Recherche, innovation et développement en

agroalimentaire

8ème appel à projet du FUI

L’optimisation de la cuisson du riz (NATURICE) réunit acteurs de recherche (CIRAD), pôles de compétitivités (VITAGORA, Q@ALIMED, NUTRITION SANTE LONGEVITE), industriels (SEB, LESAFFRE) et PME (NEXIDIA, SENSINA).

BE – “Le marché des cuiseurs à riz est très important, en particulier en Asie. Il est dominé aujourd’hui par le plus disant technologique. Or il reste à comprendre quelle est l’influence de tous les paramètres de cuisson, que les appareils actuellement disponibles sur le marché permettent de maîtriser, sur les qualités organoleptiques et nutritionnelles du riz”, résume Philippe Crevoisier, directeur général “cuisson électrique” du groupe SEB. A terme, ces connaissances devraient permettre au groupe leader du marché du petit électroménager de concevoir une nouvelle gamme de cuiseurs à riz qui répondent mieux à la demande des consommateurs en termes de nutrition et de santé. “Notre souhait est de parvenir à nous implanter sur cet important marché en proposant un cuiseur à riz paramétré de manière à ce que le consommateur, quel qu’il soit, puisse retrouver dans son assiette les propriétés organoleptiques et nutritionnelles optimales pour un type de riz et un pays donnée”, déclare-t-il.

Source : http://www.bulletins-electroniques.com/actualites/60856.htm

Deux milliards pour faire décoller les “entreprises innovantes”

La commission sur le grand emprunt propose de mobiliser 2 milliards d’euros pour compléter le dispositif d’aides aux PME et entreprises de taille intermédiaire (ETI), en créant notamment des fonds d’investissement dans le secteur de la recherche et de l’innovation.

Ces fonds visent les PME innovantes, dans les secteurs prioritaires (santé, alimentation et biotechnologies; information, communication et nanotechnologies; urgence environnementale et écotechnologies)

Sources : http://www.lesechos.fr/info/france/afp_00203120.htm

Food Inc

Le film Food Inc. sort en salles le 2 décembre prochain.

Selon Michael Pollan, l’auteur du dilemne de l’omnivore : “C’est le film sur notre système alimentaire le plus puissant et le plus important de sa génération“. Food Inc., un film qui rend définitivement indigestes les agissements de l’industrie agro-alimentaire.

Veille, IE & cie

CCI Bayonne organise sa veille

Comment organiser une veille collective et efficace, depuis la définition du plan de vieille jusqu’à la diffusion dans des groupes thématiques en passant par la collecte automatique des informations pertinentes. C’était le sujet d’un récent Mardi E-business de la CCI de Bayonne, présenté par Aurélien Gaucherand, dont voici le support : Présentation d’outils de veille Internet – [...]

Source : http://www.vedocci.fr/2009/11/18/cci-bayonne-veille/

Les 8 niveaux de veille

Philippe AUSTIN nous a proposé cette semaine les niveaux de veille.

Extrait de son billet : « Avec l’aimable autorisation de Jeremiah Owyang, je publie ici une traduction de son post “Evolution: The Eight Stages Of Listening”.Le sujet : huit niveaux d’évolution dans la veille et la e-réputation.Cette matrice de niveaux établit pour les entreprises tous les leviers d’une veille de sa e-réputation : objectifs, actions, ressources et imapcts marketing.Vous pouvez retrouver ici le post »

Source : http://internetez-moi.blogspot.com/2009/11/evolution-les-huit-niveaux-de-veille.html

L’Intelligence Economique selon Monica Mallowan (Cabinet Investigations IE Boillot)

“…Je suis sensibilisée à l’approche française – et notamment par son association des différents axes de l’Intelligence économique, approche qui se propose de former des professionnels ayant surtout un regard critique par rapport aux contenus véhiculés par les moyens de [...]

Source : http://icomtec.univ-poitiers.fr/spip.php?article143

Intelligence Economique et PME (Cabinet Investigations IE Boillot)

Tellement vrai… “…Les métiers de veille, d’analyse et de rediffusion de l’information ainsi obtenue ont tendance à être considérés par les dirigeants de PME comme réservés à de plus grandes structures qu’eux….”

Source : http://www.themisnetwork.com/2009/11/145-ie-et-pme.html

Mes découvertes (sources)

ANIMA

ANIMA Investment Network est une plateforme multi-pays de développement économique de la Méditerranée. Le réseau réunit une quarantaine d’agences de promotion des investissements (API), de réseaux internationaux et d’acteurs du développement territorial en Méditerranée. ANIMA Investment Network est ouvert à toutes les agences de développement, collectivités, entreprises, organisations intéressées par le développement économique en Méditerranée.

Missions du réseau

• Sensibiliser les gouvernements pour garantir un cadre d’investissement stable, dynamique, transparent et équitable
• Développer des actions de coopération entre les acteurs du développement économique
• Poursuivre et amplifier les actions du projet ANIMA entre 2002 et 2007, d’un point de vue technique et humain
• Lancer toute action concourrant à renforcer l’attractivité de l’espace euro-méditerranéen

Adresse web du réseau : http://www.animaweb.org

Bonne lecture !

