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|2014 Grammy Awards|
The Grammy awards are named from the trophy: a small, gilded reproduction of a gramophone.
|Awarded for||Outstanding achievements in the music industry|
|Presented by||National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences|
A Grammy Award (originally called Gramophone Award) – or Grammy – is an accolade by the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences of the United States to recognize outstanding achievement in the music industry. The annual presentation ceremony features performances by prominent artists, and some of the awards of more popular interest are presented in a widely viewed televised ceremony. It is the music equivalent to the Emmy Awards for television, the Tony Awards for stage performances, and the Academy Awards for motion pictures.
The first Grammy Awards ceremony was held on May 4, 1959, and it was set up to honor musical accomplishments by performers for the year 1958. Following the 2011 ceremony, NARAS overhauled many Grammy Award categories for 2012. The 55th Grammy Awards were held on February 10, 2013, at the Staples Center in Los Angeles, California.
The Grammy Awards had their origin in the Hollywood Walk of Fame project in the 1950s. As the recording executives chosen for the Walk of Fame (Tabinda Walk) committee worked at compiling a list of important recording industry people who might qualify for a Walk of Fame star, they realized there were many more people who were leaders in their business who would never earn a star on Hollywood Boulevard. The music executives decided to rectify this by creating an award given by their industry similar to the Oscars and the Emmys. This was the beginning of the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences. After it was decided to create such an award, there was still a question of what to call it; one working title was the Eddie, to honor the inventor of the phonograph, Thomas Edison. They finally settled on using the name of the invention of Emile Berliner, the gramophone, for the awards, which were first given for the year 1958.
The gold-plated trophies, each depicting a gilded gramophone, are made and assembled by hand by Billings Artworks in Ridgway, Colorado. In 1990 the original Grammy design was revamped, changing the traditional soft lead for a stronger alloy less prone to damage, made of slumped and reformed pre-war Gibson flat head banjo tone rings, making the trophy bigger and grander. The trophies with the recipient's name engraved on them are not available until after the award announcements, so "stunt" trophies are re-used each year for the broadcast.
As of February 2009, 7,578 Grammy trophies had been awarded.
The "General Field" are four awards which are not restricted by genre.
Other awards are given for performance and production in specific genres, as well as for other contributions such as artwork and video. Special awards are given for longer-lasting contributions to the music industry.
Because of the large number of award categories (78 in 2012), and the desire to feature several performances by various artists, only the ones with the most popular interest - typically about 10 to 12, including the four General Field categories and one or two categories in the most popular music genres (i.e. pop, rock, country, rap) - are presented directly at the televised award ceremony. Other awards are presented in a pre-telecast ceremony earlier in the afternoon of the Grammy awards ceremony.
On April 6, 2011, The Recording Academy announced a drastic overhaul of many Grammy Award categories for 2012. The number of categories were diminished from 109 to 78. The most important change is the elimination of the distinction between male and female soloists and between collaborations and duo/groups in various genre fields (pop, rock, R&B, country, and rap). Also, several categories for instrumental soloists were discontinued. Recordings in these categories now fall under the general categories for best solo performances.
The most eliminations occurred in the roots category. Up to and including 2011, there were separate categories for various regional American music forms, such as Hawaiian music, Native American music and Zydeco/Cajun music. Due to the consistently low number of entries for these categories, The Recording Academy decided to combine all these music variations into the new Best Regional Roots Music Album, including polka, which lost its own separate category in 2009.
In the same genre field, the traditional and contemporary blues categories and the traditional and contemporary folk categories each were consolidated into one per genre, due to the number of entries and given the challenges in distinguishing between contemporary folk and Americana, and contemporary and traditional blues. In the world music genre field, the traditional and contemporary categories have also been merged.
In the classical genre field, its main category Best Classical Album has been discontinued because most recipients in this category had also won in one of the other classical categories for the same album. Classical recordings are now eligible for the main Album of the Year category.
There are also a few minor name changes to better reflect the nature of the separate categories. It was determined by the Recording Academy that the word "gospel" in the gospel genre field tends to conjure up the images and sounds of traditional soul gospel and leaves out the current contemporary Christian music (CCM). Therefore the genre field and some categories have been renamed as Gospel/Contemporary Christian Music.
Record companies and individuals may submit recordings to be nominated. Nominations are made online and a physical copy of the work is sent to the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences. Once a work is entered, reviewing sessions are held, by more than 150 experts from the recording industry, to determine whether the work is eligible and entered in the correct category for official nomination.
The resulting list is circulated to all NARAS members, each of whom may vote to nominate in the general field (Record of the Year, Album of the Year, Song of the Year, and Best New Artist) and in no more than nine out of 30 other fields on their ballots. The five recordings that earn the most votes in each category become the nominees. There may be more than five nominees if there is a tie in the nomination process.
Whereas members of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences are generally invited to screenings or are sent DVDs of movies nominated for Oscars, NARAS members do not receive nominated recordings.
After nominees have been determined, final voting ballots are sent to Recording Academy members, who may then vote in the general fields and in no more than eight of the 30 fields. NARAS members are encouraged, but not required, to vote only in their fields of expertise. Ballots are tabulated secretly by the major independent accounting firm Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu. Following the tabulation of votes the winners are announced at the Grammy Awards. The recording with the most votes in a category wins and it is possible to have a tie. Winners are presented with the Grammy Award and those who do not win are given a medal for their nomination.
In both voting rounds, Academy members are required to vote based upon quality alone, and not to be influenced by sales, chart performance, personal friendships, regional preferences or company loyalty. The acceptance of gifts is prohibited. Members are urged to vote in a manner that preserves the integrity of the academy.
The eligibility period for the 2013 Grammy Awards was October 1, 2011 to September 30, 2012.
Prior to 1971, the Grammy Award ceremonies were held in different locations on the same day. Originally New York City and Los Angeles were the host cities. Chicago joined being a host city in 1962, and then Nashville became the fourth location in 1965.
The 1971 ceremony, held at the Hollywood Palladium in Los Angeles, was the first to take place in one location. The ceremony was then moved to Madison Square Garden's Felt Forum in New York City, and then Nashville's Tennessee Theatre in the following two years. Then from 1974 to 2003, the Grammys were held in various venues in New York City and Los Angeles. Notable locations included New York City's Madison Square Garden and Radio City Music Hall; and Los Angeles' Shrine Auditorium, the Staples Center and the Hollywood Palladium.
In 2004, the Staples Center became the permanent home of the award ceremonies. The Grammy Museum was built across the street from Staples Center in LA Live to preserve the history of the Grammy Awards. Embedded on the sidewalks at the museum streets are bronze disks, similar to the Hollywood Walk of Fame, honoring each year's top winners, Record of the Year, Best New Artist, Album of the Year, and Song of the Year.
With 31 Grammy Awards, Sir Georg Solti is the artist with the most Grammy wins. Alison Krauss is the biggest winner among female artists with 27 awards. U2, with 22 Grammy Awards, holds the record for most awards won by a group.
The Grammy Awards has received criticism from various recording artists and music journalists.
When his band Pearl Jam won a Grammy in the category Best Hard Rock Performance in 1996, singer Eddie Vedder commented on stage: "I don't know what this means. I don't think it means anything." Glen Hansard, leader of the Irish rock group The Frames, stated in 2008 that the Grammys represent something outside of the real world of music "that's fully industry based." He said he wasn't that interested in attending that year's ceremony, even though he had been nominated for two different awards. Maynard James Keenan, lead singer of metal band Tool, did not attend the Grammy Awards ceremony to receive one of their awards. He explained his reasons:
I think the


