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12 November 2009
That Thing Thursday
This weeks thing happens to be an upside down crow. As I happened upon it at Santa Clara Mission Cemetery it appeared to be stuck on a branch struggling to free itself. Being in no mood to climb a tree I stood there and watched for a couple minutes as it tried to free itself. When it finally broke free it swooped right above my head as if to say "Hey jerk can't you put down the camera for a second and help me out?". I often see crows in cemeteries and a few times I've followed them as they randomly travel from grave to grave just to see if it brings me anywhere interesting. So far, unless I'm missing some sort of message from beyond my following them hasn't led me anywhere. I did do a little research today to see what the crow symbolizes. So I began looking into Bird Mythology and have uncovered several different beliefs.
A number of Native American Tribes believed that the crow was able to see past, present and future all at once with it's far seeing eye.
The Greeks believed that the crow was a sign of impending death and therefore saw it as unlucky. They were sacred to Athena but she still would not permit them to land on the roof of the Acropolis.
In China a 3 legged crow is said to live in the sun with his 3 legs representing morning, noon and night.
Medieval Christians believed that the crow was a sign of the devil due to it's scavenging as well as a symbol of fidelity because they thought that when the crow's partner died that it would never seek a new mate.
I could not find any information on what if anything an upside down crow symbolizes. I can tell you that if you encounter one that's high in a tree that you either attempt to help it by climbing the tree or it'll buzz by your head on it's way down. That's only if it can figure out how to free itself before you become bored watching it hang there...
1. I like crows but I know they freak some people out. I will have to post a crow shot I took at Brompton cemetery in London.
2. Deez, Thanks again for the Kreative Blogger award. I am giving it back to you because I truly love and believe in what you are doing here.!
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Men Home
How much milk do you typically drink each day?
More than 5 glasses
3 to 4 glasses
2 to 3 glasses
1 glass
Just a little in cereal
Alarming Warning for Men Who Drink Milk
Middle-age men who drink just a glass or two of milk every day are raising their risk of developing Parkinson's disease later in life, reports The BBC News of research from the University of Virginia Health System in Charlottesville and Korea University in Seoul.
It's not known what ingredient in milk is responsible for the increased risk, but the researchers say it does not appear to be calcium. It's possible that the effect is caused by a contaminant in milk. Previous research has shown that milk does not pose the same risk for women.
The study of 7,504 men ages 45 to 68 who were enrolled in the Honolulu Heart Program examined dietary intake over a 30-year period beginning in the late 1960s. Of these men, 128 developed Parkinson's disease. Those who consumed the most milk daily had the highest risk of developing the disease, which was about 2.3 times the risk of the men who did not drink milk.
It's very important to note that even among the heavy milk drinkers, the risk of developing Parkinson's is still very small, about 14.9 cases per 10,000 people who drink more than 16 ounces of milk a day.
Parkinson's disease, a degenerative disease of the nervous system, causes a noticeable trembling of the arms and legs, stiffness and rigidity of the muscles and slowness of movement. It typically affects people who are 50 and older, although 10 percent to 20 percent of patients are diagnosed before their 40th birthday. Perhaps the most famous Parkinson's patient is actor Michael J. Fox, who was diagnosed at age 30. The cause is not known, but those with the disease have a shortage of a dopamine in their brains, a chemical that affects movement.
The study findings were published in the medical journal Neurology.
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Sunday, February 17, 1991 - Page updated at 12:00 AM
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An Aging Cache Of Nerve Gas -- U.S. Plan To Burn Huge Stores Of Outdated Chemical Munitions In Oregon Has Its Risks
UMATILLA, Ore. - The actual amount is a military secret, but somewhere between 500,000 and a million gallons of nerve-attacking lethal chemicals and blistering mustard gas are stored here on a high, windy plateau near the Columbia River.
The stockpiled liquid poisons remain from a time when America feared a chemical war with the Soviet Union.
Today, the Army is more likely to kill its own people with these aging munitions, some of which are leaking. And so, even as the threat of such weapons hangs over the Persian Gulf, the Pentagon plans to burn them.
Congress has told the Army to incinerate nearly all the material in this decade. Transporting the weapons is too dangerous, so the job must be done where they are stored - eight sites in the continental U.S., including Umatilla, and one on a Pacific island.
A whiff of vapor or a drop of the nearly invisible, odorless nerve agent can cause spasms, convulsions and a choking death. Mustard gas, about 60 percent of the Umatilla inventory, is less lethal. It blisters the skin and can harm the lungs and eyes.
Government mathematicians guess that the chances of an accident here are very low, but the question of danger still blows in the wind.
The wind comes strong and steady, usually from the southwest, across the Umatilla Army depot and its incinerator site directly into the largest population centers of this irrigated farming area, the towns of Hermiston (pop. 9,640) and Umatilla (pop. 3,200).
The prevailing wind crosses hundreds of bunkers full of conventional weapons, whistles past guard towers and over a double row of sharp wire fences before reaching the resting place of the liquid death. There, underneath the scrub grass in 90 steel-and-concrete ``igloos,'' lies 11.6 percent of the nation's arsenal of chemical rockets, mines, bombs, mustard-gas containers, spray tanks and artillery shells.
Past the north fence of the 20,000-acre depot, the wind ruffles the hair on Ron Baker's grazing beef cows, rattles the windows of Nola Clarneau's house, then swoops down a steep hill to a driveway where 13-year-old Mike Bradbury shoots baskets with his buddies. From there, it's on through Umatilla to the great concrete edifice of McNary Dam.
There's enough nerve gas here to kill everyone in Washington and Oregon several times over, if it could be delivered effectively.
That, the Army says, will never happen. For one thing, it takes a certain kind of wind to carry the gas. A 2- to 6-mile-an-hour breeze in warm weather is best, much like the light wind that spread poison gas from a chemical plant to the streets of Bhopal, India, in 1984 when 3,500 people were killed. Umatilla's usually swifter wind would dissipate the gas and save people, government reports say.
And, although most of the nerve agents form a vapor that moves easily in the wind, the deadliest kind forms droplets that won't travel far.
``There is no doomsday situation that I can envision,'' says Gen. Walter Busbee, head of the Army's nationwide chemical demilitarization project. ``And I'm not an eternal optimist, I can assure you.''
But any form of nerve gas is extremely lethal, and among the weapons stored here are 106,000 M55 rockets described by experts as the most dangerous weapon in the U.S. stockpile. Some here have already leaked small amounts of nerve gas, and they all contain a propellant that may become unstable over time. Umatilla has the second largest collection of these rockets in the world.
And, even though the Army calls the chances of an accident slim, documents say it could happen. Many of the area's people live within about six miles of the dump. If the gas escapes, it probably would kill those who are not protected.
``I've been told by Army experts that a significant problem at a (burning) facility at Umatilla would make Bhopal look like child's play,'' says U.S. Rep. Les AuCoin, an Oregon Democrat who sits on the House defense appropriations subcommittee.
Even Andy Aichele, who once worked at the depot and has spent his entire 66 years in Umatilla County, worries about the place that has been his neighbor for so long.
``It should be something the whole area here ought to be concerned about,'' he said.
But most residents in this patriotic and economically healthy area aren't worried. They've grown comfortable with the depot, which employed thousands of workers after it was built in 1940 to store conventional arms.
People such as Baker and Clarneau say there's no reason for concern now because the Army has safely cared for the chemical weapons since they began arriving here in 1962. Baker and Clarneau don't know what to do in the event of a leak, nor do most others. Many are more worried about radioactive waste at the Hanford Nuclear Reservation 45 miles away.
As for the depot, cattleman Baker says he has faith in the Lord, and in the depot commanders he has known personally.
``You can have a lot of concerns about everything, like stubbing your toe and falling down,'' he says. ``Why bother?''
Clarneau says she rides her horse to the depot's north fence all the time. ``It doesn't bother me a bit.''
Nonetheless, a few voices of doubt are being raised. Basketball shooter Bradbury says he changed his mind about the depot last November, when a Portland television news program gave viewers a rare look at depot problems. Now the teen-ager shudders as he watches U.S. soldiers preparing for chemical war, and Israelis and Saudis donning gas masks as Iraqi Scud missiles land.
``They should give us some gas masks,'' he says.
The youngster might get his wish, or something similar.
Preparing for the worst:
Gear, alarms, antidotes
After nearly three decades of living with chemical weapons, Bradbury's community, along with the states of Oregon and Washington and the federal government, are planning to protect people and evacuate them in the event of a chemical leak.
The plans aren't final yet, but John Sorensen, a federal hazards expert at the Oak Ridge (Tenn.) National Laboratory, says some or all of the 12,000 people living closest to the depot, and those near the other incineration sites in the country, could become the first U.S.home-dwellers to get government-issued gas masks.
What they receive, though, may not be the masks familiar to TV news viewers. Sorensen says a leading candidate for Umatilla and the other areas is a garment that resembles a sweatshirt with a hood, a plastic face mask and a battery-operated fan that draws in filtered breathing air. The fan also pressurizes the garment to keep out seeping gases. The hood costs the same as a conventional gas mask - $150 to $200 - but Sorensen says it's easier to fit and maintain.
There's more. With orders from Congress to provide the depot's neighbors maximum possible protection from the incinerators, the Army, through a 1988 contract with the Federal Emergency Management Agency, is considering spending $114 million on a flurry of emergency measures at all sites. That's more money than FEMA has ever had for planning a project, says Bruce Knipe, a FEMA program manager in Bothell.
Possibly as soon as the end of this year, thousands of homes around the Umatilla depot could be equipped with long-lasting tone-alert radios that cost more than $100 each. The radios - now used around some nuclear plants - turn on when signaled by a remote frequency so they can broacast an alarm as well as instructions.
In order to alert people outdoors, farmers and field workers, 24 sirens costing $25,000 apiece will be installed on poles on both sides of the Columbia River, says Tom Worden, Oregon emergency planner.
Washington state emergency planner Sandi Benbrook says too much is happening too fast, and she's feeling exasperated. But evacuation plans will be drawn, and police and fire departments will be equipped to direct traffic in a chemical cloud. Hospitals will be given anti-nerve-gas medicines, although antidotes won't be distributed to the general public because some are hallucinogenic drugs with side effects, Sorensen says.
Knipe says the public is being involved in planning committees because ``there's no way to co-opt and make the general public comfortable unless we involve them.''
Some say it's ironic the Army waited so long to equip the general public. Studies indicate the greatest danger was present when weapons were on rail cars and trucks being shipped to Umatilla between 1962 and 1969. In fact, since the 1940s, dozens of people around the world have been injured while handling chemical-weapon shipments.
The U.S. shipments stopped when the Nixon administration banned Pentagon production of chemical weapons in 1969, but environmentalists reacted with alarm last year when the U.S. shipped its European supplies of nerve-gas weapons from Germany to an island in the Pacific.
Living next door to nerve gas is risky, too. The igloos where the weapons are stored are strong and spread 450 feet apart to avoid multiple explosions. But they are not invulnerable. Army documents describe low-probability worst-case accidents - an earthquake or a plane crash, for instance - that could demolish the chemical igloos and kill thousands. In 1936, a major temblor did hit Milton-Freewater, just 55 miles east, and Navy A-6 bombers practice runs 20 miles to the west.
As burn project begins,
the threat grows higher
What is driving the emergency preparedness, however, is not bombers and quakes, but the incineration project.
Sometime in 1997 - if a loose schedule doesn't slip more and if costs don't soar out of sight - the Army will finish building and testing the $500 million chemical-weapons incinerator on the east side of the dump, near a canyon that could funnel gas into town in an accident.
When the burning begins, technicians will regularly enter the igloos with forklifts, jostle the tender rockets and mines out of their resting places and load them into reinforced containers for a brief truck ride to the incinerator.
``The day we start moving this stuff, the threat goes up,'' said Knipe of FEMA. ``A human being in a forklift has to pick up the munition, and it may be the first time the munition is moved in a long time.''
``Just having to process a waste that contains live explosives is a major concern,'' says Brett McKnight, an Oregon hazardous-waste official.
The trickiest weapon is the 6 1/2-foot-long M55 rocket, which carries a gallon of nerve gas along with a fuse and a small ``burster'' charge.
Built in the early 1960s, and soon outdated, the rockets have aluminum shells so thin that nerve gas has eaten through more than 400 of them at Umatilla and another 500 at other sites. Depot commander Lt. Col. Larry Sparks says the leaks are minor and it is easy to repack the rockets in sealed containers or drain them.
The rockets are the only chemical weapons stored with their explosives intact, and the propellant is slowly losing a stabilizer chemical that keeps the fuel from igniting on its own. Sparks says tests show the rockets are out of danger, but no one knows for how long - anywhere from 10 to 99 years.
The M55s - stacked 2,000 at a time in the igloos - can also chain-react when another rocket blows up nearby. In live tests in Utah and South Dakota, rockets chain-reacted into explosions and fires that lasted several hours.
Ninety-seven percent of the nerve gas was incinerated in the blaze, but 570 pounds of one nerve agent escaped in the first 20 minutes. While no one was in the test area unprotected, the 570 pounds were enough, scientists say, to kill hundreds of people over a distance of 5 to 27 miles.
Bombs and artillery shells don't chain-react because they have thick casings, are defused and contain low quantities of explosives.
Spotty search for safety
in touchy disposal game
Scientists have been warning the Army for years to get rid of the weapons. And Army officials have tried, but with more than 500,000 in stock it was hard to do. They tried sinking them in the ocean and neutralizing the gas in them.
But Congress banned scuttling ships full of chemical weapons as unsafe. ``Nobody would ever belly up to'' such a method today, said Charles Baronian, technical director of the Army's chemical demilitarization program. And the neutralizing process produced five pounds of waste for every pound of poison, even though it is much less toxic.
The Army also discounted a promising enzyme that researchers say could ``eat'' nerve agent, breaking it down into much less toxic compounds.
The Army also considered incinerating the agents with underground nuclear weapons, or dropping them into volcanoes. But the danger of moving the weapons was too great.
So incinerators were chosen. Again, because of transportation dangers, the Army rejected the idea of building just one or two regional incinerators to handle the whole stockpile. Instead, the Army intends to build, in the next six years, incinerators for the sites in Oregon, Texas, Alabama, Utah, Arkansas, Indiana, Kentucky and Colorado where the weapons are stored.
A small test incinerator was constructed a decade ago in Utah, and last year a prototype plant similar to the one planned for Umatilla began limited operation on Johnston Island, a tiny atoll 720 miles southwest of Hawaii.
Once envisioned for M55 rockets only, the ovens are now being tooled for all the poisonous weapons in the arsenal.
The rockets, mines, artillery shells and other containers will be chopped into sections before heading for the burners.
The weapons will be drained of chemicals and everything incinerated separately in ovens as hot as 2,700 degrees Fahrenheit. Afterburners will cook the stuff again to be sure it is detoxified.
While swords are pounded into plowshares, chemical weapons will be torched into a combination of steam, carbon dioxide, metal scrap and wastes that include heavy metals. The latter must go to a toxic landfill.
Technical director Baronian, who was splashed with a drop of nerve gas and was saved by an antidote when he was a young engineer, says the incineration process is loaded with redundant safety features. For moving the weapons to the ovens, the Army has designed a 9-ton coffin impervious to destruction. Filters, scrubbers and alarm systems are designed to prevent nerve gas and other pollutants from going up the incinerator's exhaust stacks.
The features are not without their faults, however. The Army Audit Agency has criticized the $120 million cost of the transporting coffins. And special filters didn't keep a tiny amount of nerve agent from escaping out the stack at the Utah test plant in 1987 when three systems simultaneously failed, in part because of human error.
At Johnston Island last December, an extremely minute, non-toxic quantity of unburned nerve agent went undetected through a cold oven, in part because a gas detector jammed. And even when the alarms work, the chemical analyzers take seven minutes to detect the gas.
In all cases, the public wasn't endangered and Baronian says his agency has beefed up safety systems in the plants and changed the blueprints after each incident. And Gen. Busbee says if the Army takes away his coffins, he wants an equally safe alternative.
Soaring costs, slack
schedules a challenge
As much as safety issues are a headache, cost and schedule problems are a migraine. In two reports last year, the General Accounting Office rapped the Army for delays and cost overruns. Conceived as a $2 billion project in 1986, the incineration pricetag is now $5 billion and rising.
``We underestimated, we undershot the mark,'' said Busbee.
And though Congress mandated in 1985 that the weapons be destroyed by 1994, the Army is now looking past 1998.
Baronian says things have slipped because of environmental requirements and mechanical problems. For instance, the Johnston Island plant has repeatedly shut down because metal wastes stuck to a heated conveyor belt.
Marilyn Tischbin, national spokeswoman for the program, says construction schedules also slipped last October when Congress axed $96.5 million from the program's annual budget.
But the Army Audit Agency, in another recent report, says sloppy oversight is also to blame. The contractor running the Johnston Island incinerator failed to develop an approved quality-control plan for the first two years, the report says. Even so, the Army gave the company $143,000 in award fees. In turn, the contractor overcharged the government for things like $11,500 worth of plane tickets home that employees never used.
Also, the Army was naive about clearing environmental hurdles. Military scientists thought a single test burn would be enough to prove that the entire Utah plant could operate without emitting toxic gases. But the state of Utah wants 12 test burns, each accompanied by weeks of chemical analysis. The Army's application to Oregon for an anti-pollution permit filled seven boxes, paperwork that senior state environmental engineer Edward Chiong says will take him a year and a half to review.
So the Umatilla plant once scheduled for groundbreaking this year is now unlikely to get under construction until December 1992 or later, Chiong says. Construction takes 39 months, then there must be testing.
Hermiston business leaders hope that, sometime after the year 2000, the Army will turn a cleansed Umatilla depot over to civilians for economic development. Residents now make their living mostly from farming and the big plants that crank out food products like French fries for McDonald's restaurants. Just 207 people work at the depot.
Mortician Joe Burns, a local economic booster, says the two major freeways that crisscross the depot boundary, and the adjacent railroad and river, make it a prime spot for an industrial park.
Indeed, the depot is on an Army closure list, but its fate remains unclear.
The depot is being used now to ship bullets, artillery shells and bombs to the Persian Gulf. And Congress has told the Army to study the possibility of keeping some of the chemical incinerators available to destroy other wastes later on. Some Hermiston business leaders think a toxic-waste incinerator would be good for the local economy, but AuCoin says many Oregonians dread the idea.
There are other environmental concerns. Wastes from conventional weapons have contaminated groundwater at the Umatilla depot. And critics of the chemical-incineration plans have already begun protests and threatened lawsuits in other states.
International treaties ban the use of chemical weapons, but not their possession. Some 26 countries are known or thought to possess them. The U.S. and the Soviet Union have agreed to destroy their supplies, and the Pentagon has on hold a project to build a new generation of nerve agents.
The mere existence of all these chemical weapons presents a conundrum to environmentalists and others who oppose them. Greenpeace and the Sierra Club, which are trying to halt the Johnston Island project, have criticized, at various times, the storage, movement and burning of the chemicals.
``What you have here is a classic Hobson's choice,'' says AuCoin of Oregon, ``and one that we virtually pre-ordained when we started producing these Godforsaken weapons decades ago. There are no good choices.''
The United States plans to destroy its older chemical weapons by 1997. Here are percentages of total U.S. stockpile slated for disposal, by location. Figures do not include newer binary munitions.
1. Tooele, Utah: 42.3%;
2. Pine Bluff, Ark.: 12.0%;
3. Umatilla, Ore.: 11.6%;
4. Pueblo, Colo.: 9.9%;
5. Anniston, Ala.: 7.1%;
6. Outside U.S.: 6.6%;
(Not shown) ;
7. Aberdeen, Md.: 5.0%;
8. Newport, Ind.: 3.9%;
9. Lexington, Ky.: 1.6%:
1899: Hague Convention restricts use of chemical, biological agents as weapons. U.S. does not sign.
1915-18: Germans in WW1 first to use poison gases on large scale; Allies develop gas masks, own poison arsenal.
1925: Geneva Protocol on Gas Warfare bans use of poison gas, bacterial weapons. U.S. does not ratify until 1974.
1960s-70s: U.S. uses chemical defoliants, which also burn humans, in Vietnam.
May-June 1967: M55 rockets and mustard gas sunk in the Atlantic, creating the first chemical-weapons dump.
Nov. 26, 1969: Nixon says U.S. will confine biological research to defense; pledges U.S. will never be first to use lethal gases.
1971: Army moves chemical weapons from Okinawa to Johnston Island, southwest of Hawaii.
1972: Congress passes law prohibiting ocean dumping of weapons.
Nov. 1982: Army begins seeking congressional approval to upgrade chemical-weapons arsenal.
May 1984: Nat'l Academy of Sciences recommends burning old chemical weapons. Estimate: up to $4 billion.
Oct. 1985: Congress estimates cost of destroying chemical weapons at $1.7 billion.
Nov. 1985: Congress mandates destruction of old chemical weapons by 1994. Law says any plants built to destroy weapons must also be destroyed.
March 1986: Army submits plan to Congress comparing costs, advantages of disposal options. Estimate: $2 billion.
1988: Army completes construction of large prototype incinerator at Johnston Island.
Feb. 1988: Army announces it will incinerate the weapons at each of eight storage sites in the continental U.S.
March 1988: Army issues plan for building incinerators at eight storage sites, asks Congress to allow more time. Estimate: $3.4 billion.
Sept. 1988: Congress gives Army until April 30, 1997 to complete destruction of chemical weapons.
1989: 140 nations in Paris agree to ban use of chemical weapons, seek ban on production, storage.
Nov. 1989: Congress tells Army to study possibility of keeping some incinerators to dispose of other toxics.
April 5, 1990: Army tells Congress disposal program won't be completed until end of 1998. Cost: $5 billion.
June 1990: Johnston Island incinerator begins limited operation, slowed by mechanical problems.
July-Nov. 1990: 100,000 nerve-gas artillery projectiles shipped from Germany to Johnston Island, eliminating U.S. stockpile in Europe.
Mid-Dec. 1990: 5,000 M55 nerve-gas rockets have been burned at Johnston Island.
June 1991: Chemical lea exercise planned for Tooele, Utah.
Source: Encyclopedia Britannica; National Academy of Sciences; U.S. Army
The 20,000-acre Umatilla Army Depot Activity holds between 500,000 and 1 million gallons of poisonous agents.
What Umatilla's poisons do to you
HD (Mustard): Smells like garlic (another blistering agent called lewisite smells like geraniums). Blisters eyes, lungs, skin, but effects may not appear for several hours. Toxic in liquid and vapor forms. Sometimes fatal if inhaled.
GB: Straw-colored liquid nerve agent, about same consistency as water. Spreads as an aerosol or gas, and dissipates. Inhibits a bodily enzyme, cholinesterase, causing nerves to react uncontrollably. Usually inhaled, but can be absorbed through skin and eyes. Highly toxic; can kill in 15 minutes.
VX: Clear to straw-colored liquid; about same density as water but evaporates up to 2,000 times more slowly than GB. Spreads as an aerosol or in droplets. Persistent, will remain where it falls. Also inhibits cholinesterase, causing nerves to react uncontrollably. Many times more toxic than GB, can kill more effectively on skin contact.
155 mm projectile ;
Agent: GB, VX ;
Volume #: 0.7-1.3 gal. ;
Length: 26.8 inches ;
8-in. projectile ;
Agent: GB, VX ;
Volume #: 1.6 gal. ;
Length: 35.1 inches ;
M55 rocket ;
Agent: GB, VX ;
Volume #: 1.2 gal. ;
Length: 78 inches ;
M23 land mine ;
Agent: VX ;
Volume #: 1.1 gal. ;
Length: 78 inches ;
500 lb. bomb ;
Agent: GB ;
Volume #: 11.7 gal. ;
Length: 60 inches ;
750 lb. bomb ;
Agent: GB ;
Volume #: 23.8 gal. ;
Length: 50 inches ;
Spray tank ;
Agent: VX ;
Volume #: 146.6 gal. ;
Length: 185.5 inches ;
Ton container ;
Agent: HD, GB, VX ;
Volume #: 150 gal. ;
Length: 85.1 inches ;
# Volume is the amount of poison fluid n each vessel. ;
Sources: National Academy of Sciences; U.S.Army
IN THE TIMES-- Scientists have found a promising alternative to burning chemical weapons: enzymes that ``eat'' the nerve agent. But the government isn't paying much attention.
Barbara Friend, who raises ostriches near the Army depot, supports the installation and has a strong family connection: Her mother painted hand grenades there and her father drove forklifts.
Her dad, Bud Evans, was nearly killed in March 1944 - in the depot's worst accident. He was driving near an igloo full of bombs when it detonated, leaving a crater where a bunker and six workers had been.
To most people, though, the accident is long forgotten, and so is the dominance of the depot in the local economy.
The town of Ordnance, for instance, was created to house workers building the depot. But the workers are gone and one remaining resident, Don Carpenter has little good to say about the installation next door.
If there is an accident, he says,``panic's gonna rule.''
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Homeschool Corner
Homeschooling in Russia
By Katya Melnikova
Greetings from the Melnikov family, from Russia! We are Evgeniy, Ekaterina (Katya), and our two daughters: Anya (7½) and Liza (almost 4). We homeschool our girls, which is a rare thing in Russia.
We are evangelical Christians. My husband is an engineer; I am an ESL teacher and a translator. (I did that before we started having kids.) We live in Ufa, one of the twelve biggest cities in Russia, with a population of about 1.3 million people and located about two hours by plane from Moscow. In this city, I know of five other homeschooling families, besides us. I am sure there are more people doing that, but they do not show up.
Why Did We Decide to Homeschool?
I heard about homeschooling from several American missionaries I interpreted for. Back then, I did not like the idea, because I was afraid that homeschooled children suffered socially.
Even though most children in Russia start attending daycare at the age of 3, we decided that I should stay at home with the kids, because we did not feel like trusting a stranger with educating and upbringing our own children. We did not want a group of twenty to thirty 3-year-olds to “educate” our children either.
By the age of 5, the benefits of keeping children at home become obvious. “Home kids” are more peaceful, better educated, better behaving, and a lot healthier than “daycare kids.”
Anya was about 4 or 5 when we started looking for a school. We found out that schools in this city were either low standard or gave children too much hard work or (in most cases) both. Somehow, it just did not seem that any of it was aimed at doing children any good. So, I remembered about homeschooling. My husband liked the idea immediately. There were certain questions we did not worry about. For example, being an evangelical Christian in Russia teaches you that being different from everybody else will not kill you. We knew we could do that, because some American friends homeschooled their children successfully. But there were matters to consider: Is it legal? What about social life?
Homeschooling Laws in Russia
I googled something like “home education,” and the first link was the website of the biggest, oldest, and most significant homeschooling association in Russia! This is what the website said:
• The education law allowing for various forms of education was issued in 1992. There are at least three forms of education that look like homeschooling.
Home education is not really homeschooling. It is meant for children who have to stay at home because of serious illnesses. Schoolteachers come and teach them at home. This is free.
Family education is when the child is enrolled at a local school. He is educated by his parents. The student can come to school for help, and he is allowed to participate in laboratory work and extracurricular activities and may use the school library. The family and the school sign a contract regulating their relationship, including tests and exams in every subject. The district pays the family some money.
Externship is very much like family education. The relationship between the school and the family is regulated by the principal’s order. Students have twelve exams a year or less. They can move ahead faster than the other students. The family is not paid any money.
• Whatever form of education a student chooses, he takes regular final exams and gets a regular secondary school diploma.1
We tried for family education first, but the district did not give us this opportunity, because they would have to pay us money. So, Anya is an externship student. In December 2009, she successfully passed her first five tests; she will take five more tests in April and May. She is officially in the first form (grade), but we started last year, so now we are doing second grade, and we do not expect much trouble during tests. These will not be real tests anyway—grades are not given in the first year of school. The school just wants to make sure we are studying.
What Is It Like to Homeschool in Russia?
Homeschooling is very popular in Moscow, especially among high school students. In other parts of Russia, homeschooling is very rare but growing. Picture yourselves (or your parents) homeschooling in America thirty or forty years ago. It is very strange to do this. Everybody is asking questions. No co-ops, no homeschool curricula, no conventions. Other than that it is the same as in America, I guess—sinful parents teaching and loving their sinful children. Homeschooling is mostly secular in Russia, but we have a merciful, gracious God to guide us.
The leader of the homeschooling movement in Russia is Igor M. Chapkovskij, who managed to teach his children at home in the 1980s. He is the head of this very “free development” association. This is a Moscow association, but the website is very helpful in solving many questions, from practical teaching to legal matters to finding homeschoolers in a particular part of Russia. This is a secular association.2
Homeschoolers from different parts of Russia have complained about the school administration being very unfriendly, but the law is on the parents’ side. I was very scared to go to the school for the first time, but the principal and the teacher were friendly. However, they had never worked with homeschoolers before, and I found myself in the midst of a legal nightmare that lasted for about two months.
How Do We Homeschool?
After we do our morning routine and eat breakfast, we have math and writing. In the afternoon, we go to the park. Anya is a voracious reader, so reading is taken care of. After 3 p.m., Anya has some out-of-home activities, or we do some fun lessons like science or English. And before bedtime, we read the Bible and discuss it.
We like studying at home. It is relaxed and more effective to study individually. Every now and then, Anya says she wants to go to school to be with all the kids. But she has gymnastics practice and art studio and Sunday School and people visiting, and we also spend a lot of time at the park. However, sometimes she tires of having to explain to everybody that she studies at home.
What Is Our Goal?
We are thankful for the opportunity to teach our girls. Our biggest goal is to raise these little girls for the Lord and equip them to be successful in their lives. I would really like to start a blog for Christian homeschoolers in Russia, to participate in the local homeschooling community, and to give other people information about this form of education.
Ekaterina (Katya) Melnikova was born in Communist Russia and was a teenager when Communism fell. Ekaterina lives in Ufa, Russia, with her wonderful husband and their two daughters. She is a stay-at-home mom and a homeschooler. She enjoys spending time with family and friends, and she also enjoys reading, roller-blading, and photography.
© 2010. Originally appeared in The Old Schoolhouse Magazine (Spring 2010).
Used with permission. Visit them at
For all your homeschool curriculum needs visit the Schoolhouse Store.
1. Домашнее Обучение (Home Schooling)
2. Семейное Образование (Family Education)
Note from Ed: These websites are Russian websites, obviously, and are therefore not written in English. But some browsers will provide the option of translating into English.
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"Desire Lines" Are the Real Future of Urban Transit
For many cities, the grid of the streets and transit systems were likely laid down long before the buildings grew up around them, thanks to the rigor of planners and engineers who knew best. But as cities transition in ways that challenge the century-old plan, they need new and quick ways to improvise connections between areas of growth. These are known as "desire lines."
Even if you're not familiar with the term, you've seen desire lines in action before. A "desire path" is the term for a trail worn down by foot traffic to create a shorter distance between two points. You'll usually see them slicing through the grass on the quads of college campuses. Desire paths represent user innovation: a faster route through parks or other public spaces. Sometimes, planners take heed of the suggested changes and reconfigure the paved sidewalks, formalizing the recommended changes.
"Desire Lines" Are the Real Future of Urban Transit
Desire paths through vacant lots in Detroit, by Sweet Juniper
Just like desire paths, desire lines are applied on a slightly larger scale, to urban transit improvements. A desire line would therefore be a new bus route or bike path or ferry line that draws that more direct line between two areas people want to go. A subway system is about building a larger infrastructural network; a desire line connects place to place.
Since the needs of residents change so quickly, cities are looking for quick and affordable ways to connect the dots between like-minded communities and similar economic prospects. Lately, to make this kind of connection with good branding, positive urban vibes, and a minimal infrastructural footprint, streetcars are being employed to travel those desire lines.
"Desire Lines" Are the Real Future of Urban Transit
One great example is a New York City streetcar, the idea of urban planner Alex Garvin, who proposed such a line 10 years ago. A Brooklyn-to-Queens trolley would start at Ikea (where else?) and travel through famously transit-deprived Red Hook, before rolling along the Brooklyn waterfront all the way to Astoria, Queens.
Along the way, it would help to lace together existing train and ferry connections as well as parks and recreation spaces, yet it would also offer the first efficient and sensible way to get from, say, Williamsburg to DUMBO.
"Desire Lines" Are the Real Future of Urban Transit
L.A.'s downtown has a similar challenge. While it's well-served by transit, the major cultural attractions are spread out over a few square miles, and sometimes there's no easy or direct route between them.
A similar streetcar proposal hopes to link areas of downtown that are frequented by both residents and tourists—Staples Center, Disney Hall, etc.—in a way that enhances pedestrian life and almost becomes another tourist attraction itself. It's basically a ride.
"Desire Lines" Are the Real Future of Urban Transit
The Grove's trolley at Christmas, photo by Paul Stumpr
Where desire lines can get really interesting is when the destinations themselves start to pay for and develop these short transit lines. Rick Caruso, the developer of The Grove, a large Fantasyland-esque mall in the heart of L.A., has expressed that he would like to take the mall's trolley (which runs back and forth on less than a mile of track) and extend it out into the streets. His plan would be a single transit loop that connected The Grove with the nearby Beverly Center and Los Angeles County Museum—all places he knows that his patrons already visit on a single trip.
