Thursday, May 5, 2005
| The United Kingdom General Election | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Wikinews will have coverage of the election results at:
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| Background: | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Wikipedia, Wikinews’ sibling project, has in-depth background articles on: | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
The 2005 UK general election was held on Thursday 5th May. The election resulted in a third term for Tony Blair’s Labour Party.
Below are the latest Wikinews stories on the campaigning parties and candidates.
Los Angeles Cosmetic Dentist and Prosthodontic Expert Offers Top-Level Dentistry to Greater Los Angeles Area
by
David Holmes
Those seeking the services of an expert-level cosmetic dentist in Los Angeles and surrounding areas need look no further than the services of this specialty Los Angeles Cosmetic Dentist.
Dr. Parviz Azar-Mehr’s educational resume has seen him travel all over the world. As a post-doctoral student continuing his education, Azar-Mehr furthered his dental expertise by attending London University, New York University and the University of Michigan, all in different intervals in time.Practicing from an office located within the Los Angeles area, Dr. Azar-Mehr reaches out to those in need of cosmetic dentistry and prosthetics, and performs at a caliber that other dentists in his region someday hope to achieve themselves.Dr. Parviz Azar-Mehr currently maintains a prestigious role in the University of Southern California’s Clinical Dentistry Program. As Professor of Clinical Dentistry in USC’s Post-Doctoral Education, Advanced Prosthodontics Department, Azar-Mehr continues to lend his knowledge and technique to students decades after his own educational goals have been fulfilled.A Los Angeles-based Cosmetic Dentist, Parviz Azar-Mehr has traveled the world abroad, teaching students and further educating understudying hopeful practitioners of dentistry via his lectures and seminars on prosthodontics and advanced dentistry. Dr. Azar-Mehr reaches out to the students of USC, as well as the world over, spreading the knowledge of effective and proper cosmetic dentistry and prosthodontic techniques. He does this in an effort to shape the better dentists of tomorrow, and leave behind his legacy of quality prosthodontics and expert cosmetic dentistry to entirely new generation of future prosthodontic specialists, and cosmetic dentists in Los Angeles. His innovative and tactical methods of properly treating the teeth sets him apart from other dentists doing dental implants in Los Angeles, as well as other Los Angeles prosthodontic dentists, which are of rare breed, and of even rarer acumen.Dr. Azar-Mehr stakes his claim in serving patients who’ve come upon a need for prosthodontic dentistry in and around Los Angeles, serving areas such as Westwood, West Hollywood, Hollywood, Burbank, Los Feliz, and other areas regional within Los Angeles County.When it comes to choosing a dentist within Los Angeles, prosthodontic dentists can be hard to come by. Often times, implants are installed to the tune of some kind of discomfort, and partials and crowns end up fitted incorrectly, which can result in breakage or discomfort within the mouth.While these steps require detail and precision, sometimes even the touch of a precise and intricate hand, often times these measures are completed far too quickly, and to the detriment of the treated in time.Dr. Azar-Mehr has not only practiced, but has also taught varied facets of dentistry to his students and future dentists for the last 25 years of his life, dedicating his knowledge, his hand and his mind to shaping not only the future dentists of Los Angeles, but also the betterment of the mouths of those he treats.Thanks to the expertise of Los Angeles Cosmetic Dentist Dr. Parviz Azar-Mehr, those in the L.A. area are smiling a little more brightly.Los Angeles Prosthodontic DentistLos Angeles Dental Implant
Article Source:
Los Angeles Cosmetic Dentist and Prosthodontic Expert Offers Top-Level Dentistry to Greater Los Angeles Area
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Friday, May 26, 2006
In February of 2006, the Savarino Services Construction Corp. proposed the construction of a seven million dollar hotel on Elmwood and Forest Avenues in Buffalo, New York. In order for the hotel to be built, at least five properties containing businesses and residents would have to be destroyed. It was not certain whether the properties were owned by Savarino or by the landlord Hans Mobius. The hotel was designed by Karl Frizlen of the Frizlen Group, and is planned to be a franchise of the Wyndham Hotels group.
Elmwood Avenue is known by the community as a popular shopping center, and Nancy Pollina of Don Apparel (who is “utterly against” the construction) claims it’s the only reason why students from Buffalo State College leave campus. Additionally, Michael Faust of Mondo Video said he did not want to “get kicked out of here [his video store property].”
