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Education in KeralaThe University of Kerala's administrative building in ThiruvananthapuramThe importance and antiquity of education in Kerala is underscored by the state's ranking as among the most literate in the country. The local dynastic precursors of modern-day Kerala - primarily the Travancore Royal Family, the Christian missionaries, The Nair Service Society,[1]Sree Narayana Dharma Paripalana Yogam[2](SNDP Yogam) and Muslim Educational Society (MES)[3]- made significant contributions to the progress on education in Kerala.[4]There were many sabha mathams that imparted Vedic knowledge. Apart from kalaris, which taught martial arts, there were village schools run by Ezhuthachans or Asans. Christian missionaries brought the modern school education system to Kerala.Education in Kerala had been promoted during British rule in India by Christian missionaries who were keen on providing education to all sections of society and on strengthening of women, without any kind of discrimination. The contributions of Catholic priests and nuns has been crucial and has played a major role in the education of women and members of lower strata of society, resulting in the surpassing of many social hurdles. A significant figure in the 19th century was Rev.fr. Kuriakose Elias Chavara,[5]who started a system called "A school along with every church" to make education available for both poor and rich. That system still continues in the present. His work has resulted in the promotion of education for girls and has become a model for the educational system in Kerala after independence. Kerala's high literacy rate is attributed to a high literacy rate among girls; as it is said, "When a woman is educated, she will make sure that her children are well-educated."The Kerala school of astronomy and mathematics was founded by Madhava of Sangamagrama in Kerala, which included among its members: Parameshvara, Neelakanta Somayaji, Jyeshtadeva, Achyuta Pisharati, Melpathur Narayana Bhattathiri and Achyuta Panikkar. The school flourished between the 14th and 16th centuries and the original discoveries of the school seems to have ended with Narayana Bhattathiri (1559–1632). In attempting to solve astronomical problems, the Kerala school independently created a number of important mathematics concepts. Their most important results—series expansion for trigonometric functions—were described in Sanskrit verse in a book by Neelakanta called Tantrasangraha, and again in a commentary on this work, called Tantrasangraha-vakhya, of unknown authorship. The theorems were stated without proof, but proofs for the series for sine, cosine, and inverse tangent were provided a century later in the work Yuktibhāṣā (c.1500-1610), written in Malayalam, by Jyesthadeva, and also in a commentary on Tantrasangraha.Their work, completed two centuries before the invention of calculus in Europe, provided what is now considered the first example of a power series (apart from geometric series). However, they did not formulate a systematic theory of differentiation and integration, nor is there any direct evidence of their results being transmitted outside Kerala.Contents1Present2Quality of education3Organisation4By region4.1Thiruvananthapuram4.1.1Science and technology centres in Trivandrum4.2Kochi / Ernakulam4.3Kozhikode4.4Malappuram4.5Thrissur4.6Kottayam4.7Idukki4.8Kannur5Pathanamthitta6See also7References8External linksPresent[edit]Schools and colleges are mostly run by the government, private trusts, or individuals. Each school is affiliated with either the Indian Certificate of Secondary Education (ICSE), the Central Board for Secondary Education (CBSE), Kerala State Education Board or the (NIOS). English is the language of instruction in most private schools, while government run schools offer English or Malayalam as the medium of instruction. Government run schools in the districts bordering Karnataka and Tamil Nadu also offer instruction in Kannada or Tamil languages. A handful of Government Sanskrit Schools provide instruction in Sanskrit supplemented by Malayalam, English, Tamil or Kannada. After 10 years of secondary schooling, students typically enroll at Higher Secondary School in one of the three streams—liberal arts, commerce or science. Upon completing the required coursework, students can enroll in general or professional degree programmes. Kerala topped the Education Development Index (EDI) among 21 major states in India in year 2006-2007.[6]In January 2016, Kerala became the 1st Indian state to achieve 100% primary education through its literacy programme Athulyam.[7]Quality of education[edit]In spite of the large number of educational institutions in the state, the quality of education at all levels in Kerala has been showing a decline due to financial constraints resulting from quantitative expansion of the sector.[8]A study published in 1999 by the Centre for Socio-economic & Environmental Studies states that while the dropout rates are very low in primary schools, the same increases in the ninth and the tenth standards in Kerala. This is particularly true of SC/ST students. Schools showed that only 73% of the students joining at 1st Standard reach the 10th Standard. In the case of scheduled caste students, only 59% reach the 10th standard. 