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Frozen Pipes
You Can Prevent Frozen Pipes
Frozen Pipes aren't just an inconvenience. An average of a quarter-million families have their homes damaged and their lives disrupted each winter, all because of water pipes that freeze. An eighth-inch (three millimeter) crack in a pipe can spew up to 250 gallons (946 liters) of water a day, wrecking floors, furniture, and personal property. Both plastic (PVC) and copper pipes may burst.
Before the Cold Hits
Pipes in crawl spaces and attics. These expose pipes are most susceptible to freezing. Remember, the more insulation you use, the better protected your pipes will be.
Heat Tape
Thermostatically-controlled heat cables can be used to wrap pipes. Be sure to use products approved by an independent testing organizations, such as Underwriters Laboratories, Inc., and only for the use intended (exterior or interior). Closely follow all manufacturer's installation and operation instructions.
Leaks allow cold inside, near where pipes are located. Look for air leaks around electrical wiring, dryer vents and pipes. Use caulk or insulation to keep the cold out and the heat in. With severe wind chill, a tiny opening can let in enough cold air to cause a pipe to freeze.
Disconnect garden hoses and, if practical, use an indoor valve to shut off and drain water from pipes leading to outside faucets. This reduces the chance of freeze of freezing in the short span of pipe just inside the house.
When the Mercury Drops
- A trickle of hot and cold water might be all it takes to keep your pipes from freezing. Let warm water drip overnight, preferable from a faucet on an outside wall.
- Open cabinet doors to allow heat to get to uninsulated pipes under sinks and appliances near exterior walls.
If You're Away
- Set the thermostat no lower than 55 (12 degrees Celsius).
- Ask a friend or neighbor to check your house daily to make sure it's warm enough to prevent freezing
- Shutoff and drain the water system. Be aware that if you have a fire protection sprinkler system in your house, it will be deactivated when you shut off the water.
If Your Pipes Freeze
- Don't take chances. If you turn on your faucets and nothing comes out, leave the faucets turned on and call a plumber. If you detect that your water pipes have frozen and burst, turn off the water at the main shut-off valve in the house; leave the water faucets turned on. (make sure everyone in your family knows where the water shut-off valve is and how to open and close it.
- Never try to thaw a pipe with a torch or other open flame. Water damage is preferable to fire damage. You may be able to thaw a frozen pipe with the warm air from a hair dryer. Start by warming the pipe as close to the faucet as possible, working toward the coldest section of pipe.
- Do not use electrical appliances in areas of standing water because you could be electrocuted.


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Hi, my name is Chad Nicely.
First of all you need to know, the platforms that we create in our business, we create them because we have a need for the solution in our own business
Survay is that platform
I have been running surveys to my members, subscribers, potential prospects, and customers... for as long as I can remember. I use surveys for everything. Before I create a new product I will create a survey; before a I run a webinar I will run a survey; Before I give something for free I will create a survey; if I am looking for feedback on something I will run a survey.
I probably run more surveys than anybody in the business, and it's not uncommon for me to receive a 60% response rate to my surveys.. So, Surveys are perfect for helping you run your business.
However, if you really want to take your business to the next level, you need to have your people also filling out applications and making appointments with you. This is something that we have mastered in the past.
The problem was we always had to have 4 or 5 different programs to handle this process. Even worse, we would have to pull the statistics from each one of those programs and put them all together.
Well, not anymore! You see Survay is an all-inclusive platform that will do everything for you. Today we are focused on two businesses- our membership platform and our new survey platform. This is a platform that will be continually developed out just like our membership platform
Survay is the world's greatest survey platform... watch this video to discover
how easily you're going to be able to create your own Survay campaigns.
Tiger Bill uses Survay to screen, categorize, and book students for his business, leaving more time to increase the bottom line by spending that time now working with additional students.
- Tiger Bill
There are many ways you can use Survay to make profits in your busines. However, the main reason we created this platform was so that you could have a "High Ticket Survay Funnel" working around the clock. Our bonus training (below) will show you how to do just that!
We can't stress this enough. Survay will do EVERYTHING for you. You spend a couple minutes setting it up, and you're good to go, for life. Your Survay funnel should be everywhere you have traffic, including general Facebook Posts. You should have applications and surveys rolling around the clock. We will teach you how to do all of these things.
Danny Fortes shares his experience at a local business meet up, when inviting a member of the group to easily and efficiently exchange information and schedule an appointment!
- Danny Fortes
Chris Gloss uses Survay to work with the most qualified candidates, while not spending time on less qualified individuals, saving time and money!
- Chris Gloss
We know how important it is to make sure your applications and surveys can be viewed
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Survay will be adding more integrations in the near future
Sarwan Sumon has used Survay to prequal hot leads vs. cold leads, and he can now use his time and effort to work with the leads he wants to focus on!
- Sarwan Sumon

subset: commoncrawl


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Do you use Juntoo?
Juntoo tech stack
We're aware of 2 technologies that Juntoo is built with. Juntoo utilizes products like Google Fonts, WordPress in their tech stack
Recent launches
💡 All the pro tips
Tips help users get up to speed using a product or feature
📣 Calling all experts and enthusiasts! Share your wisdom and leave a pro tip that will make a difference!


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UPDATE: I spoke about this issue with Nicole Sandler on the Nicole Sandler Show. That discussion is here. Start the player, then advance to 26:54 to hear our segment. Thanks.
Does the planned November 2013 removal of the spent fuel rods stored at Fukushima's heavily damaged Reactor 4 need a global intervention, or should TEPCO (Tokyo Electric Power Co., a for-profit company) be allowed to go it alone?
So far, the Japanese government is allowing TEPCO to handle it. Why should you care? Read on.
As you should know by now, the nuclear power plant at Fukushima underwent a great deal of damage in 2011 due to an earthquake and a tsunami. Wikipedia (my emphasis; some reparagraphing):
The plant comprised six separate boiling water reactors originally designed by General Electric (GE) and maintained by the Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO). At the time of the earthquake, reactor 4 had been de-fueled and reactors 5 and 6 were in cold shutdown for planned maintenance.
Immediately after the earthquake, the remaining reactors 1–3 shut down the sustained fission reactions automatically, inserting control rods in what is termed the SCRAM, following this, emergency generators came online to power electronics and coolant systems. The tsunami arrived some 50 minutes after the initial earthquake.
The 13m tsunami overwhelmed the plant's seawall, which was only 10m high, quickly flooding the low-lying rooms in which the emergency generators were housed (The tsunami was photographed). The flooded diesel generators failed, cutting power to the critical pumps that must continuously circulate coolant water through a Generation II reactor for several days to keep it from melting down after shut down.
After the secondary emergency pumps (run by back-up batteries) ran out, one day after the tsunami, the pumps stopped and the reactors began to overheat due to the normal high radioactive decay heat produced in the first few days after nuclear reactor shutdown (smaller amounts of this heat normally continue to be released for years, but are not enough to cause fuel melting).
We want to focus on reactor unit 4. Here's a schematic of what one of these reactor units looks like (skillfully designed by GE, who wants you to know they "bring good things to life"):
What you care about is " SFP," where the fuel rods are stored. Here's the legend provide with this sketch:
Rough sketch of a typical Boiling water reactor (BWR) Mark I Concrete Containment with Steel Torus including downcomers, as used in the BWR/1, BWR/2, BWR/3 and some BWR/4 model reactors.
DW = Drywell
WW = Wetwell
SFP = Spent Fuel Pool
RPV = Reactor Pressure Vessel
SCSW = Secondary Concrete Shield Wall
Notice where the fuel rods are stored — high off the ground and in water, in the area marked SFP.
Here's what Fukushima unit 4 looks like today:
Notice that it has no roof. The spent fuel rods (and about 200 "fully loaded" unspent rods — remember that "reactor 4 had been de-fueled" prior to the accident) are stored in a water-containing chamber high off the ground in a crumbling room and building without a roof.
How will "they" get the damaged fuel rods out of that crumbling room?
This is the problem today. There are about 1300 fuel rods stored in that room, packed together vertically in racks. Think of a pack of cigarettes standing upright with the top of the pack removed. Normally, the movement of fuel rods is done by a computer-driven machine that reaches into the room from above and removes or replaces a fuel rod by drawing it upward or lowering it downward.
The machine knows to the millimeter where each fuel rod is located. Also, the rods are undamaged — perfectly straight.
The problem is that this pack of cigarettes is crumpled, and the process must done manually. Therefore, the likelihood that some of the fuel rods will break is high. If that happens and fuel rods are exposed to the air — BOOM. What does "boom" look like?
Fukushima's owner, Tokyo Electric (Tepco), says that within as few as 60 days it may begin trying to remove more than 1300 spent fuel rods from a badly damaged pool perched 100 feet in the air. The pool rests on a badly damaged building that is tilting, sinking and could easily come down in the next earthquake, if not on its own.