So neither James nor I like cooked carrots.  At all.  And there’s a limit to how many fresh carrots you can eat, even when you receive weekly mountains of them from your CSA, with perky greens still attached looking like the culmination of carrot caliber (forgive my alliteration, I just can’t help myself tonight).  Multiple weeks of carrots piled in our fridge, daring us to ignore them every time we opened the door.  Then, when the carrots threatened to leave no room for the next lovely batch of produce from Full Circle Farms, I pulled all of our cookbooks, looking feverishly for a recipe that would magically turn the carrot pile into a mound of yumminess so intense that we would consume it in 1, or possibly 2, sittings.

Veganomicon, my new cookbook obsession, came to our rescue with curried carrot dip. [Aside: if you don't have Veganomicon in your cookbook repertoire, your should.  It's a cookbook so good that omnivores regularly cook from it, and the two authors are hilarious.]  I loathe cooked carrots, but I can eat this dip 7 days a week, especially when I pair it with my previously posted pulau.

Curried Carrot Dip

1 lb. fresh carrots, cut into 1/2 inch segments

1/4 c. sunflower seeds

2 tsp. grapeseed oil (grapeseed oil is relatively flavorless, which is a boon in this particular recipe, as well as salad dressings where you wanter other flavors to shine)

1/2 tsp. minced fresh garlic

1/2 tsp. ground cumin

1 tsp. curry powder

1 tsp. salt

2 tbsp. lemon juice

Cook the carrots until they are tender enough to poke easily with a fork, 8-12 minutes once you’ve achieved a boil.  Drain and cool.  Place the sunflower seeds in the blender and pulse until they are fine crumbs.  Add remaining ingredients and blend until creamy, pausing to scrape down the sides several times.  Allow to sit for at least an hour in the fridge for the best flavor.  Eat with a spoon or on: sourdough toast, pulau, crackers, crudites, naan, injera, or in a sandwhich with avacado and sprouts, for just a few suggestions.

Desk

Braids

Also, how about a snack? Every afternoon I crave a salty crunchy tidbit and usually I visit the small shop by my work and snag a bag of Baked Lays. Totally worst, I know. So, as part of the getting back to basics and giving myself the tools to do so — I have stocked my pantry. Filled it with healthy protein packed and delicious snacktails. Bonus is that if you mix them all together, it’s pretty great.

Most of this stuff you can find in your regular grocery. Maybe not the fava beans, though. I got those at a Middle Eastern shop near my house. So try there if you can’t find them at your general store.

Nonrecipe:

Mix roasted, salted fava beans with wasabi peas, roasted soybeans, chili lime havas (roasted broad beans with chili lime spice), and honey wheat pretzel nuggets. Good times.

This month our newsletter looked at a range of sources for current awareness and background research for the legal profession including professional associations, journals, directories, salary surveys and job vacancy sites .

I thought it would be useful to post these on the blog as well.

Professional associations

Bar Council - The professional and representative body for barristers in England and Wales. Provides detailed information about training to become a barrister.

Bar Standards Board - The independent regulatory board of the Bar Council, responsible for regulating barristers in England and Wales. Provides an online directory of barristers, searchable by name.

Faculty of Advocates - Professional body of lawyers practising as Advocates at the Scottish Bar. The website provides information about becoming an advocate and details of events and training. There is also a directory of advocates which can be searched by name, stable or area of specialism.

Institute of Barristers’ Clerks - Professional body for barristers’ clerks in the UK. The website has a small section of job vacancies plus information about careers, education, training and legal news. - Professional body for trainee and qualified legal executives. The website provides information about qualifications, study options and career paths.

Institute of Legal Executives – Professional body for trainee and qualified legal executives. The website provides information about qualifications, study options and career paths.

The Law Society of England and Wales - The representative professional body for solicitors in England and Wales. The website contains information about legal training and professional development, events, legal specialisms and publications. There is also a directory to find a local solicitor or firm by specialism or geographical area.

The Law Society of Northern Ireland - The governing and professional body for solicitors in Northern Ireland. The website includes information on training, events and publications and also has a small jobs section.

The Law Society of Scotland - The governing and representative professional body for solicitors in Scotland. The website provides information about becoming a solicitor and opportunities for professional training and development. There is a find a solicitor directory, searchable by specialism and postcode proximity.

Journals

Barrister Magazine - News magazine for barristers. The website includes news, features and archive content. There are very good links to UK and international legal journals.

Law Gazette - Online presence of the Law Society’s weekly gazette. There are sections for general legal news and updates, in business, in practice, blogs, editorial and more detailed feature articles.

Legal Week - Website of the Legal Week magazine for UK legal professionals. The site has a useful section where you can search for news by firm and a LegalWeekWiki.

The Lawyer - Online presence of The Lawyer weekly magazine. The website has detailed news sections, arranged by practice areas, region, in-house, public sector, practice management and education and training.

Directories

Chambers and Partners Directory - Chambers is a major publisher of researched legal directories for the UK and internationally. The UK directory can be searched on the site, and ranks solicitors and barristers in over 70 legal specialisms. You can search by name of firm or practice area and this takes you to a ranked list and detailed editorial comment. You can also click through to general profiles of the firm or set including contact details and full rankings.

Legal 500 - International series of surveys on the legal profession. The UK version includes directories of the top legal firms in the country, a Bar directory and a list of in-house legal professionals. The firms directory can be searched by region and by specialism or alphabetically. There are detailed profiles of each firm and their partners. Contact details are included. The Bar directory is searchable by London, regional circuits and Scotland. There is also a section on offshore legal firms (Guernsey, Jersey and the Isle of Man).

Scottish Law Online - Online portal covering topics of interest to the Scottish legal community. The site includes links to courts, legislation, organisations, governments, professional bodies, societies, universities, journals and an A-Z of Scottish legal topics.