60% of Scheduled Tribe students drop out by the 10th standard.[9]Another major indicator of the inefficiency of Kerala's school education system is the large-scale failure of the students in the matriculation examination. Only about 50% of the students who appear for the examination get through. The percentage has been considerably increased because of major interventions by the government in the areas of curriculum and teacher training. In March 2011, 91.37% students qualified for higher studies in the matriculation Examination.The grades in SSLC examination plays an important role in the admission procedure to colleges in Kerala.[10]Organisation[edit]The schools and colleges in Kerala are run by the government or private trusts and individuals. Each school is affiliated with either the Indian Certificate of Secondary Education (ICSE), the Central Board for Secondary Education (CBSE), Kerala State Education Board or the National Institute of Open Schooling (NIOS). English is the language of instruction in most private schools, but government run schools offer both English and Malayalam as medium. After 10 years of secondary schooling, students typically enroll at Higher Secondary School in one of the three streams—liberal arts, commerce or science. Upon completing the required coursework, students can enroll in general or professional degree programmes. Lots of civil service institutes are there.School Arts Festival in PalakkadBy region[edit]Thiruvananthapuram[edit]Thiruvananthapuram, the state's major academic hub, University of Kerala and several professional education colleges, including 15 engineering colleges, three medical colleges, three Ayurveda colleges, two colleges of homeopathy, six other medical colleges, and several law colleges.[11]Trivandrum Medical College, Kerala's premier health institute, one of the finest in the country, is being upgraded to the status of an All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS).[12]The College of Engineering, Trivandrum is one of the prominent engineering institutions in the state. The Asian School of Business and IIITM-K are two of the other premier management study institutions in the city, both situated inside Technopark. The Indian Institute of Space Science and Technology, first of its kind in India, is also situated here and an Indian Institute of Science Education and Research, Thiruvananthapuram is also being set up.Trivandrum district holds the most number of colleges and schools in Kerala including 4 international schools, 30 professional colleges, and 38 vocational training institutesThiruvananthapuram is also home to most number of Research Centres in Kerala including ISRO, IISER, BrahMos Aerospace Private Limited, Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre (VSSC), Liquid Propulsion Systems Centre (LPSC), Thumba Equatorial Rocket Launching Station (TERLS) etc. The College of Engineering, Trivandrum is one of the prominent engineering institutions in the country. The Asian School of Business and IIITM-K are two of the other premier management study institutions in the city, both situated inside Technopark. The Indian Institute of Space Technology, the unique and first of its kind in India, is situated in the state capital.Science and technology centres in Trivandrum[edit]Thiruvananthapuram is a Research and Development hub in the fields of space science, information technology, bio-technology, and medicine. It is home to the Indian Institute of Science Education and Research, Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre (VSSC), Liquid Propulsion Systems Centre (LPSC), Thumba Equatorial Rocket Launching Station (TERLS), Indian Institute of Space Science and Technology (IIST), Rajiv Gandhi Centre for Biotechnology (RGCB), Tropical Botanical Garden and Research Institute, ER&DC – CDAC, CSIR – National Institute of Interdisciplinary Science and Technology, Free Software Foundation of India (FSFI), Regional Cancer Centre (RCC), Sree Chitra Thirunal Institute of Medical Sciences and Technology (SCTIMST), Centre for Earth Science Studies (CESS), Central Tuber Crops Research Institute (CTCRI), Priyadarsini Planetarium, The Oriental Research Institute & Manuscripts Library, Chief Disease Investigation Office(CDIO) Palode, Kerala Highway Research Institute, Kerala Fisheries Research Institute, etc. A scientific institution named National centre for molecular materials, for the research and development of biomedical devices and space electronics is to be established in Thiruvananthapuram.[13]College of Architecture Trivandrum(CAT), which specialise only on the architecture course, is another institution proposed to set up in the suburbs of the city.