Some 400 tons of fuel in that pool could spew out more than 15,000 times as much radiation as was released at Hiroshima.
Meanwhile, at the rest of the site:
More than 6,000 fuel assemblies now sit in a common pool just 50 meters from Unit Four. Some contain plutonium. The pool has no containment over it. It's vulnerable to loss of coolant, the collapse of a nearby building, another earthquake, another tsunami and more.
Overall, more than 11,000 fuel assemblies are scattered around the Fukushima site. According to long-time expert and former Department of Energy official Robert Alvarez, there is more than 85 times as much lethal cesium on site as was released at Chernobyl.
If the whole site blows, "boom" could mean the release of 85 times as much radioactive cesium into the air as was released at Chernobyl. Into the air. Into a stiff cross-Pacific breeze.
There are a number of people warning of this danger; none are getting much play. For example, this from the Japan Times (quoted here):
In November, Tepco plans to begin the delicate operation of removing spent fuel from Reactor No. 4 [with] radiation equivalent to 14,000 times the amount released by the Hiroshima atomic bomb. …. It remains vulnerable to any further shocks, and is also at risk from ground liquefaction. Removing its spent fuel, which contains deadly plutonium, is an urgent task….
The consequences could be far more severe than any nuclear accident the world has ever seen. If a fuel rod is dropped, breaks or becomes entangled while being removed, possible worst case scenarios include a big explosion, a meltdown in the pool, or a large fire. Any of these situations could lead to massive releases of deadly radionuclides into the atmosphere, putting much of Japan — including Tokyo and Yokohama — and even neighboring countries at serious risk.
A lot depends on what blows up, if anything. If only Unit 4 blows up, Japan is at risk, including Tokyo, and the nuclear dust will pass across the Pacific to the U.S. People on the West Coast will be warned to keep their windows closed for a while.
If the whole facility blows up, one scientist is talking about moving her family to the southern hemisphere. From the article quoted above:
Chernobyl's first 1986 fallout reached California within ten days. Fukushima's in 2011 arrived in less than a week. A new fuel fire at Unit 4 would pour out a continuous stream of lethal radioactive poisons for centuries.
We're in very apocalyptic territory, with a wide and unknown range of outcomes. Take that for what it's worth — little could go wrong, or much.
Should TEPCO be allowed to attempt this on its own?
Should Japan be allowed to attempt this on its own?
This is the heart of today's problem. In reality, the events that are about to unfold at Fukushima in the next 60 days will affect much of the world. They could in fact change life in the northern hemisphere, if the worst of the worst occurs.
The Japanese government has ceded control of the next phrase — removing more than 1300 fuel rods from Reactor 4 — to TEPCO. (Seems that Japan has a "corporate capture of government" problem similar to our own.) Reuters (quoted here):
Tokyo Electric Middle East or Latin America who bother us. Yet some writers are in fact worried that the consequences for Japan include bankrupting the economy and … loss of sovereignty. Japan Focus:
This is literally a matter of national security – another mistake by TEPCO could have incredibly costly, even fatal, consequences for Japan.
And according to former U.N. adviser Akio Matsumura (quoted here):
The meltdown and unprecedented release of radiation that would ensue is the worst case scenario that then-Prime Minister Kan and other former officials have discussed in the past months. He [Kan] warned during his speech at the World Economic Forum in Davos that such an accident would force the evacuation of the 35 million people in Tokyo, close half of Japan and compromise the nation's sovereignty.
Such a humanitarian and environmental catastrophe is unimaginable. Hiroshi Tasaka, a nuclear engineer and special adviser to Prime Minister Kan immediately following the crisis, said the crisis "just opened Pandora's Box."
That's then-Prime Minister Kan quoted in the bolded comment. As I said, it's an interesting theoretical problem. Too bad it's not just theoretical. This will all happen in November.
Bottom line — Should TEPCO be allowed to manage the removal of the fuel rods in November?
It comes down to this — TEPCO has shown itself to be both incompetent and deceitful. The government of Japan has shown itself willing to allow TEPCO to control the "cleanup" and "decommissioning" of the Fukushima facility.
Who should have control at Fukushima? TEPCO (after all, they "own it")? The government of Japan (after all, it's "their" country)? Or others in the world, acting in their own real interest? Harvey Wasserman, writing in Common Dreams (my emphasis and paragraphing):
We are now within two months of what may be humankind's most dangerous moment since the Cuban Missile Crisis. There is no excuse for not acting. All the resources our species can muster must be focused on the fuel pool at Fukushima Unit 4. … Neither Tokyo Electric nor the government of Japan can go this alone. There is no excuse for deploying anything less than a coordinated team of the planet's best scientists and engineers. …
We have two months or less to act. For now, we are petitioning the United Nations and President Obama to mobilize the global scientific and engineering community to take charge at Fukushima and the job of moving these fuel rods to safety.
If you have a better idea, please follow it. But do something and do it now. The clock is ticking.
I swear, the world is closer and closer to reading like a series of thrillers, isn't it? I'm not sure what to make of all this; it seems so … thriller-y.
If you want to read more, your key articles (including lots of embedded links) are these:
▪ The Crisis at Fukushima's Unit 4 Demands a Global Take-Over [Harvey Wasserman at Common Dreams]
▪ The REAL Fukushima Danger [Washingtonblog; lots of links]
▪ The Top Short-Term Threat to Humanity: The Fuel Pools of Fukushima [Washingtonblog; lots of links]
▪ Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster [Wikipedia]
Guess we'll find out in November whether this works out or not. In the meantime, I thought you should know that some people are having this discussion, even if it's not happening on TV, yet. (Know anyone at MSNBC you'd like to alert? Feel free; you don't need permission to talk to the media.)


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Can changing our transportation habits help meet the emissions goal?
Even with the advent of light rail, commuter rail and bus rapid transit - not to mention talk of new rail links from Duluth to Chicago - Minnesotans still overwhelmingly depend on their cars.
Ninety percent of us use them to commute, mostly solo. Changing that car culture is a key component to achieving a reduction in carbon emissions.
University of Minnesota urban studies and geography professor Judith Martin said two main factors influence our transportation carbon footprint.
"One is the place that we live and the other is the way that we move to and from the place that we live," Martin said.
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Let's start with the latter -- how we get around. According to the Environmental Protection Agency, the average American drives 12,000 miles each year. If your car gets the average of 22.1 miles per gallon, every year you're producing more than 10,000 pounds of CO2 - the main greenhouse gas.
How can you knock 17 percent off that portion of your carbon footprint? That average driver could trade in for a vehicle that gets a little better than 26 miles per gallon - that would do it.
Or you could shift some of those miles to other vehicles. Car pooling one day a week could, depending on weekend driving habits, reduce emissions enough to hit that 17 percent goal. Shifting a quarter of those miles driven to bus would hit the goal. Rail is a little less efficient, according to the EPA, so it would take a little more shifting; about a one-third of the 12,000 miles would have to rail miles.
But therein lies the challenge, say critics of voluntary greenhouse gas reductions. To use transit - for instance - you have to live near a transit line, and U.S policies don't create the kinds of incentives to get people to do that.
The U's Judith Martin said you only need to look to the site of this week's global warming summit to understand the mindset necessary to make lasting changes to our carbon footprint.
"If you're talking about a difference between what and how people live with respect to environmental issues in Minnesota and in Denmark, that's it. It's cultural," Martin said.
Comparing Denmark and the U.S.
Michelle Cumming Lokkegaard, is a former Minnesotan who moved to a Copenhagen suburb seven years ago. There she discovered how Danish policies force consumers to think twice about driving, starting with the decision about whether to own a vehicle at all.
"The government taxes new cars at the rate of 180 percent," Lokkegaard said.
That would be a $36,000 tax on the $20,000 car for which a Minnesotan would pay about $1,600 in taxes and fees. If you can afford that premium, Lokkegaard said you better make sure you have enough left over for gas.
"It costs about $8 a gallon," she said.
More than half of that is tax. You can guess the result.
A lot of Copenhagen commuters find options. More than a one-third of the Danes who commute to Copenhagen for work or for school ride a bike. Less than half, by one estimate, use a car.
Ditching the car is easier if you live closer to work or to a transportation option. And that requires a philosophy of development planning that encourages compact cities and supplies an extensive transit network, which Michelle says the Danes employ.
"It's pretty regulated. It's not just houses sprawling all over the place," she said. "It's carefully planned, there's transportation planned into the new developments, the lot sizes are kept at a certain level."
Back in Minnesota, the last word on how Minnesotans can adapt belongs to a Dane, in this case Malene Houmaae.
Malene and her husband were born and raised in Denmark and have lived here 16 years and like it a lot. She calls the Volvo S80 sedan she drives big and "splurgy," and could be afforded by only the richest people back in Denmark.