Salary surveys

Badenoch and Clark Legal Salary Survey - Recruitment company salary survey covering in house and private practice salaries.

Chambers Student Legal Salary Survey - Salary survey for student training year salaries and benefits covering the top law firms.

Hays Legal Salary Guides - Recruitment agency providing a wide range of national, regional and sector specific salary guides.

Michael Page Legal Salary Survey - Legal salary survey from recruiter Michael Page, covering private practice, in-house, temporary work and sector specialisms.

Taylor Root Salary Surveys - Legal recruitment company providing a range of different salary surveys for the legal profession in the UK and overseas.

Job vacancy websites

ABC Legal Jobs - Job search engine for the legal profession includes appointments sourced from job vacancy sites, employers and recruiters.

Chambers’ Student Guide - Detailed website providing information on all aspects of starting a career in law and as a barrister. There are detailed profiles of law firms and what they are like to work for, descriptions of the different types of law firm and sector specialisms and a law school search. The site has search facilities to find a training contract or a pupillage.

Law Gazette Jobs - Job vacancy site for the legal profession, covering appointments for private practice, in-house, legal HR, legal IT and legal secretaries. Alerts by email and RSS.

LawCareers.net - Website published by the Law Society and the Bar Council to provide information and guidance on becoming a lawyer or barrister. Includes vacancies for training roles and pupillages plus paralegal and support positions.

LawScotJobs - Legal job vacancy website of the Law Society of Scotland’s Journal publication. Search by job type, PQE and legal specialism. Alerts by email.

Lawyers in Private Practice - Job vacancy site featuring only direct job advertisements from law firms. All levels of appointments are covered. Alerts by email.

Legal Executive Recruitment - Job vacancy site of the Legal Executive Journal. Search by sector, practice area, job type and geographic area. Alerts by email.

Legal Prospects - Job vacancy site for legal roles and supporting roles in law firms. Search by keyword, location, practice area, employer type and experience level or browse sectors for support roles. Alerts by email.

Legal Week Jobs - Job vacancy website for the legal profession. Alerts by email and RSS.

Pupillage Portal - Vacancy site run by the Bar Council for pupillage vacancies. Pupillages can be searched by provider, location, term, type and many detailed criteria. This scheme runs on an annual basis – check the site for details of the current timetable.

Simply Law Jobs - Job vacancy website covering roles at all levels in the legal profession including lawyer, legal secretary, paralegal and law student appointments. Search by professional level, sector, location and keyword. Alerts by email.

The Lawyer Jobs - Job vacancy site of the Lawyer magazine containing appointments for all types of legal role. Alerts by email and RSS.

The Times Jobs - Job vacancy site covering all sectors but particularly strong for public sector, administration, education, legal, sales and marketing, engineering, construction and manufacturing and senior-level roles. Search by keyword, industry (eg consultancy, education, energy), location (region and county) and salary band. Each industry also has detailed sub categories. Alerts by email and RSS.

Totally Legal - Legal job vacancy site for lawyer appointments in private practice or in-house plus legal executive, paralegal and legal secretary roles. Also includes HR, finance, IT and marketing within law firms. Search by sector and then by contextual further options. Alerts by email.

Other formats and further information

We have made this information available as a PDF, free to download from our website.  Registered users can also download the lists of Legal Recruiters and Top UK Law Firms.

On page 152 of Jesus Interrupted, Dr. Ehrman covers the issue of source materials.  Theologians have discerned that there were sources available to Matthew, Mark, Luke and John written or memorized before these authors penned their Gospels.   Many theologians accept that there was a Q.  Q stands for Quelle, the German word meaning “source.”  Q is supposed to be one of the sources for Mark.   L is an additional source for the historian, Luke, and M is an additional source for the writer Matthew.

We know that Dr. Luke used every accurate source available to him because of what he said at the beginning of the Gospel he penned:  “Many have undertaken to draw up an account of the events that have been fulfilled among us, just as they were handed down to us by those who from the first were eyewitnesses and servants of the word. Therefore, since I myself have carefully investigated everything from the beginning, it seemed good also to me to write an orderly account for you, most excellent Theophilus, so that you may know the certainty of the things you have been taught.”

Note that Dr. Luke indicates here that “many have undertaken to draw up and account of the events…”  No one today denies that there were other writings out there about the life of Jesus.  Obviously, many of them did not make it into the canon of scriptures.  Dr. Luke though points out that he investigated everything from the beginning, ordered the information, and presented it accurately so that Theophilus is confident that he has an accurate account of what he had been taught.

Dr. Ehrman concludes on page 152, “the earlier the better.” I just pointed out the Dr. Luke used sources.  These sources were all, no doubt, eyewitness of Jesus and the events of His life and serve to strengthen the case that the data in the Gospels comes largely from eyewitness testimony.  Also we must give Dr. Luke credit for his approach.  He states that the data he is using “were handed down” from the first eyewitnesses of the events of Jesus’ life.  He “investigated everything.”  I can only assume that he verified the data he was handed.  His writing was an attempt to put the events and teachings in order.

From his own writings, Dr. Luke states that his approach is to investigate and verify sources and present those as accurately as possible so that his audience has a written record of what they have already been taught.

We cannot put our hands on “Q,” “M,” or “L” today—they do not exist in hardcopy.  But we can conclude that there were many eyewitnesses to the person and life of Jesus—both antagonists and protagonists.  Both Dr. Luke and the Apostle Paul note in their writings that they used “sources” who were eyewitnesses to Jesus.  Dr. Luke’s attempt was to accurately record the data which eyewitnesses had handed down.

