The Effects of Global Warming
By Tonya G.
How can the American people hope for help from its own government after Katrina? Is it possible that the actions of the government instilled confidence? With that being said, how can we hope that the government will take better actions? However, I must be fair and state that Mr. George Bush did seem partial to Gov. Bush's constituents.
However, the problem still remains. George Bush refuses to acknowledge America's contributions to global warming. Now, unless I am mistaken, this type of behavior is what allows your electricity to be disconnected. By not addressing the issue is not in nor of itself a resolution to anything. It will mean that you can disconnect yourself from the world in the same way the power company will disconnect your appliances from usage.
The declarations from scientists around the world are steadily stipulating that natural disasters will become even worse. Ok. Lets see. America was not ready for the disaster of Katrina. The tsunami was not something anyone had time to prepare for. This should definitely lead our leaders to say....hmmm. Switzerland has opted for using less petrol and highter taxes to implement their contribution to lessening pollution. The developed nations of the world are the biggest contributors of this upcoming disaster. When will everyone raise their voice in order to provide somewhat of a good life for children and grandchildren, not to mention all other future generations. What shall we leave them?
Wednesday, February 7, 2007
Universal Healthcare for Americans
Universal Health Care of Americans
by Tonya G.
There seems to be appropriate consideration of the people of America by corporations. Most of America has been under the illusion that the American government would have consideration of implementing healthcare coverage. Is it surprising that Walmart would be the company to initiate this benefit for the American public?! Actually, what is incredible to believe is the $245 billion which has been delivered overseas while the American people remain uninsured. I guess, this is definitely a way to relieve social security of having many numerous payouts!!
Walmart, Intel, AT and T, and Kelly Services all plan a meeting in May. They hope to gain additional support from other corporations along with government agencies. Non-profit agencies are also welcome to gain insight for providing national health insurance coverage. Now, this seems rather overdue and well-appreciated. Let us see where this takes the people of the United States.
Hopefully, some type of agreeement which is favorable for the people of America in gaining medical care and coverage for the millions which are uninsured at this time. I might add it would be nice to know that there will be an attainable price associated with whatever resolution is found at the summit meeting.
All said and done. It is still a wonderful thought for Walmart to even attempt to initiate for us. It is a gesture which will have firm resolutions in the best interests of all. My only objection would be to question how this can be done in an effective manner which had not been done.
by Tonya G.
There seems to be appropriate consideration of the people of America by corporations. Most of America has been under the illusion that the American government would have consideration of implementing healthcare coverage. Is it surprising that Walmart would be the company to initiate this benefit for the American public?! Actually, what is incredible to believe is the $245 billion which has been delivered overseas while the American people remain uninsured. I guess, this is definitely a way to relieve social security of having many numerous payouts!!
Walmart, Intel, AT and T, and Kelly Services all plan a meeting in May. They hope to gain additional support from other corporations along with government agencies. Non-profit agencies are also welcome to gain insight for providing national health insurance coverage. Now, this seems rather overdue and well-appreciated. Let us see where this takes the people of the United States.
Hopefully, some type of agreeement which is favorable for the people of America in gaining medical care and coverage for the millions which are uninsured at this time. I might add it would be nice to know that there will be an attainable price associated with whatever resolution is found at the summit meeting.
All said and done. It is still a wonderful thought for Walmart to even attempt to initiate for us. It is a gesture which will have firm resolutions in the best interests of all. My only objection would be to question how this can be done in an effective manner which had not been done.
Arabic International Communities Next?
Found in Translation
Meadan is offering Arabic-English machine translation to create a virtual town square during troubled times.
By Shereen El Feki
September 11 affected millions of people in myriad ways. For Ed Bice, an American ex-architect, it sparked a desire to get ordinary Middle Easterners--and Westerners--talking together. Naturally, being based in the Bay Area, he turned to the Web for help.
The result, six years later, is Meadan, which means "town square" in Arabic. The basic idea is simple: it's a website that brings English and Arabic speakers together around daily postings of news articles, broadcasts, and events that are of common interest, and it gives users a platform to communicate through dialogues, blogs, and other exchanges. All the while, it allows users to pinpoint their location so that people can share views across continents.
The hard part is creating a system that allows users to express their ideas in their native tongue. Enter IBM. The company has one of the most advanced systems for Arabic-English machine translation. It's 84 percent accurate and can transmute Arabic to English and back again at a blistering 500 words per second.