Houmaee enjoys her new 2,600-square-foot suburban home, much larger than many homes back in her homeland.
Houmaee measures her words carefully when she talks to her friends and neighbors about energy because coming from Denmark, a country essentially light years ahead of most of the rest of the world in energy savings, she doesn't want to sound condescending.
"We have always felt that the Americans have quite an awakening coming because the gas prices here; we are a little spoiled over here," Houmaee said. "We have motors on everything from the lawn mower to the hedge clipper to the nose hair clipper; there's motors on everything in the U. S., and it is extremely convenient. But there's a price to that and that of course is our carbon imprint on this world."
European-style land regulation that Malene Houmaee grew up with and that Michelle Cumming Lokkegaard is living with now isn't built in to greenhouse gas legislation moving through Congress.
It may not be necessary to meet the 17 percent reduction goal for 2020, but the legislation also calls for steeper reductions over the next 40 years. Achieving that may take more profound shifts in thinking about not just how we get around, but where we're going to and from.


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OK, all! I'm so excited to share with you another monster sundae in Disney World! And you can get this in TWO places!! We'll let you know where WE think you should buy it at the end of the post (best value!!).
Introducing: The Mickey Kitchen Sink Sundae! (Which I'd like to, from now on, refer to as the Mickey Pants Sundae.)
You can find it at both the Plaza/Main Street Ice Cream Parlor on Main Street in the Magic Kingdom, and at Beaches and Cream in Disney's Beach Club Resort.
We'll look at the Magic Kingdom's version first, then swing over to Beaches and Cream to check out their sundae!
At the Ice Cream Parlor, you've got three scoops of ice cream — chocolate, vanilla, and strawberry — topped with three toppings — hot fudge, strawberry, and caramel. The whole thing is covered in whipped cream, chocolate and peanut butter chips, and cherries.
The sink itself is what we're thinking brings the cost up to an astronomical $23. But it IS a pretty cute sink.
I mean, check out those
Mickey glove faucets! And they really do turn and spin like real faucets do.
The ice cream and toppings are standard to the Ice Cream Parlor. You can most likely substitute ice cream flavors if you'd like, though we didn't try that.
Here's a close-up of what you get inside. The bowl is very deep, even if its not all that wide. So the actual ice creamage is quite significant.
But, again, it's that souvenir bowl that you're paying for. Here's a shot of the back!
And here's the whole thing all cleaned out and ready for transport to your souvenir collection at home.
So, that's what you'll get at the Magic Kingdom for your $23. But check out what you can get over at the Beach Club!
Mini Mickey Kitchen Sink at Beaches and Cream
Over at Disney's Beach Club Resort — home of the original Kitchen Sink Sundae at Beaches and Cream — they have the Mickey Kitchen Sink Sundae with a twist! (Thanks to DFB reader Bradd Gross for these Beaches and Cream pics!)
According to the cast members here, this is meant to be a smaller alternative to the actual Kitchen Sink Sundae for guests that don't have a reservation and have to get their ice cream to-go.
But check out what you get here!!!!!!!
FOUR toppings, PLUS a brownie AND Oreo Cookies! Sprinkles! Chocolate Shavings! I don't know about you, but that looks like at least $5 worth of extra value when you consider Disney prices for things like that (heck, a brownie costs you $4 in any bakery, right?).
Well, the question here is: Does it make sense to pay $23 for one of these little beauties?
Obviously, the Beaches and Cream Sundae is a much better value. It has more toppings, more extras, etc. But either way, you get to take home that fancy Mickey pants bowl.
According to our reporter, Wendy, "The ice cream is maybe $8, putting the bowl at $15. I could use it to hold popcorn at home for movie night, put it somewhere to remind me of my vacation… . Maybe I'm an idiot, but, yeah, for Disney prices I think I'm pro the Mickey Pants Sundae. I think 3 bucks less would be about right, but it's cute."
I tend to agree (not about the you being an idiot part ;-D).
By the way, Wendy also recommends asking the restaurant or nearby store for a plastic bag to carry the souvenir pants bowl home — it can be really messy to clean that thing in the Disney auto-sinks! That said, she did mention that it's pretty light as the legs are hollow. An easy souvenir to tote!
What do you think?? Would this Mickey Pants Sundae be a family memory for you, or will you use your $23 elsewhere?


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This article is more than 1 year old
Xbox 360 'least reliable' console
Failure rate at 23.7 per cent
Microsoft's Xbox 360 is the "least reliable" game console on the market, according to electronics warranty firm SquareTrade.
In the first two years of ownership, 23.7 per cent of Xbox 360 owners covered by a SquareTrade warranty have reported a fatal system error. By comparison, 10 per cent of Playstation 3 consoles broke down after two years and only 2.7 per cent for the Nintendo Wii in that period.
In the firm's analysis of 16,000 failed consoles in total, it found the Xbox 360's ubiquitous Red Ring of Death (RROD) failure accounts for about half of the system's malfunctions. Excluding RROD, Xbox failure rates drop to about 11.7 per cent – about level with the PS3.
Continuing to ignore RROD errors, the most frequent problem for the Xbox and PS3 were disc read errors. For the Wii, power issues were the most commonly reported problem.
SquareTrade also found that while Xbox RROD failures were extremely prominent in 2008, they appear to have dropped significantly following Microsoft's introduction of the Jasper chipset late last year.
"It is still too early to definitively assert that Jasper has given RROD a knockout punch, but such an argument may be pronounceable in the coming months," it said.
But the warranter suspects the true impact of RROD may not be fully reflected in their data. It reckons Microsoft's well-publicized extended manufacturer warranty campaign as a result of massive RROD failures caused many customers to bypass SquareTrade and report their woes directly to Microsoft. The firm said it sent an email survey to its customers and found over half of those who experienced a RROD error went to Microsoft without contacting SquareTrade.
Other pollsters have found higher rates of 360 failures. A survey by gaming pub Game Informer in August consisting of 5,000 readers indicated an astounding 54.3 per cent failure rate in Xbox 360 consoles.
Another factor noted in SquareTrade's study was that Wii owners on average tend to spend less time playing the console. According to data gleaned from Nielson in April 2009, the average PS3 was played about 19.85 hours per month, the Xbox 17.5 hours per month, and the Wii 8.6 hours per month. But after applying the Nielson figures to its own study, SquareTrade determined the Xbox 360 still had the highest death rate with a 1.35 per cent chance of failure over 24 hours of use, compared to 0.50 per cent for the PS3 and 0.31 per cent for the Wii.
"Of the three major 7th generation game consoles, we can safely say that the Wii is the most reliable system on the market, with just one-fourth the malfunctions of the PS3 and Xbox 360," the firm concluded.
A copy of the report is available here. ®
(Graphage in this article courtesy SquareTrade)


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(Reminder: EMC, part of the NWS, is the operational weather prediction entity of the U.S.)
I have talked to many people about my blogs and assessment, including meteorologists, both inside and outside the NWS, and highly placed managers and administrators in the NWS: there is essentially no disagreement that we have a serious problem in numerical weather prediction, and that lack of computer power is a major cause but not the only one.
The new NOAA Fairmont Computer Center hss far more capability than EMC's computer center |
It is time to fix the NWS's operational computer deficiency and this blog will describe how it can be done within a year using funds that are already appropriated. But it will take leadership and a willingness to do things a different way. And an end to highly disfunctional relationships in NOAA and the NWS. This is going to be a very frank assessment of the current situation and will get somewhat technical in places...so please forgive me or skip this blog if you find it tedious.
The Problem is Worse Than I Thought
When U.S. Senator Maria Cantwell learned about the lack of computer power for U.S. numerical weather prediction at a luncheon I attended, she asked an important question of the head of the NWS: how can this be when Congress has appropriated large amounts of funds for weather and climate computers? He did not answer, but the answer is clear: nearly all of these resources have been unavailable for weather prediction--most are used for climate studies.
But the problem is deeper and more disturbing than that... other groups in NOAA are securing bigger computers than the national operational center, EMC. And some of these groups are actively working to acquire computer resources for themselves rather than EMC. A good case is the NOAA Earth System Research Lab (ESRL) in NOAA's Office of Atmospheric Research. This lab is tasked with doing research to support operational numerical weather prediction (NWP) in the NWS, even though they are not in the NWS. As noted in an earlier blog, this is a crazy organizational situation, with those running operational NWP in the U.S. unable to control the research that supports them. ESRL has been able to find funds for very large supercomputers (the "jet" machines) that far eclipse what EMC has to work with. ESRL has established essentially operational capabilities and wants to expand it further (they called it Regular Research). Amazingly, two high administrators in OAR/ESRL told me that I should not be working to secure big computers for EMC but rather should get it for THEM! I was really taken aback by their attitude. And recently the Hurricane Forecast Improvement Program (HFIP) received a large computer resource (placed at ESRL) and HFIP is using them for operational global and hurricane-scale simulations.
