best practices" for scientific computing [1, 6, 7]. However, although there is more awareness about these potential solutions than in past years, these ideas are still not common knowledge. In this seminar, I will review the general background behind these ideas and what computational researchers can learn from other fields such as the software industry. Drawing on my own experience with implementing these ideas, I will provide examples of how you can integrate reproducible research ideas into your work using open source tools. Using the "best practices" suggestions as a guide, I will also show ways in which you can better organize your projects and some ways to make your code more readable, and then explain how this can help streamline scientific collaboration. Finally, I will close by reflecting on the role that automation can play in achieving these principles and goals.
[1] G. Wilson, J. Bryan, K. Cranston, J. Kitzes, L. Nederbragt, and T. K. Teal, PLoS Comput. Biol. 13, e1005510 (2017).
[2] J. E. Hannay, C. MacLeod, J. Singer, H. P. Langtangen, D. Pfahl, and G. Wilson, in Proc. 2009 31st Int. Conf. Softw. Eng. ICSE Workshops (2009) pp. 1–8.
[3] Z. Merali, Nature 467, 775 (2010).
[4] "Software Carpentry," .
[5] R. D. Peng, Science 334, 1226 (2011).
[6] G. Wilson, D. A. Aruliah, C. T. Brown, N. P. C. Hong, M. Davis, R. T. Guy, S. H. D. Haddock, K. D. Huff, I. M. Mitchell, M. D. Plumbley, B. Waugh, E. P. White, and P. Wilson, PLoS Biol. 12, e1001745 (2014).
[7] V. Stodden and S. Miguez, J. Open Res. Softw. 2, e21 (2014). 1An arXiv query for all pre-prints with metadata containing the term "data science" reveals exponential growth, with the number of submissions approximately doubling every year since 2007.
William B. Rouse, Ph.D.
Alexander Crombie Humphreys Chair
School of Systems and Enterprises
Stevens Institute of Technology
Computational Social Science at Several Levels
Friday, December 8, 3:00 p.m.
Center for Social Complexity Suite
3rd Floor, Research Hall
ABSTRACT: Computational social science can enable understanding – and design – of a wide variety of phenomena at an enormous range of levels. This lecture will address processes, organizations, ecosystems, and society for phenomena associated with disease and medicine, health and well being, and technology adoption, particularly in automobiles. The process level is addressed in terms of scaling and optimization of medical innovations. The level of organizations is considered in the context of health provider corporations' responses to the Affordable Care Act. The ecosystem level is discussed in addressing population health – integrated delivery of health, education, and social services – in the highly fragmented US ecosystem. The society level is considered in terms of the expected disruptive impacts of driverless cars on automotive, insurance, and finance industries. Approaches to and challenges of modeling at these differing levels are discussed.
Niloofar Jebelli, MAIS-CSS Student
George Mason University
Urban Development Through the Lens of Agent-Based Modeling
Friday, December 15, 3:00 p.m.
Center for Social Complexity Suite
3rd Floor, Research Hall
Abstract: Cities are ever changing and growing phenomenon with many underlying complexities. Through its life cycle, a city experiences various forms of dynamics. Models allow for a better understanding of such complexities and dynamics. The model presented in this talk simulates the dynamics of certain processes such as: an urban market, agent interactions in that market, urban growth, sprawl and shrinkage and gentrification. The purpose of this model is to understand the behavioral pattern of the agents and demonstrate the life cycle of a city based on individual agents' actions. This model is significant in its integration of various subsystems creating a larger system while observing developers' behavior. Specifically, the model explores some well-known issues, including the Smith's rent-gap theory, Burgess's concentric zones model of urban growth, and Alonso's bid rent theory. The main results from the model show that the agents move to and reside in properties within their income range, with similar neighbors. This is one of the first models that provides a new lens to explore urban development.
Leveling the Playing Field: Information Asymmetry in the Used Vehicle Buying Process
Monday, January 29, 4:30-5:45
Exploratory Hall, Room 3301
In 1970, Economist and Nobel Prize winner (2001) George Akerlof published a study: "The Market for "Lemons": Quality Uncertainty and the Market Mechanism" (The Quarterly Journal of Economics, Vol. 84, No. 3. (Aug., 1970), pp. 488-500). In the study, Akerlof attempts to show where, in a market where as seller of a product has more data/information than the buyer of the product, about the product's quality, will potentially result in "an adverse selection of low-quality products." In no place is Akerlof's theory more represented than in the used vehicle market, where buyers and sellers don't always have the same information about a vehicle's quality, potentially resulting in low-quality cars being bought and sold. In 1986, CARFAX sought to begin to "level the playing field" between buyers and sellers of used vehicles by collecting, analyzing and making relevant data/information available in the marketplace to both buyers and sellers.
- What data does CARFAX collect?
- Why this data vs other data?
- How does the market drive the type of data collected?
- How does CARFAX analyze and make this data available to answer real world questions?
Is this car safe?
How much should I pay for it?
What's it worth?
What's the risk to insure it?
What's the risk to finance it?
Faisal Hasan is the General Manager, Data & Public Policy at CARFAX. In his over 17 years at CARFAX, Faisal has been responsible for helping to build CARFAX's Vehicle History Database through public and private data acquisition efforts across North America, including overcoming legislative and regulatory hurdles to data access. Faisal focuses on CARFAX's efforts to secure and analyze data to feed the CARFAX "Onetime to Lifetime" Game Plan and develop future CARFAX products. Faisal earned his B.A. in Government & Politics at George Mason University and his M.A. in Government at the Johns Hopkins University. Faisal has been a Fairfax County resident for over 35 years. He is married w/four kids, including a GMU Junior studying Biology and a 2017 GMU Kinesiology graduate.