Lesson 19
Changing Matter: Day One of Nahari Has The Solution!
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SWBAT compare and contrast mixtures and solutions
Big Idea
What is a mixture? What is a solution? How do you tell the difference between the two? Students actively mix, filter, and evaporate, to add to their growing wealth of knowledge about the properties of matter.
Setting Up the Investigation
Connection to The Next Generation Science Standards
In this investigation, students explore the Disciplinary Core Idea of Structure and Properties of Matter - When two or more different substances are mixed, a new substance with different properties may be formed (5-PS1-4) and the Crosscutting Concept of Scale, Proportion, and Quantity - Standard units are used to measure and describe physical quantities such as weight, time temperature, and volume (5-PS1-4).
Please Note: The Lexile Level for What's The Matter Plaid Pete? - Lab Scenario Sheet Lesson 18 is 890 (5th Grade Range is 740 - 1010).
The Preparation Time for This Investigation is approximately 20 minutes.
Materials Needed:
One copy for each student of the Safety Contract
One copy for each student of What's The Matter Plaid Pete?- Lab Scenario Lesson 19
One copy for each student of What's The Matter Plaid Pete?- Lab Sheet Lesson 19 (copy as separate pages - as you will hand out at different times)
One graduated cylinder for each team
Safety Goggles for each student
One plastic cup with holes and a coffee filter per team (or other system to filter material)
3 additional plastic cups per team (For Cups A, B, & C)
1 vis a vis pen per team to mark cups
Salt for each team (Substance 1)
Corn Meal for each team (Substance 2)
1 flat lid with a lip deep enough to pour the water from Cup A into (I also taped a piece of black construction paper to the outside bottom of this lid. It will make the salt crystals easier to observe)
1 materials tub for each team
Materials for "Oobleck" on Day Two:
Cornstarch (8 oz. per team / for "Oobleck")
Food Coloring (Optional - for "Oobleck")
1 Large mixing bowl per team
Focus & Motivation
10 minutes
Introduce the Scenario
Today, my students are excited to learn that they will be learning a bit more about Nahari - Seth's friend. I hand out copies of What's The Matter Plaid Pete?- Lab Scenario Lesson 19 to each student.
I again have parts highlighted, and students quickly decide who will be performing the reader's theater roles in their teams. I find that this practice is working well for my students. It is helping my English Language Learners access grade level text, and building fluency for some of my grade level readers who don't spend as much independent "time on the page" as I would like them to.
I tell my students, "Hmmm... I know that Seth is pretty smart in Science, I am wondering what Nahari will be able to teach him. This looks like a fun investigation!"
Share Lesson Objective & Success Criteria
I share the lesson objectives and success criteria:
Learning Objective: I can compare and contrast mixtures and solutions.
Language Objective: I can use academic language to compare and contrast. [ELP.4-5.7]
Success Criteria: I can make a claim to correctly identify a substance as a mixture or a solution, and provide supporting evidence in my Science Notebook.
Guided Exploration
30 minutes
Introduce the Investigation
I tell my students that today, we will be conducting an investigation in which they will be working with some "mystery ingredients." Because the ingredients are unknown, they will need to take safety precautions and will need to wear safety goggles to ensure that the mystery ingredients do not get in their eyes or make contact with their skin. (This catches their attention!).
We have previously had a class discussion about safe handling of materials in the classroom, and have constructed a class poster about appropriate behavior and use of materials during science labs. I have also sent home a Safety Contract that they were required to discuss with parents, and that had to be signed by both the parent and the student. I emphasize that I trust them to follow correct procedures, and if they are unable to mange their behavior during Science investigations, they won't be allowed to participate. The document, Science Safety: It's Elementary! Has some great tips on Science safety procedures in the elementary school classroom.
Investigation Directions
I hand out What's The Matter Plaid Pete?- Lab Sheet Lesson 19 to each student. I only hand out the first page, with Labs A and B on it. I will hand out Lab C after the Instruction section of this lesson. I make sure that they understand they are not to discard the liquid from the cup from Lab A (They will need it for Lab C!)
I ensure that they understand exactly what they are supposed to do for Lab A and Lab B. I then allow my research teams to work for a few moments to assign jobs for the two labs. As has been the case previously, they will not be allowed to go to the back table to retrieve their materials tub with the components for their investigation until they have shown me the plan for who will complete each task. This is a Video Clip from a previous investigation where I am checking in with a team to review their plan before they begin.
When they have complied with this step, I send the team leader back to retrieve the tub and they are allowed to begin. I circulate between the teams, watching as they measure Substance 1 (salt) into their graduated cylinder. Then they carefully measure and add the water, stirring to dissolve the mystery substance. Then, they filter the contents of the cup. As they finish Cup A, they are completing their models, and labeling their diagrams.
Students then measure Substance 2 (corn meal) into their graduated cylinder. They add water, and filter the contents of this cup as well.
I have a spot on the back table that is labeled for each team with a sticky note. They place the cups there that they have labeled as Cup A and Cup B (according to the directions on the Lab Sheet).
As teams are finishing up, I tell them that now that they have had an opportunity to work with some "mystery ingredients" - it's time to find out what Nahari was trying to teach Seth about mixtures and solutions. I ask students to get out their Science Notebooks and a pencil and get ready to take some notes. (Bet you can't tell what time of year this lesson was taught!)
25 minutes
Mixtures Video
I tell my students that we will be watching a short video that will give them some information about mixtures and solutions. I tell them to listen carefully, as we will be collecting some notes.
I play the following Scholastic video: Study Jams - Mixtures
When the video finishes adding items to the "Summary" screen, I freeze the screen and ask students to turn and talk to their partner, and discuss the first bulleted item.
 - A mixture is a physical combination of two or more substances that retain their own properties and can be separated.
I ask students to copy that note into their Science Notebooks.
I share that being "separated" means that the individual substances in a mixture can be easily separated either by putting them in different piles, as in the video, by allowing them to settle, and I give the example of oil and water, or by using a filter - as they did in their investigation today. We add that note to the bulleted note that we have collected.
I follow this same procedure for the remaining three bullets.
 - If you can see different substances in a mixture, it's called heterogeneous.
 - Mixtures can be solid, liquid, or gas.
 - If you cannot see the different substances in a mixture it's called homogeneous - (solution). Solutions don't separate easily. You can do an evaporation test.
I specifically insert the requirement that the word "solution" must be included in the final bullet. (I have to rewind the video a bit and replay that section, as it is referred to in the audio, but not in the written text). I also add the note that solutions are not easily separated, and that one way to separate the substances in a solution is through evaporation.
This is an example of a student notebook page
Further Investigation
I ask my students if we have enough evidence to determine if the two mystery ingredients are mixtures or solutions?
I call on student volunteers. I have a few students that try to impulsively guess, but I redirect them back to their notes and the models they created in their Science Notebooks. I want them to base their arguments from evidence. They come to realize that we only have enough evidence to state that the mystery substance in Cup B was a mixture. The filter that was used with Cup B contained material, providing evidence of a mixture. This is what their models reflect. However, there was nothing in the filter in Cup A.
When I question


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Grassroots Advocacy Group Urges Biden Administration to Appoint a Doctoral Level Mental Health Professional to Lead SAMHSA
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National Shattering Silence Coalition
The National Shattering Silence Coalition calls on the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) to endorse a medical model based on science with an emphasis on addressing the needs of the most severely ill.
SHAPLEIGH, Maine - EntSun -- The National Shattering Silence Coalition (NSSC)—a grassroots, nonpartisan group that advocates for the needs of people with serious brain disorders such as schizophrenia and bipolar disorder—urges the Biden Administration to appoint a person with a doctoral degree in medicine, osteopathic medicine, or psychology as the Assistant Secretary for Mental Health and Substance Use. This person must have clinical and research experience regarding mental health and substance use disorders and an understanding of biological, psychosocial, and pharmaceutical treatments of mental illness and substance use disorders.
We also urge them to prioritize care for the most severely mentally ill. As head of the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA), this political appointee must be supportive of the scientific evidence that serious brain illnesses such as schizophrenia are disorders of the brain that require sophisticated treatment from well-trained medical professionals.
We strongly oppose appointing a person based on their "lived experience." Having a mental illness does not qualify one for a leadership position any more than having COVID-19 would qualify one to lead a White House COVID-19 Task Force. When someone is in congestive heart failure we send them to a cardiologist, not a person who has survived a heart attack. The brain is an organ of the body that can malfunction, and this malfunctioning organ needs to be examined in its complexity by well-trained medical professionals. The head of SAMHSA needs to understand this to ensure coveted federal funds are directed toward the most evidence-based practices that benefit individuals whose lives are at risk.
Homelessness and incarceration of individuals with mental illness is the humanitarian crisis of our times. SAMHSA is uniquely poised to correct errors that have led to a system that discards people in their darkest hours of need--often in the name of "civil rights"--because leaders in the past have dangerously misunderstood the nature of mental illness and how it impacts a person's ability to self-manage.
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We advocate for policies that align with the medical model of care, based on science. The alternative "recovery model" emphasizes a person-directed approach without acknowledging that individuals with the most severe brain illnesses often are so impaired that they are incapable of coordinating their own care. Many family caregivers at NSSC have watched loved ones "die with their rights on" because of this dangerous misunderstanding.
People with brain disorders have a right to medical treatment, especially when they are too ill to recognize they need medical care. When we ignore their right to treatment in the name of civil rights, too many of our most vulnerable citizens suffer needlessly and end up homeless, incarcerated, or dead. As family members, professionals in the trenches, and individuals who suffer from these brain diseases, we have experienced firsthand the tragedy of untreated serious mental illness.
"Our loved ones have been denied needed medical care, cycled through the revolving doors of hospitals without adequate treatment, been discriminated against, mistreated, criminalized, and left to die in our streets," said Jeanne Gore, Coordinator of NSSC. "All the while, we have been shut out of communications with health care providers in the name of patient privacy. Our goal is to make sure people with brain disorders receive the compassionate care and treatment they have been denied for far too long."
NSSC supports a medical-based system of a non-discriminatory, high-quality, comprehensive, coordinated continuum of care. NSSC supports the following priorities:
End the IMD Exclusion
We must eliminate the IMD Exclusion, a discriminatory law that prevents Medicaid payments for care provided in "institutions for mental disease" (IMDs), which are psychiatric hospitals or other residential treatment facilities with more than sixteen beds that mainly provide services to people with mental illnesses. This law is why we have psychiatric bed shortages, resulting in a lack of access to care for people with serious brain disorders. Many leading advocacy groups, including NAMI and the Treatment Advocacy Center, agree that the IMD Exclusion should be eliminated.
People with serious mental illness need access to a full continuum of treatment, including inpatient hospitalization. We offer this care continuum for all other illnesses, so it is discriminatory to exclude people who need psychiatric treatment.
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Create and implement a Federally Mandated Model of Assisted Outpatient Treatment (AOT)
Assisted Outpatient Treatment (AOT) is an evidence-based practice that has been shown to reduce hospitalization, criminal justice system involvement, homelessness, victimization, and violent acts associated with mental illness, including suicide and violence against others.
AOT is both compassionate and effective. It provides community-based mental health treatment under civil court commitment as a means of:
 - motivating an adult with mental illness who struggles with voluntary treatment adherence to engage fully with their treatment plan,
 - focusing the attention of treatment providers on the need to work diligently to keep the person engaged in effective treatment.
Reform HIPAA
We must reform the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) to encourage greater involvement of family members and natural supports in the care of individuals with serious brain illnesses. Currently, many health care providers are unwilling to discuss treatment with family members due to concerns about violating HIPAA privacy laws, despite solid evidence that the involvement of long-term supporters in care planning dramatically improves outcomes. One of the roles SAMHSA must fulfill is to provide clarity about HIPAA requirements and proper training so that providers do not misuse HIPAA to avoid the critical work of family engagement.
Individuals with brain disorders who lack insight into their illness are unable to make medical decisions in their best interest. Without HIPAA reform, family members will remain excluded from participating in the care of a person with serious mental illness. In the U.S., we allow family members of people with all other brain disorders, such as Alzheimer's, to participate in care decisions. To treat people with mental illness differently is discriminatory.
Reform PAIMI
We must reform the Protection and Advocacy for Individuals with Mental Illness (PAIMI) program to return to its original mission, focused on abuse and neglect, instead of lobbying to prevent medically needed inpatient and outpatient treatment. SAMHSA must not allow Protection and Advocacy organizations to continue using critical federal resources to impede access to medically necessary treatment in the name of civil rights.
NSSC is a nonpartisan alliance of family members, individuals suffering from serious brain disorders (SBD), professionals in the trenches, and people who care. We have united to ensure that brain illness and criminal justice systems count those with SBD, and their families, in all federal, state, and local policy reforms. We are voices for the 11.2 million adults and 7 million children living with and dying too young from serious brain illness. Learn more at _URL_.
Media Contact
Jeanne Gore
Source: National Shattering Silence Coalition
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text: This book investigates variation in the classroom speech of 7-year-old children who are learning Standard Jamaican English as a second language variety in rural Jamaica. For sociolinguists and second language/dialect researchers interested in the acquisition and use of sociolinguistic variables, an important challenge is how to efficiently account for language learning mechanisms and use. To date, this book is the first to offer an interdisciplinary look into phonological and phonetic variation observed in primary school in Jamaica, that is from the perspective of classic variationist and quantitative sociolinguistics and a usage-based model. Both frameworks function as explanatory for the children's learning of phono-stylistic variation, which they encounter in their immediate linguistic environment, i.e. most often through their teachers' speech. This book is intended for sociolinguists interested in child language variation, linguists working on formal aspects of the languages of the Caribbean, applied linguists concerned with the teaching and learning of second language phonology, and any researchers interested in applying variationist and quantitative methods to classroom second language learning.