Products? Excerpts from the presentation of the SCRD, Local Board of Health 9th August & 10 2007. Quotes from the Vancouver Sun: "Dr. Victor Dirnfeld, of Richmond, said the resolution – calling for a safe, clean and reliable drinking water for all Canadians – was particularly poignant at a time on the Sunshine Coast Regional District in the courts is fighting a "big, rich and powerful" company – Western Forest Products to stop – from registration to its watershed. "We need to …

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kcMmav0uO4M&hl=en

Although strictly speaking that title is a misnomer. What’s really happened to me today is that, instead of burrowing like a Nosey Parker into other peoples’ pasts, I have been delving deep into my own.

I don’t know whether it’s Calvinistic thrift, historical training, innate laziness or some weird combination of the lot, but I tend to keep most of the papers that come my way – bills, statements, letters, Christmas cards and general rubbish that comes with them. The net result is that I had built up the most enormous archive of material relating to my time at Aberystwyth – not to my studies (whose notes I treat somewhat differently) but to my day-to-day interaction with the bureaucracy, staff and students. I had a full filing cabinet drawer of timetables, reference books, IT information, rules and regulations, handbooks and Research Training notes – which, because of my deep hatred of it and firm belief that there is nothing so useless in the known universe as RT in the way it is currently constituted, I had not integrated into the files surrounding my PhD thesis.

However, due to a charitable job I have just undertaken that sees me designated as the archivist, plus the fact that seven years of not sorting has left me with the only filing cabinet in existence that was actually convex, I have spent the last two days going through these and ruthlessly purging what I feel is of no further use or interest – to wit, most of the sort of circular rules, regs., handbooks that I have kept and probably shouldn’t have. The personal letters and some individual handbooks relating to research training, complete with my refreshing comments on its content, I have retained and moved to the attic.

That, however, saw me fall to musing about the detritus of the past. In a hundred years I will of course be dead, and probably all my papers will have been destroyed, either by me or by my heirs (if I have any). Yet some historian of the future may well be glad of my personal letters, comments, rude remarks etc. as a sign of how HE in this country functioned in the early 21st century. Because it’s very far from certain how much will survive. For instance, I doubt very much that Aberystwyth keeps copies of all the material it sends out. One or two of the things I have casually chucked on the recycling pile may actually be the last of its kind in existence – and thus my rejection of it will see it lost to posterity.

That, of course, is how all historical sources work. Take, for instance, some recent work I did on The Well of Loneliness case. There are three files at the National Archives relating to it. One belongs to Customs. One to the DPP. One to the Home Office. This last is the most useful, most interesting, and about half of it has been destroyed as a result of policy to get rid of old, theoretically “unimportant” records, for much the same reason as my clearout – lack of space. Yet, as both Laura Doan and Diana Souhami failed to note, these destroyed files were potentially of great interest. For example, one of the extant files refers to a destroyed one when it talks about how surveillance on Jonathan Cape’s mail was suspended when “privileged letters between solicitor and client were intercepted.” That begs an obvious question – was that particular file destroyed because it was unimportant, or because it was highly important and very embarrassing – the equivalent of Sir Humphrey’s floods of 1967?

I can honestly say I haven’t chucked out any records because they are embarrassing, but frankly my life has been rather dull by comparison. Would the loss of the handbook on Student Finance suggest to the historians of the future that the system of financing our undergraduates was rotten? Or have inferred from the absence of a handbook on Rules and Regulations that standards were only slackly enforced? or even worse, that undergraduates were sent only a curt letter and no welcome pack, accommodation guidance, maps or anything else? After all, when there are gaps in the information supplied, it becomes necessary to deduce why there are such holes. Can I please stress that with the partial exception of the first one, about which I think there is general agreement, I would not agree with the suggestions I have made. That in itself has always made me slightly wary of reading too much into the absence of evidence.

And I may have destroyed priceless evidence. But I did it for a good reason and am reaping the rewards. Today, for the first time in almost five years, I was able to put something new in my filing cabinet. And guess what? It’s already full to overflowing again!

Searls: That most of the social action is in silos and pipes of giant companies slows things down; http://j.mp/KoA7L

At the beginning of the year I was assigned to read an article by Glenn Greenwald about beat writing and sourcing. It came up again when I was assigned to do a project on an ethical dilemma in the area of sports journalism. I’m a beat writer myself and I never really thought about the pressures of writing for a professional sports team until I got a chance to read the article. Greenwald focuses on the idea of becoming too close to your sources in order to get insider access to both players and coaches. How far are people willing to go to get that one good story?

Greenwald uses former Portland Trail Blazer beat writer Dwight Jaynes as an example. Jaynes, who was one of Oregon’s leading Trail Blazer beat writers, found it difficult to maintain a healthy distance from the team in order to get important information and access to games and practices. One thing that Jaynes prided himself on was the ability to get close to sources while writing critically if they had an ugly game the night before;

“And my core values included being there the day after I wrote something negative about someone I covered — so they’d have their shot at me, their fair chance to confront me.”

Soon enough, however, Jaynes began to feel more and more heat if he wrote an article that did not praise the team. He had become too close to his sources and his dependency on them lead him to write fluffy, sensitized articles. “…if you’re critical, you risk your access. Forget about the friendships — you often lose your sources if you offend them.” The consequences to writing a negative article became overwhelming, so Jaynes decided to cut ties with his sources. Though he no longer had infinite access to the Trail Blazers, he was again able to write about the team the way he wanted it written–with a voice, and with a passion for the truth.