[14]Kochi / Ernakulam[edit]Kochi is another major educational hub. The Cochin University of Science and Technology (also known as "Cochin University") is situated in the suburb of the city. Most of the city's colleges offering tertiary education are affiliated to the Mahatma Gandhi University. Other national educational institutes in Kochi include the Central Institute of Fisheries Nautical and Engineering Training, the National University of Advanced Legal Studies, the National Institute of Oceanography, Central Institute of Fisheries Technology and the Central Marine Fisheries Research Institute. College of Fisheries affiliated to Kerala Agricultural University is situated at Panangad, a suburban area of the city. Pothanicad, a village in Ernakulam district is the first panchayath in India that achieved 100% literacy.[15]Sree Sankaracharya University of Sanskrit (SSUS), also famous as Sanskrit University, is situated in Kalady, in the Northern side of Ernakulam District.Kozhikode[edit]Kozhikode is the major education city in Kerala which is home to two of the premier educational institutions in the country; the IIMK, one of the thirteen Indian Institutes of Management, and the only National Institute of Technology in Kerala, the NITC. Other important educational institutions in the district include Calicut Medical College, Government Law College, Calicut, Government Engineering College Kozhikode, College Of Applied Science IHRD, Kiliyand Kozhikode, College of Nursing Calicut, Kerala School of Mathematics, Govt. Dental College, Co-Operative Institute of Technology and Govt. Polytechnic College.Malappuram[edit]The progress that Malappuram district has achieved in the field of education during the last decade is tremendous. Great strides have been made in the field of female education. Malappuram district is home to three universities (University of Calicut, Aligarh Muslim University campus and Thunchaththu Ezhuthachan Malayalam University. And the state Government has proposed to establish two new universities, Ayurveda University and English and Foreign Languages University campus here.The district also hosts a substantial amount of religious educational institutions such as Darul Huda Islamic University, which has more than 30 affiliated colleges throughout Kerala.Thrissur[edit]Thrissur acts as the important education hub of Kerala. The city has three medical colleges. It is the only district that has four universities: Kerala Agricultural University, Kerala University for Health, Kerala Kalamandalam, and Kerala Institute of Local Administration (KILA).Kalamandalam conducts the course for arts.Kerala Institute of Local Administration is the only educational institution in Kerala where the training for IAS candidates takes place.Similarly city has Kerala Police Academy, Academy for Central Excise, Kerala Forest Research Institute, and research institutes under KAU.The district of Thrissur holds some of the premier institutions in Kerala such as Kerala Agricultural University, Thrissur Medical College, Government Engineering College, Govt. Law College, Ayurveda College, Govt. Fine Arts College, College of Co-operation & Banking and Management, College of Veterinary and Animal Sciences, College of Horticulture, College of Forestry, Sree Rama Varma Music School etc. Thrissur is also a main center of coaching for the entrance examinations for engineering and medicine.Kottayam[edit]Kottayam also acts as a main educational hub. According to the 1991 census, Kottayam District of Kerala is the first district to achieve full literacy rate in the whole of India.The Rajiv Gandhi Institute of Technology Kottayam (Government Engineering College) is one among the few elite engineering institutes of the state. Mahatma Gandhi University, CMS College, Medical College, Kottayam, Alphonsa College, Pala, Baselious College, Kottayam,[16]BCM College, Kottayam,[17]BK College, Kottayam, KE College, Mannanam, KG College, Pampady, Saintgits College, Pathamuttam, St. Berchmans College,[18]Changanasserry, Assumption College, Changanasserry, St. Thomas College, Pala, St. Dominics College, Kanjirapally, Amal Jyothi College of Engineering, Kanjirappally are some of the important educational institutions in the district. Lourdes Public School and Junior College, Kottayam is one among the most reputed Higher Secondary Schools in the district.Idukki[edit]The District is characterised by large migration of people from Kerala's main land as also labourers from neighbouring state of Tamil Nadu. Jawaharlal Nehru Institute of Arts & Science (JNIAS), Kattappana, College of Applied Science, Kattappana, Government College, Kattappana Marian College, Kuttikanam, Mar Baselious College, Kuttikanam, are some of the important educational institutions in the districtKannur[edit]A school in Kolachery, Mayyil, Kannur District.Kannur district in northern part of Kerala has the Kannur University; (This is a multi-campus University having campuses at Kasaragod, Kannur, Thalassery and Mananthavady - The Headquarters of the University is situated at Thavakkara, Kannur), one Government Engineering College, one Government Ayurveda College and several arts and sciences colleges. It also hosts the 13th Centre of NIFT (National Institute of Fashion Technology). The people of Kannur, with the effective leadership of Mr M.V. Raghavan established a full-fledged Medical College in Co-operative sector at Pariyaram.