Conservatism

The term 'conservative' - denoting groups as diverse and incompatible as the religious right, libertarian free-marketeers and free-spending neocons - has been lost to politics. Yet the original conservative ideology, first developed in the eighteenth century by Edmund Burke, was concerned with managing change. Genuine conservatism has its own relevance in a complex and dynamic world where change is rapid, pervasive and dislocating. Conservatism transcends traditional politics, and has surprising applications - not least as the most appropriate and practical response to climate change. Conservatism by Kieron O'Hara is a revision of the traditional conservative philosophy for the modern age. It shows what a properly conservative ideology looks like today, and demonstrates that self-styled 'conservatives' actually promote damaging change in their own and other societies. Drawing on such great conservative thinkers as Burke and Adam Smith, philosophers ancient and modern from Plato to Wittgenstein, and today's social commentators such as Nassim Nicholas Taleb, Ulrich Beck and Jared Diamond, this outline of conservative philosophy lays bare our lack of understanding of our own societies, showing how risk pervades society and how it should be managed. It also proves that conservatism is distinct from neo-liberalism, neo-conservatism and the extreme positions of today's 'culture warriors'. O'Hara has written a complete and consistent description of a philosophy of change and innovation. His book shows how conservatism is an ideology sensitive to cultural differences between the US, Europe, the Middle East, East Asia and elsewhere, while highlighting the issues of technology, trust and privacy. This sample chapter sets out O'Hara's theory of green conservatism

From Options to Action: A Roadmap for City Leaders to Connect Formerly Incarcerated Individuals to Work

On February 28, 2008, P/PV, along with The United States Conference of Mayors, the Robert F. Wagner Graduate School of Public Service at NYU and the City of New York, convened the Mayors Summit on Reentry and Employment, where 150 city leaders, policymakers, practitioners and academics came together from more than 20 cities to share strategies for connecting formerly incarcerated people to the labor market. From Options to Action was inspired and informed by discussions that took place at the Summit, as well as P/PV's experience in the field and a review of pertinent literature. It is meant to provide a framework for reentry efforts, with guidance for cities in early planning phases as well as those implementing more advanced strategies. The report presents practical steps for achieving a more coordinated, comprehensive approach to reentry at the city level, including identifying and convening relevant stakeholders, addressing city-level barriers to employment, engaging the business community and working with county, state and federal leaders to implement collaborative approaches and produce needed policy change.Because mayors and other municipal leaders are confronted with the day-to-day reality of prison and jail reentry and see its detrimental effects in their cities, many have already begun to seek out, test and refine lasting solutions. We hope this publication will support their efforts, as they work to interrupt the revolving door of recidivism -- and offer hope to returning prisoners, their families and communities

The Greater Boston Housing Report Card 2008: From Paradigm to Paradox: Understanding Greater Boston's New Housing Market

Combines an annual survey of Greater Boston's market conditions, housing production, rents, home prices, and public spending and support with an analysis of the dynamics of rising foreclosures, falling prices, and the unresolved problem of affordability

The Greater Boston Housing Report Card 2005-2006: An Assessment of Progress on Housing in the Greater Boston Area

Presents an annual survey of the state of housing in Greater Boston: market conditions; housing production; rents, home prices, and affordability; and public spending and support. Notes a modest rise in housing supply and a slight decline in prices

Smart cities air pollution monitoring system - Developing a potential data collecting platform based on Raspberry Pi

>Magister Scientiae - MScAir pollution is becoming a challenging issue in our daily lives due to advanced industrialization. This thesis presents a solution to collection and dissemination of pollution data. Most of the devices that monitor air quality are costly and have limited features. The aim of this study is to revisit the issue of pollution in cities with the aim of providing a cheaper and scalable solution to the challenge of pollution data collection and dissemination. The solution proposed in this paper uses Raspberry Pi and Arduino micro-controller boards as the foundation, combined with specific sensors to facilitate the collection and transfer of pollution data reliably and effectively. While most traditional air pollution monitoring equipment and similar projects use memory cards as a medium for data storage, the system proposed in this research is built around a new network selection model that transfers data to the server by using either Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, GSM, or the LoRa protocol. The connectivity protocol is selected automatically and opportunistically by the network selection algorithm defined in the micro-controller board. The final data will be presented to the user through a mobile application and website interface effectively and intuitively after being processed in the server. This data transfer system can effectively reduce the cost and input of human resources. It is a viable solution. For other environmental research, this system can provide an air quality data support for analysis and reference. Modularity and cost-effectiveness are fully considered when designing the system. It is a viable solution. We can generalize the system by slightly changing the data transmission modules. In other case, it can be used as a platform for similar data transmission and offer help for other research directions

Twine and the Challenge to Reading

The article considers the Twine story-game platform in relation to important critiques of earlier forms of electronic literature (specifically hypertext) from which it descends. Arguments for the significance of Twine are made based on aesthetic approaches (the fusion of literature and game culture) and the refinement of writing itself. Play this paper in Twin