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In the beginner's mind there are many possibilities, in the expert's mind there are few.
– Shunryu Suzuki
Recently, I was asked for my opinion on a project in which a UX team was trying to represent complex relationships using a specific type of data visualization. I asked whether that type of visualization was the best way to represent the relationships, and why that particular approach had been chosen. The answer: a designer "liked it." Perhaps not enough foundational thinking had gone into what they were trying to accomplish. I believe UX practitioners, and the growing variety of users working with these kinds of visualizations, need to consider and ask fundamental questions about the full process that determines what data gets collected, stored, processed, and ultimately displayed. Otherwise, they become part of the problem of misinterpreting data rather helping to make it clearer and more meaningful. Sometimes the simplest questions are the most important to ask, especially when designing visualizations for complex data sets.
The Japanese term shoshin, or "beginner's mind," describes the mindset of a novice—full of openness, enthusiasm, and fresh perspectives in learning something new. This approach and attitude can help someone who might have a lot of knowledge about a subject, but might be stuck in a cognitive rut. Both expert and novice alike can make important contributions to problem solving and innovation. Beginner's minds can help make breakthroughs with the help of collaborative data sharing and visualizations. If there is rigidity and unwarranted certainty as we work with data, we may miss key patterns hiding in plain sight. On the other hand, rigor and expertise are necessary to help guide and validate our understanding of what we are looking at. Ideally, we can find optimal combinations of these perspectives. The visualization tools will need to be able to enhance this balance rather than feeding into and reinforcing preconceptions and biases.
Some Beginner's Questions
Is something important because you measure it, or is it measured because it's important?
– Seth Godin
Here are a few types of questions of various kinds of people who work with data, and those who design visualization displays, might consider for each stage of the basic data lifecycle:
- Collection: Why might you want to collect data about something and are you sure you know what you really need? How wide a net should you, and can you, cast? For this net, how fine or coarse should you make the filtering mesh?
- Storage: How are the data stored? Boxes of papers? Computer files? What are the file formats? Are they cleaned or preprocessed before storage? How are they organized, indexed, and arranged?
- Analysis: How much processing do the data undergo? How are they summarized (statistically) and modified? There can be extensive processing with many different outputs or just a superficial perspective with a few simple pie charts or bar graphs showing seasonal sales changes.
- Visualization: How are the charts displayed, formatted, and presented in the context of the full interface? Are the content and format a good match?
Thinking about these kinds of questions, even at the most basic levels, is essential for designing the right tools for the job and making good judgments about the quality of the supporting data.
Data at the Seams
Baseball is ninety percent mental and the other half is physical.
– Yogi Berra
As a broader range of people acquire tools that allow them to directly and effectively engage with data, or at least get a better sense of what's out there, opportunities for important insights and innovations increase. This opening up enables new intersections to form between areas of knowledge that have long been walled-off and ostensibly unrelated.
Flip Kromer, co-founder of the data marketplace Infochimps, describes this as "data at the seams—a new dataset that arises from the tectonic collision of different disciplines." Just as geologic plates bump against each other to generate new landmasses (along with earthquakes and tsunamis), so too the overlaps and collisions of data sets will inevitably produce new insights as well as shake seemingly immovable views of the world. "We see a spectrum where people are looking to leverage data outside their own fields such as sociology, biology, and public health." However, there's much work to be done on the human interaction and social commodity side of this process. Kromer believes, "It's appalling how few peer-reviewed research papers provide the data behind their results in any discoverable and usable form. We're looking to work with journals, and directly with researchers, to improve this."
The shifts in perspectives derived from data mashups could apply to everything from the Big Bang to baseball. For example, Kromer says, "Every pitch takes place in a stadium, every stadium (via some openly-available KML files) has a geolocation, and that means you can smash it against the global hourly weather data." Now we can ask, "What is the change in performance for pitchers over 40 years old when the temperature exceeds 80F and it is overcast?"
Here's an example of sources for answering that kind of question:
The MLB Game Day data (the pitch-by-pitch trajectory)
Excerpt of Retrosheet instructions
A chart of New York City weather in 2003
Major league baseball produces a dataset giving the trajectory of every pitch, with full game state, for every major-league game of the past several years.
The Visible Citizen
Do you want to know who you are? Don't ask. Act! Action will delineate and define you.
– Thomas Jefferson
The idea of "beginners mind" could be applied to communities as well. As expanding open source communities and simple visualization tools allow more people to engage with the "social commodity" of data, the interactions between various levels of society will change. While this may seem like a boon to some and deeply disquieting to others, one thing is certain: it will inevitably invite some rethinking of civic involvement. For example, a city manager might think that a citizenry with the ability to flag problems such as potholes and inoperative fire hydrants would make the number of service calls explode, straining resources and busting already tight budgets. That's an understandable concern, but it does not take into account a dynamic of human nature that might work for the city manager's benefit. Jennifer Pahlka of Code for America, a non-profit that works with city managers to help them identify projects that can benefit from new technologies and civic engagement, says, "A core part of the program is trying to really understand and help address the pain points of the city managers and the data that can help take the burden off of them…transparency has often been viewed as a 'gotcha,' but it can be turned into a problem solving tool."
Sometimes, just having a sense that your voice is heard and that your concerns are somehow made visible and will eventually be addressed, can go a long way to helping the situation. Haven't we all experienced that feeling at some time? By using emerging tools such as Code for America's Open311 Dashboard that allows citizens to submit data that can be visualized about local, non-emergency issues, the conversation between citizens and local officials can actually improve for all parties and not be a zero-sum game of frustration and avoidance. As data-capture devices, open APIs, and visualizations become more standardized, the exchange of data and its role as a "social commodity" will inevitably grow. In addition to improving transparency and efficiency, Michael Evans, a CfA fellow and project lead for the Open311 Dashboard, wants to visualize and analyze 311 data to set expectations between city managers and citizens.
The more we can approach data with open minds and fresh eyes, the better. That said, it can be very difficult and often pointless to make sense of data without any supporting framework for analysis. The challenges presented by big, complex data are often going to require collaboration, and in these assemblies of people's skills and talents we're also going to have a spectrum of beginners. Someone might be a top-flight molecular biologist, but may not have very deep data science skills. Or perhaps they have those, but their communications skills need polishing. The key is to engage and ask even occasionally "obvious" questions. When it comes to working with data, we are all "experts" and "beginners" at something and can all bring something useful to the table. Effective visualizations based upon solid UXD practices can help make this possible.


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Packaging for many ground or chopped meat and poultry products will now feature nutrition facts panels, according to a new rule established by the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA). Forty of the most common cuts of meat, as well as whole, raw meat and poultry products will be required to present this information on a label, or have the nutrition facts available at the point-of-purchase. The rule is to become effective on Jan. 1, 2012.
The announcement of the rule was made just days before the new year by USDA's Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS). It is designed to allow consumers to review the nutritional content of meat products before making a purchase decision. Information such as the number of calories and the grams of total and saturated fat will be found on the new labels. A further stipulation involves any product that lists a lean protein percentage statement, such as "80% lean." These products will be required to list the fat percentage as well as the lean protein statement, so consumers can compare the two figures.
Examples of the major cuts of raw, single-ingredient meat and poultry that come under the new requirements include whole or boneless chicken breasts and other pieces and beef whole cuts such as brisket or tenderloin steak. Chopped or ground products subject to the mandate include hamburger, ground turkey and others. Producers or retailers with questions about the program should contact FSIS, according to USDA.
Animal Welfare Approved (AWA), an organization which audits family farms and offers a certification for humanely raised animals, lauded the measure but said there is more room for improvement. "The new nutrition labels for meat products being introduced by the USDA do not go far enough to protect consumers. Yes, you're getting more information on calories and portion sizes, but you still can't tell where your meat really came from or how it was produced," says AWA media relations associate Jill Nado.
She explains that current law in the United States only requires an affidavit from a farmer saying that they raised a meat animal, but these affidavits don't require any oversight. "That animal could have been raised under unsanitary conditions and the consumer would never know. Consumers have the right and perhaps an obligation to know where the food is coming from," Nado says. AWA has launched a search directory, at www.AnimalWelfareApproved.org, that has listings for AWA-certified farms, and AWA-labeled products at farmers' markets, restaurants, grocery stores and online shopping sources.
Published in WholeFoods Magazine, March 2011 (online 1/14/11)