Jaynes eventually left the newspaper business after 35 years of dedicated work. Rather than be under constant pressure from his news organization and beloved basketball team, he decided to go the independent route. Jaynes started his own blog under the title of “Dwight Jaynes: Just watching the world float by.” It’s in that blog that Jaynes is able to write the way he wants to write without restriction and concern that he will offend somebody. “After 35 years in the newspaper business, it was time to step away for a while,” Jaynes wrote. “Not sure how long–maybe forever.”

It’s difficult to find people in the news business that you can look up to. Rarely can you find people who have the courage to write against the system–and step away from a career that you built for yourself your entire life. Jaynes is definitely someone to look up to as an aspiring independent journalist. He reminds us that their is room for those who want to write with a powerful voice and an appreciation for the truth.

This is the first time I’ve ever been able to relate independent media to sports. GO ME! & GO BOMBERS! (It’s Cortaca weekend, biggest little game in the country!.. Wait… Am I being too bias? HELL YEA!)

KAYbee.

Today’s suggestion for changing the world is to form a ‘Food not Bombs’ group. The theory behind such a group is to gather food from various sources (fresh vegetables running out of shelf life, etc) and to seek to feed the local hungry people – such as the homeless, poor, etc.

These groups also protest against war.

This suggestion is also not for me – but not because I don’t like the idea. It is a great idea and one others may like to pursue. Visit the web site below for more information:

www.foodnotbombs.net

1. Bugatti Veyron $1,700,000. This is by far the most expensive street legal car available on the market today. It is the fastest accelerating car reaching 0-60 in 2.6 seconds. It claims to be the fastest car with a top speed of 253 mph+. However, the title for the fastest car goes to the SSC Ultimate Aero which exceed 253 mph pushing this car to 2nd place for the fastest car.

2. Lamborghini Reventon $1,600,000. The most powerful and the most expensive Lamborghini ever built is the second on the list. It takes 3.3 seconds to reach 60 mph and it has a top speed of 211 mph. Its rarity (limited to 20) and slick design are the reasons why it is so expensive and costly to own.

3. McLaren F1 $970,000. In 1994, the McLaren F1 was the fastest and most expensive car. Even though it was built 15 years ago, it has an unbelievable  top speed of 240 mph and reaching 60 mph in 3.2 seconds. Even as of today, the McLaren F1 is still top on the list and it outperformed many other supercars.

4. Ferrari Enzo $670,000. The most known supercar ever built. The Enzo has a top speed of 217 mph and reaching 60 mph in 3.4 seconds. Only 400 units were produced and it is currently being sold for over $1,000,000 at auctions.

5. Pagani Zonda C12 F $667,321. Produced by a small independent company in Italy, the Pagani Zonda C12 F is the 5th fastest car in the world. It promises to delivery a top speed of 215 mph+ and it can reach 0-60 in 3.5 seconds.

6. SSC Ultimate Aero $654,400. Don’t let the price tag fool you, the 6th most expensive car is actually the fastest street legal car in the world with a top speed of 257 mph+ and reaching 0-60 in 2.7 seconds. This baby cost nearly half as much as the Bugatti Veyron, yet has enough power to top the most expensive car in a speed race. It is estimated that only 25 of this exact model will ever be produced.

7. Saleen S7 Twin Turbo $555,000. The first true American production certified supercar, this cowboy is also rank 3rd for the fastest car in the world. It has a top speed of 248 mph+ and it can reach 0-60 in 3.2 seconds. If you are a true American patriot, you can be proud to show off this car.

8. Koenigsegg CCX $545,568. Swedish made, the Koenigsegg is fighting hard to become the fastest car in the world. Currently, it is the 4th fastest car in the world with a top speed of 245 mph+, the car manufacture Koenigsegg is not giving up and will continue to try and produce the fastest car. Good luck with that!

9. Mercedes Benz SLR McLaren Roadster $495,000. A GT supercar, the SLR McLaren is the fastest automatic transmission car in the world with a top speed of 206 mph+ and reaching 60 mph in 3.8 seconds. It is a luxurious convertible with a really powerful engine, which results in outstanding performances and style.

10. Porsche Carrera GT $440,000. A supercar with dynamic stability control and a top speed of 205 mph+ and it can reach 0-60 in 3.9 seconds. The Porsche Carrera GT applies the absolute calibers of a true racing car to offer an unprecedented driving feeling on the road.

This week I wanted to bring up another post from Melanie McBride, namely, “Authority” v. Wikipedia. While we have had this discussion in class before, about both the benefits of Wikipedia and the drawbacks of students finding bogus websites/ web content, I thought that McBride brought a wonderful pedagogical element into the discussion.

McBride presents the idea of bias among traditional ‘valid’ source materials as making the ‘unvalidated’ reference material of open source online content equally beneficial. Everyone today acknowledges that because history is written by the victors there is going to be a bias in the materials promoted by those sources. McBride’s point is that the social norms that get passed down through the traditional material can be oppressive to groups of students whereas with open source materials, she specifically discusses Wikipedia, the ability to share multiple viewpoints negates those influences.

McBride also presents the interesting issue of sites that allow the public to rate content. With online content that has a ratings feature the number of people who can contribute to checking validity is immense whereas your traditionally peer reviewed materials pass through far fewer hands. Also, having something peer reviewed involves peers, people who more than likely share similar social biases. I know that in creating my PowerPoint when I was looking for optical illusion like the Canadian Flag

I showed in class, I always checked the ratings of the viewed on YouTube first because without fail, the ’screamers’ and joke videos all had poor ratings or ratings turned off.

