Becoming A Medical Office Assistant

byadmin

Working in the medical field is truly rewarding and has a variety of benefits. There are a number of different fields in which to choose from. Medical office assisting is just one of the many opportunities available for students who wish to work in the medical field and make a difference. A medical office assistant has many different responsibilities in the medical office which means very specific training is required before you begin a career in this field.

TasksA medical office assistant is a professional who performs a wide variety of tasks that are crucial in the overall function of a medical office. You can obtain a certificate or diploma both online and off. The more education you have in the field the better chances you will have in obtaining a long-term career with good pay.

Educational RequirementsIf you want to pursue a career in medical office assisting, you will first be required to obtain a certificate, diploma, or degree in this field. Many of these programs are offered online and through community colleges and vocational schools. Most of the medical assisting programs typically take less than one year to complete and prepare you for all of the medical tasks you will be responsible when you are out in the work force. In order to better your chances for a career, you should pursue an Associate’s degree in medical assisting.

The program that you choose must be approved by the Commission on Accreditation of Allied Health Education Programs as well as the Health Education Schools Accrediting Bureau.

CourseworkCoursework will vary depending on your program but many of the classes will remain consistent throughout. You will be required to take courses such as medical terminology, anatomy and physiology, accounting, insurance processing, medical ethics, and computer applications. You should be prepared to take a wide variety of classes as your responsibilities as a medical assistant will be very diverse.

After all of your coursework has been completed you will need to become certified through the American Association of Medical Assistants.

ConclusionThere is nothing quite as rewarding as a career in the medical field. If you like working with others, have a great attention to detail, and are able to perform tasks in a timely and efficient manner, then this may be the right career choice for you. It won’t always be easy but it will always be rewarding.

OpenSync Interview – syncing on the free desktop

Friday, May 19, 2006

This interview intends to provide some insight into OpenSync, an upcoming free unified data synchronization solution for free software desktops such as KDE, commonly used as part of the GNU/Linux operating system.

Hi Cornelius, Armin and Tobias. As you are now getting close to version 1.0 of OpenSync, which is expected to become the new synchronisation framework for KDE and other free desktops, we are quite interested in the merits it can provide for KDE users and for developers, as well as for the Open Source Community as a whole. So there’s one key-question before I move deeper into the details of OpenSync:

What does OpenSync accomplish, that no one did before?

Cornelius:

First of all it does its job of synchronizing data like addressbooks and calendars between desktop applications and mobile devices like PDAs and cell phones.
But the new thing about OpenSync is that it isn’t tied to a particular device or a specific platform. It provides an extensible and modular framework that is easy to adopt for application developers and people implementing support for syncing with mobile devices.
OpenSync is also independent of the desktop platform. It will be the common syncing backend for at least KDE and GNOME and other projects are likely to join. That means that the free desktop will have one common syncing solution. This is something really new.

How do the end-users profit from using synching solutions that interface with OpenSync as framework?

Cornelius:

First, the users will be able to actually synchronize all their data. By using one common framework there won’t be any “missing links”, where one application can sync one set of devices and another application a different one. With OpenSync all applications can sync all devices.
Second, the users will get a consistent and common user interface for syncing across all applications and devices. This will be much simpler to use than the current incoherent collection of syncing programs you need if you have more than the very basic needs.

How does OpenSync help developers with coding?

Cornelius:

It’s a very flexible and well-designed framework that makes it quite easy for developers to add support for new devices and new types of data. It’s also very easy to add support for OpenSync to applications.
The big achievement of OpenSync is that it hides all the gory details of syncing from the developers who work on applications and device support. That makes it possible for the developers to concentrate on their area of expertise without having to care what’s going on behind the scenes.
I have written quite a lot of synchronization code in the past. Trust me, it’s much better, if someone just takes care of it for you, and that’s what OpenSync does.

Tobias:

Another point to mention is the python wrapper for opensync, so you are not bound to C or C++, but can develop plugins in a high level scripting language.

Why should producers of portable devices get involved with your team?

Cornelius:

OpenSync will be the one common syncing solution for the free desktop. That means there is a single point of contact for device manufacturers who want to add support for their devices. That’s much more feasible than addressing all the different applications and solutions we had before. With OpenSync it hopefully will become interesting for manufacturers to officially support Linux for their devices.