subset: commoncrawl


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Hi Leroy,Raw is color space independent so it doesn't matter which color space you set your camera to. You select the color space you want when you convert your photograph. I personally prefer to use a wide color space such as ProPhoto.
What editor do you use? iPhoto doesn't have ProPhoto RGB setting. And I don't know what color space it uses automatically if it does when it converts RAW files. I know Adobe's LR automatically uses ProPhoto RGB color space to work in (I do have a copy of LR...not using it at the moment).
You can select the color space of your choice in any raw converter, regardless of what the automatic settings might be. I personally use several raw converters but not iPhoto because it lacks many important features. Aperture is Apple pro-level raw converter. iPhoto is more souvenir/snapshot oriented. Since you have LR, use it. It's light years ahead of iPhoto!
Thanks Larry for your comment. WHen you shoot in RAW what color space setting do you leave your camera set in? sRGB? Adobe RGB? Do you ever shoot in Adobe RGB + JPG? If you are using a wide gamut monitor I'm assuming you have to in Adobe RGB mode? Then calibrated with some colorimeter like a Colormunki Photo?
I had always just left it on sRGB. Now that I see what I'm missing in some photos, especially sunsets, I often have it on aRGB although I try to turn it back to sRGB for stuff that doesn't involve anything intense (which is actually more stuff than not).Actually though I usually don't bother to pay too much attention unless for some reason I am shooting JPG only or for some reason care about the JPG quality even when I am shooting RAW.I actually leave my monitor in native gamut and don't use the AdobeRGB preset (of course you must use an .ICC profile and color-managed apps then). The monitor doesn't quite cover all of AdobeRGB and yet at the same time it's gamut it noticeably larger than AdobeRGB so for color-managed editing it really makes no sense to use the AdobeRGB preset. I calibrated it with the SV II + calibrated NEC i1D2 (also tested with an i1Pro that gave extremely similar results). A non-Eizo, non-NEC wide gamut like the lower and mid-priced Dell and HP ones you'd need something like the colormunki or i1pro or hope to get a well calibrated Spyder3. I have photoshop set to 16bit per-channel ProPhotoRGB (it's a bit of a shame PPRGB uses gamma 1.8 since almost nobody sets their screens that way andit just adds another step for the CMS to have to convert across).
I am leaving my camera set to aRGB. Since I'm shooting mainly in JPG anyway right now. That and I read that there really isn't much difference in image quality between JPG and RAW. Difference is RAW contains a lot more data (depending on the compression mode used) so if you like to do a lot of color post processing...All wide gamut monitors have a "native gamut mode"? I assumed people would choose to use the aRGB preset. Why have it if people aren't using it? Or for that matter...why sRGB? As for colorimeters...I'll likely pickup a Colormunki Photo ($540.00 CAD). Was looking at the Spyder 3 but read some reviews. Said the results were negligibly better. i1 Extreme ($1800.00 CAD...calibrates multiple devices like the Colormunki Photo) is terrific but overkill for any one not running a processing lab or some graphic arts business.
Every monitor has to have a native gamut by definition, that's what the monitors lighting plus filters/phosphors/etc. put out, it does what it does.There is no sense in using anything other than native gamut in a color-managed program since that gives you all it can do and nothing more (not possible) and nothing less (not desirable). Many people do change the native white point and native gamma but the gamut should certainly be used native.Some people have no calibration tool and don't want to buy anything more so if they put it in AdobeRGB mode then it's already pre-calibrated to that (to better or worser degrees depending upon the monitor) and then any program will work fine. Without a calibration tool and software even color-managed stuff will fail.sRGB emulation modes are very important for those who ever want to do anything beyond photo editing and viewing. Games, blu-ray and DVD player software, tv tuner card software, the pc desktop, none of that stuff is color-managed and it will all look nasty on a wide gamut monitor unless it has a good sRGB emulation mode. If for some reason you MUST use IE and not something nice and color-managed like Firefox, then you need sRGB emulation mode for that too.yeah the i1Pro is expensive at around $800ish (i1 extreme at $1800 sounds like some fancier package, for a monitor all you'd need is the i1Basic which includes the i1Pro but even still it's $800, not cheap as I said)Before you rush into a colormunki though, first see what monitor you get, if it turns out to be an Eizo or NEC you might actually get results as good or better using their custom calibrated i1D2 or DTP94b pucks than with the colormunki for only $199.RAW is nice since if you mess up the white balance you can change it later, although Nikons have in camera chromatic aberration removal, Canon cameras do not yet and shooting RAW you can remove that later and with some lenses it can radically improve image quality, you can also do a LOT more with the exposure and bringing out detail in shadows and taming highlights that might look blown on JPG. etc.
Ok. Good to know about native mode and sRGB mode. As for colorimeters...I would want one that could not only calibrate my new monitor but also my printer. As that has to be calibrated too. So while the i1D2 might be good or better than the Colormunki Photo for less it might be only good for one use. The i1 Extreme calibrates your digital camera, wide gamut monitor, photo printer, projector...etc. But as I said...for $1800.00 CAD?? I don't think so. Not for me. Till (if) I make my living as a photographer or own a developing business could I justify the cost.
I am leaving my camera set to aRGB. Since I'm shooting mainly in JPG anyway right now.


text: Sephardic Rabbis Impact Halachahby Sarina RofféRabbi Yoshiyahu PintoRabbi Yoshiyahu Pinto, nicknamed Riaf, was a Syrian rabbi from Damascus, Syria. He was born in 1565 and died in 1648 at the age of 83. He was the grandson of Rabbi Yaakov bei Rav. As a disciple of Rabbi Yaakov Abulafia, he was ordained with the semicha ordination, received from his grandfather. Rabbi Yoshiyahu was appointed Chief Rabbi of Aleppo and Damascus after the death of Rabbi Chaim Vital in 1620. Rabbi Vital's son, Rabbi Shmuel Vital, married Rabbi Pinto's daughter. He wanted to settle in Safed and traveled there in 1625, but due to family pressures he returned to Syria to lead the many Jews who lived there. In 1643, he wrote the commentary on Ein Yaakov, which was titled Meor Einayim. He also wrote a Torah commentary Kessef Nivchar, as well as 15 essays explaining difficult passages of the Talmud and verses of the Torah. Rabbi Shmuel VitalRabbi Shmuel Vital was the son of Rabbi Chaim Vital, a Chief Rabbi of Syria. He was born in Damascus where he officiated as Dayan for most of his life. He was a kabbalist who studied with Rabbi Yaakov Tzemach and Rabbi Meir Popperos. He inherited many kabbalist works, called Eitz Chaim, that were written by his father. Rabbi Vital organized the manuscripts into the compendium of the Shmonah She'arim. In 1663, Rabbi Vital left Damascus and moved to Cairo, Egypt, where he remained for the rest of his life (1677). He wrote a kabbalistic commentary on the siddur, according to the system of Ari, which contained kabbalistic mediations for the prayers. He wrote many other works, most of them unpublished, and collected his own and his father's chidushim on the Talmud. Rabbi Yosef ibn ZalachRabbi Yosef ibn Zalach lived in the late 15th and early 16th centuries and served as rabbi of Jerusalem. Pressures from the Turkish government forced him to flee to Damascus, where he was able to serve as a rabbi. He periodically returned to Jerusalem and was able to finish some kabbalistic works - Avnei HaShoham and She'eiris Yosef, which were never published. Rabbi Yosef was a noted halachist, who received inquiries from Syria, Egypt, and Eretz Israel. His unpublished volume of responsa contained over 600 replies to halachic inquiries. Some of his decisions have been published in works of his contemporaries, many of whom refer to him with great reverence. Two responsa by Rabbi Yosef appear in Shivah Einayim. Rabbi Yosef Caro (Joseph Karo)Rabbi Yosef Caro was born in Toledo, Spain in 1488. He was a small child when his family fled to Constantinople in 1492, after the Jews were expelled from Spain by Queen Isabella and King Ferdinand. His father, Rabbi Ephraim Caro, and his uncle, Rabbi Yitskhak Caro, both important scholars during their time, gave the youngster his Talmudic training. Rabbi Yosef Caro arrived in Eretz Israel in 1535, after living briefly in Turkey. It is believed that he studied under Rabbi Yaakov bei Rav while in Egypt. After arriving in Safed, Rabbi Yosef Caro was appointed to the Beit Din of Rabbi Yaakov bei Rav, his teacher. Rabbi Caro supported his teacher and his attempts at restoring the ancient institution of semichah, authoritative rabbinical ordination and jurisdiction. Rabbi Caro was one of four rabbis who received semichah from Rabbi Yaakov. But other rabbis opposed his tradition and after the death of R' Yaakov in 1546 its use diminished. Rabbi Yosef became the leader of the Safed Beit Din after the death of Rabbi Yaakov. It was probably the Beit Din held in highest regard throughout the world during its time. Its opinion was sought on difficult issues by rabbis from all over the world. Rabbi Yosef also had a significant impact on shaping halachah, and his works are used today to decide many points of Jewish law. While living in Turkey, and for the next 20 years, he wrote a commentary to the Turim of Rabbi Yaakov ben Asher, which traces each ruling in Tur, to its Talmudic source and cites all other opinions relevant to the ruling and concludes with a decision. The commentary, called Beis Yosef, was finished in 1542. After some revisions, it was published in 1551. It was so well received it had to be reprinted. Although Rabbi Yosef Caro wrote many famous works, he also wrote Kessef Mishneh, a commentary on Rambam's Mishneh Torah, which was another monumental work. Originally published in 1574, it has been published in almost every edition of Rambam. As a person, this rabbi was humble, devout, gentle, and ascetic. He was a true kabbalist. Rabbi Caro died in 1575. Source: The Early Acharonim, The ArtScroll History Series. Sarina Roffé is a career journalist and holds a masters in Jewish Studies. She has researched numerous genealogies including the Kassin and Labaton rabbinic dynasties and is considered an expert in Aleppan Jewry. She is a member of Brooklyn's Syrian Jewish community and the Jewish Genealogical Society, Inc. of New York. She may be contacted by email at email@example.com. |


