text:
Calgary-based natural gas processing company Tidewater Midstream and Infrastructure Ltd. has been fined $100,200 by the Alberta Energy Regulator for an acidic water release in 2019.
The company pleaded guilty to the charges under the Environmental Protection and Enhancement Act.
The incident occurred in October of 2019 at Tidewater’s Ram River sour gas processing plant near Rocky Mountain House. Sour gas is natural gas or any other gas containing significant amounts of hydrogen sulfide. Treatment of the sour gas creates sulphur as a byproduct, which is turned into blocks and may be stored outside, according to the court’s Agreed Statement of Facts.
Following extremely heavy rainfall, an operator moved the contents of one storage pond, which contained the surface water runoff from the plant’s sulphur blocks, into another storage pond. It was a rare move by plant officials, and the operator had only conducted a transfer once before during their 12 years of working at the plant, according to the Agreed Statement of Facts.
Subscribe to our Newsletter!
The latest environmental engineering news direct to your inbox. You can unsubscribe at any time.
Extremely cold weather meant that the hose usually used for such transfers had a seized valve. The operator instead used an above-ground circulation line. When the operator failed to close two of three release point valves, water eventually began to flow into settling ponds, which were already partially filled with water. Approximately 30m³ of untreated low ph water from the settling ponds overflowed into a drainage ditch that leads to Flare Creek.
Tidewater, which also focuses on fractionation and liquids upgrading, has since updated its standard operating procedures for storage pond transfers, according to the Agreed Statement of Facts.
Of the fine, $99,000 will be paid to the Alberta Energy Regulator to fund at least one creative sentencing project. The remaining $1,200 will address a fine and a victim fine surcharge to be paid to the Provincial Court of Alberta.
The creative sentencing project must occur within the municipalities of Clearwater, Yellowhead, or Big Horn, and “must demonstrate benefit to aquatic ecosystems and environments,” the regulator said in a statement. The regulator will publish requests for proposals for the project using established provincial practices and noted that it will oversee the creative sentencing.


text:
Testosterone is sometimes dubbed as the muscle hormone, that is because of the role that it plays in muscle mass and muscle growth in the human body. The hormone does help to increase muscle strength, but what if you have low testosterone levels? Does low testosterone mean lower muscle mass? And higher testosterone means higher muscle mass? What is the actual role that this horn has in all these and what are some common myths related to this?
Let us find out.
How Does Testosterone Build Muscle?
Testosterone is an essential muscle that helps to build muscle. The role that the hormone plays in developing secondary sexual characteristics and muscle growth is a key factor in this.
The hormone testosterone is a steroid and an androgen, which means that this hormone helps to grow the body and helps the organs to mature.
In men the part these hormones can play in them growing from a boy to a guy is important. This hormone starts to be produced when they approach puberty and is responsible for the changes that they go through at this age.
Your muscle mass and testosterone levels are interconnected with each other. When you have a healthy amount of testosterone in your body. It can have a positive impact on the growth and progress of muscle mass.
If there is a fluctuation in the amount of testosterone that is getting produced in the body from time to time, it might also affect the muscle mass, and will not be favorable for them to grow and develop.
However, many have been wanting to know the answer to the question “Is testosterone all that is needed for muscle mass”? Just because you have higher amounts of testosterone, your muscles will not be automatically stronger. So, what should you do in that situation?
That is when “workouts” enter the scene.
Testosterone And Workout: What Is The Link?
Working out and exercising frequently can improve muscle mass. If there is already a healthy and higher amount of testosterone in the body, then the muscles need to befriend workouts to become stronger.
Common Workouts To Increase Muscle Mass
- Step up
These are some exercises to increase your muscle mass at home. For doing these you do not need any other extra tools. However, you can also use dumbbells to perform some exercises. You can make a calendar focusing on different body parts and follow a routine. It can be as follows
An example is given here:
7-Day Muscle-Building Workout Plan
- Sunday – Arm day (Focus on arms, abs, and chest)
- Monday – Leg day (Focus on legs and butt)
- Tuesday – Cardio
- Wednesday – Focus on arms, shoulders, and back
- Thursday – Leg day (Focus on legs and butt)
- Friday – Cardio
- Saturday – Cardio
Now, you have seen what is done here. First, you start by focusing on your upper body, and on the second day, your focus is shifted towards the lower body. Then cardio, then again upper body, then lower body, then again cardio.
It is not mandatory that you do workout, heavy workouts every single day. Also on the days of cardio, you can take a rest. The first thing to keep in mind is that all these cannot be started on the first day itself. You should only be doing that gradually and with time. If you are not well, one day, then the rest. Also, it is not necessary that you have to start the workout on a Sunday itself. Start out on any day and follow accordingly.
However, if you have lower testosterone, it does mean that you will lose the strength of the muscles and that you will not be able to build muscle until the testosterone levels increase. It is true that this hormone can affect the muscle mass and the health of the muscle but, you can build muscle when you take proteins, do resistance training, and do other exercises.
Common Myths On Testosterone And Fitness
❌ Low testosterone = low muscle mass
❌ If your testosterone levels get reduced, your muscle mass will also reduce significantly
❌ When you have lower testosterone, you cannot build muscle mass
❌ Testosterone levels do not affect muscle mass in women
Testosterone can also affect muscle in women, as it is an essential health hormone that is produced in female bodies too.
The Bottom Line
Testosterone and fitness are linked to each other. The role that any hormone can have on the body is not negligible. When the amount of a certain hormone lowers significantly, it can affect the boy in different ways. As testosterone is a key hormone when it comes to health, if you have lower amounts of testosterone, it can affect your muscle mass and strength.
However, it does not mean that this hormone is the only factor that helps the muscle to grow and get stronger. And a lower testosterone amount does not rule out the possibility of growing muscles. You can do resistance training for that and get professional help.
Q. Do muscular guys have higher testosterone?
Muscles are not what aids the increase in testosterone. However, if you have higher testosterone amounts, then you can grow muscles with the right workouts and food diets.
Q. How does exercise affect testosterone?
Doing exercises regularly can help the hormone to increase by helping the organ that produces the hormone to produce more amounts of it. It will result in stamina and energy.
Q. What exercise increases testosterone most?
Weight lifting is shown to be effective in increasing the testosterone count in the body. However, all kinds of exercises can have an impact on increasing the hormone.
Q. Can I build muscle with low testosterone?
Lower testosterone levels do not mean that you will not be able to build muscles at all. With the proper training and workouts, you can still build muscles.
Q. Does low testosterone cause muscle loss?
When your testosterone levels drop it can also affect muscle mass. The functions of the muscles may or may not be affected by this, but they can reduce muscle mass.

domain: biology


text:
Petting a dog may seem like a simple and harmless action, but doing so incorrectly can lead to misunderstandings or even injury. Whether you’re meeting a friend’s pet or encountering a dog on a walk, knowing how to approach and touch the animal is essential for your safety and well-being. Here’s a step-by-step guide on how to properly pet a dog.
Step 1: Ask for Permission
Before you even think about petting a dog, especially one you don’t know, always ask the owner for permission. This is not only courteous but also critical for your safety. Some dogs may have behavioral issues or medical conditions that make them less amenable to being touched.
Step 2: Let the Dog Come to You
If the owner gives you the green light, allow the dog to approach you first. Extend your hand in a relaxed manner and let the dog sniff it. This is the dog’s way of getting to know you and feeling comfortable with your presence. Avoid sudden movements or loud noises that may startle the animal.
Step 3: Observe the Dog’s Body Language
Before you pet the dog, take a moment to observe its body language. A wagging tail, relaxed ears, and a playful or neutral stance are generally good indicators that the dog is comfortable with you. Conversely, a rigid body, tucked tail, or bared teeth are warning signs that you should not proceed with petting.
Step 4: Choose the Right Spot
Dogs have different preferences when it comes to being touched. Commonly safe spots are the back, shoulders, or chest. However, many dogs do not like being touched on the top of the head or around the muzzle. Pay attention to the dog’s reactions as you touch it; if it pulls away or shows discomfort, you should cease petting immediately.
Step 5: Use a Gentle Touch
Once you’ve determined the right spot to pet, use an open hand to gently stroke the dog. Keep your movements slow and gentle, observing the dog’s reaction throughout. If the dog seems to enjoy it and shows positive signs, such as leaning into your hand or wagging its tail, you’re likely doing it right.
What to Do If You Are Bitten by a Dog
Even when you take every precaution to approach a dog safely, serious incidents can still happen. If you are bitten by a dog, it is important to remain calm and take steps to protect yourself and your safety:
- Perform First Aid: Immediately wash the wound with soap and water to minimize the risk of infection. Apply an antibiotic ointment and cover the wound with a sterile bandage.
- Seek Medical Care: Go to the doctor as soon as possible, especially if the bite is deep, there’s uncontrolled bleeding, or signs of infection appear. A medical evaluation is crucial for assessing the risk of complications such as infection, nerve damage, or even rabies.
- Report the Incident: Notify local animal control or law enforcement agencies about the dog bite. Provide all available information, including the dog’s appearance, location, and owner details if known.
After taking care of your immediate medical needs, consult an attorney who specializes in dog bite cases. A Seattle dog bite attorney can provide critical support, from the collection of evidence to the filing of a lawsuit, to ensure that you are fairly compensated for your injuries. Schedule a free consultation or contact us as soon as possible to plan your next steps.