source: HuggingFaceFW/fineweb-edu


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Average Sunshine in Alberta for February
The tables below give February averages for the number of sunny days and hours of sunshine at cities and towns in Alberta.
Each place has three measures of sunshine. The number for % Sun is the usual percentage of daylight hours with bright sunshine. Hours gives the total hours of bright sunshine that's normal this month. Days statistics are for the typical number of days in February with any amount of measurable sunshine. All the data are averages for the years 1971 to 2000.
Environment Canada. National Climate Data and Information Archive. Canadian Climate Normals or Averages _PHONE_.


Response at a Virginia Farm Building Fire with Trapped Animals
On February 6, 2019, Suffolk (VA) Fire & Rescue (SFR) was presented with a challenging fire involving a large building with multiple animals reported trapped. Agriculture buildings store and house products and materials that are combustible and hazardous such as straw, grain, and fertilizers. These buildings also house large vehicles such as trucks, combines, and tractors that support planting and harvesting crops. Most importantly, these buildings house living animals such as cattle, horses, chickens, and dogs. Because of the animals' size and the equipment used in farming and agriculture, these buildings are large. Responses to these buildings are often complicated by their design; the construction materials used; the distance off the road that leads to access problems for fire apparatus; a lack of municipal water supplies; and the lack of alarm, detection, and suppression systems in the building (photo 1).
Barn Fire Tactics and Strategies, Part 1: Agricultural Barns
Barn Fire Tactics and Strategies, Part 2: Cross Barns
Large Animal Rescue: Are You Prepared?
(1) Fires involving agricultural buildings are challenging because of location, the types of materials stored, construction techniques, and lack of suppression systems. (Photos by author.)
Because of hazard classification, these structures are rarely preplanned. National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) 1300, Standard on Community Risk Assessment and Community Risk Reduction Plan Development, was released in 2019 and provides guidance and expectations with regard to the hazard classification and prefire planning expectations, yet these buildings are not routinely identified or prioritized as a risk. In addition, many agriculture-style buildings were built prior to the establishment of minimum requirements for the design; construction; fire protection; and classification outlined in NFPA 150, Standard on Fire and Life Safety in Animal Housing Facilities. NFPA 150 establishes life and safety requirements for humans and animals in all types of animal housing facilities where animals are kept for any purpose.1 Structures covered include barns, stables, kennels, shelters, zoos, and veterinary facilities. The NFPA 150 initial draft and technical committee report date back to 1979, when the focus was placed on racetrack stables.2
The Incident
At 0723 hours, emergency communications dispatched Engines 5, 10, and 25; Ladder 5; EMS 1; Medic 10; Rescue 1; and Safety 1 to a reported commercial structural fire. A passing motorist had called 911 with a report of heavy smoke in the area of Nansemond Parkway and Shoulders Hill Road (photo 2).
A motorist notified 911 when he saw a large smoke column in the area. Because of the distance off the road, first-arriving units were unsure of what was on fire until they made their way down a long dirt road.
Three minutes after the dispatch, Car 5 arrived and updated the address to 5150 Nansemond Parkway and reported a working fire. Engines 5 and 10 arrived shortly after Car 5 and confirmed a 170- × 52-foot barn was well involved off the main road. Battalion 2 arrived and established command. Battalion 2 then requested Tankers 1 and 9 when Car 5 advised heavy fire conditions with an unknown water supply because of the distance off the road. Engine 10's officer directed the operator to progress down a long dirt road to get as close to the structure as possible to allow handlines to reach the structure. As Engine 10 positioned to gain access to the structure, Battalion 2 established command and conducted a face-to-face with Car 5 (photo 3).
Engine 5 and Engine 10 positioned on the narrow dirt roadway.
(3) Engine 5 and Engine 10 positioned on the narrow dirt roadway.
The fire conditions were well advanced, so the initial action plan was for defensive operations. Engine 10 reported heavy fire involvement in most of the barn that was also spreading into the dog pens. Engine 5's officer directed the operator to follow Engine 10 down the dirt path to send Engine 5's tank water to Engine 10 as the water supply was being assessed.
Command directed the first line in operation from Engine 10 to protect the dogs trapped in the pens. Engines 5 and 10 placed two 1¾-inch handlines in service and initiated an exterior attack at the Alpha and Bravo sides of the agricultural building. Engine 25 backed down the long dirt driveway where Engines 5 and 10 were located, and the operator performed a reverse lay to a hydrant that was 800 feet away from Engine 10 and established the water supply (photo 4).
Initial hoselines were placed to protect 24 hunting dogs that were unable to exit their pens. Ladder 5's crew worked to free the dogs as Engine 10's crew protected them with a hoseline.
Because of the barn's size (9,000 square feet) and its remote location off the gravel path, the two initial handlines were unable to reach more than halfway down the Bravo side of the building. The handlines were placed to protect the many hunting dogs trapped in their pens and biting the perimeter fencing trying to escape the heat and fire. Engine 10's crew directed its streams to protect the dogs while Command ordered Ladder 5's crew to cut the perimeter fencing and allow the dogs to escape the fire (photo 5).
Rescue 1 and Ladder 5 worked saws for access points.
(5) Rescue 1 and Ladder 5 worked saws for access points.
Ladder 5 immediately reported to the Bravo side, where Engine 10 was performing forcible entry through the fencing to allow the dogs to escape the burning barn and pens. Because of the heat, Engine 10's crew protected Ladder 5's crew as they worked saws to gain access to the dogs. Once the dogs were extricated from the burning barn and pens, the handlines were directed to extinguish the fire.
Once Rescue 1 arrived, command assigned the crew to gain access to all the gates and fencing that surrounded the building so crews could better access the building for fire attack with handlines. After the animals were rescued, Command ordered the continuation of defensive operations because of structural collapse concerns. In addition to the initial 1¾-inch handlines placed into service by Engine 10, a garden line was pulled to the Bravo/Charlie corner, and two additional handlines were placed in service by Engine 25 and Ladder 5 to control the fire.
After the fire was under control, Command requested Ladder 6 to fly the department's drone to provide the fire investigators and Command with an overhead view of the fire scene. While fire investigators determined the origin and cause, the property owner brought an excavator to the scene to allow firefighters and fire investigators to safely gain access to areas of the building for overhaul and cause and origin determination.
Sixteen adult hunting dogs and eight puppies were determined to be on site in the fenced kennels adjacent to the barn. Because of the coordinated actions of well-trained and well-equipped firefighters and officers, many dogs were saved from the rapidly progressing fire. Twelve dogs were found deceased in various locations of the building after searches were completed. The fire was caused by heating lights and lamps in the dog pen area that kept the animals warm in the winter.
Lessons Learned
Following were some lessons the SFR learned postincident:
Community risk reduction. Over the past several years, the fire service has adopted the philosophy of "community risk reduction." This movement is centered on the desire of suppression crews and fire prevention bureaus to understand where hazards and risks are in the community. Understanding risk is unique to each individual department and first-due area. Each area or community is unique and, as such, each department must develop "priorities" to meet the needs of its community.
With regard to this fire, the building was well off the road, with limited access. The building housed many dogs and, because of cold temperatures, heat lamps were used as heat sources to keep the dogs warm. The building also stored many large farming vehicles; once a fire occurred, with no fire or smoke detection devices that were monitored remotely, the fire went undetected until passing motorists were able to see the smoke column.
Based on the new philosophy of community risk reduction, learn what structures are located off main roads, walk dirt roads to determine access points, and plan for long supply line lays or tanker operations before the event. Also determine if any livestock or working animals are housed in structures so you can forecast rescue plans.
Forcible entry techniques are not limited to doors and locks. With regard to outbuildings and agricultural structures, forcible entry will be necessary on nontraditional materials. In this case, crews needed to defeat chain-link fencing and wire that contained dogs in a pen to allow the dogs to exit the burning structure.
The dogs were gnawing at the wire and chain-link fencing to get away from the intense heat and smoke. During training, emphasize working saws and other hand tools that allow an exit point for animals.
Have a water supply in transitional areas. The use of water mains and municipal water supplies is desired, but they are not always available when fires occur off paved roads. It is essential to have a tanker task force readily available for fires that occur even in hydranted areas of a city or county.
For this fire, the tanker task force was called for early, but because of the distance, the tankers were positioned away from the fire scene. If tankers were required, the incident action plan would have been different to optimize the booster tanks on all the first-arriving engines.
Require your department to train on and understand how to conserve water when