Subways and light rail projects are expensive and onerous to take on, requiring not only the heavy construction of tunneling and laying rail, but also the legal implications of navigating preferred routes and right-of-ways. The beauty of desire lines are not only their light touch, but also the unique multimodal options they can introduce to a city: gondolas stringing up hillsides, ferries chugging between two waterfront neighborhoods. Imagine cities shifting away from the bulky pre-determined routes for cars in favor of diagonal bike paths and pedestrian cut-throughs.
With today's data collection and ability to study traffic patterns, it's much easier for cities to figure out where their residents want to go. Instead of massive capital campaigns, expect to see a lot more nimble "desire line" transit knitting together our cities. [New York Times, Vox, Curbed LA] | <urn:uuid:f1c65cb8-448e-4f8f-80f1-845efe804b5e> | 2 | 2.15625 | 0.047501 | en | 0.946658 | http://dailygrid.kinja.com/desire-lines-are-the-real-future-of-urban-transit-1566186934/+kcampbelldollaghan |
UK - Free The Postcode
The postcode database - which turns a postcode to a latitude/longitude and back - is not free in the UK. In fact, it's very expensive. The Post Office owns it and sells it to various companies that make use of it for things like insurance or parcel tracking. There are however many people who'd like to use it for non-profit purposes. Say you want to lay out events like free concerts / gigs on a map and you only have the postcode... you have to buy the database.
Available at:
Data and Resources
This dataset has no data, why not add some?
Additional Info
Field Value | <urn:uuid:1ce3cccd-daff-45e5-965a-0ffdd3758366> | 2 | 1.867188 | 0.127058 | en | 0.943679 | http://datahub.io/lv/dataset/free-the-postcode |
Photo by Melody
Sentimental Specimens
By Timmy Jo Given (timmijoJune 15, 2011
Adults often long for the plants of their childhood. Perhaps it is a special type of flower that Grandma grew, or a vegetable patch just like Daddy had that replays itself in our minds. Sooner or later, we set out to possess those plants of long ago because of the nostalgia.
Gardening picture
This yearning seems strong in those for whom the green thumb was passed down. For others, the desire is vague until some event finds them face to face with the plants of their youth:
"Aunt Mary had a big Christmas Cactus just like that in her room!"
"Uncle Ted had a speckled bush just like that one!"
"My goodness, I haven't seen a plant like that in 50 years. Are they still around?"
"We had that kind of tree in the front yard when I lived in town!"
Why do we want to own the specimens of long ago? Maybe we want to be transported back to a different world when things were less complicated, when information overload was not the norm, and when watching tomatoes ripen in the sun was a worthy undertaking.
Or perhaps we'd like to remember a loved one who has gone on.
In some cases, our sentimental specimens are not hard to find. For example, my mother and father always planted our small beachfront home in tomatoes. Mom set great store in those tomato plants. She took care of them faithfully, reaping the reward for her work by summer's end.Tomato cluster ripening
Paired with the tomato plants were Mom's sweet bell pepper plants. Planted alongside the tomatoes, they filled the back yard with lovely red and green accents.Large, square green bell pepper
I didn't think much about Mom's garden at the time; my head was filled with other things like school, friends, boys, and bike riding. To me, vegetable gardening was a quirky thing that got Mom and Dad all excited each summer.
A drive up to Tremont, Pennsylvania to visit my maternal grandparents, Mammy and Pappy Freeman, is where I observed the same phenomenon: a yard full of red tomatoes and green peppers. Oh, so this is why Mom and Dad do the same thing, I thought. It's in the genes.
Mammy and Pappy had a bit of Pennsylvania Dutch in their backgrounds. Mammy used the peppers to make Pepper Cabbage, a delightful side dish of finely shredded cabbage and green pepper bits in vinegar water. And she may have canned the tomatoes—I'm not sure. I was just a child.
Mom, on the other hand, did not can tomatoes, but she and Dad enjoyed them raw sprinkled with salt and pepper as well as cooked.
Myself, I did not acquire an appreciation for raw tomatoes until well into my teens and didn't like cooked tomatoes until I was in my twenties. These days, tomatoes and peppers are a no-brainer: of COURSE I must buy them and sink them into the garden each year. It's what Mom and Dad did. It's a family tradition.
My childhood beachfront home also had Mimosa trees here and there. The trees grew well in the sandy soil. To observe the pink, delicate blooms was a true escape; not only did I adore them, but I picked one every now and again to brush it against my cheek like a soft downy feather.Close up of pink mimosa flower What a burst of beauty in an otherwise dusty neighborhood.
After I became an adult and moved away, my mother was diagnosed with a terminal illness. I visited her as often as I could. She moved to a nice apartment complex during those last few years of her life. When I drove across the Chesapeake Bay to see Mom's new apartment for the first time, I was happy to notice Mimosa trees lining the hilly drive. On the way home, I made sure to hop out of the car and collect a handful of seed pods before departing.
In Mom's memory, I started six Mimosa seeds in cups the next spring. One of the trees made it. Eleven years later, that tree stands as a beautiful specimen in the middle of my yard today, its significance known only to me.Dense growth of mimosa tree
It's not hard to find tomatoes and green peppers, and Mom's memorial Mimosa is well-established in my front yard, but I have yet to acquire a Catalpa tree, another specimen that graced my childhood home on the beach.Large Southern Catalpa tree in the sun
When we were kids, we called it a "String Bean Tree". It's also known as an "Indian Cigar Tree." I loved the large, plate-sized leaves, the white shower of petals in late springtime, and the long "beans" that followed in the summer and fall.
Late one spring, reaching impulsively inside our thickly-leafed Catalpa, I was surprised to find an egg! It was a hard-boiled, painted Easter egg! My big sister and I laughed when we realized that the egg was left over from our family Easter egg hunt from the previous month. Guess what? I ate the egg!
Now that I'm grown and live in Delaware, I see Catalpa trees growing everywhere and long to go buy one at the nursery. That hasn't happened yet, but last winter I DID pick some dry pods from a neighborhood Catalpa tree to get the seeds.Handful of dry Catalpa tree seeds in fuzzy pods
I used to love the challenge of raising trees from seed when my kids were small, but a Catalpa started now might take many more years to become a majestic specimen. I may never see its full glory.
Nevertheless, the verdict is in: Just as with the tomatoes, peppers, and Mimosa, I cannot live without a Catalpa tree. It's in the genes. It's nostalgia. It's for Mom.
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Interview with Rev. Ralph Abernathy
I'm going to let you finish. You were talking about reaching your goals a little slower.
Rev. Ralph Abernathy:
Yes, I definitely believe Mr. Pritchett was able to slow down the movement in Albany because of the attitudes. But it was an institutionalized system of racism and he was only one man. He didn't make all of the laws. He was merely the Chief of Police, and so, consequently, he could not run the total system. He could not be the mayor of the City. He could not be the Governor of the State. He could not be the President of the United States of America. So he may have been in charge of some things in the system, but the court system was unjust, and he did not have any say so about that, and people lived in the community and he didn't have anything to say about how one neighbor would treat another neighbor. | <urn:uuid:8727d2fa-2dd5-458b-ba2f-ba132a730cb5> | 2 | 1.554688 | 0.064378 | en | 0.991155 | http://digital.wustl.edu/cgi/t/text/text-idx?c=eop;cc=eop;rgn=div2;view=text;idno=abe0015.0818.001;node=abe0015.0818.001%3A1.32 |
Diocese of Qiqihar
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In a land area of approximately 213,000 square kilometers, the diocesan territory covers the prefecture-level cities of Qiqihar, Daqing, Heihe and Suihua cities and Daxinganling Prefecture in the western part of Heilongjiang province.
The total population of Qiqihar is 5.61 million, including the urban population of 1.44 million, covering 35 nationalities of Han, Mongolian, Man, Huis, Korean, Elunchun, Ewenke and Dawur, etc.
The populations of Daqing and Heihe, Suihua and Daxinganling are 2.77 million and 1.73 million, 5.80 million and 520,000 respectively.
Mandarian Chinese and northeastern dialect are in use in the diocesan territory.
The Mission "sui iuris" (or independent mission) of Qiqihar was erected in 1928 and it became an Apostolic Prefecture in 1931. It was entrusted to Swiss missionaries.
After the founding of the People's Republic of China, all foreign missioners were expelled from the mainland. Religious activities were disrupted for three decades due to political turmoil since 1950s.
Qiqihar diocese's "underground" community has existed since 1980s. It has no affiliation with the government-sanctioned open Church structure, which merged all dioceses in Heilongjiang province into one and ordained a bishop without papal mandate in 1959. The first Chinese bishop of Qiqihar was Paul Guo Wenzhi. The priest returned to the diocese in 1985 after more than two decades of imprisonment and reform-through-labor. He was secretly ordained bishop in 1989 at the age of 71. After attending the inaugural meeting of the underground bishops' conference in November 1989, Bishop Guo was detained by the government until January 1990.
He ordained the first priest in 1982, established a major seminary and restored the Missionary Sisters of St. Therese of Lisieux in his diocese in the next year. He clandestinely ordained Father Joseph Wei Jingyi as his coadjutor bishop in 1995 and retired in 2000 at the age of 82. He died on June 29, 2006 and was buried hurriedly after a simple funeral.
Qiqihar has a domestic airport (Qiqihar Airport), a railway station, a bus network, and taxis. In the district of Ang'angxi, the Harbin-Manzhouli Railway intersects with the Qiqihar-Bei'an Railway.
Qiqihar has a cold, monsoon-influenced, humid continental climate, with four distinct seasons. It has long, bitterly cold, but dry winters, with a daily average in January of 18.6 degree Celsius. Spring and fall are mild, but short and quick transitions. Summers are very warm and humid, with a daily average in July of 23.2 degree Celsius. The average annual precipitation is 415 mm, with over two-third of it falling from June to August.
After 50 years of development, particularly since the country's reform and opening-up in the late 1970s, Qiqihar has become a strong industrial base of machinery, metallurgy, petroleum chemical, textile, food, paper making, building materials, pharmaceutical and power industry.
With more than 3.5 million agricultural populations, Qiqihar is a large commercial grain production base and an animal husbandry base, targeting at becoming the "Capital of Green Foods." The hinterland of Songnen Plain is fertile with expanse field and plain, clear river and green water, four colorful seasons, high quality of air, water and soil, favorable ecological environment and abundant agricultural resources. It's an ideal place for green food production.
With a total area of 42,500 square kilometers, Qiqihar is the second largest city in Heilongjiang province and the 13th largest in China (based on total population). It is located in the northeastern Songnen Plain of China. It is adjacent to Daqing City and Suihua Area in the East, it joints with Baicheng Area of Jilin Province in the South, it connects with Hulunbeir League of Inner Mongolia in the West and it borders on Heihe and Greater Xing'an Mountains in the North.
Qiqihar is a civilized ancient city with more than 300 years of history, which was first built in the 38th year of Emperor Kangxi of Qing Dynasty (1699). Qiqihar is a Dawur word, which means "border or natural pasture." It had been the provincial capital of Heilongjiang for as long as 285 years.
It is also known as Crane City, as its Zhalong National Natural Reserve, located at the lower reaches of Wuyur River of Songnen Plain, is the habitat of the world rare bird red-crowned cranes. The other 12 natural reserves in the city are cradles of more than 20 wild animals and more than 300 wild plants.
Cultural relics and scenic spots in Qiqihar include Longsha Park, Mahayana Temple, Bukui Mosque, Temple of Guan Yu, Mount Shibei, Ang'angxi Ancient Cultural Relics and Tazi Ancient City. | <urn:uuid:46b62f15-c401-43df-93e5-29fd7316f3af> | 2 | 1.851563 | 0.021645 | en | 0.956277 | http://directory.ucanews.com/dioceses/china-qiqihar/214 |
Rising China, Japan, and U.S. Historical Responsibility
“A Strong Military”–to Assert Island Claims
“To realize the great revival of the Chinese nation,” President Xi Jinping has told the people of the People’s Republic, “we must preserve the bond between a rich country and a strong military, and strive to build a consolidated national defense and a strong military.”
Some might find it slightly ironic that Xi Jinping’s slogan: “rich country and a strong military” is precisely the same slogan–fukoku-kyohei in Japanese–popularized by the Meiji oligarchs in Japan from 1868. These were the ex-samurai who humiliated China in the Sino-Japanese War of 1894-95 and proceeded to colonize Taiwan, Korea, south Sakhalin, etc. using their “strong military” to build the “rich country” that Japan became and remains.
But there’s no question that China too is an ascendant military power. The Pentagon depicts China’s rise as a threat to “regional security” (a euphemism for the status quo and what Washington considers U.S. “national interests” in the Pacific). The Chinese respond that their military buildup is purely defensive and part of an overall process of modernization. They might add that, whereas the U.S. goes to war routinely, far from its borders, China has gone to war rarely since the Korean War of 1950-53 and only in brief border wars with India, the USSR and Vietnam.
And they might add that while Washington thinks its “security” interests require the conquest and occupation of countries worlds away from itself, and such surveillance as current technology allows of every soul on earth, the PRC conceptualizes its security interests much more modestly.
On the other hand, the PRC of 2014 is plainly not that of the Mao era, committed to socialism, internationalism, and non-interference in other countries’ affairs. Once an inspiration to anti-capitalist revolutionaries everywhere, China has experienced the thorough restoration of capitalism in the last several decades. Its foreign policy is surely motivated to some extent by the profit motive. There are, for example, foreign policy ramifications of having $40 billion invested in Africa, mostly in mineral products vital to China’s astonishingly rapid capitalist growth. Its foreign policy is inevitably driven, just as much as the foreign policy of the U.S., by the need for corporate profit.
There are, for example, foreign policy ramifications of having $40 billion invested in Africa, mostly in mineral products vital to China’s astonishingly rapid capitalist growth. Or from being Iran’s number one trading partner and petroleum consumer, even as the U.S. and Israel threaten to attack Iran. PRC naval vessels now frequent the Gulf of Aden and take action against Somali pirates off the Horn of Africa, looking out for Chinese “national interests.” Yes, the PRC may become more apt to use military force as its power grows, to further the ends of its elite–its 1%–especially in its own backyard. No one familiar with the history of the U.S. in the Caribbean should find this at all surprising.
Beijing expresses concern about the U.S. “pivot to Asia” policy announced in 2010, which involves a “rebalancing” of military forces from the Middle East and Central Asia (as the Afghan War theoretically winds down) to East Asia. The principal reason for this is apparently to “contain” China–more than it’s already “contained” by a necklace of U.S. bases from Japan to Guam to Afghanistan–and discourage any efforts by Beijing to solve territorial disputes in the East and South China Seas by military force.
This “containment” is not Cold War-style containment. It’s not about checking an ideological trend or antagonistic system. (When the PRC provides half of U.S. home textile imports, produced by Chinese workers employed by foreign capitalists, how can one posit an ideological divide?) It’s all about budding inter-capitalist competition, not entirely incomparable to the competition between the U.S. and Japan in the Pacific before World War II.
It’s about the U.S. protecting its own hegemonic position in East Asia established since 1945, which is now challenged by a China seeking to reestablish its own historical regional hegemony following many decades of hostile encirclement. Beijing for its part denies any aggressive intentions, and declares its commitment to “harmony” in the world. It consistently invokes that ancient Confucian value. (Recall how the Beijing Olympic opening ceremonies in 2008 featured no Marxist-Leninist manifestations but centered on the 和 “harmony”–Chinese he, Japanese wa–concept.)
Still, the near-collision in early December of U.S. and Chinese naval vessels in the South China Sea underscores the real possibility of military confrontation. It also suggests that, as the propaganda on all sides heats up, we should all become familiar with the territorial disputes and Chinese claims.
The Historical Context
Washington depicts Chinese claims to a host of uninhabited islands, some of which are also claimed by Japan, Korea, the Philippines, Vietnam, Malaysia and Brunei, as an excuse for military expansion and pressure on neighboring countries (mostly close U.S. allies). One seldom finds in the U.S. press any sympathetic discussion of these claims.
But China, at least in some instances, surely has a case based on traditional and logical arguments for sovereignty. It stresses history more than narrow legality. It points to the depictions of isles on sometimes centuries-old Chinese maps, and to the fact that Chinese visited, named, and described them. It sometimes cites evidence that Chinese claims have been historically respected by neighboring nations.
The most explosive dispute is that between China (and Taiwan) and Japan over small uninhabited islands in the East China Sea which the Chinese call Diaoyu and the Japanese the Senkaku Islands.
In pressing its claims, Beijing for the most part alludes to times when the current system of “international law” (growing out of such events as the Thirty Years War from 1618 to 1648 in Europe) didn’t exist–or at least before the humiliating western encroachments beginning with the Opium War of 1839-42 brought European concepts of international law to the region.
The British could argue that the Opium War, which resulted in the British acquisition of Hong Kong, the expansion of western opium trafficking in China–necessary to balance the trade deficit–and (from 1854) control of the Chinese Maritime Customs Service, was entirely legal. In the U.S., President Martin Van Buren applauded the Opium War, while former president John Quincy Adams embraced it as “a righteous cause.” It was, in Adams’ opinion, a proper reaction to “the arrogant and insupportable pretension of China that she will hold commercial intercourse with the rest of mankind…upon the insulting and degrading forms of lord and vassal.”)
Indeed, the system of international relations prevailing in East Asia from around the second century BCE to the nineteenth century had been the Sinocentric tribute system, according to which the countries surrounding China and wishing to trade with it formally declared their recognition of China’s suzerainty. It was a lord-vassal relationship. But this was not necessarily seen by the foreign countries’ leaders as a humiliating relationship–as “arrogant and insupportable.” (What did John Quincy Adams know, for example, about the feelings of the Korean court about the tributary relationship?)
China seemed indeed to be “the central country” with a more advanced culture, and the benefits of the tributary relationship could be considerable. Envoys travelling to the Chinese court, kowtowing to the emperor, conveying tribute goods invariably departed with a greater quantity of Chinese gifts plus the right of their nationals to trade in the world’s most populous and at times most prosperous nation.
There might also be advantages to calling upon the elder-brother nation for protection; Korean kings sometimes called upon Chinese help to repel invasions or suppress peasant uprisings. As western nations used gunboat diplomacy to try to force Korea to open its doors in the 1860s, the Koreans resisted their overtures, arguing that China, the overlord nation, by custom handled their foreign affairs.
The Korean court was alarmed by events in next-door Japan in the 1850s and 60s, just as it was alarmed by events in China from the Opium War. It appeared that aggressive westerners were knocking down doors everywhere, and that the Japanese were now working with them. Thus the Koreans cautiously ignored Japanese diplomatic initiatives.
This Korean silence infuriated the new Japanese leadership. In 1873 it considered invading Korea, to force the Korean court to recognize the Meiji regime and to sign precisely the sort of unequal treaty with Japan that Japan had been forced to sign with western powers. (A clear case of the abused becoming the abuser.) Plans to attack were only aborted due to concern about western reactions to such a move. The decision not to invade was a practical, not moral, decision. It was really a matter of timing.
The general opinion within the Japanese elite (as expressed by Nitobe Inazo, a Quaker convert, prominent international intellectual and English-language apologist for Japanese culture, married to a white Baltimore woman in 1909) was that Koreans were “primitive,” belonging “to a stone age.” (See his Thoughts and Essays, Tokyo, 1909, p. 214-16). That even such a “progressive” figure would baldly express such ethnic bigotry towards Koreans (whom, if it makes any difference, are actually a pretty close DNA match to Japanese) suggests that the actions of the Japanese elite and state towards Korea were based on anything but mutual respect.
But Japan did soon force the “hermit kingdom” of Korea—which the Japanese oligarch Yamagata Aritomo sometimes described as “a dagger pointed to the heart of Japan” (reasoning apparently that should it fall under Russian control it could be used as a beachhead for an attack on Japan)–to sign an unequal treaty in 1876. This opened the country to a permanent Japanese legation and vastly expanded trade. By this, treaty Korea renounced its longstanding status as a Chinese tributary state.
The presence of Japanese troops in the country produced a large-scale uprising by Korean soldiers in 1882. In 1884 there was a bloody, Japanese-inspired coup attempt, after which both Chinese and Japanese forces intervened in Korea. Liberation was not in store; Korea soon became the vortex of Sino-Japanese contention, then Russo-Japanese imperialist competition, and later a key flashpoint in the U.S.-Soviet Cold War.
For centuries, the Japanese had declined inclusion in the China-centered tribute system. Official missions were sent to China from the early seventh through early ninth centuries, and again from the early fifteenth through the mid-sixteenth. But the Japanese ruling class was never comfortable with the notion that the Japanese emperor–the descendent of the Sun Goddess Amaterasu–was inferior to the Chinese Son of Heaven, or needed to have his credentials verified by an outsider.
One can surely sympathize with the proto-nationalism behind Japan’s historical aloofness. But the flipside has sometimes been an assertion of Japan’s right to establish a Japan-centered sphere, through military force. The results have not necessarily been positive.
The Ryukyu Kingdom (Okinawa): Not Always Part of Japan
To understand the deep background of the Sino-Japanese islands dispute, we should begin with Okinawa. We think today of Okinawa and the adjoining islands (the Ryukyus) as an integral part of Japan. But this was not always the case.
From its unification under the Sho dynasty in the fifteenth century the Ryukyu Kingdom was a Chinese tributary state. Chinese culture is still more apparent in those islands than on the main islands of Japan. The Ryukyuan and Japanese languages, while related (like German and Norwegian), aren’t mutually intelligible. They separated over two thousand years ago. The cultures of Japan and the Ryukyus were and still are quite different. A 2005 poll conducted by a professor at the University of the Ryukyus showed that over 40% of Okinawa people do not consider themselves “Japanese” and would in fact like independence from Japan.
There is in fact a sad history between these islands and the Land of the Rising Sun. In the 1590s the Japanese hegemon Toyotomi Hideyoshi, having reunified a nation divided into warring domains for over a century, demanded that countries around Japan recognize him as their overlord and pay tribute to Japan. An egomaniac convinced that he as the leader of a million samurai could conquer Korea, China, even Persia, this warlord demanded that the nearby Ryukyu kingdom become a Japanese tributary. A terrified king Sho Nei (r. 1587-1620) made a payment (to help with the invasion of Korea), but only delivered part of what he’d promised.
Hideyoshi invaded Korea in 1592 as the first step in his global conquest scheme. He died six years later with the war a bloody stalemate. (The Ming Chinese had intervened massively to help repel the Japanese.) The new shogun Tokugawa Ieyasu wisely withdrew Japanese troops from Korea, arranged POW exchanges, and established a solid diplomatic and trade relationship with Korea. He left the Ryukyus alone.
But in 1609 the daimyo (baron) of the Japanese domain of Satsuma, at the tip of the island of Kyushu, dispatched a force of 3000 warriors to the Ryukyus–supposedly to punish its king for his earlier failure to pay adequate tribute to the late Hideyoshi, and for failure to express proper appreciation for the recent repatriation of Ryukyuan sailors shipwrecked off the Honshu coast. It was a plain power-bid and effort to curry favor with the shogun Tokugawa Ieyasu. (Satsuma had opposed the Tokugawa on the battlefield in 1600 but had graciously been allowed to retain a portion of its vast territory after its defeat.) The subordination of the Ryukyus was a gift from Satsuma to the shogunate, and a kind of loyalty oath.
After suppressing strong resistance, the Satsuma samurai first seized control of the Amami Islands at the north end of the Ryukyus, which thus became “Japanese” territory. (These now have a population of about 120,000 on eight islands administered as part of Kagoshima Prefecture.) Satsuma forces then invaded Okinawa, capturing King Sho Nei, bringing him to Edo (today’s Tokyo) where he was forced to declare submission to Ieyasu in August 1610. He was also obliged to pledge fealty to the daimyo of Satsuma domain that December. From this point the Ryukyus were regarded by China, Japan, and the Satsuma domain as a tributary state, with neither China nor Japan recognizing the other’s claim.
(For Satsuma there were numerous advantages of the arrangement. The domain profited from the lucrative tribute-trade with the Ryukyus, in goods such as sugar, tobacco, and Chinese silk. Japanese musical culture was forever enriched by the introduction of the banjo-like shamisen, originally of Chinese origin, through the Ryukyus via Satsuma.)
Japan’s relations with the outside world changed dramatically in the 1630s. Due in part to concern about the spread of Christianity in Japan, in part to concern about European encroachment, the shogunate expelled nearly all foreigners from the country (an exception made for the Dutch, who swore they had no intention of promoting any sort of religion). It also forbade Japanese from leaving the country.
Exceptions were made for traders visiting Korea, where Japan had a permanent trading station near what is now Busan, and the Ryukyus. The Ryukyu Kingdom was still considered a foreign country, its envoys to Japan treated much the same way as those from Korea (which never accepted a tributary status in relation to Japan). But Satsuma ships regularly visited Okinawa, docking on the side of island opposite to that frequented by the boats from China, collecting tribute and engaging in trade.
The great paradox here is that an era of foreign aggression–including the invasions of Korea and the Ryukyus between 1592 and 1609–and incessant civil war was followed by over two centuries of peace. During the era of the Tokugawa shoguns (1603-1868) Japan was involved in no foreign wars and, despite incessant local peasant rebellions, experienced no nationwide upheavals. It was a period of extraordinary stability and economic (including specifically capitalistic) growth achieved in relative isolation from the world system created by European and North American capital.
The Meiji Restoration of 1868 changed everything. Japan had been “opened” by U.S. gunboat diplomacy in 1854, agreed to allow foreigners to visit and live in “treaty ports” in 1859, and experienced internal upheaval. The leaders of “new Japan” felt it was a mark of a “civilized” nation to not only maintain national independence but to colonize less advanced peoples, just like the Spanish had done in the Philippines, the Dutch in Java, the English in India, the French in Vietnam, the U.S. expanding into Mexican territory, etc. After all, the most up-to-date western “science” was telling the Japanese leaders that there were more or less advanced “races” and it was natural for the superior to dominate the inferior. Social Darwinism validated the oligarchs’ expansionist ambitions.
But only in the 1870s did Japan, under its new, western-oriented regime, formally annex the Ryukyu Kingdom. It did so without consulting with the Ryukyuan people, to say nothing of China. It did so in two phases, first pronouncing the islands a barony (han) in 1871, governed by the king, Sho Tai, who would now be accountable to Tokyo. In 1879 the former kingdom was declared a prefecture of Japan–the current Okinawa Prefecture.
In that year Sho Tai–last in a line of kings dating back to 1429–was forced to abdicate, relocate to Tokyo, accept Japanese courtly rank, and learn how to speak the appropriate sort of Japanese. He invested in an Okinawa copper mining operation, but it wasn’t very successful. Okubo Toshimichi, one of the three most crucial figures in the early Meiji leadership, suggested in 1875 that the newly-dubbed marquis be made hereditary governor of Okinawa, to pacify local anti-Japanese sentiment. But the leadership did not agree on the question. Sho Tai only got back to Okinawa once, to visit ancestral graves, before this death at age 58 in 1879. A victim, arguably, of early Japanese imperialism.
In the interim, in December 1871, some Ryukyuan fishermen were shipwrecked on the southeastern coast of Taiwan. Fifty-four of these were massacred by people of the Paiwan tribe native to that region. The incident provided an opportunity for Tokyo to press its claim of sovereignty over the Ryukyus. Japanese Foreign Minister Soejima Taneomi visited Beijing and obtained an unprecedented meeting with the Chinese emperor. In that meeting he argued that since the Ryukyus had just been declared a Japanese han, all Ryukyuans were Japanese subjects and that China, as sovereign over Taiwan, bore responsibility to punish those culpable in this incident. (He was surely aware that the Chinese central government did not in fact control the region where the event had occurred.)
Emperor Tongzhi replied (quite understandably) that since Taiwan was part of China and the Ryukyu Kingdom in fact a Chinese tributary state–neither of them part of Japan–this was a purely internal matter for China. He might have added that, having so abruptly emerged from a long period of national isolation and passivity, Japan was suddenly asserting unreasonable territorial claims.
Tokyo’s response was to dispatch in May 1874 a naval force of 3,600 to attack the Paiwan community on the southeastern Taiwan coast. The attackers killed about 30 people and demanded and received an indemnity from China of 500,000 taels. Only after this bruising experience did Qing China implicitly, grudgingly acknowledge that the Ryukyus were part of Japan. Okinawa was Japan’s first colony.
(One could argue that the island of Hokkaido could be designated such, since that large northern island, a homeland of the Ainu people, was flooded by homesteading settlers and brought under Tokyo’s control in the 1870s. But the colonization had begun under the old regime; in 1799 the Tokugawa shogunate had asserted direct control over the island, and ordered the Ainu to learn Japanese. By 1850 their numbers had fallen to less than a third of the Hokkaido population, by 1880, under 10%.)
In obtaining control over the Ryukyus, the Japanese government expanded the nation from one spanning the 45th to 30th latitudes to one extending south as far as the 24th parallel. (The populated island of Iriomote lies further south than the city of Taipei on Taiwan.) From this point, Japan would share the East China Sea with China.
Towards the end of the conflict in the Pacific, in World War II, between April and June of 1945, U.S. forces attacked Okinawa. Japanese officials ordered the population (some 300,000 people) to resist to the death, on behalf of the Emperor. Many did; over 100,000 Ryukyuans were sacrificed. 90% of the island’s buildings were destroyed, priceless historical artifacts and documents lost. There’s enduring bitterness in the Ryukyus not only about the U.S. invasion and subsequent occupation but towards Tokyo as well. As one prefectural official told the Guardian in 2011: “The Japanese army not only starved the Okinawans but used them as human shields. That dark history is still present today–and Japan and the US should study it before they decide what to do with next.”
The Diaoyu (Senkaku) Islands
To the south of the Ryukyu Kingdom was the collection of five isles that the Chinese named Diaoyutai. Currently uninhabited, they are located about 170 kilometers northeast of Taiwan and over 400 kilometers southeast of Okinawa. They were not traditionally regarded by Ryukyuan kings as part of their domain, and there seems to be no evidence that anyone from the Japanese main islands even visited them before the late nineteenth century.
Chinese had visited them, however, from at least 1372 when Ming China started sending envoys to the Ryukyus. They were used as a navigation point by the diplomatic missions from at least 1403. They appear, some identified by name, on Chinese maps produced over the last six centuries. A substantial travel diary, by a Chinese envoy to the Ryukyu Kingdom, dated 1534, depicts the islands as the “border that separates Chinese and foreign lands.” (Again, there is no evidence for Japanese awareness of the islands at this time. They lay far to the south of Japan, with the still-independent Ryukyu Kingdom in between.) The Japanese warlord Oda Nobunaga, who began the process of reunifying Japan, was born in this year.
In other words, ambassadors of a well-organized, centralized, bureaucratic state–Ming China–were matter-of-factly referring to the islands as the “border” at a time when Japan lacked any kind of effective central administration that could even delimitate Japan’s own borders. Europeans (first arriving in Japan in 1543) saw Japan not as a single country, but as a collection of warring kingdoms whose leaders were giving little attention even to the Ryukyus–to say nothing of remoter islands to the south.
But a sixteenth century Chinese gazetteer shows that Chinese were paying keen attention. It mentions that the main island of Diaoyu “accommodates ten or more” junks in its harbors, which suggests at least occasional Chinese visitation. Another report, by an envoy to the Ryukyus in 1561, states that the islands are landmarks one passes on the final stage of the voyage from Fuzhou (in Fujian province) to Okinawa. Aren’t such sources alone sufficient to establish an historical claim?
It is sometimes suggested that the Daioyu islands were part of Taiwan (and thus a part of China) from an early date. I would not argue otherwise, since they seem to have constituted fishing grounds for people from Taiwan and Fujian for centuries.
But one has to also note in fairness that the whole island of Taiwan was not firmly under Chinese control even as late as the nineteenth century. In the sixteenth century it was inhabited by numerous tribes governed, not by Han Chinese scholar-gentry, but by native chieftains. A Chinese sailor in a text dated 1603 refers to the indigenous peoples of the island as dong fan or “eastern savages.” When the Dutch colonizers arrived in 1626, they found little evidence of a Chinese administration. It was they who organized, over the next several decades, the migration of tens of thousands of Han Chinese peasants from Fujian province to farm on the island.
The Dutch were driven out of Taiwan by 1662, however, by forces commanded by Zheng Chenggong. Zheng was a pirate and Ming dynasty loyalist, and fought on its behalf (in Fujian, mostly) against the invading Manchus who established their dynasty in 1644. China and Japan can, I suppose, equally claim Zheng as their own, since he was born in the port of Hirado, in Kyushu, to a Chinese merchant and his Japanese wife. He was celebrated in Japanese popular culture (most notably in Chikamatsu Monzaemon’s puppet play Kokusenya Kassen of 1715), which emphasizes his Japanese side. He’s depicted as the embodiment of Japanese prowess and courage versus Chinese ineptitude and cowardice. He’s revered as a god in some temples in Fujian and Taiwan, including one in Tainan City, Taiwan, dedicated to him and his mother.
In Chikamatsu’s fanciful treatment Zheng (Kokusenya) defeats the Manchu barbarians. In the real world, the Manchus prevailed in the end and established the Qing dynasty on the mainland. (This was in fact a rather glorious Chinese dynasty, ruling to 1912). Zheng Chenggong was at least able to expel the Dutch colonizers, resist the Manchus and establish his own kingdom in southwestern Taiwan. This remained independent until his grandson submitted to Qing forces in 1682.