In 1995, a Walgreens was proposed to be built on the same land, but Walgreens later withdrew its request for a variance because of pressure from the community. More recently, Pano Georgiadis tried to get the rights to demolish the Atwater House next to his restaurant on Elmwood Avenue, but was denied a permit due to the property’s historical value. He has since been an opponent to the hotel construction.
In the process of debating the hotel, it was thought that a hotel had previously existed on the proposed site, however; research done at the Buffalo and Erie County Historical Society had shown that no hotel had previously existed on the site.
Tuesday, March 29, 2005A team of Australian surgeons yesterday reattached both hands and one foot to 10-year-old Perth boy, Terry Vo, after a brick wall which collapsed during a game of basketball fell on him, severing the limbs. The wall gave way while Terry performed a slam-dunk, during a game at a friend’s birthday party.
The boy was today awake and smiling, still in some pain but in good spirits and expected to make a full recovery, according to plastic surgeon, Mr Robert Love.
“What we have is parts that are very much alive so the reattached limbs are certainly pink, well perfused and are indeed moving,” Mr Love told reporters today.
“The fact that he is moving his fingers, and of course when he wakes up he will move both fingers and toes, is not a surprise,” Mr Love had said yesterday.
“The question is more the sensory return that he will get in the hand itself and the fine movements he will have in the fingers and the toes, and that will come with time, hopefully. We will assess that over the next 18 months to two years.
“I’m sure that he’ll enjoy a game of basketball in the future.”
The weight and force of the collapse, and the sharp brick edges, resulted in the three limbs being cut through about 7cm above the wrists and ankle.
Terry’s father Tan said of his only child, the injuries were terrible, “I was scared to look at him, a horrible thing.”
The hands and foot were placed in an ice-filled Esky and rushed to hospital with the boy, where three teams of medical experts were assembled, and he was given a blood transfusion after experiencing massive blood loss. Eight hours of complex micro-surgery on Saturday night were followed by a further two hours of skin grafts yesterday.
“What he will lose because it was such a large zone of traumatised skin and muscle and so on, he will lose some of the skin so he’ll certainly require lots of further surgery regardless of whether the skin survives,” said Mr Love said today.
The boy was kept unconscious under anaesthetic between the two procedures. In an interview yesterday, Mr Love explained why:
“He could have actually been woken up the next day. Because we were intending to take him back to theatre for a second look, to look at the traumatised skin flaps, to close more of his wounds and to do split skin grafting, it was felt the best thing to do would be to keep him stable and to keep him anaesthetised.”
Professor Wayne Morrison, director of the respected Bernard O’Brien Institute of Microsurgery and head of plastic and hand surgery at Melbourne’s St Vincent’s Hospital, said he believed the operation to be a world first.
By Amy Lee Sullivan
The whole point of a weight loss program is so that you will be capable of developing a consistent approach to losing weight as well as build a healthy endurance while you exercise. Another objective of weight loss is to get rid of the extra body fat stored in your body. But you should not lose the healthy and lean muscle tissues or body fluid.
First a successful weight loss program requires a great amount of dedication and a great amount of focus. So it will require both your body and mind. You should always consult a doctor before starting a weight loss program.
Do not expect over night results. Some people lose patients and quit their weight loss program. You can’t give up. Keep at it. The program will get easier and results will come.. Just stick to your plan.
Before you start a workout session, do some stretching. You must stretch out your muscles or you risk injuring yourself as well as being sore.
Do not push yourself to hard.. Do everything in moderation. Find the degree of training that fits you..You should be comfortable when you exercise. However you should not be so comfortable that there is no challenge presented to you.
Below is an overview of an ideal week for a beginner..
The first day you should take a long walk.. Walk for about 20 minutes to a half hour. After the walk take about 10 minutes to stretch out your body.. You have now taken the initiative to reach your weight loss goal.
The second day should be spent on an upper body work out.. This will assist you in maintaining your strength so you will be able to make it through one whole week of the weight loss program..
Spend the third day walking or jogging for 10 minutes. The evening should be spent on a lower body work out.. Always do some stretching before you do any of these activities.
On the fourth day, spend a good amount of the day resting.. Also, spend some time stretching. A good stretch does more for your body than you realize. Spend this day chasing any negative thoughts out of your head. You must make sure your mind set is strong..
Day 5 start with a ten to fifteen minute jog. Then exercise your lower body again.. Follow this up with another ten minute walk followed by an upper body workout.
Spend day 6 on a low impact exercise such as swimming. Avoid boredom by trying something new.