Do you also plan to support applications of OpenSync in proprietary systems like OSX and Windows?

Cornelius:

OpenSync is designed to be cross-platform, so it is able to run on other systems like Windows. How well this works is always a question of people actually using and developing for this system. As far as I know there isn’t a real Windows community around OpenSync yet. But the technical foundation is there, so if there is somebody interested in working on a unified syncing solution on Windows, everybody is welcome to join the project.

What does your synchronisation framework do for KDE and for KitchenSync in particular?

Cornelius:

OpenSync replaces the KDE-specific synchronization frameworks we had before. Even in KDE we had several separate syncing implementations and with OpenSync we can get replace them with a common framework. We had a more generic syncing solution in KDE under development. This was quite similar from a design point of view to OpenSync, but it never got to the level of maturity we would have needed, because of lack of resources. As OpenSync fills this gap we are happy to be able to remove our old code and now concentrate on our core business.

What was your personal reason for getting involved with OpenSync?

Cornelius:

I wrote a lot of synchronization code in the past, which mainly came from the time where I was maintaining KOrganizer and working on KAddressBook. But this always was driven by necessity and not passion. I wanted to have all my calendar and contact data in one place, but my main objective was to work on the applications and user interfaces handling the data and not on the underlying code synchronizing the data.
So when the OpenSync project was created I was very interested. At GUADEC in Stuttgart I met with Armin, the maintainer of OpenSync, and we talked about integrating OpenSync with KDE. Everything seemed to fit together quite well, so at Linuxtag the same year we had another meeting with some more KDE people. In the end we agreed to go with OpenSync and a couple of weeks later we met again in Nuernberg for three days of hacking and created the KDE frontend for OpenSync. In retrospect it was a very pleasant and straightforward process to get where we are now.

Armin:

My reason to get involved (or better to start) OpenSync was my involvement with its predecessor Multisync. I am working as a system administrator for a small consulting company and so I saw some problems when trying to find a synchronization solution for Linux.
At that point I joined the Multisync project to implement some plugins that I thought would be nice to have. After some time I became the maintainer of the project. But I was unhappy with some technical aspects of the project, especially the tight coupling between the syncing logic and the GUI, its dependencies on GNOME libraries and its lack of flexibility.

Tobias:

Well, I have been a KDE PIM developer for several years now, so there was no way around getting in touch with synchronization and KitchenSync. Although I liked the idea of KitchenSync, I hated the code and the user interface […]. So when we discussed to switch to OpenSync and reimplementing the user interface, I volunteered immediately.

Can you tell us a bit about your further plans and ideas?

Cornelius:

The next thing will be the 1.0 release of OpenSync. We will release KitchenSync as frontend in parallel.

Armin:

There are of course a lot of things on my todo and my wishlist for opensync. For the near future the most important step is the 1.0 release, of course, where we still have some missing features in OpenSync as well as in the plugins.
One thing I would really like to see is a thunderbird plugin for OpenSync. I use thunderbird personally and would really like to keep my contacts up to date with my cellular, but I was not yet able to find the time to implement it.

Tobias:

One thing that would really rock in future versions of OpenSync is an automatic hardware detection mechanism, so when you plugin your Palm or switch on your bluetooth device, OpenSync will create a synchronization group automatically and ask the user to start syncing. To bring OpenSync to the level of _The Syncing Solution [tm]_ we must reduce the necessary configuration to a minimum.

What was the most dire problem you had to face when creating OpenSync and how did you face it?

Cornelius:

Fortunately the problems which I personally would consider to be dire are solved by the implementation of OpenSync which is well hidden from the outside world and [they are] an area I didn’t work on 😉

Armin:

I guess that I am the right person to answer this question then 🙂
The most complicated part of OpenSync is definitely the format conversion, which is responsible for converting the format of one device to the format that another device understands.
There are a lot of subsystems in this format conversion that make it so complex, like conversion path searching, comparing items, detection of mime types and last but not least the conversion itself. So this was a hard piece of work.

What was the greatest moment for you?