Only from this point can one really speak of Taiwan being “part of China” in an operational sense. And even then, the Chinese court paid little attention to the islands. Emperor Kangxi (r. 1661-1722) called them “a ball of mud beyond the pale of civilization.” The Qing emperors claimed Taiwan, as they did Mongolia, Tibet and other regions, without necessarily administering them effectively.
Thus, as of the eighteenth century, the Ryukyu Kingdom was an independent monarchy, but obliged to pay tribute both China and Japan. The Tokugawa shoguns of Japan saw it as a foreign country. The Diaoyu islands in between Okinawa and Taiwan were claimed by China, while Taiwan itself was not under the full control of Beijing.
Japanese scholars at the time, during the period of national isolation, probably had limited understanding of the situation in Taiwan and adjoining islands. But a map drawn up in 1785 by Hayashi Shihei, a military scholar in the castle-town of Sendai and one of the most knowledgeable geographers of this time, shows the Diaoyu islands as Chinese, not Ryukyuan–and certainly not Japanese–on a map in his Illustrated Survey of the Three Countries. A Ryukyuan official also surveyed the islands in 1859 and his reports were subsequently used by the (Japanese) government of Okinawa Prefecture established in 1879.
Japan did not lay an immediate claim to the islands following the Meiji Restoration of 1868. But in 1885, Japanese interior minister Yamagata Aritomo endorsed a proposal by the Okinawan prefectural government that Japan stake a claim to the islands. (Yamagata also served as War Minister and Prime Minister and is considered the father of the modern Japanese army.) But the proposal was opposed by the foreign minister, Inoue Kaoru, on the grounds it would anger China, which had long since mapped and named them. Chinese newspapers had reported that Japanese, having taken control of the Ryukyus, might make a move on Daioyutai too. So, Inoue argued, the timing wasn’t right for annexation.
Still, serious surveys of the islands were undertaken by Okinawa Prefecture from this time. The Japanese claim only originated around this point–half a millennium after the islands appear on a Chinese map.
But why should all of this tedious history be of any concern to us?
No Dispute?
Because today, Tokyo insists that the Diaoyu islands are unquestionably Japanese. No need for discussion at all; this is a settled matter! Tokyo blandly declares that “there is no dispute” about sovereignty. How are the PRC and Taiwan governments which obviously do dispute Japanese claims, on rational grounds, supposed to react to that stance?
Meanwhile the U.S. government declares that, whatever the merits of the case, the islands are within the security zone that it is obliged to defend under the terms of the U.S.-Japan Security Treaty in effect since 1952. That treaty in effect trades U.S. assurances of Japanese “security” (from Russian or Chinese attack) and integration into the U.S.-led Cold War bloc for Tokyo’s routine deference to the U.S.’s global agenda.
(Just one example of that deference: Recall Prime Minister Koizumi’s automatic endorsement in 2003 of the U.S. attack on Iraq based on lies, and even the agreement to station Japanese “Self-Defense Forces” in southern Iraq, arguably in violation of the Japanese constitution. From January 2004 July 2006, in the first such deployment of its kind, 600 Japanese soldiers were stationed in Iraq, ostensibly on a purely “humanitarian” mission protected by Australian and Dutch troops. The mission was unpopular in Japan, along with the dispatch of a Japanese destroyer and supply ship to refuel U.S. warships in the Indian Ocean supporting the occupations of Iraq and Afghanistan. In 2007 the Diet forced then-Prime Minister Fukuda Yasuo to end the latter mission. But as a rule the Japanese government over the last six decades has never publicly disagreed with the U.S. on any issue of consequence. It has been as abjectly obsequious to U.S. as Poland ever was to the old Soviet Union.)
While the Chinese (including the Taiwanese) make their case for the islands on the basis of history, Tokyo makes its case on the basis of “international law.” Specifically, it argues that in 1895, the Japanese cabinet (headed by Ito Hirobumi, soon to become Japan’s first Prime Minister) decided to assert sovereignty over the isles because they were, in international legal language, terra nullius–uninhabited lands, there for the taking.
Okay. Surely they were uninhabited at that time, if not unclaimed. But why did this announcement of sovereignty happen in 1895?
Because of a war! Japan, having established Okinawa Prefecture in 1879 (again, without consulting with the Ryukyuan people or China), had extended its maritime frontier southwards to include islands around Taiwan. Then in 1894-95 it went to war with China. The fighting concentrated in Korea, Manchuria, and Taiwan.
This is really the 500 pound gorilla in the room, when we talk about the “islands dispute.” The Sino-Japanese War, which began on July 28, 1894 when Japanese troops attacked Chinese forces at Asan Bay, was an immoral, imperialist war. It is generally acknowledged among historians that the war resulted from a deliberate provocation by Japanese of Qing forces in Korea. (The Chinese had, at the request of the Korean king, intervened to suppress the Tonghak Rebellion. The Meiji regime citing a treaty with China insisted on their right to intervene too, although the Koreans had not requested this.) Just before that war’s end–when victory was certain, and Chinese opinion didn’t matter anymore–the Japanese government annexed the islands, which it dubbed the Senkaku Islands.
So–to sum up–having forced the Ryukyu Islands to accept incorporation into the Japanese state, the Japanese leadership in 1873 planned a mission to Korea, designed to provoke war. This mission was aborted but Japanese gunboat diplomacy “opened” Korea in 1876. In 1894-95 China and Japan waged war in Korea resulting in huge territorial gains for Japan.
Following Japan’s victory, a (once again) humiliated China was forced to accept the victor’s terms. It turned over Taiwan, as well as the Liaodong Peninisula in southern Manchuria, to Japan as war booty. The Treaty of Shimonoseki of 1895 was surely a legal text, recognized by the major powers at the time.
(However: Russia, Germany and France–concerned about the rapid emergence of this Asian power, and about the “Yellow Peril” in general–jointly intervened to prevent Japan from acquiring the Liaodong Peninsula. Russia coveted this very lucrative piece of real estate and the warm water port of Lushun [Port Arthur]. Humiliated and outraged by the “Triple Intervention,” the Japanese government handed (rather, sold) its Liaodong properties back to China. Two years later, Russia acquired the same Liaodong concessions from the Chinese, fueling further Japanese indignation. Politicians and journalists fumed that white Europeans were allowed to colonize Manchurians, while Japanese were being excluded—how racist!)
That disappointment aside, the Shimonoseki Treaty of 1895 assigned to Japan “the island of Formosa [Taiwan], together with all islands appertaining or belonging to the said island of Formosa.” While Tokyo denies that the treaty was necessary to legitimate its assertion of sovereignty over the Senkaku islands, based upon the terra nullius argument, it was also once able to point to this treaty to legitimate its acquisition of the disputed isles. The fact is, the seizure of both Taiwan and the Senkakus resulted from Chinese defeats in an unnecessary war provoked by Japanese forces in Korea.
Tokyo might have left those islands under the administration of its newly acquired colony of Taiwan (its “colonial university” as a Diet member proudly termed it). Had it done so, after the Second World War, the islands would have been returned with the assistance of the U.S. to Chinese control. But even before the Treaty of Shimonoseki was signed, Tokyo drew a line on the map and declared the Senkaku Islands part of Japan’s Okinawa Prefecture.
Hitherto uninhabited, the islands attracted a labor force. As The Economist reported (Dec. 22, 2012): “A man from Fukuoka, Tatsushiro Koga, was given leave to ‘develop’ the islands. Koga brought in some 200 Okinawans. They processed katsuobushi—dried, smoked bonito, out of which dashi, a staple stock in Japanese cooking, is made. And they caught the short-tailed albatross, which bred there, selling the prized feathers for down. The last of Koga’s employees left in 1940. (No family is so closely associated with the near-extinction of a once-abundant species.)”
Not a very pretty picture, is it? A Japanese capitalist employs cheap Ryukyuan labor to process bonito and annihilate a bird species for his profit.
Japanese officials arguing for “indisputable” sovereignty over the islands place much emphasis on a note written by a Chinese consul in Osaka in 1920 to the Japanese government. It conveys his government’s gratitude for the rescue of some Chinese fishermen who’d been washed ashore on one of the isles. It’s short:
In the winter of the 8th year (1919) of the Republic of China, 31 fishermen from Hui’an Country, Fujian Province were lost due to the stormy wind and were washed ashore on the Wayo Island, of the Senkaku Islands, Yaeyama District, Okinawa Prefecture, Empire of Japan. Thanks to the enthusiastic rescue work by the people of Ishigaki village, Yaeyama District, Empire of Japan, they were able to safely return to their homeland. With a deep response and admiration toward the people of the village who were willing and generous in the rescue operation, I express my gratitude by this letter.
But a consul’s thank-you note in 1920 hardly clinches the matter. This letter was written at a time when China was a semi-colonial nation at the mercy of multiple imperialisms. In the course of the First World War, in 1915, Japan invoking the terms of the Anglo-Japanese Naval Treaty of 1902 had attacked German possessions on China’s Shandong Peninsula. At the same time Tokyo presented China with its “21 Demands” that would have converted China into an outright colony of Japan. Britain and the U.S. were so shocked by the demands that they intervened to modify them. But at Versailles, in 1919, the victorious powers recognized the transfer of Shandong concessions from Germany to Japan. Chinese students rose up–in the May Fourth Movement–in wrath at the Treaty of Versailles.
This formal diplomatic letter–by a low-ranking representative of a government cowed by Japanese imperialism, following the Sino-Japanese War, and additional humiliations during World War I–is hardly a statement of the Chinese people’s acceptance of Japan’s territorial claim.
Wartime Allies’ Decision: Japan to Be Stripped of All Islands Stolen from Chinese
Skipping ahead: during the Second World War, the Cairo Declaration of 1943, signed by U.S. President Franklin Roosevelt, Chinese President Chiang Kai-shek, and British Prime Minister Winston Churchill, stated that upon defeat Japan would be “stripped of all the islands in the Pacific which she has seized or occupied since the beginning of the first World War in 1914, and that all the territories Japan has stolen from the Chinese, such as Manchuria, Formosa, and The Pescadores, shall be restored to the Republic of China. Japan will also be expelled from all other territories which she has taken by violence and greed.” For victims of Japanese imperialism, this was a breath of fresh air.
The Potsdam Declaration was declared in occupied Germany in July 1945, by U.S. President Truman, the British prime minister, and Chiang. (Joseph Stalin did not sign, since Japan and the USSR were not then at war.) It stated: “The terms of the Cairo Declaration shall be carried out and Japanese sovereignty shall be limited to the islands of Honshu, Hokkaido, Kyushu, Shikoku and such minor islands as we determine.”
The Japanese government, unconditionally surrendering after the war, by the Instrument of Surrender of Japan signed on September 2, 1945, accepted all this. It also was obliged to accept two Allied (really, U.S.) occupation zones: one covering the main islands of Japan listed above, and another covering the Ryukyus, which came to host a large U.S. military presence.
It was by no means clear at that time whether Okinawa would remain under U.S. control forever, be returned to Japanese administration, or become an independent state.
U.S. Could Have Solved This Problem in 1945
At that point the U.S. military officials could have altered the political map, returning the Diaoyu (Senkaku) islands from Okinawa Prefecture, under U.S. control, to administration by China’s Taiwan province. In 1945, China was still led by the anti-Japanese united front of the Communists and Guomindang. Taiwan was not yet a “rebel province” governed by Guomindang forces fleeing the mainland in defeat. It was a former Japanese colony whose liberation had been announced by the Allies.
The U.S. did not make such a change, however. Instead, it retained the isles as part of the Ryukyu occupation zone, using them for the exquisite sport of bombing practice. (Think Kaho’olawe or Vieques.) The U.S. was thus actively complicit in the retention of territory, as the Cairo Declaration put it, “stolen from the Chinese.”
In 1949, the Communists triumphed in China. Chiang Kai-shek’s forces fled to Taiwan, establishing it as their headquarters and depicting their rule as a continuation of the Republic of China announced in 1912. (The Guomindang met with substantial Taiwanese resistance as they established their rule.) Neither Beijing nor Taipei made a big issue of the U.S. jurisdiction over the Daioyu (Senkaku) islands at the time; there were far more pressing matters to attend to.
In 1972, after repeated demands from the Japanese Diet for return of the Ryukyu islands, the U.S. returned sovereignty to Tokyo. (The U.S. continues to dominate the islands, and has 26,000 troops stationed on Okinawa. Two-thirds of Okinawans polled find these “unnecessary” for Japanese security reasons, and the people of the islands complain of the noise and high rate of crime involving U.S. soldiers. But technically, yes, Okinawa is Japanese.)
This return of Okinawa followed the Nixon rapprochement with Beijing in February 1972. The Nixon trip to China had caught Tokyo by surprise, and there was much indignation that the U.S. had ignored its chief Asian ally in arranging the visit. (Japanese Prime Minister Tanaka Kakuei responded by reestablishing diplomatic ties with China in September.) The “return” of the Ryukyus was in part an effort to repair hurt feelings between two very close powerful allies.
With the Ryukyus went the Diaoyu (Senkaku) islands. By the security treaty, and the Okinawa Reversion Treaty of 1971, the U.S. is obliged to defend them on behalf of the Japanese claim.
But U.S. officials, including former and current secretaries of state Hillary Clinton and John Kerry, have stated that the U.S. “takes no position on the ultimate sovereignty” over the disputed islands. The U.S. Congress meanwhile has passed a law stating curiously: “While the United States takes no position on the ultimate sovereignty of the Senkaku Islands, the United States acknowledges the administration of Japan over the Senkaku Islands. The unilateral actions of a third party will not affect United States acknowledgement of the administration of Japan over the Senkaku Islands.”
What does it mean to “acknowledge the administration” of these uninhabited isles, other than to concede de facto Japanese ownership (without insulting China too badly, by overtly supporting Japan’s claim of sovereignty)?
It means telling the rising Chinese: Maybe the islands should be yours, but having established this alliance with your historical enemy we must endorse its claim. Although the rocks mean nothing to us, we cannot tell the Japanese we will observe the terms of the Security Treaty in all matters other than the Senkaku/Diaoyu islands issue. That might give you Chinese the green light to seize them militarily. To maintain our alliance with Japan we must, regrettably, warn you not to take military action or you will have to confront combined Japanese-U.S. action. Foolish though it may seem, yes, we would go to war over this.
In other words, (again): It’s about the U.S. protecting its own hegemonic position in East Asia established since 1945, which is now challenged by a China seeking to reestablish its own historical regional hegemony.
Ratcheting Up Tensions
Japanese government officials maintain that Chinese (and Taiwanese) officials did not aggressively assert claims to the isles until 1971, when the U.S. was preparing to return sovereignty of the Ryukyus to Japan. They aver that the claims are based less upon a righteous indignation at the legacy of Japanese imperialism, than upon a UN survey in 1968 that found possible oil reserves in the area.
One imagines that, if the claims indeed came so late, their timing was in fact affected by the survey, and by the technical handover of authority over the isles from Washington to Tokyo. But that has nothing to do with the claims’ legitimacy.
During the 1972 negotiations between Chinese Premier Zhou Enlai and Japanese Prime Minister Tanaka,, Zhou reportedly told Tanaka that he did “not want to talk about it [the disputed islands issue] at this time. If there wasn’t oil, neither Taiwan nor the United States would make this an issue.” Six years later Deng Xiaoping on a visit to Japan suggested that it wasn’t time for discussion of the islands issue, “but with the next generation likely to be wiser than us, they will probably be able to find some resolution to the issue.”
In other words, while stating their claim, the Chinese were in no hurry to change the status quo. That does not sound like a regime rushing to access the possible oil reserves in the area found in 1968, or seeking a confrontation.
So what prompted an end to the quiet agreement to disagree? In 1990 a right-wing Japanese youth group set up a lighthouse on one of the islands. It constructed a second one in 1996. Meanwhile Tokyo declared an exclusive economic zone (EEZ) around the islands, claiming exclusive rights to marine resources within 200 miles. (The PRC claims a relatively modest EEZ hugging the Chinese coast.)
The PRC and ROC (Taiwan) found these actions provocative, responding with visits by oil-exploration vessels, ocean research vessels and warships. U.S. President Bill Clinton deployed two aircraft carrier strike groups in the region that year.
Since 2006, private groups from Hong Kong and Taiwan have challenged the EEZ and the Japanese Coast Guard; in 2008 a Taiwanese fishing boat and Japanese patrol boat collided. In 2011 the Taiwanese Coast Guard sent five patrol boats into the area to protect a fishing boat carrying activists, and the next year coast guard vessels from Taiwan and Japan collided. In January 2012 another boat carrying Taiwanese activists was prevented from landing on an isle by the use of water cannons.
In August 2012, seven Hong Kong activists managed to land on the island of Uotsuri. They were met by Japanese Coast Guardsmen, arrested, questioned, released to be met with a rapturous welcome in Hong Kong. (They were also cheered on by a massive PRC and Taiwanese online audience.). Soon thereafter a 20-boat flotilla from Japan, carrying about 150 people including eight Diet members, arrived in waters off Diaoyu/Senkaku. A dozen members of a Japanese right-wing group called Ganbare Nippon swam ashore and erected Japanese flags. Meanwhile in the same month, Ma Ying-jeou, the President of the Republic of China (Taiwan) urged restraint and dialogue, while reasserting Taiwan’s claim to the isles.
In September, Japanese Chief Cabinet Secretary Suga Yoshihide proposed that Japanese government workers be stationed on the islands. Then Tokyo exacerbated tension by purchasing (for $26 million) three of the islands that had been in private hands for decades. Tokyo governor Ishihara Shintaro, a highly influential right-wing politician, had been negotiating with the title owner to purchase the islands on behalf of the Tokyo metropolitan government. Ishihara had infuriated Chinese (among others) by his claim that the Rape of Nanking of 1937 (a massacre in which most scholars believe at least 200,0000 civilians were slaughtered by Japanese troops) was “a story made up by the Chinese… (tarnishing) the image of Japan, but… a lie.” He had also claimed that Japan’s annexation of Korea was justified by pressures from China and Russia.
The Japanese central government claims it made the purchase to stave of a deal with Tokyo municipal prefecture that would have heightened tensions even more. If so it apparently misjudged. Chinese President Hu Jintao had told Japanese Prime Minister Noda Yoshihiko days beforehand that Beijing would regard the nationalization as illegal. The U.S. State Department at the time (which was of course consulted by Tokyo) had given “very strong advice” against the move. (This is just one indication that Washington would like this problem to simply go away.)
On Nov. 29 Beijing declared an extension of its Air Defense Identification Zone (ADIZ) to include the area around the islands it claims. It overlaps the ADIZ claimed by Japan, which is quite huge, extending from close to the Siberian coast to close to the east coast of Taiwan. (China’s claims have hitherto hugged its coastline.)
Aircraft entering the zone are obliged to identify themselves to Chinese airport authorities. The U.S. denounced the move but also–significantly, and over Japanese protest–advised U.S. airlines to comply with the PRC requirements. Japan ordered its airlines to ignore them. Just before the zone was declared, the U.S. sent B-52s to fly through the zone unannounced, sending the clear message to Beijing that this airspace is ours as much as it’s yours.
On Dec. 26 Prime Minister Abe Shinzo of Japan, another unrepentant nationalist of the Liberal Democratic Party, visited Yasukuni Shrine, where kami of 14 Class A war criminals are enshrined by staff who insist that the Second World War was a necessary, righteous war to liberate fellow Asians from Western imperialism. He prayed for the peaceful repose of all those who’d fought on behalf of the Japanese emperor, in all those aggressive wars, and signed the official guestbook.
It was another confirmation of the charge, heard all around East and Southeast Asia, that Japanese leaders have just not come to grips with the legacy of twentieth-century Japanese imperialism. The U.S. State Department issued a statement saying it was “disappointed that Japan’s leadership has taken an action that will exacerbate tensions with Japan’s neighbors.” This was really a statement to Beijing: “We’re not behind this shrine visit, we don’t agree with it, we don’t want you Chinese and Japanese quarrelling because we need both of you–especially your banks to keep our crisis-ridden economy afloat.”
The Current U.S. Position
The U.S. wants to be in the middle, friend to both, but it can’t be.
The U.S. position (that it does not have a position on “ultimate sovereignty” but recognizes “Japanese administration” and will aid Japan if it comes to blows) is as much a distortion of history as Tokyo’s claim that the islands have never been anything but Japanese, and that “there is no dispute.” The fact is, the U.S. is responsible for the contested status quo, as the postwar superpower that oversaw the redrawing of maps in the region, the imperialist power that shaped its client states including Japan and Taiwan and signed agreements committing itself to the Japanese position.
Powerful voices in the U.S. foreign policy establishment are advocating U.S. neutrality on the islands dispute. Henry Kissinger, for example, wants to dissociate the U.S. entirely. He told CNTV in 2012, “There was no active American involvement that I remember in formulating a conclusion that was reached between Japan and China. And my dearest wish would be that China and Japan retain the monopoly of concern with that issue. It is not one in which the US should take any position on sovereignty.” (The fact that Kissinger is a moral monster, and the personification of U.S. imperialism, has no bearing on this particular issue.)
But the Japanese consul-general in Boston stated in a letter to the Boston Globe recently that “until the 1970s, when China first began to make assertions of sovereignty, there was nothing to suggest that the United States would even consider a neutral position.” Perhaps not. And Washington’s not really neutral now. It’s just committed to a contradictory position, occasioned by its past decisions made in times when it could call all the shots, and didn’t need to pay much attention to the historical sensitivities of East Asian peoples.
The people of this country should, however, precisely argue for a neutral position in a dispute between the countries with the second and third largest GDPs in the world, and which are the second and third largest U.S. trading partners, each of whom holds about a trillion dollars in U.S. debt.
It’s not just that “these rocks in the ocean mean nothing for us.” It’s that engagement on the side of the power that brutally colonized East and Southeast Asia between 1894 and 1945–and which has yet to adequately come to grips with its own history and properly educate its youth about that past, and whose leaders speak increasingly about the need to renounce the “pacifistic” constitution, becoming a “normal country” (read: normal, militaristic imperialist country)–in any future altercation will not help the war-weary people of this country at all.
To say nothing of the peoples of China, Taiwan, and Japan.
| <urn:uuid:9ea9f83d-170d-48a4-b491-0bf1cf769750> | 2 | 2.171875 | 0.04649 | en | 0.963513 | http://dissidentvoice.org/2014/01/rising-china-japan-and-u-s-historical-responsibility/ |
Take the 2-minute tour ×
My water heater (gas) shows a date of 1991 on it, although the house was built in 1993. There is nothing wrong with it. It is a little slow to heat the water up, sometimes taking almost 5 minutes to provide hot water (early morning, colder nights) but other than that there is no problem.
I hear that one should be replacing the water heaters every 20 years. Is this true? if it breaks, its going to flood the surrounding area. I dont want to replace it unless I have to. How can I check on this?
UPDATE: Based on the inputs, I have decided to replace the water heater. It may be a $250 for the check/clean/replace the rod/valve/sediments that I can add to the purchase of a new one and not worry about it for the next few years.
full image close up heat setting knob
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A picture of the heater in question might help people form an opinion. – Stephen Jul 22 '11 at 12:54
i'll add it tonight. – coder net Jul 22 '11 at 14:45
From the photos, it looks like you had it set pretty low, and there's no obvious bulging or corrosion that would be big warning signs. – Stephen Jul 23 '11 at 22:27
Regarding the update: Good choice, imo. Might want to put something on the new water heater as a reminder to change the anode rod in 6-8 years. Test the T&P relief valve annually... just have to pull on the handle. If water comes out, it's ok -- if not, replace it immediately. I'd replace it at 20 years whether it works or not, though. Doesn't make much sense to risk your life/house (even if it's a small risk) in an attempt to save $15. With some minor maintenance, a water heater can safely operate for 30-60 years. With no maintenance, it will dangerously operate for 10-25. – Michael Jul 26 '11 at 23:09
3 Answers 3
up vote 6 down vote accepted
The fact that it is taking 5 minutes to deliver hot water to the shower rarely has anything to do with a tanked water heater and is instead because of the distance between the water heater and the shower. (Also depends on whether or not those pipes are exposed to the elements, as the hot water will have to first heat the cold pipes before it can deliver hot water to the shower. Raising the temperature setting would help heat the pipes faster, but that would nonetheless be a problem with the setting, not a problem with the water heater that would warrant replacement if it were the only problem.) That aside, either the water at the top of the tank is hot or the water heater simply isn't working. (Hot water, like hot air, rises. If there's one place that hot water should be at, it's the top of the tank, which is where the hot outlet draws from.)
Water heaters typically go bad for two reasons:
(1) Not changing the anode rod, leading to corrosion that eats through the tank. If you haven't had your water heater's anode rod replaced (typically about every 10 years), then this thing is a ticking time bomb, and it will fail very soon.
(2) Sediment covering the electric elements / gas burner, at which point performance will be reduced. This will often cause "popping" noises, as the elements get quite hot and then cause water trapped within the sediment to almost instantaneously boil, causing a tiny explosion as the water turns to vapor. In electric water heaters, this will pretty much cause the lower element to be completely useless, as it becomes buried under more and more sediment, either becoming thermally insulated from the water that it's supposed to be heating or outright failing due to excessive temperatures. The common symptom of this in electric water heaters is that the hot water will quickly run out, as only the top element is working, and the hot water stays near the top. I haven't worked with gas water heaters much, but the logic is pretty similar... sediment and scale is going to cover up the surfaces that are transferring heat from the burner to the water, and you're going to lose a lot of efficiency. (To make matters worse, your water heater probably only had about a 50% AFUE [annual fuel utilization efficiency] rating when it was new, and if it has any sediment problems, it's probably down to 25%. By contrast, a new gas water heater will have 75-90% AFUE. Ergo, I would say it's worth it to change the water heater on account of efficiency alone.)
Note: Some of this depends on location -- the harder the water, the worse these problems will be.
If you don't have a water softener, you should immediately replace the unit.
If you have a water softener, the unit might still have problems, and even if it doesn't, I would replace it on AFUE concerns alone. If you don't want to replace it, though, you MUST at least have a plumber come install a new anode rod and T&P relief valve if you have not had the water heater serviced recently. (If your T&P relief valve is scaled over or has otherwise failed, flooding should be the least of your concerns. A failed T&P valve can lead to a BLEVE [a type of explosion], which would pretty much flatten your entire house and possibly kill everyone in it. See below.)
enter image description here
PS: What you want to use as a temperature setting is up to you, but you should keep it at at least 120-125F, raising the temperature up to 140 degrees Fahrenheit once a month to ward off Legionnaires' disease, which carries a 30% fatality rate.
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+1 for lots of great points. Here's a good video on replacing the anode rod: thisoldhouse.com/toh/video/0,,20047047,00.html – BMitch Jul 24 '11 at 1:06
And this is why you don't want a broken T&P valve: youtube.com/watch?v=9bU-I2ZiML0 – BMitch Jul 24 '11 at 1:10
thats pretty scary information. I live in Maryland and has only been in the house for last 3 years. how can I find out when the anode rode was replaced last? i don't see any notice on the heater.. also, what is a water softner, is that associated to the heater or the main water supply? – coder net Jul 24 '11 at 17:43
The anode rod is a sacrificial rod that bears the brunt of the galvanic corrosion caused by hard water. When it's gone, the water starts eating away at the tank. BMitch linked a video on how to do it, but as the video illustrates, changing out an anode rod typically takes some serious muscle. Probably the only way to check it is to actually remove it and see what it looks like. You could also use an exploratory camera to look at the anode rod, but it would have to be pretty good quality, which means it might be pricy. Best to just get a plumber to replace it and the T&P valve as well. – Michael Jul 24 '11 at 18:49
In regards to what a water softener is, it's an appliance/device that replaces the calcium and magnesium found in hard water (both hot and cold, not just something that filters only the water heater's water) with sodium. Doing this prolongs the life of your water heater and other plumbing and also eliminates calcium/lime build-up in the shower and on sink fixtures. – Michael Jul 24 '11 at 18:55
You may have the thermostat on your heater set too low. Gas heaters are either on or off; when they're on, they can really make that water nice and toasty in a hurry. Check the thermostat and the temperature of the water in the tank (if you don't already have a temperature gauge you can read on your tank, this may require professional help as the tank will be under normal water pressure even if the water's stone cold).
You may also need to flush out the tank; sediment can collect at the bottom over many years and reduce the efficiency of the heater.
A 1991 water heater is approaching the end of its rated life, but ratings tend to be pretty conservative on these types of things. I wouldn't be surprised if you got another 10 years out of it. The one I have is the original in a 30-year-old house, and it works just fine, but we have the money for a new one sitting in savings just waiting for a hiccup. Ours is also in a garage (I'm in Texas, so no basements, just a slab on grade or in really soft-soiled areas pier-and-beam), so even if it fails completely and drains out it's not going to cause much damage (just a big ol' water bill and a few cold showers).
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ok, i'll flush the water heater and see. I see some instructions/videos online for this. Is it safe for me to do it? I really have no experience with these. – coder net Jul 22 '11 at 14:19
Also, what is an ideal thermostat setting. I think mine is analog and I put it somewhere in the medium high. I'll confirm that. – coder net Jul 22 '11 at 14:26
Personally I would keep my hot water at about 110*F at the tank. This is hot, in fact painfully so to most people, but is unlikely to scald, as skin must be exposed for several minutes for even a first-degree burn. – KeithS Jul 22 '11 at 14:34
I added some pics of the heater as requested. The setting was on the small mark near the "warm" setting. I moved it to the next longer mark. Its a lot hotter now, but I have to still evaluate about the pace of heating for the next 2 days. – coder net Jul 23 '11 at 21:43
I agree with most of what KeithS said in his answer and I would only add that when I saw the particular symptom of slow heating in my hot water heater the cause was a fairly substantial amount of sediment inside the base.
If the tank is in general good health, flushing could solve this problem, but depending on the severity it could have also stressed a lot of the parts.
When making such a decision I personally balance the cost of a new unit, installed, against the cost of a service call to have someone give it a once over/tune up, the general health of the unit (yours seems fairly healthy), the odds of having a failure and the cost associated with a failure (is it in a spot where it would cause a lot of damage if it ruptured?)
If you think you'll see another 5-10 years, it's probably worth having it serviced.
Hope this helps.
share|improve this answer
Yes, part of the problem is determining the odds of it failing. If it fails, it will flood my basement and there will be some damage much more than what I'll need to spend on getting a new one. The problem is how to know if its reaching its limit. – coder net Jul 22 '11 at 14:21
I would check the temperature setting as suggested above, if it's already highish, then you've likely got a sediment problem. – Stephen Jul 22 '11 at 15:54
Added some pics, increased the heat setting a little more. Will observe for a couple of days. – coder net Jul 23 '11 at 21:43
Your Answer
| <urn:uuid:3baf7e2c-9597-4aab-b425-c5525ea2e734> | 2 | 1.507813 | 0.156012 | en | 0.959253 | http://diy.stackexchange.com/questions/7799/is-it-time-to-replace-my-20-year-old-water-heater/7838 |
Real-time scheduling of a tertiary-storage juke-box
Lijding, Maria Eva and Jansen, Pierre and Mullender, Sape (2001) Real-time scheduling of a tertiary-storage juke-box. In: PROGRESS 2001 Workshop on Embedded Systems, October 18, 2001, Veldhoven, the Netherlands (pp. pp. 135-140).
open access
Abstract:We present a jukebox scheduler for real-time data. The scheduler is part of a hierarchical real-time file system to be used over a network. A jukebox is a large tertiary storage device whose removable media (e.g. cd-rom, dvd-rom) are loaded and unloaded from one or more drives by a robot. The problem with tertiary storage is that media exchange times are high and the number of drives is limited. This makes scheduling tertiary storage complicated. The storage media switching time in a jukebox is in the order of tens of seconds. Therefore multiplexing between two files stored in different media is many orders of magnitude slower than doing the same in secondary storage. The goal of the scheduler is to schedule the use of the jukebox devices (arm and drives) in such a way that the system can guarantee the deadlines while minimizing the response time. The problem is similar to that of scheduling multiple processors with the additional difficulty of having to deal with the high switching times and the use of a shared resource (the arm). Finding an optimal schedule is an NP-hard problem. We provide a near-optimal polynomial solution by using heuristics to prune the tree of solutions. The scheduling time is in average less than 100 ms. The incoming requests are scheduled on-line.
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Metis ID: 203316 | <urn:uuid:6ddb67f9-b4ce-49e3-bc53-df117b71d1e5> | 2 | 1.742188 | 0.02765 | en | 0.871667 | http://doc.utwente.nl/36883/ |
History Lessons
I really enjoyed Robert Wuhl’s ASSUME THE POSITION 101 and his follow up 201 where he sheds light on many history lessons we were taught that weren’t all true.
He truly makes history class fun. He compares the popular figures of yesteryear to today’s pop culture celebrities. For example, he said author Washington Irving was like Stephen King, Steven Tyler and Steven Spielberg all rolled into one because books were everything back then. He then proceeds to show how Irving’s books about Christopher Columbus gave birth to false legends that became historical facts. He shows several other things that we’ve all been taught as fact that weren’t true.
