<div class=Google hires Vint Cerf, the “father of the Internet”
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Google hires Vint Cerf, the “father of the Internet”

Thursday, September 8, 2005

Google announced today, September 8, that they have hired Vinton Cerf, to serve as the Chief Internet Evangelist. He is often referred to as the “father of the Internet”. While working at the US Department of Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) he played an important role in the development of the Internet. At DARPA he co-designed the TCP/IP protocol, on which the Internet runs.

Google CEO Eric Schmidt said “Cerf is clearly one of the great technology leaders of our time”. Cerf has been awarded the National Medal of Technology and the Premio Principe de Asturias de Investigacion Cientifica, or the Prince of Asturias Award for Technical and Scientific Research. People Magazine listed Cerf as one the “25 Most Intriguing People” in 1994. In early 2005 Cerf was included among the Association for Computing Machinery (ACM) 2004 Turing Award winners. The Turing Award is considered one of the most prestigious computing awards.

Cerf, aged 62, is currently working on developing a new set of planet-to-planet communications protocols for NASA‘s Jet Propulsion Laboratory. Prior to being hired by Google, he worked for MCI, where he led the development of MCI Mail. MCI Mail was the first commercial e-mail service to connect to the Internet. Cerf also serves as the Chairman of the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN), a role he plans to continue.

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<div class=Cargo ship Arctic Sea may be found
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Cargo ship Arctic Sea may be found

Saturday, August 15, 2009

A cargo ship spotted off the African island nation of Cape Verde could be the missing MV Arctic Sea.

The Maltese flagged MV Arctic Sea disappeared off the French coast sometime after July 29. Owned by the Russian Arctic Sea company she was operated by the Finnish Solchart Management company and had a Russian crew.

French intelligence sources have found a ship matching the Arctic Sea’s description about 400 Nautical miles north of São Vicente.

The Arctic Sea was on a scheduled route from the Finnish seaport of Pietarsaari to the Algerian seaport of Béjaïa with a cargo of timber when it was boarded in Swedish waters between the islands Öland and Gotland on the night of July 24. The alleged boarders left the ship the same day according to its crew and the ship continued her voyage although it would have been expected to anchor at the nearest port.

The last official contact with the ship was with the Maritime and Coastguard Agency in Britain on July 28. Viktor Matveyev, the director of Solchart Management says the ship radioed that it was off the coast of Portugal on July 31. The 98-meter-long ship has so far not reached the Straits of Gibraltar and is now being sought by the Portuguese Navy and Russian Navy.

If proven this could be the first case of piracy in Europe in the modern era. There is speculation as to the reason for the ship’s hijacking, as its cargo of wood, valued at 1.3 million euros, is not especially valuable. Suggestions include possible contraband, and the possibility of a commercial dispute between the crew or some other party and the ship’s owners.

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The Lowdown On Mf Schemes

The Lowdown On Mf Schemes

byAlma Abell

Big incomes and yet a burned hole in the pocket at the end of the day…, Does that describe you accurately? If so then mutual funds would suit you to a T.

After all, what other investment option allows you to keep your money relatively safe while assuring you healthy returns? Attractive!

So what is a mutual fund?

Simply put, a mutul fund is a trust that pools together the money of different investors and invests them in various money market investments. It is managed by a professional fund manager who trades(buys and sells) in accordance with the investment strategy or objective. The incomes or gains realized from trading are then distributed back to the investors in proportion to their original investments into the fund.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DJVmMfXBpQk[/youtube]

With regard to returns disribution, Mutual funds usually offer three different options to investors to choose from.

* Dividend Payout,* Dividend Re-investment, and the* Growth option.

An propspective investor must choose carefully which options suits him or her best.

Growth or dividend?

The dividend option enables you to partially cash in on the returns earned by the fund from time to time through the dividends that it declares, whereas the returns in growth option are retained in the MF and reflect as an appreciation in the fund’s Net Asset Value (NAV). However, the dividend does not in any way add to your returns from the fund though it presents a great opportunity to get periodic payouts on a high-yield investment.