domain: pet


US President Barack Obama announced Friday that the United States will not curtail the NSA surveillance program that sparked an international uproar after they were exposed by whistleblower Edward Snowden.
The President, however, said that the post-9/11 surveillance will be modestly constrained and that spying on leaders of US allies will be completely banned.
National Security Agency leaker Edward Snowden revealed last year that the government forces phone companies to turn over billions of Americans phone calls and stores them.
Obama, on his much anticipated announcement on Friday, said that NSA will continue collecting the data but the government will set up a new non-government entity to store them.
"We have to make some important decisions about how to protect ourselves and sustain our leadership in the world while upholding the civil liberties and privacy protections our ideals and our constitution require," he said in a speech at Justice Department headquarters.
"Regardless of how we got here, the task before us now is greater than simply repairing the damage done to our operations or preventing more disclosures from taking place in the future," he added.
According to Obama's new proposals:
- The government will require getting approval from a judge before it searches the data, except in emergencies.
- NSA will continue to monitor foreign terror suspects' email accounts, but will restrict use of data about Americans inadvertently caught in the dragnet.
- The government will establish a panel of public advocates who will appear before the court in high-profile cases.
- There will be a complete ban on snooping on allied leaders but the ban will be lifted if it is critical to national security.
Obama's address was designed to fend off concerns that US surveillance has crossed the limits, but the president's measures fell short of dissolving the spying programs altogether, much to the dismay of Americans.
Even as White House was implementing the final tough on the minor changes that was to be announced Friday, media outlets reported that the NSA gathers nearly 200 million text messages a day from around the world and has installed backdoor software in almost 100,000 computers that allows spying on the devices.
A semblance of relief came in when Obama promised that the United States will not eavesdrop on the heads of state or government of close US friends and allies, "unless there is a compelling national security purpose." The step will be perceived as a measure to mend US's relations with countries like Germany, after reports surfaced that the NSA had spied on German Chancellor Angela Merkel's phone calls.
But, closer home, American's will still be left with a sense of incompleteness faced with the fact that the spate of phone tapping that has been going on will not cease to happen.


text:
Check out this collection of the best badass quotes from badass women that will inspire your sassy, fearless side!
If you love quotes that ignite that inner fire and determination, these badass quotes from some very badass ladies will inspire your own inner strength.
**This post may contain affiliate links, meaning I may receive a small commission at no additional cost to you for products you purchase via this website. For more information click here.**
What does it mean to be a badass woman?
Badass women trust their own instincts and follow their own path. They worry less about what other people think and have confidence in their decisions.
They are kind, but they take no crap!
How to be a badass woman
It’s a learning process to become a strong, badass woman!
We are not all born fearless, strong, and badass. As a woman, you grow into that identity. It’s often through life challenges that you grow into the person that you are. It’s through taking chances and testing the limits of life that you become a badass woman.
Once you are a badass woman, you just kind of realize it. You know your own strength, and you understand your worth. You’re not afraid to say “no” or make mistakes. And you’re way less concerned with pleasing everybody.
I’ve always been a bit of a rebel and punk rock at heart but not until a bit later in life did I fully grow into a totally kickass, badass woman.
Although being a badass lady might sound negative, it has nothing to do with being a bitch. Being a badass isn’t about being rude, disrespectful, or aggressive.
In fact, being a badass has everything to do with feeling confident in your decisions and in who you are. Badass women are strong and resilient. They have fire in their soul. And the ability to laugh about life. At the end of the day, a badass woman is one you’d want to be friends with, but you’d also know not to cross her.
Can you be both feminine and badass?
Yes! Even though I’m a total badass full of sass and know I’m cool as sh*t, I’m still feminine and even fragile at times. I’m nurturing and soft around the edges. I have big emotions and wear my heart on my sleeve. And that’s a beautiful thing. Femininity is fabulous.
It’s a wonderful and beautiful thing to embrace being delicate as well as being tough. As humans, we are so multi-faceted.
Being a badass woman doesn’t mean you must become emotionally hard as a rock, an ice queen, or masculine. (Unless you want to be.) In fact, being a badass woman is completely subjective in appearance. Badassness is an internal force that is entirely up to you to convey uniquely.
Keep scrolling to read through all the best badass women quotes. I hope they inspire your own confidence, sassy side, and inner strength. So you can become the most fearless, badass version of yourself!
81 Badass Women Quotes to Motivate and Inspire.
Short and sassy badass women quotes:
“If you obey all the rules, you miss all the fun.” -Katharine Hepburn.
“Keep your head high and your middle finger higher.” -Megan Fox.
“You only live once, but if you do it right, once is enough.” -Mae West.
“Don’t follow the crowd, let the crowd follow you.” -Margaret Thatcher
“She was right. Karma was a bitch, but so was I.” -Julie Murphy.
“It’s not true that I had nothing on. I had the radio on.” -Marilyn Monroe.
“Out of the way world. I’ve got my sassy pants on today.” -Some sassy lady.
“Turn your wounds into wisdom.” -Oprah Winfrey
“I am badass” quotes for women:
“When I’m good, I’m good; but when I’m bad, I’m better.” -Mae West.
The problem with my haters is that they see my glory, but they don’t know my story.” -Maya Angelou.
“I am not what you see. I am what time and effort and interaction slowly unveil.”-Richelle E. Goodrich.
“I am to be loved, honored, and respected solely because I exist. I am to be cherished, spoiled, celebrated because I Am! I was made to be admired. I am a beloved child of God after all.” -Emmanuella Raphaelle.
“I am never in control of what happens around me, but I am always in control that what happens within me.” -Pranita Deshpande.
“I am a tale, I am a book, written in different languages and styles
I can’t be read, can’t be understood,
neither by me nor the greatest of minds
I am too big, I am too small, to be processed or seen by the naked eye
I am too dim, I am too bright, to appear in the shadows or the sunshine.” -Sanober Khan.
“I live in my own little world. But it’s ok, they know me here.” -Lauren Myracle.
Feminine badass quotes:
“You were my cup of tea but I drink champagne now.” -Unknown.
“There’s nothing a man can do, that I can’t do better and in heels.” -Ginger Rogers.
“God gave women intuition and femininity. Used properly, the combination easily jumbles the brain of any man I’ve ever met.” -Farrah Fawcett.
“Thank you, ma’am,” said Mary Poppins with icy politeness. “But I bring the children up in my own way and take advice from nobody.” -L. Travers.
“I am a strong and powerful woman.
I am proud to be a woman and I celebrate the qualities that I have as a woman.
I am not defined by other people’s opinions of who I should be or what I should do as a woman. I determine that, not anyone else.
I am not passed up for a position, title, or promotion because I am a woman.
I fully deserve all the good things that come my way.
Irrespective of what anyone might think, being a woman places no boundaries or limits on my abilities.
I can do anything I set my mind to.
I celebrate my womanhood and I am beautiful both inside and out.” -Idowu Koyenikan.
“Wildflower; pick up your pretty little head,
It will get easier, your dreams are not dead.”
“Those of us who embrace the feminine know its strength.” -Betsy Cornwell.
“You can’t understand Feminine. If you have understood something, it’s Masculine, not Feminine. Feminine is like a chocolate without a wrapper. There is nothing to read on it… no MRP, no barcode, no expiry dates. It can only be experienced, not understood.” -Shunya.
Inspirational badass quotes about strength:
“A woman is like a teabag – you never know how strong she is until she gets in hot water.” -Eleanor Roosevelt.
“Turn your face to the sun and the shadows fall behind you.” -Charlotte Whitton
“The strength of a woman is not measured by the impact that all her hardships in life have had on her; but the strength of a woman is measured by the extent of her refusal to allow those hardships to dictate her and who she becomes.”- JoyBell C.
“You can do anything you decide to do. You can act to change and control your life, and the procedure, the process is its own reward.” -Amelia Earhart
“A strong woman looks a challenge dead in the eye and gives it a wink.” -Gina Carey.
“Anyone can hide. Facing up to things, working through them, that’s what makes you strong.”-Sarah Dessen.
“Our feelings are our most genuine paths to knowledge.” -Audre Lorde
“It takes a great deal of courage to stand up to your enemies, but even more to stand up to your friends.” – JK. Rowling.
“Never retract, never explain, never apologize. Just get things done and let them howl.” -Nellie McClung.
“But still she stood, ready to get back at it. Badass and admirable.” -Cristin Harber.
“Every woman that finally figured out her worth has picked up her suitcases of pride and boarded a flight to freedom, which landed in the valley of change.” -Shannon L. Alder.
Badass women quotes for empowerment:
“There will be a few times in your life when all your instincts will tell you to do something, something that defies logic, upsets your plans, and may seem crazy to others. When that happens, you do it. Listen to your instincts and ignore everything else. Ignore logic, ignore the odds, ignore the complications, and just go for it.”-Judith McNaught.
“The question isn’t who is going to let me: it’s who is going to stop me.” -Ayn Rand.
“I don’t care what you think about me; I don’t think about you at all!” -Coco Chanel.
“Life is ten percent what you experience and ninety percent how you respond to it.” -Dorothy M. Neddermeyer.
“Confidence. If you have it, you can make anything look good.” -Diane von Furstenberg.
“Above all, be the heroine of your life, not the victim.” – Nora Ephron.
“A well-read woman is a dangerous creature.” -Lisa Kleypas.
“The most common way people give up their power is by thinking they don’t have any.” -Alice Walker.
“Let us pick up our books and our pens, they are the most powerful weapons.” -Malala Yousafzai
“Bravely, I broke the silence. I boldly shared the truth. I empowered myself to create healthy boundaries. I became a badass. I no longer tolerated being shamed, blamed, and manipulated.” -Dana Arcuri.
“Life’s a bitch and so am I.” -Unknown
Funny badass women quotes with sass:
The difference between pizza and your opinion is that I only asked for pizza. -Uknown.
“Whoever said money can’t buy happiness didn’t know where to shop.” -Gertrude Stein.
“Housework can’t kill you, but why take a chance?” -Phyllis Diller.
“Try again, I’ve gotten much better at detecting your bullshit”-Alexandra Bracken.
“Be a lady? Forget it. Ladies don’t last a day in the real world. No one’s a lady anymore. Why do you think we get our claws polished?” -Crystal Woods.
“Do you ever think if people heard our conversations they’d lock us up?”
All the time.” -Wendy Mass.
Encouraging badass women quotes:
“Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness, that most frighten us. We ask ourselves, ‘Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous?’ Actually, who are you not to be?” -Marianne Williamson.
“Always be a first-rate version of yourself, instead of a second-rate version of somebody else.” -Judy Garland.
“Life is not easy for any of us. But what of that? We must have perseverance and above all confidence in ourselves. We must believe that we are gifted for something and that this thing, at whatever cost, must be attained.” -Marie Curie.
“You don’t have to be pretty. You don’t owe prettiness to anyone. Not to your boyfriend/spouse/partner, not to your co-workers, especially not to random men on the street. You don’t owe it to your mother, you don’t owe it to your children, you don’t owe it to civilization in general. Prettiness is not a rent you pay for occupying a space marked ‘female’.” -Erin McKean.
“It’s not your job to like me, it’s mine.” -Byron Katie.
“There is more to sex appeal than just measurements. I don’t need a bedroom to prove my womanliness. I can convey just as much sex appeal, picking apples off a tree or standing in the rain.” -Audrey Hepburn.
Badass women quotes about success:
“I’m not going to limit myself just because people won’t accept the fact that I can do something else.” -Dolly Parton.
“A wise girl knows her limits, a smart girl knows she has none.” -Marilyn Monroe.
“Passion first, and everything else will fall into place.”-Holly Holm.
“Find out who you are and do it on purpose.”— Dolly Parton
“A lot of people are afraid to say what they want. That’s why they don’t get what they want.” -Madonna.
“A strong woman looks a challenge in the eye and gives it a wink.” -Gina Carey.
“Do not wait for the green light. You are the green light.” – Jacinta Mpalyenkana.
Badass women quotes for relationships:
“I’m selfish, impatient, and a little insecure. I make mistakes, I’m out of control, and at times hard to handle. But if you can’t handle me at my worst, then you sure as hell don’t deserve me at my best.” -Marilyn Monroe.
Never apologize for being sensitive or emotional. Let this be a sign that you’ve got a big heart and aren’t afraid to let others see it. Showing your emotions is a sign of strength. -Brigitte Nicole.
“Remember no one can make you feel inferior without your consent.” -Eleanor Roosevelt.
“If you treat me like an option, I’ll leave you like a choice.” -Priyanshu Maitra.
“He asked me ‘What’s your favorite position?’ I said ‘CEO’.”-Lauren Conrad.
“I have learned not to worry about love, but to honor it’s coming with all my heart.” -Alice Walker.
“No human being is ever going to love you more than you love yourself.” -Avis J. Williams.
“When God takes out the trash, don’t go digging back through it. Trust Him.” -Amaka Imani Nkosazana.
Best ever badass quotes for badass women:
“Imperfection is beauty, madness is genius, and it’s better to be absolutely ridiculous than absolutely boring.” -Marilyn Monroe.
“It is best to act with confidence, no matter how little right you have to it.” -Lillian Hellman.
“Don’t let them rob your feminine in the name of feminism. Amputation is not a cure of the wound.” -Shunya.
“Well-behaved women seldom make history.”-Laurel Thatcher Ulrich.
“The truth will set you free, but first it will piss you off.” -Gloria Steinem.
“Good girls go to heaven. Bad girls go everywhere.” -Mae West.
“The important thing is not what they think of me, but what I think of them.” -Queen Victoria.
“At her lowest point, she found her greatest strength. Not because she alone was strong, but because she held onto faith with all her might”-Karen Gibbs.
“Do not stop thinking of life as an adventure. You have no security unless you can live bravely, excitingly, imaginatively; unless you can choose a challenge instead of competence.” -Eleanor Roosevelt.
Check out my new book below if you love inspiring quotes!
Final thoughts for all you badass women…
Reading empowering messages from different inspirational women can inspire your inner badass. These quotes about finding inner strength, success, self-acceptance, and navigating relationships are some of the best badass women quotes out there.
Reading strong women quotes is inspiring, and for many girls, it’s the most effective way to gain perspective on what it means to be a strong female. Luckily, there are many strong, wise women who aren’t afraid to share their thoughts. I believe the world needs to hear the wisdom and many different perspectives of strong women more often.
I think it’s helpful to read inspirational quotes and filter them through your own inner knowing. Reading is the best way to learn and grow, in my opinion. I take many quotes with a grain of salt and sometimes with a laugh. You have to have a sense of humor!
I hope you loved these inspirational badass women quotes. Please let me know your favorite quotes, and what you think in the comments!
You may also enjoy:

domain: literature


text:
The Pilgrims or Pilgrim Fathers were early European settlers of the Plymouth
Colony in ... Separatists held that their differences with the Church of England
were irreconcilable .... The first Dutch...
Nov 21, 2013 ... There is much more to the story about why the Pilgrims really came to America.
To better understand why the Pilgrims left England to come to ...
Thirty-five of the Pilgrims were members of the radical English Separatist Church,
... Three dozen church members made their way back to England, where they ...
On September 16, the Mayflower left for America alone from Plymouth. ... A
leader in the Indian campaign for home rule, Gandhi worked all his life to spread
Nov 12, 2007 ... So the Pilgrims left England, in search of a safe place to practice their religion.
They chose to go to Holland and found a home in Leiden. For 12 ...
The religious persecution that drove settlers from Europe to the British North
American ... Many propertyless Lutherans, given only eight days to leave their
homes, froze to .... and threatening them with "extirpation from the earth" if they
did not fall in line. ... Unlike the Pilgrims, who came to Massachusetts in 1620, the ...
... of their own. The Pilgrims and Puritans came to America to practice religious ...
Bradford, decided to leave England and start a settlement of their own so that ...
King Charles I would threaten the Puritans with harsh punishments if they did not.
The Puritans left England in protest of the Church of England out of fear of
persecution and ... Puritans, as they were referred to by their enemies, wished to
reform the Church of England, which they viewed as ... What is the difference
between the Pilgrims and Puritans? ... Home & Garden · Math · Pets & Animals ·...
So the Pilgrims left England, in search of a safe place to practice their religion.
They chose to go to Holland and found a home in Leiden. For 12 years, they ...
Nov 22, 2013 ... Their celebration in 1621 wasn't a first or a thanksgiving. ... It's fair to say that the
Pilgrims left England to find religious freedom, but that ... Bradford's estate
inventory showed that the long-term governor did, in fact, own a black ...
Religious persecution had prompted the Pilgrims to move from England to
Holland ... for greater religious freedom led them to leave Holland for America in
1620. ... religious persecution in explaining their decision to seek a new home

domain: history


text:
The comfort food bug has bitten us, now that nights are cooler and work is ramping up, and all we want is to dive face-first into super yummy goodness. But we’re still adhering to the rules of our new eating habits: no food with preservatives, no store-bought bread, as much as possible is to be […]
Recipe: Chicken Adobo Risotto
I have a few favorite dishes from my childhood, things that bring me comfort no matter what adulthood has thrown at me. Things like my grandma’s lumpia and my dad’s macaroni salad stand out in my memory. But my mom’s adobo is even more than that: its rich flavors, variety of textures, and piquant aroma […]
Recreating the Restaurant: Brussels Sprouts
Most kids hate Brussels sprouts. I probably didn’t mind them when I was little, since my only memory of them is of the cheese-covered variety. But as we get older, our tastes change, and I discovered how much I love these little cabbage-like bites when cooked in bacon fat and red chili flakes. An excellent […]
Recipe: Soy-braised Tofu and Ramen
Every once in a while, I go meatless. It’s important to have balance in one’s diet, and consciously focusing on plant-based meals for a while reminds me to eat more veggies. Sometimes, though…Well, sometimes I get tired of quinoa and greens and broccoli. Sometimes I want something a little heartier, a little meatier. And that’s […]
Chef’s Secrets – In the Kitchen
The very first time I went to a Feastly event, I was there helping an old high school buddy at his pop-up. It was one the first times Feastly (first time?) Feastly had used the DTLA loft, and the first time my pal held a Feastly event in Los Angeles. It was also the first […]
…and I’m back.
So this is the new Kung Pao Kimmie: mostly food, maybe a lot of drinks, the occasional side trip into adventure, but 100% fun.

domain: food


text:
Caulfield Cup winner Jameka continues to firm in The BMW betting despite trainer Ciaron Maher having some concerns about another heavy track at Rosehill on Saturday.
Jameka remains the $3.80 favourite, in from $4.20, for The BMW at Ladbrokes.com.au just ahead of noted mud runner Our Ivanhowe at $3.90, Australian Cup winner Humidor at $4.60 and last start Sky High Stakes winner Tavago.
Even though the record books show that Jameka won the 2015 Group 1 $1m Crown Oaks (2500m) at Flemington on a heavy 9, Maher is still not certain how the mare will handle a rain sodden Rosehill track that is coming off a ten race program on a heavy 10 surface last Saturday.
“Just on that real heavy it’s a bit unknown for her and she has never been on it,” Maher told The Daily Telegraph.
“(She won the Crown Oaks at her only run on a heavy track) but it was nothing like the weather you’ve had up there this year and it was a different heavy.”
“That’s a big thing and I think on an even surface, anywhere from good to slow, she would be more than capable.”
Maher considers the two mudlarks, last week’s Ranvet Stakes winner Our Ivanhowe and Tavago who Jameka ran second to in the 2016 Group 1 $2m BMW Australian Derby (2400m) at Randwick twelve months ago and who returned to Sydney this Autumn to win the Group 3 $350,000 McGrath Estate Agents Sky High Stakes (2000m) at Rosehill on March 11.
“They can obviously handle those conditions the ones in form up there,” Maher said.
“Tavago has beaten her before and he has already shown he can handle those conditions.
“He would probably be the hardest to beat and Our Ivanhowe just goes to a different level when he gets the right conditions like he did on Saturday.”
Jameak has drawn barrier two in the nine horse BMW field with Hugh Bowman sticking with her after the pair combined for a second to Humidor in the Group 1 $1.5m Australian Cup (2000m) at Flemington on March 11.

domain: sports


7552 East 146th Street, Noblesville, IN 46062
sale $1,500,000 | Commercial Land, Undeveloped
Courtesy Of Premier Properties of Indiana, Inc.
9.5 Acres ready for development with additional land available. Currently zoned R-2 with commercial development near by. Land located on four lane road with traffic counts near 35,000 daily. Water and sewer available at the site. Number of homes in a 3 mile radius is 51,162 and 41.2% of the average age is between 25-55 years, and 49% have an average income of $100,000+.
Read More Read Less
- Architecture Style: Other
- Legal Description: Acreage 9.50, Section 14, Township 18, Range 4
- MLSID: 21444930
- Number of Rooms: 0
- Roof Type: Unknown
Community information and market data Powered by ATTOM. Copyright ©2016 ATTOM. Information is deemed reliable but not guaranteed.