Assume the Position 101 followwed by Assume The Position 201 | <urn:uuid:07cd7164-90a2-41d4-80ac-65e1e7717bfb> | 2 | 2.015625 | 0.049314 | en | 0.959251 | http://dorianocarta.com/history-lessons/ |
IEEE 1588 (1588) is a packet-based two-way communications protocol specifically designed to precisely synchronize many clocks to sub-microsecond resolution. The 2008 version of the protocol defines different clock classes and the syntactic language between these classes of clocks.
A master clock, when selected via the best master clock algorithm, provides the time base to all clocks in its domain. The primary reference time clock’s (PRTC’s) value of the time base is periodically captured with timestamps, usually once every second. The PRTC receives its own timing from an atomic clock either directly or via GPS satellites. The timestamps created represent the current value of time at the PRTC.
Using the 1588 protocol, these timestamps are inserted into “sync” packets in specially defined fields, with a special Ethertype reserved for the 1588 protocol. These packets are forwarded into the network as Ethernet packets or Internet protocol (IP) packets using user datagram protocol (UDP) as the packet type.
The clock class that receives and uses the timestamps to produce clock signals for applications is called an ordinary clock. The ordinary clock is located in the wireless basestation and must be able to derive the fundamental drive clock from the timestamp it receives from the PRTC.
In basestations with frequency division duplexing (FDD) radio technology, the ordinary clock must be capable of algorithmically filtering for the true rate of change in the PRTC timestamp generator to deliver the radio drive clock with better than 16 ppb in the target fundamental frequency.
For basestations with time division duplexing (TDD) radio technology, the ordinary clock has to derive precision frequency and “phase.” In this context, phase is the incidence in time when the GPS 1 pps occurs in the PRTC timestamp generator. All basestations in the cluster or alignment community need this coincidence of phase occurrence. The “type” of radio determines the phase coincidence requirement. The Third Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) and International Telecommunications Union (ITU) standards organizations define those requirements.
According to the 1588 protocol, the master sends a 1588 frame called the “Sync” message and inserts a timestamp at the time-stamping point. The slave receives the Sync message with the timestamp inserted by the master clock. For frequency recovery, this is all that is needed for the algorithm to derive a frequency reference for the basestation.
But if phase and time-of-day (ToD) are required, as for LTE TDD and LTE-Advanced, the slave has to be able to measure the flight time of the packet from master to slave to synchronize the 1-pps rollover between the master and slave and calculate the time at the slave. To do so, the slave sends a “Delay_Request” message back to the master.
The delay request message does not include a timestamp. It simply remembers the time it sent the Delay_Request message. The master then sends back a “Delay_Response” message. The Delay_Response message includes the time at which the master received the Delay_Request message. So, now the slave has four timestamps altogether. From these four timestamps, the slave can calculate the flight time of the packet.
The mathematical expectation of the 1588 protocol is network path symmetry. This means the protocol assumes the upstream and downstream paths between the grandmaster clock and ordinary clocks are equal in the flight time of packets between them. The path delay in each direction is made up of three types of delay component: link distance, serialization, and packet delay variation.
Link distance and serialization rate offsets are the two static asymmetry components. This means they don’t change and are “invisible” to the algorithm in the ordinary clock. Careful network engineering practices can minimize both of these sources of impairment.
The third delay component is the actual variation in packet delay propagation as packets pass through the intermediate nodes between the grandmaster and ordinary clocks. This packet delay variation (PDV) is the primary cause of 1588 ordinary clock computation errors.
The 2002 version of the standard was created for use on single segment Ethernet local-area networks (LANs). It was prohibited for “sync” packets from a grandmaster clock to “cross” LAN boundaries. The 1588 boundary clock (BC) was designed to straddle the interface between two Ethernet LANs. The side of the BC on the LAN interface with the grandmaster clock operates as an ordinary clock. The side of the BC on the other side of the LAN segment interface acts as a grandmaster to the ordinary clocks on that segment.
The PDV of a single-segment LAN is non-existent, so the BC was able to transfer the time base of the true grandmaster to its community of ordinary clocks with virtually no phase of frequency offset. The BC also prevented the cross segment ordinary clocks from “seeing” the actual grandmaster, reducing the load on that clock.
The transparent clock (TC) was created for the updated IEEE 1588-2008 version of the standard out of the recognition that 1588 packets would be traveling over large networks that would have numerous intermediate nodes between the grandmaster clock and the ordinary clock. It was also understood these intermediate nodes would add PDV to the flight times of each packet, which could result in a flight time asymmetry on the upstream and downstream paths.
Two versions of the TC were defined: end-to-end and peer-to-peer. The TC is “transparent” to the transport network protocol used by 1588. As the various TC components “measure” the delays in the nodes and links, these measured values are placed in a 1588 packet field named the “correction” field.
As each pair of TC components makes a time measurement, the result is “added” to the correction field. These time measurements are expressed in nanoseconds. When the 1588 packet arrives at its targeted ordinary clock, the 1588 protocol calls for the clock to extract the contents of the correction field and subtract the correction field value from the computed flight time derived by the difference in time base value between the “master” and ordinary clocks’ time bases. The expected result of this process is a drastic reduction in realized PDV, making the ordinary slave clocks’ filtering algorithm less complex and less costly.
The ITU-T formed a study group to work on the creation of IEEE 1588-2016 because of numerous incongruities and vagaries in IEEE 1588-2008 needing clarification or definition. As spectrum usage becomes more and more densely packed, tighter control of frequency precision and shrinking of guard band periods will be inevitable. This is done with more precise timing delivery and alignment capability.
The future of extremely precise timing delivery will almost certainly be a standards-based interaction between an IEEE 1588-type terrestrial timing delivery, combined with a more secure GPS/GNSS delivery system to master clocks. IEEE 1588 is the only standardized terrestrial mechanism today to deliver phase/time via a packet-based network with nanosecond accuracy.
| <urn:uuid:9eb9c615-ccf8-431e-bdd1-c114943388be> | 4 | 3.875 | 0.03994 | en | 0.924507 | http://electronicdesign.com/print/communications/what-s-behind-ieee-1588-protocol |
Bag of holding
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This article is about the Dungeons & Dragons item. For the general concept, see Magic satchel.
A bag of holding is a fictional magical item in the Dungeons & Dragons roleplaying game, capable of containing objects larger than its own size. Since its introduction, it has appeared in other roleplaying games and media.
A bag of holding appears to be a common cloth sack of about 2 by 4 feet (0.61 by 1.22 m) in size. It opens into a nondimensional space (similar to a magic satchel) or a pocket dimension, making the space larger inside than it is outside. Each bag of holding always weighs the same amount, between 15 and 60 pounds (6.8 and 27.2 kg), regardless of what is put into it. It can store a combined weight of up to forty times its own weight, and a combined volume of 30 to 250 cubic feet (0.85 to 7.08 m3). A living creature put in a bag of holding will suffocate after about 10 minutes.[1]
If a bag of holding is overloaded, or if a sharp object pierces it (from outside or inside), the bag will rupture and be ruined, the contents lost forever in "nilspace".[1]
Other magical bags similar to the bags of holding include:
• lesser bags of holding: these bags reduce only part of the weight within them, usually between 10% and 50%.
• Bag of tricks: by reaching into this bag, the bearer can pull out some type of animal, such as rabbits, weasels, rats, penguins and bats, or even wolves, bears, horses, or rhinos.[1]
• Heward's handy haversack: this backpack always weighs five pounds and is always the size of a normal backpack. It has two small side pouches that, like a bag of holding, can hold two cubic feet, much more than normal, or 20 pounds of material, while the larger central portion can hold 8 cubic feet (0.23 m3) or 80 pounds. The advantage of the handy haversack is that any item placed inside will be "handy", that is, located on top when intentionally sought. For example, if one were to place a dagger inside the haversack and cover it with a load of paper, upon searching for the dagger it would magically appear above the paper.[2]
Cursed bags[edit]
Some bags outwardly indistinguishable from a bag of holding have highly undesirable qualities. They are created by spellcasters either purposefully (especially in the case of a bag of devouring), or as a result of a failed spell in the process of creating a bag of holding.
Bag of devouring[edit]
Essentially a bottomless pit in a bag, this bag appears to be a normal sack, like a bag of holding, and seems to be a bag of holding on closer inspection. However, the bag is a lure used by an extradimensional creature; it is one of its feeding orifices. Issue 271 of Dragon[3] featured an article titled "The Ecology of a Bag of Devouring" that discussed the nature of such a creature.
Any substance of animal or vegetable matter put into the bag has a chance of being swallowed over time. Even a person reaching in to retrieve or place an item, after the initial time, has a chance of being completely dragged into the bag and swallowed. The bag of devouring will act as a bag of holding, but every hour it has an increasing chance of swallowing the contents. Any plants or animals swallowed by the bag in this way are transported to the creature's stomach, digested, and lost forever, while inedible items are swallowed and spat into another plane.[4]
Bag of transmuting[edit]
This magical sack will perform as a bag of holding for 2–10 uses. At some point, however, the magical field will waver, causing precious metals and gems stored in the bag to be turned into common metals and worthless stones. Any magical items placed in the bag will become ordinary lead, glass, or wood as appropriate once the transmuting effects have begun.
Interaction with other magical items[edit]
In the physics of Dungeons & Dragons, putting a bag of holding inside a portable hole will cause a rift to be opened to the Astral Plane, and both items will be lost forever. If a portable hole is placed within a bag of holding, it instead opens a gate to the Astral Plane, sucking in every creature in a ten-foot radius, and destroying both the bag and hole. The contents of the bags are either scattered throughout the Astral Plane or destroyed.[1] Placing bags of holding into one another (or within a Heward's handy haversack or vice versa) has no adverse effects in the 4th edition of the game and would allow one to store an unlimited quantity of items (each bag of holding being limited in total weight capacity to roughly 40 additional bags, depending on the size of each).[citation needed]
In earlier editions of Dungeons & Dragons, putting one bag of holding inside another would have the same effect as placing a portable hole into a bag of holding. Interactions with portable holes had the effects listed above.
Bags of holding in other games and media[edit]
The Bagworld is the basis of especially capacious holding devices (e.g. the fanny pack of hefty capacity) in the Knights of the Dinner Table HackMaster roleplaying game (originally a fictionalized form of Dungeons & Dragons). Bagworld is another planet (possibly located on another plane of reality) that is accessed via bag devices, enabling characters to cache enormous amounts of materials. Bagworld possesses its own, apparently infinite breathable atmosphere, but no known native lifeforms; thus, a living creature placed inside is in no danger of suffocation, though death by starvation and/or dehydration is possible if the creature is not supplied with provisions. From the Bagworld point of view, there are a great many holes in the sky from which giants deposit and retrieve items (a creature or object that completely enters the bag device will shrink to Bagworld's scale once inside). If a bag device connected to Bagworld is placed inside another such device, the device placed inside is destroyed, and the contents of all remaining connected devices are "shuffled", with each device's contents moved to the accessible space of another (random) storage device.
In the roguelike video game NetHack, a bag of holding has slightly different properties:
• There is no limit on the amount of weight such a bag can hold.
• The bag does not have a constant weight; it varies with the items it holds.
• A cursed bag will be proportionally heavier than the items it contains.
• An uncursed or blessed bag will be proportionally lighter, with a blessed bag being much lighter.
• A bag will explode (destroying all contents) if a charged wand of cancellation, bag of tricks, or another bag of holding is placed inside; if said items are nested within a sufficient number of ordinary bags, adverse effects are less likely.
In the first-person shooter video game Heretic, a bag of holding is a collectible item that permanently doubles the player's ammunition capacity.
Neverwinter Nights[edit]
In the PC role-playing game Neverwinter Nights, any item placed in a Bag of Holding is made weightless, thus lightening the player's inventory. The item description mentions that "a halfling once founded a utopian village inside his Bag of Holding, and that village continues to thrive to this day." Lesser bags of holding which reduce the weight of the contained items by some percentage also exist, both in the original game and in the sequel.
In Terry Pratchett's Discworld novel Making Money, wizard Ponder Stibbons is placed in charge of the "Cabinet of Curiosity", which he describes as "a classic Bag of Holding but with n mouths, where n is the number of items in an eleven-dimensional universe which are not currently alive, not pink and can fit in a cubical drawer 14.14 inches (359 mm) on a side, divided by P."[5] To ask what "P" is, is "the wrong sort of question."[5] The Cabinet manifests as a "tree" of drawers within drawers within drawers, that open in an unfolding fractal pattern of iterations. Iteration one is a simple cabinet, but by the time of the novel they have managed to increase the number of drawers until the Cabinet fills a cathedral-sized room (actually a standard sized room - but the wizards increased the space by decreasing time; asking how is the wrong kind of question). Each drawer holds an apparently random object. If any objects are removed from the cabinet, it ceases to work, limiting its usefulness.
Also in Discworld is the Luggage, a variant of Heward's handy haversack. However, the Luggage has the added benefit that any clothes put in will come out pressed, folded and smelling faintly of lavender.[5] Additionally, it will attack with murderous mindlessness anyone who threatens its owner by stomping on him/her/it/id with its hundreds of little feet.[6] It is also possible that the Luggage will swallow an assailant, and it has been described as having rows of teeth like a shark, which can appear and disappear as needed. It also has command of a possibly infinite number of dimensions, thus anyone it swallows will disappear to a separate dimension from the clothes it carries. It has also been known to lure people into leaning into it by filling itself with gold and gems.
Fold Box[edit]
In Robert Heinlein's fantasy Glory Road book, a similar magic object - although not a bag, a fold box is a little black box 'about the size and shape of a portable typewriter', that can be opened again and again 'unfolding its sides and letting them down until it is the size of a small moving van' when folded back up it does not weigh more than a few pounds, even though tons of materials may be carried around in it.
The Thing Your Aunt Gave You Which You Don't Know What It Is[edit]
Though its appearance is never described, the Thing Your Aunt Gave You Which You Don't Know What It Is in The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy computer game is a Bag of Holding that can hold any number of other items and never becomes too heavy to carry. Only one item you encounter in the game will not fit inside it. If dropped, the Thing mysteriously reappears in your possession several turns later.
8-bit Theater[edit]
A bag of holding is used to allow use of a universe destroying "Ice-9" spell (the enemy is thrown into the bag and the spell fired after them, destroying only the bag's pocket universe rather than the regular universe).
A later strip bears the odd title "I turned my bag of holding inside-out, wrapped it around me, and walked out through the dungeon walls", which is apparently a reference to either a comedy skit by Dead Alewives or a website parodying bad D&D ideas.[7]
See also[edit]
1. ^ a b c d Cook, Monte; Williams, Skip; Tweet, Jonathan (2003). Dungeon master's guide : core rulebook II, v.3.5. Renton, Wash.: Wizards of the Coast. p. 248. ISBN 0786928891.
2. ^ Cook, Monte; Williams, Skip; Tweet, Jonathan (2003). Dungeon master's guide : core rulebook II, v.3.5. Renton, Wash.: Wizards of the Coast. p. 259. ISBN 0786928891.
3. ^ "It all made sense, then. Why something as useful as a bag of holding would be left in the wizard's chest, empty and neglected. Why it had closed up, sealing me in." Issue 271, Dragon magazine, 'The Ecology of the Bag of Devouring' By Kevin Haw
5. ^ a b c Terry Pratchett (2007). Making Money. Doubleday. p. 194.
6. ^ Terry Pratchett (1983). The Colour of Magic. Colin Smythe.
7. ^
• Williams, Skip. "Rules of the Game: Carrying Things (Part Three)" (Wizards of the Coast, 2005). Available online [1] | <urn:uuid:86f8d030-a94b-442b-abbd-6b03f5942dd1> | 2 | 1.867188 | 0.117833 | en | 0.929906 | http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bag_of_holding |
Electro-pneumatic action
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The electro-pneumatic action is a control system for pipe organs, whereby air pressure, controlled by an electric current and operated by the keys of an organ console, opens and closes valves within wind chests, allowing the pipes to speak. This system also allows the console to be physically detached from the organ itself. The only connection was via an electrical cable from the console to the relay, with some early organ consoles utilizing a separate wind supply to operate combination pistons.
Although early experiments with Barker lever, tubular-pneumatic and electro-pneumatic actions date as far back as the 1850s, credit for a feasible design is generally given to the English organist and inventor, Robert Hope-Jones.[1] He overcame the difficulties inherent in earlier designs by including a rotating centrifugal air blower and replacing banks of batteries with a DC generator, which provided electrical power to the organ. This allowed the construction of new pipe organs without any physical linkages whatsoever. Previous organs used tracker action, which requires a mechanical linkage between the console and the organ windchests, or tubular-pneumatic action, which linked the console and windchests with a large bundle of lead tubing.[1]
When an organ key is depressed, an electric circuit is completed by means of a switch connected to that key. This causes a low-voltage current to flow through a cable to the windchest, upon which a rank, or multiple ranks of pipes are set. Within the chest, a small electro-magnet associated with the key that is pressed becomes energized. This causes a very small valve to open. This, in turn, allows wind pressure to activate a bellows or "pneumatic" which operates a larger valve. This valve causes a change of air pressure within a channel that leads to all pipes of that note. A separate "stop action" system is used to control the admittance of air or "wind" into the pipes of the rank or ranks selected by the organist's selection of stops, while other ranks are "stopped" from playing. The stop action can also be an electro-pneumatic action, or may be another type of action
This pneumatically assisted valve action is in contrast to a direct electric action in which each pipe's valve is opened directly by an electric solenoid which is attached to the valve.
Advantages and disadvantages[edit]
The console of an organ which uses either type of electric action is connected to the other mechanisms by an electrical cable. This makes it possible for the console to be placed in any desirable location. It also permits the console to be movable, or to be installed on a "lift", as was the practice with theater organs.
While many consider tracker action organs to be more sensitive to the player's control, others find some tracker organs heavy to play and tubular-pneumatic organs to be sluggish, and so prefer electro-pneumatic or direct electric actions.
An electro-pneumatic action requires less current to operate than a direct electric action. This causes less demand on switch contacts. An organ using electro-pneumatic action was more reliable in operation than early direct electric organs until improvements were made in direct electric components.[2]
A disadvantage of an electro-pneumatic organ is its use of large quantities of thin perishable leather, usually lambskin. This requires an extensive "re-leathering" of the windchests every twenty-five to forty years depending upon the quality of the material used, the atmospheric conditions and the use of the organ.[2]
Like tracker and tubular action, electro-pneumatic action—when employing the commonly used pitman-style windchests—is less flexible in operation than direct electric action[citation needed]. When electro-pneumatic action uses unit windchests (as does the electro-pneumatic action constructed by organ builder Schoenstein & Co.[3]), then it works similarly to direct electric action, in which each rank operates independently, allowing "unification", where each individual rank on a windchest can be played at various octave ranges.
A drawback to older electric action organs was the large amount of wiring required for operation. With each stop tab and key being wired, the transmission cable could easily contain several hundred wires. The great number of wires required between the keyboards, the banks of relays and the organ itself, with each solenoid requiring its own signal wire, made the situation worse, especially if a wire was broken (this was particularly true with consoles located on lifts and/or turntables), which made tracing the break very difficult.
These problems increased with the size of the instrument, and it would not be unusual for a particular organ to contain over a hundred miles of wiring. The largest pipe organ in the world, the Boardwalk Hall Auditorium Organ, is said to contain more than 137,500 miles (221,300 km) of wire.[4] Modern electronic switching has largely overcome these physical problems.
Modern methods[edit]
In the years after the advent of the transistor, and later, integrated circuits and microprocessors, miles of wiring and electro-pneumatic relays have given way to electronic and computerized control and relay systems, which have made the control of pipe organs much more efficient. But for its time, the electro-pneumatic action was considered a great success, and even today modernized versions of this action are used in many new pipe organs.
1. ^ a b George Laing Miller (1909). The Recent Revolution in Organ Building. (also at Gutenberg.org)
2. ^ a b William H. Barnes (1959). The Contemporary American Organ.
3. ^ http://www.schoenstein.com/expansion-cell.html
4. ^ Foort, Reginald (1970). The Cinema Organ, pp 74–78. Second Edition, New York: The Vestral Press.
Further reading[edit]
External links[edit] | <urn:uuid:766db05c-8e66-4b9e-8ea8-3743d3dbb256> | 3 | 3.375 | 0.042291 | en | 0.933342 | http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electro-pneumatic_action |
Flesch–Kincaid readability tests
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The Flesch/Flesch–Kincaid readability tests are readability tests designed to indicate comprehension difficulty when reading a passage of contemporary academic English. There are two tests, the Flesch Reading Ease, and the Flesch–Kincaid Grade Level. Although they use the same core measures (word length and sentence length), they have different weighting factors. The results of the two tests correlate approximately inversely: a text with a comparatively high score on the Reading Ease test should have a lower score on the Grade Level test. Rudolf Flesch devised both systems while J. Peter Kincaid developed the latter for the United States Navy.
"The Flesch–Kincaid" (F–K) Reading grade level was developed under contract to the United States Navy in 1975 by J. Peter Kincaid and his team.[1] Other related United States Navy research directed by Kincaid delved into high tech education (for example, the electronic authoring and delivery of technical information);[2] usefulness of the Flesch–Kincaid readability formula;[3] computer aids for editing tests;[4] illustrated formats to teach procedures;[5] and the Computer Readability Editing System (CRES).[6]
The F-K formula was first used by the United States Army for assessing the difficulty of technical manuals in 1978 and soon after became the Department of Defense military standard. The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania was the first state in the United States to require that automobile insurance policies be written at no higher than a ninth grade level (14 to 15 years of age) of reading difficulty, as measured by the F-K formula. This is now a common requirement in many other states and for other legal documents such as insurance policies.[3]
Flesch Reading Ease[edit]
In the Flesch Reading Ease test, higher scores indicate material that is easier to read; lower numbers mark passages that are more difficult to read. The formula for the Flesch Reading Ease Score (FRES) test is
206.835 - 1.015 \left( \frac{\text{total words}}{\text{total sentences}} \right) - 84.6 \left( \frac{\text{total syllables}}{\text{total words}} \right).
Scores can be interpreted as shown in the table below.
Score Notes
0.0–30.0 best understood by university graduates
Reader's Digest magazine has a readability index of about 65, Time magazine scores about 52, an average 6th grade student's (a 12-year-old) written assignment has a readability index of 60–70 (and a reading grade level of 6–7), and the Harvard Law Review has a general readability score in the low 30's. The highest (easiest) readability score possible is around 120 (e.g. every sentence consisting of only two one-syllable words; "The cat sat on the mat." scores 116). The score does not have a theoretical lower bound. It is possible to make the score as low as wanted by arbitrarily including words with many syllables. The sentence “This sentence, taken as a reading passage unto itself, is being used to prove a point.” has a readability of 74.1. The sentence "The Australian platypus is seemingly a hybrid of a mammal and reptilian creature." scores 24.4 as it has 26 syllables and 13 words. While Amazon calculates the text of Moby-Dick as 57.9,[8] one particularly long sentence about sharks in chapter 64 has a readability score of −146.77.[9] One sentence in the beginning of "Swann's Way", by Marcel Proust, has a score of -515.1.[10]
The U.S. Department of Defense uses the Reading Ease test as the standard test of readability for its documents and forms.[11] Florida requires that life insurance policies have a Flesch Reading Ease score of 45 or greater.[12]
Use of this scale is so ubiquitous that it is bundled with popular word processing programs and services such as KWord, IBM Lotus Symphony, Microsoft Office Word, WordPerfect, and WordPro.
Polysyllabic words affect this score significantly more than they do the grade level score.
Flesch–Kincaid Grade Level[edit]
These readability tests are used extensively in the field of education. The "Flesch–Kincaid Grade Level Formula" instead presents a score as a U.S. grade level, making it easier for teachers, parents, librarians, and others to judge the readability level of various books and texts. It can also mean the number of years of education generally required to understand this text, relevant when the formula results in a number greater than 10. The grade level is calculated with the following formula:
The result is a number that corresponds with a U.S. grade level. The sentence, "The Australian platypus is seemingly a hybrid of a mammal and reptilian creature" is a 13.1 as it has 26 syllables and 13 words. The different weighting factors for words per sentence and syllables per word in each scoring system mean that the two schemes are not directly comparable and cannot be converted. The grade level formula emphasises sentence length over word length.
The lowest grade level score in theory is −3.40, but there are few real passages in which every sentence consists of a single one-syllable word. Green Eggs and Ham by Dr. Seuss comes close, averaging 5.7 words per sentence and 1.02 syllables per word, with a grade level of −1.3. (Most of the 50 used words are monosyllabic; "anywhere", which occurs 8 times, is the only exception.)
See also[edit]
1. ^ Kincaid, J.P., Fishburne, R.P., Rogers, R.L., & Chissom, B.S. (1975). Derivation of New Readability Formulas (Automated Readability Index, Fog Count, and Flesch Reading Ease formula) for Navy Enlisted Personnel. Research Branch Report 8-75. Chief of Naval Technical Training: Naval Air Station Memphis.
2. ^ Kincaid JP, Braby R, Mears J (1988). "Electronic authoring and delivery of technical information". Journal of Instructional Development 11: 8–13. doi:10.1007/bf02904998.
3. ^ a b McClure G (1987). "Readability formulas: Useful or useless. (an interview with J. Peter Kincaid.)". IEEE Transactions on Professional Communications 30: 12–15.
4. ^ Kincaid JP, Braby R, Wulfeck WH II (1983). "Computer aids for editing tests". Educational Technology 23: 29–33.
5. ^ Braby R, Kincaid JP, Scott P, McDaniel W (1982). "Illustrated formats to teach procedures". IEEE Transactions on Professional Communications 25: 61–66.
6. ^ Kincaid JP, Aagard JA, O'Hara JW, Cottrell LK (1981). "Computer Readability Editing System". IEEE Transactions on Professional Communications 24 (1): 38–42. (also reported in Aviation Week and Space Technology, 11 January 1982, pp. 106-107.)
7. ^ http://www.editcentral.com/gwt1/EditCentral.html
8. ^ Gabe Habash (20 July 2011). "Book Lies: Readability is Impossible to Measure".
9. ^ Melville, Herman. "Chapter 64: Stubb's Supper." Moby Dick. Lit2Go Edition. 1851. Web. <http://etc.usf.edu/lit2go/42/moby-dick/745/chapter-64-stubbs-supper/>. 16 August 2013.
10. ^ Proust, Marcel. "Swann's Way." In Search of Last Time. 2004. web. 21 March 2014.
11. ^ Luo Si, et al. (5–10 November 2001). A Statistical Model for Scientific Readability. Atlanta, GA, USA: CIKM '01.
12. ^ "Readable Language in Insurance Policies"
Further references[edit]
External links[edit] | <urn:uuid:7dffe857-da43-4e2f-a485-da54bdbb1646> | 4 | 3.75 | 0.056053 | en | 0.933105 | http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flesch%E2%80%93Kincaid_readability_test |
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A Lianhuanhua Image from "Arrest of the Orchid"
Lianhuanhua (Chinese: 连环画 (Simplified) 連環畫 (Traditional); Pinyin: Liánhuánhuà or 連環圖) is a palm-size picture book of sequential drawings found in China in the early 20th century, and they were once used as political/propaganda tool for the Communist Party of China.[citation needed]
There is a Chinese belief that lianhuanhua influenced Japanese manga in the 20th century,[1] although the comic-strip style was nothing unique to China and had already been common in Europe and America for some time.
The name in Chinese essentially translates to "linked pictures" or "serial pictures". The books were called "lianhuanhua" or "lianhuan tuhua"; later the "tu" was omitted and the term "lianhuanhua" became standard.[2] The official term lianhuanhua was not used until 1927. Prior to this, lianhuanhua were separated into different name categories depending on the region.[2]
Location English Meaning Chinese Name
Shanghai Little Book Xiao Shu (小書)
Shanghai Picture Book Tuhua Shu (圖畫書)
Guangzhou and Hong Kong Doll Book Gongzai Shu (公仔書)
Wuhan Children's Book Yaya Shu (伢伢書)
Northern China Kid's Book Xiaoren Shu (小人書)
In the 1880s, Chinese magazines such as Dianshizhai Pictorial experimented with the potential of this art technique. In 1884, ten illustrations to accompany a Korean rebellion narrative may be the earliest example of Lianhuanhua. In 1899, Wenyi Book Company in Shanghai published the illustrated lithograph "The Story of the Three Kingdoms" drawn by Zhu Zhixuan. The format then was called "huihui tu" or chapter pictures.[2]
In 1916 Caobao newspapers bound the pictures to attract a larger audience base of middle and lower class readers. The rise of Lianhuanhua's popularity was proportional to the rise of lithographic printing introduced to Shanghai from the West.[2] Shanghai comics journals in the 1920s featured more artwork, typically depicting traditional stories along the lines of Chinese mythology or Chinese folklore. Small publishers in the 20s and 30s were mostly located on a street called Beigongyili in the Zhabei district. In 1935 street book stall owners and publishers established the "Shanghai Lianhuan Tuhua Promotion Society" at Taoyuanli.[2] The illustrated stories were originally targeted to children and marginally literate readers.[1]
The books could be rented for a small fee in street kiosks. By the 1920s, Lianhuanhuas were also found in Hong Kong. These rental stores were common even during the Japanese occupation periods in the 1940s.[1]
In Hong Kong during the 1970s, the format had essentially disappeared as they had become materials associated with the uneducated and unsophisticated.[1]
In China, the popularity of the format would end with the arrival of the Cultural Revolution. From the late 70s to the early 80s, lian huan hua made a major comeback, resulting in numerous publications in circulation; however today, popular comic books have far surpassed the prevalence of these "lian huan hua".[3]
Not long ago, Renmin Meishu Chubanshe (People's Fine Arts Publishing House), Shanghai Renmin Meishu Chubanshe (Shanghai People's Fine Arts Publishing House) and Tianjin People's Renmin Meishu Chubanshe (Tianjin People's Fine Arts Publishing House) have republished some of their popular Lianhuanhua books.
Currently there is a resurgent interest in this format. The Shanghai Museum of Art has inaugurated a permanent exhibition of Lianhuanhua as a popular grassroots fine art form.
1. ^ a b c d Wong, Wendy Siuyi. [2002] (2001) Hong Kong Comics: A History of Manhua. Princeton Architectural Press. New York. ISBN 1-56898-269-0
2. ^ a b c d e Lent, John A. [2001] (2001) Illustrating Asia: Comics, Humor Magazines, and Picture Books. University of Hawaii Press. ISBN 0-8248-2471-7
3. ^ "[1]." Allure of illustrated booklets. Retrieved on 2011-12-13.
Further reading[edit]
阿英(August 2008). 中国连环图画史话 (History of Lianhuanhua in China). 山东画报出版社. ISBN 978-7-80713-490-9.
See also[edit]
External links[edit] | <urn:uuid:e00ccbc0-2e38-4c03-b0e3-74f90979e745> | 3 | 2.890625 | 0.04396 | en | 0.924889 | http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lianhuanhua |
Main chain of the Alps
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Main chain of the Alps
The Alpine divide is the central line of mountains that forms the water divide of the range. Main chains of mountain ranges are traditionally designated in this way, and generally include the highest peaks of a range; the Alps are something of an unusual case in that several significant groups of mountains are separated from the main chain by sizable distances. Among these groups are the Dauphine Alps, the Eastern and Western Graians, the entire Bernese Alps, the Tödi, Albula and Silvretta groups, the Ortler and Adamello ranges, and the Dolomites of South Tyrol, as well as the lower Alps of Vorarlberg, Bavaria and Salzburg.
Main features[edit]
The Alps are generally divided into Western Alps and Eastern Alps, cut along a line between Lake Constance and Lake Como, following the Rhine valley. The Western Alps are higher, but their central chain is shorter and much curved; they are located in France, Italy and Switzerland.
The Eastern Alps (main ridge elongated and broad) belong to Austria, Germany, Italy, Slovenia and Switzerland. The highest peak of the Western Alps is Mont Blanc (4,810.45 m),[1] in the Eastern Alps Piz Bernina, 4,049 meters.
Western Alps[edit]
Starting from the Bocchetta di Altare or di Colle di Cadibona (west of Savona), the main chain extends first south-west, then north-west to the Col de Tenda, though nowhere rising much beyond the zone of coniferous trees. Beyond the Col de Tenda the direction is first roughly west, then north-west to the Rocca dei Tre Vescovi (2,840 m), just south of the Enciastraia (2,955 m), several peaks of about 3,000 metres rising on the watershed, though the highest of all, the Punta dell'Argentera (3,297 m) stands a little way to its north. From the Rocher des Trois Eveques the water divide runs due north for a long distance, though of the two loftiest peaks of this region one, the Aiguille de Chambeyron (3,412 m), is just to the west, and the other, the Monviso (3,841 m), is just to the east of the divide. From the head of the Val Pelline the main chain runs north-west, and diminishes much in average height until it reaches the Mont Thabor (3,178 m), which forms the apex of a salient angle which the main chain here presents towards.the west. From here the divide extends eastwards, culminating in the Aiguille de Scolette (3,505 m), but makes a great curve to the north-west and back to the south-east before rising in the Rocciamelone (3,509 m). From there the direction taken is north as far as the eastern summit (3,619 m) of the Levanna, the divide rising in a series of snowy peaks, though the loftiest point of the region, the Pointe de Charbonnel (3,760 m), stands a little to the west. Once more the chain bends to the north-west, rising in several lofty peaks (the highest is the Aiguille de la Grande Sassière, 3,751 m), before attaining the considerable depression of the Little St Bernard Pass.