This is no easy task, says Salim Roukos, a senior manager for multilingual natural-language processing technologies at IBM's Watson Research Center. Because word order in Arabic sentences differs from word order in English, verbs can get lost--quite literally--in machine translation. Moreover, Arabic words have prefixes, suffixes, and other forms that allow them to agree in gender and number--a rigor that freewheeling English lacks and that makes translation from English to Arabic even trickier.
IBM's statistically based translation system has been trained on a massive amount of material, called a parallel corpus, in both modern standard Arabic and formal English--the language of news reports. But the system struggles with slang and other colloquialisms--all the more difficult in Arabic because street talk varies from country to country.
But this is exactly the sort of language that Meadan's online community will use. So the alpha test, which was launched last month, also calls on the services of human translators to correct IBM's machine translations. There is plenty of work to be done. Even a basic English expression like "That's great!" comes out of the machine as the equivalent of "That's big!" in Arabic. It's up to users to point this out and up to designated translators to fix it. The correct pair of translations then becomes another piece of data from which the machine can learn.
Meadan hopes to roll out a beta version later this year--provided it raises the money it needs to move forward. Bice has high hopes. "A year from now, I hope we are a global social network, talking across languages about events in the world." Insha'allah, as we say in Arabic.
Meadan is offering Arabic-English machine translation to create a virtual town square during troubled times.
By Shereen El Feki
September 11 affected millions of people in myriad ways. For Ed Bice, an American ex-architect, it sparked a desire to get ordinary Middle Easterners--and Westerners--talking together. Naturally, being based in the Bay Area, he turned to the Web for help.
The result, six years later, is Meadan, which means "town square" in Arabic. The basic idea is simple: it's a website that brings English and Arabic speakers together around daily postings of news articles, broadcasts, and events that are of common interest, and it gives users a platform to communicate through dialogues, blogs, and other exchanges. All the while, it allows users to pinpoint their location so that people can share views across continents.
The hard part is creating a system that allows users to express their ideas in their native tongue. Enter IBM. The company has one of the most advanced systems for Arabic-English machine translation. It's 84 percent accurate and can transmute Arabic to English and back again at a blistering 500 words per second.
This is no easy task, says Salim Roukos, a senior manager for multilingual natural-language processing technologies at IBM's Watson Research Center. Because word order in Arabic sentences differs from word order in English, verbs can get lost--quite literally--in machine translation. Moreover, Arabic words have prefixes, suffixes, and other forms that allow them to agree in gender and number--a rigor that freewheeling English lacks and that makes translation from English to Arabic even trickier.
IBM's statistically based translation system has been trained on a massive amount of material, called a parallel corpus, in both modern standard Arabic and formal English--the language of news reports. But the system struggles with slang and other colloquialisms--all the more difficult in Arabic because street talk varies from country to country.
But this is exactly the sort of language that Meadan's online community will use. So the alpha test, which was launched last month, also calls on the services of human translators to correct IBM's machine translations. There is plenty of work to be done. Even a basic English expression like "That's great!" comes out of the machine as the equivalent of "That's big!" in Arabic. It's up to users to point this out and up to designated translators to fix it. The correct pair of translations then becomes another piece of data from which the machine can learn.
Meadan hopes to roll out a beta version later this year--provided it raises the money it needs to move forward. Bice has high hopes. "A year from now, I hope we are a global social network, talking across languages about events in the world." Insha'allah, as we say in Arabic.
Sunday, February 4, 2007
North Korea Paid Off
N.Korea seeks oil for halting nuclear reactor: media
Sun Feb 4, 2007 6:35am ET
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TOKYO (Reuters) - North Korea's top nuclear envoy has told former U.S. officials that Pyongyang wants more than half a million tonnes of fuel oil a year in return for suspending its atomic reactor, a Japanese daily said on Sunday.
Shutting down North Korea's sole operating reactor is expected to be a key negotiating point when six-country discussions on ending the North's nuclear weapons programme resume in Beijing on Thursday, analysts said.
The Asahi Shimbun said North Korean Vice Foreign Minister Kim Kye-gwan had set out Pyongyang's position when he met former State Department official Joel Witt and nuclear expert David Albright in the North Korean capital last week.
The demand would exceed the energy assistance received by the impoverished communist state under an 1994 deal with Washington, which collapsed when the current nuclear crisis began in 2002.
Kim and other North Korean officials said the country would halt the operation of its reactor at Yongbyon if it obtained energy assistance equivalent to more than 500,000 tonnes of fuel oil a year, the Asahi said, quoting the two Americans.