text:
S&W Seed releases worlds first 8 dormancy salt tolerant alfalfa variety
Jun. 23, 2010
S&W Seed Company (NasdaqCM: SANW), announces the commercial launch of its newly certified alfalfa variety, SW 8421S, the worlds only Group 8 dormancy salt tolerant alfalfa. Dormancy relates to the length of the growing season and this variety was developed for important hay-growing areas within California, Arizona and Latin America.
"Producing higher hay tonnage is the key to putting more money in the farmers pockets. SW 8421S helps farmers grow high quality hay with low quality ground or water, and is also superior for ground or water that doesnt have salt. We expect it will sell well in the many geographical areas where Group 8 dormancy is the norm " said CEO Mark Grewal.
With SW 8421S, farmers get high tonnage yields of quality alfalfa on both salty soils and non-salty soils in warm climates. SW 8421S hay tonnage yields are competitive with non-salt tolerant alfalfa, but, unlike the competition, yields stay high when salty irrigation water is used. In university tests at Parlier, California and Tucson, Arizona, SW 8421S grew 18% more hay than the benchmark CUF 101 variety. When compared to another benchmark variety, "Salado," SW 8421S was one of the highest yielding salt tolerant alfalfas ever certified, of any dormancy, and yielded 32% more hay with non-salty irrigation water.
S&W Seed Company, founded in 1980, is a leader in warm climate alfalfa seed varieties, including varieties that can thrive in poor, saline soils. The companys claims to salt tolerance and high yield product leadership are verified by decades of university-sponsored trials. S&W owns a 40 acre alfalfa seed cleaning and processing facility. A large percentage of its sales are to Genetics International, which sells to foreign markets, principally Saudi Arabia. In fiscal 2010, the company launched a pilot program to produce stevia leaf, the source of an all natural, non-caloric sweetener.
More from AgroNews
Subscribe to daily email alerts of AgroNews.

domain: agronomy


text:
In the journey of life, each of us strives for a sense of purpose, a lasting legacy, and the opportunity to impact the world around us positively. It is the pursuit of these profound aspirations that fuels our personal growth and self-improvement. Legacy and impact, two intertwined concepts, play a pivotal role in this pursuit, shaping the blueprint of our lives and guiding us on the warrior’s path toward self-discovery and empowerment.
Designing one’s legacy as part of an overall life plan is a profound and transformative idea. This notion often comes from the recognition that life is finite, and we have a limited time to impact the world and leave behind a legacy that reflects our values and aspirations. My introduction to this concept by one of my mentors in the early 90s was a pivotal moment in my personal development, prompting me to reflect deeply on the course of my life.
One of the powerful exercises that my mentor encouraged me to undertake was the act of writing my obituary, or at least envisioning what I would like it to say. This exercise initially felt unusual or even uncomfortable, as it asked me to confront my mortality and contemplate the narrative of my life’s journey. However, this discomfort made it such a profound and eye-opening experience. Since that eye-opening moment, I embarked on a journey of self-discovery, personal growth, and purposeful living. My decisions and actions may have been guided by a deeper understanding of the legacy I wish to create and the impact I hope to have on the lives of others.
The Essence of Legacy
Legacy, in essence, refers to the indelible mark we leave on the world through our actions, values, and contributions. It transcends our physical existence, extending far beyond our lifetime. It is the story of our existence, etched into the annals of time, impacting lives, shaping perspectives, and inspiring future generations.
The power of reflection lies at the heart of understanding and embracing one’s legacy. Just going through the process of discovering your legacy can clarify your vision and goals for your life. It prompts introspection, asking profound questions about who you are, what you stand for, and the meaningful impact you wish to create.
Legacy is more than a mere reflection; it is a declaration of purpose and a commitment to living a life aligned with your values and aspirations. By contemplating the legacy you want to leave behind, you gain clarity about your life’s mission and the path you must tread to fulfill it.
Impact is the driving force behind the creation of a meaningful legacy. It represents our actions’ tangible and intangible effects, rippling through society and influencing individuals, communities, and the world. Impact catalyzes positive change, propelling us towards our vision of a better world.
Impact can take various forms, each resonating differently with individuals:
- Personal Impact: This encompasses our influence on the lives of those closest to us—our family, friends, and loved ones. It is the wisdom we impart, the love we share, and the values we instill in the hearts of those we cherish.
- Professional Impact: In our careers and professions, our impact is manifested through innovation, mentorship, and contributions that advance our respective fields. It is the legacy we build through our expertise and the knowledge we pass on to the next generation.
- Community Impact: The communities we are a part of—local, regional, or global—bear witness to our community impact. This involves philanthropy, volunteerism, and advocacy for social causes that improve the lives of others and address societal challenges.
- Global Impact: For some, the aspiration is to leave a global impact, transcending geographical boundaries to address pressing global issues. It involves contributing to humanitarian efforts, environmental conservation, human rights advocacy, and more.
Crafting Your Legacy: A Journey of Self-Discovery
Creating a legacy that stands the test of time requires a deliberate approach to making a positive impact. It involves:
- Identifying Passions and Values: The first step is to identify your passions and values. What issues resonate with you? What causes ignite your inner fire? Understanding your deepest convictions is crucial in determining where you can make the most significant impact.
- Leveraging Skills and Resources: Consider how your skills, resources, and experiences can be leveraged to make a positive difference. Your unique talents and expertise can be powerful tools for change.
- Collaboration and Collective Effort: Impact is often magnified through collaboration with like-minded individuals and organizations. By working together, you can tackle larger-scale challenges and effect more significant change. This directly relates to the Inner Circle principle I teach in the Warriors Path Program.
Legacy as a Blueprint for Life
Legacy and impact require a long-term perspective. Building a meaningful legacy is not a sprint; it’s a marathon. It calls for dedication, perseverance, and a commitment to sustainable actions that will benefit generations to come.
Long-term thinking encourages us to invest in initiatives and projects that may yield little results but hold the potential for lasting impact. It instills patience and resilience, knowing that real change often takes time.
Measuring the impact of your actions is essential in assessing your progress and fine-tuning your efforts. Impact can be quantified through tangible results, such as the number of lives touched or the achievement of specific goals. However, it is also expressed through stories of positive change and transformation.
Celebrating milestones along the way provides motivation and reinforces the significance of your journey. Impact is not solely about the destination but the journey and the lives you touch along the way.
To ensure your legacy endures, consider documenting your life journey, values, and experiences. This documentation can take various forms, from journals and memoirs to multimedia formats like videos and podcasts. Preserving your story offers future generations a window into your world, values, and vision.
Integral to the creation of a lasting legacy is the virtue of generosity. Giving back to the communities and causes that have positively influenced your life is a way of paying it forward. It’s a recognition that you are part of a larger whole, and your contributions can make a difference.
- Philanthropy: Donating to charitable organizations, foundations, and causes that align with your values is a tangible way to give back. Philanthropy allows you to contribute to initiatives that address pressing issues and make a positive impact.
- Volunteerism: Volunteering your time, skills, and expertise is a powerful means of giving back to your community. Whether it’s mentoring youth, helping the less fortunate, or participating in environmental initiatives, your efforts can bring about meaningful change.
- Mentorship and Knowledge Sharing: Sharing your knowledge, experiences, and insights through mentorship is a form of impact that shapes the future. Mentorship empowers individuals to grow, learn, and achieve their goals.
Legacy and impact are not static; they evolve over time. As you grow and change, your goals and priorities may shift. Therefore, it’s essential to periodically reevaluate your legacy and impact goals and adjust your efforts accordingly.
Reevaluation ensures that your legacy remains aligned with your values and aspirations. It allows you to pivot when necessary, embracing new opportunities and addressing emerging challenges. The flexibility to adapt ensures that your legacy continues to reflect your evolving vision.
My overarching goal is to expedite the cultivation of the warrior’s mindset and promote a wider adoption of the fighter’s mentality on a global scale. My mission involves crafting and delivering advanced training and knowledge that empowers individuals to enhance their readiness for life’s adversities and the potential for encountering violence.
Our Warriors Path Coaching program emphasizes the importance of robust decision-making processes. These mind tools are essential for effectively navigating life’s challenges and taking decisive action toward achieving your goals. If you want to enhance your decision-making skills and gain better control over your life’s trajectory, we invite you to learn more about our coaching program. For further information and to take the first step towards empowerment, please visit us at www.sifualanbaker
Alan Baker is celebrated for his exceptional skill in creating customized Defensive Tactics Programs and his prowess in high-performance coaching. Tailoring his expertise to meet the needs of law enforcement agencies, military groups, and security companies, Alan crafts training curriculums that are grounded in practical techniques, adaptability to real-life scenarios, and intensive, situation-specific exercises. His training methodologies are meticulously designed to elevate the operational effectiveness and situational preparedness of individuals in high-stakes environments. Learn more about Alan’s distinctive programs here.
Beyond his tactical acumen, Alan is also a foremost “mindset” coach, adept at tapping into the untapped potential within individuals. He is particularly attuned to the current societal trend that often overlooks traditional masculinity and the cultivation of strength. Addressing this, Alan champions the development of a warrior spirit — the readiness to confront chaos and take decisive action when necessary. He passionately mentors professionals, entrepreneurs, and individuals on their personal development journeys, focusing on fostering a mindset dedicated to excellence. His coaching is anchored in pragmatic strategies that fortify mental resilience, enhance focus, and stimulate drive. Engaging with Alan sets you on a transformative journey where mental obstacles are overcome, innate strengths are recognized and honed, and your objectives become distinctly attainable. His insights are key in boosting performance and developing a mindset geared for victorious accomplishments.
For a deeper exploration of Alan’s mindset philosophy and his approach to empowering especially men to embrace their strength and resilience, delve into his insightful collection of books. If you’re ready to accelerate your personal and professional growth under Alan’s expert guidance, connect through his official website.