Cornelius:

I think the greatest moment was when, after three days of concentrated hacking, we had a first working version of the KDE frontend for OpenSync. This was at meeting at the SUSE offices in Nuernberg and we were able to successfully do a small presentation and demo to a group of interested SUSE people.

Armin:

I don’t remember a distinct “greatest moment”. But what is a really great feeling is to see that a project catches on, that other people get involved, use the code you have written and improve it in ways that you haven’t thought of initially.

Tobias:

Hmm, also hacking on OpenSync/KitcheSync is much fun in general, the greatest moment was when the new KitchenSync frontend synced two directories via OpenSync the first time. But it was also cool when we managed to get the IrMC plugin working again after porting it to OpenSync.

As we now know the worst problem you faced and your greatest moment, the only one missing is: What was your weirdest experience while working on OpenSync?

Cornelius:

Not directly related to OpenSync, but pretty weird was meeting a co-worker at the Amsterdam airport when returning from the last OpenSync meeting. I don’t know how high the chance is to meet somebody you know on a big random airport not related at all to the places where you or the other person live, but it was quite surprising.

Tobias:

Since my favorite language is C++, I was always confused how people can use plain C for such a project, half the time your are busy with writing code for allocating/freeing memory areas. Nevertheless Armin did a great job and he is always a help for solving strange C problems 🙂

Now I’d like to move on to some more specific questions about current and planned abilities of OpenSync. As first, I’ve got a personal one:

I have an old iPod sitting around here. Can I or will I be able to use a program utilizing OpenSync to synchronize my calendars, contacts and music to it?

Cornelius:

I’m not aware of any iPod support for OpenSync up to now, but if it doesn’t exist yet, why not write it? OpenSync makes this easy. This is a chance for everybody with the personal desire to sync one device or another to get involved.

Armin:

I dont think that there is iPod support yet for OpenSync. But it would definitely be possible to use OpenSync for this task. So if someone would like to implement an iPod plugin, I would be glad to help 🙂

Which other devices do you already support?

Cornelius:

At this time, OpenSync supports Palms, SyncML and IrMC capable devices.

Which programs already implement OpenSync and where can we check back to find new additions?

Cornelius:

On the application side there is support for Evolution [GNOME] and Kontact with KitchenSync [KDE] on the frontend side and the backend side and some more. I expect that further applications will adopt OpenSync once the 1.0 version is released.

Armin:

Besides kitchensync there already are a command line tool and a port of the multisync GUI. Aside from the GUIs, I would really like to see OpenSync being used in other applications as well. One possibility for example would to be integrate OpenSync into Evolution to give users the possibility to synchronize their devices directly from this application. News can generally be found on the OpenSync web site www.opensync.org.

It is time to give the developers something to devour, too. I’ll keep this as a short twice-fold technical dive before coming to the takeoff question, even though I’m sure there’s information for a double-volume book on technical subleties.

As first dive: How did you integrate OpenSync in KitchenSync, viewed from the coding side?

Cornelius:

OpenSync provides a C interface. We wrapped this with a small C++ library and put KitchenSync on top. Due to the object oriented nature of the OpenSync interfaces this was quite easy.
Recently I also started to write a D-Bus frontend for OpenSync. This also is a nice way to integrate OpenSync which provides a wide variety of options regarding programming languages and system configurations.

And for the second, deeper dive:

Can you give us a quick outline of those inner workings of OpenSync, from the developers view, which make OpenSync especially viable for application in several different desktop environments?

Cornelius:

That’s really a question for Armin. For those who are interested I would recommend to have a look at the OpenSync website. There is a nice white paper about the internal structure and functionality of OpenSync.

Armin:

OpenSync consists of several parts:
First there is the plugin API which defines what functions a plugin has to implement so that OpenSync can dlopen() it. There are 2 types of plugins:
A sync plugin which can synchronize a certain device or application and which provides functions for the initialization, handling the connection to a device and reading and writing items. Then there is a format plugin which defines a format and how to convert, compare and detect it.
The next part is a set of helper functions which are provided to ease to programming of synchronization plugins. These helper functions include things like handling plugin config files, HashTables which can be used to detect changes in sets of items, functions to detect when a resync of devices is necessary etc.
The syncing logic itself resides in the sync engine, which is a separate part. The sync engine is responsible for deciding when to call the connect function of a plugin, when to read or write from it. The engine also takes care of invoking the format conversion functions so that each plugin gets the items in its required format.
If you want more information and details about the inner workings of OpenSync, you should really visit the opensync.org website or ask its developers.