NOAA ESRL in Boulder houses supercomputers more capable than those used by the U.S.'s main numerical weather prediction facility |
So we have the nutty situation in which operational NWP is starved for computer resources, undermining progress in weather prediction, while climate studies have massive supercomputers available and NOAA fosters active competitors in its organization that are doing essentially operational weather prediction with far greater resources than EMC, the U.S. operational center. This screams about poor leadership and management in NOAA.
The other problem is that the NWS is wasting a substantial amount of the limited computer power it does have today. The graphic below shows how the NWS is using their current computer. A lot of it does not make sense. Time is on the X axis (entire day) and the Y axis is the number of nodes (a node is a collection of processors) used. The various colors represent different models or simulations run on this computer.
The red color on the lower portion, the largest use of the computer, is for the Climate Forecast System, in which they run seasonal forecasts. But they run these forecasts FOUR TIMES A DAY, which makes no sense. Why run a seasonal simulation that often? In contrast, running the global model (the GFS), shown by the dirty green color, only takes a small part of the computer. Furthermore, they run the GFS out FOUR TIMES A DAY to 384 h--why do they do that? Most other big centers only find it is useful to run out twice a day. I could find no objective proof in the literature or elsewhere why such frequent runs could be useful. I can go into more detail, but the bottom line is that the use of EMC's computer is inefficient and not well thought out. A lot is done for legacy reasons. A rational evaluation of cost and benefit would clearly change allocations substantially. But even if they used the current small computers rationally they don't have enough to do what needs to be done.
Production Schedule for EMC's Computer |
What do they really need?
For EMC to serve the nation in a reasonable way, I believe they need the computational resources to do the following:
(1) Run a global ensemble system at 12-15 km resolution (currently they are at roughly 50 km). (Remember ensembles is when you run a model many times with different starting points and model physics, this allows one to get at the uncertainties in a forecast). This ensemble needs to be running the best physics possible, unlike the inferior physics used in the current U.S. global ensemble system.
(2) Run convection resolving high-resolution ensembles over the U.S. (1-4 km resolution). Currently, the U.S. ensemble system is at 16 km resolution. Many of the runs of the current use inferior physics to save computer time.
(3) Run a rapid-update system (like ESRL's HRRR) at 3 km resolution. Eventually, (2) an (3) should be combined.
(4) Lowest priority but useful. Run a global model at 2-4 km resolution.
Doubling resolution takes about 8 times the computer power. My back of the envelope calculation is that the above is doable if EMC had 5-10 petaflops of computer power (well within the range of recently acquired machines by others). The plan below will give it to EMC for operational use and maintain high reliability.
How to Fix the Problem Quickly
First, EMC needs to get their house in order and reduce the waste in their current schedule, which I estimate is roughly 25% of their current computer.
EMC will get an upgrade this summer of their two .07 petaflop machines (the vendor is IBM, one operational and one backup) to .2 petaflops. This is helpful, but not nearly enough. Congress just passed the Hurricane Sandy relief bill for roughly 50 billion dollars. Within this bill is 25 million for enhanced hurricane weather prediction and data assimilation and 50 million for hurricane research...money that is going to NOAA. One thing we learned is that good global weather prediction is the key for hurricane forecasting--that is why the European Center Global Model was the best during Sandy. So you want to help hurricane forecasting? USE ALL OF THE 25 MILLION TO UPGRADE EMC's COMPUTER RESOURCES.
The German weather service just purchased a 23 million dollar CRAY supercomputer that dwarfs what the U.S. NWS now uses. |
Thus, the operational load can be split between the current IBM system, which will increase in size again in 2015 to roughly one petaflop, and the new system purchased with Sandy money. Using these new resources wisely, the NWS operational can jump to world leadership capability in numerical weather prediction and radically improve the products it provides to U.S. users.
Additional Fixes
There is little doubt EMC could quickly take advantage of the increased computer resources (I have confirmed this by talking with their leadership). However, as noted earlier, the problems in U.S. numerical weather prediction are deeper than lack of supercomputers (although fixing that deficiency would be a good start). Management and leadership failures have abounded. To address these problems, immediate attention should be given to the following items:
1. Establish a numerical weather prediction advisory board for EMC that provides recommendations from experts in the entire community. A big part of the problem is that the National Weather Service folks have been too isolated from the rest of the meteorological community. They serve the nation but have generally been unenthusiastic and getting guidance and advice from their users, the private sector, and the research community. This has led NWS EMC to second/third tier status and must change. For years, U.S. National Academy committees and others have recommended that EMC establish a representative advisory committee that would act as an active partner. NWS management has pushed back on this and have done nothing. Enough is enough....this advisory committee should be established immediately and should serve as a sounding board for deciding on which models are run, how they are run, the computer resources, needed and more.
Japan's weather supercomputer (peak .85 petaflops) is roughly ten times larger then U.S. EMC. |
3. Establish a comprehensive verification program for U.S. models. To improve weather forecasting models you must know their strengths and weaknesses. The NWS/EMC model verification program is very weak and superficial. If you want to see how bad things are, check their very poor model verification web pages. Ask a simple question: how well the model's verify over the NW? Better over the mountains or lowlands? Or how has forecast skill over California changed during the past few decades? You will be disappointed I guarantee you. A lot of the statistics are monthly, making it impossible to determine the trends in model skill.
NOAA money supports the Developmental Testbed Center, which I know quite a bit about (I have been chair of their Science Advisory Board). The dream was that folks could provide new research innovations that would be tested in an operational-like environment for a wide range of cases. If successful, they would go into operations. Sounds good? After nearly a decade and millions of dollars, this is a dream that never seems to happen. The DTC should take the testbed role seriously. Now.
Taiwan's weather bureau has a computer twice as fast as EMCs and has purchased one over 15 times as powerful. |
4. Support a model improvement research program. The U.S. has the largest meteorological research community in the world, with universities like the U.S. doing cutting edge research on numerical weather prediction and related topics. NOAA/NWS have failed to take advantage of this huge community, maintaining a miniscule extramural research program. Any new research funds goes right into NOAA coffers. This must change. Let's start with the 50 million in Sandy research money and use most of it for extramural, university-based research. NWS/NOAA extramural weather model research should be targeted to the most acute needs of the National Weather Service modeling efforts. Trust me, money speaks in the research community.
5. Create a strategic plan with community input and do it. Currently, there is NO comprehensive and detailed strategic plan by the National Weather Service on the improvement of numerical weather prediction. This contrasts with foreign meteorological services (such as our neighbors, the Canadians), who have laid out detailed and aggressive roadmaps of their future direction. You can't go far without a map. The NWS needs one and the community should be at the table when it is constructed.
5. Provide decent documentation of what U.S. modeling centers are doing.
Want to figure out the details of the models run by the U.S. ? Good luck. It is pretty much impossible to do so by going to EMC or its parent NCEP's web sites. Scanty, out-of-date material is all you will find. Amusingly, what you WILL find is their response to "certain blogs." You can't imagine whose.
Let me be blunt: the state of operational U.S. numerical weather prediction is an embarrassment to the nation and it does not have to be this way. Taiwan, Germany, England, the European Center, Canada, and other nations have more computer power for their weather prediction services. Our nation has had inferior numerical weather prediction for too long. New computers are an obvious and relatively easy first step, because they make everything possible. For the price of a single warplane we could have greatly improved weather prediction that would save lives and property. Congress and the American public should not accept delays in action. If this issue was placed before a real leader like President Lincoln, asking him when we should act, I can imagine what he would say (click on the arrow at the bottom of the picture to find out):


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Education shoutouts
Published 12:00 am Thursday, April 11, 2013
National Merit Scholarship Corporation announced the names of approximately 800 outstanding black American high school seniors who have won Achievement Scholarship awards through the National Achievement Scholarship Program. The National Achievement Scholarship Program is a privately financed academic competition established in 1964 specifically to honor scholastically talented black American youth and to provide scholarships to a substantial number of the most outstanding participants in each annual competition.
The Achievement Scholar designees announced include 700 recipients of National Achievement $2,500 scholarships. All students who advanced to the finalist level in the 2013 competition were considered for these single-payment scholarships, which were awarded on a regional representation basis in proportion to the population of Black Americans in each geographic region.
Two Rowan County students, Ebonee Collins of A.L. Brown High School in Kannapolis and Dana Salmon of North Hills Christian School, received the National Achievement scholarship.
Collins' probable career field is computer engineering, and Salmon plans to study speech/language pathology.
The following North Hills Christian School students were recognized during third quarter for displaying the fruits of the spirit: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.