text:
The Civil Rights Act of 1964 was a landmark in legislative attempts to improve the quality of life for African Americans and other minority groups. Although civil rights had a long history as a political and legislative issue, the 1960s marked a period of intense activity by the federal government to protect minority rights. The Act did not resolve all problems of discrimination. But it opened the door to further progress by lessening racial restrictions on the use of public facilities, providing more job opportunities, strengthening voting laws, and limiting federal funding of discriminatory aid programs. The Civil Rights Act of 1964 was passed by Congress based on the Commerce Clause, not the 14th Amendment, in order to apply to private (non-state) actors such as small restaurants.
The story of the 1964 Civil Rights Act is interesting and instructive because it illustrates how an historically important piece of legislation became part of our nation's heritage. Democrats attempted to block the passage of the Act by filibustering for 75 hours, including a 14-hour and 13 minute address by Senator Robert Byrd.[1] An examination of the Act also provides a way to understand the climate of opinion regarding African American rights, the nature of civil rights activity, the obstacles to political and social change, the role of politics in the way issues are handled, the actions of individual senators and representatives, and the nature of legislative activity in general. The intricate process that makes a bill become law is a combination of all these factors.
The "Civil Rights Act of 1964" pushed to make the Declaration of Independence's inalienable rights of "life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness" a reality for all Americans.
The Civil Rights Act of 1964, which banned discrimination in public accommodations, employment and federally funded activities like education, would not have passed without the support of House and Senate Republicans who were competing for black votes. And Presidents Kennedy and Johnson would not have advocated for the bill without being pressured to do so by a multiracial grass-roots movement. [1]
" |
This nation was founded on the principle that all men are created equal, and that the rights of every man are diminished when the rights of one man are threatened. ... It ought to be possible, in short, for every American to enjoy the privileges of being American without regard to his race or his color. In short, every American ought to have the right to be treated as he would wish to be treated, as one would wish his children to be treated. But this is not the case. ... We are confronted primarily with a moral issue. It is as old as the scriptures and is as clear as the American Constitution. ... One hundred years of delay have passed since President Lincoln freed the slaves, yet their heirs, their grandsons, are not fully free. ... And this nation, for all its boasts, will not be fully free until all its citizens are free. — President Kennedy. |
" |
Civil Rights Act voting results by party
The original House version:
Democratic Party: 152–96 (61–39%)
Republican Party: 138–34 (80–20%)
Cloture in the Senate:
Democratic Party: 44–23 (66–34%)
Republican Party: 27–6 (82–18%)
The Senate version:
Democratic Party: 46–21 (69–31%)
Republican Party: 27–6 (82–18%)
The Senate version, voted on by the House:
Democratic Party: 153–91 (63–37%)
Republican Party: 136–35 (80–20%)
Civil Rights Act and the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission
In the 1960s, Americans who knew only the potential of "equal protection of the laws" expected the President, the Congress, and the courts to fulfill the promise of the 14th Amendment. In response, all three branches of the federal government—as well as the public at large—debated a fundamental constitutional question: Does the Constitution's prohibition of denying equal protection always ban the use of racial, ethnic, or gender criteria in an attempt to bring social justice and social benefits?
In 1964 Congress passed Public Law 82-352 (78 Stat. 241). The provisions of this civil rights act forbade discrimination on the basis of sex as well as race in hiring, promoting, and firing. The word "sex" was added at the last moment. According to the West Encyclopedia of American Law, Representative Howard W. Smith (D-VA) added the word. His critics argued that Smith, a conservative Southern opponent of federal civil rights, did so to kill the entire bill. Smith, however, argued that he had amended the bill in keeping with his support of Alice Paul and the National Women's Party with whom he had been working. Martha W. Griffiths (D-MI) led the effort to keep the word "sex" in the bill. In the final legislation, Section 703 (a) made it unlawful for an employer to "fail or refuse to hire or to discharge any individual, or otherwise to discriminate against any individual with respect to his compensation, terms, conditions or privileges or employment, because of such individual's race, color, religion, sex, or national origin." The final bill also allowed sex to be a consideration when sex is a bona fide occupational qualification for the job. Title VII of the act created the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) to implement the law.
Subsequent legislation expanded the role of the EEOC. Today, according to the U. S. Government Manual of 1998-99, the EEOC enforces laws that prohibit discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex, national origin, disability, or age in hiring, promoting, firing, setting wages, testing, training, apprenticeship, and all other terms and conditions of employment. Race, color, sex, creed, and age are now protected classes. The proposal to add each group to protected-class status unleashed furious debate. But no words stimulate the passion of the debate more than "affirmative action."
As West defines the term, affirmative action "refers to both mandatory and voluntary programs intended to affirm the civil rights of designated classes of individuals by taking positive action to protect them" from discrimination. The issue for most Americans is fairness: Should the equal protection clause of the 14th Amendment be used to advance the liberty of one class of individuals for good reasons when that action may infringe on the liberty of another?
The EEOC, as an independent regulatory body, plays a major role in dealing with this issue. Since its creation in 1964, Congress has gradually extended EEOC powers to include investigatory authority, creating conciliation programs, filing lawsuits, and conducting voluntary assistance programs. While the Civil Rights Act of 1964 did not mention the words affirmative action, it did authorize the bureaucracy to makes rules to help end discrimination. The EEOC has done so.
Today the regulatory authority of the EEOC includes enforcing a range of federal statutes prohibiting employment discrimination. According to the EEOC's own Web site, these include Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 that prohibits employment discrimination on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, or national origin; the Age Discrimination in Employment Act of 1967, and its amendments, that prohibits employment discrimination against individuals 40 years of age or older; the Equal Pay Act of 1963 that prohibits discrimination on the basis of gender in compensation for substantially similar work under similar conditions; Title I of the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 that prohibits employment discrimination on the basis of disability in both the public and private sector, excluding the federal government; the Civil Rights Act of 1991 that provides for monetary damages in case of intentional discrimination; and Section 501 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, as amended, that prohibits employment discrimination against federal employees with disabilities. Title IX of the Education Act of 1972 forbade gender discrimination in education programs, including athletics that received federal dollars. In the late 1970s Congress passed the Pregnancy Discrimination Act. This made it illegal for employers to exclude pregnancy and childbirth from their sick leave and health benefits plans.
Presidents also weighed in, employing a series of executive orders. President Lyndon B. Johnson ordered all executive agencies to require federal contractors to "take affirmative action to ensure that applicants are employed and that employees are treated during employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, or national origin." This marked the first use of the phrase "affirmative action." In 1969 an executive order required that every level of federal service offer equal opportunities for women and established a program to implement that action. President Richard Nixon's Department of Labor adopted a plan requiring federal contractors to assess their employees to identify gender and race and to set goals to end any under-representation of women and minorities. By the 1990s Democratic and Republican administrations had taken a variety of actions that resulted in 160 different affirmative action federal programs. State and local governments were following suit.
The courts also addressed affirmative action. In addition to dealing with race, color, creed, and age, from the 1970s forward, the court dealt with gender questions. It voided arbitrary weight and height requirements (Dothard v. Rawlinson), erased mandatory pregnancy leaves (Cleveland Board of Education v. LaFleur), allowed public employers to use carefully constructed affirmative action plans to remedy specific past discrimination that resulted in women and minorities being under-represented in the workplace (Johnson v. Transportation Agency, Santa Clara County), and upheld state and local laws prohibiting gender discrimination.
By the late 1970s all branches of the federal government and most state governments had taken at least some action to fulfill the promise of equal protection under the law. The EEOC served as the agent of implementation and complaint. Its activism divided liberals and conservatives, illuminating their differing views about the proper scope of government. In general, the political liberals embraced the creation of the EEOC as the birth of a federal regulatory authority that could promote the goal of equality by designing policies to help the historically disadvantaged, including women and minorities. In contrast, political conservatives saw the EEOC as a violation of their belief in fewer government regulations and fewer federal policies. To them, creating a strong economy, free from government intervention, would produce gains that would benefit the historically disadvantaged. Even the nonideological segment of the American population asked: What should government do, if anything, to ensure equal protection under the law?
In fiscal year 1997, the EEOC collected $111 million in financial benefits for people who filed claims of discrimination. Its recent successful efforts include a $34 million settlement in a sexual harassment case with Mitsubishi Motor Manufacturing of America, resulting in the company's adoption of changes to its sexual harassment prevention policy. Working with state and local programs, the EEOC processes 48,000 claims annually.[2]
See also
External links
- ↑ Civil Rights Filibuster Ended. Art & History Historical Minutes. United States Senate. Retrieved on March 1, 2010.
- ↑ The National Archives


text:
Australian National Botanic Gardens
A weekly news sheet prepared by a Gardens' volunteer.
Numbers in square brackets [] refer to garden bed Sections.
Plants in flower are in bold type.
28 April 2006
Anigozanthos 'Bush Glow' - click for larger image |
Edging the road leading to the main gates the semi-prostrate Banksia integrifolia with silver backed leaves and upright lemon cylindrical flower spikes creep towards the road. With it is the colourful groundcover Chrysocephalum apiculatum, with yellow and orange button flowers.
This leisurely walk is in the higher reaches of the Gardens where bird life and colourful plants prevail. To start, Banks' Walk continues to be colourful containing the long flowering Eucalyptus 'Summer Red' [Section 174] with a blaze of red flowers in clusters on this small tree. Kangaroo Paw, Anigozanthos 'Bush Glow' [Section 174, 210] with its 'paw' flowers atop bare upright stems, continues to be colourful with its yellow-green flowers. Off the road edging the Rainforest, Callistemon 'Howie's Fire Glow' [Section 124] is a tall dense shrub with bright red bottlebrush flowers. At the far corner a groundcover, Scaevola albida [Section 124], is dense and sprinkled with small mauve fan shaped flowers. Continue uphill, turning into the Brittle Gum Lawn. Edging it is Grevillea 'Robyn Gordon' [Section 110] with its lovely terminal red flowers over a low open shrub. Banksia ericifolia [Section 110] brightens the area with its flower spikes, so gold while next to it is Hibiscus pedunculatus [Section 110], an open shrub bearing soft pink flowers.
Acacia beckleri - click for larger image |
Taking the road edging the rainforest, Acronychia imperforata [Section 104] is a tall dense shrub with glossy dark green foliage and clusters of small lemon flowers. In the triangle garden a Geraldton Wax, Chamelaucium 'Cascade Brook' [Section 17] continues to bear pink waxy flowers. The field of yellow to the right, is that of the straw flowers, Xerochrysum sp. [Section 121]. Across the road a grouping of Crowea 'Festival' [Section 121] is dense and well covered with pink star flowers. At the other corner, a shiny leaved Lilly-pilly, Acmena smithii [Section140], although not flowering is laden with small fruits just beginning to change to pink. Commersonia fraseri [Section 140] is a tall suckering shrub with greenish grey foliage and open clusters of small cream flowers. Opposite, Eucryphia wilkiei [Section 121] continues to bear cream cup shaped flowers over this rounded shrub.
Before taking the stairs to the right at the next corner where the Silver-leaved Mountain Gum, Eucalyptus pulverulenta [Section 37], is a small angular tree with opposite silver- grey leaves, many buds and few cream fluffy flowers and Banksia speciosa [Section 37] has long narrow deeply indented foliage with numerous old dark flower spikes and few yellow spikes. Ascending those steps, Banksia oblongifolia [Section 37] is well covered with green flower spikes. In particular, view the many juvenile flower spikes at its base. Banksia media [Section 37] is a small ageing shrub beautified with many large dense yellow flower spikes. Space now to discover the Barrier Range Wattle, Acacia beckleri [Section 1], a rather irregular medium shrub attractive with large perfumed flower balls dense along the branch terminals. This shrub grows along the narrow path past the covered shelter.
Good walking, pleasant environment …
Barbara Daly.