[19]Kannur Medical College at Anjarakandy is a private Medical College located in this district. A private sector Ayurveda Medical College is situated at Parassinikkadavu.Pathanamthitta[edit]Pathanamthitta District is a district in the southern part of Kerala, India. The district headquarters is in the town of Pathanamthitta. There are four municipalities in Pathanamthitta: Tiruvalla, Adoor, Pathanamthitta and Pandalam.It is presumed that the regions that form the district were formerly under the rule of Pandalam, which had connections with the Pandya kingdom. When Pandalam was added to the princely state of Travancore in 1820, the region came under Travancore administration.Adoor, sometimes spelled Adur is a major municipal town in the Pathanamthitta district in Kerala State. Adoor is the one of the Revenue Divisions of the Pathanamthitta District. Adoor was previously in the Kollam District.The municipality is located between the major cities of Trivandrum and Kochi in south Kerala.Institute of Language Teacher Education (Hindi) located in Adoor its ested in 1992, Hindi B.Ed Course Conducted this Center

Yes, and further it is extremely likely to pass both Houses of Congress based on the current balance of power on the bill.If you oppose this bill, I recommend you call your House Rep and Senators, as well as calling Sen. Ron Wyden of Oregon to offer your support and ask how you can help: (202) 224-5244. The key staffer there is Jayme White, who should have directed the interns with directions to offer interested callers.House Co-SponsorsSponsor: Rep Smith, Lamar [TX-21Rep Amodei, Mark E. [NV-2] - 11/3/2011Rep Barrow, John [GA-12] - 11/14/2011Rep Bass, Karen [CA-33] - 11/3/2011Rep Berman, Howard L. [CA-28] - 10/26/2011Rep Blackburn, Marsha [TN-7] - 10/26/2011Rep Bono Mack, Mary [CA-45] - 10/26/2011Rep Carter, John R. [TX-31] - 11/3/2011Rep Chabot, Steve [OH-1] - 10/26/2011Rep Conyers, John, Jr. [MI-14] - 10/26/2011Rep Deutch, Theodore E. [FL-19] - 10/26/2011Rep Gallegly, Elton [CA-24] - 10/26/2011Rep Goodlatte, Bob [VA-6] - 10/26/2011Rep Griffin, Tim [AR-2] - 10/26/2011Rep King, Peter T. [NY-3] - 11/3/2011Rep Lujan, Ben Ray [NM-3] - 11/14/2011Rep Marino, Tom [PA-10] - 11/3/2011Rep Nunnelee, Alan [MS-1] - 11/3/2011Rep Owens, William L. [NY-23] - 11/14/2011Rep Ross, Dennis [FL-12] - 10/26/2011Rep Scalise, Steve [LA-1] - 11/14/2011Rep Schiff, Adam B. [CA-29] - 10/26/2011Rep Terry, Lee [NE-2] - 10/26/2011Rep Wasserman Schultz, Debbie [FL-20] - 11/3/2011Rep Watt, Melvin L. [NC-12] - 11/3/2011Source: http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/bdquery/z?d112:HR03261:@@@PSenate Co-SponsorsSponsor: Sen. Leahy, Patrick [VT]Sen Alexander, Lamar [TN] - 5/25/2011Sen Ayotte, Kelly [NH] - 6/27/2011Sen Bennet, Michael F. [CO] - 7/25/2011Sen Bingaman, Jeff [NM] - 10/19/2011Sen Blumenthal, Richard [CT] - 5/12/2011Sen Blunt, Roy [MO] - 5/23/2011Sen Boozman, John [AR] - 6/15/2011Sen Brown, Sherrod [OH] - 10/20/2011Sen Cardin, Benjamin L. [MD] - 7/13/2011Sen Casey, Robert P., Jr. [PA] - 9/7/2011Sen Chambliss, Saxby [GA] - 11/2/2011Sen Cochran, Thad [MS] - 6/23/2011Sen Coons, Christopher A. [DE] - 5/12/2011Sen Corker, Bob [TN] - 6/9/2011Sen Durbin, Richard [IL] - 6/30/2011Sen Enzi, Michael B. [WY] - 9/7/2011Sen Feinstein, Dianne [CA] - 5/12/2011Sen Franken, Al [MN] - 5/12/2011Sen Gillibrand, Kirsten E. [NY] - 5/26/2011Sen Graham, Lindsey [SC] - 5/12/2011Sen Grassley, Chuck [IA] - 5/12/2011Sen Hagan, Kay [NC] - 7/5/2011Sen Hatch, Orrin G. [UT] - 5/12/2011Sen Isakson, Johnny [GA] - 11/2/2011Sen Johnson, Tim [SD] - 10/3/2011Sen Klobuchar, Amy [MN] - 5/12/2011Sen Kohl, Herb [WI] - 5/12/2011Sen Landrieu, Mary L. [LA] - 10/17/2011Sen Lieberman, Joseph I. [CT] - 7/7/2011Sen McCain, John [AZ] - 7/26/2011Sen Menendez, Robert [NJ] - 10/31/2011Sen Nelson, Bill [FL] - 9/23/2011Sen Risch, James E. [ID] - 11/7/2011Sen Rubio, Marco [FL] - 5/26/2011Sen Schumer, Charles E. [NY] - 5/12/2011Sen Shaheen, Jeanne [NH] - 6/30/2011Sen Udall, Tom [NM] - 7/7/2011Sen Vitter, David [LA] - 11/7/2011Sen Whitehouse, Sheldon [RI] - 5/12/2011Sen Moran, Jerry [KS] - 6/23/2011(withdrawn - 6/27/2011)Source: http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/bdquery/z?d112:SN00968:@@@PThe bill attracts both bipartisan support and support from leaders in both Houses. The lead sponsors are the chairmen of the committees that the bills need to pass through in both the House and Senate. In the House, the Judiciary Committee ranking member—meaning opposition party leader in that committee—Rep. John Conyers, Jr., is also a cosponsor, meaning that no official Democratic opposition will be mustered within committee. For an example of the power this offers, Rep. Lamar Smith is holding a hearing on the bill later today. Only one of the five people testifying is opposing the bill:The only dissenting witness will be Katherine Oyama, a policy counsel at Google. A long list of companies, nonprofit groups, law professors, and other organizations buttressed Google's arguments today in a flurry of letters to Capitol Hill that raised concerns about SOPA and the speed it was moving through the House.Source: http://news.cnet.com/8301-31921_3-57325554-281/copyright-office-will-endorse-sopa-anti-piracy-bill/The chairmen will smooth passage of the