North Korean officials also demanded that Washington lift its financial sanctions against the country as well as removing North Korea from the list of "terrorism-sponsoring" nations, it said.
Kim was likely to have made the demands to U.S. counterpart Christopher Hill at unprecedented meetings the two men held in Berlin last month, but might have decided to reiterate them to seek concessions when the six-party talks resume, Asahi said.
OPTIMISM Continued...
From the beginning, the United States has shown a different ideology in dealing with the North Koreans. They were talking nuclear weapons prior to the start of the Iraqi war. Now, it seems the North Koreans have realized their substantial power in dealing with America. It seems kind of preposterous of them suggest they should be paid to stop producing nuclear weapons. After considering why they would have this perspective, it is a totally rational way of thinking.
The North Koreans stated they would use a nuclear reactor without any admonitions. They had three years to put forth any ideas or technology dealing with this area of expertise. Weapons have been tested and re-tested. Now, in regards to North Korea, we seem to want to negotiate with a country who has remained adamant in their position and stance after being forewarned without repercussions.
Now, do you suppose I am bit slow? I suppose I am confused. The best confusion may spawn great ideas, though. Let us suppose we treat Iran as if they have not gained any knowledge in production of nuclear weapons. Let us also suppose they have not gained enough experience to be able to accurately make nuclear weapons. Let us suppose they have just begun the journey which the North Koreans have travelled to the end of the road.
Now, considering all of the prior ramblings, how can we not negotiate with Iran or Syria, but bow down before the great North Koreans? Now, how should this particular stance taken by America be construed as a symbol of strength to the rational people of the international community. Possibly, hoping to accommodate them with their suggestions...hmmm.
Sun Feb 4, 2007 6:35am ET
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[-] Text [+]
TOKYO (Reuters) - North Korea's top nuclear envoy has told former U.S. officials that Pyongyang wants more than half a million tonnes of fuel oil a year in return for suspending its atomic reactor, a Japanese daily said on Sunday.
Shutting down North Korea's sole operating reactor is expected to be a key negotiating point when six-country discussions on ending the North's nuclear weapons programme resume in Beijing on Thursday, analysts said.
The Asahi Shimbun said North Korean Vice Foreign Minister Kim Kye-gwan had set out Pyongyang's position when he met former State Department official Joel Witt and nuclear expert David Albright in the North Korean capital last week.
The demand would exceed the energy assistance received by the impoverished communist state under an 1994 deal with Washington, which collapsed when the current nuclear crisis began in 2002.
Kim and other North Korean officials said the country would halt the operation of its reactor at Yongbyon if it obtained energy assistance equivalent to more than 500,000 tonnes of fuel oil a year, the Asahi said, quoting the two Americans.
North Korean officials also demanded that Washington lift its financial sanctions against the country as well as removing North Korea from the list of "terrorism-sponsoring" nations, it said.
Kim was likely to have made the demands to U.S. counterpart Christopher Hill at unprecedented meetings the two men held in Berlin last month, but might have decided to reiterate them to seek concessions when the six-party talks resume, Asahi said.
OPTIMISM Continued...
From the beginning, the United States has shown a different ideology in dealing with the North Koreans. They were talking nuclear weapons prior to the start of the Iraqi war. Now, it seems the North Koreans have realized their substantial power in dealing with America. It seems kind of preposterous of them suggest they should be paid to stop producing nuclear weapons. After considering why they would have this perspective, it is a totally rational way of thinking.
The North Koreans stated they would use a nuclear reactor without any admonitions. They had three years to put forth any ideas or technology dealing with this area of expertise. Weapons have been tested and re-tested. Now, in regards to North Korea, we seem to want to negotiate with a country who has remained adamant in their position and stance after being forewarned without repercussions.
Now, do you suppose I am bit slow? I suppose I am confused. The best confusion may spawn great ideas, though. Let us suppose we treat Iran as if they have not gained any knowledge in production of nuclear weapons. Let us also suppose they have not gained enough experience to be able to accurately make nuclear weapons. Let us suppose they have just begun the journey which the North Koreans have travelled to the end of the road.
Now, considering all of the prior ramblings, how can we not negotiate with Iran or Syria, but bow down before the great North Koreans? Now, how should this particular stance taken by America be construed as a symbol of strength to the rational people of the international community. Possibly, hoping to accommodate them with their suggestions...hmmm.
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