To add some more spice for those of our readers, whose interest you just managed to spawn (or to skyrocket), please tell us where they can get more information on the OpenSync Framework, how they can best meet and help you and how they can help improving sync-support for KDE by helping OpenSync.

Cornelius:

Again, the OpenSync web site is the right source for information. Regarding the KDE side, the kde-pim@kde.org mailing list is probably the right address. At the moment the most important help would be everything which gets the OpenSync 1.0 release done.
[And even though] I already said it, it can’t be repeated too often: OpenSync will be the one unified syncing solution for the free desktop. Cross-device, cross-platform, cross-desktop.
It’s the first time I feel well when thinking about syncing 😉.

Armin:

Regarding OpenSync, the best places to ask would be the opensync mailing lists at sourceforge or the #opensync irc channel on the freenode.net servers.
There are always a lot of things where we could need a helping hand and where we would be really glad to get some help. So everyone who is interested in OpenSync is welcome to join.

Many thanks for your time!

Cornelius:

Thanks for doing the interview. It’s always fun to talk about OpenSync, because it’s really the right thing.

Armin:

Thank you for taking your time and doing this interview. I really appreciate your help!

Tobias:

Thanks for your work. Publication and marketing is something that is really missing in the open source community. We have nice software but nobody knows 😉

Further Information on OpenSync can be found on the OpenSync Website: www.opensync.org


This Interview was done by Arne Babenhauserheide in April 2006 via e-mail and KOffice on behalf of himself, the OpenSource Community, SpreadKDE.org and the Dot (dot.kde.org).It was first published on the Dot and is licensed under the cc-attribution-sharealike-license.A pdf-version with pictures can be found at opensync-interview.pdf (OpenDocument version: opensync-interview.odt)

This article features first-hand journalism by Wikinews members. See the collaboration page for more details.
This article features first-hand journalism by Wikinews members. See the collaboration page for more details.

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Immediate life insurance website launched, first in world

Tuesday, May 15, 2007

The first website in the world allowing consumers to buy life insurance online instantly has been launched today, targeting specifically New Zealanders.

The website, run by life insurance company Pinnacle Life, allows New Zealanders in many countries in the world to buy life insurance online without the need for a medical examination. Once the application has been approved, which is done immediately, the consumer can receive a $500,000 life insurance policy via an automatic e-mail. However, if certain conditions have been highlighted, then person to person contact is required to finalise the process.

Ed Saul, senior partner and architect of the new website, says, “We’re giving consumers a quicker and easier way to buy life insurance. Instead of submitting an application form and waiting days for a policy to be approved and issued, we do it online and we do it immediately.”

“The revolutionary website gives consumers complete control over the buying process whilst eliminating the previously obligatory involvement of people and paper. This is a global test case eagerly watched by the insurance industry around the world,” Mr Saul said.

When applying online, a few typical questions are asked on personal information and if the applicant has had any previous illnesses or diseases.

The countries where New Zealand citizens are allowed to apply are UK, Ireland, Canada, Australia, Hong Kong, Singapore and the USA.

Retrieved from “https://en.wikinews.org/w/index.php?title=Immediate_life_insurance_website_launched,_first_in_world&oldid=724680”

Buckram Cloth Manufacturer Kamal Textiles}

Buckram Cloth Manufacturer-Kamal Textiles

by

Kamal Textiles

Kamal Textiles is engaged in the Manufacturing and exporting of excellent quality Buckram, Buckram Fabric. New materials and technical innovations from over years of experience have resulted in such high quality buckram. So feel free to avail the opportunity of reasonable prices & conduct a blissful shopping from us. Buckram / canvas are used as raw material for suitings & shirtings & for different types of Readymade Garments.

Buckram is used in Collars, Cufflins & Belts. We deal in various types of Buckram quality from low to high.