The Dividend Re-investment option authorises the fund to plough back the dividends declared into the fund at the prevailing NAV, also fetching you more units. It is voluntary to participate in these plans, but if you elect to, you’ll receive additional shares in the company instead of, and to the value of the cash dividend you would otherwise receive. In terms of its effect on your returns, the Dividend Re-investment option is no different from the Growth option.

The Dividend Re-investment option is the superior option for investors who yearn for tax efficiency and are willing to remain invested in equities through stock market ups and downs. If you need liquidity, you can clear up a part of your holdings at NAV.

One of the appealing features of Dividend payouts is that it helps you re-balance your equity holdings when the markets are bullish, guarding you to an extent against a decline in values. The down side is that it is a `set and forget’ strategy that could result in an opportunity loss in a rising market.

The right choice

Now that you have made a thoughtful decision to invest, you are bound to read about, hear about, or experience the risks involved. All funds fluctuate and choosing the right fund requires finding both a fund with a successful track record and one that also meets your investment objectives.

The prospectus states purchase redemption and annual fees as well as statistics such as turnover ratios (the frequency of liquidations within the fund). Sensibility lies in creating a diversified portfolio that mixes stock funds, international funds, bond funds and other specialty funds.

If are you searching for capital appreciation. then you might desire a growth or aggressive growth fund; if you are looking for safety, choose balanced fund and if you are looking to invest in a certain sector such as technology, pick a sector-based fund.

Because, deciding on the correct option is perhaps as important to the health of the investment as choosing the particular mutual fund is.

<div class=Murray Hill on the life and versatility of a New York drag king
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Murray Hill on the life and versatility of a New York drag king

Monday, November 19, 2007

Drag—dressing in the clothing atypical of your born gender—in recent years has found mainstream success. Films such as Priscilla, Queen of the Desert, Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil and To Wong Foo, Thanks for Everything! Julie Newmar have prominently featured drag performers. But they have all focused on men in drag as women.

Murray Hill is a comedian, emcee and performer. He is also a drag king. Called “The Hardest Working Middle-aged Man in Show Business”, The New York Times christened him “the current reigning patriarch of the downtown performance community.” He is seemingly everywhere, emceeing a bingo night at the now closed, Jimmy Fallon-backed Mo Pitkins’ House of Satisfaction on Avenue A, or hosting the Polyamorous Pride Day in Central Park. Hill has become a legend in New York’s “anything goes” counterculture theater scene who is beginning to find mainstream success; which would be a first for a drag king.

David Shankbone’s examination of New York City‘s culture has brought him to the whip’s end of a BDSM dungeon, on the phone with RuPaul, matching wits with Michael Musto, grilling Gay Talese, eating dinner with Augusten Burroughs and quizzing the bands that play the Bowery Ballroom. In this segment he talks to downtown legend Murray Hill, former New York City mayoral candidate and comedian, on the last night of Mo Pitkins’ House of Satisfaction.

Contents

  • 1 Murray Hill the performer
  • 2 Murray Hill the person
  • 3 Drag as performance art for women
  • 4 The gay community and drag artists
  • 5 Drag queens and drag kings: the differences
  • 6 The direction of New York downtown culture
  • 7 Sources
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<div class=Australian health workers to close intensive care units in Victoria next week
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Australian health workers to close intensive care units in Victoria next week

Thursday, March 13, 2008

Members of Australia’s Health Services Union (HSU) will go on strike in Victoria next week in a dispute over stalled wage and career structure negotiations. Over 5000 physiotherapists, speech pathologists and radiation therapists will walk off the job next week, effectively closing the state’s 68 largest health services.

The strike will force the closure of intensive care units and emergency departments across the state.

It is feared the strike could continue into Easter.

National secretary of the HSU, Kathy Jackson said admissions would be crippled, while intensive care patients would have to be evacuated to New South Wales, Tasmania and South Australia as hospitals will not be able to perform tests or administer treatment.