Sri Melkote is Head of Business Analytics at CARFAX. Sri has been at CARFAX for 2 years and leads teams responsible for valuation modeling, pricing analytics, marketing research, media measurement and optimization. He has over 12 years of data science experience. Prior to joining CARFAX, Sri developed dynamic pricing systems, personalized recommendation engines and inventory planning systems for the travel industry. He holds a Master's degree in Mathematics from Purdue University and a Bachelor's degree in Chemical Engineering from Indian Institute of Technology, Madras. He is the author of several journal articles and a recipient of the 2011 INFORMS Revenue Management and Pricing Practice Award.
Professor Robert Axtell
Computational Social Science Program, Department of Computational and Data Sciences, College of Science
Department of Economics, College of Humanities and Social Sciences
Center for Social Complexity
George Mason University
Order without Optimality
Friday, February 2, 3:00 p.m.
Center for Social Complexity Suite
3rd Floor, Research Hall
ABSTRACT: Long ago Hunter Mill Road in Reston, Virginia, was surrounded by farmland and little travelled. Where it crosses Colvin Run creek a single-lane bridge was adequate for the traffic at the time. However, as the region grew in the post-WWII era the traffic on Hunter Mill Road increased until the single-lane bridge is today a bottleneck for rush-hour traffic, southbound toward the Dulles Toll Road in the morning and northbound in the evening. There are no stop signs on either side of the bridge but warning signs that the bridge is too narrow to handle two vehicles moving in opposite directions at the same time. During periods of low traffic—queue length 0 or 1—the usual first-come-first-served (FCFS) driver discipline is observed at the bridge, by which the first vehicle to approach from either side has the right-of-way. However, during periods of heavy traffic, such as the morning and evening 'rush hours', a different behavioral regime is observed: pairs of cars moving in the same direction cross the bridge together, in single file. This departure from the FCFS protocol clearly permits higher vehicular flowrates over the bridge in each direction. However, from the layout of the bridge and vehicular dynamic we demonstrate that the globally optimal behavior for the system during busy times would involve larger numbers of vehicles moving together across the bridge, i.e., groups of 3, 4, or even 5 produce shorter wait times overall, dominating the 2-car norm. We argue that this is an example of a sub- optimal spontaneous order, and go on to suggest that there is little reason to believe that (m)any spontaneous orders operate at anything like peak performance. Essentially, spontaneous orders in this context represent behavioral norms for multi-agent coordination problems that improve on so-called anarchic solutions identified with Nash equilibria of the underlying non-cooperative game. The welfare improvements associated with following the emergent social conventions represent a kind of satisficing solution of the type identified by Herbert Simon as a good description of human behavior in a wide variety of social situations, bounded by cognitive constraints, limited information, and incentive problems. We conclude by arguing that F.A. Hayek implicitly associated his conception of spontaneous order with high welfare, but that this view is untenable. Rather, the more general idea of emergence, which makes no welfare assertions, seems to subsume spontaneous order as a very special case, suggesting that Hayek's contribution to this area has been largely supplanted by more recent developments in the science of complex systems, as has been argued elsewhere.
Feras A. Batarseh
Research Assistant Professor
Department of Geography and Geoinformation Science
College of Science
George Mason University
Why an open mind on open data can transform our collective intelligence
Monday, February 5, 4:30-5:45
Exploratory Hall, Room 3301
Abstract: In 1822, the founding father James Madison said: "A popular government, without popular information, or the means of acquiring it, is but a prologue to a farce or a tragedy, or perhaps both". Recent technological waves have evidently served Madison's vision of government transparency. The latest advancements in Artificial Intelligence (AI), Data Science, and Machine Learning can make federal data openness a low hanging fruit. Moreover, the big data and open government initiatives (signed in 2012 and 2013) are major enablers for transforming government into a new era of intelligent and data-driven policy making. However, to be able to use data in reforming the political discussion, public federal data needs to devise the promised openness.
Besides benefiting government, Open Data benefits many other domains and applications of data science, such as healthcare, finance, and academia. For example, Open Data could lead to a general openness in science (i.e. Open Science), clearer experimental research, and begin reshaping the human knowledge in general. These topics and other facets will be discussed in this talk.
Bio: Feras A. Batarseh is a Research Assistant Professor,Department of Geography and Geoinformation Science, College of Science, George Mason University in Fairfax, VA. His research spans the areas of Data Science, Artificial Intelligence, and Context-Aware Software Systems. Dr. Batarseh obtained his Ph.D. and M.Sc. in Computer Engineering from the University of Central Florida (UCF) (2007, 2011), and a Graduate Certificate in Project Leadership from Cornell University (2016). His research work has been published at various prestigious journals and international conferences. Additionally, Dr. Batarseh published and edited several book chapters.
Dr. Batarseh has taught data science and software engineering courses at multiple universities including GMU, UCF as well as George Washington University (GWU). Prior to joining GMU, Dr. Batarseh was a Program Manager with the Data Mining and Advanced Analytics team at MicroStrategy, Inc., a global business intelligence corporation based in Tysons Corner, Virginia. During his tenure, he helped several clients make sense of their data and gain insights into improving their operations. For more information on his research, and contact details, please refer to these webpages: http://ferasbatarseh.com/
Matthew Oldham, CSS PhD Student
Department of Computational and Data Sciences
George Mason University
Friday, February 9 – 3:00 p.m.