The divide then briefly turns north to the Col de la Soigne, and then north-east along the crest of the Mont Blanc chain, which culminates in the peak of Mont Blanc (4,810.45 m),[1] the loftiest in the Alps. A number of high peaks line the divide before it attains Mont Dolent (3,823 m). From there, after a short dip to the south-east, the chain takes, near the Great St. Bernard Pass, the generally eastern direction that it maintains until it reaches Monte Rosa, whence it bends northwards, making one small dip to the east as far as the Simplon Pass. It is in the portion of the watershed between the Grande St Bernard Pass and the Simplon that the main chain maintains a greater average height than in any other part. But, though it rises in a number of lofty peaks, such as the Mont Vélan (3,727 m), the Matterhorn (4,478 m), the Lyskamm (4,527 m), the Nord End of Monte Rosa (4,575 m), and the Weissmies (4,023 m), many of the highest points of the region, such as the Grand Combin (4,314 m), the Dent Blanche (4,357 m), the Weisshorn (4,505 m), the true summit or Dufourspitze (4,634 m) of Monte Rosa itself, and the Dom (4,545 m), all rise on its northern slope and not on the main chain. On the other hand the chain between the Grande St Bernard and the Simplon sinks at barely half a dozen points below a level of 3,000 metres. The Simplon Pass corresponds to what may be called a dislocation of the main chain. From there to the St. Gotthard the divide runs north-east, all the higher summits (including the Monte Leone, 3,533 metres, and the Pizzo Rotondo, 3,192 m) rising on it, a curious contrast to the long stretch just described. From the St. Gotthard to the Maloja the watershed between the basins of the Rhine and Po runs in an easterly direction as a whole, though making two great dips towards the south, first to near the Vogelberg (3,220 m) and again to near the Pizz Gallagiun (3,107 m), so that it presents a broken and irregular appearance. But all the loftiest peaks rise on it: Scopi (3,200 m), Piz Medel (3,210 m), the Rheinwaldhorn (3,402 m), the Pizzo Tambo (3,279 m) and Piz Timun (3,209 m).
Eastern Alps[edit]
Main ridge in the Hohe Tauern range
From the Maloja Pass the main watershed dips to the south-east for a short distance, and then runs eastwards and nearly over the highest summit of the Bernina Range, Piz Bernina (4,049 m), to the Bernina Pass. Then to the Reschen Pass the main chain is ill-defined, though on it rises the Corno di Campo (3,305 m), beyond which it runs slightly north-east past the sources of the Adda and the Fraele Pass, sinks to form the depression of the Ofen Pass, soon heads north and rises once more in the Piz Sesvenna (3,204 m).
The break in the continuity of the Alpine chain marked by the deep valley, the Vinschgau, of the upper Adige is one of the most remarkable features in the orography of the Alps. The little Reschen Lake, which forms the chief source of the Adige is only 4 metres below the Reschen Pass (1,504 m), and by it is 8 km from the Inn valley. Eastward of this pass, the main chain runs north-east to the Brenner Pass along the snowy crest of the Ötztal and Stubai Alps, the loftiest point on it being the Weißkugel (3,739 m, Ötztal), for the highest summits both of the Ötztal and of the Stubai districts, the Wildspitze (3,774 m) and the Zuckerhütl (3,505 m) stand a little to the north.
The Brenner (1,370 m) is almost the lowest of all the great Carriage-road passes across the main chain, and has always been the chief means of communication between Germany and Italy. For some way beyond it the watershed runs eastwards over the highest crest of the Zillertal Alps, which attains 3,510 metres in the Hochfeiler. But, a little farther, at the Dreiherrnspitze (3,499 m), the chain splits: the higher peaks of the Hohe Tauern range branch off to the south, while the smaller divide of the Niedere Tauern continues the main chain on the same eastward path up to the Schober Pass in Styria. The water divide further runs eastwards through the Northern Limestone Alps, ending at "Vienna Gate", the steep slopes of the Leopoldsberg (425 m) high above the Danube River.
The main chain has more glaciers and eternal snow than the independent or external ranges. The longest of these are both 9¼ miles, the Mer de Glace at Chamonix and the Gorner Glacier at Zermatt. In the Eastern Alps the longest glacier is the Pasterze Glacier (rather over 6¼ miles), which is not near the true main watershed, though it clings to the slope of the Grossglockner (3,798 m) in the Hohe Tauern range east of the Dreiherrenspitze. But the next two longest glaciers in the Eastern Alps (the Hintereis, 6½ miles, and the Gepatsch, 6 miles) are both in the Ötztal Alps, and so close to the true main watershed.
See also[edit]
| <urn:uuid:0e25beba-3678-41b3-a695-c703900ac36d> | 4 | 3.53125 | 0.14268 | en | 0.901927 | http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Main_chain_of_the_Alps |
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For the Roman-era writer, see Pomponius Porphyrion.
"Porphyrion" is also a section of the genus Saxifraga.
Zeus (center left) against Porphyrion (far right), detail from the Pergamon Altar Gigantomachy frieze, Pergamon Museum Berlin.
In Greek mythology, Porphyrion (Greek: Πορφυρίων) was one of the Gigantes (Giants), who according to Hesiod, were the offspring of Gaia, born from the blood that fell when Uranus (Sky) was castrated by their son Cronus. In some other versions of the myth, the Gigantes were born of Gaia and Tartarus, the god of the pit.[1] According to the mythographer Apollodorus, Porphyrion was (along with Alcyoneus), the greatest of the Giants, and during the Gigantomachy, the battle between the Giants and the Olympian gods, Porphyrion attacked Heracles and Hera, but Zeus caused Porphyrion to become enamoured of Hera, whom Porphyrion then tried to rape, but Zeus struck Porphyrion with his thunderbolt and Heracles killed him with an arrow.[2] According to Pindar, who calls him "king of the Giants", he was slain by an arrow from the bow of Apollo.[3] Aristophanes' comedy The Birds, contains two brief mentions of Porphyrion.[4]
The late fourth century AD Latin poet Claudian in his Gigantomachia has Gaia, imagining the Giants victorious, propose that "Porphyrion, wreathe thou thy head with Delphi's laurel and take Cirrah for thy sanctuary",[5] and has Porphyrion attempt "to uproot trembling Delos, wishing to hurl it at the sky".[6] The late fourth or early fifth century AD Greek poet Nonnus, in his Dionysiaca, has Gaia set the Giants against Dionysus, promising Porphyrion Hebe as his wife should the Giants subdue Dionysus.[7]
Porphyrion is named on a sixth century BC black-figure pyxix (Getty 82.AE.26), where he and the Giant Enceladus oppose Zeus, Heracles and Athena.[8] He is also named on a late fifth century BC red-figure cup from Vulci (Berlin F2531), and a fifth century BC red-figure krater (Paris, Petit Palais 868), in both engaged in single combat with Zeus,[9] and a late sixth century early fifth century fragmentary BC red-figure cup (British Museum E 47), where his opponent is lost.[10]
Porphyrion was probably named on the Gigantomachy depicted on the north frieze of the Siphnian Treasury at Delphi (c. 525 BC),[11] and he was one of the many Giants depicted on the second century BC Pergamon Altar Gigantomachy frieze, where he is shown fighting Zeus.[12]
1. ^ For the birth of the Gigantes see Hesiod, Theogony 185. Hyginus, Fabulae Preface gives Tartarus as the father of the Giants.
2. ^ Apollodorus, 1.6.1–2. Compare with Aristophanes, The Birds 1249–1252: "a single Porphyrion gave him [Zeus] enough to do."
3. ^ Pindar, Pythian 8.12–18.
4. ^ Aristophanes, The Birds 553, 1249–1252.
5. ^ Claudian, Gigantomachia 34–35 (pp. 282–283).
6. ^ Claudian, Gigantomachia 114–116 (pp. 288–289).
7. ^ Nonnus, Dionysiaca, 48.6–22 (pp. 424–427).
8. ^ Beazley Archive 10148 Fragment: Heracles, Athena, horses of Zeus' chariot, Porphyrion and Enceladus.
9. ^ Berlin F2531: Beazley Archive 220533: detail showing Zeus v. Porphyrion; Cook, p. 56, Plate VI. Paris, Petit Palais 868: Arafat, p. 184; Beazley Archive 206859.
10. ^ Arafat, pp. 16, 184; Sparks, p. 27; Beazley Archive 203256; LIMC Gigantes 301.
12. ^ Ridgeway, p. 54 note 35. | <urn:uuid:47bbce98-bca0-42c6-a15f-6e2888965d27> | 3 | 3.265625 | 0.053714 | en | 0.915469 | http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Porphyrion |
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The holder of the post is connected to an Anglican or Roman Catholic cathedral or collegiate church. The position is a type of canon who has a role in the administration of the cathedral. A prebend is the form of benefice held by a prebendary, and historically the stipend attached to it was usually drawn from specific sources in the income of the cathedral's estates. When attending cathedral services, prebendaries sit in particular seats, usually at the back of the choir stalls, known as prebendal stalls.
At the time of the Domesday Book, the canons and dignitaries of the cathedrals of England were supported by the produce and other profits from the cathedral estates.[1] In the early 12th century, the endowed prebend was developed as an institution, in possession of which a cathedral official had a fixed and independent income. This made the cathedral canons independent of the bishop and created posts that attracted the younger sons of the nobility.[2] Part of the endowment was retained in a common fund. This fund, known in Latin as communa, was used to provide bread and money to a canon in residence, which he received in addition to what came to him from his prebend.[1]
Most prebends disappeared in 1547, when nearly all collegiate churches in England were dissolved by the Act for the Dissolution of Collegiate Churches and Chantries of that year, as part of the English Reformation. The church of St Endellion, Cornwall, is one of the few still extant.
The office of prebendary is still retained by certain Church of England dioceses (those of Lichfield, Lincoln, and London being significant examples) as an honorary title for senior parish priests. This is usually awarded in recognition of long and dedicated service to the diocese. These priests are entitled to be called "Prebendary" (usually shortened to Preb.) and still have a role in the administration of the cathedral.[3] Prebendaries have a Prebend Stall in certain cathedrals or collegiate churches.[4]
The greater chapter of a cathedral includes both the residentiary canons (full-time senior cathedral clergy) and the prebendaries (and, in London, the minor canons as well). In the Church of England, when a diocesan bishop retires, moves to another diocese or dies, the monarch will summon the greater chapter to elect a successor. This election is ceremonial, as the monarch (following the advice of the prime minister) also tells the members of the greater chapter whom they are to elect. If any members of the chapter fail to attend, they are declared to be "contumacious".
Wells Cathedral and Saint Patrick's Cathedral, Dublin still call their canons "prebendaries". They form the chapter of the cathedral and sit in their prebendal stalls when in residence in the cathedral.
1. ^ a b Greenaway, Diane E, "The Medieval Cathedral", in Hobbs, Mary, Chichester Cathedral: An Historical Survey, Phillimore & Co, p. 14 .
2. ^ Cantor, Norman F (1993), The Civilization of the Middle Ages, p. 381 .
3. ^ Cutts, E. L. (1895) A Dictionary of the Church of England; 3rd ed. London: SPCK, p. 476.
4. ^ "Prebendary, Church of England", Debretts
External links[edit] | <urn:uuid:cf32fa6b-9568-478a-a90b-12122fff24a2> | 3 | 2.921875 | 0.107942 | en | 0.957141 | http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prebend |
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Splenomegalie bei CLL.jpg
CT scan showing splenomegaly in a patient with chronic lymphoid leukemia
Classification and external resources
ICD-10 Q89.0, R16.1
ICD-9 759.0, 789.2
DiseasesDB 12375
MedlinePlus 003276
eMedicine ped/2139 med/2156
MeSH D013163
Normal spleen
Poulin et al.[2] classify splenomegaly as:
• Moderate splenomegaly, if the largest dimension is between 11–20 cm
• Severe splenomegaly, if the largest dimension is greater than 20 cm
• Splenomegaly refers strictly to spleen enlargement, and is distinct from hypersplenism, which connotes overactive function by a spleen of any size. Splenomegaly and hypersplenism should not be confused. Each may be found separately, or they may coexist.
• Clinically if a spleen is palpable, it means it is enlarged as it has to undergo enlargement by at least twofolds to become palpable. However, the tip of the spleen may be palpable in a newborn baby up to 3 months of age.
Symptoms and signs[edit]
Symptoms may include abdominal pain, chest pain, chest pain similar to pleuritic pain when stomach, bladder or bowels are full, back pain, early satiety due to splenic encroachment, or the symptoms of anemia due to accompanying cytopenia.
Signs of splenomegaly may include a palpable left upper quadrant abdominal mass or splenic rub. It can be detected on physical examination by using Castell's sign or Traube's space, but an ultrasound can be used to confirm diagnosis. In patients where the likelihood of splenomegaly is high, the physical exam is not sufficiently sensitive to detect it; abdominal imaging is indicated in such patients.[3]
The possible causes of moderate splenomegaly (spleen <1000 g) are many, and include:
Splenomegaly grouped on the basis of the pathogenic mechanism
Increased function Abnormal blood flow Infiltration
Removal of defective RBCs
Immune hyperplasia
Response to infection (viral, bacterial, fungal, parasitic)
Disordered immunoregulation
Extramedullary hematopoiesis
Organ Failure
Metabolic diseases
Benign and malignant “infiltrations”
The causes of massive splenomegaly (spleen >1000 g) are fewer, and include:
If the splenomegaly underlies hypersplenism, a splenectomy is indicated and will correct the hypersplenism. However, the underlying cause of the hypersplenism will most likely remain; consequently, a thorough diagnostic workup is still indicated, as, leukemia, lymphoma and other serious disorders can cause hypersplenism and splenomegaly. After splenectomy, however, patients have an increased risk for infectious diseases.
Patients undergoing splenectomy should be vaccinated against Haemophilus influenzae, Streptococcus pneumoniae, and Meningococcus. They should also receive annual influenza vaccinations. Long-term prophylactic antibiotics may be given in certain cases.
In cases of infectious mononucleosis splenomegaly is a common symptom and health care providers may consider using abdominal ultrasonography to get insight into a person's condition.[11] However, because spleen size varies greatly, ultrasonography is not a valid technique for assessing spleen enlargement and should not be used in typical circumstances or to make routine decisions about fitness for playing sports.[11]
See also[edit]
1. ^ Ghazi, Ali (2010). "Hypercalcemia and huge splenomegaly presenting in an elderly patient with B-cell non-Hodgkin's lymphoma: a case report". Journal of Medical Case Reports 4 (334). doi:10.1186/1752-1947-4-330.
2. '^ Matacia-Murphy et al., Splenomegaly (Medscape, updated Apr. 2012)
3. ^ Grover SA, Barkun AN, Sackett DL; Barkun; Sackett (1993). "The rational clinical examination. Does this patient have splenomegaly?". JAMA 270 (18): 2218–21. doi:10.1001/jama.270.18.2218. PMID 8411607. Ovid full text
4. ^ Kaiser, Larry R.; Pavan Atluri; Giorgos C Karakousis; Paige M Porrett (2006). The surgical review: an integrated basic and clinical science study guide. Hagerstwon, MD: Lippincott Williams & Wilkins. ISBN 0-7817-5641-3.
5. ^ Sproat, LO.; Pantanowitz, L.; Lu, CM.; Dezube, BJ. (Dec 2003). "Human immunodeficiency virus-associated hemophagocytosis with iron-deficiency anemia and massive splenomegaly". Clin Infect Dis 37 (11): e170–3. doi:10.1086/379613. PMID 14614691.
6. ^ Friedman, AD.; Daniel, GK.; Qureshi, WA. (Jun 1997). "Systemic ehrlichiosis presenting as progressive hepatosplenomegaly". South Med J 90 (6): 656–60. doi:10.1097/00007611-199706000-00017. PMID 9191748.
7. ^ Neufeld EF, Muenzer J. (1995). "The mucopolysaccharidoses". In Scriver CR, Beaudet AL, Sly WS, Valle D, eds. The metabolic and molecular bases of inherited disease.7th ed. Vol. 2. McGraw-Hill , New York. pp. 2465–94.
8. ^ Suvajdzić, N.; Cemerikić-Martinović, V.; Saranović, D.; Petrović, M.; Popović, M.; Artiko, V.; Cupić, M.; Elezović, I. (Oct 2006). "Littoral-cell angioma as a rare cause of splenomegaly". Clin Lab Haematol 28 (5): 317–20. doi:10.1111/j.1365-2257.2006.00801.x. PMID 16999722.
9. ^ Dascalescu, CM.; Wendum, D.; Gorin, NC. (Sep 2001). "Littoral-cell angioma as a cause of splenomegaly". N Engl J Med 345 (10): 772–3. doi:10.1056/NEJM200109063451016. PMID 11547761.
10. ^ Ziske, C.; Meybehm, M.; Sauerbruch, T.; Schmidt-Wolf, IG. (Jan 2001). "Littoral cell angioma as a rare cause of splenomegaly". Ann Hematol 80 (1): 45–8. doi:10.1007/s002770000223. PMID 11233776.
External links[edit] | <urn:uuid:1769e271-e44d-4073-b29f-6b8dad57a1d7> | 2 | 1.96875 | 0.03755 | en | 0.742055 | http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Splenomegaly |
Template talk:Montenegrin elections
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WikiProject Elections and Referendums (Rated NA-class)
Is there a way to put a name of the parliament for the corresponding elections - because they greatly differ.
In 1905 it was the Constitutional Assembly of the Princedom of Montenegro, in 1907 it was the Serbian National Assembly of the Princedom of Montenegro, in 1911 and 1913 Serbian National Assembly of the Kingdom of Montenegro, in 1918 the Great Assembly of the Serb People in Montenegro, and in 1990, 1992, 1996, 1998, 2001 and 2002 the Assembly of the Republic of Montenegro and in 2006 the Constitutional Assembly of Montenegro. --PaxEquilibrium 12:49, 31 August 2007 (UTC)
Not sure it matters in the template - they are all some form of parliamentary election - I think it is for the articles themselves to say that. Otherwise the template would look quite messy. Number 57 13:15, 31 August 2007 (UTC)
But it is so in the Yugoslavian elections template... --PaxEquilibrium 13:50, 3 September 2007 (UTC)
I don't understand. Are you saying that some of them are Upper House (e.g. Senate) elections and some are Lower House (e.g. Commons)? If so, which are which, and we can divide them. Number 57 13:55, 3 September 2007 (UTC)
No, the first one - Constitutional. --PaxEquilibrium 14:17, 3 September 2007 (UTC)
Erm, we have tended to group Constituational Assemblies in with parliamentary elections in other templates; the problem being that there are so few (2 being the highest I've seen!) that it is hardly worth another line. In Template:Russian elections it was marked with a (CA), so we could do that if you want - I am in favour of leaving it as it is, but I will bow to your superior knowledge of all things Balkan :) Number 57 14:23, 3 September 2007 (UTC)
Three questions[edit]
1. Should I remove the 1918 parliamentary election, because of it's particulary unorthodox nature?
2. Should I add the Communist 1945-1990 elections?
3. Should I add the local elections for the Federal Assembly (of Yugoslavia) - that were held from 1992 to 2000? --PaxEquilibrium 21:22, 4 October 2007 (UTC)
R1: How was it unorthodox?
R2: Were they for an autonomous Montenegrin parliament? If so, yes
R3: Don't think so.
пﮟოьεԻ 57 21:35, 4 October 2007 (UTC)
1. Yes, how?
2. Exactly.
3. Mh, why not? —Nightstallion 21:37, 4 October 2007 (UTC)
3: As these weren't for a Montenegrin parliament (they were for the Yugoslavian one), they should only be in Template:Yugoslavian elections. пﮟოьεԻ 57 21:39, 4 October 2007 (UTC)
But there *also* was a Montenegrin Parliament... —Nightstallion 21:43, 4 October 2007 (UTC)
BTW, I *love* your new signature. ;)Nightstallion 21:45, 4 October 2007 (UTC)
The 1992-2000 Yugoslav-era Montenegrin parliament elections are already on the template aren't they? Also, thanks for your kind words about my signature. Can you guess what the letters used have in common? :) пﮟოьεԻ 57 22:04, 4 October 2007 (UTC)
1. It was illegal.
2. Yes, every republic had its own parliament - the only difference is that many Deputies were appointed, and in all elections there was only one choice (so, there was no choice at all - the turnout also whether 10% or 70% didn't matter), and that one was always elected.
3. Why not place it at both places? --PaxEquilibrium 22:16, 4 October 2007 (UTC)
1. Mh. Then, no.
2. I'd still say we should include it.
3. Yeah -- the federal parliament elections in the Yugoslavian template, the autonomous parliament elections for Montenegro and Serbia (plus earlier Croatia, Bosnia, Slovenia, Macedonia) in the Montenegrin/Serbian/... template. —Nightstallion 12:23, 5 October 2007 (UTC)
1. How were they illegal? I guess we could classify any election held by an illegitimate regime as illegal. If everyone voted, it's still an election.
2. Yes, they should be included. пﮟოьεԻ 57 12:48, 5 October 2007 (UTC)
Regarding the letters... all from IPA, perhaps? —Nightstallion 12:24, 5 October 2007 (UTC)
Not sure about that, but a letter from every alphabet used by members of the European Broadcasting Union (except our one of course). пﮟოьεԻ 57 12:48, 5 October 2007 (UTC)
1. Well I wrote quite a large explanation - but you didn't answer so I thought it was far too confusing. It's here if you could read it.
3. Hm? --PaxEquilibrium 20:08, 5 October 2007 (UTC)
It seems from what you wrote that the election was sort of recognised a couple of years after it happened. If it was a nationwide vote, then it's good enough for me. пﮟოьεԻ 57 22:50, 5 October 2007 (UTC)
Well it was illegal - but the King's List participated in the election (can this be understood that he accepted it or no?). But it should be noted that he immediately opposed the decision of the assembly - which included his deposing, instigating a rebellion in 1919, which onwards continued in a guerrilla resistance of a small band of men at arms. However in 1920 he accepted all decisions of this 'illegal' parliament.
Yeah, it was nation-wide; representative election in all municipalities for the parliament were held. --PaxEquilibrium 23:19, 5 October 2007 (UTC) | <urn:uuid:daab2131-7626-4548-a86e-8a5d04d99d0c> | 2 | 1.828125 | 0.085776 | en | 0.971537 | http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Template_talk:Montenegrin_elections |
The Invisible Man
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The Invisible Man
Wells The Invisible Man.jpg
First edition cover
Author H.G. Wells
Country United Kingdom
Language English
Genre Horror, Science fiction novel
Published 1897 (C. Arthur Pearson)
Media type Print (hardback & paperback)
Pages 149
Plot summary[edit]
A mysterious man, Griffin, arrives at the local inn of the English village of Iping, West Sussex, during a snowstorm. The stranger wears a long-sleeved, thick coat and gloves, his face hidden entirely by bandages except for a fake pink nose, and a wide-brimmed hat. He is excessively reclusive, irascible, and unfriendly. He demands to be left alone and spends most of his time in his rooms working with a set of chemicals and laboratory apparatus, only venturing out at night. While staying at the inn, hundreds of strange glass bottles arrive that Griffin calls his luggage. Many local townspeople believe this to be very strange. He becomes the talk of the village (one of the novel's most charming aspects is its portrayal of small-town life in southern England, which the author knew from first-hand experience).
Meanwhile, a mysterious burglary occurs in the village. Griffin has run out of money and was trying to find a way to pay for his board and lodging. When his landlady demands he pay his bill and quit the premises, he reveals part of his invisibility to her in a fit of pique. An attempt to apprehend the stranger is frustrated when he undresses to take advantage of his invisibility, fights off his would-be captors, and flees to the downs.
Griffin's furious attempt to avenge his betrayal leads to his being shot. He takes shelter in a nearby house that turns out to belong to Dr. Kemp, a former acquaintance from medical school. To Kemp, he reveals his true identity: the Invisible Man is Griffin, a former medical student who left medicine to devote himself to optics. Griffin recounts how he invented medicine capable of rendering bodies invisible and, on impulse, performed the procedure on himself.
Griffin tells Kemp of the story of how he became invisible. He explains how he tried the invisibility on a cat, then himself. Griffin burns down the boarding house he was staying in along with all his equipment he used to turn invisible to cover his tracks, but soon realises he is ill-equipped to survive in the open. He attempts to steal food and clothes from a large department store, and eventually steals some clothing from a theatrical supply shop and heads to Iping to attempt to reverse the invisibility. But now he imagines that he can make Kemp his secret confederate, describing his plan to begin a "Reign of Terror" by using his invisibility to terrorise the nation.
Griffin shoots and injures a local policeman who comes to Kemp's aid, then breaks into Kemp's house. Kemp bolts for the town, where the local citizenry comes to his aid. Griffin is seized, assaulted, and killed by a mob. The Invisible Man's naked, battered body gradually becomes visible as he dies. A local policeman shouts to cover his face with a sheet, then the book concludes.
In the final chapter, it is revealed that Marvel has secretly kept Griffin's notes.
Griffin is the surname of the story's protagonist. His name is not mentioned until about halfway through the book. Consumed with his greed for power and fame, he is the model of science without humanity. A gifted young student, he becomes interested in the science of refraction. During his experiments he accidentally discovers formulas that would make tissue invisible. Obsessed with his discovery, he tries the experiment on himself and becomes invisible. However he does not discover how to reverse the process and slowly discovers that the advantages of being invisible outweighed the disadvantages and the problems he faced. Thus begins his downfall as he takes the road to crime for his survival, revealing in the process his lack of conscience, inhumanity and complete selfishness. He progresses from obsession to fanaticism, to insanity and finally to his fateful end.
Dr. Kemp[edit]
Janny Hall[edit]
Mrs. Hall appears in the 1933 Universal film adaptation, where she was played by Una O'Connor.
George Hall[edit]
George Hall is the husband of Mrs. Hall and helps her run the Coach and Horses Inn. He was the first person in Iping to suspect that the mysterious Griffin is invisible: when a dog bites him and tears his glove, Griffin retreats to his room and Hall follows to see if he is all right, only to see Griffin without his glove and handless (or so it appears to Hall).
Mr. Hall appears in the 1933 Universal film adaptation, where his first name is changed to Herbert and seriously injured by Griffin. In the film, he is portrayed by Forrester Harvey.
Thomas Marvel[edit]
Col. Adye[edit]
Col. Adye is the chief of police in the town of Port Burdock. He is called upon by Dr. Kemp when the Invisible Man turns up in Kemp's house. Adye saves Kemp from the Invisible Man's first attempt on his life and leads the hunt for the unseen fugitive. He mostly follows Kemp's suggestions in planning the campaign against the Invisible Man. He is eventually shot by the Invisible Man with Kemp's revolver. Upon being shot, Adye is described as falling down and not getting back up. However, he is mentioned in the epilogue as being one of those who had questioned Thomas Marvel about the whereabouts of the Invisible Man's notebooks, and is never made clear whether this occurred prior to his being shot, or if it occurred afterwards and Adye survived.
Dr. Cuss[edit]
J.A. Jaffers[edit]
J.A. Jaffers is a constable in the town of Iping. He is called upon by George Hall and Janny Hall to arrest Griffin after they suspect him of robbing the Reverend Bunting. He overcomes his shock at the discovery that Griffin was invisible quickly, determined to arrest him in spite of this. The Invisible Man knocks him unconscious in his flight from Iping.
Jaffers appears in the 1933 Universal film adaptation.
Films and TV series[edit]
• The Invisible Man (1975) featured a sympathetic main character who used his abilities for good. As with The Six Million Dollar Man before it, the pilot was dark in tone, but the regular series that followed was lighter. Doctor Daniel Westin (David McCallum) accidentally renders himself invisible in a lab accident, while working for the sinister KLAE corporation.
• The Invisible Woman, a 1983 TV-movie pilot for a comedy series starring Alexa Hamilton.
• The Invisible Man, a Sci-Fi Channel television series aired from 2000 to 2002, lasting two seasons. It revolves around Darien Fawkes (Vincent Ventresca), a burglar who gets arrested and goes to jail, eventually negotiating his freedom to serve as a guinea pig to a government secret project run by his scientist brother Kevin through "The Agency", a low-budget US department. After being submitted to a surgical procedure to have a synthetic gland implanted in his cerebral cortex, he is able to secrete a substance called "Quicksilver", which coats his skin, hair, nails and clothes and renders him invisible. However, the gland is sabotaged to leak Quicksilver into the host's brain, creating the "Quicksilver Madness", a state in which the host becomes mentally unstable (and consequently more violent and dangerous). The series was somewhat more successful than the original 1975 series, but was cancelled due to cost issues and internal bickering between Sci-Fi and Universal.
• The Invisible Man (2011) an ongoing animated television series produced by Moonscoop which is loosely based in the book.
• A feature film entitled The Invisible Man is currently in development. It will be the second film in the Universal Horror Revival series of remakes, following 2010's The Wolfman.
• In the 2013 film The Book Thief the protagonist, a girl growing up in Nazi Germany, saves a copy of "The Invisible Man" from a Nazi book burning and on several scenes reads parts of it aloud. H. G. Wells was an author on the banned authors list during Nazi Germany.
• In 2009 New York Public Radio's The Jerome L. Greene Performance Space premiered "The Invisible Man" a multimedia audio play written by Arthur Yorinks. The play takes place during one evening in a contemporary New York City homeless shelter and in its minimalist fashion, speaks to not only the timely subject of homelessness and abandonment, but to the timeless and tragic existential human condition of invisibility. A collage of sound, live voices and sound effects was joined by a never-before-heard original piano score composed and improvised by Michael Riesman, director of the Philip Glass Ensemble, in a rare live musical performance. Lighting, video and conceptual design were by Mark Stanley, resident lighting designer for The New York City Ballet. Arthur Yorinks directed.
In other media[edit]
Cover of Classics Illustrated issue 153
• A character in the television series Sanctuary was named Griffin. He was one of the Five, a team of scientists who injected themselves with a blood serum and gained special abilities. His ability was to make himself transparent at will.
• In 2009, Canadian cartoonist Jeff Lemire released an Original Graphic Novel for DC Comics/Vertigo titled "The Nobody". This story was inspired by The Invisible Man with "John Griffen" as "The Invisible Man". There are many other allusions to the book.
• In Queen B Productions December 2003 issue of the Elvira Mistress of The Dark comic, an invisible woman appears in the second story "Mallville", a "Smallville" parody, as one of the "Miss Mallville" beauty contest contestants. She's only seen by facial features, her bikini, and sunglasses.
• In the anime series Naruto, the Second Tsuchikage, Muu, is probably based on Griffin, the main character of "The Invisible Man" due to his combination of bandage-covering appearance and the invisibility technique he uses to avoid being spotted.
• In the Monster High media, including video games and web animations, there is a teacher named "Mr. Where", who dresses in the Invisible Man's bandages, trench coat, and gloves (however, he usually wears a beret and sunglasses as he is the drama teacher). He is confirmed to be invisible beneath these coverings on more than one occasion, where his sleeves are shown bunching up to reveal his invisible limbs. He also seems to have the ability to turn further invisible, making his clothing disappear as well.
• Buffy the Vampire Slayer featured an episode in its first season, "Out of Sight, Out of Mind", that involved a young teenager who becomes literally invisible due to her being ignored by her classmates and teachers. At the end of the episode, the FBI grab her so that they can train her and other invisible kids to be assassins.
• In 2014 a five-part web series titled "The Invisible Man" was produced by Waterfoot Films and released online.[4] The series is a modern adaptation of Wells' original story set in America.
Russian writer Yakov I. Perelman pointed out in Physics Can Be Fun (1913) that from a scientific point of view, a man made invisible by Griffin's method should have been blind, since a human eye works by absorbing incoming light, not letting it through completely. Wells seems to show some awareness of this problem in Chapter 20, where each of the eyes of an otherwise invisible cat retains a visible retina.
Origins and moral[edit]
See also[edit]
External links[edit] | <urn:uuid:7550e7f2-1a04-4cf4-b49b-68462e1113cf> | 2 | 2.296875 | 0.023015 | en | 0.968485 | http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_invisible_man |
Daniel Deronda/Chapter 4
From Wikisource
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"Gorgibus.— * * * Je te dis que le mariage est une chose sainte
et sacrée: et que c'est faire en honnêtes gens, que de débuter par là.
"Madelon.—Mon Dieu! que si tout le monde vous ressemblait, un
roman serait bientôt fini! La belle chose que ce serait, si d'abord
Cyrus épousait Mandane, et qu'Aronce de plain-pied fût marié à Clélie!
* * * Laissez-nous faire à loisir le tissu de notre roman, et n'en
pressez pas tant la conclusion."
MOLIÈRE. Les Précieuses Ridicules.