First grade: Isabella Banish, Collin Cape, Gentry Horton, Carlee Latva, Isabel Melton, Selah Smith, Jonathan Spillane.
Second grade: Jackson Everhart.
Fourth grade: Maddie Mitchell, Jude Smeltzer, Samantha Spillane.
Fifth grade: Alexis Mangus, Aaron Mills, Devon Mitchell, Kady Staton.
The following students were selected as good citizens at North Rowan Elementary for March based on the character trait integrity: Jackie Ferguson, Addison Trout, Eris Riley, Connor Koontz, Elliott Smith, Julius Drewery, Cadence Shepherd, Selene Albarran-Gutierrez, Tyseana Hughes, Sincere Martin, Kaylin Hill, Marbeli Bustillo-Castro, Yasmin Carillo, Jeremiah McCullum, Madisyn Smith, Xander Malone, Lily Savage, BreAsia Ellia, Charisma Brown, Roger Sanchez, Logan Dellinger, Dusty Ann Bruce, KeAndre Cathy, Dasia Elder, Theodore Luther, Allannah Johnson, Erick Mundo-Flores, Enisha Lyerly, Brooklyn Moss, Noah Williams, Kayla Teague, Sebastian Jabana, Bryanna Moss, Kolby Smith, Madisyn Smith, Ashly Ortiz, Nizhariah Winchester, Ryan Overcash, Jakye Cross, MacKenna Clifton, Cedryn Bost, Isaiah Allen, Ann Espinal-Baquis, Eris Riley, Nayomi Pant, Delijah Carpenter, Dyzarious Carpenter, Matthew Mason, Corey Eliis, Passion Cuthrell, Ally Silvia, Jasmin Lara, Savannah Loftis, Tierra Woods, Janiya Pemberton, Chandler Castillo, Julianna Patterson, Tiana Turner, Ricardo Ruiz, Charlie Durham, Angelo Cervantes, Ahmad Morris, Dania Mendoza.
The following Hanford-Dole Elementary School students were recognized as Good Citizens for the character trait for self-discipline.
Pre-kindergarten — Kimberly Corrales.
Kindergarten — Estefany Nunez, Saqueena Simpson, Aamaiya Ijames, Kaylie Palmer.
First grade — Tyler Kinney, Jaleska Diaz, Dana Quintero, Nathalie Hendren.
Second grade — Bryan Montoya, Jaylah Bethea, Myah Sifford, Isaac Morales.
Third grade — Josh Feaster, Christopher Napoles, David Lopez, Dee Dee Gray.
Fourth grade — Jacob Schwendinger, N'Haisa Barbour, Emanuel Harrell, Mahogony Mashore.
Fifth grade — Charlie Klinger, Ava Stapf, Jose Quintero, Courtney Archer.
March Good Citizens for Cleveland Elementary School:
Kindergarten — CeAiree Watkins, Scarlett Kennedy, Savannah Meadows, Jayden Mills, Elijah McGinnis, Anthony Hagan.
First grade — Zana Smyre-Rouse, Sawyer Henderson, Faun Stamison, Greg Leo, Noah Cook, Amie Rogers.
Second grade — Jonique Staton, Brooklynn Lawson, Easton Troutman, Madelyn VonCannon, Jafet Tavira, Adanysa Santiago.
Third grade — Brianna Hennessy, Jasmine Hinojos, Gabby Nicolosi, Samantha Phelps.
Fourth grade — Grayson Phillips, Parker Safley, Allyson Rumple, Beau Butterfield, Keniya Miller, Sarah Peters.
Fifth grade — Zoe Hager, Aniyah Dalton, Lane Adkins, Nicholi Warren.
Below is a list of the April Star Students for Granite Quarry Elementary School.
Pre-kindergarten — Mathew Avalos.
Kindergarten — Anders Thompson, Ean Timberman, Daisy Berry, Michael Flynn.
First grade — Adam Leffew, Tijon Everhart, Braeden Allum, Corey Leach.
Second grade — Teagan Johnson, Andrew Turner, Gannon Kepley, Lee Jarvis.
Third grade — Laila Brown, Hillary Newman, Bobby Brindle, Ralond Frost.
Fourth grade — Julie Stubbs, Brennen Wise, Caleb Wagoner, Kamari Bruce-Granford.
Fifth grade — Alexis Smith, Olivia Kesler, Katie Donovan, Isatu Sowe.
Salisbury Academy announces its all-A honor roll for third quarter:
Fifth grade — Roshen Amin, Dominic Capito, Archie Dees, Caitlin Hattaway, Mitch Jeter and Marshall Overcash.
Sixth grade — Annabel Barr, Sarah Clifton, Zach Johnson and Ellen Simons.
Seventh grade — Maria Capito, Anna Louise Lewis, Ivy Overcash and Isabel Temple.
Eighth grade — Isabella Alvarez, Sharmi Amin, Juliana Anderson, Andreas Kalogeromitros, Jenny Kribbs, Samantha Pritchard and Katie White.
Two Catawba College students were awarded first place Derieux Research Awards in their respective divisions for excellence in undergraduate research at the 110th Annual Meeting of the North Carolina Academy of Science (NCAS). Marlon Ryan Barber of Mocksville and Mary Podgorak-Lagro of Salisbury were recognized at the annual meeting held April 5 and 6 at University of North Carolina at Pembroke.
The titles of the students' research and the professors who assisted these students are as follows:
• Barber, Marlon R. and Dr. Constance Rogers-Lowery. Effects of ocean acidification on growth of a marine hydroid.
• Podgorak-Lagro, Mary and Dr. Jay Bolin. An evaluation of hybrid intermediacy in the germination ecology of Ashe's Sumac, Rhus asheii (Rhus michauxii X Rhus glabra).
Rogers-Lowery is an assistant professor of biology and chair of that department at Catawba, while Bolin is an associate professor of biology at the college.


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Cognition-enabled robotics | Human motion tracking | Sports game analysis | Facial expression analysis |
Autumn is IROS-time – the IAS team is looking forward to IROS 2012 in Vilamoura, Portual. Below is an overview of our presentations, we are looking forward to meeting you at the conference!
- Everything Robots Always Wanted to Know about Housework (But Were Afraid to Ask). Daniel Nyga and Michael Beetz. (MonAT7.3, Monday 11:30-11:45)
- A Unified Representation for Reasoning about Robot Actions, Processes, and Their Effects on Objects. Moritz Tenorth and Michael Beetz. (MonDT11.3, Monday 16:45-17:00)
- Improving Robot Manipulation through Fingertip Perception. Alexis Maldonado, Humberto Alvarez Heredia, and Michael Beetz. (TueDT10.1, Tuesday 16:15-16:30)
- Semantic Object Maps for Robotic Housework - Representation, Acquisition and Use. Dejan Pangercic, Moritz Tenorth, Benjamin Pitzer, and Michael Beetz (WedET5.1, Wednesday, 15:00-15:15)
The International Conference on Intelligent Autonomous Systems will take place in Jeju Island, Korea from June 26-29.
Michael Beetz will give a plenary talk on the topic of "Robotic Agents Performing Human-Scale Everyday Manipulation Tasks - In the Knowledge Lies the Power". In addition, we have two papers in the session on "Web-Enabled Robotics":
- Exchange of Action-related Information among Autonomous Robots (Thursday, 10:30-10:50, Room 301)
- RoboEarth Action Recipe Execution (Thursday, 09:30-09:50, Room 301)
Moritz Tenorth and Michael Beetz win Best Cognitive Robotics Paper Award at ICRA 2012
We are very proud to announce that Moritz Tenorth and Michael Beetz with their co-authors Alexander Perzylo and Reinhard Lafrenz won the Best Cognitive Robotics Paper Award at ICRA 2012 with the paper titled: The RoboEarth language: Representing and Exchanging Knowledge about Actions, Objects, and Environments. Congratulations!
IAS at the Automatica 2012
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The IAS team will be involved in two demonstrations at the Automatica trade fair: Our PR2 will prepare popcorn for the visitors at the CoTeSys booth in hall B1, booth 321.
As part of the DLR booth, parts of the team will present first results of the SAPHARI project, namely DLR lightweight arms playing with BRIO wooden toy railways (hall B3, booth 520/521).
We are looking forward to meeting you there!
The IAS team is preparing for ICRA 2012 in St. Paul, MN. We will organize a workshop on Semantic Perception and Mapping for Knowledge-enabled Service Robotics and have seven paper presentations. Please find the locations and schedule below.
We are looking forward to meeting you at the conference!