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This commentary originally appeared on EDF's Texas Clean Air Matters Blog
Last week, the City of Houston announced that it would increase its purchase of renewable electricity to cover half of its energy use. The city will use almost 623,000 megawatt-hours of electricity from renewable sources per year—equivalent to the energy used by 55,000 residential homes annually. The purchase makes Houston the largest municipal buyer of renewable energy in the nation. While Houston's latest renewable energy purchase may seem at odds with its reputation as an oil and gas hub, it's exactly the sort of common-sense decision we expect from a city that's touted as the energy capital of the nation.
Houston is in good company among other Texas cities. The City of Austin already gets 100% of its electricity from renewable sources. To make the switch, the city leveraged Austin Energy's GreenChoice program, one of the nation's most successful utility-sponsored and voluntary green-pricing programs. The program is part of Austin's Climate Protection Plan, which establishes a 35 % renewable portfolio goal for Austin Energy by 2020. In San Antonio, the municipally owned CPS Energy has emerged as a leader in clean energy. Through its New Energy Economy initiative, CPS Energy is growing its network of smart meters and expanding its installed solar capacity, among many other sustainable initiatives. Today, CPS Energy uses more solar energy than any other Texas utility, while still having the lowest electric rates among the top 10 largest cities in the United States. Read More


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The drug regadenoson is safe and poses fewer side effects than the conventional medication used during a cardiac nuclear stress test of heart transplant patients, according to a Henry Ford Hospital study.
Researchers say the 25 patients in the study did not experience adverse side effects such as abnormally low blood pressure or slow heart beat when regadenoson was used during the stress test.
Additionally, patients showed no signs of heart block, a condition in which the signal from the heart's upper chamber is impaired or doesn't transmit.
Adenosine, the conventional drug used during a cardiac nuclear stress test, is known to cause lightheadedness, fainting and heart palpitations in patients, as well as high incidence of heart blocks.
"We believe regadenoson to be a safe and well tolerated medication for this specialized group of patients without causing any significant adverse heart issues," says Karthik Ananth, M.D., a Henry Ford cardiologist and the study's senior author.
The study will be presented Sunday at the 59th annual American College of Cardiology Scientific Sessions in Atlanta.
More than 2,000 heart transplants are performed annually in the United States. In Michigan, 90 patients are currently waiting for a heart transplant. Henry Ford Hospital is one of only three hospitals in Michigan that perform heart transplants.
The Henry Ford study is the first to date to specifically examine the safety profile of regadenoson in heart transplant patients to see whether it would prove to be a better alternative to adenosine, which long has been used during a nuclear stress test to assess a patient's blood vessels for blockages after a heart transplant.
Prior research in the general population has shown regadenoson to be safe and cause few side effects for use in evaluating coronary artery disease, which led to its approval for use in stress testing in 2008.
The study was physician initiated and did not receive external funding.


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109 University Square Erie, PA 16541
105 Commercial Center Drive Ruskin, FL 33573
Each graduate student's admission status will be determined based upon the specifics of the application decision and the student's individual circumstance.
Students who submit a complete application portfolio and meet the program admission requirements qualify for degree status.
There are two general circumstances which lead to this designation:
If a student does not meet an admissions criterion (i.e., GPA, test scores, etc.) but shows potential in other areas, the student may be admitted with provisional/academic status. Continued enrollment is contingent upon demonstration of sufficient ability to do graduate work. Generally, to receive degree status, students must achieve a minimum cumulative average of 3.00 in 9-12 credits of graduate work. This is determined by the Program Director.
This status applies to an applicant showing great promise but who has a missing component of information, such as a letter of recommendation or test score. This status allows students an initial semester to complete the admissions portfolio. In general, provisional students may not register for more than one semester however, specific programs may have different limits.
This designation is reserved for students who are not pursuing a degree at Gannon. There are a variety of common reasons for this status, including students who are pursuing a course or two for professional development, certificate students, students from other graduate schools who are planning to transfer coursework back to their own institutions, or students who are attending workshops and institutes which offer graduate credit. In some cases, with the permission of a graduate program director, credits earned as a non-degree student may be applied toward a degree or certificate program at Gannon.
With the exception of students in graduate certificate programs, the non-degree student is limited to nine credits of graduate coursework under this status. Only with special permission of the program director and respective Academic Dean may a non-degree student enroll for more than nine credits.


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The federal government is now looking into if helicopters landing at a house party in Anmore on Saturday violated any regulations.
The helicopter landed during a raucous house party that also featured 1,700 cans of beer, 526 ounces of whiskey, 333 people and a dozen luxury cars.
READ MORE: 1,700 cans of beer, 526 ounces of whiskey, 3 helicopters, but no arrests at Anmore house party
It was thrown by Justin Plosz, the owner of Public Relations Canada, and attracted not only comments from the public but multiple visits for police.
Coquitlam RCMP Cpl. Michael McLaughlin told reporters Wednesday they were called to the party twice, once for a noise complaint and once for an overdose.
Police were able to help the overdose victim and no arrests were made or tickets issued.
In an email, a Transport Canada spokesperson said they were aware of the incident and are "assessing whether to launch a formal investigation" into the issue.
"Should an investigation take place, potential hazards to safety, whether the area is considered 'built-up', and if an operator was authorized to perform the operation would be assessed," the email reads.
"If it is determined that there has been a non-compliance with the Canadian Aviation Regulations, the department will take appropriate enforcement action, which could include fines or suspensions."


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"Insanity" is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results. – Albert Einstein
Also known as "first-past-the-post," plurality is by far the most common voting system for single-winner races. (Unfortunately.) Your "vote" is the "name of a single candidate," and the most-named candidate wins.
Plurality is simple and easy to count, but its well-known pathologies include the "spoiler effect," the "lesser-of-two-evils dilemma," "vote-splitting," and manipulability of elections via "candidate cloning." Plurality also has the frustrating disadvantage that there is no way for a voter to express any of his opinions about any of the other candidates, and it often is strategically best for a voter to dishonestly vote for somebody who is not his true favorite – the system encourages lying.
You then get a great choice between being a liar and being a fool. (More amusing but equivalent wording: "artificial monopoly for the unpopular Republocrat party, with its ridiculous good-cop/bad-cop scam.")
With plurality voting, you can win without a majority – both Clinton and G.W.Bush won even though the majority voted against them. That means it's possible for most of the voters to get the candidate they like least! (Probability estimate for how often that occurs.) Plurality can in fact easily elect the candidate as "best" whom it would also decide is "worst," and its notions of "best" and "worst" can reverse almost randomly (except that it isn't random, it is predictable, which is even worse because that means these flaws can be manipulated).
Duverger's Law is the observation that these problems of plurality result in self-reinforcing two-party domination. Indeed, in the USA, plurality plus gerrymandering plus other effects has led to one-party domination!
Once that happens, the remaining two parties tend to become similar ("tweedledum and tweedledee") because it is strategically desirable for each to "grab the central ground." That leads to even-further-reduced voter choice (beyond the reduction we already had from having only 2 parties) and long periods of boredom. However, the long periods of boredom are interspersed with exciting periods of randomly directed and sometimes dangerous extremism, whenever one of the parties suffers a vote split with a temporarily rising popular third party, causing the less-popular and more extreme main-party competitor to be elected.
The plurality system is so bad that (computer simulations indicate) replacing it by range voting would improve society by a comparable or greater amount than the entire invention of democracy in the first place.


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Poor Jacqueline Laurita has been combating rumors that she was once a stripper in Las Vegas since the first season of Real Housewives of New Jersey. In Touch Weekly even claimed to have proof of Jacqueline's days on the pole, citing sources who remember her working at club called Glitter Gulch. Seriously that is the worst name is strip club history!
Jacqueline's denial of her past employment seems to be legit as it recently came out that the nefarious Danielle Staub was responsible for starting and circulating the rumors! Backing up Jacqueline's claims, Tom Murro of Celebrity Magnet discovered some photographic evidence demonstrating that during the time Jacqueline was supposedly flashing her panties at Glitter Gulch, she was actually employed as a child care worker and waitress.
From 1992-1993, during the times Danielle claims Jacqueline was stripping, she was actually employed by a daycare during the day and waiting tables at night to support daughter Ashley Holmes.
Uncovered employee IDs stemming from way back in '93 show Jacqueline with a movable face and crazy big hair as well as support Jacqueline's accounts of how she earned income during her Vegas days. There are two IDs, one is a Food Handler's Card and the other is a Child Care license. See the hilarious ID's featuring Jacqueline's '90's style below! A video of Tom Murro discussing what he learned is also below. The RHONJ segment begins around the 2:24 minute mark.
Of course, these IDs don't exactly prove that Jacqueline did not work in a strip club, they just show she had other, more respectable forms of employment. There is no evidence that Jacqueline was a stripper and there is also no evidence saying she wasn't, save for her own adamant denials.
Jacqueline again denied her involvement in exotic entertainment, telling The Huffington Post, "I swear on the life of myself, my husband and my children that I was never a call girl or ever got paid for any sexual favor of any kind, either."
"Do you honestly think that I am the kind of girl that lies?" Jacqueline insisted. "Honestly? Lying is my biggest pet peeve. I am the biggest open book there is. Almost to a fault." Well, I don't know about that, but I think Jacqueline is more honest than some of her castmates!
Moving on, Teresa Giudice has been relatively quiet about her family drama lately surprisingly keeping her comments to herself, but we all knew it wouldn't last! The Celebrity Apprentice star recently opened up to AllAboutTRH blog to discuss her still-strained relationship with Joe and Melissa Gorga.
Following comments Joe made on Twitter stating he hadn't been invited to Gia Giudice's 11th birthday party, Teresa claimed on Gia's actual birthday things were pretty low key, "My parents were over and we had some cake!" As for a birthday party, no Giudice child could be without an over-the-top fete, which, of course, the Gorgas are definitely invited to!
"We're throwing Gia a birthday party next week and we sent our invitations and definitely got it by now. Of course I'm going to invite my brother, his wife and my nieces and nephews." Either Teresa is backpedaling because she really didn't invite Joe and Melissa, or they actually hadn't gotten their invites yet! hmmm… Either way hopefully these "adults" can remain composed and remember what's important here!
"We haven't really spoke," Teresa says of the status of her relationship with Joe and Melissa. "I love them both and that's my only brother. We've always been close and I'm hoping for better days for the sake of our children and my parents."
And unlike Melissa, Teresa seems to have some regrets about deciding to appear on a reality show, which ended up ruining several of her friendships and causing her family a possibly irreparable rift. "I came on the show for fun. I was with friends and strangers and I was a stay at home mom and thought it would be a fun experience. I didn't sign up on the show to be with my family. That just happened and I'm just kind of dealing with it," Teresa reveals.
"The way people view my family on TV was never how we were. We were very private and close. And now that we are all on the show, were not at the place we used to be and it's hard."
Additionally, Teresa emphatically refutes Melissa's claims that the show has brought them closer. "We've never gone without speaking before she was on the show. I invited her to all my parties and would tell her about the housewives and what went on in the earlier seasons. She knew many things and we were close."
Teresa also reveals she hasn't seen Kathy Wakile since filming the Season 3 reunion. "I of course miss and love them. They are my family and we have spoken since. I just haven't seen her."
Jacqueline's Nevada Food Handler's Card. Nice 90210 hair!
Jac's 1993 licensed child care worker card. oooohhh… that's some hair, again!