Getting the support and help from the people around you is very important. Spend day 7 doing this. Spend time with them, perhaps including them in your daily walks or jogging sessions.
Remember, you are just getting started.. Make it through this first week and you will be on your way to making your weight loss program a successful one. Instant results don’t happen, so don’t give up. Weight loss does not happen overnight. Stick to it! Patience is a virtue! Over time, if you are consistent with your plan, you will see results.
About the Author: There is no better way to lose weight than by a healthy diet and adequate exercise. For more tips on weight loss and proven exercises programs visit: href=’http://www.secretweightlosswonders.com’>http://www.secretweightlossw onders.com
Source: isnare.com
Permanent Link: isnare.com/?aid=382991&ca=Wellness%2C+Fitness+and+Diet
Submitted by: Michael Rad
Our body needs sweat in order to cool down when the temperatures become too high. In nature, we see many creatures using different methods to keep a constant body temperature sweating is our way of doing it. Unfortunately, some people experience excessive sweat, a condition known as hyperhidrosis, in which the sweat levels are higher than necessary. The condition occurs because of the overactive sympathetic nervous system and can cause severe social obstacles.
The central command center for sweat related processes is the hypothalamus. The brain sends information to the sweat nerves which then pass it along to the sweat glands. When shis system gets overactive, the sweat glends produce larger amounts of sweat, resulting in the condition known as hyperhidrosis. Different stimuli can contribute to this process. The most common include nervousness, outside pressure, anxiety, stress. Social interactions may also trigger excessive sweat, because they are the environtments when all of the above mentioned factors become active. When a person suffering from hyperhidrosis is engaged in social interactions the strength of the outside stimuli increases, making that person more susceptible to sweat extensively.
Unless you are suffereing from hyperhidrossi, you will have a hard time believing that sweat can cause so many problems. However, this is a reality around 1% of the world s population has to deal with. Sweaty hands, feet or face these are serious issues that can have a profound effect on a person s self confidence and self respect. When you are afraid of social interactions, thinking that your dialog partenrs will notice the problem, you tend to get more and more introvertite. Avoiding social interactions becomes more and more frequent, as hyperhidrosis tends to aggravate during times of anxiety.
People suffering from pedal hyperhidrosis, also known as excessive foot sweat, will also notice numerous difficulties in their every day lives. Handling any sort of paper or delicate electronic equipment becomes a nightmare, as everything becomes moist and unusable. While there are several medicaion treatments, many excessive sweat patients don t see results that are worth mentioning they might, but only after a while. This is partly because they lack essential information concerning their problem. If you are suffering from hyperhidrosis and you are using medication treatments prescribed 2-3 years ago, you might want to check out the new treatments available.
About the Author: More relevant excessive sweat information can be found here:Pedal hyperhidrosis:
hidrosiscure.com/pedal.htm
Palmar:
hidrosiscure.com/palmar.htm
Antiperspirants:
hidrosiscure.com/antiperspirants.htm
Sympathectomy Treatment:
hidrosiscure.com/sympathectomy.htm
ETS:
hidrosiscure.com/ets.htm
Source:
isnare.com
Permanent Link:
isnare.com/?aid=7554&ca=Wellness%2C+Fitness+and+Diet
Sunday, January 27, 2008
Viktor Schreckengost, the father of industrial design and creator of the Jazz Bowl, an iconic piece of Jazz Age art designed for Eleanor Roosevelt during his association with Cowan Pottery died yesterday. He was 101.
Schreckengost was born on June 26, 1906 in Sebring, Ohio, United States.
Schreckengost’s peers included the far more famous designers Raymond Loewy and Norman Bel Geddes.
In 2000, the Cleveland Museum of Art curated the first ever retrospective of Schreckengost’s work. Stunning in scope, the exhibition included sculpture, pottery, dinnerware, drawings, and paintings.
Monday, March 28, 2005
Sri Lankan Ministry Of Foreign Affairs said the government accepts Beijing’s “One China” policy and that Taiwan is an inalienable part of the People’s Republic Of China, according to a March 17 press release.
The current foreign Ministry communiqué, recollects the press communiqué issued by the Foreign Ministers of China and Sri Lanka in Beijing in December 2004. Sri Lanka reiterated its support for Chinese legislative measures to oppose forces seeking to secede from China.
In the communiqué, the Sri Lankan government categorically mentioned, Sri Lanka opposes secessionist actions in any form and fully supports a process of peaceful national reunification. The Sri Lankan government further said, it welcomes growing cross-Straits economic and other exchanges such as the promotion of direct trade, mail, air and shipping links.