- Workshop on Semantic Perception and Mapping for Knowledge-enabled Service Robotics (Friday, 09:00-17:00, Room 9)
- Real-Time Compression of Point Cloud Streams (Tuesday, 11:30−11:45, Room 8)
- The RoboEarth Language: Representing and Exchanging Knowledge about Actions, Objects, and Environments (Tuesday, 15:45−16:00, Room 9)
- Movement-Aware Action Control - Integrating Symbolic and Control-Theoretic Action Execution (Wednesday, 16:30−16:45, Room 2)
- A Generalized Framework for Opening Doors and Drawers in Kitchen Environments (Thursday, 08:30−08:45, Room 6)
- Learning Organizational Principles in Human Environments (Thursday, 09:00−09:15, Room 6)
- Searching Objects in Large-Scale Indoor Environments: A Decision-Theoretic Approach (Thursday, 11:45−12:00, Room 7)
- Robots That Validate Learned Perceptual Models (Thursday, 11:15−11:30, Room 9)


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Some 6,500 migrants rescued off Libya
Around 6,500 migrants were rescued off the coast of Libya, the Italian coastguard said, in one of its busiest days of life-saving in recent years.
Dramatic images of one operation showed about 700 migrants crammed onto a fishing boat, with some of them jumping off the vessel in life jackets and swimming towards rescuers.
A five-day-old baby was among those rescued along with other infants and was airlifted to an Italian hospital, according to Doctors Without Borders (MSF), which took part in operations.
ALSO READ: Stunning photos show thousands of migrants rescued off coast of Libya
"The command centre coordinated 40 rescue operations" that included vessels from Italy, humanitarian organisations as well as the EU's border agency Frontex, saving 6,500 migrants, the coastguard wrote on Twitter.
"We've been particularly busy today," a spokesman for the Italian coastguard told AFP.
On Sunday more than 1,100 migrants were rescued in the same area.
The total number of arrivals in Italy this year now stands at 112,500, according to the UN's refugee agency and the coastguard, slightly below the 116,000 recorded by the same point in 2015.
Almost all of those migrants originate from West Africa and the Horn of Africa, often departing from Libya en masse when the sea is calm and a southern wind can push boats up into international waters.
Such days often come one after another, leading to large numbers of boats over a short period. More than 13,000 people were rescued in under a week at the end of May, and 8,300 more at the start of August.
The Italian coastguard predicted that weather conditions would encourage the departure of further migrant boats Tuesday.
The vessels are often flimsy and overcrowded while some of the migrants set off in such poor health that even if the crossing is calm they cannot survive a day at sea.
There are around a dozen vessels run by humanitarian groups that patrol the waters off the Libyan coast, but tensions in the zone have flared recently as rival factions battle to control migrant trafficking.
This month an MSF ship taking part in migrant rescue operations came under attack from armed men who shot at the vessel before briefly climbing aboard, the medical charity said.
Nobody was hurt in the incident, which took place on August 17, the group said.
More than 3,000 migrants have died at sea while trying to reach either Greece or Italy since the start of this year, an increase of some 50 percent on the same period in 2015.
Some 204,000 others crossed the Mediterranean to Europe in the first six months of this year, the UN refugee agency said, as the continent battles its worst migration crisis since World War II.
Last year more than one million migrants made the journey to Europe, with the majority fleeing war in Syria and the Middle East.


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South African Journal of Education
versão On-line ISSN 2076-3433
versão impressa ISSN 0256-0100
S. Afr. j. educ. vol.30 no.3 Pretoria Jan. 2010
Educators' disciplinary capabilities after the banning of corporal punishment in South African schools
Cosmas MaphosaI; Almon ShumbaII
The escalation of learner indiscipline cases in schools suggests failure by teachers to institute adequate alternative disciplinary measures after corporal punishment was outlawed in South African schools. We sought to address the following two research questions: (a) How do educators view their disciplinary capabilities in the post-corporal punishment period? and (b) How do educators view the usefulness of alternative disciplinary measures? The study adopted a qualitative approach. A case study of three purposively selected practising junior secondary school educators was used. Data were collected through interviews. We found that educators generally feel disempowered in their ability to institute discipline in schools in the absence of corporal punishment. Educators revealed that learners do not fear or respect educators because they know that nothing will happen to them. Although educators are aware of alternative disciplinary measures, they view them as ineffective and time consuming.
Keywords: corporal punishment; educator capacity; indiscipline; schools; South Africa
The democratization of the South African school system in line with the new democratic constitution enacted upon attainment of independence in 1994 has brought with it emphasis on respect and preservation of children's rights. As a signatory to the Convention on the Rights of the Child, the country is compelled to pass laws and take social, educational and administrative measures to protect the child. Resultantly, disciplinary measures like corporal punishment were abolished. Section 12 of the South African Constitution Act 108 of 1996 states that "everyone has the right not to be treated or punished in a cruel, inhuman or degrading way". In line with the Constitution, the National Education Policy Act of 1996 (Republic of South Africa, 1996a:A-47) states that "no person shall administer corporal punishment or subject a student to psychological or physical abuse at any educational institution". Schools have to come up with functional alternative measures in order to deal with indiscipline. This shows the dilemma schools face in trying to respect children's rights and at the same time finding adequate and meaningful measures to deal with learner indiscipline without infringing on the said rights (Chisholm, 2007).
Current research shows that cases of learner indiscipline are on the increase in South African schools and in some cases, learners are alleged to have murdered others in school premises (Harber, 2001; Zulu, Urbani, Van der Merwe & Van der Walt, 2004). As such, a lot of learner indiscipline cases have been reported in schools and this has raised concerns about the safety of schools and classroom environments. In their study, Zulu et al. (2004) reported cases of learner indiscipline in high schools in KwaMashu in northern Durban. In a similar vein, Aziza (2001) reported a sharp rise of cases of learners suspended and expelled from the Western Cape schools. Reasons that have led to suspensions and expulsions include physical and verbal confrontations, theft, substance abuse and watching pornography (Aziza, 2001).
Such cases of learner indiscipline have impacted negatively on teaching and learning in the schools (Zulu et al., 2004). Cases of learners injured and killed within the confines of the school are on the increase in South African schools. Press reports continue to alert the public on the rise of indiscipline cases (Thompson, 2002). The magnitude of reported cases of learner indiscipline warrants the use of different kinds of punishment-based disciplinary measures and the question still remains on the usefulness of such measures in curbing future occurrences of indiscipline or in helping the perpetrators. The next section looks at the South African constitutional legal requirements.
The South African Constitution (1996)
The constitution of any country is the supreme law upon which all other pieces of legislation are drawn. The constitution shapes the world view of a country in its socio-political and economic outlook. South Africa managed to have a democratic constitution in place after a bitter and protracted resistance to a divisive, degrading and almost inhumane apartheid system that treated the majority of blacks in the country as second-class citizens. The new democratic constitution sought to address the previous imbalances of the apartheid system. The preamble of the constitution states:
We therefore, through our freely elected representatives, adopt this Constitution as the supreme law of the Republic so as to heal the divisions of the past and establish a society based on democratic, social justice and fundamental human rights.
The South Africa Constitution of 1996 (Republic of South Africa, 1996b), therefore, explicitly enshrines, guarantees and protects human rights in general and children's rights in particular. The second chapter of the constitution focuses on the Bill of Rights and states in unequivocal terms the need to protect such rights. For example, Section 12 (1) of the constitution which states that:
Everyone has the right to freedom and security of the person, which includes the right not to be tortured in any way; and not to be treated or punished in a cruel, inhuman or degrading way (Republic of South Africa, 1996b:7).
This section has direct implications to what happens in schools and classrooms. Learner misbehaviour can be gross at times and negatively affect the smooth running of the schools and the safety of educators and learners. Disciplinary strategies that school authorities and educators use to punish learners must not result in torture that demeans the humaneness of a child. In line with the constitutional requirement, corporal punishment was banned in South African schools. Morrell (2001), however, states that even after the banning of the use of corporal punishment in schools, educators still used it as a strategy to discipline learners. Wittingly or unwittingly educators may be unaware that they are committing crimes under the guise of disciplining learners. Mtsweni (2008) observes that after the banning of corporal punishment in schools, most educators feel incapacitated and helpless in dealing with learner indiscipline in schools. Learners are believed to have now become ill disciplined to the extent that they even openly challenge the teacher's authority because they know that nothing would be done to them (Masitsa, 2008).
The National Education Policy Act of 1996
The Act (Republic of South Africa, 1996a) among other issues clearly defines the specific roles of the education on South African schools and one of the roles is 'Community, citizenship and pastoral role' in which the educator is required and expected to uphold the constitution and promote democratic values and practices in schools. This implies that in whatever way educators operate, they should not violate the constitution when disciplining learners.
South African Schools Act 84 of 1996
The Act states that discipline must be maintained in the school and classroom situations so that the education of learners flourishes without disruptive behaviour and offences (Republic of South Africa, 1996:8). The Act places the responsibility of maintaining discipline on the educators. Under the Schools Act of 1996, the use of corporal punishment in schools is banned. According to the Act, the perpetrator is liable to a sentence. Therefore, educators need to devise strategies that take cognizance of learners' rights and protection. However, the Act is not explicit on the disciplinary strategies educators should adopt to handle learner indiscipline in schools.