bills through committee, blocking unfavorable amendments, and bringing them to the floor of the House and Senate, as noted by the fact that the bill has already been favorably reported out of the Senate Judiciary Committee and is a few key procedures and one vote away from passing the Senate. I'll note that it was passed out of the Senate Judiciary Committee by voice vote, meaning that we have no record of which Senators were recorded in favor or in opposition, something in the power of the committee chairman: http://www.senate.gov/reference/glossary_term/voice_vote.htmAbout the only positive thing I can say for the state of the opposition is that Senate leaders Reid and McConnell have not signed on to cosponsor the bill. However, both seconds-in-command on the Democratic side have signed on, Sens. Durbin and Schumer, as well as noted Republican moderate and Party Conference leader Sen. Lamar Alexander, meaning that some measure of institutional support will be brought to bear in favor of the bill, which is a quiet but powerful force in the halls of Congress.This is a clearly coordinated effort by content creation leaders, with support from powerful lobbying groups:Supporters include the National Cable & Telecommunications Association, the Independent Film & Television Alliance, the National Association of Theatre Owners, the Motion Picture Association of America, the Directors Guild of America, the American Federation of Musicians, the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists, the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees, the Screen Actors Guild, International Brotherhood of Teamsters, Nashville Songwriters Association International, Songwriters Guild of America, Viacom, Institute for Policy Innovation, Macmillan Publishers, Acushnet, Recording Industry Association of America, Copyright Alliance and NBCUniversal.The U.S. Chamber of Commerce and AFL-CIO have come together in support of the bill. In May and September of 2011, two letters signed by 170 and 359 businesses and organizations, respectively—including names such as National Association of Manufactures (NAM), the Small Business & Entrepreneurship Council, Nike, 1-800 Pet Meds, L’Oreal, Rosetta Stone, Pfizer, Ford Motor Company, Revlon, NBA, and Sony—were sent to Congress endorsing the Act and encouraging the passage of legislation to protect intellectual property and shut down rogue websites. Support for the bill has also come from noted constitutional expert, Floyd Abrams, who issued a letter to Congress asserting that the PROTECT IP Act is constitutionally sound.Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Protect_IP_Act#Supporters_and_opponentsYou'll note that Google is threatening to withdraw from the Chamber of Commerce over their lobbying efforts on behalf of the bill: http://www.politico.com/news/stories/1111/67603.htmlThe Senate committee report includes a longer list of supporters:The following companies or groups submitted letters in support of S. 968: United States Chamber of Commerce; AFL-CIO; Business Software Alliance; National Cable and Telecommunications Association; National Association of Broadcasters; National Association of Manufacturers; Comcast/NBC Universal; Copyright Alliance; American Federation of Musicians; American Federation of Television and Radio Artists; Directors Guild of America; International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees, Moving Picture Technicians, Artists and Allied Crafts of the United States, Its Territories, and Canada; Screen Actors Guild; International Brotherhood of Teamsters; National Music Publishers' Association; Institute for Policy Innovation; Software and Information Industry Association; Writers Guild of America, West; Viacom; Independent Film & Television Alliance; Motion Picture Association of America; National Association of Theatre Owners; Paramount Pictures Corporation; Association for Safe Online Pharmacies; Small Business & Entrepreneurship Council; Songwriters Guild of America; Sony Pictures Entertainment Inc.; Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation; Universal City Studios LLC; Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures; Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc.; Deluxe Entertainment Services Group; 1-800 Contacts, Inc.; 1-800-PetMeds; ABRO Industries, Inc.; Acushnet Company; Adidas America; Advanced Medical Technology Association (AdvaMed); Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers; Alliance of Visual Artists (AVA); American Association of Independent Music (A2IM); American Board of Internal Medicine; American Made Alliance; American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers (ASCAP); American Society of Media Photographers; Anti-Counterfeiting and Piracy Initiative (ACAPI); Arts+Labs; Association of American Publishers (AAP); Association of Equipment Manufacturers; Association of Independent Music Publishers (AIMP); Association of Test Publishers; Autodesk, Inc.; Automotive Aftermarket Industry Association; Beachbody, LLC; Beam Global Spirits & Wine; Blue Sky Studios, Inc.; Bose Corporation; Brigid Collins Family Support Center; Broadcast