text: Embattled White House national security adviser Michael Flynn resigned Monday night, an abrupt end to a brief tenure. His departure came just after reports surfaced that the Justice Department warned the Trump administration last month that Flynn misled administration officials regarding his communications with the Russian ambassador to the United States and was potentially vulnerable to blackmail by the Russians. "I inadvertently briefed the Vice President-elect and others with incomplete information regarding my phone calls with the Russian ambassador. I have sincerely apologized to the President and the Vice President, and they have accepted my apology," Flynn wrote, according to a copy of his resignation letter obtained by CNN. "I am tendering my resignation, honored to have served our nation and the American people in such a distinguished way," he wrote. "I know with the strong leadership of President Donald J. Trump and Vice President Mike Pence and the superb team they are assembling, this team will go down in history as one of the greatest presidencies in US history." The move comes less than a month into the job, making him one of the shortest-serving senior presidential advisers in modern history. Gen. Keith Kellogg will be the interim national security adviser, multiple sources tell CNN. He most recently served as National Security Council chief of staff. A senior administration official said Kellogg, retired Gen. David Petraeus and former Vice Admiral Bob Harward are possible replacements for Flynn. Another senior official told CNN Tuesday that Harward is considered the top contender for the job. Petraeus is going to the White House Tuesday, according to sources inside and close to the administration. "He is making a run" for the job, one source said, but noted "he has a lot of baggage." Pressure building The sudden exit marks the most public display yet of disarray at the highest levels of the new administration, which has faced repeated questions over a slew of controversies and reports of infighting among senior aides during its first three weeks. The resolution had been heading this way for three days, an administration source told CNN. More than whether he really had a conversation with the Russians about sanctions, the key issue internally was whether he told the truth to Pence, the source said. How to get fired by the president of the United States The White House concluded at the very least, Flynn didn't mean to mislead the vice president, but may have because he couldn't remember what he said to the Russians. "Not remembering is not a quality we can have for the national security adviser," the source said. An administration source said that Trump "hung in there" when it came to Flynn, but there was a "flood of information" that finally made it clear he had to resign. Asked if Trump is disappointed, another administration official said: "He's moving on." 'Full classified briefing' A pair of Democratic lawmakers – Reps. John Conyers, Jr., top Democrat on the House Judiciary Committee, and Elijah Cummings, top Democrat on the House oversight Committee – sent a request for a "full classified briefing" on the circumstances surrounding Flynn to the Justice Department and FBI Monday night following Flynn's resignation. "We in Congress need to know who authorized his actions, permitted them and continued to let him have access to our most sensitive national security information despite knowing these risks. We need to know who else within the White House is a current and ongoing risk to our national security," they wrote in a statement. They added: "This new disclosure warrants a full classified briefing by all relevant agencies, including the Department of Justice and the FBI, as soon as possible and certainly before Thursday, February 16. We are communicating this request to the Department of Justice and FBI this evening." Aftermath The shakeup now leaves Trump without one of his closest and longest-serving advisers. Flynn had counseled Trump on foreign policy and national security matters since early in the 2016 presidential race. Flynn was not able to definitively refute a Washington Post story late last week that his conversations with Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak included communication about the sanctions. It is illegal for unauthorized private citizens to negotiate with foreign governments on behalf of the US. The controversy intensified after the report put Vice President Mike Pence and several senior White House advisers in an uncomfortable position, as they had denied in TV interviews weeks earlier that Flynn discussed sanctions with the ambassador. Some administration officials said Flynn must have misled Pence and others. "The knives are out," a White House official told CNN on Friday, noting that "there's a lot of unhappiness about this." Concerns Many expressed concern at the idea that Flynn, a retired lieutenant general who headed the Defense Intelligence Agency, would discuss sanctions with a foreign official whose calls are regularly monitored by US intelligence and law enforcement agencies. A US official confirmed to CNN on Friday that Flynn and Kislyak did speak about sanctions, among other matters, during a December call. But after the call was made public, Pence told CBS News on January 15 that Flynn did not talk with Kislyak about the sanctions, which the Obama administration recently levied due to Russia's alleged interference in the 2016 elections. "They did not discuss anything having to do with the United States' decision to expel diplomats or impose censure against Russia," Pence told CBS News. On Friday, an aide close to the national security adviser told CNN that Flynn could not rule out that he spoke about sanctions on the call. The White House official blamed much of the outcry against Flynn on a Washington culture always in search of a scalp, but people within Trump's orbit did little to defend Flynn during appearances on Sunday news shows. Stephen Miller, White House policy director, was asked directly about Flynn's future on a number of Sunday talk shows. Miller responded by saying he was not the appropriate official to ask. "I don't have any answers today," Miller said in response to questions about whether Flynn misled the vice president. "I don't have any information one way or another to add anything to the conversation."


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Frankie Dettori fears he may never repair the damage done to his reputation after he failed a drugs test which has seen him handed a six-month ban.
The popular Italian jockey, 41, will not return to action on the racecourse until a fortnight before next year's Derby, with his suspension, handed out on Wednesday by French racing authority France Galop, running from November 20 to May 19 inclusive.
"I've been in hiding since it happened because of the shame factor," he told the Daily Star. "It's not very pleasant. People will always remember it. Now when they look at me they won't think of the things I have done for racing in the past 20 years, they'll just think, 'He's the guy who got caught with drugs'."
Dettori added: "But you can't change the past and you've just got to move on. I'm ashamed and embarrassed. It was one night of madness with friends. I dropped my guard when I was at my weakest. I was in a dark place. I was very low, my job was going down the drain.
"When I woke up the next morning I regretted it but it was already too late. I will regret it for the rest of my life."
Dettori tested positive for a banned substance, believed to be cocaine, at a meeting at Longchamp in Paris last September. Jurisdictions worldwide, such as the British Horseracing Authority, are expected to reciprocate the terms and Dettori's next important date is when he will be summoned to France Galop headquarters to be retested towards the end of April.
Dettori's suspension was backdated as he had already been prevented from riding in France since November 20 when an independent medical commission spoke to him via a conference call and passed the file on to a disciplinary panel of the stewards at France Galop.
The three-times British champion jockey said the indiscretion came as he feared for his future after his 18-year association with powerful owners Godolphin came to an end in October.
Dettori played down any suggestion the ban could signal the end of his career. He plans to operate as a freelance in 2013.
"I have still got a good five years left in me," he said. "My ambition for the next five years is to get my career back on track and start doing good again. I feel like I have a point to prove now. I still need to come back to show I'm still as good as I was. I want to redeem my name."