1) Permanent Finish

2) Semi Permanent Finish

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

3) Mangle Finish

4) Kadak Khadi

5) Canvas Finish

6) Murga Finish

We offer Durable Buckram which is one of the most popular varieties. It features strong characteristics such as Softness & Durability. New materials & technical innovations from over years of experience have resulted in such high quality Buckram.

About Kamal Textiles

Kamal Textiles establishes its foundation stone in the year 1985, as a manufacturer, supplier of dhoti and other product. Our organization has marked its presence in the Textiles and yarn industry by supplying the supreme quality material to the clients. We always ensure the quality of the fabric material used in the manufacturing process.

State of art infrastructure of our organization spread across a vast plot area helps us all to carry out the activities well and manage all the processes going on in the organization. Our well-fragmented departments such as manufacturing unit, quality control unit and warehouse and packaging department; all work in well coordination with each other.

The team works hard to achieve the targets of the enterprise and delivers quality products to the client on time. We take care of the products from the manufacturing process to the final dispatch of the material produced. It is due to these reasons that, we are entertained by clients from East/Middle India.

Kamal Textiles is one of the leading Textiles provider best services to the customers. We manufacture finely processed clothes. Different types of power looms are used for its production.

All the customers who have been with us through our journey and those who keep joining the family are a standing testimony of our beliefs. Our unprecedented success has a surprisingly simple explanation – consistently high performance and a strong commitment to customer service has attracted and retained more customers every year.

Thus, the journey that began 25 years ago, has reached yet another achievement. And reaching this achievement is testimony to the fact that kamal Textiles has made the most of time. For us, this is just the Starting point

It is our cherished desire to offer our customers the benefits of the latest in cloth material, design and quality available in the state which explains why Textiles manufacturing is more than just a business activity for us.

Article Source:

eArticlesOnline.com}

Toronto to have socialized city-wide wi-fi access

Thursday, March 9, 2006

Toronto’s public utility, Toronto Hydro Telecom, will make Canada’s largest city into a huge wireless hotspot.

“This is both an exciting and very important initiative for the city of Toronto”, said Toronto’s mayor, David Miller. “It puts us on the leading edge of the telecommunications industry nationwide and globally.”

Toronto Hydro Telecom will offer customers free access for the first six months. After that, it will begin to charge for services.

“Wi-Fi technology is the new benchmark for urban living”, stated Toronto Hydro president David Dobbin. “It’s standard equipment in many electronic devices, from laptops to portable entertainment units.”

Private telephone companies are questioning why a public utility needs to compete with the private sector.

Mike Lee of Rogers Communications Inc. questioned why the city of Toronto wanted to enter the internet access business.

“It will not be an easy business”, Lee told the National Post. “In this day and age, the focus should be on core operations more than anything. I was surprised to see they are looking to get into this business.”

Brian Sharwood, a telecom analyst in Toronto, said the municipality will likely install the wireless transmitters and receivers on its lamp posts as a way to blanket the city, a process known as “wireless mesh networking”.

Retrieved from “https://en.wikinews.org/w/index.php?title=Toronto_to_have_socialized_city-wide_wi-fi_access&oldid=4376795”

New York Times to start charging for access to web news

Friday, March 18, 2011

The challenge now is to put a price on our work without walling ourselves off from the global network …

The New York Times announced on Thursday that it will start charging for full access to NYTimes.com, its online version. Beginning March 28, U.S. visitors who do not subscribe to the print edition will be allowed access to 20 articles a month. A digital subscription to the website will be required to read additional content.

The fee plan for Canadians is already in effect, allowing the NYT to “fine-tune the customer experience”, according to the announcement.

Unlimited access to articles will continue to be free for those users reaching the Times through links from search engines, blogs, and social media like Facebook and Twitter. The NYTimes.com home page and individual section front pages will continue be freely accessible.

The NYT unsuccessfully tried a pay wall six years ago. Due to declining profits and readership of its print edition, it is ready to try again.

According to comScore, a marketing research company that measures online traffic, NYTimes.com had 31.4 million individual visitors in February. It is the most-read newspaper site in the world, reported The Guardian.