The Schools Act of 1996 also stipulates Regulations for Safety Measures at Schools and categorically states that that dangerous objects and drugs are not allowed in schools premises. However, learners continue to bring weapons into school premises and at times use them against other learners and their educators (Zulu et al., 2004). The issue is: What disciplinary measures should be instituted against perpetrators in a way that would not infringe on their rights? The Act reiterates the provisions of the constitution and states categorically that learners should not be punished in a cruel or demeaning manner and should not be detained in solitary confinements or locked out of safe environments. This implies that the educators should protect, promote and respect the rights of learners. As such, the implementation of disciplinary measures in schools results in a dilemma on how educators should discipline learners without infringing on the learners' rights.
Alternatives to corporal punishment
Prior to independence in 1994, the maintenance of discipline in schools heavily relied on the use of corporal punishment and discipline was taken as synonymous with punishment (Porteus, Vally & Ruth, 2001). In order to help educators come up with alternatives to corporal punishment, the then Minister of Education, designed a comprehensive document entitled 'Alternatives to Corporal Punishment'. Disciplinary measures to be taken in South African schools are clearly documented in different levels.
Revelations from Department of Education (DoE, 2000) are full of contestation insofar as the recommendations they suggest for different cases of learner indiscipline. Since this study was triggered by safety and security concerns in schools, it is Levels 4 and 5 cases that face contestation. In both levels, suspension and expulsion are recommended and it is always a concern on whether suspension and expulsion of learners from school really serve the desired purpose of curbing leaner indiscipline. Are these measures deterrent enough?
Statement of the problem
This study was triggered by the escalation of cases of learner indiscipline in schools which now raises safety and security concerns. This is against numerous press reports of fatalities in schools as a result of learner indiscipline. In a recent study of the experiences and observations of a group of Free State educators of learner-on-learner, learner-on-educator and educator-on-learner violence and violence-related behaviour, De Wet (2007) found that Free State learners and educators are mostly exposed to verbal and physical violence. The study also found that school size, age and its location had a statistically significant influence on most forms of violence and violence-related behaviour. Furthermore, the study found that secondary schools, schools with 500 or more learners and schools located in rural areas reported the highest incidence of most forms of learner and educator violence and violence-related behaviour. Similar findings were reported by Harber (2001) who found that violent crime was widespread in South Africa and schools in disadvantaged areas suffer from serious problems of gang-related crime. It is a cause for concern whether or not educators' control of learners has always hinged on the use of corporal punishment. As such, the escalation of cases of learner indiscipline in schools suggests failure by teachers to institute adequate alternative disciplinary measures after corporal punishment was outlawed in schools. It is against this background that this study sought to address the following research questions: (a) How do educators view their disciplinary capabilities in the post-corporal punishment period? and (b) How do educators view the usefulness of alternative disciplinary measures?
The study was qualitative in nature and was guided by the interpretivist paradigm that seeks to understand phenomenon wholly in its context (Merriam, 1998). This study sought insights that are crucial to children's rights issues and punishment from the point of view of educators themselves. Qualitative data were collected on views, feeling, attitudes, likes and dislikes pertaining to the issue under investigation.
A purposive sample of three experienced educators (one male, two females) from three rural schools in the Eastern Cape was used in this study. Senior educators who taught during the time when corporal punishment was still allowed in schools and were currently teaching at that time when corporal punishment had been outlawed were used. The use of a case study enabled the researchers to gain insight into the perceptions, feelings, concerns and aspirations of the educators.
Interviews were the main source of data collection in the study because they enabled the researchers to converse naturally with the participants. This also allowed participants to freely express their feelings. Interviews also enabled the researchers to probe on answers given and to observe the body language of participants.
Consent was sought from participants in this study. Pseudo names were used to protect the identity of participants. The purpose of the study was explained to participants before the interview process. Participants were also assured that data collected would be kept confidential and would only be used for purposes of this study.
Data analysis
Qualitative data collected were analysed using themes derived from the two research questions that guided the study. Reporting of data took the form of thick description and verbatim quotations.
The following were the results of this study:
Educator 1
Mr Malata was a qualified and experienced educator in the school. He joined the school in 1990 (4 years teaching during the apartheid period and 14 years post-apartheid) and held a Diploma in Education. He specialized in teaching Economic Management Sciences (EMS) and Technology and was one of the senior educators in the school. He was selected because of his long service experience.
Mr Malata's views on their disciplinary capabilities in the post-corporal punishment period
Mr Malata started by looking at the period when teachers would use corporal punishment in schools. He explained what used to happen during the time and apparently to him they were 'good old days.' He said:
Of course, the use of corporal punishment then was controlled. It was really stipulated as to who should administer it and on what grounds. It was also clarified on the number of strokes to give and the type of switch to use. However, the fact that corporal punishment made it possible for every teacher to use it in the classrooms without any records kept. Learners were aware that if they misbehaved, they would be canned. It helped a lot and it was easy to keep learners under control and to keep them focused.
According to Mr Malata, corporal punishment was liberally used and from his explanation it helped him and other teachers to ensure discipline in schools and classroom. He was then asked on his opinion of the use of corporal punishment in relation to children's rights. He explained that their intention of using corporal punishment was not to harm any learner but to correct them. He explained:
I have read a lot about children's rights and the so called abuses through caning. The worst abuse of children is to produce lawless and undisciplined kids in the name of children's rights. Are we saying children know what to and they do not need any guidance? Look at the gravity of indiscipline in schools today. In the past it was unheard of that a learner would kill another learner within the school premises. Without disciplining, we are killing the future of our country.
Asked if he was advocating the reintroduction of corporal punishment, he said that its reintroduction was long overdue. On how the educators were currently controlling learners in the absence of corporal punishment, he said that most of the teachers were no longer concerned about ensuring discipline in the schools because the current legislation has made all efforts impossible. He said:
The child has more rights than a teacher. Imagine a teacher being hauled before the courts for being accused of threatening a learner, not even beating, threatening. It shows you the problems we face in these schools. Learners are not only aware of their rights but very sensitive to them. You only need to teach and whether these learners listen or do assigned work its not our concern, for any attempt to deal with them is putting your future at risk.
Mr Malata talked with a lot of emotion and the interviewer always interrupted to ensure completion of main concerns on the interview. The emotions showed a lot of concern and real involvement in the issue from the part of the interviewee.
Mr Malata's views on the usefulness of alternative disciplinary measures
Mr Malata indicated that although there were several suggested alternative disciplinary measures, these were not as effective as corporal punishment. To him corporal punishment was effective as a deterrent measure because learners were afraid of suffering the pain. Asked on what alternative measures he particularly used in his classroom, he said that at times he asked learners who were negligent of their work to kneel on the floor or to do some menial tasks like picking up papers but these never seemed deterrent enough. When asked if he ever talked to the misbehaving learners, he said that he did so and at times invited their parents into the school. He however said that some parents did not come and some of those who came were not supportive and always sided with their children. He termed some of the alternatives time consuming, time wasting and ineffective. It was clear from the interview with Mr Malata that he was frustrated and disenchanted by learner indiscipline and the banning of corporal punishment in schools.
Educator 2
Ms Mangaliso was an experienced educator with 18 years of teaching experience (four years teaching during the apartheid period and 14 years post-apartheid). She held Bachelor of Education (Honours) degree and had taught in three other schools prior to her coming to the school where she was currently teaching.
Ms Mangaliso's views on their disciplinary capabilities in the post-corporal punishment period
When asked about how educators controlled learner indiscipline in the absence of corporal punishment, Ms Mangaliso said that most teachers used corporal punishment illegally. She said:
During this time, the use of corporal punishment was abused by many educators. The set guidelines on the use of corporal punishment were disregarded in the classroom by educators. Educators would beat learners without permission from school authorities and no records were kept. However, learners never complained because they are aware that corporal punishment was part of the disciplinary measures.
She indicated that maintaining discipline before corporal punishment was outlawed in schools was a lot easier than at present. She indicated that in the past an educator would threaten to beat up learners who misbehaved and they would take him seriously as opposed to the present day when learners know that they cannot be beaten. Ms Mangaliso further indicated that what made it worse for teachers to fail to maintain discipline in schools was the awareness by the learner that they have rights. She had this to say:
I believe the issue of rights has been taken too far. Learners now feel completely liberated and as teachers we now feel powerless because the learners we teach have rights and they know. It is humiliating when you want to discipline a learner and he or she tells you in the face that you are abusing him or her. In the eyes of our learners we are now weak as far as maintaining discipline is concerned.