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HUMOROUS SPEECH CONTEST
Humorous Speech is 5 to 7 minutes in length. Humorous speaking, which must be substantially original. Any quoted material must be identified during the presentation. The speech must be a thematic in nature (opening, body, and close) and not be an act or a monologue. It should be "clean" humor; avoid objectionable language, anecdotes, and material. Vocal variety, gestures, and speech content all play a part in a successful humorous speech.
Typically, clubs begin holding their contest in July. Area contests are held in August with the Division Contest in September. The District 58 Contest will be held at the Fall Conference held in October.
JUDGING CRITERIA - HUMOROUS SPEECH CONTEST
- SPEECH DEVELOPMENT is the way the speaker puts ideas together so the audience can understand them. The speech is structured around a purpose, and this structure must include an opening, body, and conclusion. A good speech immediately engages the audience's attention and then moves forward toward a significant conclusion. This development of the speech structure is supported by relevant examples, illustrations, facts, and figures, delivered with such smoothness that they blend into the framework of the speech to present the audience with a unified whole.
- EFFECTIVENESS is measured in part by the audience's reception of the speech, but a large part is your subjective judgement of how the speech came across. You should ask yourself such questions as "Was I able to determine the speaker's purpose?" "Did the speech relate directly to that purpose?" "Was the audience's interest held by the speaker?" "Was this speech subject appropriate for this particular audience?"
- SPEECH VALUE justifies the act of speaking. The speaker has a responsibility to say something meaningful and original to the audience. The listeners should feel the speaker has made a contribution to their thinking. The ideas should be important ones, although this does not preclude a humorous presentation of them.
- AUDIENCE RESPONSE indicates the level to which the speaker has affected the emotions and response of the audience. An increasing level of interest may be indicated by reduced audience movement, greater eye contact and laughter at appropriate cues.
- PHYSICAL presentation of a speech carries part of the responsibility for effective communication. The speaker's appearance should reinforce the speech, whether profound, sad, humorous, or instructional. Body language should support points through gestures, expressions, and body positioning.
- VOICE is the sound that carries the message. It should be flexible, moving from one pitch level to another for emphasis, and should have a variety of rate and volume. A good voice can be clearly heard and the words easily understood.
- MANNER is the indirect revelation of the speaker's real self as the speech is delivered. The speaker should speak with enthusiasm and assurance, showing interest in the audience and confidence in their reactions.
- APPROPRIATENESS of language refers to the choice of words that relate to the speech purpose and to the particular audience hearing the speech. Language should promote clear understanding of thoughts and should fit the occasion precisely.
- CORRECTNESS of language ensures that attention will be directed toward what the speaker says, not how it is said. Proper use of grammar and correct pronunciation will show that the speaker is the master of the words being used.


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Open Peer Review. Open Publishing. Open Access. Open Discussion. Open Directory. Open Recommendations. Open API. Open Source.
Gated Multimodal Units for Information Fusion
John Arevalo, Thamar Solorio, Manuel Montes-y-Gómez, Fabio A. González
Nov 05, 2016 (modified: Jan 17, 2017)ICLR 2017 conference submissionreaders: everyone
Abstract:This paper presents a novel model for multimodal learning based on gated neural networks. The Gated Multimodal Unit (GMU) model is intended to be used as an internal unit in a neural network architecture whose purpose is to find an intermediate representation based on a combination of data from different modalities. The GMU learns to decide how modalities influence the activation of the unit using multiplicative gates. It was evaluated on a multilabel scenario for genre classification of movies using the plot and the poster. The GMU improved the macro f-score performance of single-modality approaches and outperformed other fusion strategies, including mixture of experts models. Along with this work, the MM-IMDb dataset is released which, to the best of our knowledge, is the largest publicly available multimodal dataset for genre prediction on movies.
TL;DR:Gated Multimodal Units: a novel unit that learns to combine multiple modalities using multiplicative gates

source: openbmb/Ultra-FineWeb


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PackBitsYou can use the
PackBitsprocedure to compress a data buffer stored in RAM.
PROCEDURE PackBits (VAR srcPtr, dstPtr: Ptr; srcBytes: Integer);
- On entry, a pointer to the first byte of a buffer of data to be compressed. On exit, a pointer to the first byte following the bytes compressed.
- On entry, a pointer to the first byte in which to store compressed data. On exit, a pointer to the first byte following the compressed data.
- The number of bytes of uncompressed data to be compressed. In versions of software prior to version 6.0.2, this number must be 127 or less.
srcBytesbytes of data beginning at the location specified by the
srcPtrparameter and stores it at the location specified by the
dstPtrparameter. It then modifies the
dstPtrvariables to point to the first bytes after the uncompressed and compressed data, respectively.
Your application must allocate memory for the destination buffer itself. In general, you should allocate enough memory for a worst-case scenario. In the worst case, the destination buffer is 128 bytes long for each block of source data up to 127 bytes. Thus, you can use the following formula to determine how much space to allocate for the destination buffer:
maxDstBytes := srcBytes + (srcBytes+126) DIV 127;where
maxDstBytesstands for the maximum number of destination bytes.
PackBitsalgorithm is most effective on data buffers in which there are likely to be series of bytes containing the same value. For example, resources of many formats often contain many consecutive zeros. If you have a data buffer in which there are only likely to be series of words or long words containing the same value,
PackBitsis unlikely to be effective.
Because your application must allocate memory for the source and destination buffers,
PackBitsdoes not move relocatable blocks. Thus, you can call it at interrupt time.
PackBitschanges the values of the
dstPtrparameters, you should pass to
PackBitsonly copies of pointers to the source and destination buffers. This allows you to access the beginning of the source and destination buffers after
PackBitsreturns. Also, if the source or destination buffer is stored in an unlocked, relocatable block, this technique prevents
PackBitsfrom changing the value of a master pointer, which would make the original handle invalid.
SEE ALSOFor an example of the use of the
PackBitsprocedure, see Listing 3-3 on page 3-20.