Center for Social Complexity Suite
3rd Floor, Research Hall
ABSTRACT: Sports analytics (SA) has experienced a meteoritic rise in recent years, with the trend forecast to continue. Modor Intelligence reports that the market was valued at USD 83.56 million in 2015, and is forecast to grow to USD 447.23 million by 2020. at the market was valued at USD 83.56 million in 2015, and is forecast to grow to USD 447.23 million by 2020.
The growth of sports analytics has raised a rich variety of research topics pertaining to basketball, including: how at the macro level the distribution of scoring activity is a mixture of random walk processes and power-law behavior (Gabel & Redner, 2012), and, at the individual level, the question of whether players develop hot-hands and how the player and their teammates react to its possible existence. While the erroneous belief regarding hot-hands was first identified by Gilovich, Vallone & Tversky (1985) it has remained an active field of research (Bar-Eli, Avugos, & Raab, 2006).
Agent-based modeling (ABM) has great potential to assist and inform those engaged in sports analytics but to date it has not been utilized. The advantage of ABM is that it allows researchers to assess, in a silicon laboratory, the micro-level interactions that give rise to verifiable macro outcomes. This is achieved through heterogeneous agents adapting and making decisions based on their environment, including considering spatial, temporal factors and interactions with other agents.
To support the use of ABM in sports analytics, I will present a 3-dimensional model of a basketball game, where the fundamentals of play including player and court positions, a shot clock, and shooting performance are all included. Additionally, player behavior in deciding whether to shoot, pass or dribble is partially predicated on assessing the length of a player's shooting streak (designed to test the hot-hand effect), and the consideration they give to any streak, plus their franchise status, a feature identified in Burns (2004). The probabilistic nature of the model allows for insights into the dynamics of scoring actions following a random walk. The model captures extensive data which was used to calibrate and validate it against comparable statistics from the National Basketball Association (NBA).
Michael Eichler
Strategic Planning Advisor
Metro Office of Planning
Metrorail and Metrobus, Data Sources and Information Needs
Monday, February 12, 4:30-5:45
Exploratory Hall, Room 3301
Abstract: Modernization of nearly all the technology that underlies the provision of rail and bus transit service over the past 30 years has resulted in a vast amount of data that until recently has been more or less neglected. Meanwhile, challenges that face rail and bus transit systems continue to mount, from maintaining a state of good repair to capturing and keeping riders in the age of Uber/Lyft and bike share. The key to providing safe, convenient, affordable, and reliable transit service into the next century lies in the hands of data scientists and policy analysts. This talk will review the different data-generating technologies and the types of data they create, followed by an exploration of the pressing issues faced by transit agencies and the questions begging for answers.
Bio: Michael currently serves as Strategic Planning Advisor at WMATA in the Office of Planning's Applied Planning Intelligence unit, where he focuses on transforming data into information to help inform policy and planning decisions. He currently focuses on fare policy, crowding, GTFS data and online tools, and customer-focused performance metrics. Before joining WMATA in 2010, he worked for Oracle Corporation, an IT start-up, and the Metropolitan Washington Council of Governments. He holds a BS in Systems Analysis and Engineering from The George Washington University, and masters in City and Regional Planning and Transportation Engineering from UC Berkeley.
Sean Mallon, Associate Vice President
Entrepreneurship and Innovation
George Mason University
Eric Koefoot
Founder and CEO of PublicRelay
The Journey and Stories of a Data Science Entrepreneur
Monday, February 19, 4:30-5:45
Exploratory Hall, Room 3301
This session will feature conversation between Sean Mallon, Mason's AVP for Entrepreneurship and Innovation, and Eric Koefoot, founder and CEO of PublicRelay, a venture-backed data analytics and media intelligence startup based in McLean, VA. During the discussion we will explore a wide range of topics, ranging from what inspired the initial business idea, to customer discovery, to product development challenges, to fundraising, to customer acquisition strategies, and much more. This will be a highly interactive seminar and participants are encouraged to come with questions and personal experiences to share.
Sean Mallon Bio: Sean Mallon is Mason's Associate Vice President for Entrepreneurship and Innovation. Before joining Mason in 2016, Sean spent many years as an entrepreneur and early-stage technology investor. Sean hold a Bachelor's in History from Princeton and an MBA from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania.
Eric Koefoot Bio: Formerly the CEO of U.S. News Ventures, CEO at Five Star Alliance, CFO and later VP Global Sales at Washington Post Digital, Eric is the founder and CEO of PublicRelay and brings substantial media experience and understanding. Eric holds a Bachelor's in Engineering from MIT and an MBA from the Sloan School at MIT.
Qing Tian, Assistant Professor
Computational and Data Sciences
George Mason University
Introduction to R for Computational and Data Science
Friday, February 23, 3:00 p.m.
Center for Social Complexity Suite
3rd Floor, Research Hall
ABSTRACT: R is a programming language and free software environment for statistical computing and graphics. It has gained substantially increased popularity in recent years. In addition to classical statistical analysis functionalities, it includes a wide range of packages with capabilities of data mining and machine learning, text analysis, spatial statistics, and social network analysis etc. This seminar will focus mostly on a suite of R packages that are designed to facilitate data (including social networks) visualization. These visualization functions are useful for exploratory analysis of real world data as well as output data from simulations.


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Kevin Harvick hitched a ride to a slower mode of transportation to honor two Marine veterans - Budweiser Clydesdales.