Healy: Creating World Class Compliance.
As one of the leading global companies, Healy World serves to provide a holistic approach to healthy living, with their innovative, scientifically supported, smart, wearable health devices.
Having over 150,000 distributors worldwide, compliance management was a complex encumberment on the company. Inspired by the possibilities of technology to intercept these complex, yet sensitive, compliance issues, Healy World approached ValueMiner to bridge the gap between the process and the people. With global compliance management and international market onboarding management at the heart of this project, ValueMiner has come through to deliver world-class compliance management AI services for Healy World.
Rapidly growing business for Healy World meant advancing to several markets, all over the world. Onboarding those new markets required the exchange of hands of official and confidential documents, and was a lengthy, manual process without proper record keeping. This in turn also posed as a high risk of errors prone to occur. The requirements were to store all relevant data for each market in one place- connected, dependant and always up to date; to create a real-time overview of market onboarding statuses- onboarded, in progress and planned; to expedite the process of communication between legal experts and Healy officials to amend onboarding documents without errors; and to have a continuous update of contractual changes.
To address these issues, we utilized AI based automized processes to provide first class tools that process the provided data. Primarily, we designed and documented the entire compliance process from the root. The placement of a rule based agile work flow ensured high adaptability and allowed flexibility to the role based execution of all tasks, and efficiency across the whole lifecycle of our product. We created a platform that can contain all confidential documents and start a new market onboarding process in under a minute. Not only did this reduce manual work time, but made the entire process more transparent, while allowing constant, recorded communication between all the responsible officials and legal experts, with automatic updates of any changes made at any point of time, propagated throughout the entire respective market network.
Naturally, the platform also provided an at-a-glance overview of all market statuses and their progression, which allowed the user to proceed with the necessary steps effortlessly. Our parsing service is the only one of its kind that automatically decomposes whole documents. Being constantly trained, the parser breaks down documents, including both text and images, such as contracts and product brochures, to manageable pieces, in order to identify relevant information when required, with high speed and accuracy, as all data are made to be linked and dependant with a specific business logic, in our unique neural network.
Furthermore, the numerous members and distributors, representing Healy World and their products worldwide, were often found to be violating their contractual obligations with false advertisements, which was not only an arduous task to identify manually, but would also have serious financial implications on Healy World. We identified the need for a work-stream that would store all relevant member information with accordance to their hierarchy; to detect their violations on the web across all platforms and create a complete real-time overview of these violations, additionally specifying the type and impact of each violation; manage the whole process to counteract these violations, including risk assessment, corresponding with the members in a standardized and automized manner; and finally to track the effect of the countermeasures taken.
As a solution for the aforementioned problems, we delivered an intelligent violation detection tool, which is highly trained and adaptable, and is able to automatically identify these false claim incidents and violations to prevent Healy World from facing severe repercussions. This tool can detect any misinformation in the form of text or graphic images, from all over the web, in a matter of seconds while indicating the responsible member and their position in the member genealogy. Once identified, the system sorts these violations according to their impact on the company and performs a risk assessment, and yes you guessed it- automatically! Taking appropriate countermeasures against these incidents was never easier, as the compliance management staff could now see a straightforward overview of all necessary statistics and make informed decisions to counteract them with the relevant next steps, without making errors.
The members’ responses to the warnings are also recorded and reported to keep track of the efficacy of the countermeasures applied to establish a complete check on the entire process. Having all of this in a single platform, ensured the increment of detection of violations by up to 10 times per week, and at the same time cutting down costs by 80% and reducing manual workload by 70%, but more importantly, reducing time spent per incident and the occurrence of errors significantly. Setting up the right business logic as the backbone to connect all these data on contractual documents per market; member information; their hierarchal structure; responsible Healy staff and all warning letters and emails to be sent as countermeasures, led us to deliver a full-fledged compliance management software. To make this experience ultra smooth, the smart actions on our software interface, provide an intuitive digital assistance.


text:
Michael Gately is a sick young man. At 14 years old, he has a disease affecting only a few dozen people in the country. But his illness doesn’t show on Michael’s face or in his smile. In fact, his mother Julie said, “He’s the healthiest looking sick kid you’ll ever see.” The Gatelys give much of the credit for this to their Intermountain Homecare nurse, Dylan Law, RN.
A rare genetic condition causes Michael’s body to constantly react as if it were fighting an infection when none actually exists. At the same time, the condition also makes him susceptible to many ailments. Michael has had to fight off some serious infections such as meningitis and pneumonia. He has undergone more than 35 surgeries. Dylan has been Michael’s nurse for seven years. “When he first came to our home, Dylan walked straight to Michael,” said Julie. “He treated Michael as a kid, not a disease.”
Julie credits Dylan for helping her understand the benefits of replacing the infusion line in Michael’s arm with a chest port for his treatments. This allows Michael to swim, play baseball, and do other things kids his age do. More than providing clinical care, however, Dylan boosts Michael’s morale. Treatments can last up to 10 hours, and during these visits Dylan and Michael play video games, watch movies, and talk about life. “Dylan always goes the extra mile to be there for our son,” said Julie. The Gatelys consider Dylan part of the family.

domain: medical


text:
Campus community encouraged to support Onyxfest
Six original plays written and produced by local artists will take the stage Nov. 3 to 6 at the IndyFringe Basile Theatre in downtown Indianapolis and Nov. 10 to 12 at the IUPUI Campus Center Theater as part of OnyxFest 2022.
Onyxfest is the only theater festival in Indiana exclusively for Black playwrights. The event is presented by the Africana Repertory Theatre, IU School of Liberal Arts, IU School of Education and Office of Community Engagement, all at IUPUI.
“OnyxFest is a great example of IUPUI schools and offices lending their support to help amplify voices that are too often suppressed or marginalized due to a lack of safe spaces and systemic barriers,” said festival executive producer Vernon A. Williams, IUPUI communication and community engagement strategist.
In addition to showcasing playwrights, the festival exposes students to a variety of theater-related professionals — such as actors, set builders, lighting directors and sound technicians — who play a pivotal role in taking a production from script to stage. The goal is to involve student interns and volunteers in Africana Repertory Theatre at IUPUI programs.
Regina Turner, associate faculty in communication studies in the School of Liberal Arts, orchestrates student campus-community performance projects and is the cornerstone of the panel of jurors that selects plays for OnyxFest.
“By serving as a platform for Black artists to tell their stories, the mission of OnyxFest aligns with the mission of the Africana Repertory Theatre of IUPUI, which is to leverage the creative and communal power of the arts as a tool for fostering community, youth empowerment and positive social transformation,” Turner said.
OnyxFest is produced in partnership with IndyFringe. The campus community is encouraged to attend.
“The authenticity of the writing, acting and storylines are compelling,” Williams said. “We hope students, faculty and staff will check out as many performances as possible because no two plays are the same.
“It’s a great opportunity to support a grassroots festival with strong IUPUI ties. Most importantly, you will be entertained by thought-provoking and original artistry.”
OnyxFest 2022 tickets are available on the event website, along with descriptions of each play, a schedule of performances and more information.
Tia Broz is a communications consultant in the Office of the Vice President for Communications and Marketing.

domain: artistic


text:
We visited Cherie’s school to pick up books for her 12th standard and found ourselves at the end of a very long line. I did what any caring parent would have done – asked her to stand in line and headed to the snacks counter while she probably glared ineffectually.
This school likely has the unhealthiest food I’ve ever seen in any place that serves food, and prepares it with the full knowledge that students don’t have any other place to buy from. This translates into shoddily prepared and stored food. Thankfully, I can count on my fingers the number of times she’s gone without a packed lunch and has been handed lunch money instead.
On the other hand, since we’re so careful at home, I do enjoy a few bites of this sort of food every now and then. It also helps somewhat in drowning out the trauma of PTMs. On this day, I bought a potato burger, the buns deep fried and literally (I mean, literally) saturated with oil. Each bite caused little spurts of oil to flood my palate and the deep fried potato patty in the centre was an oasis of health and wellness in comparison.
Afterwards, we headed home and I thought of making it up to her with a nice meal. On the way home, we stopped and picked up a lauki (bottle gourd), a bundle of pudina (mint), a few tomatoes and some spring onions.
When home, Cherie washed some rice and lobia (black eyed beans), and put it into a pressure cooker on the gas. I chopped the lauki and put it to boil in a pan with some water, prepared the dressing and sliced some tomatoes. When the rice was done, we fried a couple of eggs, grilled a few chunks of paneer (cottage cheese), plated the lot and it all came together beautifully.
The dressing of course was key, but so were the different textures from the ingredients. Admittedly the non-dressing ingredients don’t have a lot of flavour, but the dressing more than makes up for it.
- Serves 2 – 3
- Prep time: 10 minutes
- Cooking time: 10-12 minutes
- Half a medium lauki, sliced thick (2 slices per portion)
- 1 Tomato, sliced thick (2 slices per portion)
- 1 cup Rice, washed
- 1/2 cup Lobia, washed
- 2 Eggs, fried sunny side up (3 if you want to make a third portion)
- 2/3 of a 200 gm packet of Paneer, grilled
- Fresh ground peppercorns, for the egg
- 3 Spring onions, chopped
- 10 Mint leaves, chopped
- 3 tbsp Soy sauce (light)
- 1 tsp Fish sauce
- 1 tbsp Chinese cooking wine
- 1 Lemon, juice
- 1/2 tsp Sesame oil
- 2 tsp Sesame seeds
- 1/2 tsp Sugar
- Cook the rice and lobia together.
- Boil the lauki.
- Grill the paneer
- Fry the eggs
- Assemble all the ingredients for the dressing
- Buy some good soy sauce – it makes all the difference.
- Light soy sauce for flavour, dark soy sauce for colour
- I didn’t add salt to anything. There’s enough in the dressing.
- The eggs were ‘fried’ with a brushing of oil in a non-stick kadhai, covered.
- For round fried eggs, consider frying them in a kadhai.
- I don’t like lobia much and find it boring, except in such applications.
- Experiment with the proportions in the dressing.
- Fish sauce has a strong flavour that is an acquired taste.
- I used a grill pan for the paneer.