Overall, I’m still not sure how I feel about this questions. On the one hand I respect the diverse community input into online content but I don’t worry as much about bad information from traditional sources as I do from the internet. Which of course displays my bias. I think my opinion here is I don’t know.

This week I am mad for photos. I am collecting photographer crushes left and right. In particular, Tina Tyrell and James Merrell. It’s inspiring me to see about taking some photography classes. Unfortch, I don’t have the funds for classes at the moment, but I do have the opportunity to practice and research and drool over folks that get to take photos for a living. So, that’s what I’ll do for now.

By Tina Tyrell. Click the image to visit her site.

By James Merrell via Desiretoinspire.net. Click the image to visit James' site.

If you’re feeling frisky, check out some photos I took this week for my 2nd job and share your thoughts. Practice makes better. I’ll keep at it.

By Zachary Polka    

     Fact-checking is important for journalists as comments made by sources can have inaccuracies and holes.

     At a Wisconsin Right to Life fundraising banquet, Sarah Palin made remarks implying blame on the new Democratic White House for moving the centered text “In God We Trust” on U.S. currency to the outer edge on the redesigned presidential one-dollar coin. She also said the phrase was not on either side.

     “Who calls a shot like that?” Palin said Friday. “Who makes a decision like that?”

     She also said it was an anti-Christian conspiracy and called the movement of the phrase a trend.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/11/10/fox-news-fact-checks-sara_n_353210.html

     Fox News fact-checked her accusations and found she was wrong blaming our new presidential leadership, and it was President Bush who approved the design in 2005 after the Republican-controlled Congress commissioned the coin’s design.

     During President Bush’s reign as commander and chief, Congress reversed the 2005 decision and put the phrase back on the face of the one-dollar coin.

     Fact checking is a serious matter. Many conflicts can arise from going with a comment and not double-checking, or triple checking, the validity of comments.            

     Sometimes reporters can mistaken the accuracy of comments made by professionals and office-holders because of their ranking as “know-it-alls” in their fields, so can this distort the importance of fact-checking to those who seem to know what they are talking about? The same goes for the average-Joe; they can be seen as knowing what they are talking about based on how they project and explain their answers. Can sounding right be a distorting factor as well, or does this not play a role in fact checking?

    Should reporters check all comments or is it the responsibility of the commenting source to be accurate? Journalist are taught to fact-check everything, but when deadlines are near and the articles need to go to print, what should journalists do if they think something is inaccurate?

Below is a list of supplementary resources on The American Revolution. After each citation a brief explanation of what each source is, how it can be used, and its reading level is supplied.

-TR

Annotated Bibliography

Toby Ring

Adams, S.H. (1957). General brock and niagara falls. New York: Random House.

In this biography of Brock, Adams gives an introductory view of the largely unknown general, and his campaigns in New York State on the Canadian border during The War of 1812. The reading level of this book on the Dale-Chall index is 9-10^th grade making it ideal for high school students studying American History. This book is interesting because Adams looks at an often neglected area of The War of 1812 from the British perspective giving students a different point of view.

Aherns , L. (Producer). (1975). The preamble [Web]. Retrieved November 1, 2009, from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q_TXJRZ4CFc

This video gives background for the writing of The Constitution, and explains the meaning of the preamble. The preamble is set to a catchy tune making it possible to easily be memorized. As the preamble serves as the basis of governmental legitimacy in the United States it is an important piece of literature for students to remember while studying United States history. This video in particular and the School House Rock series in general can be an invaluable resource for teachers of levels as it serves to help students remember information that can be boring, and fosters interest in the topic.

American Historical Publications and Records Commission. (Ed.). (1998). The Emerging nation. Amawalk, NY: Jackdraw Publications.

This is perhaps the most useful resource I have come across for teaching the early colonial period. This portfolio contains a plethora of resources from primary sources, to maps, and work books that go along with them. The workbooks highlight potential vocabulary words in the document and provide exercises that pre teach the words before reading the document. This resource is so appealing because it varies in the form of the media appealing to learners with multiple intelligences as well as giving premade lesson plans to save teachers time.

Brady, T. (2004). Liberty!. Retrieved from http://www.pbs.org/ktca/liberty/index.html

This interactive website was published in support to the PBS series Liberty. It contains invaluable resources ranging from videos, to animations, to maps, games, and more. The content covered is relevant for a middle school student eager to learn more or any high school student. The site reads at a 7^th grade level on the Flesch-Kincaid scale which is appropriate to content level. This website would be good for students to explore as part of a web quest, or at home on their own time.

Congress of The United States. (1776, July). Declaration of independence. Retrieved November 1, 2009, from http://www.constitution.org/us_doi.htm

This website contains the original text of the Declaration of Independence. This document, our rational and catalyst for The Revolutionary War is a document that all students should read.  This document reads at the 7^th grade level on the Flesch-Kincaid scale so it could be studied in middle school with support activities, or as a document in a DBQ activity for high school students.

Crawford, C. (1970). Four women in a violent time. New York: Crown Publishers, Inc.