Music, Inc. (BMI); Burberry; Cascade Designs Incorporated; CBS Corporation; Cengage Learning; CFA Institute; Chanel USA; Church Music Publishers Association; Coalition Against Counterfeiting and Piracy (CACP); The Collegiate Licensing Company/IMG College; Commercial Photographers International; Copyright Clearance Center (CCC); Coty Inc.; Country Music Association; Dayco Products, LLC; Deckers Outdoor Corporation; Dolce & Gabbana; Dollar General Corporation; Electronic Components Industry Association (ECIA); Eli Lilly and Company; Entertainment Software Association (ESA); ERAI, Inc.; The Estee Lauder Companies; Evidence Photographers International Council; Ex Officio; Exxel Outdoors; Far Bank Enterprises; Fashion Business Incorporated; Federation of State Boards of Physical Therapy; Ford Motor Company; Fortune Brands, Inc.; Gemvision Corporation; Gospel Music Association; Governors America Corp.; Graduate Management Admission Council; Greeting Card Association (GCA); Guru Denim; HarperCollins Publishers; Harry Fox Agency; Hastings Entertainment, Inc.; ICM Distributing Company, Inc.; IDS Publishing; IEC Electronics Corp.; Imaging Supplies Coalition (ISC); Independent Distributors of Electronics Association (IDEA); Innate-gear; Intellectual Property Owners Association; International AntiCounterfeiting Coalition (IACC); International Trademark Association (INTA); John Wiley & Sons, Inc.; Johnson & Johnson; Kekepana International Services; Leatherman Tool Group, Inc.; Lexmark International, Inc.; L'Oreal USA; LVMH Moe.AE4t Hennessy Louis Vuitton; Macmillan; Major League Baseball; Marmot; The McGraw-Hill Companies; Merck & Co., Inc.; Messy Face Designs, Inc.; MicroRam Electronics, Inc.; Microsoft; Monster Cable Products, Inc.; Music Managers Forum-U.S.; Nashville Songwriters Association International; National Association of Recording Merchandisers (NARM); National Basketball Association (NBA); The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA); National Electrical Manufacturers Association (NEMA); National Football League (NFL); Nervous Tattoo Inc., dba Ed Hardy; Netflix; New Era Cap Co Inc.; News Corporation; Nike, Inc.; Nintendo of America Inc.; Oakley, Inc.; OpSec Security, Inc.; Outdoor Industry Association; Outdoor Power Equipment Institute (OPEI); Outdoor Research, Inc; Pacific Component Xchange, Inc.; Perry Ellis International; Personal Care Products Council; Petzl America; Pfizer Inc.; Picture Archive Council of America (PACA); PING; Premier League; Production Music Association (PMA); Professional Photographers of America; Quality Float Works, Inc.; The Recording Academy (National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences); Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA); Reebok International Ltd.; Reed Elsevier Inc.; Revlon; Romance Writers of America (RWA); Rosetta Stone Inc.; Schneider Electric; SESAC, Inc.; SG Industries, Inc.; SMT Corp.; Society of Sport & Event Photographers; Sony Music Entertainment; SoundExchange; Specialty Equipment Market Association (SEMA); Sports Rights Owners Coalition; Spyder Active Sports, Inc; Stock Artist Alliance; Stuart Weitzman Holdings, LLC; Student Photographic Society; SunRise Solar Inc.; Taylor Made Golf Company, Inc.; Tednologies, Inc.; Tiffany & Co.; The Timberland Company; Time Warner Inc.; Toshiba America Business Solutions, Inc.; Ultimate Fighting Championship; Underwriters Laboratories Inc.; Universal Music Group; Uniweld Products Inc.; Vibram USA, Inc; W.R. Case & Sons Cutlery Co.; Wal-Mart; The Walt Disney Company; Warner Music Group; Winestem Company; Xerox Corporation; Zippo Manufacturing Company.Source: http://thomas.loc.gov:80/cgi-bin/cpquery?%26dbname=cp112%26r_n=sr039.112%26sel=TOC_52677Groups from both sides of the aisle are supporting these acts. The AFL-CIO and Chamber of Commerce never come together to support something.The thin reed standing against the bill is Sen. Ron Wyden, opposing it in the Senate, along with the massed forces of the tech industry. Interestingly, The Hill writes that the Tea Party Patriots oppose the bill as well: http://thehill.com/blogs/hillicon-valley/technology/183999-overnight-tech-tea-party-group-slams-online-copyright-bill Sounds like there is a potential for this to be a populist/99% broad front opposition.Sen. Wyden has a Senatorial hold on the bill right now, which is an arcane bit of Senate power given to individual Senators that prevents a bill from reaching the floor, on a slight variation from the slightly more well-understood filibuster:In the United States Senate, a hold is a parliamentary procedure permitted by the Standing Rules of the United States Senate which allows one or more Senators to prevent a motion from reaching a vote on the Senate floor.If the Senator provides notice privately to his or her party leadership of their intent (and the party leadership agreed), then the hold is known as a secret or anonymous hold. If the Senator actually objects on the Senate floor or the hold is publicly revealed, then the hold is more generally known as a Senatorial hold.Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Senate_holdTherefore, the two key figures are Sen. Reid (D-NV), Senate Majority Leader, who has the ability to deny Sen. Wyden's hold, and Sen. Wyden himself, who will be under a lot of pressure to let the Senate continue on with business, especially as the debt Supercommittee comes to a head over the next week.If the bill comes to a vote, it will be subject to a filibuster. I consider it fairly unlikely that opponents will be able to assemble the 41 votes necessary to block the bill. The list of Senators' cosponsoring the bill so far is a list of the Senate's middle. The progressives —Sen. Al Franken being a surprising and notable exception to this—and the conservatives are not yet in favor of the bill, especially as Sen. Moran has withdrawn his support. I would guess that the bill receives somewhere around 80 votes when and if it reaches the Senate floor and probably an easy 350+ in the House.The only reason the bill didn't pass last session was that it was introduced and began the process near the very end of the 2009-2010 Congress, despite similarly overwhelming support:On November 18, 2010, the Committee on the Judiciary considered S. 3804....The Committee then voted to report the Combating Online Infringement and Counterfeits Act, with an amendment in the nature of a substitute, favorably to the Senate by a roll call vote of 19-0.Source: http://thomas.loc.gov:80/cgi-bin/cpquery?%26dbname=cp112%26r_n=sr039.112%26sel=TOC_44332

I can help with that. My gap time was from Jan 1992 to Aug 1994. This was a long time ago, so not all of it may be perfectly applicable to modern gap time. First, please indulge me as I set a bit of context. I'm not sure where you live. My experience is an American one.In 1991, America was finding its mojo after Vietnam and was still pumped from the gogo 1980s. It was coming off of the first Gulf War, had just defeated the Soviet Union, and al Qaeda was only a glimmer in the eye of Usama bin Laden. The only problem was the 90-91 recession, which ultimately cost the elder President Bush his second term. He was skewered by the democrats over a tax hike in a budget compromise, having broken his emphatic and now apocryphal campaign promise, "Read my lips, no new taxes."In September 1991, I was driving home from school and had to pull off the road when Nirvana's "Smells Like Teen Spirit" came on the radio. "WHAT is THIS?" I thought. Email was something you did in a Unix shell on a lab Macintosh. Cell phones were tethered to cars and had status-y little curlycue antennas on the rear window. The internet and Taylor Swift were in diapers.I graduated from Maryland in December 1991 with a degree in physics. Although I had spent an extremely productive year in the superconductivity lab with a guy named Chris Lobb, I didn't see myself going to grad school for a PhD. There had to be something else. We grew up in a Navy household. My dad was Academy Class of 64, a football player and flew A-6s in Vietnam. Subs like in Hunt for Red October seemed cool and cerebral, far removed from the Top Gun fighter jock pop culture that the 80s defined, so I thought about joining the Navy. Four years seemed like a long commitment though, and I wasn't really sure. Medical school had been in the back of my mind for awhile, and I felt like medicine could be a good fit for me. There was a lot of overlap in physics major requirements and premed requirements, but not complete. I had the math and physics requirement, 1 year of English, and 1 year of general chemistry from when I was an engineering major, but was short on biology and organic chemistry. In Spring 1992, I loaded up on lab courses: microbiology, vertebrate physiology and organic chemistry. My grades in physics weren't perfect, so I had to demonstrate to an admissions committee that I could take large volumes of work and not choke. Physics was a lot of work because the upper level courses are conceptually hard. You have to wrestle with the ideas and the mathematics. There isn't anything that hard in premed, but it's a lot to learn. Everyone I had talked to said that I needed to crush the lab courses.In June 1992, I wrapped up my work in the superconductivity lab and went back to work in a restaurant. My postbac work continued through Summer 1 1992. I took developmental biology and biochemistry, then I needed a break. I took off Summer 2 and Fall 1992 and just worked. In August, I stopped by the Johns Hopkins personnel office and applied for a job. Seven weeks later, a guy named Russ McCally called me from Applied Physics Lab in Laurel. One resumé, one interview, one job. I was very lucky to score that job in a recession. His group described the physical properties of corneal collagen that cause it to be transparent. It was a perfect fit for me to bridge condensed matter physics and biophysical science on the way to medical school. He wanted a lab tech for two years. We had a great collaboration with the cornea and anterior segment group at Wilmer Eye Institute. We did some of the preclinical work that led to the approval of the excimer laser for corneal ablation in 1995 and our MD collaborators worked on patients. Today, the ubiquitous LASIK procedure is a bit anatomically modified from what we were originally doing. However, LASIK