text:
Center for Social Innovation and Research
The Center for Social Innovation and Research (CSIR) is an initiative of SPUQC community to mainstream social entrepreneurship into the academia. It espouses an integrated, decentralized approach that harnesses the efforts of creative and socially-responsive Paulinian stewards. Its programs and services are proposed platforms that unleash human potentials of SPUQC as the Center struggles to increase the number of employees and stakeholders who have the opportunity to contribute their talents to the community/nation.
The Office of the Center for Social Innovation and Research is open every:
Monday to Friday

domain: sociology


text:
After we got our asses kicked by some of the climbs at Green Climber's Home (and after being a bit concerned with safety on what are mainly tufa climbs on razor sharp, chaucy rock), we decided to rent a scooter and explore the country side.
The scooters at GCH were not great and were not always available, so Razvan hitch hiked to Tha Khek and rented a scooter there from a shop called Mad Monkey.
They also gave us a map of "The Loop"! Many people rent scooters for a few days and visit the places on the loop, staying at different guest houses along the way. We did not do the actual loop. With GCH as our main base we did a few day trips in the area.
The area is absolutely beautiful with giant black limestone cliffs rising out among the rice fields.
We met Marion and Mikael who were doing a tour of the area by motorcycle and spent three awesome days together exploring caves and lakes in the area.
The culture in Laos is friendly and relaxed. Every time we passed kids on the road they would wave at us and say "Sa-bai-dee" which means "Hello" in Lao. And when Marion and Mikael had a bit of trouble with their bike one evening people stopped to help.
The main highways in this part of Laos are pretty good, with almost no pot holes. The sideroads are a different story. It was quite an adventure sometimes.
The majority of the people in the area are farmers. We saw lots of rice fields and farm animals: cows, goats, chickens, water buffalo. People seem to be pretty well off and we saw many brand-new pickup trucks in people's front yards. Still, it's pretty clear the country is still developing.
One of the really nice things about Laos is that you can usually find fresh baked baguettes in the market in the morning. We even found a pack of La Vache Qui Rit at the bus station in Tha Khek!
We heard that much of the area here gets flooded during the rainy season, so many of the houses in this area were built on stilts.
The most amazing place we saw in this area has to be Khong Lang Lake. It is a small lake about two hours away from Tha Kek that has the clearest water I have ever seen.
One of the blooming trees grew almost horizontally above the lake and we had lots of fun jumping off it.
While we were there a group of Lao guys showed up and hung out around the lake drinking beer. They were very friendly and offered us beer and took photos with us. I guess they don't see "Falangs" (foreigners) very often.
The main attraction on the loop are the many caves in the area. There's actually a really nice cave right next to Green Climbers Home: Xieng Liab Cave.
The cave across the street is also very cool. It is considered to be a holy cave and local people go there to pray in front of the buddha statue. If you climb down the boulders under the statue you get to a a beautiful natural tunnel in the rock.
We had a great time touring around by motorcycle. So much so, that we decided to stay in Laos a while longer and do "the loop" farther south in Pakse. More on that soon. :)

domain: geography


text:
- Numbers in parentheses indicate the length of the match.
- (c) refers to the champion(s) heading into the match.
- Sabu (w/ Bill Alfonso) defeated Taz
- Taz defeated Shane Douglas (w/ Francine) (c) to win the ECW World Television Championship
- The Eliminators (John Kronus & Perry Saturn) (c) defeated The Dudley Boyz (Buh Buh Ray Dudley & D-Von Dudley) (w/ Big Dick Dudley, Joel Gertner & Sign Guy Dudley) to retain the ECW World Tag Team Championship
Community content is available under CC-BY-SA unless otherwise noted.


text:
As Times reporter Kate Zernike notes, in a deadpan tone that can't help but elicit a chuckle, "All this dismays many professors."
This article should reassure conservatives who fret constantly over how radical faculties at leading universities are corrupting our youth. (I'll confess to occasional membership in this club.) Most students today--whether pro- or antiwar--can see these tenured radicals as the pompous, self-absorbed windbags they are. A women's studies professor at Amherst tells Zernike that "We used to like to offend people . . . we loved being bad, in the sense that we were making a statement. Why is there no joy now?" Another professor says that when he was a grad-student protester in Madison, "there was a certain nobility in being gassed."
Today's students, chastened by the reality of September 11, hardly see "nobility in being gassed," or find any "joy" in "being bad" to "make a statement" and "offend people." And most of them probably also find it difficult to believe that Flower Power will get us very far with the likes of Osama bin Laden and Saddam Hussein; it seems they would rather opt for Special Forces and stealth bombers. (As the Times article notes, in the annual nationwide survey of college freshman conducted by UCLA, this year 45 percent of freshman supported an increase in military spending--more than double the 1993 percentage.)
What's truly pathetic about these nostalgic lefty profs is that they're out of sync not only with their students' views, but also with their own generation. The most shocking thing about this week's Washington Post/ABC poll is that the age group with the highest level of support for the war in Iraq (87 percent! ) is the 45 to 54-year-old set. That's the same baby boomer group most of the professors in the New York Times story no doubt belong to. Even the baby boomers are pro-war!
As those Vietnam-era protesters might have said: The times, they are a-changin'.
Lee Bockhorn is associate editor at The Weekly Standard.