“The challenge now is to put a price on our work without walling ourselves off from the global network, to make sure we continue to engage with the widest possible audience”, wrote Arthur Sulzberger Jr., NYT company chairman.

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Cannabis Seeds The Unknown Benefits}

Submitted by: Toby Bluntt

Cannabis, aka hemp or marijuana, often triggers a negative connotation to people especially because it is labeled as a dangerous drug, which one needs to avoid. Little do these people know that it actually has a lot of benefits that everyone should enjoy.

Cannabis seeds, in particular, have a lot to offer. They are generally safe even if they are oily and high in fat. It has been known as a superfood, and as years pass, scientists get to discover more perks you get out of it.

What benefits can you get from the seeds?

Helps Strengthen Immunity

Eating hemp seeds can actually help strengthen ones immunity due to their 3:1 ratio of Omega-6 and Omega-3 Linoleic Acids. Hemp seeds are rich sources of phytonutrients i.e. elements that help protect ones bloodstream, skin, mitochondria, cells, tissues, organs and immunity.

You can instantly feel the benefits regardless if you take the seeds either raw or in oil form. They greatly help ones cardiovascular health, as well as general improvement of immune system.

Produces Vital Amino Acids

Hemp seeds have high protein amounts. They contain all 20 amino acids including those 9 essential amino acids that the body is not capable of producing. Included in these amino acids are those that remove ones toxins and strengthen immunity. Hemp seeds can help supplement them in the body perfectly.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LIEZ1Xu9eg0[/youtube]

Rich in Nutritional Value

Cannabis seeds are rich in vitamins and minerals, including fiber. They are rich in soluble and insoluble fiber that can naturally cleanse the colon and even decrease your sugar cravings.

It is the best source of vital fatty acids its fatty acid content is higher than that of flax or any other nut or seed.

Better Digestion and Weight Loss

As previously mentioned, hemp seeds are rich in fiber, thus they are more than capable of keeping your digestive system well-maintained. It helps suppress your appetite, stop you from being hungry in between short periods of time and stop you from wanting sweets and getting that sugar rush.

The fibers help your guts probiotics and help secure both your immune and digestive system. You can add 4 tablespoons to your breakfast to curb any chances of excess hunger.

Reduces Inflammation

Cannabis seeds contain plant alcohols and sterols that help lessen inflammation, a factor in various diseases. They produce hormone-like substances known as prostaglandins that help the body function well.

Prostaglandins help not only in various body functions, but also in contracting smooth muscles and controlling inflammation.

To add, hemp seeds can help in GLA supplementation, which leads to better hormone health. Women who suffer from PMS will definitely benefit from it.

Fights Bad Cholesterol and Heart Diseases

Hemp seeds are believed to help fight bad cholesterol as well as various heart diseases.

These seeds are said to contain healthy fats and produce a component called phytosterols that help lessen the bodys cholesterol amounts; hence, leading to the removal of fat buildup inside the arteries.

To enjoy hemp seeds, you can include two tablespoons to your morning drinks or smoothies to lower your blood pressure, improve your triglycerides, raise HDL cholesterol levels, and lower LDL cholesterol levels.

Rich in Nutritional Value

Cannabis seeds are rich in vitamins and minerals, including fiber. They are rich both in soluble and insoluble fiber that can naturally cleanse the colon and even decrease your sugar cravings.

It is the best source of vital fatty acids its fatty acid content is higher than that of flax or any other nut or seed.

Summary

Hemp seeds are among those superfoods available in nature. It helps your overall body conditions, as well as maintain the processes inside. It is even said to be capable of sustaining your dietary needs even without the help of other healthy foods.

As you can see, cannabis seeds are definitely good for you. Dont be blinded by the negative hearsays about hemp; perhaps they havent experienced firsthand what hemp has to offer. Dont worry. The seeds cant make you high. No one can have that high feeling from hemp seeds or hemp oil.

It is understandable why people would have such a negative opinion about hemp, but as long as you dont use it in ways that will harm your body, then why not go for it, right?

About the Author: James has been a Gardening and a well being expert for some time writing for websites like

cannabiseffects.org.uk/

for the last 5 years.