still employs the principle of precisely reshaping the cornea with intensity modulated deep ultraviolet laser energy. That's where the physics came in, and we developed tools to measure how much haze the procedure produced. I was coauthor on five papers and a bunch of abstracts in less than two years. This was a very sweet experience for a postbac level lab tech. At one point, Ben Carson stopped by APL to get us fired up about neuroscience. I think that's when the idea of being a neuro-something first occurred to me. In Spring 93, I continued with Organic Chemistry 2. Meanwhile, I was also studying for the MCAT, and volunteered in the Hopkins ER. I took the MCAT in Spring 93, invoking the powers of a tattered, yellow chalk colored flannel shirt and the unbridled virtuosity of Coltrane's Giant Steps on the way there. In the six months or so leading up to it, I studied. They had this massive Flowers book filled with sample MCAT test questions. I would sit at the kitchen table night after night and grind it out. Summer 93 I took a course in neuroanatomy at Hopkins and our lab material was basically the sheep brain, apparently another Inception level exposure to neuro. I also arranged my letter writers, and finished my personal statement. AMCAS opens in September, so I submitted September 93 and continued working at APL. In the fall I audited a course on 20th century American literature. Med school interviews ran from October through December.The hardest question came from a SIDS expert at Maryland who interviewed me. "What will you find challenging about medicine?" I thought for a minute, "OK, I'm talking to a SIDS expert." About two years before, a guy we worked with named Marty Novitsky, 25, died in a motorcycle wreck, and I felt so awkward standing outside the church, clumsily hugging Cathy Wolkow, having absolutely no idea what to say. A really good friend was 36 with widespread cervical cancer. Someone blew off the constant bleeding she'd been complaining about for nine months. In the Hopkins ER I worked as a waiting room attendant Saturday evenings from 6-10. As things got a lot more interesting later in the evening, I got to be a fly on the wall for a few traumas. Death in the trauma bay was -- and still is -- particularly grisly and unnatural. All sorts of tubes, wires and lines stick out, and puddles of clotted blood and other fluids sit on the floor, failed in their purpose. Mortality is ordinarily not on your mind when you're 23 years old, but as a group of young kids, we'd seen and felt it. I replied to his question, "People dying."On December 21, 1993, I received a letter that I'd been accepted to Maryland. It was a really good Christmas. I worked all through Spring 94, no more courses. Although I had a place to go, I was still kind of anxious because I really wanted to go to Cornell. The candidate list was posted at the interview: Name and school. Out of a group of 50, me and a guy from UNC were the only kids from State, everyone else was at an Ivy. I wanted it. My boss's officemate was REALLY hoping I would get in, because his daughter was first on the waitlist for Maryland. I didn't get into Cornell. Maryland was a great choice and agreed with the advice that one of the cornea fellows at Hopkins gave me, "Go to the cheapest medical school you get into."I'm sorry I don't have some exotic trip to tell you about. A lot of my classmates took one gap year. One went to live in Spain, another lived with her grandparents in Mississippi, and did volunteer work, others visited family in Asia. Some in my O Chem 2 class at Hopkins actually had other careers that they were exiting to go to med school. Their employers didn't even know that they were taking night classes. I had a friend who took a trip around the world for a year. She went all across Europe, Africa, Asia. About nine months in, she was in Hong Kong with $5 in her pocket and no way home. She made a collect call.I was just a working kid; didn't know anything else, really. Worked in a restaurant to put myself through college. I figured my best chance to succeed was to do and exceed what was required. I had a passion for it and enjoyed the journey. It wasn't all work. I had a ton of fun. "Just working" certainly has a comfortable rhythm with end of day charms and comforts. I made some wonderful friends, and I wish I'd been a better friend to them. I slept on their sofa many times while studying mechanics and E&M. I didn't screw them or anything, but when I was 23, I was kind of into me and finding my own way. I dated. To ask a girl for a date, you had to call her house and run the telephonic gauntlet of roommates or her mom. I also played music. An 80s cover band after high school, then played jazz in 1992 and 1993. I've followed Joshua Redman's career closely. He took a gap year in 91 and 92. In the interim he won the Thelonius Monk jazz competition. He is now one of the jazz lions of our time. Sergey Brin graduated from Maryland in 1993. I'll never know how my life would be different if I'd become a naval officer. So many little perturbations shaped where I am now, and the gap time is certainly part of that. I feel like an underachiever.