text:
- Voyage across the Atlantic pursued -- Christmasday on board the Sumter -- Cape fly-away, and the curious illusion produced by it -- the Sumter passes from the desert parts of the sea, into a tract of commerce once more -- boards a large fleet of ships in one day, but finds no enemy among them -- arrival at Cadiz.
The punishment administered to the two delinquent sentinels mentioned in the last chapter, had the most salutary effect. Seamen are very much like children, requiring the reins to be tightened upon them from time to time. I made it a rule on board the Sumter, that punishment should follow the offence, with promptitude, and certainty, rather than severity; and this excellent rule had already performed marvels, in the matter of disciplining my ship. Sunday, December 15th.—A fine bright morning, with a moderate breeze from the north-west, and the weather just cool enough to be delightfully bracing. We mustered the crew this morning, and read the articles of war for the first time in three weeks, owing to the bad weather. I did not inspect the ship below, according to custom, the sea being still rough, and the water ankle-deep on the gun-deck in consequence. Our new prisoners always looked upon the muster ceremonies on board the Sumter, with curiosity, as though they were surprised to find so much order and discipline, and so much attention to dress and ceremony, on board the ‘pirate’ of which they had read, and whose ‘cut’ they had so often admired, in their truth-loving and truth-telling newspapers. The latitude, to-day, is 34°, and the longitude 42° 05′. We were quite surprised to find so much bad weather in  the parallel, on which we were crossing the Atlantic. I had purposely chosen this parallel, that my little cock-boat of a ship might not be knocked in pieces, by the storms of the North Atlantic, and yet the reader has seen how roughly we have been handled. Nor were the fates more propitious for the next few days. Gale followed gale, with angry skies, and cloud and rain; there sometimes being lightning around the entire horizon, with now rolling, now crashing thunder. I had intended when I left the West Indies to touch at Fayal, in the Azores, for coal and water, but I found these islands so guarded and defended, by the Genius of the storm, that it would require several days of patience and toil, to enable me to reach an anchorage in one of them. I therefore determined to pass them, and haul up for the southern coast of Spain, running finally into Cadiz. Christmas day was passed by us on the lonely sea, in as doleful a manner as can well be conceived. The weather is thus described in my journal. ‘Thermometer 63°; barometer 29.80. Heavy rain squalls—weather dirty, with lightning all around the horizon, indicating a change of wind at any moment. Under short sail during the night.’ The only other record of the day was that we ‘spliced the main brace;’ that is, gave Jack an extra glass of grog. Groups of idle sailors lay about the decks, ‘overhauling a range of their memories;’ how they had spent the last Christmas-day, in some ‘Wapping,’ or ‘Wide Water street,’ with the brimming goblet in hand, and the merry music of the dance sounding in their ears. Nor were the memories of the officers idle. They clasped in fancy their loved ones, now sad and lonely, to their bosoms once more, and listened to the prattle of the little ones they had left behind. Not the least curious of the changes that had taken place since the last Christmas day, was the change in their own official positions. They were, most of them, on that day, afloat under the ‘old flag.’ That flag now looked to them strange and foreign. They had some of their own countrymen on board; not, as of yore, as welcome visitors, but as prisoners. These, too, wore a changed aspect—enemy, instead of friend, being written upon their faces. The two ‘rival nations,’ spoken of by De Tocqueville, stood face to face. Nature is  stronger than man. She will not permit her laws to be violated with impunity, and if this war does not separate these two nations, other wars will. If we succeed in preserving the principle of State sovereignty—the only principle which can save this whole country, North and South, from utter wreck and ruin—all will be well, whatever combinations of particular States may be made, from time to time. The States being free, liberty will be saved, and they will gravitate naturally, like unto like—the Puritan clinging to the Puritan, and the Cavalier to the Cavalier. But if this principle be overthrown, if the mad idea be carried out, that all the American people must be moulded into a common mass, and form one consolidated government, under the rule of a majority—for no constitution will then restrain them—Constitutional liberty will disappear, and no man can predict the future—except in so far, that it is impossible for the Puritan, and the Cavalier to live together in peace. On the next day, we witnessed a curious natural illusion. The look-out called land ho! from the mast-head. The officer of the watch saw the land at the same time from the deck, and sent a midshipman below to inform me that we had made ‘high land, right ahead.’ I came at once upon deck, and there, sure enough, was the land — a beautiful island, with its blue mountains, its plains, its wood-lands, its coast, all perfect. It was afternoon. The weather had been stormy, but had partially cleared. The sun was near his setting, and threw his departing rays full upon the newly discovered island, hanging over it, as a symbol that, for a time, there was to be a truce with the storm, a magnificent rainbow. So beautiful was the scene, and so perfect the illusion—there being no land within a couple of hundred miles of us—that all the crew had come on deck to witness it; and there was not one of them who would not have bet a month's pay that what he looked upon was a reality. The chief engineer was standing by me looking upon the supposed landscape, with perfect rapture. Lowering the telescope through which I had been viewing it, I said to him, ‘You see, now, Mr. F., how often men are deceived. You would no doubt swear that that is land.’ ‘Why should I not,  sir?’ said he. ‘Simply,’ rejoined I, ‘because it is Cape Flyaway.’ He turned and looked at me with astonishment, as though I were quizzing him, and said, ‘You surely do not mean to say, Captain, that that is not land; it is not possible that one's senses can be so much deceived.’ ‘Like yourself, I should have sworn it was land, if I did not know, from the position of the ship, that there is no land within a couple of hundred miles of us.’ Reaching out his hand for my glass, I gave it to him, and as he viewed the island through it, I was much amused at his ejaculations of admiration, now at this beauty, and now at that. ‘Why,’ said he, ‘there is the very coast, sand beach and all, with beautiful bays and indentations, as though inviting the Sumter to run in and anchor.’ As the sun sank lower and lower, withdrawing now one ray, and now another, first the rainbow began to disappear, and then the lower strata of the island to grow a little gray, and then the upper, until, as the sun dipped, the whole gorgeous fabric, of mountain, woodland, plain, and coast, was converted into a leaden-colored cloud-bank. The engineer handing me my glass, said, ‘Captain, I will be a cautious witness hereafter, in a court of justice, when I am questioned as to a fact, which has only been revealed to me through a single sense.’ ‘I see,’ I replied, ‘that you are becoming a philosopher. Many metaphysicians have maintained that all nature is a mere phantasmagoria, so far as our senses are capable of informing us.’ For the last two weeks, we had been crossing a desert tract of the ocean, where a sail is seldom seen. We now began to approach one of the beaten highways, over which a constant stream of travel is passing—the road leading from the various ports of Europe to the equator and the coast of Brazil, and thence east and west, as may be the destination of the wayfarer. December 28th.—A fine, bright day, with the wind light from the south-west. At daylight, ‘Sail ho!’ came ringing from the mast-head. The sail crossing our bows, we took in our studding-sails, hauled up south-east, to intercept her, and got up steam. Our latitude being 35° 17′, and longitude 20° 53′, we were within striking distance of Cadiz or Gibraltar, and could afford now to use a little steam. The chase did  not reward us, however, as she proved to be English—being the ship Richibucto, from Liverpool, for Vera Cruz, laden with salt. We received from her some English newspapers, which gave us several items of interesting intelligence. All England was in mourning for the death of Prince Albert. The Trent affair was causing great excitement, and the Confederate States steamer Nashville, Captain Pegram, had arrived at Southampton, having burned a large Yankee ship, the Harvey Birch. This ship having been burned in the English Channel, much attention was attracted to the act; especially as the ship was tea-laden, and supposed to be worth near half a million of dollars. The next day was rainy, with a light wind from the southeast. Only two sails were seen, and to neither of them did we give chase; but on the morning of the 30th of December, we fell in with a perfect stream of ships. ‘Sail ho!’ was shouted at daylight from the mast-head, and repeated at short intervals, until as many as twenty-five were reported. We at once got up steam, and commenced chasing; but though we chased diligently, one ship after another, from eight o'clock in the morning until four in the afternoon, we did not overhaul a single ship of the enemy I We actually boarded sixteen sail, a number of others showing us their colors. The ships boarded were of the following nationalities:—Four Dutch, seven English, two French, one Swedish, one Prussian, one Hamburg. Here was quite a representation of the nations of Europe, and I amused myself taking the vote of these ships, according to our American fashion, upon the war. Their sentiments were elicited as follows:—I would first show them the United States colors, pretending to be a Federal cruiser; I would then haul down these colors, and show them the Confederate flag. The result was that but one ship—the Prussian—saluted the United States flag, and that all the other ships, with one or two exceptions, saluted the Confederate States flag. We were then beating the enemy, and the nations of the earth were worshipping success. So large a fleet of ships—not being a convoy—so far out at sea, was quite a curiosity, and may serve to show the landsman how accurately we have mapped out, upon the ocean, the  principal highways of commerce. There were no mile-posts on the road these ships were travelling, it is true, but the road was none the less ‘blazed’ out, for all that—the blazes being on the wind and current charts. The night succeeding this busy day set in cloudy and ugly, with a fresh breeze blowing from the eastward; and so continuous was the stream of ships, all sailing in the contrary direction from ourselves, that we had serious apprehensions of being run over. To guard against this, we set our side-lights, and stationed extra lookouts. Several ships passed us during the night, hurrying forward on the wings of the wind, at a rapid rate, and sometimes coming so close, in the darkness, as almost to make one's hair stand on end. The next morning the weather became clear and beautiful, and the stream of ships had ceased. The reader may be curious to know the explanation of this current of ships. It is simple enough. They were all Mediterranean ships. At the strait of Gibraltar there is a constant current setting into the Mediterranean. This current is of considerable strength, and the consequence is, that when the wind also sets into the strait—that is to say, when it is from the westward—it is impossible for a sailing-ship to get out of the strait into the Atlantic. She is obliged to come to anchor in the bay of Gibraltar, and wait for a change of wind. This is sometimes a long time in coming—the westerly winds continuing here, not unfrequently, two and three weeks at a time. As a matter of course, a large number of ships collect in the bay, waiting for an opportunity of exit. I have seen as many as a hundred sail at one time. In a few hours after a change of wind takes place, this immense fleet will all be under way, and such of them as are bound to the equator and the coast of Brazil, the United States, West Indies, and South America, will be found travelling the blazed road of which I have spoken; some taking the forks of the road, at their respective branching-off places, and others keeping the main track to the equator. Hence the exodus the reader has witnessed. Perhaps the reader needs another explanation—how it was, that amid all that fleet of ships, there was not one Yankee. This explanation is almost as easy as the other. Commerce  is a sensitive plant, and at the rude touch of war it had contracted its branches. The enemy was fast losing his Mediterranean trade, under the operation of high premiums for war risks. We began now to observe a notable change in the weather, as affected by the winds. Along the entire length of the American coast, the clear winds are the west winds, the rainwinds being the east winds. Here the rule is reversed; the west winds bringing us rains, and the east winds clear weather. The reason is quite obvious. The east winds, sweeping over the continent of Europe, have nearly all of their moisture wrung out of them before they reach the sea; hence the dryness of these winds, when they salute the mariner cruising along the European coasts. Starting now from the European seas as dry winds, they traverse a large extent of water before they reach the coasts of the United States. During the whole of this travel, these thirsty winds are drinking their fill from the sea, and by the time they reach Portland or Boston, they are heavily laden with moisture, which they now begin to let down again upon the land. Hence, those long, gloomy, rainy, rheumatic, easterly storms, that prevail along our coast in the fall and winter months. The reader has now only to take up the west wind, as it leaves the Pacific Ocean, as a wet wind, and follow it across the American continent, and see how dry the mountains wring it before it reaches the Atlantic, to see why it should bring us fair weather. The change was very curious to us at first, until we became a little used to it. Another change was quite remarkable, and that was the great difference in temperature which we experienced with reference to latitude. Here we were, in midwinter, or near it, off the south coast of Spain, in latitude 36°, nearly that of Cape Henry at the entrance of the Chesapeake Bay, and unless the weather was wet, we had not felt the necessity of a pea-jacket. Whence this difference? The cause, or causes, whatever they are, must, of course, be local; for other things being equal, the heat should be the same, on the same parallel of latitude; all around the globe which we inhabit. Captain Matthew F. Maury, of the late Confederate States' Navy, to whom all nations accord, as by common consent, the title of Philosopher  of the Seas, accounts for this difference of temperature in the following manner:
Modern ingenuity has suggested a beautiful mode of warming houses in winter. It is done by means of hot water. The furnace and the caldron are sometimes placed at a distance from the apartment to be warmed. It is so at the Observatory. In this case, pipes are used to conduct the heated water from the caldron under the Superintendent's dwelling, over into one of the basement rooms of the Observatory, a distance of one hundred feet. These pipes are then flared out, so as to present a large cooling surface; after which they are united into one again, through which the water, being now cooled, returns of its own accord to the caldron. Thus, cool water is returning all the time, and flowing in at the bottom of the caldron, while hot water is continually flowing out at the top. The ventilation of the Observatory is so arranged that the circulation of the atmosphere through it is led from this basement room, where the pipes are, to all parts of the building; and in the process of this circulation, the warmth conveyed by the water to the basement, is taken thence by the air, and distributed all over the rooms. Now, to compare small things with great, we have, in the warm waters which are confined in the Gulf of Mexico, just such a heating apparatus for Great Britain, the North Atlantic, and Western Europe. The furnace is the torrid zone; the Mexican Gulf arid Caribbean Sea are the caldrons; the Gulf Stream is the conducting-pipe. From the Grand Banks of New Foundland to the shores of Europe is the basement—the hot-air chambers—in which this pipe is flared out so as to present a large cooling surface. Here the circulation of the atmosphere is arranged by nature, and it is such that the warmth conveyed into this warm-air chamber of mid-ocean is taken up by the genial west winds, and dispensed in the most benign manner, throughout Great Britain and the west of Europe. The maximum temperature of the water-heated air-chamber of the Observatory, is about 90°. The maximum temperature of the Gulf Stream is 86°, or about 9° in excess of the ocean temperature due the latitude. Increasing its latitude, 10°, it loses but 2° of temperature; and after having run three thousand miles toward the north, it still preserves, even in winter, the heat of summer.  With this temperature it crosses the 40th degree of North latitude, and there, overflowing its liquid banks, it spreads itself out for thousands of square leagues over the cold waters around, and covers the ocean with a mantle of warmth that serves so much to mitigate in Europe, the rigors of winter. Moving now slowly, but dispensing its genial influences more freely, it finally meets the British Islands. By these it is divided, one part going into the polar basin of Spitzbergen, the other entering the Bay of Biscay, but each with a warmth considerably above the ocean temperature. Such an immense volume of heated water cannot fail to carry with it beyond the seas a mild and moist atmosphere. And this it is which so much softens climates there. We know not, except approximately in one or two places, what the depth or the under temperature of the Gulf Stream may be; but assuming the temperature and velocity, at the depth of two hundred fathoms to be those of the surface, and taking the well-known difference between the capacity of air, and of water for specific heat as the argument, a simple calculation will show that the quantity of heat discharged over the Atlantic from the waters of the Gulf Stream in a winter's day would be sufficient to raise the whole column of atmosphere that rests upon France, and the British Islands from the freezing-point to summer heat. Every west wind that blows, crosses the stream on its way to Europe, and carries with it a portion of this heat to temper there the northern winds of winter. It is the influence of this stream upon climates, that makes Erin the “Emerald Isle of the sea,” and that clothes the shores of Albion in evergreen robes; while in the same latitude on this side, the coasts of Labrador are fast bound in fetters of ice.To pursue Captain Maury's theory a little farther: the flow of tepid waters does not cease at the Bay of Biscay, but continues along the coasts of Spain and Portugal, thence along the coast of Africa, past Madeira and the Canaries, to the Cape de Verdes; where it joins the great equatorial current flowing westward, with which it returns again into the Gulf of Mexico. The Sumter, being between Madeira and the coast of Spain, was within its influence. One word before I part with my friend Maury. In common with thousands of mariners all  over the world, I owe him a debt of gratitude, for his gigantic labors in the scientific fields of our profession; for the sailor may claim the philosophy of the seas as a part of his profession. A knowledge of the winds and the waves, and the laws which govern their motions is as necessary to the seaman as is the art of handling his ship, and to no man so much as to Maury is he indebted for a knowledge of these laws. Other distinguished co-laborers, as Reid, Redfield, Espy, have contributed to the science, but none in so eminent a degree. They dealt in specialties—as, for instance, the storm—but he has grasped the whole science of meteorology—dealing as well in the meteorology of the water, if I may use the expression, as in that of the atmosphere. A Tennesseean by birth, he did not hesitate when the hour came, ‘that tried men's souls.’ Poor, and with a large family, he gave up the comfortable position of Superintendent of the National Observatory, which he held under the Federal Government, and cast his fortunes with the people of his State. He had not the courage to be a traitor, and sell himself for gold. The State of Tennessee gave him birth; she carried him into the Federal Union, and she brought him out of it. Scarcely any man who withdrew from the old service has been so vindictively, and furiously assailed as Maury. The nationalists of the North,—and I mean by nationalists, the whole body of the Northern people, who ignored the rights of the States, and claimed that the Federal Government was paramount,—had taken especial pride in Maury and his labors. He, as well as the country at large, belonged to them. They petted and caressed him, and pitted him against the philosophers of the world, with true Yankee conceit. They had the biggest country, and the cleverest men in the world, and Maury was one of these. But Maury, resisting all these blandishments, showed, to their horror, when the hour of trial came, that he was a Southern gentleman, and not a Puritan. The change of sentiment was instantaneous and ludicrous. Their self-conceit had received an awful blow, and there is no wound so damaging as that which has been given to self-conceit. Almost everything else may be forgiven, but this never can. Maury became  at once a ‘rebel’ and a ‘traitor,’ and everything else that was vile. He was not even a philosopher any longer, but a bumbug and a cheat. In science, as in other pursuits, there are rivalries and jealousies. The writer of these pages, having been stationed at the seat of the Federal Government for a year or two preceding the war, was witness of some of the rivalries and jealousies of Maury, on the part of certain small philosophers, who thought the world had not done justice to themselves. These now opened upon the dethroned monarch of the seas, as live asses will kick at dead lions, and there was no end to the partisan abuse that was heaped upon the late Chief of the National Observatory. Maury had been a Federal naval officer, as well as philosopher, and some of his late confreres of the Federal service, who, in former years, had picked up intellectual crumbs from the table of the philosopher, and were content to move in orbits at a very respectful distance from him; now, raised by capricious fortune to place, joined in the malignant outcry against him. Philosopher of the Seas! Thou mayest afford to smile at these vain attempts to humble thee. Science, which can never be appreciated by small natures, has no nationality. Thou art a citizen of the world, and thy historic fame does not depend upon the vile traducers of whom I have spoken. These creatures, in the course of a few short years, will rot in unknown graves; thy fame will be immortal! Thou hast revealed to us the secrets of the depths of the ocean, traced its currents, discoursed to us of its storms and its calms, and taught us which of its roads to travel, and which to avoid. Every mariner, for countless ages to come, as he takes down his chart, to shape his course across the seas, will think of thee! He will think of thee as he casts his lead into the deep sea; he will think of thee, as he draws a bucket of water from it, to examine its animalculae; he will think of thee as he sees the storm gathering thick and ominous; he will think of thee as he approaches the calm-belts, and especially the calm-belt of the equator, with its mysterious cloud-ring; he will think of thee as he is scudding before the ‘brave west winds’ of the Southern hemisphere; in short, there is no phenomenon of the sea that will not recall to him thine image.  This is the living monument which thou hast constructed for thyself, and which all the rage of the Puritan cannot shake. December 31st.—The last day of the year, as though it would atone to us for some of the bad weather its previous days had given us, is charming. There is not a cloud, as big as a man's hat, anywhere to be seen, and the air is so elastic that it is a positive pleasure to breathe it. The temperature is just cool enough to be comfortable, though the wind is from the north. At daylight, a couple of sail were reported from aloft, but, as they were at a great distance, and out of our course, we did not chase. Indeed, we have become quite discouraged since our experience of yesterday. A third sail was seen at noon, also at a great distance. These are probably the laggards of the great Mediterranean wind-bound fleet. We observed, to-day, in latitude 35° 22′; the longitude being 16° 27′. It becoming quite calm at eight P. M., I put the ship under steam; being about 490 miles from Cadiz. January 1st, 1862.—Nearly calm; wind light from the south-west, and sky partially overcast. The sea is smooth, and we are making nine knots, the hour. We made an excellent run during the past night, and are approaching the Spanish coast very rapidly. Nothing seen during the day. At nine P. M. a sail passed us, a gleam of whose light we caught for a moment in the darkness. The light being lost almost as soon as seen, we did not attempt to chase. Latitude 35° 53′; longitude 13° 14′. On the next day we overhauled a French, and a Spanish ship. It had been my intention, when leaving Martinique, to cruise a few days off Cadiz, before entering the port, and for this purpose I had reserved a three days supply of fuel; but, unfortunately, the day before our arrival we took another gale of wind, which shook us so severely, that the ship's leak increased very rapidly; the engineer reporting that it was as much as he could do to keep her free, with the bilge pumps, under short steam. The leak was evidently through the sleeve of the propeller, and was becoming alarming. I therefore abandoned the idea of cruising, and ran directly for the land. Night set in before anything could be seen, but having every confidence in my chronometers, I ran without any hesitation  for the Light, although we had been forty-one days at sea, without testing our instruments by a sight of land. We made the light—a fine Fresnel, with a red flash—during the midwatch, and soon afterward got soundings. We now slowed down the engine, and ran in by the lead, until we judged ourselves four or five miles distant from the light, when we hove to. The next morning revealed Cadiz, fraught with so many ancient, and modern memories, in all its glory, though the weather was gloomy and the clouds dripping rain.
Fair Cadiz, rising o'er the dark blue sea!as Byron calls thee, thou art indeed lovely! with thy white Moresque-looking houses, and gayly curtained balconies, thy church-domes which carry us back in architecture a thousand years, and thy harbor thronged with shipping. Once the Gades of the Phoenician, now the Cadiz of the nineteenth century, thou art perhaps the only living city that can run thy record back so far into the past. We fired a gun, and hoisted a jack for a pilot, and one boarding us soon afterward, we steamed into the harbor. The Confederate States' flag was flying from our peak, and we could see that there were many curious telescopes turned upon us, as we passed successively the forts and the different quays lined with shipping. As the harbor opened upon us, a magnificent spectacle presented itself. On our left was the somewhat distant coast of Andalusia, whose name is synonymous with all that is lovely in scenery, or beautiful in woman. One almost fancies as he looks upon it, that he hears the amorous tinkle of the guitar, and inhales the fragrance of the orange grove. Seville is its chief city, and who has not read the couplet,
Quien no ha visto Sevillawhich may be rendered into the vernacular thus:
No ha visto maravilla,
He who hath not Seville seen,The landscape, still green in mid-winter, was dotted with villas and villages, all white, contrasting prettily with the groves in which they were embowered. Casting the eye forward, it  rested upon the picturesque hills of the far-famed wine district of Xeres, with its vineyards, wine-presses, and pack-mules. Some famous old wine estates were pointed out to us by the pilot. We ran through a fleet of shipping before reaching our anchorage off the main quay, the latter lined on both sides with market-boats; and as much more shipping lay beyond us. I was, indeed, quite surprised to find the harbor, which is spacious, so thronged. It spoke well for the reviving industry of Spain. With a little fancy one might imagine her still the mistress of the ‘Indies,’ and that these were her galleons come to pour the mineral treasures of half a world in her lap. All nations were represented, though the Spanish flag predominated. Wearing this flag there were many fine specimens of naval architecture—especially lines of steamships plying between Cadiz, the West Indies, and South America. A number of the merchant-ships of different nations hoisted their flags in honor of the Sumter as she passed; and one Yankee ship— there being three or four of them in the harbor—hoisted hers, as much as to say, ‘You see we are not afraid to show it.’
Hath not seen wonders, I ween.


text:
|Public Release Date: October 20, 1995||No. 95-45|
The Board of Barber Examiners regulates the licensing of barbers and barber schools. The board consists of three registered barbers and one public member appointed by the Governor. Members serve four year terms. The board meets monthly. The board establishes rules and regulations necessary to comply with laws governing the barber profession. The board examines applicants for licensure, renews licenses for registered barbers, apprentices, and instructors, and registers and inspects barber shops and barber schools.
The board finances its operations through state appropriations. It received annual General Fund appropriations ranging from $126,000 - $135,000 during the audit period. The board sets the fees it charges to recover its direct and indirect costs. The board deposits its receipts into the state's General Fund as nondedicated revenue. The executive secretary is responsible for all administrative functions of the board.
Our audit scope included employee payroll, administrative expenditures including travel and rent, and license and examination revenues for the period July 1, 1991 through June 30, 1995. We concluded that the board charged the approved fees for examinations and licenses and set the fees to recover its direct and indirect operating expenditures. We also found that the board spent its state appropriations within its appropriation limits and statutory authority. The board also paid its employees at the proper amounts according to the respective bargaining unit agreements and/or board authorization.

domain: economics