Harvick, his wife DeLana, and the Bud Dalmatian took a 0.4-mile ride on the famed horses to deliver Budweiser beer and Daytona 500 tickets at the home of race fans Justin Ryter and Jason Ryter. The twin brothers completed four years of active duty in the U.S. Marine Corps and recently returned home to Ormand Beach, Fla., after being honorably discharged.
Racing fans camped out their lawns and driveways to catch a glimpse of the NASCAR star and the Clydesdales.
Harvick knocked on the door to deliver the tickets and shook hands with the twins. He also gave each one a case of Bud.
"This is just one of many things that Budweiser does for our military guys," Harvick said. "It's been a lot of fun. We definitely disrupted the neighborhood this morning, but it's for a good reason."
The Ryters had beer, they had tickets, and they had a party. One man handed out business cards to the media for his wallpaper company. Some fans guzzled beer in the driveway well before noon.
Harvick and his wife volunteered after they learned his Sprint Cup sponsor was running the promotion.
"Any time you can honor any of our military guys for their service, and what they do for this country, is pretty neat to be a part of," Harvick said. "When you add the hitch and the Clydesdales into the equation, it makes it even better."


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Earth from Space: Cape Verde Archipelago
This Envisat image captures the Republic of Cape Verde, a group of volcanic islands located in the North Atlantic Ocean some 600 km off Africa's west coast.
The archipelago comprises 10 islands and several islets and has a total land area of about 4000 sq km. Islands visible from top left to right are Santo Antão, São Vicente, Santa Luzia, São Nicolau, Sal, Boa Vista, Maio, Santiago, Fogo and Brava.
Weather varies on each island but temperatures generally hover around the high 20s with very little rain. Due to their position in the Atlantic, the islands experience windy conditions and the northeast trade wind can be particularly strong at times. Lying in the same latitude of the Sahara, trade winds carry Saharan dust to the area frequently.
Although the islands are all volcanic in origin, their terrain varies widely. Santo Antão's rugged and mountainous landscape is considered the most spectacular of the archipelago. As visible, an extensive mountain range (with altitudes exceeding 1500 m) divides the island, with the northwestern slope being the most fertile. With an area of 779 sq km, it is the second largest island of the archipelago.
São Vicente is said to be the most cultural and cosmopolitan centre of Cape Verde. Historically, Mindelo's port (visible in yellow on the northeast coast) served as a coaling station for trans-Atlantic steamer boats.
Santa Luzia is the smallest of the islands (35 sq km). It is very dry and barren and is the only permanently uninhabited island in the archipelago. Although it had inhabitants in the past, desertification led to its abandonment.
São Nicolau has a mountainous interior with two prominent peaks, one near the middle and one on the west end. Sal, the flattest island of the archipelago, takes its name from salt mines that once operated there. Home to an international airport and white sand beaches, it attracts many tourists.
Boa Vista boasts unspoilt beaches along the coasts, while volcanic rock reigns throughout its interior. Maio is a flat, barren island with deserted white beaches. It shows very little evidence of its volcanic past because of the influence of wind erosion over the years.
Santiago, home to Cape Verde's capital Praia, is the most densely populated island. With a surface of 991 sq km, it is the archipelago's largest island. As visible, its interior is mountainous.
Fogo is an immense, active volcano that last erupted in 1995. With the summit reaching 3000 m in height, it is the highest point of the archipelago. The Pico volcano (visible) is located in the northeast.
Brava (the archipelago's smallest island) has a humid and cool climate, making it the wettest and greenest. It is very mountainous and rises abruptly from the sea.
This image was created by combining three Envisat Advanced Synthetic Aperture Radar (ASAR) acquisitions (21 November 2006, 6 May 2007 and 23 August 2009) taken over the same area. The colours in the image result from variations in the surface that occurred between acquisitions.
ESA's NEST software, an open source toolbox for reading, post-processing, analysing and visualising SAR data, was used to process the image.


text: Abbey Road's Mastering Engineer Talks Us Through The Process Of Restoring The Beatles For Vinyl feature There are big differences between the new Beatles Stereo Vinyl Box Set and the CD remasters that came out in 2009. Sean Magee (Abbey Road's Remastering Engineer) has won a Grammy award for his work as part of The Beatles remastering team. Speaking to the Beatles Examiner, he puts the significance and differences between the two projects like this: "I don't like comparing the vinyl and the CDs. They're different media and one's been limited and one hasn't. I think the limited ones did very well for CD and is right and proper that they were done like that. But for vinyl, it wasn't the thing to do. (...) I think with these vinyls you're getting something closer to the original master tapes, the sound that they wanted. Less compromises have been made. You make a lot of compromises when cutting records (...) What was necessary was to get the remasters onto vinyl with the least amount of compromise." Bob Santelli (Executive Director of the Grammy Museum) interviewed Sean Magee at Capitol Studios, asking him about what working on the project involved. In these five clips from their conversation, Sean talks us through everything from a typical working day on the project to the most difficult track to nail - and how they knew when they'd finally got a a cut right. seanmagee 01 original 112712 Video of seanmagee 01 original 112712 Sean Magee Interview Part 1 seanmagee 02 process 112712 Video of seanmagee 02 process 112712 Sean Magee Interview Part 2 seanmagee 03 track 112712 Video of seanmagee 03 track 112712 Sean Magee Interview Part 3 seanmagee 04 toofar 112712 Video of seanmagee 04 toofar 112712 Sean Magee Interview Part 4 seanmagee 05 material 112712 Video of seanmagee 05 material 112712 Sean Magee Interview Part 5


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Route88 necesitaba un nuevo diseño de logotipo y lanzó un concurso de diseño en 99designs.