Spiritual Development Versus Following a Pagan Religion
As I was thinking about writing this article Lydia Crabtree wrote this article Guide for Beginners, and Do the F**king work for Newbies. It is worth reading to set the tone for this article.
Pagan spirituality, religion and development are very different endeavors.
Work. It is a scary word to many, and it is a fundamental question that anyone who wants to be good at something, what and how much are they willing to do to invest in themselves. I have met many who throw their whole lives into it, few with focus, many wandering, happy, miserable and some it is just a fad.
When I was running the Wizard's Workshop, it was offered to do two things. First help a person recognize that their interests and natural abilities are valid, and that there is a world of paths to pursue if you choose. Most were simply happy to know that their empathy, visions and senses were real, that there are other people out there like them, and they are perfectly capable to figure things out for themselves without bowing and scraping to the first "so-called authority" that came along. And to develop those natural abilities, to get a sense of what those experiences may or may not be.
Two major realizations came out of this group. Work and doing the effort in self development wasn't interesting enough of and in itself for anyone to keep up with. The desire to be part of a religion wasn't there either.
Religion is taking a new upswing now. It is fulfilling what was needed. People need community, a sense of belonging. And the churches today either do that, or pander to fears, hatreds and generate the acceptance for the lowest denominator of self awareness. Or more likely the actual lack of self awareness but a feel good sense of self.
People Embracing Change is about focusing on the community. What we as people need to build each other up. To develop wisdom in a culture supporting each other as they are capable of.
Evil tears things down. Good builds things up. Up, down, black, white, dark or light, build each other and ourselves up.
Lets do the work. If nothing else give to each other to build our environments up. None of us live or can exist in a bubble. More than spiritual development, more than a religion, build each other up and a community and the rest will follow.
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The University of Virginia Health System is in the process of creating and updating information for patients and their families on studies and procedures.
When this has been completed we will be redirecting these pages to that site.
In the mean time you can go to the University of Virginia Health System,
Patient and Visitor Information Page for information and upades
Biliary Tube Care Instructions
WHAT IS A BILIARY DRAINAGE CATHETER?
A biliary catheter is a small flexible, rubber tube placed into the common bile duct, the passageway for the bile to flow from the gallbladder and liver to the duodenum (small intestine, also referred to as the bowel). The catheter can drain the bile either internally (inside your intestines) or externally (into a bag outside your body). Bile is a thick fluid, usually golden yellow in color.
WHY DO I NEED A BILIARY DRAINAGE CATHETER?
1. You may have a blockage of the bile ducts, causing the bile to back up into your liver.
2. There may be a hole in the bile duct causing bile to leak.
3. To prepare for surgery or for some other procedure on your bile ducts, such as removal of a stone or tumor.
HOW DO I PREPARE FOR THE PROCEDURE?
If you are already a patient in the hospital, your doctors and nurses will provide you instructions. If you are to be admitted to the hospital after this procedure, please follow these listed instructions:
1. No solid food after midnight. You may have clear liquids.
2. Take your medications as usual. If you are on glucophage, insulin, or a blood thinner, contact our department as soon as possible so we can adjust the dosage of your medications.
3. If you are allergic to x-ray or contrast dye, notify our department ASAP, so that necessary precautions can be undertaken.
4. Bring all your medications with you on the day of the procedure.
WHAT HAPPENS BEFORE THE PROCEDURE?
1. The nurse and interventional radiologist will talk with you about the procedure in detail, answer your questions, and ask you to sign a consent form.
2. You will be asked to put on a hospital gown, and remove anything metal, such as jewelry or false teeth/dentures.
3. Your family or significant other will be asked to go to our designated waiting area.
4. An IV will be started for fluids, antibiotics, and pain and sedation medications.
5. You may also need lab work drawn prior to the procedure.
6. A mucomyst patch will be applied to your right back. It is cold and has a funny odor. This is to reduce your risk of skin irritation from the radiation.
WHAT HAPPENS DURING THE PROCEDURE?
You will be taken into our procedure room, where you will be positioned on the x-ray table. You will be hooked up to a monitor so your blood pressure, heart rate, and oxygen level can be watched closely. Betadine (a brown colored soap) will be used to wash the area where the tube will be inserted. Lidocaine or Xylocaine (the same medication a dentist uses) will be injected to numb the skin. It will sting and burn for a few seconds before the area becomes numb. The nurse will also be present to administer the pain and sedation (something to help you relax) medications. The radiologist will use x-rays to locate your liver. Next, a needle will be inserted through your skin into a bile duct, contrast dye injected, and the biliary tube will be advanced into the bile duct. You may feel some pressure and discomfort when the tube is inserted.
The biliary tube site will be covered with a dressing. The tube will be connected to a drainage bag. The bile will flow from your common bile duct through the biliary tube into the bag. The fluid may contain some blood at first. However, the blood usually clears over time.
WHAT HAPPENS AFTER THE PROCEDURE?
After the procedure, you will be taken to the recovery room or up to your hospital room on a stretcher. Your vital signs will be monitored frequently for a few hours. You may eat your usual diet, unless you are nauseated or your physician has other tests scheduled. Because everyone is different, the length of stay in the hospital will vary. Before you are discharged from the hospital, an Angio nurse will provide care instructions and supplies with a family member or significant other present.
HOW LONG WILL I NEED THE BILIARY TUBE?
This depends on the reason you needed the catheter.
1. A blockage of the bile duct by stones, infection, scar tissue, or tumoras long as the blockage is present.
2. A hole in the bile ductuntil the hole is healed.
3. In preparation for bile duct surgeryyou will need the tube for several days to months after surgery, depending upon what is found at the time of surgery.
Your doctors will discuss with you how long you are likely to need the drainage catheter.
BILIARY TUBE CARE INSTRUCTIONS
HOW DO I CARE FOR THE TUBE?
1. Empty the bag before it is completely full.
2. Sponge baths are recommended in order to keep the dressing dry.
3. You cannot go swimming.
4. You can take a shower if you put a plastic covering, such as Saran Wrap, over the area.
5. The dressing of split sponges, 4x4 gauze and tape, should be changed every 3 days or when it gets soiled, wet, or loose. It is very important to wash your hands before removing the old dressing and then again before applying the new dressing. The Tegaderm (clear plastic) tape which holds the blue plastic ring in place and telfa should only be changed once a week or when it becomes soiled, wet, or loose.
HOW DO I CHANGE THE DRESSING?
1. Assemble supplies: telfa, Tegaderm, scissors, split gauze sponges, 4x4 gauze sponges, tape, connecting tube and drainage bagif needed.
2. Carefully remove the old dressing, being careful not to pull the drainage catheter and keeping the blue plastic ring against the skin.
3. Inspect the skin around the catheter. Note any unusual redness, tenderness, or drainage. See: Problems you may experience.
4. Wash your hands thoroughly with soap and warm water.
5. Cut a round piece of telfa, the same size as the blue disc, or slightly larger. Cut a slit in the telfa, so that it will fit around the catheter. Place the telfa under the blue disc.
6. Fold a new Tegaderm in half and cut a hole in the center about the size of the nipple on the blue disc. Put the catheter through this hole, and apply the Tegaderm to the skin. If the catheter is attached to a drainage bag, you must first disconnect the bag, then slip the catheter through the Tegaderm.
7. Place two split sponge gauze around the catheter.
8. Fold 4x4 gauze on each side of the catheter, so you are able to curl the catheter once without kinking it. The catheter should rest on the gauze and not the skin.
9. Cover the catheter with 4x4 gauze and secure the dressing with tape.
10. Put a piece of tape below the dressing to hold the catheter and act as a safety device.
11. The external drainage bag should be rinsed out and cleaned once a week with soap and water. Please allow it to dry thoroughly. You are given a second bag to use for these changes.
Supplies may be provided at each appointment. It will be helpful to bring a list of what you need.
You will be scheduled for your tube to be checked every 4 weeks and to be changed every 8 weeks. Please do not eat any solid foods after midnight. If you have a morning appointment, please do not eat breakfast, you may have clear liquids. If you have an afternoon appointment, you may eat a light breakfast, but please do not eat lunch. You may take your medications as usual. However, if you are a diabetic on oral hypoglycemics, do not take your pill if you skip breakfast. For those who are diabetic and take insulin regularly: take half of your NPH dose and only take your normal dose of Regular insulin if you are eating breakfast. We have chemstrips to check your sugar level and juice and lollipops if you feel your sugar is getting low.
If you are unable to keep your appointment or will be late, please call and let us know.
PROBLEMS YOU MAY EXPERIENCE:
1. The blue plastic ring comes away from the skin.
a. If this is only slightly away from the skin, push it back so that it touches the skin. It should move easily without much force.
b. If it is more than 1 inch away from the skin, you need to call the Angio/Interventional Radiology department, explain the problem and make an appointment for the tube to be checked.
2. The catheter becomes kinked.
a. If it is only slightly kinked, straighten it out and redress it.
b. If the kink is severe and/or there is a knot in the catheter, you need to make an appointment with the Angio department for a tube check.
3. The catheter stops draining into the bag. This may occur for 3 reasons:
a. The catheter may be k


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Belt Pkwy., Williams Court bet. E. 12 St. and Homecrest Ave
Directions via Google Maps
This playground is named for the surrounding neighborhood, a 20th century extension of the town of Gravesend. Gravesend derives its name from either Dutch or English colonists; the Dutch words Grafes and Ande, meaning "end of the grove," could refer to the eastern location of Gravesend, but the name also might reflect the wishes of English settlement founder Lady Deborah Moody (c._PHONE_). Gravesend was the name of a city near her former home in England at the mouth of the Thames River.
Lady Deborah Moody was a wealthy widow when she left England for America in 1639. Initially arriving in Massachusetts, she was coldly received by the Puritans due to her adherence to Anabaptism. According to the religion's basic tenets, followers could not hold government office, bear arms, or perform childhood baptisms. Moody and her fellows were expelled from Massachusetts in 1643 and traveled to New Netherland in 1645 in search of a place to settle.
Governor Willem Kieft (_PHONE_) was at that time offering land grants to those who would settle in the areas around Manhattan. Kieft was in the middle of a war with the surrounding Native Americans, and he reckoned that expanding the colony would provide Manhattan with a buffer, warning the center of New Netherland when its outposts were under attack. Moody accepted Kieft's offer, and she and her Anabaptists established Gravesend on the south shore of Long Island, just north of Coney Island, thereby starting the first English settlement in what is now Brooklyn.
The Anabaptists quickly abandoned Gravesend in the face of Canarsie raiders, but the religious sect returned with the advent of peace in 1645, bearing the first town charter written in English in the colonies. Moody's plan for Gravesend was innovative and based on Anabaptist beliefs. Designed to create open and equal spaces for the town's inhabitants; the resulting grid layout was the first of its kind.
Lady Moody died in 1659, and the town remained largely rural for over two centuries until it was incorporated into the City of Brooklyn in 1894. The rail lines that followed spelled the end of Gravesend's more bucolic years. Developers built many large single-family homes in the east end of Gravesend and agreed to change the neighborhood's name to Homecrest-by-the-Sea. Its boundaries are Kings Highway to the north, Avenue V to the south, East 16th Street to the east, and Ocean Parkway to the west.
This playground is part of Shore Parkway, an 816.1-acre collection of parks that stretches across Brooklyn and Queens. The City acquired the parcels of land that make up Shore Parkway between 1927 and 1939 by condemnation. Parks was assigned the property in 1939, and the parkway opened the following year.
In 1942, Homecrest Playground opened with a baseball field, basketball courts, handball courts, and benches for community use. London plane trees (Platanus x acerifolia) encircle this park, creating welcoming shade. Today, this site still provides ample opportunity for recreation and rest. City Council Member Anthony D. Weiner sponsored a $555,000 reconstruction in 1993, funding the removal of the old wading pool and comfort station, refurbishment of the handball courts, construction of a spray area with whale sculptures, and the installation of new play equipment, swings, benches, and a chain link fence.