When asked about whether or not there was need to protect children's rights when disciplining them in schools, she indicated that children have rights which certainly needed to be protected but there was still need to ensure that they were disciplined so as to create conducive teaching and learning environments. She also said:
Imagine now we have serious cases of indiscipline by learners in schools. There are a lot of cases of drug abuse in schools, rape and killings. A child would bring a gun to school and shoot another innocent child. We fold our arms and say children have rights, what rights?
It is clear from the above educator's sentiments that it is increasingly difficult to maintain discipline in schools in the absence of corporal punishment.
Ms Mangaliso's views on the usefulness of alternative disciplinary measures
On the issue of her awareness of alternative disciplinary measures to corporal punishment, Ms Mangaliso said she was aware of the suggested alternatives and she indicated that she had a copy of the "Alternatives to Corporal Punishment" document somewhere in her files. She said that the alternatives were a problem and further complicated the issue of disciplining learners. She said:
It is very difficult, for example, to suspend a learner from school. There should be permission from the department and the justification for suspension; has to be substantiated and a decision is arrived after many long and winding meetings. Justice is actually delayed and at times never realized. A learner may commit a very serious act of misconduct but remains in the school while the hearing meetings are held and letters are written. The process is long, tedious and boring that it really sends wrong signals to other would-be offenders.
It was clear from Ms Mangaliso that she was aware of the existence of alternative disciplinary measures to corporal punishment but in her opinion these were not very helpful.
Educator 3
Ms Ribatika was also another experienced educator with 16 years teaching experience (two years teaching during the apartheid period and 14 years post-apartheid) and also held a teaching degree.
Ms Ribatika's views on their disciplinary capabilities in the post-corporal punishment period
Ms Ribatika said in the past, it was very easy to maintain discipline in her class. She indicated that learners were not as unruly as they were nowadays because corporal punishment had immediate deterrent effects that ensured the smooth flow of lessons. She said:
You did not need to always beat learners every time. It was a question of demonstrating your seriousness on a few culprits at the beginning of the term and then no one would dare misbehave for they knew the consequences.
On the usefulness of this kind of discipline that was based on fear when compared to the use of methods that taught responsibility and self discipline, she said:
You need to understand disciplining of learners within the context of a classroom where you need to deliver your lesson. For you to effectively deliver your lessons, you need order and attention from learners. The kind of order you need is not negotiated order but you need to be in control of the situation.
Asked on the kind of problems she was currently facing in the absence of corporal punishment, she said:
Classrooms are chaotic these days. There are some classes you really dread to enter. Apart from fearing for your own safety, you also see that teaching under the circumstances is sheer waste of time. At times I struggle just to ensure that learners maintain silence while you teach. If I give learners work to do, most of them do not do it ...
It was clear from her that maintaining learner discipline in schools was a nightmare for teachers and that she was very frustrated by the situation.
Ms Ribatika's views on the usefulness of alternative disciplinary measures
Ms Ribatika indicated that she was aware of the existence of alternative disciplinary measures. When asked about how she dealt with learners who did not do homework, class work assignments or tests, she said that at times she asked them to leave the classroom but this would not solve anything. She also tried calling in their parents to come to the school for discussion but some parents did not come and in some cases parents were not supportive. She added:
Most of these alternative methods are actually time wasting. A teacher would spend weeks just trying to deal with the case of a child who is not doing his or her work at school. This takes a lot of the teacher's time and also disturbs serious learners as the teacher may not attend classes while attending to disciplinary hearings or talking to parents summoned to the school.
It was clear from Ms Ribatika that alternative disciplinary measures had proved ineffective and time consuming for her.
The study found that educators generally feel disempowered in their ability to maintain discipline in schools in the absence of corporal punishment. This concurs with Makapela's (2006) findings that learners literally take advantage of educators because they know fully well that whatever punishment that is given, will not equal the pain of corporal punishment. The disempowering of educators has also led to feelings of abdication of the critical role of disciplining learners. The seeming abdication of this role could be attributed to the rise in cases of learner indiscipline in schools (Kgosana, 2006; Van Wyk, 2001).
The revelation in the study that "learners had neither fear nor respect for teachers and behaved as they pleased" signals a recipe for chaos in our schools. Indiscipline creates unsafe schools that are a danger to both learners and educators. Such school environments are marked by violence that can result in injuries and fatalities on learners (Aziza, 2001). Educators need to be able to control learners and enforcing security and safety in schools is of utmost importance (Fishbaugh, Schroth, & Berkerely, 2003).
The study further found that educators seem to view the rights given to learners as more than those given to the educators themselves. It is interesting to note from the findings that educators are aware that children's rights were important and need to be protected. However, their argument is that leaving children to act as they pleased is not only unacceptable but equally a form of abuse that does not consider the children's future as responsible citizens. Nieuwenhuis, Beckmann and Prinsloo (2007) observe that schools have a crucial role to perpetuate societal values and this can only be done if learners are taught to be responsible for their own behaviours. Similarly, Du Bois (2006) argues that a school system should mirror the society and teachers in the school should be in total control of learners. In every society, every citizen is expected to live within the confines of laws, bylaws, rules and regulations with the transgression of these laws yielding consequences that are at times too ghastly to contemplate.
The issue of children's rights within the context of disciplinary measures was found to be one critical issue in the dispensation of modern education (Chisholm, 2007). As a result of the stress on children's rights, it should be stressed that these rights have limitations and one important observation is that an individual's rights should not interfere with the rights of others. For example, Masitsa (2008:240) observes that children in schools now engage in criminal activities that are "injurious to teachers and fellow learners and hamper academic activities". This implies that educators need to act professionally and administer the necessary disciplinary measures in order to ensure a conducive learning environment for the majority of the learners (Tauber, 2007).
In this study, educators suggested that alternatives measures to corporal punishment were not very effective in curbing learner indiscipline in schools. There are arguments for the use of corporal punishment but with the thrust on protection of children's rights and the documented negative effects of corporal punishment (Zaibert, 2006). There is increasing need for teachers to be ware of effective alternative measures and embrace them (Belvel & Jordan, 2002). Educators could make use of co-operative disciplinary measures as compared to punitive and harsh disciplinary measures. Punitive measures may not always achieve the intended objectives. Co-operative discipline is a theory of discipline that seems to work for children today because it offers corrective, supportive, and most important, preventive strategies (Canter & Canter, 2001). Preventive measures to dealing with learner indiscipline are more proactive and useful than reactive ones that may not repair the damage caused (Scharle & Szabo, 2000). With the changing needs of society, new techniques and strategies should work for children in order to achieve order and control in today's classrooms.
The ultimate goal of co-operative discipline is to inspire children to make smart choices and develop positive behaviour (Canter, 2007). It is a collaborative effort on the part of the student, teacher, administration, and parent (Mtsweni, 2008). Child development research indicates that self-esteem is critical for successful growth and emotional development (Gwirayi & Shumba, 2007). Learners with positive self-esteem feel valued and independent in school and this helps to foster co-operation and responsibility. Positive discipline creates a climate that promotes self-discipline because the child has a positive self-esteem and is therefore better able to maintain self-control (Hue & Wai-Shing, 2008). This implies that children should realize that they are solely responsible for appropriate behaviour. Discipline solely from a position of power teaches learners that they only have to behave when someone is around to punish them.
Conclusion and recommendations
This study sought an in-depth understanding of educators' disciplinary capabilities in the absence of corporal punishment in South African schools. The study also looked at how educators viewed the use and usefulness of alternative disciplinary measures. The study found that teachers felt disempowered by the outlawing of corporal punishment. It has become increasing difficult for educators to ensure discipline in schools as a result of the banning of corporal punishment. Some educators are almost abdicating the responsibility of maintaining discipline in schools citing frustrations because of exiting legislative instruments. The study also found that the thrust on children's rights and subsequent banning of corporal punishment has ushered an era of freedom for learners who no longer have respect or fear for their educators. The study also found that educators were aware of the need to protect children's rights and also ensuring that they were disciplined. However, educators felt that the alternative disciplinary measures to corporal punishment were not effective.
We recommend that: (a) Educators should be staff-developed on the use of co-operative and supportive disciplinary approaches. This would arm them with skills necessary to administer discipline at all times without resorting to corporal punishment. (b) There should be the teaching of Human Rights Education as a separate subject in schools with emphasis on responsible behaviours. (c) There should be close collaboration between parents and educators to ensure the development of self-discipline.
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Cosmas Maphosa is Researcher in the University Teaching and Learning Office at the Howard College Campus of the University of KwaZulu-Natal. His research focus is on school discipline, curriculum development, mentorship, school management, and higher education issues.
Almon Shumba is Research Professor in the Faculty of Humanities at the Central University of Technology, Free State. His research focus is on child abuse and neglect, school violence, self-concept, brain drain, and HIV/AIDS issues.