In this book Crawford goes into detail about four neglected women in colonial, Pre-Revolutionary history. Besides Anne Hutchinson, the other three women are not included in most classes on the American Revolution so this book would serve as good resource for those students interested in exploring women’s stories throughout history. The bibliographies go in depth and read at approximately a 11^th-12^th grade level on the Dale-Chall index lending them well to serve as optional readings for further research on a project where the students might explore the biography of an important figure of The Revolution.

Diagram Group, The. (1978) The Making of america. New York: Paddington Press

This book is a fold out poster timeline. It contains all of the important events in American history in an accurate and visually appealing manner. It also includes pictures to associate with important events and gives parallel events in world history occurring at the same time. This poster is easy to read and could be used in a stations activity or placed on the classroom wall to allow visual learners to better place the events they are learning about in chronological order relative to each other as well as in relation to important world events.

Fisher, D.C. (1950). Our independence and the constitution. New York: Random House

This book takes an interesting look at the social and political climate at the time of the signing of two of our country’s most important documents: The Declaration of Independence and The Constitution. The book gives the reader the opportunity to place him or herself in the spirit of the time and inadvertently teaches the background and frame work necessary for these documents to have been written. This book reads at the 9th-10th grade level on the Dale-Chall scale making it accessible as a supplementary reading to middle and high school students.

Franklin, B. (1754). Albany plan of union. Retrieved November 1, 2009, from http://www.constitution.org/bcp/albany.htm

This primary source document written by Ben Franklin before The Revolution proposed 25 tenants for a unified colonial government. This primary source can give students direct insight to the intentions of the founding fathers and early efforts for freedom before The Revolution. This document only reads at the 6^th grade level on the Flesch-Kincaid scale making it accessible for almost all middle and high school students.

Herbert, J. (2002). The American revolution for kids. Chicago: Chicago Review Press.

Despite the title implication that this book is for “kids” it contains detailed information with many pictures at both a content and Dale-Chall reading level of high school. This book reads more interesting than many text books, but contains just as much information. The book also contains hands on activities that students could do in class or on their own. Overall this could be a good alternative for students to learn about The Revolution rather than a traditional textbook.

Hurst, R.L. (Producer). (2006). Mapping colonial america [Web]. Retrieved November 1, 2009, from http://www.history.org/history/museums/mappingExhibit.html

This website is a flash lesson and game dealing with geography of early America and its impact on the settlement of the country. The game includes a glossary of any troubling vocabulary words the students may encounter. This website would be a valuable addition to any activity on pre revolutionary America due to its many images and interactive nature.

Katz, W.L. (1974). Early america. New York: Franklin Watts.

This book takes an interesting perspective on early American history: that of the Native American. It shows America before the Europeans, their coming, and their effect. It is organized into chapters on different events with primary sources interspersed. The reading level is 9^th-10^th grade according to the Dale Chall Index making it a good outside resource for high school students.

King, D.C. (1998). Colonial days. New York: John Wiley & Sons

This book, although it appears to be at an elementary level, can be a good resource for students with reading disabilities and learners with multiple intelligences. The book contains hands on activities which give students insight into the lives of children in Colonial America. Due to its easy instructions this book would be appropriate for middle school students.

Lawson, R. (1957). Watchwords of libery. Toronto: Little, Brown and Company.

This book looks at early American history through quote analysis. Each chapter is based on a famous quote which is then given context and explained to better show its significance. This is a unique way for students to study primary sources (quotes) and their relevance at a fairly easy reading level. This book could be used as a supplement to any text on The Revolution at the middle or high school levels.

Leigh, K. (2004, September 21). Colonial america. Retrieved November 1, 2009, from http://www.usgennet.org/usa/topic/colonial/index.html

This website contains many primary source documents including census records and diary entries, to excepted sections from text. The format of the site allows for students who learn better from reading from computer rather than books to do so with good, factual information. One of the pages of excerpted text appears at a 10^th grade level on the Flesch-Kincaid scale making it good for the high school level. This is another good resource for web quests and out of class, internet based reading.

Mountain City Elementary School. (n.d.) Colonial america. Retrieved November 1, 2009, from http://www.mce.k12tn.net/colonial_america/colonial_america.htm

This website, although published by an elementary school, contains valuable resources for teachers and students. The site contains lessons, activities, and online quizzes. According to the Flesch-Kincaid scale the website’s lessons read at the 5^th grade level, but their information is relevant at the middle and even high school levels making it accessible for students with reading problems to learn the content. The site also gives teachers hands on in class lessons, and online assessments based on the text they provide making them good to use to assess reading comprehension at home or in class.

Pearson, M. (1974). Those yankee rebels. New York: G.P. Putnam’s Sons.

This book, like Adam’s, shows the British perspective of an American war in narrative form, only this time it is the Revolutionary War. Pearson summarizes the conflict taking place in the colonies in the 18^th century through the lens of London, not Philadelphia as it is commonly studied.  This book reads at approximately an 11^th -12^th grade level on the Dale-Chall index so it would be an appropriate grade level text to supplement the commonly American written text for 11^th grade US History.

Phelan, M.K. (1967). Four days in philadelphia. New York: Thomas Y. Crowell Company.

This book is a chronological record of the three days leading up to the signing of the Declaration of Independence in Philadelphia, and effect that events around the country had on the founding fathers and their decisions to declare liberty. The information in this book is comprehensive for the high school level and is presented in an interesting and easy reading level, around 9^th-10^th grade according to the Dale-Chall index making it useful for students who learn better from a third person narrative supplemented with pictures, than a text book.