It would be a little hard to blame the rector of Pennicote that in the course of looking at things from every point of view, he looked at Gwendolen as a girl likely to make a brilliant marriage. Why should he be expected to differ from his contemporaries in this matter, and wish his niece a worse end of her charming maidenhood than they would approve as the best possible? It is rather to be set down to his credit that his feelings on the subject were entirely good-natured. And in considering the relation of means to ends, it would have been mere folly to have been guided by the exceptional and idyllic—to have recommended that Gwendolen should wear a gown as shabby as Griselda's in order that a marquis might fall in love with her, or to have insisted that since a fair maiden was to be sought, she should keep herself out of the way. Mr. Gascoigne's calculations were of the kind called rational, and he did not even think of getting a too frisky horse in order that Gwendolen might be threatened with an accident and be rescued by a man of property. He wished his niece well, and he meant her to be seen to advantage in the best society of the neighborhood.
Her uncle's intention fell in perfectly with Gwendolen's own wishes. But let no one suppose that she also contemplated a brilliant marriage as the direct end of her witching the world with her grace on horseback, or with any other accomplishment. That she was to be married some time or other she would have felt obliged to admit; and that her marriage would not be of a middling kind, such as most girls were contented with, she felt quietly, unargumentatively sure. But her thoughts never dwelt on marriage as the fulfillment of her ambition; the dramas in which she imagined herself a heroine were not wrought up to that close. To be very much sued or hopelessly sighed for as a bride was indeed an indispensable and agreeable guarantee of womanly power; but to become a wife and wear all the domestic fetters of that condition, was on the whole a vexatious necessity. Her observation of matrimony had inclined her to think it rather a dreary state in which a woman could not do what she liked, had more children than were desirable, was consequently dull, and became irrevocably immersed in humdrum. Of course marriage was social promotion; she could not look forward to a single life; but promotions have sometimes to be taken with bitter herbs—a peerage will not quite do instead of leadership to the man who meant to lead; and this delicate-limbed sylph of twenty meant to lead. For such passions dwell in feminine breasts also. In Gwendolen's, however, they dwelt among strictly feminine furniture, and had no disturbing reference to the advancement of learning or the balance of the constitution; her knowledge being such as with no sort of standing- room or length of lever could have been expected to move the world. She meant to do what was pleasant to herself in a striking manner; or rather, whatever she could do so as to strike others with admiration and get in that reflected way a more ardent sense of living, seemed pleasant to her fancy.
"Gwendolen will not rest without having the world at her feet," said Miss Merry, the meek governess: hyperbolical words which have long come to carry the most moderate meanings; for who has not heard of private persons having the world at their feet in the shape of some half-dozen items of flattering regard generally known in a genteel suburb? And words could hardly be too wide or vague to indicate the prospect that made a hazy largeness about poor Gwendolen on the heights of her young self- exultation. Other people allowed themselves to be made slaves of, and to have their lives blown hither and thither like empty ships in which no will was present. It was not to be so with her; she would no longer be sacrificed to creatures worth less than herself, but would make the very best of the chances that life offered her, and conquer circumstances by her exceptional cleverness. Certainly, to be settled at Offendene, with the notice of Lady Brackenshaw, the archery club, and invitations to dine with the Arrowpoints, as the highest lights in her scenery, was not a position that seemed to offer remarkable chances; but Gwendolen's confidence lay chiefly in herself. She felt well equipped for the mastery of life. With regard to much in her lot hitherto, she held herself rather hardly dealt with, but as to her "education," she would have admitted that it had left her under no disadvantages. In the school-room her quick mind had taken readily that strong starch of unexplained rules and disconnected facts which saves ignorance from any painful sense of limpness; and what remained of all things knowable, she was conscious of being sufficiently acquainted with through novels, plays and poems. About her French and music, the two justifying accomplishments of a young lady, she felt no ground for uneasiness; and when to all these qualifications, negative and positive, we add the spontaneous sense of capability some happy persons are born with, so that any subject they turn their attention to impresses them with their own power of forming a correct judgment on it, who can wonder if Gwendolen felt ready to manage her own destiny?
There were many subjects in the world—perhaps the majority—in which she felt no interest, because they were stupid; for subjects are apt to appear stupid to the young as light seems dull to the old; but she would not have felt at all helpless in relation to them if they had turned up in conversation. It must be remembered that no one had disputed her power or her general superiority. As on the arrival at Offendene, so always, the first thought of those about her had been, what will Gwendolen think?—if the footman trod heavily in creaking boots, or if the laundress's work was unsatisfactory, the maid said, "This will never do for Miss Harleth"; if the wood smoked in the bedroom fireplace, Mrs. Davilow, whose own weak eyes suffered much from this inconvenience, spoke apologetically of it to Gwendolen. If, when they were under the stress of traveling, she did not appear at the breakfast table till every one else had finished, the only question was, how Gwendolen's coffee and toast should still be of the hottest and crispest; and when she appeared with her freshly-brushed light-brown hair streaming backward and awaiting her mamma's hand to coil it up, her large brown eyes glancing bright as a wave-washed onyx from under their long lashes, it was always she herself who had to be tolerant —to beg that Alice who sat waiting on her would not stick up her shoulders in that frightful manner, and that Isabel, instead of pushing up to her and asking questions, would go away to Miss Merry.
Always she was the princess in exile, who in time of famine was to have her breakfast-roll made of the finest-bolted flour from the seven thin ears of wheat, and in a general decampment was to have her silver folk kept out of the baggage. How was this to be accounted for? The answer may seem to lie quite on the surface:—in her beauty, a certain unusualness about her, a decision of will which made itself felt in her graceful movements and clear unhesitating tones, so that if she came into the room on a rainy day when everybody else was flaccid and the use of things in general was not apparent to them, there seemed to be a sudden, sufficient reason for keeping up the forms of life; and even the waiters at hotels showed the more alacrity in doing away with crumbs and creases and dregs with struggling flies in them. This potent charm, added to the fact that she was the eldest daughter, toward whom her mamma had always been in an apologetic state of mind for the evils brought on her by a step-father, may seem so full a reason for Gwendolen's domestic empire, that to look for any other would be to ask the reason of daylight when the sun is shining. But beware of arriving at conclusions without comparison. I remember having seen the same assiduous, apologetic attention awarded to persons who were not at all beautiful or unusual, whose firmness showed itself in no very graceful or euphonious way, and who were not eldest daughters with a tender, timid mother, compunctious at having subjected them to inconveniences. Some of them were a very common sort of men. And the only point of resemblance among them all was a strong determination to have what was pleasant, with a total fearlessness in making themselves disagreeable or dangerous when they did not get it. Who is so much cajoled and served with trembling by the weak females of a household as the unscrupulous male—capable, if he has not free way at home, of going and doing worse elsewhere? Hence I am forced to doubt whether even without her potent charm and peculiar filial position Gwendolen might not still have played the queen in exile, if only she had kept her inborn energy of egoistic desire, and her power of inspiring fear as to what she might say or do. However, she had the charm, and those who feared her were also fond of her; the fear and the fondness being perhaps both heightened by what may be called the iridescence of her character—the play of various, nay, contrary tendencies. For Macbeth's rhetoric about the impossibility of being many opposite things in the same moment, referred to the clumsy necessities of action and not to the subtler possibilities of feeling. We cannot speak a loyal word and be meanly silent; we cannot kill and not kill in the same moment; but a moment is wide enough for the loyal and mean desire, for the outlash of a murderous thought and the sharp backward stroke of repentance. | <urn:uuid:937b1c49-569d-4b9e-80d1-2c70fa484bec> | 2 | 1.835938 | 0.048868 | en | 0.979985 | http://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Daniel_Deronda/Chapter_4 |
The First Men in the Moon/Chapter 11
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So we two poor terrestrial castaways, lost in that wild-growing moon jungle, crawled in terror before the sounds that had come upon us. We crawled, as it seemed, a long time before we saw either Selenite or mooncalf, though we heard the bellowing and gruntulous noises of these latter continually drawing nearer to us. We crawled through stony ravines, over snow slopes, amidst fungi that ripped like thin bladders at our thrust, emitting a watery humour, over a perfect pavement of things like puff-balls, and beneath interminable thickets of scrub. And ever more helplessly our eyes sought for our abandoned sphere. The noise of the mooncalves would at times be a vast flat calf-like sound, at times it rose to an amazed and wrathy bellowing, and again it would become a clogged bestial sound, as though these unseen creatures had sought to eat and bellow at the same time.
Our first view was but an inadequate transitory glimpse, yet none the less disturbing because it was incomplete. Cavor was crawling in front at the time, and he first was aware of their proximity. He stopped dead, arresting me with a single gesture.
A crackling and smashing of the scrub appeared to be advancing directly upon us, and then, as we squatted close and endeavoured to judge of the nearness and direction of this noise, there came a terrific bellow behind us, so close and vehement that the tops of the bayonet scrub bent before it, and one felt the breath of it hot and moist. And, turning about, we saw indistinctly through a crowd of swaying stems the mooncalf's shining sides, and the long line of its back loomed out against the sky.
Of course it is hard for me now to say how much I saw at that time, because my impressions were corrected by subsequent observation. First of all impressions was its enormous size; the girth of its body was some fourscore feet, its length perhaps two hundred. Its sides rose and fell with its laboured breathing. I perceived that its gigantic, flabby body lay along the ground, and that its skin was of a corrugated white, dappling into blackness along the backbone. But of its feet we saw nothing. I think also that we saw then the profile at least of the almost brainless head, with its fat-encumbered neck, its slobbering omnivorous mouth, its little nostrils, and tight shut eyes. (For the mooncalf invariably shuts its eyes in the presence of the sun.) We had a glimpse of a vast red pit as it opened its mouth to bleat and bellow again; we had a breath from the pit, and then the monster heeled over like a ship, dragged forward along the ground, creasing all its leathery skin, rolled again, and so wallowed past us, smashing a path amidst the scrub, and was speedily hidden from our eyes by the dense interlacings beyond. Another appeared more distantly, and then another, and then, as though he was guiding these animated lumps of provender to their pasture, a Selenite came momentarily into ken. My grip upon Cavor's foot became convulsive at the sight of him, and we remained motionless and peering long after he had passed out of our range.
By contrast with the mooncalves he seemed a trivial being, a mere ant, scarcely five feet high. He was wearing garments of some leathery substance, so that no portion of his actual body appeared, but of this, of course, we were entirely ignorant. He presented himself, therefore, as a compact, bristling creature, having much of the quality of a complicated insect, with whip-like tentacles and a clanging arm projecting from his shining cylindrical body case. The form of his head was hidden by his enormous many-spiked helmet--we discovered afterwards that he used the spikes for prodding refractory mooncalves--and a pair of goggles of darkened glass, set very much at the side, gave a bird-like quality to the metallic apparatus that covered his face. His arms did not project beyond his body case, and he carried himself upon short legs that, wrapped though they were in warm coverings, seemed to our terrestrial eyes inordinately flimsy. They had very short thighs, very long shanks, and little feet.
In spite of his heavy-looking clothing, he was progressing with what would be, from the terrestrial point of view, very considerable strides, and his clanging arm was busy. The quality of his motion during the instant of his passing suggested haste and a certain anger, and soon after we had lost sight of him we heard the bellow of a mooncalf change abruptly into a short, sharp squeal followed by the scuffle of its acceleration. And gradually that bellowing receded, and then came to an end, as if the pastures sought had been attained.
We listened. For a space the moon world was still. But it was some time before we resumed our crawling search for the vanished sphere.
When next we saw mooncalves they were some little distance away from us in a place of tumbled rocks. The less vertical surfaces of the rocks were thick with a speckled green plant growing in dense mossy clumps, upon which these creatures were browsing. We stopped at the edge of the reeds amidst which we were crawling at the sight of them, peering out at then and looking round for a second glimpse of a Selenite. They lay against their food like stupendous slugs, huge, greasy hulls, eating greedily and noisily, with a sort of sobbing avidity. They seemed monsters of mere fatness, clumsy and overwhelmed to a degree that would make a Smithfield ox seem a model of agility. Their busy, writhing, chewing mouths, and eyes closed, together with the appetising sound of their munching, made up an effect of animal enjoyment that was singularly stimulating to our empty frames.
"Hogs!" said Cavor, with unusual passion. "Disgusting hogs!" and after one glare of angry envy crawled off through the bushes to our right. I stayed long enough to see that the speckled plant was quite hopeless for human nourishment, then crawled after him, nibbling a quill of it between my teeth.
Presently we were arrested again by the proximity of a Selenite, and this time we were able to observe him more exactly. Now we could see that the Selenite covering was indeed clothing, and not a sort of crustacean integument. He was quite similar in his costume to the former one we had glimpsed, except that ends of something like wadding were protruding from his neck, and he stood on a promontory of rock and moved his head this way and that, as though he was surveying the crater. We lay quite still, fearing to attract his attention if we moved, and after a time he turned about and disappeared.
We came upon another drove of mooncalves bellowing up a ravine, and then we passed over a place of sounds, sounds of beating machinery as if some huge hall of industry came near the surface there. And while these sounds were still about us we came to the edge of a great open space, perhaps two hundred yards in diameter, and perfectly level. Save for a few lichens that advanced from its margin this space was bare, and presented a powdery surface of a dusty yellow colour. We were afraid to strike out across this space, but as it presented less obstruction to our crawling than the scrub, we went down upon it and began very circumspectly to skirt its edge.
For a little while the noises from below ceased and everything, save for the faint stir of the growing vegetation, was very still. Then abruptly there began an uproar, louder, more vehement, and nearer than any we had so far heard. Of a certainty it came from below. Instinctively we crouched as flat as we could, ready for a prompt plunge into the thicket beside us. Each knock and throb seemed to vibrate through our bodies. Louder grew this throbbing and beating, and that irregular vibration increased until the whole moon world seemed to be jerking and pulsing.
At that instant came a thud like the thud of a gun, and then a thing happened--it still haunts me in my dreams. I had turned my head to look at Cavor's face, and thrust out my hand in front of me as I did so. And my hand met nothing! I plunged suddenly into a bottomless hole!
My chest hit something hard, and I found myself with my chin on the edge of an unfathomable abyss that had suddenly opened beneath me, my hand extended stiffly into the void. The whole of that flat circular area was no more than a gigantic lid, that was now sliding sideways from off the pit it had covered into a slot prepared for it.
Had it not been for Cavor I think I should have remained rigid, hanging over this margin and staring into the enormous gulf below, until at last the edges of the slot scraped me off and hurled me into its depths. But Cavor had not received the shock that had paralysed me. He had been a little distance from the edge when the lid had first opened, and perceiving the peril that held me helpless, gripped my legs and pulled me backward. I came into a sitting position, crawled away from the edge for a space on all fours, then staggered up and ran after him across the thundering, quivering sheet of metal. It seemed to be swinging open with a steadily accelerated velocity, and the bushes in front of me shifted sideways as I ran.
I was none too soon. Cavor's back vanished amidst the bristling thicket, and as I scrambled up after him, the monstrous valve came into its position with a clang. For a long time we lay panting, not daring to approach the pit.
But at last very cautiously and bit by bit we crept into a position from which we could peer down. The bushes about us creaked and waved with the force of a breeze that was blowing down the shaft. We could see nothing at first except smooth vertical walls descending at last into an impenetrable black. And then very gradually we became aware of a number of very faint and little lights going to and fro.
For a time that stupendous gulf of mystery held us so that we forgot even our sphere. In time, as we grew more accustomed to the darkness, we could make out very small, dim, elusive shapes moving about among those needle-point illuminations. We peered amazed and incredulous, understanding so little that we could find no words to say. We could distinguish nothing that would give us a clue to the meaning of the faint shapes we saw.
"The engineering!... They must live in these caverns during the night, and come out during the day."
"_That_ was not a man."
"We dare risk nothing!"
"We dare do nothing until we find the sphere!"
"We _can_ do nothing until we find the sphere."
He assented with a groan and stirred himself to move. He stared about him for a space, sighed, and indicated a direction. We struck out through the jungle. For a time we crawled resolutely, then with diminishing vigour. Presently among great shapes of flabby purple there came a noise of trampling and cries about us. We lay close, and for a long time the sounds went to and fro and very near. But this time we saw nothing. I tried to whisper to Cavor that I could hardly go without food much longer, but my mouth had become too dry for whispering.
He turned a face full of dismay towards me. "It's a case for holding out," he said.
"I've been thirsty some time."
"If only some of that snow had remained!"
"It's clean gone! We're driving from arctic to tropical at the rate of a degree a minute...."
I gnawed my hand.
We roused ourselves to another spurt of crawling. My mind ran entirely on edible things, on the hissing profundity of summer drinks, more particularly I craved for beer. I was haunted by the memory of a sixteen gallon cask that had swaggered in my Lympne cellar. I thought of the adjacent larder, and especially of steak and kidney pie--tender steak and plenty of kidney, and rich, thick gravy between. Ever and again I was seized with fits of hungry yawning. We came to flat places overgrown with fleshy red things, monstrous coralline growths; as we pushed against them they snapped and broke. I noted the quality of the broken surfaces. The confounded stuff certainly looked of a biteable texture. Then it seemed to me that it smelt rather well.
I picked up a fragment and sniffed at it.
"Cavor," I said in a hoarse undertone.
He glanced at me with his face screwed up. "Don't," he said. I put down the fragment, and we crawled on through this tempting fleshiness for a space.
"Cavor," I asked, "why not?"
We crawled some way before I decided.
"I'll chance it," said I.
He made a belated gesture to prevent me. I stuffed my mouth full. He crouched watching my face, his own twisted into the oddest expression. "It's good," I said.
"O Lord!" he cried.
He watched me munch, his face wrinkled between desire and disapproval, then suddenly succumbed to appetite and began to tear off huge mouthfuls. For a time we did nothing but eat.
The stuff was not unlike a terrestrial mushroom, only it was much laxer in texture, and, as one swallowed it, it warmed the throat. At first we experienced a mere mechanical satisfaction in eating; then our blood began to run warmer, and we tingled at the lips and fingers, and then new and slightly irrelevant ideas came bubbling up in our minds.
"Its good," said I. "Infernally good! What a home for our surplus population! Our poor surplus population," and I broke off another large portion. It filled me with a curiously benevolent satisfaction that there was such good food in the moon. The depression of my hunger gave way to an irrational exhilaration. The dread and discomfort in which I had been living vanished entirely. I perceived the moon no longer as a planet from which I most earnestly desired the means of escape, but as a possible refuge from human destitution. I think I forgot the Selenites, the mooncalves, the lid, and the noises completely so soon as I had eaten that fungus.
Cavor replied to my third repetition of my "surplus population" remark with similar words of approval. I felt that my head swam, but I put this down to the stimulating effect of food after a long fast. "Ess'lent discov'ry yours, Cavor," said I. "Se'nd on'y to the 'tato."
"Whajer mean?" asked Cavor. "'Scovery of the moon--se'nd on'y to the 'tato?"
I looked at him, shocked at his suddenly hoarse voice, and by the badness of his articulation. It occurred to me in a flash that he was intoxicated, possibly by the fungus. It also occurred to me that he erred in imagining that he had discovered the moon; he had not discovered it, he had only reached it. I tried to lay my hand on his arm and explain this to him, but the issue was too subtle for his brain. It was also unexpectedly difficult to express. After a momentary attempt to understand me--I remember wondering if the fungus had made my eyes as fishy as his--he set off upon some observations on his own account.
"We are," he announced with a solemn hiccup, "the creashurs o' what we eat and drink."
He repeated this, and as I was now in one of my subtle moods, I determined to dispute it. Possibly I wandered a little from the point. But Cavor certainly did not attend at all properly. He stood up as well as he could, putting a hand on my head to steady I himself, which was disrespectful, and stood staring about him, quite devoid now of any fear of the moon beings.
I tried to point out that this was dangerous for some reason that was not perfectly clear to me, but the word "dangerous" had somehow got mixed with "indiscreet," and came out rather more like "injurious" than either; and after an attempt to disentangle them, I resumed my argument, addressing myself principally to the unfamiliar but attentive coralline growths on either side. I felt that it was necessary to clear up this confusion between the moon and a potato at once--I wandered into a long parenthesis on the importance of precision of definition in argument. I did my best to ignore the fact that my bodily sensations were no longer agreeable.
In some way that I have now forgotten, my mind was led back to projects of colonisation. "We must annex this moon," I said. "There must be no shilly-shally. This is part of the White Man's Burthen. Cavor--we are--hic--Satap--mean Satraps! Nempire Caesar never dreamt. B'in all the newspapers. Cavorecia. Bedfordecia. Bedfordecia--hic--Limited. Mean--unlimited! Practically."
Certainly I was intoxicated.
I embarked upon an argument to show the infinite benefits our arrival would confer on the moon. I involved myself in a rather difficult proof that the arrival of Columbus was, on the whole, beneficial to America. I found I had forgotten the line of argument I had intended to pursue, and continued to repeat "sim'lar to C'lumbus," to fill up time.
From that point my memory of the action of that abominable fungus becomes confused. I remember vaguely that we declared our intention of standing no nonsense from any confounded insects, that we decided it ill became men to hide shamefully upon a mere satellite, that we equipped ourselves with huge armfuls of the fungus--whether for missile purposes or not I do not know--and, heedless of the stabs of the bayonet scrub, we started forth into the sunshine.
Almost immediately we must have come upon the Selenites. There were six of them, and they were marching in single file over a rocky place, making the most remarkable piping and whining sounds. They all seemed to become aware of us at once, all instantly became silent and motionless, like animals, with their faces turned towards us.
For a moment I was sobered.
"Insects," murmured Cavor, "insects! And they think I'm going to crawl about on my stomach--on my vertebrated stomach!
Then suddenly, with a sort of fury, he made three vast strides and leapt towards them. He leapt badly; he made a series of somersaults in the air, whirled right over them, and vanished with an enormous splash amidst the cactus bladders. What the Selenites made of this amazing, and to my mind undignified irruption from another planet, I have no means of guessing. I seem to remember the sight of their backs as they ran in all directions, but I am not sure. All these last incidents before oblivion came are vague and faint in my mind. I know I made a step to follow Cavor, and tripped and fell headlong among the rocks. I was, I am certain, suddenly and vehemently ill. I seem to remember, a violent struggle and being gripped by metallic clasps....
My next clear recollection is that we were prisoners at we knew not what depths beneath the moon's surface; we were in darkness amidst strange distracting noises; our bodies were covered with scratches and bruises, and our heads racked with pain. | <urn:uuid:96de3981-4fcf-46fd-a7cb-b817e3a1f52d> | 2 | 2.0625 | 0.02146 | en | 0.984169 | http://en.wikisource.org/wiki/The_First_Men_in_the_Moon/Chapter_11 |
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It is demonstrated that surface-sensitive electron diffraction measurements of steps on singular, but rough Si(100) surfaces are subject to a multiple-scattering effect that can be misinterpreted as double-atomic-height steps. It is shown that only single-height steps are present. This phenomenon can occur in any surface in which adjacent terraces have different terrace structure factors. Determination of terrace sizes can be influenced; however, they can be accurately made if the diffraction geometry is chosen appropriately. Possible terrace shape effects may also be inherent in the diffraction data. | <urn:uuid:2c67ad3b-a717-4516-8080-88026c041907> | 2 | 2.03125 | 0.056837 | en | 0.871369 | http://epub.ub.uni-muenchen.de/5791/ |
eTheses Repository
Containing liberation: The US Cold War strategy towards Eastern Europe and the Hungarian revolution of 1956
Long, Stephen John (2005)
M.Phil. thesis, University of Birmingham.
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This thesis analyses the nature and significance of US strategy towards Eastern Europe between 1945 and the 1956 Hungarian revolution. Tension between the ideological goal of liberating the USSR’s satellite regimes and geopolitical considerations restrained American policy, perpetuating a fluctuation between containment and liberation.
America embarked on a liberation policy under Harry Truman and strategists such as George Kennan, Charles Bohlen and Paul Nitze. Adopting salient strategic reviews like NSC 20/4 and NSC 68, policy oscillated between containment and liberation in response to external developments like Jozip Tito’s defection, the Soviet nuclear bomb, the rise of Mao Ze Dong and the Korean War.
Proponents of political-psychological warfare during Dwight Eisenhower’s administration like John Foster Dulles, Allen Dulles, Frank Wisner and C. D. Jackson struggled to resolve the tension between ideology and geopolitics ultimately paralysing the US ability to roll back communism. Joseph Stalin’s death, the East German uprising and the Hungarian revolution illustrated Washington’s impotence.
History fallaciously demarcates the death of liberation post-Hungary. Although Washington rejected its existing strategy, the long-term goal was not relinquished. Eastern European policy adapted to geopolitical limitations, through coexistence and liberalisation. Liberation shifted to the Developing World under the slogan ‘nation-building.’
Type of Work:M.Phil. thesis.
Supervisor(s):Lucas, W. Scott
Department:Department of American and Canadian Studies
Subjects:JZ International relations
E151 United States (General)
D839 Post-war History, 1945 on
Institution:University of Birmingham
Library Catalogue:Check for printed version of this thesis
ID Code:1787
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The philosophical concept that the mind is completely independent of the body, and a contrast to Gross Materialism. Although there are several types of dualism, Cartesian Dualism exists only within the sphere of mind-body dualism.
Mind-body dualism assumes the existence of two distinct principles of being in the universe: spirit and matter, or soul and body. This was the basic understanding behind the teachings of Plato, according to which the physical world of sense phenomena is but a poor reflection or image of the true spiritual world; sense things being mere shadows of the eternal spiritual things or "Ideas". The goal of the philosopher was thus the elevation of consciousness, and the contemplation of these pure spiritual forms. Hence philosophy in its origin was a much more mystical or spiritual thing than it is today.
Mind-body dualism in the current philosophical understanding of the term originates from one man, the seventeenth century French philosopher Rene Descartes. It was Descartes who gave the world that much quoted utterance "I think, therefore I am". He was also the one who popularized the idea of reality as a dichotomy of matter (extended or spatial substance) and spirit (thinking substance, including God). This form of mind-body dualism became known as "Cartesian Dualism", after the Latin pronunciation of Descartes (Cartes).
Cartesian Dualism is made extremely difficult to accept if you consider the problem of interaction.
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Carl Sandburg. 1878–1967
HOG Butcher for the World,
Tool Maker, Stacker of Wheat,
Player with Railroads and the Nation’s Freight Handler;
Stormy, husky, brawling,
City of the Big Shoulders:
Building, breaking, rebuilding,
I live in Chicago, a place considered by many to be one of the most segregated cities in the world. This town is made up of countless very specific ethnic neighborhoods; every race and culture of the world is accounted for here and has its own area of the city where everything that goes on is conducted in the language and custom of that culture.
Its true that there are probably few other places where one can truly see such clearly defined hoods jutted right up against eachother with such clear-cut differences between them. Its also true that there is no denying the racial tension and racist people that can be found here. But that is because most places don't have so many people of so many different ethnicities and cultures.
I think when people speak of how segregated Chicago is they are comparing it solely to New York City, the only other city in the world comparable to this one in most aspects. In this case, the difference between the two is that New York has just as many cultures and races of people but they are all mixed and piled together in most areas of the city, as opposed to here where there are so many neighborhoods dedicated to a specific culture. By that comparison, because of the distinct neighborhoods and divisions that can be found here, I can see how Chicago has come to be defined as 'segregated.'
But to say it is one of the most so in the world or even this country for that matter seems ridiculous to me, because how can you compare it to any other city that has such a smaller population of inhabitants which are comprised of nowhere near as many different races of people. We have the largest population of Polish people outside of Warsaw, for Christ's sake. And they happen to have their own niche here, as does every other culture imaginable.
I don't know why, but as a resident of this city I take the whole 'most segregated' thing as a sort of an accusation, and very personally. Its weird because I really do know what people mean when they say that, but I also feel they are not thinking of things in a greater context. God only knows why things like this even bother me.
Chicago is a city in Illinois which is about 606.1 square kilometers (234 square miles) in area. It is the third largest city in the United States and has a population of apporximately 3 million people (about 2,896,016 as of the 2000 census).
In 1673, Father Jacques Marquette and Louis Joliet were the very first Europeans to find the land on which Chicago is built. They returned with five other Europeans, and with the help of friendly Indians, traversed the region that Chicago stands on.
The Great Chicago Fire
In 1871, a fire occured in Chicago. The real cause to the fire is unknown, but there are many speculations (such as one of Patrick O'Leary's cows knocking down a lantern and causing the barn to light on fire). The fire began at around 9 A.M. on October 8, 1871, and by midnight the fire had jumped the Chicago River's south branch. In the end, 300 Chicagoans were dead, 90,000 homeless, and the property loss was $200 million. By 1875, however, Chicago had been quickly rebuilt and little evidence remained of the disaster.
Landmarks in Chicago
• The Chicago River -- The river was reversed by building a canal.
• The Sears Tower -- The tallest building in the world, standing at 443 meters (1,454 ft.) in length without the antennas. There is a competetor for tallest building internationally, but there is a dispute as to weather antennas should be counted or>
• The John Hancock Building -- Chicago's second tallest building, standing at 334 Meters in length. Also, it has 5 x's on each side of the building helping it structurally and aesthetically.
• Buckingham Fountain -- Standing in Chicago's Grant Park, it is one of the largest fountains in the world
• Text taken from (Under the GNU Free Documentation License)
• Text taken from (Also under the GNU Free Documentation License)
• (2001). Chicago: historical information about chicago. retrieved Feb 05, 2004, from
• (n.d.). retrieved Feb 05, 2004, from
The Best Way to See Chicago
How to Get to the Lake
If you are ever in Chicago in the summer, preferably before it becomes heat-stroke-inducingly hot, please do this: Rent, borrow or steal a bike and head east from wherever you are. Find an intersection. If you are facing a sign which says “X N.”, e.g. “Division, 1200 N.”, turn right and look for addresses. They best be going down mother-scratcher, or you best turn around. Properly oriented, keep going till you hit Lake Michigan. (The Division example gets a bit interesting around 1000 West, but if you want to buy crack this route is primo and you might have the experience I’m extolling in a completely different and better way.) If the sign you are facing says “X W.”, e,g, “Ashland, 1600 W.”, you are either going the dead right or dead wrong direction. The next sign you come to should be less west. If it is, Carmen Sandiego, you’re on the right track.
Be careful, Speed Racer. Urban bike riding is treacherous stuff. You might want pads and a helmet, but you also might want your dignity. Also, some streets do feature handy bike lanes, especially good is Milwaukee. However, Chicago is no Madison, and as our distended, polish-sausage-eating asses attest, exercise isn’t the prime concern of the Daley regime or his average subject. Furthermore, Milwaukee runs NW/SE, and will probably confuse you and you’ll end up in Skokie. So be a man and take a non-bike-laned street and head east like I told you to!
Potential Pitfalls
Holy shit! Cars and busses are nigh 1 foot from my spindly and prized left leg and arm!” I know. Don’t panic. Keep your glassies open and pay attention. Part of the quality of this experience is its potential to end your life. Look at the mirrors of the cars to your right. If you see a change in the light in one of these mirrors, react! That’s a door opening, and it can be your ride ending if you slam into it. The attitude of Chicagoans to bikers ranges from blind indifference to outright malice, so they won’t be checking for your presence and they might be trying to lay you low. It’s up to you to remain uncrippled.
Also, mind the busses. They are the drunken, malevolent dinosaurs of the urban roadscape, and they veer right to devour and regurgitate people at nearly every block with no regard for your presence. Similarly, if you get clever and try to pass a stopped bus on the left, they might well career drunkenly into your usually safe right side. Achtung! Busses are your sworn enemy. Avoid them with sidewalks and with valor.
Now you’re gliding along east and you’re paying attention. Hopefully your muscles aren’t atrophied to the point where you are currently a sweaty, pathetic, aching walrus. If at any point you feel arrhythmia or similarly imminently life-threatening symptoms, wait for your enemy at a bus stop. They will pick your walrus ass up and you can stow your steed on the front bike rack. Navigation of the CTA is beyond the scope of this node. You’ve failed, and now you’re on your own.
Oh, The Places You’ll Go!
To those fleet and lithe few who’re able to navigate Scylla and Charybdis, after about 15 to 20 minutes of riding east you should start to slip into a zen-like trance. It’s really amazing how much is going on in a big city that is usually dampened by the vacuum-seal of your car. Bike-riding : driving :: actually going to Florence : Rick Steves telling you about it. Oxygen starts coursing through your brain. What’s that thudding sound? That’s your heart beating, Ulysses, that’s being alive outside.
Note the wind wicking your sweat, note the architecture of our fine city. Look at the tops of the buildings. Stonemasonry is a lost art and it’s on display. The neighborhoods will generally change from the lower ends of the socioeconomic strata to the higher as you get closer to the lake, and you might notice Spanish signage resolving into comprehensibility. Depending on how far north or south you are, you might pass through the ritzy North Shore. Or Little Vietnam. Or the bustling business center of The Loop. You might see yuppie 20-somethings emerging from gyms and Starbucks in Lincoln Park. If you find yourself on Chicago Avenue, you’ll cross the intersection with Michigan Ave. where all the tourists come to spend profligate amounts at Ralph Lauren and Saks Fifth Avenue, you’ll see an old-timey fire station with firemen lazing outside, smoking. You’ll see the two enormous antennae of the John Hancock building mainlining the sky. You’ll see my school. From pretty much anywhere in the city, within 30 minutes you should arrive at Lake Michigan.