Un ganador ha sido elegido entre 111 diseños de 26 diseñadores freelance.
We are changing our company name from RelevantAds.com to Route88.com. We need a new LOGO that will be the starting point for our new corporate identify.
We are a company that helps businesses be found on the internet. We currently take a company's information and send it out to places, so that the business can be found in local search engines. This is our primary business. We are changing our name in an effort to broaden our business lines... however we will continue to be in the business of helping businesses and taking their information and distributing it.
Information hub… information comes in… and sent out toplaces on the internet… information superhighway… highway system for information…and data on businesses.
… your information superhighway hub….
We are a distribution company, just like a trucking company…we pickup information from places and deliver it to other business to be soldto the end user.
One path, multiple destinations
- For Route88.com, I see initially using the 'getting businessonline tag' … Verb…getting… action orientated. Since we are in the B2B space… this is areference to that. I am ok if you want to suggest something different.... Tag does not need to be in the Logo.
- We would like a new color scheme, please suggest something that seems to work with the name... do NOT feel like you need to use our current colors.
- This is a corporate identity, so want something that is somewhat conservative... yet cutting edge at the same time.
- We are pretty open... if it works and is able to convey what we want.
Descubre cómo funciona un concurso de diseño u obtén más información sobre nuestros servicios de diseño de logo.


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Tradition and technology will blend at today's inauguration of Dr. John C. Knapp as the 12th president of Hope College.
Tradition and technology will blend at today's inauguration of Dr. John C. Knapp as the 12th president of Hope College.
Reflecting the online age, the ceremony, which begins at 2 p.m. ET, will be live-streamed for viewing to anyone around the world who has a device capable of connecting to the Internet. Link to Live Stream
In keeping with tradition, the event itself will take place in Dimnent Memorial Chapel, which began hosting Hope's inaugurations when sixth president Wynand Wichers took office in 1931 (completed in 1929, the site wasn't an option for Wichers's five predecessors).
The live streaming (hope.edu/live) will accommodate local as well as distant viewers. With seating in Dimnent limited to about 1,100, tickets are required for admission and have already been distributed. Accordingly, in addition to being available individually, the live-streaming will also be shared on the large screen in Winants Auditorium of Graves Hall next door.
Winants has provided overflow seating and a live feed before, but the location is also appropriate on another level. Winants, which served as the college's chapel from 1894 until Dimnent was completed, also once hosted an inauguration itself, that of third president Gerrit J. Kollen in 1894.
In addition to the formal investiture ceremony, the event will feature the inaugural address, "The Promise of Hope," delivered by Knapp.
Participants in the occasion will include multiple members of the Hope community, including two former Hope presidents, who will present the litany of dedication: Dr. Gordon J. Van Wylen, who was the college's ninth president from 1972 until retiring in 1987; and Dr. James E. Bultman, who was the 11th president of Hope from 1999 until retiring on June 30 of this year. The event's musical selections will include a work for choir and organ composed by 1975 Hope graduate Alfred V. Fedak, who is minister of music and arts at Westminster Presbyterian Church in Albany, N.Y., "The Lord is My Shepherd (For Us the Living)."
In addition to members of the Hope community—students, faculty and staff, alumni, members of the Board of Trustees and other friends of the college—those attending will include representatives of more than 40 institutions of higher education and professional and learned societies from across the United States as well as England, India, Japan and Mexico.
A variety of events have been scheduled in conjunction with the inauguration, which is taking place as part of the college's Homecoming Weekend.
Earlier in the day, also in Dimnent Memorial Chapel, the college's weekday Chapel service at 10:30 a.m. will feature remarks by Van Wylen. The public is invited to the morning service and admission is free, although attendance at the event is often at or near capacity.
Following the inaugural ceremony, from 4 p.m. to 5 p.m. on Friday, Oct. 4, the Presidents' Room in Graves Hall will be available for tours. The room features painted portraits of each of the college's first 11 presidents as well as of the Rev. Albertus C. Van Raalte, who co-founded the college with Hope's first president, the Rev. Philip Phelps, and also served as the first chairperson of the college's Board of Trustees. The public is invited, and admission is free.
A post-inauguration reception will take place on Friday, Oct. 4, from 5 p.m. to 6:30 p.m. at the Haworth Inn and Conference Center. The public is invited, and admission is free.
President Knapp and his wife, Kelly, will host a picnic in the college's Pine Grove on Saturday, Oct. 5, from noon to 2 p.m. Titled "A Taste of the South: A celebration of Southern cuisine" and geared especially to alumni and students but open to others, the family-oriented event will include live music, giveaways and a variety of activities as well as displays by student organizations. Tickets are $10 for regular admission, $5 for children ages three to 10, and free for children two and under, and are available at the ticket offices in the Events and Conferences Office in the Anderson-Werkman Financial Center in downtown Holland or in the main lobby of the DeVos Fieldhouse. Both offices are open weekdays from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. and can be called at (616) 395-7890.
John C. Knapp became Hope's 12th president on July 1. His leadership experience includes higher education and business, and his scholarship includes multiple books and articles on leadership ethics, issues in higher education, and the intersection of faith and work. Immediately prior to coming to Hope, he had served since 2008 at Samford University in Birmingham, Ala., where he was founding director of the Frances Marlin Mann Center for Ethics and Leadership and the University Professor and Mann Family Professor of Ethics and Leadership.