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The scene is a staple of American holiday traditions, a verity founded during the birth pangs of the nation. The place: Plymouth Colony, Massachusetts. The year: 1621. In countless illustrations of what is considered that first Thanksgiving feast, tables groan with the harvest of field and forest while black-clad Pilgrims and leather-clad Wampanoag natives encircle the centerpiece dish—a perfectly browned wild turkey. While there's no question that a harvest meal was held in Plymouth Colony, there's no direct evidence that a turkey made the menu. The one surviving document that mentions the formative feast suggests that the big bird on the table—or birds, considering that the gathering drew 140 or more—was likely goose or duck. Just prior to the fete, wrote Plymouth leader Edward Winslow, the colony governor "sent foure men on fowling, that so we might after a special manner rejoyce together after we had gathered the fruit of our labours."
Kathleen Wall, a culinary expert at Plimoth Plantation, the Massachusetts living history museum, provides some insight. "When Englishmen referred to 'fowling,' they are generally talking about waterfowl. Winslow specifically mentions deer, so we know there was venison on the table. And earlier, the governor wrote that turkeys were plentiful that year." After that oblique reference, however, the turkey track goes cold. "As far as that first harvest meal," Wall allows, "we simply can't say there was turkey."
These days that's not the only mystery surrounding Meleagris gallopavo. The reintroduction of the wild turkey to North America is frequently touted as the greatest wildlife conservation success story of the last century. Heavily hunted since the earliest days of European occupation, pushed out of huge swaths of its range by logging and land clearing, wild turkey populations reached a nadir in the early 1930s, with a continental population of about 30,000 birds. Today, after a massive trap-and-transfer effort that has spanned a quarter-century, about 7 million wild turkeys strut, gobble, and yelp from every state where they are native, and then some. "This was a monumental, continent-wide effort," says Tom Hughes, assistant vice president of conservation programs for the National Wild Turkey Federation. "There aren't many stories as inspiring in the history of wildlife conservation."
Like the legend of that plump-breasted turkey at the Pilgrims' feast, there's a twist to this tale as well. Wild turkey numbers are stable and even increasing across parts of the bird's range, but biologists in many southeastern states, considered a turkey stronghold, are concerned that populations in the region have tumbled during the past 10 years. In some places numbers may have shrunk by more than half. Even where outright population numbers haven't dipped, biologists note a steep drop in the quantity of chicks, called poults, that accompany hens in the summer. "Without exception, all southeastern states are seeing declining production," says Michael J. Chamberlain, a wildlife ecology and management professor at the University of Georgia.
Fifteen states have formed a cooperative effort to study the declines and, hopefully, put brakes on the slump. Headed up by Chamberlain and wildlife biologists from Texas A&M University, the Southeast Regional Wild Turkey Reproductive Decline Study is working with wildlife agencies and conservation groups such as the National Wild Turkey Federation to find out if there are common factors affecting turkeys throughout the Southeast. The effort is not just about gobblers. Healthy wild turkey numbers can be an indication that overall habitat quality is high, and biologists worry that a decline might mean that other, less stud- ied species could be suffering under the radar.
While only one turkey species is known to North America, there are five distinct subspecies found in the United States. The most common by far is the eastern wild turkey, which ranges from Florida to Maine and as far west as the Dakotas. (Small stocked populations also exist outside the bird's native range, in California, Oregon, and Washington.) This is the "remarkable" and "magnificent" bird that so impressed John James Audubon, and that appears in our collective vision of the Pilgrims' plenty. (Despite popular opinion, Benjamin Franklin never proposed the wild turkey as a national symbol. He wrote about the turkey in a letter to his daughter, and groused about the bald eagle—a bird "of bad moral Character"—after it appeared on the seal adopted by a fraternal group of Revolutionary War officers. The wild turkey, he wrote, is "a much more respectable Bird . . . though a little vain & silly, a Bird of Courage, and would not hesitate to attack a Grenadier of the British Guards who should presume to invade his Farm Yard with a red Coat on.")
Peninsular Florida is home to the smaller, darker Osceola turkey. The long-legged and gregarious Rio Grande turkey is native to the central plains states. The Merriam's turkey is tied closely to ponderosa pine forests scattered throughout the mountains of the American West. In the extreme southern regions of Arizona and New Mexico, fewer than 1,000 Gould's turkeys live at the northern fringe of their northwestern Mexico range.
When the first Europeans arrived in the New World, the bronze eastern turkeys seemed to be everywhere. As Hernando de Soto crossed into North Carolina in the spring of 1540, his soldiers were given great numbers of the birds—700, according to one account. "Turkeys there be great store," wrote William Strachey of 1612 Virginia, "wild in the woods, like phesants in England, forty in a company . . . yt is the best of any kind of flesh which I have ever yet eaten there." Thomas Morton, the chronicler of eastern Massachusetts in the early 17th century, pondered the huge quantities of the birds reported by Indians. "I have asked them what number they found in the woods," he wrote, "who have answered Neent Metawna, which is a thousand that day."
Centuries later, wild turkeys incite an especially passionate response from bird lovers. Hear a turkey gobble from afar and that otherworldly cry jolts your senses. A flock of turkeys feeding in a pasture corner suggests all the hidden, unseen life of a forest—if a creature so large can remain so secretive, right in our midst, what else might make a living just inside the wood's edge? And any- one lucky enough to watch a mature tom turkey strutting his stuff won't forget the sight. When displaying for a potential mate, males parade back and forth, feathers puffed out like hair on a mad dog's back, dragging wing tips along the ground, spitting, and drumming. The ground seems to shake with the thunder of a gobble at 15 feet, and a hot bird might gobble once or twice or 40 times in a row. The head is afire, fleshy waddles and snood turning brilliant blue and red and the forehead gleaming white.
This extravagant display—and famously tasty breast—put the birds in the crosshairs early on. Audubon noted the decline of wild turkeys in the early 19th century. Already the birds were growing "less plentiful in Georgia and the Carolinas," he wrote, and were "becoming less numerous in every portion of the United States." The National Wild Turkey Federation reports that turkeys were extirpated in Connecticut by 1813 and Vermont by 1842, and that by 1920 they had vanished from 18 of their native 39 states.
The coordinated restoration by state wildlife agencies, supported financially by the Turkey Federation, involved the trapping of wild turkeys in locations with relict, holdover populations, and trucking the birds—often across state lines and frequently for a thousand miles or more—for release into forested habitats. Through the group's Super Fund program—which has raised and spent more than $412 million for turkey conservation—state chapters were able to reimburse state wildlife agencies for the cost of trapping and transferring turkeys. The first interstate transfer happened in 1987, when Connecticut, where the species had been reestablished, shipped 17 wild turkeys to Maine, and Georgia and South Carolina teamed up to transfer 45 birds to Texas. Since then more than 200,000 gobblers have been captured and moved to areas where turkeys are few or nonexistent.
While some ongoing trap-and-transfer programs are still targeting areas such as east Texas, where there's ample quality turkey habitat, the restoration phase is winding down. Now the National Wild Turkey Federation is refocusing its resources—a quarter-million members and three dozen staff biologists from coast to coast—toward larger-scale conservation efforts. The group is identifying eight to 10 "landscape focal areas" for intensive habitat improvements, which could take the form of more precise prescribed burning, reducing invasive plants, and reestablishing cottonwood groves along midwestern streams. Such projects would serve wild turkeys as well as golden-winged warblers, red-cockaded woodpeckers, and even sage-grouse, all species that benefit from early successional habitat (grassy landscapes that evolve into forests). Retaining and bolstering the number of turkey hunters is also a priority; the group hopes to attract 1.5 million new hunters over the next 10 years, hunters whose license fees and conservation donations will provide more funding for research and man- agement. "Turkey hunters pour millions of dollars into their passion," says Hughes. "Every dollar they contribute to wild turkey conservation benefits so many other wildlife species.
"We've restored the wild turkey to the American landscape. Now we need to turn our attention towards maintaining habitat for these birds. The sky is not falling, but these declines are a serious issue, and no one is resting on their laurels."
The raw numbers of the mysterious declines underscore the urgency. In Mississippi, wild turkey numbers peaked at about 410,000 in the late 1980s, and have since declined to a current population of 270,000. In Georgia, 400,000 turkeys prowled pine flats and hardwood ridges in the mid-1990s; during the next decade that number fell by a quarter. Although numbers have since rebounded, the 2010 estimate, the latest available, pegs the Georgia population at 335,000. Arkansas turkey populations may have fallen as much as 65 percent since 2003. Missouri's statewide turkey flock has shrunk by 30 percent in 10 years, with some regions of the state losing half their birds. Even in states where turkey populations and the annual number of birds taken by hunters continue to climb—such as North Carolina—wildlife managers are concerned. "When my colleagues in other states hear that we haven't seen the population declines evident elsewhere," says Evin Stanford, wild turkey project leader for the North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission, "they all say, 'Be patient. It's coming.' "
Researchers are taking a two-pronged approach to studying wild turkey populations. First, partners in the Southeast Wild Turkey Reproductive Decline Study are poring through mountains of data to tease out possible factors that might be dampening turkey tallies across the region. "It's very clear that something is going on," says Chamberlain, who is leading the study. So far the declines are occurring across habitat types, from heavily forested mountain regions to pine flats and coastal plain swamps. "Almost assuredly," Chamberlain says, "it will be a combination of factors at work."
A host of potential problems are under discussion. Some of the hardest-hit states, such as Arkansas, have endured a succession of cool, wet springs, which fuels concern about the "wet hen hypothesis." Damp air and soggy feathers create ideal scenting conditions for predators, which might then find nesting hens more easily. Many biologists point to an increase in mid-sized predators such as raccoons in the wake of the collapse of the trapping industry. The relatively recent arrival of a new predator, the coyote, to parts of the South has raised a flag. So, too, has the expansion of fire ants and feral hogs. No one knows just how much of an impact, if any, these things might have on wild turkey populations.
Some theorize that the declines may not be as bad as feared; decreasing population numbers could be a natural response to the reintroductions. In other words, in many areas, wild turkey numbers may have reached an equilibrium after years of rapid growth. "With restoration," Chamberlain explains, "so many birds exploited these vacant niches that populations simply took off." Certain landscapes may be at their full carrying capacity—there's only so much food, nesting cover, and brood habitat available. "Turkey restoration is a relatively new phenomenon," explains Jason Isabelle, a wild turkey biologist for the Missouri Department of Conservation. "Our population peaked early in the last decade, and we suspect that the numbers we're looking at now are more sustainable."
Biologists agree that both habitat quantity and quality has changed across the South, and not in a good way for wildlife. Between 2000 and 2010, the region's human population grew faster than in any other part of the country. In the first part of that decade logging was rampant. Habitat loss will likely continue, and an erosion of habitat quality on large forest tracts could lead to bird declines. At the same time, forest ownership has changed dramatically. Between 2000 and 2005 alone, more than 18 million acres of southern industrial timberlands were sold, largely to timber investment management organizations that worry less about sustainability and more about financial returns. "This may be a big part of the problem," says Hughes. "Timber companies that used to do good, active management—lots of fire, patchy thinnings—are going by the wayside. That activity created nesting and brooding cover."
While the study team is crunching numbers from across the Southeast, turkey researchers are turning to emerging technology that promises a far higher-resolution picture of wild turkey populations than ever before available. In one recently completed Georgia study, researchers hiked through longleaf pine stands at night using handheld thermal imaging scopes to identify specific roosting trees used by wild turkeys, then returned in daylight to take exact measurements of what wild turkeys look for in an overnight roost. The work could lead to better management guidelines for landowners.
In Louisiana and Texas researchers are using small 4-inch-by-2-inch GPS units to study how wild turkeys respond to flooding and hunter pressure. Chamberlain is heading up a new project in Georgia to study how nesting wild turkeys respond to prescribed fire. His students hope to capture and outfit at least 30 birds with GPS units, and follow them throughout the breeding and nesting seasons. Data from the GPS units can be downloaded from as far away as a mile, giving researchers a detailed look at where the birds go when their nesting areas are burned, how far they travel, and how long it takes them to return. "In this part of the world, up to half of the landscape is burned in any given year," Chamberlain says. "We've never been able to get at how birds respond to the timing and scale of fire, but now we can. It's actually quite an exciting time to be thinking about turkeys. In the next one to five years we'll see a massive increase in the amount of information we have about these birds."
Studying the status of wild turkeys can suggest how other animals are faring in a variety of habitats. While they need wooded landscapes, wild turkeys can make a living in a wide variety of habitats, from open hardwoods to managed pine plantations to tangled bottomland swamps. In the spring, however, they are less flexible. Hens and young turkeys in particular shift from being a forest bird to an early successional habitat species: To survive, poults need insect-rich grasses and shrubs and relatively open cover in which to chase their dinner. It's the same habitat that supports a host of other birds facing population declines, from bobwhite quail to dickcissels to bobolinks.
No one wants to see the turkey go the way of the northern bobwhite quail, another wide-ranging upland bird, particularly beloved in the South. Numbers for bobwhites, one of Audubon's Common Birds in Decline, have fallen more than 80 percent since 1967. "We can only imagine that 40 years ago a bunch of quail biologists were sitting around in a room saying, 'Wow, we're not seeing the quail we used to,' " says Kevin Lowrey, turkey biologist for the Georgia Department of Natural Resources. "Now here we are, spending money and scrambling to keep quail on the landscape. Whether the turkey problem is a habitat problem, a problem with regulations, a response to changing climate, we want to know. Even if we can only fix a part of it, we want to know."
WILD TURKEY Range: Wild populations are now found from coast to coast in the lower 48 states, as well as in parts of southern Canada and south to central Mexico. A related species, the ocellated turkey, occurs in the Yucatan Peninsula of Mexico, northern Guatemala, and northern Belize. Habitat: Across its broad range, found in a wide variety of habitats, from swamps to arid brush country to mountain pine forests and even the edges of suburbs. Generally found in places where heavy cover is interspersed with open areas, so it is less likely to be found in unbroken forest. Status: Although populations were seriously reduced by the early 20th century, they have since rebounded in most of their former range north of the Mexican border and have been introduced into many new areas where they did not occur historically. The total population of wild turkeys in the United States and Canada is approximately 7 million. In some eastern states, turkeys are even showing up in residential areas. Threats/Outlook: The species is doing well in most of its range, thriving and even expanding into new habitats in some regions. In certain southeastern states, declining populations are reason for concern. Researchers are trying to find the cause. Until then the outlook for turkeys is uncertain in the Southeast, and possibly elsewhere.—Kenn Kaufman |