“When an ambulance shows up you can’t admit a patient without an X-ray being available, you can’t intubate them and you can’t operate on them,” she said.

“If something goes wrong in an ICU you need to be able to X-ray, use nuclear medicine or any diagnostic procedure,” said Ms Jackson.

Ms Jackson said the HSU offered arbitration last year, but the state government refused. “They’re not interested in settling disputes, they hope that we are just going to go away.”

“We’re not going away, we’ve gone back and balloted the whole public health workforce in Victoria, those ballots were successful, 97 percent approval rating,” she said.

The HSU is urging the government to commence serious negotiations to resolve the dispute before industrial action commenced.

The government has offered the union a 3.25 per cent pay increase, in line with other public sector workers but the union has demanded more, but stopped short of specifying a figure.

Victorian Premier John Brumby said the claim would be settled according to the government’s wages policy. “The Government is always willing and wanting to sit down and negotiate with the relevant organisations . . . we have a wages policy based around an increase of 3.25 per cent and, above that, productivity offset,” he told parliament.

The union claims it is also arguing against a lack of career structure, which has caused many professionals to leave the health service. Ms Jackson said wages and career structures in Victoria were behind other states.

Victorian Opposition Leader Ted Baillieu said he was not in support of the proposed strike and called on the government to meet with unions. “There could not be a more serious threat to our health system than has been announced today.”

“We now have to do whatever is possible to stop this strike from proceeding,” he said.

The opposition leader will meet with the union at 11:30 AM today.

Victorian Hospitals Industry Association industrial relations services manager Simon Chant said hospitals were looking at the possible impact and warned that patients may have to be evacuated interstate if the strike goes ahead.

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<div class=SEPTA buys rail cars from NJ Transit to deal with crowding
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SEPTA buys rail cars from NJ Transit to deal with crowding

Tuesday, July 29, 2008

As gas prices have risen in the United States, the regional transport authority for southeastern Pennsylvania, SEPTA, has seen a sharp increase in ridership, which has caused overcrowding on the trains.

“As fuel prices have continued to rise, SEPTA ridership has steadily increased and is the highest in 18 years,” said SEPTA General Manager Joseph Casey. Monthly ridership was 22 percent higher last month than a year ago.

“They have crushed loads on their rail lines, already where people are standing, and there’s not enough seats,” said Rich Bickel, the director of the Delaware Valley Regional Planning Commission.

“At peak times some railcars are standing room only and commuter parking lots are nearly full. All Regional Rail lines are running near full capacity and the train station parking lots are at about 90 percent capacity or more,” SEPTA spokesperson Felipe Suarez said.

While SEPTA awaits new Silverliner V trains from Hyundai Rotem, which begin arriving in 2009, it had hoped to lease eight rail cars from New Jersey Transit, at an agreed-upon rate of US$10,000 per month. However, due to problems with insurance and liability indemnification, the deal fell through, according to Casey.

SEPTA has entered a new agreement to purchase the eight rail cars from NJ Transit. The transit authority will pay US$670,000 for the cars and assorted supplies plus one additional inoperative car which will be used for spare parts. The rail cars will be operated using a SEPTA provided locomotive as they are not self-propelled.

The cars are being disposed of by NJ Transit because it has switched from single-floor cars to double-decker cars.

SEPTA is expecting to raise US$3.1 million by selling rail that has been out of service since 1981 at auction.

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<div class=News briefs:June 30, 2006
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News briefs:June 30, 2006

The time is 20:00 (UTC) on June 30th, 2006, and this is Audio Wikinews News Briefs.