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Around the League: February 6, 2012-February 12, 2012
Monday, February 6
- Pitcher Anibail Sanchez won his arbitration case against the Marlins (1 yr. 8MM).
- Orioles designate former Cub Clay Rapada for assignment
- Rockies acquire RHP Jeremy Guthrie for Pitchers Jason Hammel and Matt Lindstrom.
- Nationals sign Mark Teahen to a minor league deal.
- Rangers sign Conor Jackson and Joe Beimel to minor league deals.
- Cardinals sign Alex Cora to minor league deal with a spring invite.
- Astros sign OF Justin Ruggiano to minor league deal with spring invite.
Tuesday, February 7
- Mariners sign Hong-Chih Kuo to a one-year Major League contract
- Dodgers sign Jamey Wright to a minor league deal with spring invite.
- Yankees sign Bill Hall.
- Clayton Kershaw and Dodgers avoid arbitration (2 yrs. $19MM)
Wednesday, February 8
- Emilio Bonifacio beats Marlins in arbitration (1 yr. $2.2MM)
- Athletics extend GM Billy Beane through the 2019 season.
- Yankees sign Russell Branyan to a minor league deal with spring invite.
- Padres to sign Jeff Suppan to a minor league deal with invite to spring.
- Rangers and Nelson Cruz avoid arbitration (2 yr. $16MM-plus)
- Rangers and Elvis Andrus officially announce extension (3 yrs. $14.4MM)
- Astros and Jed Lowrie avoid arbitration (1 yr. $1.15MM)
- Diamondbacks avoid arbitration with Craig Breslow (1 yr. $1.795MM)
- Miami met with Yoenis Cespedes to show him around the town and tour ball park.
Thursday, February 9
- Former Cub and often injured Rich Harden will miss 2012 season.
- Orioles beat Brad Bergesen in arbitration (1 yr. $800K)
- Orioles sign Nick Johnson to minor league deal.
- Keith Law releases his Top 100 prospects on ESPN.com.
- Royals avoid arbitration with Alex Gordon (1 yr. $4.775)
Friday, February 10
- Orioles sign Louis Ayala to a one-year deal.
- Indians and Asdrubal Cabrera avoid arbitration (1 yr. $4.55MM)
- Cardinals sign Scott Linebrink to minor league deal with invite to spring
- Yankees and Pirates are in trade talks with the Pirates about AJ Burnett.
Saturday, February 11
- Marlins Make Yoenis Cespedes an offer of 6 years $40MM, which is now being reported as less than $40MM.
- Red Sox sign Sean White to a minor league deal.
- Rangers and Mike Napoli avoid arbitration (1 yr. $9.4MM)
Just a reminder we have left Cubs new out as we have discussed it earlier in the week.


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Houses divided: How the new immigration laws separate families
New state laws and the failure of immigration reform are taking a heavy toll on children and families.
Carlos Rodriguez has been receiving letters and brochures from colleges and universities from across the country encouraging him to apply because of his outstanding grades in an Alabama high school. He dreams of the day he can start college next year.
But Rodriguez has two problems. For starters, he is an undocumented student, which limits his college options because he does not qualify for federal and state financial aid. And Rodriguez' family is considering leaving Alabama for good—either relocating to another state or even going back to Costa Rica, where he and his parents were born.
The family agreed to be interviewed over the phone on the condition their real names weren't used. They also asked not to reveal the name of the town where they live for fear the police or the immigration authorities might come to their house to arrest them.
Thousands of undocumented immigrants have left Alabama since the state enacted the toughest immigration law in the country in late September 2011. Arizona, Georgia, Utah, South Carolina, and Indiana have passed their own immigration laws, but none included provisions as harsh as those approved in Alabama. Among the most controversial aspects of the law is a provision requiring schools to check students' immigration status.
In October a federal judge temporarily blocked the school requirement and another provision of the law, but upheld others—including the one that requires police to check the immigration status of suspected undocumented immigrants during routine traffic stops.
Another judge had previously blocked another controversial provision that had led to a lawsuit by a coalition of Alabama church leaders. That section of the law, the churches argued, would make it illegal to celebrate the sacraments with or provide social services for undocumented immigrants.
In an August 19 statement explaining why he had joined the lawsuit, Arch-bishop Thomas Rodi of Mobile said, "Once immigrants are in our midst, the church has a moral obligation, intrinsic to the living out of our faith, to be Christ-like to everyone. . . . This new law prevents us as believers from exercising our life of faith as commanded by the Lord Jesus."
Rodriguez' family has lived in a town near Montgomery for nearly 15 years. His parents, Ignacio and Delia, emigrated from Costa Rica with Carlos and his younger brother, Luis, looking for a better life. They overstayed on their tourist visas and have lived in the same town since they arrived. The couple has worked in factories and cleaned houses. They also have a 13-year-old son, Arturo, who is a U.S. citizen born in Alabama.
The Rodriguezes say that many of their neighbors have already left because of the fear of being stopped by police and deported. Luis, their second son, plays soccer in school and says that many Latino players have stopped showing up because their families are afraid to drive or have left town.
"Our sons have lived in Alabama practically all their lives," Delia says, explaining why they haven't left yet. "They consider themselves from here. They don't know any other place."
The couple still hopes that the new law will be blocked completely and that next year Congress will pass an immigration reform bill that would allow them to stay in the country.
"Now we live in fear—hoping the police don't stop us while driving our kids to school or going to work," says Ignacio.
According to many news reports, Alabama farmers have complained that their harvests have rotted and they now face business failures because not enough American workers are willing to work in the fields.