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Ron Burgandy Makes A Big Announcement On The Conan Show [Video]
Anything with Will Farrell is funny as Hell! Can the announcement of a new Anchorman be something to look forward to in the very near future? I think so, check out the trailer below!
This is going to be one of the funniest movies to be released. Especially if they bring back all of the originally characters for the movie.


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I figured a story like this was inevitable after Round One of the HD125 special election, in which Republican Fred Rangel got 38% of the vote and four Democrats combined to take the rest, with three of them being close to each other and thus farther behind Rangel. Ray Lopez will face Rangel in the runoff, for which a date has not yet been set.
Democratic Party officials and Lopez's campaign remain adamant that they are in position to win the runoff and keep the seat. The four Democrats, combined, received more than 60 percent of the vote, they point out. And District 125 hasn't elected a Republican since it was redrawn in 1992 to include more West Side voters.
But to others, the result immediately recalled San Antonio Democrats' not-so-sterling track record in recent special elections. Electoral history and district demographics have not protected Democrats in those runoffs over the last few years: They have lost the last three off-cycle races in San Antonio, each of which occurred in traditional party strongholds.
In early 2016, Republican John Lujan scored an upset in a South Side legislative seat over Democrats Tomás Uresti and Gabe Farias. Uresti would defeat him nine months later in the general election.
Later that year, Independent Laura Thompson won election to an East Side legislative seat after Bexar County Dean Ruth McClendon's death, also overcoming multiple Democrats. Rep. Barbara Gervin-Hawkins put the seat back in Democratic hands in the next general election.
And in perhaps the most painful loss for Democrats, Republican Pete Flores won a state Senate seat last year that includes much of San Antonio. Flores flipped a seat that hadn't gone to the GOP since Reconstruction, and his victory sealed a two-thirds Republican supermajority in the Texas Senate.
That race has some conspicuous similarities to Tuesday's election in District 125. For one, the man who engineered Flores' upset, Matt Mackowiak, is now running Rangel's campaign. For another, multiple Democrats split the party's vote, allowing the Republican to plunge ahead.
"It's a very simple game of math in a special election," [Rep. Trey Martinez-Fischer] said. "When you're running a race in a Democratic district you're going to have multiple Democrats running for that position, and it's always going to be that one Republican that has a universe of voters to himself."
The Democrats believe that will change in a mano-a-mano, Democrat vs. Republican, runoff, and Democratic members of the Legislature are now rallying around Lopez. But they had a similar conviction — ultimately to no avail — that Flores wouldn't prevail in what had been a Democratic district for more than a century.
Their logic isn't reflective of the political reality of special elections, according to Mackowiak. The voters who chose Democrats Rayo-Garza or Art Reyna won't necessarily show up again for Lopez in the runoff election.
"It's just not transferable," Mackowiak said. "Special elections are about motivation and enthusiasm."
That sentiment was echoed by Larry Hufford, a professor of political science at St. Mary's University.
"These small groups are so committed to their candidates," Hufford said. "They say, 'Well, my candidate didn't win, forget it.'"
Those factors give Rangel an edge, Hufford said, especially if turnout drops in the runoff. If Rangel brings out the same number of voters, it puts him in a good position to win the majority while Lopez tries to inspire voters who backed Democrats no longer in the race, the professor added.
See here for the background. There are two claims being made here, that Bexar County Dems have had a spotty recent record in legislative special elections, and that the key to winning special election runoffs is to hold onto more of your own voters from round one than the other guy (if you're the leader, that is) because getting new voters is too hard. Let's take these one at a time.
First, the two special elections from 2016 are basically meaningless for these purposes. The reason why is because they were basically meaningless as special elections. They were for the purpose of serving the remainder of the 2015-2016 term, at a time when the Lege was not in session and not going to be in session. Neither John Lujan nor Laura Thompson ever filed a bill or cast a vote as State Rep, because there were no opportunities for them to do so. Tomas Uresti, who lost in that January 2016 special election runoff to John Lujan, went on to win the Democratic primary in March and the November general election, ousting Lujan before he ever did anything of note. Barbara Gervin-Hawkins, the November nominee in HD120, didn't bother running in the summer special election for it. Those special elections didn't matter.
As for the turnout question, I would remind everyone that there were three legislative special elections plus runoffs from 2015. Here's what they looked like:
2015 Special Election, House District 123
Melissa Aguillon DEM 1,257 17.69%
Diego Bernal DEM 3,372 47.46%
Roger V. Gary LIB 103 1.45%
Paul Ingmundson GRN 81 1.14%
Walter Martinez DEM 780 10.98%
Nunzio Previtera REP 1,512 21.28%
Total = 7,105
Special Runoff Election State Representative, District 123
Diego Bernal DEM 5,170 63.67%
Nunzio Previtera REP 2,950 36.33%
Total = 8,120
Diego Bernal got 1,798 more votes in the runoff – there had been 2,037 votes that went to other Dems in the initial election. Nunzio Previtera got 1,438 more votes in the runoff even though he'd been the only Republican initially.
2015 Special Election, Senate District 26
Trey Martinez Fischer DEM 8,232 43.28%
Alma Perez Jackson REP 3,892 20.46%
Jose Menendez DEM 4,824 25.36%
Joan Pedrotti REP 1,427 7.50%
Al Suarez DEM 644 3.39%
Total = 19,019
Special Runoff Election State Senator, District 26
Trey Martinez Fischer DEM 9,635 40.95%
Jose Menendez DEM 13,891 59.05%
Total = 23,526
Remember how some idiot bloggers called for Sen. Menendez to concede rather than bother going through with the runoff, so the next special election could take place more quickly? Good times. After smoking TMF in said runoff, some other people claimed he won on the strength of Republican turnout in round two. For what it's worth, there were 5,319 Republican votes in round one, and Menendez gained 9,067 votes overall. Make of that what you will. Also, for what it's worth, TMF boosted his total by 1,403.
2015 Special Election, House District 124
Nathan Alonzo DEM 467 23.81%
Delicia Herrera DEM 555 28.30%
Ina Minjarez DEM 828 42.22%
David L. Rosa DEM 111 5.66%
Total = 1,961
Special Runoff Election, House District 124
Delicia Herrera DEM 1,090 45.02%
Ina Minjarez DEM 1,331 54.98%
Total = 2,421
The two runoff candidates combined for 1,383 votes in round one, while the two also rans got 578. Assuming all 578 voted again in the runoff, there were still another 460 people participating.
My point, in case I haven't beaten you over the head with it enough, is that in all of these elections, there were more votes in the runoff than in the first round. That means – stay with me here, I know this is tricky – it's possible for a candidate to win the runoff with extra votes from people who didn't vote initially. It's even possible for the second place finisher to win, in part by bringing in new voters. See, when not that many people vote the first time, there are actually quite a few habitual voters out there to round up. Who even knew this was a thing?
Yes, the SD19 still stands out like a turd on the sidewalk. SD19 encompasses more than just Bexar County, and there was some genuine resentment from third place candidate Roland Gutierrez, which likely hindered Pete Gallego in the runoff. (There were also many questions raised about the effectiveness of Gallego's campaign.) Here, as it happens, third place finisher Coda Rayo-Garza has conceded after the remaining mail ballots arrived and endorsed Ray Lopez, so at least that bit of history won't repeat itself. HD125 is more Democratic than SD19, so there's a larger pool of dependable voters that Lopez can call on. He's got work to do and ground to make up, and he certainly could lose if he doesn't do a good job of it. But if we look at the history of Bexar County special legislative elections going all the way back to 2015 instead of just to 2016, we can see that the picture is a bit more nuanced than Matt Mackowiak and Larry Hufford make it out to be.