Lake Michigan is a big-ass beautiful lake in the summertime, with the sailboats and the dancing light, with the cool wind and the blueness. There is a bike trail that runs north and south along it for 20 miles called, aptly, the “Lakefront Path.” For your last obstacle before arriving at the lake, you’ll have to cross Lake Shore Drive (Just slippin’ on by on LSD, Friday night trouble bound… – SING IT ALIOTA, HAYNES, AND JEREMIAH!). Do not try to cross this road! It’s a highway and will make you dead. Look for a pedestrian underpass, walk your bike down the stairs, disregard the pungent smell of urine, and emerge to the Lakefront Path. You’ve arrived, Sportsfan.
The Lake Itself
“I thought Chicagoans had distended asses?!? I feel wildly unfit amidst this swarm of hardbody hotties. Who are these people? Extras from Gattica?” I know. The people on the Lakefront Path, running, biking, walking and rollerblading by (What’s the hardest part about rollerblading? Telling your parents you’re gay.), are extremely pulchritudinous as a general rule. They hide somewhere underneath the city during the year and only emerge in the summertime to flaunt their physical prowess along the lakeshore promenade, making the normal feel woefully inadequate. In any event, they don’t care about you so don’t worry about looking like an invader from Corpulencia. Narcissus’s downfall was not due to looking at and mocking the unbeautiful. Enjoy the navel-gazers as scenery.
Now you can choose where to go, north or south. There is an excellent riddle that comes to mind: You arrive at a fork in the road. Twin sisters are standing there. Lost, you ask them for directions. “One of us always lies and the other always tells the truth. You can only ask us one question each, but it has to be the same question.” What do you ask them to find your way? Sorry (the answer is at the end).
Your choice here is of much less moment, north or south are both fantastic rides. I would recommend you look around. Where are the tall buildings at? If you are looking out at the lake, and they are far away to your right (south), riding towards them offers what I think is the most startlingly beautiful view of the Chicago skyline. However, if you go left (north), you’ll find far fewer crowds and lots of cool parks with the occasional tai chi practitioner and a quiet beach or three. If you are closer to the big buildings, heading right (south) will bring you past Navy Pier, a big somewhat cheesy place featuring a Ferris wheel and stuff of that sort. Resist its touristy siren song. You’re better than that. Continuing south will bring you past the new, improbably modern architecture of Soldier Field, and the monolithic black steel and glass behemoth that is McCormick Place. Farther south is The South Side, which is humongous and about which I know little. Sticking to the trail, however, you are in little danger. Of which we cannot speak we must remain silent.
One stop that I would fervently advocate making would be the chess pavilion by North Avenue Beach (1600 N.). Finding this location or any other on the path is made easier by the addresses painted on the path itself every couple blocks. If you have the remotest interest in chess or psychopathology, you should really check this out. The structure itself is a large metal awning shaped like an open clamshell that covers some 20 or so chessboards that are wrought into upraised concrete slabs that serve as benches and tables. During the summer, there are always throngs of spectators and players, some of whom are very good, and some of whom will put their money where their mouth is. This way lies penury unless you, too, are very good (1800+ USCF). You’ll find homeless savants, Russian émigrés, loudmouthed Filipino impresarios, and smarmy businessmen getting robbed blind. Most of the games are speed chess, and the click, click, click of the clocks being punched is cacophonous. If you are female, the environs might also feature an unwanted aside or two about your beauty. It’s generally good-natured and usually subsides shortly, so don’t let this dissuade you from checking it out. A few players play for play, so have yourself a game. It’s probably the coolest place to play chess I’ve ever been, and it’s literally 20 feet from the lake which sprawls out as far as you can see.
Hopefully you remember from where you set forth upon this journey and you can navigate your way back. I hope that after this trip you are uninjured, juiced with endorphins and Vitamin D from the sunlight and exercise, and edified by the mad beauty of Chicago. After a few hours of riding, nothing surpasses a few cold beers and some grilled meat with compatriots. Don’t worry, your computer and television will be waiting for you with open arms on your return.
If you don’t want to know the answer to the riddle, please don’t read further.
The answer to the riddle
Ask them this question: “Which way would your sister tell me to go?”
I've learned these things since returning to the city that raised me from her suburbs.
Chicago is a museum of architecture. The downtown area is an arena where different styles of building conspire, one against the other. It is also a breeding ground, the quintessential postmodern landscape.
Of the myriad beautiful views, I must say that it is from the corner of Ohio and LaSalle that one can most clearly get a picture of why the city is beautiful. Facing toward the John Hancock Building, one sees residential and office skyscrapers crawling, centipedelike, up the sky. Hancock looks haughtily down upon them in the distance, grand even to these giants with the alien enormity of the Sears Tower looming out of view.
Right across the street is the new MacDonald's, big and artsy and sophisticated in a way that such a banal establishment does not deserve. The Rainforest Cafe as well as the Hard Rock Cafe are well within walking distance. Whimsical buildings add perspective, lessen the gray hardness of the massive skyscrapers behind.
Behind you are old buildings, short and stocky and sweaty with history. Their storefronts have changed dozens of times even since I've been alive. Old dogs, new tricks.
The Tao te Ching says that the Tao is like a river. It sustains all without trying and lays in riverbeds, places where no other would find comfort.
I say that today the train is like the Tao. It moves without concern, upon a track that is covered with piss and rat shit and electricity. It brings anybody, rich or poor, black or white, to wherever they need to go.
Speaking of the train, there are two ways to transfer at no cost from the Blue Line to the Red Line; one is on Washington and one on Jackson.
The Jackson Street transfer is much more modern. It's more brightly lit and better tiled and high tech.
It smells, however, just as much like urine and vomit as the Washington transfer.
Chicago is here because the stockyards would hire anyone. Immigrants running from this war or that who needed employment could work in the massive compound that existed only to kill. It took little basic ability to smash a cow's skull with a hammer.
Because of this the vicious Chicago winter is endured by blacks, Hispanics and Asians, cultures who have been ill-prepared by history. But they stay, they endure.
Now, Chicago had a major hand in the development of jazz and blues and can take nearly sole responsibility for house music.
Culture was developed in Chicago while people in San Diego were on the beach. Culture developed because it was something you could do indoors.
The spirit of Chicago is that of a deer with its leg in a trap. Rather than prance through the glade or chew through its leg, it mixes records. Rather than searching for greener forest, it exports steel.
I have learned much from moving back to the city of my birth. I’ve seen the freedom that poverty can grant every day as I walk back from the California Blue Line stop and I see the bondage of wealth every day when I work at Starbucks downtown. Chicago is, without question, THE postmodern city. It is difficult to tell whether it is so cosmopolitan out of confusion or enlightenment, out of a desire to be many things or a fear of being one.
In the sun, you are the white city.
Beaming and proud, hard in the heat; Sparkling in your ivories and greys.
Stone slabbed, white peaked, you are unrelenting.
But with the moon, you bend down to the lake: warm, caressing.
Reflecting its tones, you are gleaming, glistening, blue.
2 October 2006
I fell in love again.
I saw her way before she'd seen me. Which was surprising, because I was already a couple drinks in, and I had a reputation for being sort of a lightweight. But if she had seen me before she actually walked up to me, then I guess it must have been because she was just as nervous as I was. It had been a long, long time.
She asked me how long I'd been here. I loved that. No basic formalities with this girl - no "hi, do you remember me?" or even "how've you been?" She was so confident in her strides, even when you knew she was chickenshit. I told her I couldn't really remember. Which is usually true. I never knew what day of the month it was, or the week for that matter. I never even kept a watch because I didn't care. When I was seventeen years old I broke every clock in the house one day just because I was sick of time dictating what I did. And I've never really looked back from that moment.
But this was different. I knew exactly how long I'd been here - four months, nine days. I usually didn't care when I got to wherever it was I happened to be, or how long I stayed. But this really was different. I could never forget Chicago. All the little details, all the novelties and little sentimental moments all my principles stood against, the whole facade was dropped here. I can't kid myself in Chicago. I don't think I ever will.
I didn't really know what to say, so I started asking about a couple of people from back in Virginia I was genuinely curious about. I guess nobody's story turned out to be anything unexpected when you consider the character that made it up. The people I expected to get knocked up early got knocked up early. The people I expected to drop out of college dropped out of college. The people I expected to work hard as a middle class white collar worker to get fruitless satisfaction out of it...well, you get the picture. Except maybe Donnie. I guess I just never really expected anything out of Donnie because I didn't really like him too much. I still felt sorry for him though, because the guy had the worst luck in the world. But I just couldn't help but not like him in the first place because the guy was just so incredibly unimaginative. All he ever talked about was starting his own winery. When it came to dreams and ambitions, or just anything aside from schoolwork or other people, it was always again and again with the damn winery. He was just such an unambitious guy, and he never followed through with anything, and I guess it was just kind of hard to respect him for it. But whenever he failed at anything else, he always fell back on the Winery idea, and by god that's exactly what became of him. He's not rich or anything, he's still making 5 figures annually, but he's certainly doing alright. I felt happy for him when I heard it.
After I'd run out of little side topics, I just sort of braced myself. I didn't know what else to do. It would've been easy enough to talk about shit noone really cares about until we got tired and drunk and went our separate ways. But I knew she would eat me alive, or worse, bore me to death. You never ever try small talk with Charlotte. It's honestly easier to just face the music.
"I'm not exactly looking for closure or anything," she started in. It was such a point of no return for her. I felt the obligation to take it easy on the poor girl. "But I guess what I need to know more than anything is whether or not you have any regrets."
Hell of a way to phrase it. Of course I have regrets. Jesus. It was so irritating I almost threw up the classic cold and stoic nature, and told her hell no I didn't have any regrets, and I only wish I had a chance to do it again. But no. I know I've grown up since the last time I saw those quiet emerald eyes. And it's time I proved it to myself, if noone else. It's time to tell the truth before I can think about it.
"Yeah. I always had regrets. The day I left, all I could think about was regretting I had ever put myself through that again. I was in that car for eleven hours straight, and it was all I could do to not kick my own ass for not having bailed sooner. I let myself love and hate it all too much before I'd gotten out, and it hurt like hell at first. I knew it would. And I tried to be spiteful. I tried to say 'I told you so' to make myself feel better, but I was only talking to myself. And it hurt like hell anyway.
"I got over that pretty quickly though. I had a lot of distractions around me to keep me from dwelling on it too much. After the first few days I had to focus more on basic survival needs than abandoning everything I ever had. It was a hell of a year, really. Once I'd kind of gotten my feet on the ground though I started to think about it more and more. And I really felt bad about it, because I knew how much the whole thing meant to you. And I just shattered everything. It felt so out of character for me to feel bad for someone who I didn't really feel deserved it. But I did anyway. Honestly, it's not like you were the first or the last that I completely abandoned. But I don't know, it just felt different this time. It was just so unceremonious - no flowers, no telling your parents about it, no cuts, no scrapes, no dramatics, no endless skies, no endless seas. I didn't even have the decency to recite the lyrics to Freebird or anything. And again, it's not like you were the first, and it's not like I haven't done it since to girls who were even better people than you. And I didn't ever feel bad for them. But I felt so bad about you.
"Maybe it was you. And you were the one who made the difference. Maybe it was me. Maybe it was the time period I was in. Maybe it was just us, and something about the relationship. But it didn't ever feel like it. And that's why it was so damn weird. But for the longest time, I felt like I owed you so much, because I'd taken so much away from you. And I think that's the answer that you're really looking for. You're not a bad person for it. It's just your nature. You want me to feel so indebted to you. And you want me to feel like I would do anything to make it up to you, because I know you haven't given up on this and you probably never will. I felt like that for a long time.
"But now that I'm here, I feel so different. I've seen so many people, and I've done so many things since then. I've cried a lot since the last time I saw you. But it was all for freedom, because now I know what that really means. And I know the price we pay for true freedom. I know what I am, and I know what I've done. And I'm not a bad person, and neither are you, and I don't know that it would make a difference if we were. Is it you, is it me? That's a stupid question. Neither one of us lost control, because I don't think we ever had it in the first place. And that's what was killing you in the first place. So now I know, that what happened wasn't right, wrong, or indifferent. Because there's no rules to this. All of this. Any of this. Life, and all of it. There's just what happens. But do I have regrets? Yes. Yes, I have regrets. They're just different regrets. I regret that I never even tried. I regret that I gave up on you so quickly, and that I was so eager to just jump in a truck and drive until I died. But I never did die. And now that I'm here, well, I'm here. And you're there.
"But does that mean we should ever try to backtrack? Is that what you came in here for? You want me to just move back to Virginia with you. You want me to die in that small town with you for punishment of what I took away when it still meant something. Well, just because you miss something, doesn't mean you should ever go back. Don't pretend it would be the same as it was before. It's not worth it. Not to you, and not to me."
She was silent the whole time. She listened. She was patient. I loved her for that. She finally spoke. "I don't even have to defend myself. I mean, it's like, with every argument you make, you develop a counter argument for me, and then you defeat it. It's like you're having a conversation for me. And that got soooo annoying to so many people I saw you around. I loved it. I still do love it. But god, do I hate that it has to be coming from you.
"You see right through me. And I hate it, and I love it, and it feels so secure, and so truthful, but it's the truth that hurts so much."
And that was it. All this time, and all this rambling, just to find the answer why here. It was her. It really was because of her that I fell so damn hard for the whole thing. That's what made the difference. She was a city person. Not just someone I could relate to, but someone who thinks and feels on the same level that I do. Everything else just seems so weak and strange or otherwise unnecessary when you finally feel like you're not alone. And that's what makes it so hard. It's so easy to think you're in love, when in reality, it's just that you're not alone. And there's nothing more overwhelming in the world than that feeling. Not even love. You come to expect love as you grow up hearing about it in fairy tales and pop songs. You never see this part of life coming.
It was so hard to speak, but I did it anyway. "I made a lot of mistakes. But I know where I am, and I know how I really feel. And it took something like Chicago to bring it out of me. But I know I'll have to leave you behind, Charlotte."
She sighed. "Well, there's no point in being miserable about it anymore. But there's no point in being detached either, or in trying to keep touch. It's like we've lost all our influence over this because we already know how it's going to end. And it's strange, that isn't really sad, but it still makes me feel so defeated."
"Don't ever cry because it's over," I said. "Smile because it happened."
She scoffed out a smile. "Talk about out of character..." It was so sassy and beautiful it almost made me crawl out of myself right there. And then it was gone just as quickly as I came. By now I had moved on from the bourbon to just coffee, and I stirred it slowly.
She stood up and grabbed her coat to leave. I tried to pretend like I wasn't watching her. She finally approached me, and kissed me on the forehead. It felt so familiar that I couldn't feel anything emotional about it. "I didn't ever expect to see you again. But I knew as soon as I woke up this morning I couldn't ever win you back. It's so obvious how much you've changed. And for all the busted stuff you've left behind, I just happened to catch you in a transitional period. Which, for you of course, is a period where you're not moving at all.
"But I know where you're coming from now, and it doesn't matter whether I'm content with that or not, but I think I am anyway." She smiled. She raised her eyebrows and threw her hands out at her sides. "All things go," she said. It felt like she'd said it a hundred thousand times, all in the same fleeting, self-echoing motion. All things go.
I didn't watch her walk out. But I felt it. I kept stirring my coffee. I wasn't thinking though. Except about the last thing she'd said. For the first time since I'd abandoned her, I didn't regret a thing. All things go. Hmm. That's Chicago for ya.
....I fell in love again.
- inspired mostly by the Sufjan Stevens song, to which the lyrics are referenced here several times.
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The Arthropod Story Table of Contents
Many pairs of limbs
We've seen that arthropods all have bilateral symmetry, segmented bodies, hard exoskeletons and jointed legs. Another character inherited by all arthropods is many pairs of limbs.
Lots of Limbs
The ancestral arthropod had many body segments with one pair of limbs on each segment. All arthropods inherited multiple limbs from that ancestor. However, in many arthropods, some limbs have even been lost completely as they evolved to be smaller and smaller, while others have evolved into new shapes. Crayfish, for example, have limbs specialized for different functions.
ventral view of a crayfish
Try it out!
Which of these animals have many pairs of limbs?
Jointed legs
An arthropod checklist
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Speed Profiles in a Dual Mode System
By Palle R Jensen
RUF International, www.ruf.dk
Speed is very important in order to attract interest from politicians because they know that their voters want speed. Capacity is equally important because commuters want to get rid of congestion problems.
Some dualmode designers claim very high speeds and very short headways (distance in time between following vehicles). What is realistically obtainable in a network of dualmode guideways ?
The critical points in a typical network of guideways (mesh size 3 x 3 miles) are the junctions. If two guideways have to meet at a 90 degree angle, and the vehicles have to be able to drive from one guideway to the other at high speed, the radius of curvature has to be very large (630 m at 100 mph). This is unrealistic in most cases when we are talking about existing cities. The curves cannot be made smaller because the human nature dictates that lateral accelerations must not exceed 0.25 G in order for the ride to be comfortable.
A realistic case (as in the RUF system) is to lower the speed in the junction to 20 mph. This will lower the radius of curvature to 26 m. It is possible to have this curve on a guideway using a wide street (20 m width) without having to interfere with existing buildings.
The average speed will still be high (75 mph) and the capacity will be between 3,600 and 7,200 ruf cars per hour per direction depending on how the junction is organized.
If the system is used for public 10-passenger maxi-ruf busses also (50%) the passenger capacity can be more than 20,000 seated passengers per hour per direction.
This speed and capacity is more than enough to make the system very interesting to decision makers and the response from them has been very positive.
Some system designers claim that a network with vehicles running at constant speed all the time is much simpler to control. This may be true if it was realistic to do so, but as stated earlier, it is only realistic to have constant speed if it is low all the time (20-30 mph). This is the case in single mode systems (PRT) where individual vehicles run separated by a safe distance in a network with very frequent stations (junctions).
In the RUF system, the speed profile will vary according to the network structure.
Between cities (more than 15 miles between junctions) the top speed will be maximum (125 mph) and average speed will be very high (90 mph). Vehicles will normally form long trains (more than 10 vehicles).
In the main part of the city (low density) top speed will be medium (95 mph) and average speed will be very attractive (75 mph). Trains will be 2-10 vehicles long dependant on traffic volume.
In the dense parts of the city the network will become denser and the speed will be constant at 20 mph. Vehicles will run individually (PRT mode).
See: www.ruf.dk/speed
All dualmode vehicles require electric motors to be able to drive along the normal roads. The power of these motors needs to be large enough so that they can safely follow the normal traffic. The RUF standard requires that the ruf has to be able to drive at least 50 mph along ordinary roads powered by its own batteries (or fuel cells or hybrid drive).
When the ruf enters the guideway and becomes part of a train, the same power can propel the vehicles at much higher speed because air resistance and rolling resistance is lowered significantly. The air resistance is lowered due to train formation (platooning) and the rolling resistance is lowered because of the separation of carrying wheels and the braking system (unique to the RUF system).
Platooning can easily be obtained using normal electric motors. There is no need to use expensive Linear Synchronous Motor systems. The platoons are created at low speed (just after the junction) and they are dissolved just before entering the next junction. Keeping them together is no problem. It has been demonstrated in the AHS system tests and in the case of RUF, the situation is much simpler and safer due to the close coupling and the fact that the RUF vehicles "ride" safely on top of a triangular monorail. Also electric motors are much simpler to control than traditional engines involving gear shifts during acceleration.
The advantage of using variable speed is that merging can be done at low speed (high safety), platooning take place when all vehicles are "riding" safely on the triangular monorail. After 10 seconds, 10 rufs can be joined safely together in a platoon which will then accelerate to 95 mph.
If constant speed control was used, the platooning distance would have to be the same as the merging distance. This would prevent the system from taking full advantage of the aerodynamic drag reduction involved in close coupling of vehicles. In a time where most of the world has agreed upon the Kyoto protocol, every means of energy savings will count.
Last modified: July 27, 2001 | <urn:uuid:402777e6-54b5-4cfa-9327-5de59748520a> | 3 | 2.75 | 0.203398 | en | 0.948556 | http://faculty.washington.edu/jbs/itrans/speed_profiles.htm |
Substance Abuse | Symptoms
How do I know if I have a problem?
You have a problem with drugs or alcohol if you continue to use them even when they cause problems with your health, money, work or school, or relationships. You may have a problem if you have developed a tolerance to drugs or alcohol. This means you need to use more and more to get the same effect.
Listen to loved ones who express concern over your drug use. They may help you recognize that you have a problem.
Written by editorial staff
Reviewed/Updated: 01/11
Created: 09/00 | <urn:uuid:0e1ddb02-a575-414e-acd2-1f3feaefe2a0> | 2 | 2.15625 | 0.097814 | en | 0.943205 | http://familydoctor.org/familydoctor/en/diseases-conditions/substance-abuse/symptoms.html |
Explore Freedom
Explore Freedom » Our Ultimate Resource Gone
FFF Articles
Our Ultimate Resource Gone
On February 8, economist Julian Simon died. It is a grave loss on many levels. He was, first of all, a wonderful human being — ever positive, smiling, and encouraging; a complete joy to be around.
After that, he was one of freedom’s great crusaders. When our age was first sinking into the despair of what is called environmentalism, with its agenda of expropriation, restricted consumption, and population control, Julian Simon strode center stage, impish grin on his countenance, to sing his song of scientifically grounded optimism. To those who wailed that, environmentally speaking, things could hardly get worse, Julian Simon replied: do you want to see worse? Read about how people lived a mere one hundred years ago; look at what age and of what they died. Now look at our time through the lens of historical perspective. With all the self-conscious moaning about our killer environment, people the world over live longer and better than ever before. That is why the population grows. Women aren’t having more babies — actually, they have far fewer than just a short time ago. The population grows because the death rate falls. And a growing population is good.
That leads to Julian Simon’s landmark contribution to our understanding of the world: his work on the nature of resources. How often do we hear people warn that “we are running out of resources”? Too often, especially since Julian Simon’s magnum opus, The Ultimate Resource, came out over a decade ago. In that book, and its updated, 1997 edition, he asked a simple question: if we are running out of resources, why do prices fall rather than rise? Everyone accepts as a law of economics that as anything of value becomes more scarce, its price goes up. That law has been repealed with respect to natural resources. Or so it seemed. As Julian Simon showed, resources in fact are not becoming more scarce at all! On the contrary, they are more plentiful than ever. Simon was confident that the long-term trends of the past would continue into the future — so confident that he was willing to bet on it. Environmental alarmist Paul Ehrlich made the mistake of accepting the challenge. In 1980 Ehrlich picked five metals and bet Simon that ten years later the price of each would be higher in inflation-adjusted terms.
Ehrlich lost. Even in unadjusted terms, the price of each was lower. Julian Simon kept his offer to bet open till the end of his life. To my knowledge, there were no other takers.
Why was Julian Simon so confident that the benign trends would continue? Because he understood that, strictly speaking, there are no natural resources. Nature provides us with lots of variegated stuff. But stuff is only a potential. To transform it into a resource, a creative person must first stamp it with a human purpose. People create resources. They turn sand — sand! — into computer chips and fiber optic cables. The ultimate resource is human intelligence. If individuals are free to think and create, we will have an unending supply of resources. The more people, the more creators.
Julian Simon was never complacent about human progress. It requires effort. As an economist, he understood that certain institutions favor discovery and creation, including property rights and the market’s free-pricing system. Given freedom, human beings create and make their fellows better off in the process.
That is Julian Simon’s inestimable legacy. When the presumptuous environmental movement is long forgotten, that legacy will live on to honor his name.
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Monday, 10 August 2009
Encyclopedia of The End & Bees
I recently bought this neat little book (only 160 pages). I finally got a chance to really skim through it last night. I was pleased to see they had entries on both The Fox Sisters and Lily Dale in the book and it also covers everything from the term Goth to food for mourners to bees...
The entry I found on bees was new to me. I was unaware that in British folklore the bond between humans and bees lasts unto death. Bees were so important to people they were referred to as "the little servants of God" and it was believed they could see the future, thus making it unlucky to kill them.
Most churches kept beehives and would use the wax to make candles used at funeral masses. It was thought the relationship between humans and bees was so strong that bees could be led away by a human death, so survivors would "tell" the bees when a relative died.
In the 18th c. in rural England when a person died a relative would tie a crepe band around a resident beehive as failure to do so might risk the bees abandoning the hive.
In learning this I immediately thought of how millions of honey bees are mysteriously dying all over the US right now, in a phenomena which is called Colony collapse disorder.
1. Wow, that is very interesting. I had no idea about that either. I am gong to have to track down the book.
Very sad about the bees over here. It is in the news all the time.
2. The book is really fun and the bee thing is unsettling, I really hope they start making a come back.
3. Bees see the future and they want out now. Alas.
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What’s in Blown in Cellulose Insulation
Due to several current projects I have encountered I believe it’s important to touch on a couple of issues that every homeowner should be aware of to protect their home and their health.
Cellulose Insulation with Boric Acid
I have a client who has been experiencing health issues from a pest company blowing in cellulose insulation with boric acid. Their home is over 100 years old. The pest company who now is also an insulation company did not do a building evaluation prior to using the blown in cellulose with boric acid or talk to the client about their potential sensitivities. The home being over 100 years old lacks insulation in several building cavities of the home. As the pest company blew in cellulose with boric acid in the attic area this fine particulate also traveled to the other building cavities, ceilings, walls, etc. My client has been experiencing issues directly related to exposure to boric acid since. The pest company removed the blown in cellulose from the attic area but the building cavities cannot be remediated without tearing out walls. The attic has been remediated and the interior of the home cleaned. The problems still persist.
Cellulose insulation has been considered to be a very safe product to use in houses. Unfortunately, like so many other modern building materials that we often take for granted, it can sometimes be responsible for problems.
Cellulose is a carbohydrate, a fairly inert component of plants. Cellulose insulation, however, is far from inert. It is such a complex mixture of chemicals that it would be virtually impossible to determine an accurate listing of components. The primary ingredients are ground newspapers and boron compounds such as boric acid and borax. While newspapers consist mainly of cellulose that is derived from trees, they contain a wide variety of potentially toxic chemicals.
When wood is transformed into cellulose such things as sodium hydroxide, sodium sulfide, and chlorine compounds are added during processing. A variety of chemicals can be produced as the wood chips are broken down chemically. Some of these by-products are: formaldehyde, chlorine, fluorine, lead, iron compounds, sulfur compounds, cadmium, nitric oxide, methane, etc. While the goal is a pure product called cellulose, the material that leaves the pulp mill is contaminated with many of the chemicals that are either added to the wood fibers or created as a result of chemical reactions.
By the time the cellulose is made into sheets of paper, it may contain dyes, synthetic resins, gums, talc, varnishes, and solvents. Since paper is far from being pure cellulose, it is no wonder that there are many sensitive people being recognized who are bothered by it.
A larger problem with newspapers is the ink that is used. Printing inks can be complex preparations containing petroleum oil, vegetable oil, as well as various natural or synthetic resins. Many different solvents can be used in ink, including turpentine, toluene, alcohol, and xylene. Solvents tend to evaporate, accounting for much of the odor given off by a fresh newspaper, a smell that can easily cause reactions in sensitive people. Other additives in ink include pigments, driers, waxes, lubricants, perfume and dyes.
The paper used in newspapers is called newsprint. It is a very low-grade, inexpensive paper. As such, newsprint may be more likely to contain impurities than a more costly parchment or bond paper.
Cellulose insulation could, therefore, be bothersome if it was only made from newspapers, but it could also be made with other recycled papers such as magazines or cardboard boxes. The inks used years ago were more toxic than those in use today and recycled paper could have residues of the older inks. Paper to be recycled could get contaminated with mold or various toxic chemicals depending on where it has been stored.
In order to make it fire resistant, cellulose insulation is treated with various chemicals, primarily boric acid and borax. Other compounds such as ammonium sulfate, aluminum sulfate, ammonium phosphate, and zinc chloride may also be used. These chemicals usually account for about 20% of the final product.
Technical Faxsheet on Boric Acid:
Permanency of Boric Acid used as a Fire Retardant in Cellulosic Insulation:
In order to have the maximum insulating value, the paper is ground up into a very fine powder that can easily float around the air. This powder, containing residues from the original papermaking process, the different inks used each time it was recycled and the added chemical compounds, is easily inhaled. Some boron compounds can be absorbed through the skin.
If you would like more information on blown in cellulose and the health effects please contact TP Environmental 207-991-0171
Let’s Clear the Air | <urn:uuid:9e8ff68b-3edb-4290-b894-f5cfebcb01a6> | 3 | 2.546875 | 0.036745 | en | 0.95666 | http://gotbadair.bangordailynews.com/2012/09/09/air-quality/whats-in-blown-in-cellulose-insulation/ |
Blogs > Liberty and Power > Rosa Parks and the Perversion of Majoritarianism
Oct 26, 2005 11:09 pm
Rosa Parks and the Perversion of Majoritarianism
The best article I have read on Rosa Parks since her death a couple of days ago is a piece by Thomas Sowell explaining how the political system made segregation in public transport in the early 20th century possible. According to Sowell, after blacks were disenfranchised it took only a small number of whites to push the political system to pass the Jim Crow seating laws. Since blacks could no longer vote and the majority of white voters were rather indifferent to the issue altogether, there was an incentive for politicians to pass and maintain those laws.
This, exactly, is the fundamental problem with any democratic system when it is not limited by law. And I mean law, not legislation, of course--i.e. moral principles safeguarding liberty that no legislation can interfere with. Nobel prize winner Friedrich von Hayek wrote three powerful volumes precisely on how democracy has been perverted by the prevailing political system and has come to mean a sort of tyranny of the majority in which the majority is not even a numerical reality but simply any group able to influence the legislative machinery through the democratic process.
The emergence of segregation laws affecting public transportation in the South in the early 20th century is a poignant example of what has been happening to democracy in developed nations for a very long time. Contemporary examples include many discriminatory laws in different areas-commerce, labor, the environment-that are not really upheld by a majority but by special interests able to use the democratic system to their advantage and to provide politicians with sufficient votes to sustain the mirage of majoritism.
One last point about Rosa Parks. Hayek also argued persuasively that the cultural evolution of humanity from savagery to civilization was possible because at various stages certain individuals broke rules that held back their community from adapting to the world around them in more efficient and beneficial ways. These leaders, who were not necessarily conscious of being leaders, at the same time respected every other rule and therefore appeared reasonable to the rest of the community, ultimately, through imitation, dragging it to their"side", thus forcing a relaxation of various prohibitions. That, precisely, is what Rosa Parks did with her moving refusal to give up her seat.
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David T. Beito - 10/30/2005
King and the Montgomery Improvement Association which organized and led the boycott did not demand integration of the buses initially, much to the dismay of the national NAACP.
They called for the so-called "Baton Rouge" system of separate but equal (blacks seated from the rear and whites from the front). and nobody would be asked to move
The city of Montgomery, however, was unwilling to accept their proposal. They key sticking point was "no man's land" in the middle where blacks and whites might have to sit together. Segregationist whites could not abide by that possibility even though Baton Rouge (and I believe Mobile) provided a precedent.
To address your question more specifically, I suspect that the boycotters, including Parks, in their heart of hearts wanted integration but decided that it was not realistic in the short term, and thus supported separate but equal instead. Most blacks did not care about segregation per se but rather about second class treatment.
Of course, later in the process, the boycotters became more radical and the Supreme Court stuck down all forms of bus segregation in late 1956,....but that was not true initially.
If you want a full account of this, the details are described in Martin Luther King's book, Stride Toward Freedom: The Montgomery Story.
Mark Brady - 10/30/2005
David, I'm puzzled by the story you tell. From what you say, one might infer that Rosa Parks supported segregated bus transport--"a separate but equal system under which black riders would be seated from the back and whites from the front and nobody had to give up their seats." That doesn't sound correct. Please elucidate.
Kenneth R Gregg - 10/27/2005
Individual acts such as the simple one that Rosa Parks took is a telling example about the results that occur when people are ready to make significant changes about their social arena.
No matter what the laws said, it was time for the laws to recognize a new reality, whether legislators, politicians of any other stripe, or even the majority of people felt otherwise. There were enough blacks and whites around who realized it was just plain wrong for Rosa Parks to get up. It was just plain wrong for african-americans to not openly admit the truth of this, and it was just plain wrong for everyone else to hide this truth.
No one knew that this would be the "tipping point." But it was certainly time. We are the richer for it.
Just a thought.
Just Ken
David T. Beito - 10/27/2005
Well said. One might add that disfranchised blacks were at a disadvantage in the courts because they could not serve on juries.
Interestingly, an urban legend has taken hold among some libertarians that Rosa Parks' decision was a pre-planned "set up" the NAACP. While it is true that Parks was an official in the local NAACP, we have every reason to believe that her actions were entirely spontaneous.
A key problem with the "set up" theory is that the integrationist NAACP initially refused to support the Montgomery Bus Boycott. They didn't like the fact that the boycotters proposed a separate but equal system under which black riders would be seated from the back and whites from the front and nobody had to give up their seats.
For this reason, they boycotters had to set up their own independent Montgomery Improvement Association rather than conduct their campaign under the leadership of the local NAACP.