"For us, it's all about survival. That's just the bottom line, folks. Without a viable labor source, we cannot survive," Jeremy Calvert, a vegetable farmer, was quoted on the PBS NewsHour last October.
For the Rodriguezes there are other severe social repercussions. They say that immigrants do not trust the police anymore, and immigrant kids face suspicion and derogatory comments at school.
"The law is having a terrible impact on people's lives," Delia says.
Under pressure
The failure of federal immigration reform efforts has prompted many states to address the controversial issue of illegal immigration on their own terms. In 2009, 1,500 immigration bills were considered. Arizona, Georgia, Utah, South Carolina, and Indiana have taken a harsh approach to dealing with the estimated 11 million undocumented immigrants who live in the United Sates.
Meanwhile, the Obama administration has deported nearly 1 million undocumented immigrants. In October Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) announced that in fiscal year 2011 (which ended in September) a record 396,906 people had been deported, nearly 25 percent more than the Bush administration deported in 2007.
As a result, thousands of immigrant families have been torn apart. Enforcement-alone policies have spread fear and mistrust in immigrant communities across the country.
On Dec. 12, 2011, the feast day of Our Lady of Guadalupe, the patron saint of Mexico and the Americas, the nation's 33 Hispanic Catholic bishops released a "letter to immigrants" that asks Americans to recognize the contributions of undocumented immigrants. It was not the first time the U.S. Catholic bishops have come out in support of comprehensive immigration reform and a path to citizenship for undocumented immigrants.
"We are well aware of the great sacrifice you make for your families' well-being," the letter says. "Despite your contributions to . . . our country, instead of receiving our thanks, you are often treated as criminals because you have violated current immigration laws." In the letter the bishops tell undocumented immigrants: "You are not alone, or forgotten. . . . We open our arms and hearts to you, and we receive you as members of our Catholic family."
Caught in the web
Time ran out for Army Spec. Hector Nuñez, his wife, Rosa, and their two small children. Rosa's one-year humanitarian visa expired on Dec. 19, 2011. Their lawyer has applied for an extension. According to the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Service, a humanitarian visa can only be extended for one year at a time.
Nuñez, a combat engineer with the National Guard, served six months in Kuwait in 2007. Rosa, 27, came to Chicago with her family illegally when she was a child. Some of her siblings have since become citizens or legal residents, but she did not qualify.
"My wife grew up as an American," Nuñez says. "She should be allowed to stay in the country she calls home with her husband and kids."
Rosa and Hector have been married for six years. She delivered their second son at the end of November.
In 2010, following the bad advice of a lawyer, the couple traveled to Ciudad Juárez for an interview at the U.S. Consulate to resolve Rosa's legal status, as she was married to a U.S. citizen. Instead, she was barred for 10 years from returning.
Nuñez, who at the time was going to be deployed to Afghanistan, was desperate and sought the assistance of Rep. Luis Gutierrez (D-Illinois), who obtained a one-year humanitarian visa for Rosa on Dec. 20, 2010.
Last July the couple and their son attended a rally in Chicago to urge President Barack Obama to stop deporting noncriminal immigrants through the controversial federal program Secure Communities. Although designed to identify and remove undocumented immigrants who are "the most serious criminal offenders," the program had instead primarily led to the deportation of people who had committed minor offenses such as traffic violations.
Holding their son in his arms and standing next to Rosa, Nuñez told the crowd of several hundred that their case was an example of how a broken immigration system separates families.
The following month the Obama administration announced new guidelines to unclog the immigration courts by prioritizing the deportations of convicted immigrant offenders according to the gravity of their offense and allowing low-priority offenders to remain in the country and apply for a work permit. That decision followed mounting criticism of the Secure Communities program, with Illinois, New York, and Massachusetts pulling out of it.
In a Sept. 29, 2011 letter to Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano, Archbishop José H. Gomez of Los Angeles applauded the administration's new guidelines for "low-priority" deportation cases. Gomez, the chairman of the bishops' Committee on Migration, specifically urged stays of deportation, among others, for children who were brought to the United States at a young age and for "those with long-term presence in the United States and other equities, such as U.S. citizen children or spouses."
"My wife has been in the United States most of her life and she has never been in trouble with the law," says Nuñez. "But she is being treated worse than a criminal. There are people who actually commit crimes, and they are slapped on the wrist. I just don't think that she is being treated fairly."
Nuñez explains that it was very hard when his wife had to stay in Mexico for six months and that he cannot imagine her being away for 10 years.
"It would be devastating for our family," says Nuñez. "We don't want to think of the possibility of our kids growing up without their mother."
In January the Obama administration announced its intention to change another immigration rule that would help the Nuñezes and many other American citizens with undocumented immigrant spouses and children. The change would allow them to stay in the United States while applying for hardship waivers, the first step in their applications for legal residency. With such a waiver Rosa would not have been barred from reentering the country for 10 years.
Separation anxiety
Josefina Sanchez and Clara Figueroa's story is part of an alarming new trend: thousands of children placed in foster care because their parents have been either detained or deported. Sanchez and Figueroa (not their real names) are sisters who were detained in the summer of 2010 at their trailer home in a small town in New Mexico when the authorities responded to a false drug-trafficking tip.
The authorities did not find any drugs but arrested both sisters because they were undocumented immigrants. Child Protective Services (CPS) took custody of the three young children who lived with them.
During the four months that they were in ICE custody, Sanchez and Figueroa did not know where their children were. In December 2010 both sisters were deported to Mexico while their kids remained in foster care.