Contents

  • 1 Headlines
    • 1.1 Interior Ministry, Fatah offices in Gaza hit by Israeli airstrikes
    • 1.2 Palestinian PM: Israel aims to topple gov’t
    • 1.3 Portuguese Minister of Foreign Affairs Freitas do Amaral resigns
    • 1.4 French Parliament adopts controversial copyright bill
    • 1.5 Police crackdown on illegal tow operations in Sydney
    • 1.6 Amsterdam to open a “Chocolate Factory”
    • 1.7 Australian shot in Thailand
    • 1.8 Germany master penalties to beat Argentina to semi-final spot
    • 1.9 Ullrich and Sevilla suspended from Tour de France
  • 2 Closing statements

[edit]

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The Most Common Materials For Roof Installation In Santa Fe Tx

The Most Common Materials For Roof Installation In Santa Fe Tx

byAlma Abell

When it comes to the infrastructure of a home, the roof is arguably the most important part. To a homeowner, a roof should be considered an investment. All residential homes need a reliable and well-constructed roofing system. However, constructing a reliable roof will require investing in the right contractors and materials. The following are a few of the materials roofing contractors will use for a Roof Installation in Santa Fe TX.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tY24IsrkHjc[/youtube]

Asphalt shingles are undeniably the most sought after roofing material for residential homes in the country. Millions of homes across the United States are equipped with asphalt shingles. Why? Asphalt shingles are reliable, inexpensive and easy to replace. Also, an asphalt shingle is a very lightweight piece of material that will work to protect your home from rainwater, hail, snow, the sun and so forth. If installed correctly, asphalt shingles for a Roof Installation in Santa Fe TX could last for 20 to 30 years.

For those homeowners looking to invest more into their roofs there’s metal roofing material. Both asphalt and metal shingles come in a variety of styles and colors. Just like asphalt shingles, metal roofs are resistant to water leaks and ice. However, metal roofing material can cost much more than asphalt shingles. Even though it can be more expensive, a metal Roof Installation in Santa Fe TX can last for 50 or more years, with regular maintenance.

Shingles aren’t the only kind of roofing material being used today. Millions of residential homes are also equipped with things like gutters and downspouts. These additions help to protect the roof and foundation while guiding rain water away from the home. During a Roof Installation in Santa Fe TX, contractors may also recommend installing ventilation pieces. A roof ventilation system prevents the attic from staying too warm during the summer while protecting the shingles at the same time.

These are just a handful of the available materials for an installation. Again, asphalt shingles are widely used and are considered very common for residential homes. Although much more costly, metal roofing is considered to be very reliable and long-lasting. Finally, remember that there are a number of other handy pieces of material available for rooftops across the country.

<div class=Errant monkeys draw the ire of Delhi court
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Errant monkeys draw the ire of Delhi court

Thursday, January 19, 2006

The Delhi High Court expressed its displeasure to the civic authorities on their continued failure to resolve the problem of marauding monkeys in the court premises. The court was in session when the public interest litigation filed by a Supreme Court lawyer was brought to its attention.

The petitioner Mr.Nirmal Chopra argued the case and explained how the simians showed up during work hours and attacked people and snatched food from them. The rhesus monkeys have also been blamed for damaging furniture belonging to the lawyers and courtroom fixtures such as electrical fittings. According to Mr.Chopra India‘s Wildlife Act of 1972 empowers civic authorities to kill or hunt animals when they endanger human life. He said that the lawyers from the Tis Hazari court had requested the state government and the municipality to tackle the situation but no action had resulted.

The lawyer for the civic authority was quoted by the Press Trust of India as saying that catching monkeys was no longer its responsibility. The court was informed that a monkey catcher hired by the municipality had required 72 stitches after being mauled during an operation. After this incident the work had to be halted because other monkey catchers refused to take up the job.

The court gave the civic authority four more weeks to catch the monkeys that are disrupting work at the Tis Hazari courts. “If you cannot perform your statutory duty, then close down your institution” the court is reported to have told the counsel.

Delhi is known to suffer from trouble brought on by monkeys. The animals are reported to invade homes, schools and government offices in the city. Scores of animals have moved in as the city expands into surrounding forests. In an effort to control the problem, the Delhi administration captured about 500 monkeys and took them to the outskirts of the city last year.

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