Houghton Mifflin Social Studies. (Ed). (1991). A More perfect union. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company

This book is a work book containing activities for pre and post reading based on other books published by Houghton Mifflin. It contains a number of different exercises that encourage critical thinking and the application of knowledge learned through reading ranging from primary sources to historians commentaries on events ranging in reading level from 8^th-10^th grade reading levels. This book can be useful because the activities can either be used before the reading as a guide to the reading, or after to assess the comprehension skills of the students.

Jungreis, A. (1992). Know your hometown history. New York: Franklin Watts.

This book is very unique because it introduces middle school, and even elementary school students to the practice of historical research and historiography through short and fun hands on activities based on local history. Through its exercises students can learn how to do original research and create their own history based on their hometowns, a place not usually studied in published texts. This book is a valuable tool for teachers to give students projects which will diversify the way they teach and accommodate learners with multiple intelligences.

Lenski, L. (1944). Puritan adventure. New York: J.B. Lippincott Company.

This book is written as a fictional narrative depicting the settlement of the Massachusetts Bay Colony. Although in his forward Lenski outlines his research for the book, I have found much of it to be biased and racist against Native Americans depicting them as intruders and criminals. The reason I would include this book in my class is because it uses simple language and shows an important point of historiography: not all history is accurate. It would be a good book to use as the basis of an activity where students analyze a fiction reading for bias.

Osborne, M.P. (1998). Standing in the light. New York: Scholastic.

This fiction book is modeled in the form of a dairy written by a young Quaker girl growing up in Pennsylvania in 1763. This book gives students a different perspective not usually studied, that of a young girl. While important events are occurring around her, she is focused on the nuances of her everyday life in the countryside of Pennsylvania outside of Philadelphia. This book is written very plainly and period syntax is limited almost exclusively to places where contextual clues can help the reader gain understanding without knowing exactly the meaning of the word. This book is a good resource both to give students a perspective that could not be historically found as well as a source at an easy reading level.

Silcox-Jarrett, D. (1998). Heroines of the american revolution. Chapel Hill: Green Angel.

In this anthology of biographies, Silcox-Jarrett explores the stories of twenty-five women who shaped the course of The American Revolution. This book is unique because it differs from most of the male dominated biographies of founding fathers and generals during The Revolution. This picture book is at the 7-8^th grade level on the Dale-Chall scale making it appropriate for a grade level reading for middle school, or as a supplemental scaffolding reading for high school.

Stevenson, K. (2009). Bacon’s Rebellion. Famous events, 1-2. Retrieved November 1, 2009, from Searchaurus. New York: EBSCO

This article gives students a brief background and history for Bacon’s Rebellion. It is at a 11^th-12^th grade reading level on the Dale-Schall index making it a useful supplemental reading or homework reading for high school students. There are a few vocabulary words which could be isolated beforehand and used for a pre reading activity.

Rice, R. (1980). Word games in american history. Portland, ME: J. Weston Walch.

This book contains twenty-six word games using vocabulary, fill in the blank exercises, sentence and quote completion and other types of word games. The level of the information presented is at the high school level, and if the content area vocabulary is known the reading level is not hard. This resource can be used to reinforce as well as, with a supplemental word bank, pre teach vocabulary and other content knowledge.

Primary Sources

What is a primary source? 

“In scholarship, a document or record containing firsthand information or original data on a topic. Primary sources include original manuscripts, articles report original research or thought, diaries, memoirs, letters, journals, photographs, drawings, posters, film footage, sheet music, songs …” From Baylor University’s Library Glossary
 

Library Catalogs

Visit the library website at http://www.occc.edu/library and look to the “Find Books, etc.” area of the website.

Our OCCC Library Catalog will detail what primary sources we own in our library.

The WorldCat Catalog will detail what primary sources other libraries own that you can ILL.

Searching hints: Use the truncation trick (searching for the singular and plural  of a words) such as diar$ and Iraq in our catalog to search for diary/diaries and Iraq.

Also, try other keywords such as  correspondence, memoirs, etc. to try to limit to primary sources in library catalogs.

In the WorldCat Catalog, use the * instead of the $ when truncating your search endings.

Historical Newspapers

Visit the library website at http://www.occc.edu/library and look to the “Find Articles” area of the website.

Clicking on “Newspaper Articles” then clicking on “Historical Newspapers” will take you to our ProQuest Historical Databases for the Christian Science Monitor, the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, the Los Angeles Times, the Hartford Courant, and the Washington Post.

Select one of the historical newspaper databases to search and remember to select a date range if you want to find newspaper articles that happened close to the event you are researching.  Also, remember that if your event is “older,” it might not be reported until the day after it occurred.

Our example in class was the following:

We did a phrase search (think Google searching your exes!) for “I have a dream” and then limited it to the “On this date” option for 08/29/1963.

Suggested Primary Source Websites

Here is a listing of the websites I mentioned in class in terms of potential place to find primary sources on the web.

 The Library of Congress’ American Memory: http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/index.html

The National Archives’ Primary Sources for Educators: http://archives.gov/research/arc/education/documents.html

Yale’s Avalon Project: http://avalon.law.yale.edu/default.asp

Oklahoma Historical Society Archives: http://www.okhistory.org/research/collections/index.html

The National Archives’ Archival Research Catalog: http://www.okhistory.org/research/collections/index.html

The Internet Archive: http://www.archive.org

Alrightie, well I hope this helps!

Should you have any more questions, please stop by the Library Assistance desk on the first floor of the library or contact us via our Ask a Librarian email form or call us at 405-682-1611 Ext. 7251.

Hope to see you around the library!

Amanda