A year after being deported, Sanchez expressed her distress during a phone interview from Mexico. She and her sister did not want to talk directly to the media but related their story through a representative of the Applied Research Center, a think tank based in New York that has documented their story.
"I didn't know where my child was. I didn't do anything wrong to have my child taken away from me," said Sanchez, whose baby was only 9 months old when she was arrested. Figueroa's children were 1 and 6 years old at the time she was detained and deported.
According to the Applied Research Center's recent report Shattered Families, the federal government removed more than 46,000 mothers and fathers of U.S.-citizen children in the first six months of 2011. The center estimates that there are 5,100 children in foster care whose parents have been either detained or deported. There are approximately 5.5 million children in the country who have an undocumented parent, and about 4.5 million of those children were born in the United States.
In their pastoral letter to immigrants the Latino U.S. bishops say of the impact of family separation due to deportation: "This situation cries out to God for a worthy and humane solution."
For a year Figueroa and Sanchez feared their parental rights would be terminated. In September the Mexican consulate in New Mexico phoned the sisters in Michoacán and told them to go to the airport the next day. There Mexican officials escorted the three children off the plane. After 14 months apart, the sisters were finally reunited with their children.
"Though child welfare departments are required by law to try to reunify children with their parents—and research shows that children fare better with their families—that principle is often ignored when a border stands in the way," says Seth Wessler, senior research associate with the Applied Research Center.
Wessler adds that deportation too often leads to the termination of parental rights. In jurisdictions around the country, child welfare departments and children's attorneys argue that it is in a child's best interest to remain in the United States rather than join their parents in another country.
According to Wessler, counties near the border with Mexico are working to stop the separation of families. In San Diego County, California and El Paso County, Texas, the child welfare departments work with the Mexican consulate and the Mexican child welfare department to place children with their families in Mexico.
Dare to DREAM
The cases of the "dreamers," children whose undocumented parents brought them to the United States when they were children, provide a compelling argument for immigration reform.
One of those "dreamers" has become a national symbol in the movement to pass a federal DREAM (Development, Relief, and Education for Alien Minors) Act. Arianna Salgado sat between Illinois Gov. Pat Quinn and Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel at the signing ceremony of the Illinois DREAM Act on Aug. 1, 2011.
In her remarks that day, Salgado, a petite 18-year-old undocumented student, electrified the crowd in the auditorium at Benito Juarez High School on the South Side of Chicago.
Salgado spoke of her dream of getting a college education. When she was a junior in high school, a school adviser told her she was not going to be able to attend college because her immigration status did not allow her to get federal financial aid. But now the Illinois DREAM Act will help students like her to go to college.
"Today we make history as Illinois sends a message across our great nation that every student deserves to strive regardless of their immigration status," said Salgado.
The "dreamers" have grown up speaking English and consider themselves American. Salgado came to the United States from Morelos, Mexico with her mother when she was 6 years old.
"When I was a kid, I listened to my relatives talking about immigration and that we should never tell anybody about our status," recalled Salgado. "My mother and I wished things were different, but we tried to live as normal a life as possible."
The Illinois DREAM Act created a privately funded scholarship program for undocumented students. The Illinois law, similar to California's, was signed months after broader federal legislation, passed by the House in December 2010, died in the Senate because it failed to get the 60 votes necessary to bring it to the floor.
The federal DREAM Act would have provided permanent residency to the estimated 65,000 undocumented students who graduate from high school each year, having arrived in the United States as minors, and have lived in the country for at least five years. Since first introduced in 2001, the bill has faced an uphill battle for approval in Congress. It was reintroduced in the Senate last May, but again died before reaching the floor.
In a June 28, 2011 letter to the Senate Judiciary Committee, the U.S. Catholic bishops applauded the re-introduction of the DREAM Act in the Senate as an important intermediate step. "In the absence of comprehensive immigration reform, DREAM Act-eligible children are among the most vulnerable of the unauthorized population in the United States today," Archbishop Gomez wrote on behalf of the bishops' conference. "We have a choice as a nation: either to ensure that these capable and patriotic long-term members of U.S. society fulfill their promise and serve our country or to separate them from their families and communities and return them to nations they do not know. It is morally incumbent upon us as a nation to choose the former, not the latter."
Salgado and her fellow "dreamers" were disappointed when the federal DREAM Act was defeated. They had organized an impressive nationwide campaign in support of the legislation, effectively using the Internet and social media, staging public demonstrations, and visiting legislators.
Later Salgado joined a national campaign of "dreamers" to publicly acknowledge that they are here illegally. They held public rallies to proclaim they are "undocumented, unafraid, and unapologetic."
"People need to put a face on this issue," Salgado explains. "Yes, I am undocumented, but I am also a daughter and a student."
Salgado is now a freshman at Dominican University in River Forest, Illinois, where she received a scholarship to study social work. She says she will continue to work toward an overhaul of the immigration system.
"We must continue fighting for the dreams and the education of undocumented students so they can realize their potential," Salgado says.
This article appeared in the March 2012 issue of U.S. Catholic (Vol. 77, No. 3, pages 22-26).
Image: Wes Frazer


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text: Your washer has a transmission with a neutral pack in it. That means the neutral pack allow for the water pump to do its thang and pump the water out without spinning. The washer timer will allow for the pump to clear the water out of the tub and come to a screaming halt. When the washer stops the neutral pack shifts the tranny into the spin mode. When you opened the lid you cause the washer to stop and when you lowered it the washer started spinning well anyway it should have started spinning instead it makes a noise and don't spin? Well if that's the case then that there coupling is probabaly broken.