In the mean time, Chinese President Hu Jintao issued a presidential order regarding the promulgation of the Anti-Secession Law on March 14, which was adopted at the Third Session of the Tenth National People’s Congress, China’s top legislature.
Wednesday, October 22, 2008
| This article mentions the Wikimedia Foundation, one of its projects, or people related to it. Wikinews is a project of the Wikimedia Foundation. |
Monday saw the latest edition of the vetted version of Wikipedia, which is aimed at educational use, go quietly online. The extensively revised version covers over five thousand topics, targeting the eight to seventeen years age group. Partnerships with the Shuttleworth Foundation and the Hole in the Wall project will see it distributed in South Africa and India as well as copies being available globally via the offices of SOS Children UK’s umbrella organisation, SOS Kinderdorf worldwide.
First launched in 2006 as a 4,000 article edition, the extract of Wikipedia has employed hi-tech distribution methods, as well as offering a website version which has steadily climbed up in ranking to above other reviewed Wikipedia rivals and copies; the 2007 version was available on the BitTorrent peer to peer network to keep distribution costs down and was equivalent to a fifteen-volume printed encyclopedia. Monday’s release is compared to a twenty-volume print edition.
| Our goal is to make Wikipedia accessible to as many people as possible around the world, and SOS Children is a great partner that helps us make that happen. | ||
Key to the process for selecting articles is the English National Curriculum and similar educational standards around the world. The initial vision was to bring this wealth of knowledge to schools where access to the Internet was poor or unavailable, but copies of Wikipedia for Schools can be found on many first world school intranets and web servers. Among the compelling reasons to adopt the project are the vetting and additional study materials which overcome the oft-publicised concerns many educators have with the million article plus Wikipedia that anyone can edit.
In today’s press release announcing the launch, Wikimedia Foundation Executive Director Sue Gardner expressed delight at seeing the project bring out a new version, “Our goal is to make Wikipedia accessible to as many people as possible around the world, and SOS Children is a great partner that helps us make that happen. Wikipedia is released under a free content license so that individuals and institutions can easily adapt, reuse and customize its content: we encourage others, like SOS Children, to do exactly that.”
Running 192 schools in the developing world, SOS Children sees Wikipedia for Schools as a key piece in fulfilling the educational aspect of their mission. SOS Children’s Chairwoman, Mary Cockcroft gave us an introduction and, a Wikipedia administrator himself, the charity’s CEO Andrew Cates spoke to Wikinews at length about the project.
You are part of SOS-Kinderdorf International, can you explain a little about how this works in terms of distributing funds raised in the UK and involving UK citizens in work outside the country?
Mary Cockcroft: SOS Children[‘s Villages] is a “club” of member charities in 130 countries helping orphans and vulnerable children. The club elects SOS-Kinderdorf International as secretary. SOS is a large organisation whose members in aggregate turned over $1bn in 2007, and whose projects include owning and running 192 schools and family-based care for 70,000 children. However much of these funds are raised locally, with for example the member charities in each of India, Pakistan and South Africa raise considerably more funds in their own country than SOS UK does from the UK. Nonetheless SOS Children UK principally raises funds to finance projects in the developing world, and has only financially small projects in the UK (such as the Schools Wikipedia, which is very low cost because of extensive use of volunteers). This year we expect about 80% of our UK income will leave the UK for overseas SOS associations, and some of the remaining 20% will pay for project oversight. We do not spend money in the UK on Direct Mail or TV advertising. Our UK office is involved in overseeing projects we finance and a small number of high-skilled volunteers from the UK help overseas. However around 98% of SOS staff worldwide are local nationals, as are most volunteers.
((WN)) How much work does the UK charity actually carry out within the home country? Are there failings within the government system for orphans and other needy children that you feel obliged to remedy?
MC: We are deeply unhappy about the situation of children in out-of-home care in the UK. However our care model of 168 hour-a-week resident mothers does not fit with the UK philosophy for children without parental care. Internationally SOS always has a policy of sharing best practice and we are working to improve understanding of our way of working, which appears to us to have far better outcomes than the existing one in the UK. Ultimately though the legal responsibility for these children lies with government and we cannot remedy anything without their invitation.
((WN)) Who first came up with the idea of doing a vetted Wikipedia extract? What was the impetus? Was it more for the developing world than first world?