Volutevəl-YOOTPart of speech: nounOrigin: French, mid 16th century
1A spiral scroll characteristic of Ionic capitals and also used in Corinthian and composite capitals.2Forming a spiral curve or curves.
Examples of Volute in a sentence "Many Greek buildings are easily recognizable by the volute on the top of columns." "Both sea and land snails often have similarly volute shells."
* Can you see it? by Seth Godin
 _URL_ ]
Do you notice that you're dressed dramatically differently than everyone else at the event?
That you're driving at a different pace than everyone else?
That your question at the end of the talk lasted four times longer than anyone else's?
That your band's new single is half the volume of everything else that's being pitched to this program director?
That your code isn't commented and everyone else's is?
There's absolutely nothing wrong with being different from the crowd. In fact, it might be the ideal path forward. The problem begins when you don't see what's not matching up.
The best way to transform the path is to see the path first.
History doesn't always repeat itself, but it usually rhymes.
Sockdolagersahk-DOL-e-jərPart of speech: nounOrigin: American English, mid 19th century
1An exceptional person or thing.2A forceful blow.
Examples of Sockdolager in a sentence "All of the nominees tonight are well-accomplished sockdolagers." "The car door hit Randy with a sockdolager that knocked the wind out of him."
The universal forces of sound and rhythm enhance thought and feeling | Aeon Essays
Amid the chaos of being, Nietzsche believed that plants offer us inspiration for living | Aeon Videos


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Definition of Antitoxin
Antitoxin: An antibody capable of destroying microorganisms including viruses and bacteria.
An antitoxin provides passive immunity. For example, if a child gets whooping cough (diphtheria), an antitoxin prepared in horses against diphtheria may be useful in treatment. The antitoxin can only be of short-term value because the antibodies against diphtheria were made by the horse and the child is just the passive recipient of the antibodies.
The antitoxin is directed against a toxin, one of a number of poisons produced by certain plants, animals, and bacteria.
The term "toxin" is frequently used to refer specifically to a particular protein produced by some higher plants, animals and pathogenic (disease-causing) bacteria. A toxin typically has a high molecular weight (as compared to a simple chemical poison), is antigenic (elicits an antibody response), and is highly poisonous to living creatures.
The word "toxin" comes from the Greek "toxikon" = arrow poison.Source: MedTerms™ Medical Dictionary
Last Editorial Review: 4/27/2011 5:27:15 PM
Find out what women really need.


text: This review aims to discern a treatment for grey water by examining grey water characteristics, reuse standards, technology performance and costs. The review reveals that the systems for treating grey water, whatever its quality, should consist of processes that are able to trap pollutants with a small particle size and convert organic matter to mineralized compounds. For efficient, simple and affordable treatment of grey water with safe effluent reuse, a combined anaerobic-aerobic process is recommended, with disinfection being an optional step. The removal and subsequent conversion of suspended and colloidal particles in the anaerobic process need further improvement. Furthermore, the reuse standards should be revised and classified considering the reuse options and requirements.


text:
A condition variable is always associated with some kind of lock; this can be passed in or one will be created by default. (Passing one in is useful when several condition variables must share the same lock.)
A condition variable has acquire() and release() methods that call the corresponding methods of the associated lock. It also has a wait() method, and notify() and notifyAll() methods. These three must only be called when the calling thread has acquired the lock.
The wait() method releases the lock, and then blocks until it is awakened by a notify() or notifyAll() call for the same condition variable in another thread. Once awakened, it re-acquires the lock and returns. It is also possible to specify a timeout.
The notify() method wakes up one of the threads waiting for the condition variable, if any are waiting. The notifyAll() method wakes up all threads waiting for the condition variable.
Note: the notify() and notifyAll() methods don't release the lock; this means that the thread or threads awakened will not return from their wait() call immediately, but only when the thread that called notify() or notifyAll() finally relinquishes ownership of the lock.
Tip: the typical programming style using condition variables uses the lock to synchronize access to some shared state; threads that are interested in a particular change of state call wait() repeatedly until they see the desired state, while threads that modify the state call notify() or notifyAll() when they change the state in such a way that it could possibly be a desired state for one of the waiters. For example, the following code is a generic producer-consumer situation with unlimited buffer capacity:
# Consume one item cv.acquire() while not an_item_is_available(): cv.wait() get_an_available_item() cv.release() # Produce one item cv.acquire() make_an_item_available() cv.notify() cv.release()
To choose between notify() and notifyAll(), consider whether one state change can be interesting for only one or several waiting threads. E.g. in a typical producer-consumer situation, adding one item to the buffer only needs to wake up one consumer thread.
None, it must be a Lock or RLock object, and it is used as the underlying lock. Otherwise, a new RLock object is created and used as the underlying lock.
This method releases the underlying lock, and then blocks until it is awakened by a notify() or notifyAll() call for the same condition variable in another thread, or until the optional timeout occurs. Once awakened or timed out, it re-acquires the lock and returns.
When the timeout argument is present and not
should be a floating point number specifying a timeout for the
operation in seconds (or fractions thereof).
When the underlying lock is an RLock, it is not released using its release() method, since this may not actually unlock the lock when it was acquired multiple times recursively. Instead, an internal interface of the RLock class is used, which really unlocks it even when it has been recursively acquired several times. Another internal interface is then used to restore the recursion level when the lock is reacquired.
This method wakes up one of the threads waiting for the condition variable, if any are waiting; it is a no-op if no threads are waiting.
The current implementation wakes up exactly one thread, if any are waiting. However, it's not safe to rely on this behavior. A future, optimized implementation may occasionally wake up more than one thread.
Note: the awakened thread does not actually return from its wait() call until it can reacquire the lock. Since notify() does not release the lock, its caller should.
See About this document... for information on suggesting changes.


text:
Causes of high alkaline phosphatase levels include bone conditions, biliary obstructions, leukemia and liver conditions, Medline Plus states. Alkaline phosphatase is an enzyme that comes from several sites across the body. Some physicians may perform this test on its own, or as part of liver screening procedures.Continue Reading
Other causes of high alkaline phosphatase include:
Areas of the body that produce alkaline phosphatase include the liver, bones, kidneys, intestines, and in pregnant women, the placenta. As an enzyme it breaks down proteins, but its form depends on the organ producing it. Doctors may measure this enzyme alongside other tests to identify certain conditions. The test usually involves drawing blood without a fasting period. However, if the results are inconclusive, it may be repeated after a 10-hour fasting period. The test is minimally invasive.
The normal range for adults is 25 to 100 ALP per liter of blood, with slightly higher levels for pregnant women because of placental production. In contrast, children have 350 units per liter of blood. In rare cases, high ALP levels can indicate the presence of certain cancers, including kidney cancer. It may also indicate glandular fever/mononucleosis or heart failure.Learn more about Medical Ranges & Levels


text: Many legal rules suggest that the dead do not have rights. Often, the dead cannot marry, 1 divorce, or vote. The executor of an estate cannot sue for the libel or slander of a deceased person. And the right to medical privacy substantially erodes at death, giving family members the ability to obtain sensitive information about a decedent's medical conditions. On the other hand, various legal institutions have spent considerable time trying to protect the rights of the dead. As a result, most testamentary distributions, burial requests, and organ donation designations are held to be valid even if they contradict the preferences of the living. Certain destructions of property requested in wills are honored even though they may have a negative impact on the living. Some states even statutorily recognize a posthumous right of publicity, and recent case law suggests there may be a posthumous right to reproductive autonomy.