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Konecranes Floating Dock Cranes are a special type of single boom crane for floating dock launches and repairs. They are capable of lifting up to 50 tons and come with an outreach of up to 40 meters.
Our Floating Dock Cranes come with these features:
- The cabin is ergonomically designed for the operator, with customized controls and high visibility to improve efficiency and safety.
- Components and walkways are inside structures wherever practical to improve safety for operators even in harsh weather conditions.
- Real-time data about wind speed, for example, helps to ensure safe crane operation.


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This article is more than 1 year old
'Firefox flaw wrecked my relationship'
Sex, lies and browser bugs
Web browser bugs are routinely blamed for creating huge networks of compromised PCs and undermining the safety of ecommerce transactions. Now one woman says a "security bug" in Mozilla led to the break up of her engagement.
The anonymous woman shared a Windows PC with her former fiancé. Both had separate user logins on the same machine and both preferred Mozilla to Internet Explorer. All was apparently well until the woman opened up a list of sites whose password was never saved and unearthed evidence that her man was a frequent visitor of dating websites. The woman took this as evidence of infidelity and split up with the apparent love cheat. She then had the presence of mind to report the privacy flaw to the Mozilla Foundation.
"This privacy flaw has caused my fiancé and I to break-up after having dated for five years... Firefox should be respecting every single area of privacy per user on one system. It's not doing that," the woman writes.
The posting generated debate about whether the "bug" was a flaw or a feature of Firefox. The issue proved somewhat difficult to reproduce and may have arisen because the fiancé had imported settings from another browser or otherwise messed up in his efforts to hide his browsing tracks.
In any case, the "bug" generated a lively debate on the Bugzilla mailing list. One poster writes:
I would also like to add that this seems more like a 'feature' at this point. There is a button under Tools > Options > Privacy > History. On the History tab, I believe, you will see a button for 'Erase My Relationship', under which, there are check boxes for '..because he is a cheating bastard', '..because he is a sneaky bastard who demeans me by thinking he can go behind my back', and '..because he jerked is insultingly stupid, so stupid, he deserved to be snared and he would have been a liability to have in your life, long-term'. Check all that apply...
Some posters raised that the possibility that the miscreant simply browsed dating websites without going the extra step and becoming unfaithful. While criticising the man for deception several posters advised the woman to consider taking her "errant" partner back.
Are people who watch the Sopranos mob-style criminals?Are people who watch SpongeBob interested in living in a pineapple under the sea?
Are women who watch Sex In The City as horny as the ones on the show?
There is some entertainment value to these websites. While you can use them to engage in unfaithful acts, they also could be used just to get a little chuckle, titillation, or self-satisfaction.
Who knows what your fiancé was getting out of it.
Meanwhile Redsaber offered to following simple advice to libidinous males.
I think the only solution for now is very simple:Never share your computer with your girlfriend.
The whole enlightening thread can be found on Bugzilla here. ®


text: Game description Vote: Did you like this game? 53 Your mission in this Ben 10 Motocross game, is to help Ben Tennyson reach a secret underwater cave. Your favorite hero, Ben Tennyson, is Under the Sea in a race against time because his oxygen tube has a leak and empties quickly. Help Ben 10 finish each level and get more oxygen. Use the ARROW keys to drive Ben 10 motorcycle. Try to complete the 7 tracks as fast as you can in this cool Ben 10 bike game. Play Ben 10 Motocross Under the Sea game and have fun! Share this free dirt bike game with your friends on Facebook. Game controls: Use the ARROW KEYS to control the bike. DrivingActionWaterRacingAlienMotorcycleBicycleSuper HeroMotocrossUnder |


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Wind Watch is a registered educational charity, founded in 2005. |
Windy forecast for Marshall County for at least another month
Credit: By Rusty Nixon, Staff Writer | Pilot News | March 19, 2013 | www.thepilotnews.com ~~
Translate: FROM English | TO English
Translate: FROM English | TO English
PLYMOUTH – The wind blowing across Marshall County will have to wait at least until May to be harnessed as the Marshall County Commissioners tabled action on zoning changes related to wind farms on Monday morning.
Suggestions for amendments to Marshall County's zoning ordinance regarding wind energy "farms" have made their way from the Marshall County Plan Commission to the final vote in any change to to county zoning the Marshall County Commissioners. Those proposing change made their case before the Commissioners on Monday.
Steve Snyder of Snyder/Morgan LLP made the case for those who are seeking stricter standards regarding the placement and operation of wind energy farms in Marshall County. The group is seeking standards for setbacks, and standards of operation that they say will better protect the safety and health of residents of Marshall County as well as the environment near the farms.
They cite serious health and environmental concerns at the base of their suggestions.
After a contentious meeting of the Marshall Count Plan Commission late last month the body made recommendations to the Commissioners that included a 2,640 foot setback from any property boundary that is zoned L-1 or T-1 (residential and town properties), from a non-participating (in the wind farm) property, and from the boundary of any public park, public or private school and from any river.
The suggestions also included an operation noise level that did not exceed 45 dBA within 100 feet of any off site dwelling at any time and that all systems be equipped with state of the art anti-icing technology to suspend all turbine operations during icing events.
They also included a site plan with aerial photography, elevations, facades, heights and dimensions of all structures and specific descriptions of the colors of all exterior materials.
Those from Concerned Citizens of Marshall County do not feel these restrictions are enough and want several other restrictions added to the ones already suggested by the Plan Commission including a three mile setback from all fresh water lakes and a 2,640 foot setback from any recognized wetland or nature preserve.
Stan Klotz of the Marshall County Plan Commission told the Commissioners that the 2,640 setback was important to him feeling that it was essential for safety of county residents and was the reason for the contentious meeting of his board late last month who passed the increased setback distances.
Several residents of the county spoke in favor of the further restrictions, Carol Zeglis of Culver saying that "…no individual has an absolute right to do whatever they want with their own property even farmers…" citing that overriding concerns would be those for public health.
Others cited reasons ranging from migratory birds to the beauty of the night sky.
The Commissioners accepted all information from the Plan Commission and from Concerned Citizens and will address the issue at their meeting on May 6.
This article is the work of the source indicated. Any opinions expressed in it are not necessarily those of National Wind Watch.
The copyright of this article resides with the author or publisher indicated. As part of its noncommercial educational effort to present the environmental, social, scientific, and economic issues of large-scale wind power development to a global audience seeking such information, National Wind Watch endeavors to observe "fair use" as provided for in section 107 of U.S. Copyright Law and similar "fair dealing" provisions of the copyright laws of other nations. Send requests to excerpt, general inquiries, and comments via e-mail.
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You want to see a decrease in violence towards men? Why not campaign about it? Why derail every single fucking campaign about violence against women? You do see what I'm getting at, don't you? I mean, you don't see Save the Whale protestors derailing anti-seal cull protests, and you don't see anti-seal-cull protesters at whale hunts shouting "but what about the SEALS??"
How about you support us, and we'll support you? How about instead of rubbishing this campaign, why not say "great idea girls, and something I can fully support. No woman deserves to be beaten up and raped! Incidentally, I am supporting this other campaign, about male violence, fancy joining in?"
Well, quite. Derailing feminist arguments to complain about the poor menz isn't constructive. The point of all that bitching and moaning clearly isn't to make things better for men - if it were it'd be organised somewhere besides response forms to worthy women's rights articles - but to obstruct feminist campaigns. Instead of pouring on the scorn, instead of trying to play oppression top trumps, why can't men organise themselves and their allies to resist, say, violence against men, which I think we can all acknowledge is a problem? Why can't men organise to campaign for better mental healthcare, since the 18-25 male suicide statistic is so often quoted as an example of institutional misandry? Until I see any of that, I'm afraid I'm just going to keep assuming that men attacking feminists is just...well, it's just men attacking feminists, really.
Sunny quoted me in the Guardian yesterday (the comments to that one are well worth a read), and I'm going to re-state why I believe that men need to stop acting out how threatened they feel by women's rights:
A crucial mistake that continues to be made is the fallacy that acknowledging male gender oppression somehow invalidates the whole concept behind feminism. It does not. However, across the debate sphere for decades the cry 'but men don't have it easy either!' has been taken as a direct attack on feminism – and sometimes it has even been meant as one. Otherwise perfectly intelligent commentators descend into petty fights over whose gender oppression trumps whose, not realising that everyone's gender oppression is equally valid, not understanding that the expression of someone's struggle is not an attack on everyone else's.
So yes, guys, we are challenging you. We want you to see us as complete human beings, and we want you to be as outraged by physical and sexual attacks on us as you would be by physical and sexual attacks on members of your own group. We want you to unite with us to stop violence against women, without seeing that struggle as in some fucked-up way a threat to your own self-conception as men. Yes, we want you to change. Instead of shouting us down, stand up for your own rights alongside us, as allies.
And challenge us back: I guarantee that you will not find us wanting. Because, if you think about it, we all know what it's like to feel unsafe walking home alone at night. We all know what it's like to fear male violence. We know what it's like to be physically threatened, to be scared, to be cowed by the ubiquity of male aggression, especially if we're in some way weak, or feminine, or different. And we can all take a stand against that, without getting into these silly fucking scraps over whose oppression tastes best.