Andrew Cates: I honestly cannot remember who first suggested it, but it came from somewhere in the Wikipedia community rather than from the charity. The original product was very much pitched at the developing world where the Internet is only available if at all over an expensive phone line. I worked in West Africa 1993-1996 and I know well at how thirsty for knowledge people are and how ingenious they will be in overcoming technical obstacles if the need for infrastructure is removed.
((WN)) In reading past year’s announcements there’s some pride in the project being picked up and used in the first world, was this expected or a pleasant surprise?
AC: It was a pleasant surprise. I don’t think we had realised what the barriers schools faced in using the main Wikipedia were. It isn’t just pupils posting material about teachers or meeting strangers: the “Random Article” button on every page could potentially deliver an article on hardcore porn. We had already started when discussion broke on banning Wikipedia from classrooms and I am sure we benefited from it.
((WN)) Can you give an outline of the selection and vetting process? Is it primarily Wikipedians working on this, or are people from the educational establishment brought in?
AC: It was a long and painful process, even with a really good database system. Articles were taken into the proposal funnel from three main sources: direct proposals for inclusion from Wikipedians, lists which came from the Release Version team and proposals drawn up from working through National Curriculum subjects by SOS volunteers. In a few cases where we felt articles were missing we asked the community to write them (e.g. Portal:Early Modern Britain, which is a curriculum subject, was kindly written just for us): These “proposals” were then looked at by mainly SOS volunteers (some onwiki, some offline). Our offices are in the middle of Cambridge and we get high quality volunteers, who skim read each article and then compared two versions from the article history by credible WP editors a significant period apart (this picks up most graffiti vandalism which runs at about 3% of articles). Once they had identified a “best” version they marked any sections or text strings for deletion (sections which were just a list of links to other articles not included, empty sections, sex scandals etc). A substantial sample of each volunteers work was then doubled checked for quality by one of two office staff (of whom I was one). We then have a script which does some automated removals and clean ups. Once we had a selection we posted it to relevant wikiprojects and a few “experts” and got any extra steers.
((WN)) Will you be making use of BitTorrent for distribution again this year? Was it a success in 2007?
AC: BitTorrent was a bit disappointing in that it got us the only substantial criticisms we received online. A lot of people find it too much effort to use. However for the period we offered a straight http: download we had huge problems with spiders eating vast bandwidth (the file is 3.5G: a few thousand rogue spider downloads and it starts to hurt). As per last year therefore our main two channels will be free download by BitTorrent and mailing the DVDs free all over the world. At a pinch we will (as before) put straight copies up for individuals who cannot get it any other way, and we have some copies on memory sticks for on distributors.
((WN)) Is it your opinion that the UK Government should be encouraging the adoption of projects like this as mainstream educational resources?
AC: Clearly yes. We have had a very enthusiastic reaction from schools and the teaching community. We think every school should have an intranet copy. We expect the Government to catch on in a few years. That is not to say that Wikipedia is as good as resources developed by teachers for teachers such as lesson plans etc. but it is a fantastic resource.
((WN)) You’re a Wikipedia administrator, all too often a thankless task. What prompted you to get involved in the first place? What are the most notable highs and lows of your involvement with the project?
AC: Funnily the thing I have found most amazing about Wikipedia is not widely discussed, which is the effect of Wikipedia policies on new editors. I have seen countless extreme POV new editors, who come in and try to get their opinions included slowly learn not only that there are other opinions to consider but that elements of their own opinion which are not well founded. Watching someone arrive often (on pages on religions for example) full of condemnation for others, gradually become understanding and diplomatic is one of the biggest buzzes there is. The downside though is where correcting things which are wrong is too painfully slow because you need to find sources. I was a post-doc at Cambridge University in combustion and I know the article on Bunsen burners has several really significant errors concerning the flame structure and flow structure. But sadly I cannot correct it because I am still looking around for a reliable source.
((WN)) Do you believe schools should encourage students to get involved contributing to the editable version of Wikipedia? Does SOS Children encourage those who are multilingual to work on non-English versions?
AC: I think older students have a lot to learn from becoming involved in editing Wikipedia.
((WN)) To close, is there anything you’d like to add to encourage use of Wikipedia for Schools, or to persuade educators to gain a better understanding of Wikipedia?
AC: I would encourage people to feed back to the project online or via the charity. The Wikipedia community set out to help educate the world and are broadly incredibly well motivated to help. As soon as we understand what can be done to improve things people are already on the task.
((WN)) Thank you for your time.