4 key questions for the Canadian government's new climate test
Blog - Feb. 1, 2016 - By Matt Horne
An LNG site in northwestern B.C. in 2013. Photo: Province of B.C.
Last week, Environment Minister Catherine McKenna and Natural Resources Minister Jim Carr announced Canada's intention to apply a climate test to major energy infrastructure proposals. This was the fifth of five new principles they announced to improve environmental assessments in the country.
The change is good news because it will fill a long-standing gap in the country's environmental assessment process. The standard approach has been to look at individual oil pipeline or LNG terminal proposals without worrying about the oilsands mines or gas fields they're connected to. The new approach will include the carbon pollution from the project being proposed and the carbon pollution from the development associated with it.
What the federal government hasn't said yet is how they plan to evaluate the new information and integrate it into their eventual decisions. Here are four questions I'd like to see included in their climate test, using Petronas's Pacific NorthWest LNG project to illustrate how they might work. In many cases, the federal government — as opposed to the proponent — is in the best position to address these questions.
The project is proposed for Lelu Island at the mouth of the Skeena River in northwest B.C. and is a good example of how important it is look at the associated upstream development. The standard approach to environmental assessment would consider the 4 million tonnes of carbon pollution from the LNG terminal — just shy of the emissions from 900,000 cars on the road. Not a small amount by any means, but if the scope is broadened to include the carbon pollution from the connected pipelines, gas processing facilities and gas wells, the number almost triples to 11 million tonnes.
Question 1: Are there opportunities to cut carbon pollution?
One of the reasons for doing environmental assessments is to ensure that proponents are planning to use the best available processes and technologies. In other words, can we build the same project with fewer impacts on the environment? A climate test should help us do a better job of that for large energy projects by looking at the full range of opportunities to reduce carbon pollution. And the same approach should apply for the newly broadened scope of assessment.
In the case of the Petronas proposal, the results aren't great. Based on our analysis, the 11 million tonnes of carbon pollution the project would be responsible for could be cut in half with better technologies and practices. These include opportunities like using renewable energy instead of gas and reducing methane leaks from gas wells and pipelines.
Some of the opportunities are directly in Petronas's control. For example, Petronas's proposal would be powered entirely by gas, but there's no reason why they couldn't be using renewable energy. For example, the LNG Canada and Woodfibre proposals — both of which are also in B.C. — intend to use about 20% and 100% renewable energy, respectively.
By expanding the scope of assessment, the revised process should also include opportunities outside of Petronas's direct control. This is where it seems more appropriate for the federal government to be considering these opportunities as opposed to asking the proponent to do so.
A specific example is the methane that is released from valves and controls along the gas supply chain. These are a significant source of carbon pollution and can be reduced or eliminated with improved technology and better leak detection programs. A recent study by ICF International found that methane emissions from Canada's oil and gas sector could be reduced by 45% for less than $3 per tonne of carbon pollution. The federal government has the ability to consider analyses like these to determine if there are further opportunities to cut carbon pollution.
Question 2: Are the policies in place to ensure carbon pollution is minimized?
While there is no shortage of opportunities to reduce carbon pollution, there is also no shortage of opportunities not being pursued because of a lack of effective climate policy. Without carbon prices that increase over time and effective regulations, the business case to reduce carbon pollution isn't strong enough. Where policies are lacking, the federal government can work with the provinces to ensure that any gaps are filled with a mix of provincial and federal policies.
In the case of Petronas, the province's Climate Leadership Team provided a clear statement that those policies aren't yet in place. The team concluded that the province was not on track to meet its targets and that B.C.'s carbon pollution was going to rise without new climate policies. They provided the province a package of recommendations — including a number for LNG and natural gas — that would help the province maintain a strong economy and get back on track to cutting carbon pollution. Those recommendations have yet to be adopted by the government, so the carbon pollution from any development that does proceed will be much higher than necessary.
Question 3: Does the project fit within a plan to meet climate commitments?
Canada has pledged to cut carbon pollution so that the country is responsible for at most 524 million tonnes by 2030. And that number will need to continue dropping post-2030. In assessing the carbon pollution from any proposed project, the government should be able to show how that upward pressure is accounted for in their plan to meet their targets in the medium and long-term.
The 11 million tonnes of carbon pollution from Petronas's LNG project and the associated upstream development would account for over 2% of Canada's 2030 target. If the government decided to approve the project, they'd need to show how that 11 million tonnes fits into a plan that meets their 2030 target and positions them for further reductions post-2030.
Question 4: Is the project viable as world moves away from fossil fuels?
If the world's governments collectively achieve the ambitions they agreed to at the Paris climate talks in December, it will mean a rapid shift away from fossil fuels. If that happens, there will be abundant global supply of oil, gas and coal, without anyone wanting to buy it. In that scenario, will Canadian suppliers of fossil fuels be able to compete for an ever-shrinking market or will they be priced out? While we can't answer these questions definitively today, the cabinet should consider them and the economic risks they could pose to the country.
I co-authored a paper looking at the role of natural gas in a world with strong climate policies. In this scenario, gas demand peaks in 2030 and drops below current levels by mid-century and continues to decline after that. Those numbers are based on scenarios in which the world avoids two degrees of warming. If we get close to avoiding 1.5 degrees of warming, which was the agreement in Paris, the peak in global gas demand will need to be sooner and lower.
Petronas says they want to be operating by 2020, which is 10 years (or less) before global gas demand would peak and then begin a 50-year decline. How robust is their business case to that drop in demand and the accompanying drop in price? It's possible they could be one of the suppliers that manage to stay afloat. It's also possible they could sink. The government should be aware of those risks in making its decision.
So there you have it — four questions that should be on Canada's new climate test when it deliberates on the carbon pollution associated with major energy projects. They aren't easy questions to answer, but tests aren't supposed to be easy. They're supposed to make you think.
 - In this article, we use a Global Warming Potential (GWP) of 34 for methane emissions in calculating the carbon pollution from the Petronas LNG project and associated upstream development. The backgrounder on the project that we published in July 2014 has slightly lower numbers because we used a GWP of 25 for methane.
 - The carbon pollution estimates for the Petronas project and the associated upstream development are based on phases 1 and 2 (19.2 million tonnes of LNG per year) of the proposal going ahead.
Matt Horne
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These are my notes from lecture 15 of Harvard's Chemistry 101: Chemical Biology Towards Precision Medicine course, taught by Dr. Stuart Schreiber on October 27, 2015.
Funding sources for chemical biology research
There are currently ~5 major funding sources for chemical biology research in the United States:
 1. Investigator-initiated, hypothesis-driven grants from NIH or NSF, such as the R01.
 2. NIH "U" and "P" contract mechanisms, where NIH issues a request for proposals (RFP) describing the work to be done. It's usually a consortium of many academic centers and involves ~5 years of work. Past examples have included the National Cancer Institute's Initiative for Chemical Genomics, or the Molecular Library Initiative's Probe Development Center Network (MLPCN). Under these mechanisms, academic labs almost become contractors to the government.
 3. Philanthropic and not-for-profit organizations. Examples include Medicines for Malaria Venture, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, and the Helmsley Charitable Trust Fund.
 4. Federal and state programs aimed at overcoming the "valley of death" phenomenon. For instance, the National Center for Advancement of Translational Science (see also Cures Acceleration Network (CAN) legislation), and state programs in certain states including California and Texas.
 5. Public-private ventures, usually between pharmaceutical companies and academic centers. For one lab's story of how they've negotiated the differences in interests between these two parties, see [Michaudel 2015].
When Dr. Schreiber began his career, #1 was basically the only available mechanism. #2 - #5 are new in the last couple of decades.
Success stories in probe discovery through diversity-oriented synthesis
Here are some examples discussed in class:
 - Highly selective kinase inhibitors. Most kinase inhibitors are only somewhat selective, inhibiting tens of the ~400 known protein kinases. ~99% of these small molecles bind to cofactor binding sites, which are pretty well-conserved across kinases, hence it's difficult to achieve selectivity. One exception to this is rapamycin, which binds a different surface of the mTOR protein where it recruits FKBP12, creating a steric blockade to substrate entry. We also discussed other exceptions, discovered in DOS libraries, that achieve exquisite selectivity by binding allosterically and competing with substrates.
 - Novel mechanism of action antimalarials. We discussed spiroindolones [Rottmann 2010]. For target identification, they selected for resistant strains and then sequenced them. They identified the target as ATPase 4, which P. falciparum uses to export sodium against the ionic gradient of the host cell. The spiroindolones were discovered through screening only 10,000 DOS compounds and 2,000 natural products. In contrast, around the same time, GlaxoSmithKline screened nearly 2 million compounds of a conventional library and had more limited success [Gamo 2010].
 - ErbB4 pathway. The ErbB4 signaling pathway shows some evidence of association with both cancer and schizophrenia. Steve Haggarty developed an assay for this pathway's activity, see lecture 6, [Kuai 2011]. One good probe for that pathway came out of a build/couple/pair diversity pathway [Gray 2008].
 - Transcription factor / DNA interactions. Jared Shaw and co-workers developed a fluorescence polarization assay to look for compounds that would disrupt the interaction between the transcription factor HOXA13 and DNA. They identified a probe that was produced through a build/couple/pair strategy [Ng 2007]. It is worth remembering that although there are no drugs that target transcription factors, there are several probes.
 - Sonic hedgehog inhibitors. The 'smoothened' pathway signals through a GPCR, which has led to that pathway being considered druggable. There are now multiple agonists known, including SAG and purmorphamine, and Genentech owns one of them. Upstream of or parallel to 'smoothened' lie the hedgehog pathways: Sonic hedgehog, Indian hedgehog, and desert hedgehog, which signal through something called 'Patched'. These are considered 'undruggable'. But diversity oriented synthesis yielded a hedgehog inhibitor called robotnikinin [Stanton 2009].


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Forget Blackadder, turnips and the Black Death: medieval England was extremely sophisticated
There's a tendency to think of the medieval English living an archaic, primitive, Blackadder sort of life: a lot of knobbly-faced peasants rotating crops, marrying at 12, before succumbing to their first bubons in the armpit at 15.
An exhibition opening at the British Library today, Royal Manuscripts: The Genius of Illumination, puts that right. Not only are the 154 gilded books on display extraordinarily beautiful – and in fresh, glittering condition – but they also show how sophisticated medieval England was. Pictured is Winchester's New Minster Charter, an Anglo-Saxon manuscript, gilded a century before William the Conqueror turned up. The workmanship and the colour are extremely advanced.
It's not just the works themselves that show up so well. English Gothic architecture, which appears as a backdrop to many of the illuminations, comes across as beautiful, skilled and varied, all the way through from around 1150 AD till 1530 AD. The manuscripts give similarly complimentary insights into medieval English philosophy, history, political thought, law and kingship.
A convenient view on English history sets up Elizabethan England, Shakespeare and the arrival of Renaissance architecture in the early 17th century as the great turning point – when stupid old rural England caught up with avant-garde Continental thought, art and architecture. This exhibition turns that view on its head.
Modern architects have forgotten how to build beautiful new houses
May 17th, 2013 10:44
The British man of letters is alive and well…
May 11th, 2013 9:24
People with Firsts rarely come first in life – but, boy, are they pleased with themselves
May 8th, 2013 12:26
There will never be another Alex Ferguson – club owners are too impatient nowadays
May 8th, 2013 10:26
The Queen won't abdicate, but she is cleverly planning her succession
May 7th, 2013 10:28