Source:

isnare.com

Permanent Link:

isnare.com/?aid=1957676&ca=Gardening}

Russian forces approach Ukraine’s capital Kyiv

Saturday, February 26, 2022

Yesterday, Russian forces attacked Ukraine’s capital Kyiv with missiles resulting in blasts damaging residential areas. Russia continued its three-pronged invasion of Ukraine and has already reached the Obolon district of Kyiv. For the second day, sirens sounded over Kyiv and residents took shelter in underground metro stations.

The mayor of Kyiv, Vitali Klitschko informed citizens, “saboteurs” had arrived and were fighting in the city’s outskirts. Moscow claimed, it had captured and taken over control of Antonov International Airport, also known as Hostomel Airport, located in the north of Kyiv, using 200 helicopters and paratroopers. Hostomel could be a major staging point for an attack on Kyiv.

The Ukrainian Ministry of Defence requested its citizens to inform them of Russian troop movements and also suggested to “make Molotov cocktails to neutralise the enemy”.

Following several sanctions from the West and its allies, 27 European Union members announced, they froze assets belonging to Russian president Vladimir Putin and foreign minister Sergey Lavrov.

Russian forces also advanced into Chernobyl and captured it. The Ukrainian presidential advisor Mykhaylo Podolyak said, Chernobyl was captured by Russian forces after a “fierce battle”.

At the 8979th meeting of the United Nations Security Council, Russia vetoed a draft resolution which aimed at ending the Ukraine crisis. The resolution had garnered support from 11 of the 15 members and had 3 abstentions.

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NASA issues survivability report on Columbia crash

Friday, January 2, 2009

NASA has issued a report on survivability during the Space Shuttle Columbia disaster, entitled “Columbia Crew Survival Investigation Report”. Although the report finds the accident was impossible to survive, it still faulted a number of design issues with the astronauts’ equipment.

The accident investigation report was released in 2003, the year of the crash. During launch on January 16, the spacecraft’s wing was holed when a chunk of foam detached and struck it. The shuttle then broke up on re-entry on February 1 over Texas, killing the seven on board.

This new report reveals details of what happened to the astronauts during the accident sequence, although some parts have remained confidential to the victims’ families. The report reveals that within seconds of the breakup commencing the crew became unconscious due to the rapid depressurization and that they never regained consciousness prior to their deaths.

The report notes that the cabin began spinning wildly, causing some of the astronauts’ helmets to come off. The report noted that most on board were secured only by lap harnesses that offered no restraint to the upper body and were not designed to cope with sideways motion, meaning “lethal trauma” was caused by the rotation. However, the report was unable to determine whether the astronauts had died from oxygen deprivation or the extreme nature of their injuries.

The pressure suits the crew wore, introduced after the Space Shuttle Challenger disaster, were criticised as the crew could not keep their visors down throughout re-entry due to a design limitation that would have caused excess levels of oxygen to be present had they done so, leaving the suits unsealed. The gloves also made many tasks difficult or impossible. When the accident occurred, three people were not wearing gloves, one was not wearing a helmet, and none had their visors down. The helmets also did not conform to the heads of the wearers.

Upon disintegration, the occupants were exposed to extreme heat and high friction from re-entry. The astronauts likely died very quickly, and were probably dead by the time Columbia broke apart.

The report added that although the crew all wore parachutes, they had to be activated by the crew — impossible as they were unconscious. The report concluded that future spacecraft require sturdier construction and better restraints, while safety devices should be automatic. NASA is designing better suits and helmets.

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Ontario Votes 2007: Interview with Green Party candidate Cecile Willert, Ajax—Pickering

Sunday, October 7, 2007

Cecile Willert is running for the Green Party of Ontario in the Ontario provincial election, in the Ajax—Pickering riding. Wikinews’ Nick Moreau interviewed her regarding her values, her experience, and her campaign.

Stay tuned for further interviews; every candidate from every party is eligible, and will be contacted. Expect interviews from Liberals, Progressive Conservatives, New Democratic Party members, Ontario Greens, as well as members from the Family Coalition, Freedom, Communist, Libertarian, and Confederation of Regions parties, as well as independents.

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