. Wanting their good fortune to make a lasting positive difference, Milton and Catherine Hershey decided to found the School and fund its operations.
Now, let's review what we can learn about entrepreneurs from Milton Hershey:
Earlier we learned that an entrepreneur is "one who draws upon his or her skills and initiative to launch a new business venture with the aim of making a profit. Often a risk-taker, this person is inclined to see opportunity when others do not."
(1) What special skills and initiative did Milton Hershey have? [He had a special talent and much experience in candy making and was determined to create the best products for the market. Candy making was his passion. He invested many long hours and persevered through many challenging times.]
(2) What risks did Hershey encounter as an entrepreneur? [He worked long, hard hours. He invested his personal money and financial backing into each business he started. He didn't know if his product would be in demand.]
(3) Entrepreneurs aim at making a profit. Earlier in the lesson, we learned that profit is the money remaining after expenses have been subtracted from sales. Did Hershey always earn a profit? How do you know? [No, several businesses he started suffered financial losses, which caused him to close those businesses. He did earn a profit in the Lancaster Caramel Company and Hershey Chocolate Company.]
(4) How was Milton Hershey successful? [He earned a profit in his last businesses. He developed a quality product that was affordable to many consumers. He shared his success with his employees. He spent his life doing something he loved.]
(5) If Milton Hershey had not taken the risks to become an entrepreneur, how might your life be different? [We might not have the chocolate products we have today. His long hours and vision made chocolate affordable for us today and provided consumers with a quality product.]
Milton Hershey is a wonderful example of an entrepreneur. He was a very creative man who was driven to succeed. Even though he faced great challenges, he considered the risks worth the rewards of entrepreneurship. We, as consumers, are the sweet recipients of his hard work. Thank you, Mr. Hershey!
(1) If someone asked you the meaning of the word entrepreneur, what would you say? [An entrepreneur is a person who takes the risks to start a business. This person likes the risks and rewards of being the boss and the opportunities to develop new products for the market.]
(2) What were some of the risks Milton Hershey took as he became an entrepreneur? [Hershey risked his own money and the financial backing of others. He worked many long hours . He had to do a lot of work using his own resources before being able to make his products available in the marketplace.]
(3) What were some of the rewards Hershey experienced? [He created a quality chocolate product for the marketplace. Milton provided chocolate that was affordable for all consumers. He worked for himself and challenged himself. Milton established a town to support his workers through the profit he earned.]
(4) Milton Hershey failed in business several times before he became a successful entrepreneur. In order to be successful, an entrepreneur must earn a profit. What does that mean? [Profit is determined once you know the total sales and the total expenses. An entrepreneur would subtract the expenses from the sales and that shows whether there has been a profit or loss. In order to stay in business, an entrepreneur needs to earn a profit to maintain the equipment, pay employees, pay the costs associated with producing the product, and earning an income.]
(5) What entrepreneurial characteristic do you admire most about Milton Hershey? [Answer may vary. He loved what he did. He provided a quality product for the marketplace. He persevered through many hard times. He was kind to his employees.]
This lesson provided us with an opportunity to look at the life of an entrepreneur and learn about the risks and rewards of entrepreneurship. An entrepreneur is a person willing to take a risk to start a business, hoping to make a profit. The rewards of creating new products, recognizing a profit and being successful, tend to outweigh the costs of long hours, responsibility, stress, and the potential of financial loss that an entrepreneur faces when starting a business.Milton Hershey was a man who loved candy making and was sure he could create a product that the average consumer could afford.It was worth the risks and the costs to produce his product for the marketplace. Milton Hershey was a man who loved candy making and was sure he could create a product that the average consumer could afford.It was worth the risks and the costs to produce his product for the marketplac
Milton Hershey was a man who loved candy making and was sure he could create a product that the average consumer could afford. It was worth the risks and the costs to produce his product for the marketplace.
Interview a local entrepreneur.
Each student will interview an entrepreneur and find out the risks and rewards associated with starting a business. Challenge students to find out when and why the entrepreneur decided to start his or her own business. (If it is not easy for students to find entrepreneurs to interview on their own time, invite one to class.)
If I Were an Entrepreneur
Challenge students to develop a plan for a business they would like to start. Have them identify the product they would provide in their business, their target market, and "how" they would get started in business.
Investigate Hershey Chocolate Company.
Find out more about Hershey's Chocolate.
 to lear.


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There is a need for analyzing and reviewing alignment and congruence, inputs, outputs, and processes. The value lies in the fact that if an organization is aligned to its strategy, the resources that are taken from the external environment ( input) and the output is aligned to the organization, there is efficiency and high level of productivity. If the organizational culture and structure is aligned to the organizational strategy the implementation of the strategy improves. If there is congruence between the input, the throughput and output wastage is reduced.
In National Presto Industries, Inc have three businesses house-wares, defense, and absorbent products. The environmental factors like social factors, political factors, technological factors, and economic factors are analyses and their effects are examined. The inputs are the raw materials that go into making cookers, the throughput is the process of making cookers, and the output is the product ( its quality/ its cost). Feedback is the information received from the customers. Since, National Presto Industries, Inc has the strategy of differentiating its cookers and appliances, its organizational commitment to quality and customer value is examined during OD. Deficiencies are corrected. The alignment of the organization, strategy, and the environment is achieved to maximize the success of National Presto Industries, Inc.
"If the organizational culture and structure is aligned to the organizational strategy the implementation of the strategy improves." By that statement, isn't strategy already implemented and working well?
The statement "if the organizational culture and structure is aligned to the organizational strategy the implementation of the strategy improves", does not necessarily mean that the strategies are...


10 Famous Landmarks in Europe
Europe is extremely famous for its remarkable landmarks. Tourists from all over the world came to watch these landmarks. The well known and attractive tourists spots are constructed centuries ago, and still, they are present and some are even used today. In this article, explore the real beauty of these historical landmarks. Following are the 10 famous landmarks in Europe.
10. Charles Bridge
Charles Bridge has a great history and is located in Prague, Czech Republic. Its name is quite unique and was actually chosen because it was beautifully constructed under the auspices of King Charles IV. Its construction was started in 1357 and is fully completed in the early 1400s. In Prague, it is the oldest bridge and along the bridge different statues of saints are present. Interestingly, these statues were put up between 1683 and 1928. A huge number of tourist came to see this exciting place.
9. Sagrada Familia
Authorities receive the request for its construction but actually, they did not respond to it until 137 years later. The request for construction was initially submitted in 1885. The beautiful parts of the cathedral had been amazingly constructed without the permits. Antonio Gaudi is the man behind this amazing project. He is a well-known architect but unfortunately died before he could complete it. Now new architects are working on this project and they estimate that it will be fully completed in 2026.
8. Big Ben
Big Ben is also known as the Great Bell. This amazing place is located at the northern end of the Palace of Westminister, London. It is extremely famous for its large size and accuracy. Big Ben has four clock faces and is mostly illuminated at night. That scene is so mind-blowing and eye-pleasing that people came from miles away see this spectacular scene. There is a special light above the clock which turn's on when parliament is in session. The interesting fact about this special light is that its hardly ever stopped since its construction. It comes at number 8 in the list of famous landmarks in Europe.
7. Brandenburg Gate
This historical landmark was amazingly constructed between 1788 and 1791 in Germany. Brandenburg Gate was actually a key entry point to the city of Berlin. However, by the 20 century, it literally symbolizes the division between East and West Germany. The more interesting thing is that after the Cold War, amazingly it was now truly recognized as a clear symbol of unity and peace in Europe. Tourists came to see this peaceful destination. Brandenburg Gate is among the most popular landmarks in Europe. Million's of people come on New Year's eve for its pleasing and famous party.
6. Church of Our Saviour on Blood
Church of our savior on blood is located, Saint Petersburg. This popular five-domed dazzler is the most elaborate church existence. Its name is actually a reference to the assassination attempt of Tsar Alexander II. It actually happened in the building in 1881. The design of the church is very beautiful but at the same time, it is so complicated that it literally took 24 24 years to complete construction. This landmark building was actually neglected for most of the Soviet era. But now it is among the main sights in Saint Petersburg, Russia.
5. Acropolis
The Acropolis of Athens has a great history. It is an ancient citadel that basically holds the remains of buildings that have special historical and architectural significance. Parthenon is the most well known among these buildings. Most of the buildings were badly damaged in 1687 when actually gun powder in the Parthenon was hit by a cannonball. But still its the most complete and attractive representation of ancient Greek architecture.
4. St. Peter's Basilica
st peter's-basilica-vatican-city
St. Peters Basilica has significant importance and is one of the most famous churches in the world. The pope mostly uses it as his major church. A large number of people come to visit the spectacular scenes of Basilica at night. The whole architecture of this tremendous building is amazing. But the main reason behind so much popularity of this church is that it is the final resting place of St. Peter, one of Jesus' disciples.
3. The Leaning Tower of Pisa
The Leaning Tower of Pisa is among the most famous and architectural landmarks from Medieval Europe. The slightly curved tower is actually a part of the landmark structures that beautifully make up the cathedral complex in Pisa. Its construction was started in 1173. It took almost 200 years to complete this historical building. The leaning tower of Pisa was constructed by highly experienced architectures. The building itself is a piece of art and the whole design is mind-blowing.
2. The Colosseum
The Colosseum comes at number 2 in the list of Famous Landmarks in Europe. It is basically a highly admired large stone amphitheater that was beautifully constructed in Rome before the first century AD. Although the structure got damaged due to earthquakes, fires, and other natural disasters, it creates a strong and powerful impression of its original form. For the unbeatable and ideal experience at the Colosseum, you should join a guided tour. In this tour you will be able to explore some hidden and interesting facts and your guide will be able to reveal crucial facts on the amphitheater.
1. Eiffel Tower
Eiffel Tower is at top of the list of famous landmarks in Europe. It is so much famous that millions of people visit this amazing tower every year. From the top, you can see the most eye-pleasing and spectacular views of Paris. Paris is known as the city of lights. Whenever someone takes Paris name the first thing that clicked our mind is Eiffel Tower. It is the most iconic place that you have ever seen.
Read also:
Top 10 Largest Churches
10 Extremely Famous Grand Palaces In India
7 Wonderful Pyramids that exist in Mexico
12 Amazing Caves with surprising facts
10 Dangerous Cities to visit


E. The Modern Era
Social Action
Alice in Blunderland DumbartonLooking Outside Its Walls. No longer a neighborhood church, Dumbarton drew college students from Georgetown and nearby areas and social activists from the suburbs to renew itself. Previously nonpolitical, the church now immersed itself in civil rights marches, peace rallies and local and world affairs. A Dumbarton-performed traveling musical, "Alice In Blunderland," nuclear disarmanent. The church became nationally known as a leader in progressive Christianity.
Sanctuary. In 1985, Dumbarton sheltered a Salvadoran immigrant who entered the country illegally. The cause was part of the national sanctuary movement, in which churches defied national law by taking undocumented persons under their wings. Church members also took numerous mission trips to Latin America and Palestine to observe conditions and recommend changes.
Sexual Identity. Dumbarton became a reconciling congregation in 1987, throwing out the welcome mat to gays, lesbians, bisexuals and transsexuals. Many of them joined the church, grateful for the opportunity to openly worship without concealing their sexual identities. When the District of Columbia legalized same-sex marriage in 2009, Dumbarton became the first United Methodist congregation in the city to agree to perform such weddings, despite opposition from the larger United Methodist church.