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No rise in atmospheric carbon fraction over the last 150 years: University of Bristol
posted at 8:48 am on January 4, 2010 by Ed Morrissey
Science Daily reported on a new study from the University of Bristol released over the holidays that deserves to get wider attention. In contrast to claims from anthropogenic global-warming activists, this new analysis refutes one of the key principles of carbon-driven warming:
The thumbnail argument for AGW is this: the CO2 emitted by industrialization over the last 150 years has accumulated in the atmosphere, along with other gases such as methane, warming the globe more rapidly than otherwise would have happened. The continuing emissions of CO2 from industrialized and developing nations will result in an exponential explosion of warming the longer it continues as the CO2 accumulates at faster and faster rates in the atmosphere, both because the previous emissions have not been absorbed and more people are emitting than ever. Therefore, we have to control emissions just to contain the damage, and it might already be too late!
Of course, that’s why everyone flew private jets to Copenhagen last month — in order to warn about carbon emissions.
If this University of Bristol analysis is correct, CO2 hasn’t been accumulating in the atmosphere at all. That means whatever warming we have experienced (and we have experienced warming) did not come from increased CO2 in the atmosphere. That would explain why we have experienced a cooling cycle for the last ten to twelve years despite an increase of CO2 emissions, albeit an increase at a slower rate than before. The new analysis completely destroys the AGW argument, because if CO2 is not accumulating in the atmosphere, it can’t be causing global warming.
No one doubts the necessity of curtailing particulate emissions into the air. If anyone did, the Beijing Olympics and the thick & chunky smog would have removed those doubts. Moving towards cleaner energy and renewables is a laudable goal and a necessary process. But succumbing to AGW hysteria and destroying the very economy that could produce that type of progress is not just absurd, it’s counterproductive to the goal.
Update: I changed the title of this post to more accurately reflect what UB found – no change in the ratio of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. One correspondent says that it doesn’t change the fact that we’re still dumping carbon into the atmosphere, where it could cause global warming. However, if the ratio of CO2 in the atmosphere hasn’t changed in 150 years, then the CO2 is getting reabsorbed, not remaining in the atmosphere to cause global warming. Unless there are other agents adding oxygen and nitrogen to the air and increasing the volume of all three, then the increased CO2 isn’t staying in the air. If CO2 accounted for 0.04% of the atmosphere in 1860 and 0.04% today, then CO2 isn’t a cause of warming — at least not now, and not over the last 150 years, as AGW hysterics claim.
Update II: A friendlier message says this:
The amount of CO2 in the atmosphere is increasing.
The percentage of CO2 in the atmosphere is increasing.
However, the percentage of CO2 on the planet which is airborne (as opposed to dissolved in the oceans, trapped in ice, or incorporated into biomass through photosynthesis) is not increasing. That is the meaning of airborne fraction. It doesn’t mean the fraction of the air which is CO2. It’s an easy mistake to make, and many others have on other sites.
Why this matters: One of the claims of the alarmists is that the oceans cannot hold any more CO2, that they are “saturated,” and therefore additional CO2 emissions will increasingly stay in the atmosphere. This now appears to be false. It undermines the alarmists’ arguments a little, but not too much. They will simply shift their position to: “Well, they oceans aren’t saturated yet, but they will be soon. And then the airborne fraction will increase dramatically. Just you wait.”
There are a couple of problems with this. First, AGW alarmists say that increased CO2 in the air causes global warming. Second, I’m old enough to remember rainforest hysteria, where we were all going to asphyxiate ourselves by chopping down trees that produced O2 from CO2, as we reduced biomass. If we’re producing larger biomass, then we’re creating more capacity to absorb CO2 and produce more oxygen (and food, too) as a result. And that’s supposed to be bad?
Update III: Here’s the summary from Knorr, emphases mine:
Breaking on Hot Air | <urn:uuid:eaba1034-50f1-44b6-ac26-80b6f251fc3b> | 3 | 2.578125 | 0.165564 | en | 0.918522 | http://hotair.com/archives/2010/01/04/no-rise-in-atmospheric-carbon-over-the-last-150-years-university-of-bristol/comment-page-4/ |
Solar 101
Solar FAQ
Why should I use solar energy?
As a clean and efficient source of energy, solar power saves you money on your utility bills, helps the environment, and increases your property value. What’s not to like?
Will solar work for me?
As long as you have enough roof or ground space that receives an adequate amount of sunshine, the answer is yes. During your free solar consultation, our experts can determine what type of solar power system will work best with your home and your energy needs.
What changes will I have to make to run on solar power?
Everything in your home will work exactly the same. The only thing that will change will be your monthly electricity bill.
What is “net metering”?
When your system is producing more electricity than is being consumed, the meter spins backwards, and the excess electricity is sold back to the utility company at the retail rate. Energy generation and purchases from the electric utility are “netted out” automatically.
What size system do I need?
It all depends on your energy needs and available roof space. Residential systems are typically 3-10 kW in size, while commercial systems can range from 50–500 kW for a average-sized business. Hudson Solar can custom-design a solar power system to meet your budget and energy needs.
How do I maintain my solar system?
Other than trimming trees that may shade your panels, you won’t have to do a thing. Hudson Solar’s service team will monitor your system, and if it isn’t performing optimally, we’ll send out a team to fix the situation.
What happens at night? Or in cloudy weather?
Your system doesn’t produce energy at night, and it will produce less on cloudy days. With a battery back up option, the weather and time of day will have no effect on your everyday energy consumption.
How long does a solar system last?
Our solar modules are based on proven technology and show very little degradation over many years of operation. Hudson Solar offers a 25-year manufacturer’s warranty, and our modules have a life expectancy of over 50 years.
What kind of financing is available?
Several options, including secured and unsecured financing, are available through Hudson Solar. All of our financing options have great rates and flexible terms for whatever you’re interested in. Please contact us to discuss which financing options are best for you.
How do I purchase a system?
Give us a call and we will schedule a visit to review your site and provide an initial estimate. From there, we’ll conduct a thorough engineering review process to make sure every detail is perfect.
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Citron-Anise Loaf
Plan.Ahead.Meals's picture
Citron anise loaf is a flavorful loaf of bread made leavened with yeast and served oven fresh. Prepared with a dough of flour, sugar, eggs and milk, the batter also conatins raisins, anise seeds, and is flavored with citron. Glazed with egg and baked, the citron bread can also be refrigerated and served later.
Active dry yeast 1⁄2 Ounce (2 Packages)
Warm water 1⁄2 Cup (8 tbs) (105 To 115 Degrees)
Lukewarm milk 1⁄2 Cup (8 tbs), scalded then cooled
Sugar 1⁄2 Cup (8 tbs)
Salt 1 Teaspoon
Eggs 2
Butter/Margarine 1⁄2 Cup (8 tbs), softened
All purpose flour 5 Cup (80 tbs)
Raisins 1⁄2 Cup (8 tbs)
Cut up citron 1⁄2 Cup (8 tbs)
Anise seed 1 Tablespoon
Pine nuts 2 Tablespoon
Egg 1
Water 1 Tablespoon
Dissolve yeast in warm water in large bowl.
Mix in milk, sugar, salt, 2 eggs, the butter and 2 1/2 cups of the flour; beat until smooth.
Stir in fruit, anise seed, nuts and enough remaining flour to make dough easy to handle.
Place in greased bowl; turn greased side up.
Cover; let rise in warm place until double, 1 to 2 hours.
Punch down dough; divide in half.
Shape each half into round, slightly flat loaf.
Place loaves in opposite corners of greased baking sheet.
Cut a cross 1/2 inch deep on top of each loaf.
Let rise until double, about 1 hour.
Heat oven to 350°.
Mix 1 egg and 1 tablespoon water; brush on loaves.
Bake 35 to 45 minutes.
(Can be served immediately.) Cool loaves 1 hour.
Wrap in heavy-duty aluminum foil, label and freeze.
2/1 hours before serving, remove Citron-Anise Loaf from freezer.
Thaw in wrapper at room temperature.
Can be warmed, if desired
Recipe Summary
Difficulty Level:
Side Dish
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Your rating: None
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Cerion peracutum Clench and Aguayo, 1951
Original Description
"Cerion sagraianum peracutum, new species
(Plate 11, fig. 9)
Cerion peracutum Torre, ms. (in sched.)
Description. - Shell attenuated, reaching 40 mm. (about 1½ inches) in length, rimately perforate, rather solid, nearly smooth to finely costate. Color a flat white to brownish mottled, this last coloration rather rare in the type series. Whorls 11, very slightly convex. Spire extended, the first 8 whorls forming a slightly convex cone, the last three whorls nearly straight-sided and produced at an angle of 60°. Aperture subquadrate. Palatal lip expanded and turned back slightly. Parietal lip straight moderately thickened but not built forward to from a true ridge. Columella straight, short and supporting a small tooth which follows backward for less than ½ whorl. Parietal tooth short and low. Umbilicus shallow but ell defined. Sculpture: the first 1 to 1½ whorls smooth, the following 3 whorls very finely and axially costate, the remaining whorls smoot or possessing rather fine and irregular growth lines. A few specimens are very finely costate throughout. These are rare in the type series.
Length Width Whorls
39.0 15.0 mm. 11 ½ Holotype
30.2 14 11 Paratype
40 16 11 ½ "
33.5 15 11 "
Types. - Holotype, Museo Poey no. 17268; paratypes no. 17269 and Museum of Comparative Zoölogy no. 187285 and 188533 from Boca de Jaruco, Habana Province, Cuba. Collected by Aguayo, Barro, Bermúdez, Clench, Jaume, de la Torre, Turner, and Domínguez, and many others.
Remarks. - This subspecies occurs on both sides of the Boca de Jaruco, specimens from the west side being a little larger and not so abundant. On the east side it was found to be very common under and about the base of rocks and under the sea-grape leaves.
In relationship, this form is very close to typical C. sagraianum d'Orbigny, differing mainly in being a little smaller (average specimens), proportionately a little narrower and in having the aperture a little more oval. It is quite possible that peracutum is only the result of a previous introduction of sagraianum stock which has beensubsequentl y modified by hybridization with C. tridentatum, a form still existing on nearby areas of the coast near Boca de Jaruco.
It is similar to C. infandum Shuttl, but rather smaller and with different sculpture.
One specimen with smooth apical cone and 38 ribs in the last whorl seems to approximate to C. hyperlissum Pilsbry and Vanatta." (Clench & Aguayo, 1951:75-76)
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List of Gastrointestinal Medications
There are few things more uncomfortable than a gastrointestinal issue, whether it's nausea, diarrhea, or an ulcer. Thankfully, there are a variety of medications designed to treat these problems.
Anticholinergic medications - for example, dicyclomine - slow the action of the bowel and reduce the amount of stomach acid. Because these medications slow the action of the bowel by relaxing the muscles and relieving spasms, they are said to have an antispasmodic action.
Diarrhea may be caused by many conditions, including influenza (the flu) and ulcerative colitis, and it can sometimes occur as a side effect of a medication. Narcotic drugs and anticholinergic medications slow the action of the bowel and can thereby help alleviate diarrhea. An antidiarrheal medication such as diphenoxylate and atropine combination contains both a narcotic and an anticholinergic.
Antiemetic medications reduce the urge to vomit. One of the most effective of these medications is the phenothiazine derivative prochlorperazine. This medication acts on the vomiting center in the brain. It is often administered rectally and usually alleviates nausea and vomiting within a few minutes to an hour.
Other drugs that are used to combat nausea and vomiting include dolasetron, granisetron, and ondansetron. Antihistamines are also often used to prevent nausea and vomiting, especially when these problems are caused by motion sickness. This type of medication may also work on the vomiting center in the brain.
Antiulcer Medications
Antiulcer medications are prescribed to relieve the symptoms and promote the healing of peptic ulcers as well as to treat acid-reflux disease, which can cause severe heartburn pain in some people. Histamine (H-2) blockers, including cimetidine, famotidine, nizatidine, and ranitidine, work by preventing histamine from attaching to receptors on acid-secreting cells, thus keeping the histamine from triggering the secretion of stomach acid.
List of gastrointestinal medications to buy online
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Daniel Aaron Liss
a device that will enable it's user to enter his/her own dreams - a phenomenon known as lucid dreaming.
Computers for the Rest of You
she is dreaming while the dream is in progress.
during lucid dreams, it is often possible to exert conscious control
over the dream characters and environment, as well as to perform
otherwise physically impossible feats. Lucid dreams are known to
be extremely real and vivid.
some possible benefits of lucid dreaming include:
personal exploration, greater access to creativity, self-hypnosis, and overcoming recurring nightmares.
to this end, this device senses the onset of the REM cycle while the user sleeps. upon detection of the cycle it introduces an external stimulus which subconsciously reminds the user that he/she is dreaming. this interaction, the subconscious reminder, enables dreamers to step into a new relationship with their dream - with the recognition that one is dreaming, one can take hold of the direction of that dream.
after pursuing temperature-based triggering of the device, i discovered that the variability of body temperature is too great during the night, and began to look for other methods to detect REM onset. after speaking to several doctors/researchers at Albert Einstein Medical Center, i decided to look at galvanic skin response as a legible mapping of sleep cycles. with only a vague idea that there might be some sort of connection between GSR and REM, i began gathering data on myself as i slept. this device is an outgrowth of that data mining.
anyone interested in dreaming or exploring further their own mind.
User Scenario
getting into bed, the user puts a ring-like sensor on one finger and turns on the device. it gathers data for the first hour, building a baseline figure. from that point on, whenever levels deviate below a certain point a small sound is played inside the user's pillow: a signal to remind the sleeping mind that it is dreaming. this triggers the start the process of lucid dreaming.
materials include galvanic skin response sensor, arduino, hacked mp3 player, and a pillow.
gathering data in your sleep is exhausting. | <urn:uuid:0123da22-432e-4787-b05c-baa4b92731be> | 3 | 2.875 | 0.227996 | en | 0.928284 | http://itp.nyu.edu/shows/winter2007/cloud1001/ |
Jain World
Sub-Categories of Passions
The Navakar Mantra
What is the Jain Dharma or Jainism?
Who is a Jin?
Who is a Jain?
The Jain dharma
The Arrangement Of Ara, The Phases Of Time
Tirtha, Dharma And Tirthankar (One Who Reveals The Dharma)
The Exposition Of The Philosophy
Bhagwan Mahavir
The Path Of Achievement
Total Renunciation
Some special rules of conduct for sadhus and sadhvis
The Dashvirati Dharma
The Fourteen Pledges By Househl Oders
Avashyak (The Essentials)
Prathana (Prayer)
Jap And Dhyan
The Eighteen Sources Of Sin (Papa Sthanak)..
Before assuming Dharma
Tapasya and the codes of conduct:
The External austerities ( six kinds )
Abhyantar Tap (Six kinds)
Some minor and major austerities for daily practice.
Why is fasting essential ?
Some Special And Important Austerities
Why should water be boiled ?
It is necessary to filter water:
The Jain Dharma prohibits the eating of the following things
Why should not people eat meat ?
Even the egg is dangerous !
Alcoholic drinks should be renounced
Why should we not eat certain types of food?
We should not take food in the night. Why?
Organization of the Jain Society
Some Important Jain Institutions
Jain Upashray: Religious Centres
The Jain Libraries
The Jain Schools
Ayambil Shala
The Jain Panjarapol--Shelter for Cattle
The Jain Choultries
The Jain Pilgrim Centres
The system of the seven institutions of the Jains.
The Jain Festivals
The Jain Celebrations
The Jain Philosophy
The Nine Doctrines
Kashay- Passions
The Process of Spiritual Elevation,
Samiti and Gupti
16 Bhavanas
The Jain Literature
A Representative Jain Work
A Glossary Of Difficult Words
38. Organization of the Jain Society
Bhadrabahu Vijay
The Jain society Is organized into four groups:
1. Sadhus
2. Sadhvis
3. Shravaks
4. Shravikas
These are also called the four kinds of organization.
The Sadhus and Sadhvis renounce wordily life; assume a life of austerity and discipline and keep moving on the path of self awareness or spiritual attainment. Besides soaring towards the firmament of spiritual elevation and development they also give to all classes of people guidance in respect of moral religious and spiritual values that help the proper deveIopment of their lives. For this purpose, they adopt such means as discourses, discussions, training programs, meditations, repeating of Mantras; celebrations, devotional festivals, writing articles etc.
The Shravaks and Shravika while remaining as 'grihasthas householder) carry on their wordily duties and conforming to some noble principles and rules of conduct, also pursue the path of self-realization and spiritual elevation.
In every town and city in India, there are Jain mandirs (temples), Upashrays (religious centers), Pathshalas (Jain schools), Libraries of scriptures, Panjarapol (shelter for animals and birds), Ayambilshalas, Choultries (Dharamshalas) and other such institutions. These institutions are under the management of the local or other sanghas (Societies). These societies render service with devotion to Sadhus and Sadhvis who are on padyatrci; (who travel on foot).
The brothers and sisters of the Jain Societies extend co- operation and sympathy to the fellow members of the society. Most members of the Jain Society offer financial and other aid and help according to their ability and means, for religious and social activities. They render manual service; and they also render service to society with magnanimity. | <urn:uuid:eded88bb-6642-47b3-afe8-6cec0d9dbefb> | 2 | 2.46875 | 0.108052 | en | 0.81477 | http://jainworld.com/book/guidelinesofjainism/ch38.asp |
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1 Answer 1
up vote 12 down vote accepted
Since it includes Reform and Conservative organizations in its roster.
In 1956 for example, the moetzes issued a written ruling forbidding Orthodox rabbis to join with any Reform or Conservative rabbis in rabbinical communal professional organizations that then united the various branches of America's Jews, such as the Synagogue Council of America.
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Is a command from legal authorities required to demolish idols? Moreover, what counts as a legal authority in such a case?
e.g: You may find many Idols of Jesus in churches in the biblical Israel , and does it mean that they need to be demolished
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I don't understand what you are asking. Are you asking if Jews only need to destroy idols after being told to do so by someone else, eg. a Beit Din? Why would you think yes or no? Why was your original title "Is it a halachic requirement to demolish Idolatry"? Are you wondering about how this law interacts with secular laws which may prohibit such actions? What is the example of the Jesus idol coming to show? – Double AA May 26 '13 at 7:20
Ya, does a nod from authority required or not. eg: is it like the commandment to not eat pork which does not require any approval from authority.@DoubleAA – Ali May 26 '13 at 11:41
You didn't answer any of my questions, and so I still don't know what you are asking. (Also pork is a bad comparison as it is a prohibition not a positive injunction.) – Double AA May 26 '13 at 13:40
Are you asking about the approval of a religious legal authority such as a Beit Din or a prophet, or are you asking about a secular legal authority such as whatever government happens to rule in the area? (I asked you this in the first comment and you never responded.) – Double AA May 27 '13 at 0:46
@msh210 I understood the meta post to mean net score of +1 – Double AA May 27 '13 at 2:21
2 Answers 2
It's not necessarily a public act, as a war or building Beit Hamikdash would be. Though, acting against legal authority isn't generally advisable.
A church was burnt in Jerusalem some time ago, resulting with the authorities financing the rebuilding of the place.
We need to try to bring the authorities themselves to back this act, not act against them. It seems to be a question of relevant authority more than legal.
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can you add citation to this, Does the authority become apostate for rebuilding such places of Idolatry? – Ali May 26 '13 at 6:57
It is required. (Deuteronomy 12:2, Rambam Positive Commandment #185 (English) and Laws of Avoda Zara 7 (English), Shulchan Aruch YD 146:14)
In the land of Israel the command includes seeking out the idols to destroy them, but outside of the land of Israel one must only destroy an idol if he happens to have it.
There is a blessing one can say before doing this Mitzva (Maharsha Brachot 57b, quoted by R Akiva Eiger OC 224):
ברוך אתה ה אלוהינו מלך העולם אשר קידשנו במצוותיו וצוונו לעקור ע"ז מארצינו
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the question asked was is authority required?, the citations only prove Idolatry is to be demolished, but is permission to be taken before doing so? – Ali May 26 '13 at 5:58
@Ali I thought you were asking if there was such a command and which sources require it (eg. "Tanachial", Rabbinic, Talmud etc.). – Double AA May 26 '13 at 6:20
i clearly stated that, everybody know idolatry is to be demolished but , what permission is required? – Ali May 26 '13 at 6:22
@Ali It's because of you I'm consistently rethinking what I should assume everybody knows. – Double AA May 27 '13 at 0:22
Your Answer
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If eating milk and chicken is only a rabbinical prohibition, why don't we find that we are more lenient with regards to it. For example, why don't we wait less time between eating chicken and milk?
[the ice cream in my freezer looks good right now]
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for what it's worth, I knew a guy in college who waited 6hrs for meat and 3hrs for chicken. – Jeremy Nov 11 '10 at 14:50
@Jeremy had a similar "custom" in the days when I thought I was smarter than everybody else... – Hacham Gabriel Jan 27 '12 at 3:18
4 Answers 4
up vote 8 down vote accepted
The reason why we see leniencies by rabbinic laws is because of the rule that we don't make decrees perchance that someone will come to transgress a rabbinic violation. (gezaira l'gezeira). But that is only when the 2nd decree is not related to the 1st decree. Sometimes when the rabbinic law parallels the Torah law, the chachamim will extend the decree to the rabbinic law simultaneously. This is what is referred to as "chada gezeirah hee".
An example of this can be found in Taz Y.D. 98:5. The Taz holds that if kosher and not kosher meat soups get mixed up, but then spilled and you don't know whether there was 60X kosher, but you know there was at least a majority of kosher, it is permissible because there is no case of min b'mino with a majority of kosher that is Biblically not kosher. So forbidding the safek would be a decree on a rabbinic prohibition.
However, kosher chicken soup and milk that got mixed and spilled and you don't know if there's 60X has a parallel case of meat and milk which is biblically forbidden under 60X. So the chachamim included this case when they forbade chicken as a gezeira, even though the worst case of this scenario is rabbinic.
By the way, we are lenient in some areas: you can cook chicken with milk and have benefit from it. Also, you don't have to wash between chicken and dairy.
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Shulhan Arukh Y"D 87:3
אינו נוהג אלא (ה) בבשר בהמה טהורה בחלב בהמה טהורה, ג אבל בשר טהורה בחלב טמאה, או בשרטמאה בחלב טהורה, <ב> מותרים בבישול ובהנאה. ד (ז) ה] ובשר חיה ועוף, אפילו בחלב טהורה, (ח) ו] מותר בבישול, ובהנאה; ואף באכילה אינו אסור, אלא ז] מדרבנן. ה <ג> אבל דגים וחגבים, אין בהם (ט) איסור, אפילו מדרבנן. הגה: ו ח] ונהגו לעשות (י) חלב משקדים ומניחים בה בשר עוף, הואיל ואינו רק מדרבנן). אבל בשר בהמה, יש להניח אצל החלב שקדים, משום מראית העין, <ד> כמו שנתבאר לעיל סימן ס"ו לענין דם.
4) Even basar chaya 3 [with milk] and chicken meat 4 [with milk] are mutar b’bishul and b’hana’ah. (3) 5) Furthermore eating chaya or chicken cooked with milk is only assur mid’rabbanan. However fish and locust that are cooked with milk are not even assur mid’rabbanan.
There is a custom to allow chicken to be placed into almond milk because it [milk and chicken] is only assur mid’rabbanan but in the case of basar b'haima [with almond milk] one should place almonds next to the almond milk because of maris ayin 5 (4) as was explained in Siman 66 concerning blood.
The answer is that we are more lenient in some respects. The primary prohibition is on account of Marit Ayin. The other meforshim on the daf explain that the situation has to be two steps removed from the Biblical prohibition(such as the Rama says of chicken with almond milk) before we can drop all pretenses of the issur. So as regard to time waiting and such as that, when dealing with chicken and actual milk, we are still under the Rabbinic enactment to treat the eating of chicken with milk such as meat and milk in every respect.
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We are more Machmir on D'Rabanan in order not to be Mzalzel
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But is waiting between meat & milk D'oraisa? – yydl Nov 10 '10 at 3:54
Ashkenazim consider the waiting to be a minhag, not a takana d'rabanan. It happened to be that the minhag developed to include both meat and chicken. According to the Rambam, its an actual takana, so one should check if he holds one has to also wait after eating chicken.
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Saturday, 12 April 2014
Query to display total number of rows for each tables in a database - SQL
Following query displays the total number of rows for each table in a database.
• Open SSMS
• Select database
• Execute the below Query:
select 'Table Name',rowcnt 'Total # Rows' from sysindexes
inner join sysobjects on
where indid < 2
and sysobjects.xtype='U'
Order by 'Total # Rows' desc
The above query will return the list of all the tables in a database along with total numbers of rows in it.
Saturday, 5 April 2014
Delete duplicate rows using Row_number and CTE in SQL
We can use Row_Number to delete duplicate rows from a table, as we know Row_Number function allocates serial number based on a key column.
Consider a table named 'EmpDetails' which has data as below:
As seen in the above screen shot there are duplicate records for EmpId 1,2 and 3
By using CTE and Row_number function we can remove the duplicate records from the above table. The query to remove duplicate values is as follow:
With CTE as
(select *,ROW_NUMBER() over(partition by empid order by empid) as Row_num from dbo.EmpDetails)
delete from CTE where Row_num > 1
This query will delete the duplicate rows from the EmpDetails table
Now, if we see the data in the EmpDetails Table it will contain only unique values in EmpID column.
Select * from dbo.EmpDetails
Sunday, 30 March 2014
Query to display names of all columns and data types in a table - SQL
Following is the query that returns column name and data type in a table in SQL:
Replace the string 'Table Name' with the actual table name
select[Column Name],
case when IN ('char', 'varchar', 'nchar', 'nvarchar') then +
' (' + convert(nvarchar(10),first.max_length ) + ')'
when IN ('decimal','numeric') then + ' (' + convert( nvarchar(10),first.precision ) +
', ' + convert( nvarchar(10),first.scale ) + ')'
else end [Data Type],
case first.is_nullable when 1 then 'Yes' else 'No' end [Allow Nulls]
from sys.columns first
inner join sys.types second on first.system_type_id=second.system_type_id
where object_name(first.object_id)='Table Name'
order by first.column_id
Population by Country - Tableau
Ranking Functions in SQL Server with example
There are four types of Ranking Functions in SQL. All the Ranking Functions are used with Over Clause
• Row_Number: The row_number function gives each a row in a table a serial number.
Consider below Table named 'EmpDetails', the table contains two columns 'EmpID' and 'EmpName'
Now we will implement Row_number to the above table:
select *, ROW_NUMBER() over (order by empid) as Rowno from dbo.EmpDetails
The output of the query is as follows:
• Rank: The Rank function gives rank to each rows in the result based on the over clause.
select *, Rank() over (order by empid) as Rowno from dbo.EmpDetails
As seen above, the employees with empid as '1' has been given Rank 1, whereas the employee with empid '2' has rank 3, because there were two employees with empid 1 that has rank one.
• Dense_Rank: This function is similar to Rank() function, the only difference is that it gives Rank without any gaps.
select *, dense_Rank() over (order by empid) as Rowno from dbo.EmpDetails
If you observe the above result set, dense_rank() function has assigned rank 2 to the employees with Empid 2, unlike Rank() function which ranked them as 3.
• Ntile: The Ntile function requires to specify a number in the parentheses and based on that the it divides the rows in the result set.
select *, Ntile(2) over (order by empid) as Rowno from dbo.EmpDetails
Here, we have specified 2 in the parentheses, hence the result set with contain only two ranks i.e. 1 and 2
Sunday, 16 February 2014
Update statement in SQL
Update statement in SQL
Update statement in SQL is generally to update a value in a table. We should generally be very conscious while using this statement. If you do not specify where clause in update statement all the records in the specified column will be updated with the mentioned value and the entire column will contain only one value
Consider below table 'test'
If we use a Update statement as below without any where condition then all the values fname will be set to 'ABCD' i.e. all the four rows in the fname column will have 'ABCD' as value
update table test
set fname = 'ABCD'
Hence, it is always recommended that you specify a where condition which fulfill all the criteria, as below
update table test
set fname = 'ABCD' where lname = 'abc1'
Here, only the row which has 'abc1' as lname will be updated
We can also update multiple columns in a single update statement as below
Update table tablename
Set Column1= '', Column2='',......
how to add a column to an existing table in sql
Add a column in an already existing table in SQL
To add a column in an already existing table, you will need to alter the existing schema of that table. To achieve that we will have to use ALTER statement.
Consider a table named 'Test' which is as below:
Suppose we need to add another column called 'Ids' which is an identity column and give a unique number to each column, you can easily achieve this using the below query
alter table dbo.Input
add ids bigint identity(1,1)
Select INTO in SQL
Select INTO in SQL
Select into is used to make a new table which will contain the data that is the result set of the query in which it is used.
For Example:
Consider a name named 'Test' structure of which is as below
Now, we will try this with a simple query as below
Select * into test123 from test
a new table named 'test123' will be created in the same database in which the 'test' table exists. The test123 table will be exactly like the test table. so both table will have the same schema and same data in it.
Now, we will add condition to the above query as follows:
Select fname,lname into test123 from test where lname like 'abc'
In this case, a table will be created with name 'test123' which will have only two column fname and lname and also only two rows from the table test will be copied into test123 which satisfies the condition of lname like 'abc'
Select Into is generally used to make a backup of a particular data set.
Saturday, 15 February 2014
T- SQL Interview Questions and Answer
T- SQL Interview Questions and Answer
1. Different type of statements in SQL?
2. What's the use of INTO keyword in Select statement in SQL?
3. How do you add a column in an already existing table in SQL?
4. How to update a value in a column in SQL?
5. Can you rename an object in SQL?
6. What is identity in SQL and whats the use of it?
7. How to reset an identity?
8. Difference between having and where clause?
9. What data types have you used to setup a table?
10. Whats the different between nvarchar and varchar?
11. Difference between delete and truncate command ?
12. Difference between truncate and drop command?
13. What are joins in sql and explain different types of Joins?
14. Difference between Union and Union All?
15. What are Indexes?
16. Different Types of indexes?
17. Difference between clustered and non - clustered indexes?
18. What are Views in SQL?
19. What is CTE in SQL?
20. Difference between CTE and Views?
21. What is temp table?
22. What is temporary variable?
23. Difference between temp table and temp variable?
24. Difference between temp table and CTE?
25. What is Sub-Query in SQL?
26. What is Nested query in SQL?
27. What is inline Query in SQL?
28. What are ranking functions in SQL?
29. Difference between Rank and Dense Rank?
30. Which Ranking functions is used to delete duplicate rows from a table?
31. what is store procedure?
32. what is UDF in SQL?
33. difference between a store procedure and function in SQL?
34. whats the use of NO COUNT?
35. What is charindex function used for in SQL?
36. What is substring function used for in SQL?
37. What is coalesce function in SQL?
38. difference between coalesce and ISNULL function?
39. what is datediff function?
40. what is dateadd function?
41. explain functionality of Case function?
42. how to use Case function in Select statement?
43. Write a query to generate Running Total?
44. Write a query to generate Running Average Values?
45. What is BCP in SQL?
Sunday, 9 February 2014
Stack Chart in SSRS
Stack Chart in SSRS 2008
For stack chart we will try to show Expense, online profit and offline profit according to locales in SSRS
Stack Chart in SSRS 2008, SSRS basics
• Drag n Drop charts from the toolbox to the report
• select stack chart from the options
• In values section, select expenses, online revenue and offline revenue and select locale in category
Now my main focus should be on expenses but since the number is too low it is not quite visible in stack chart, hence here I will have to use calculate vertical axis as logarithmic, to do show execute following steps
• Right click on vertical axis and select vertical axis property
• Select "Use logarithmic Scale" and click on OK. You will observe that know the vertical axis is calculated logarithmic-ally
• Click on preview window and preview the chart
3D Pie chart in SSRS
3D Pie chart in SSRS
Here we will show Page Views according to Locales in Pie Chart
The locale column contains the locale names and page views column contains the respective number of page views
• Add a report and map the data set with report
• From the toolbox drag n drop chart to the reports
• Select Exploded Pie chart
• Enter Page Views in Values Section and locale in series section
• Right Click and select show data labels
• Select data labels and from the properties window set position property to Outside, so that the labels are displayed outside the pie chart
• Right click and select chart properties
• In the chart properties, select 3D display option and check the Enable 3D option
• Click on preview window and view the chart
Saturday, 1 February 2014
Pie Chart in Tableau
Pie Chart in Tableau
Arrange your data as below:
Open tableau workbook and connect to the data source
Drag and Drop date column into the Rows section
Drag and Drop Sections to Color field
Drag and Drop Count to Size fields and your Pie cart will be ready
Download the sample Pie chart Tableau workbook from below
Sunday, 26 January 2014
Stack Chart in Correlated Chart using Tableau
Tableau Sample View 10
Tableau Sample View 9
Connect SSRS with Excel Step by Step
Connect Excel as source to SSRS
Click on create 'Add new data scource'
Choose ODBC as Connection Type and click OK
Choose Excel System Data source name
Select 'Use Connection String'
Select Excel as 'Machine Data Source' and click on New
Select User Data Source and Click on Next
Select 'Microsoft Excel Driver' and click on Next
Click On Finish
Give Data Source as Name
Select the Excel file and Click on OK
Tableau Sample View 8
two bar graph in one view - Tableau
Tableau Sample View 7
Tableau Sample View 6
Tableau Sample View 5 | <urn:uuid:e5a78340-4798-46e8-9f9a-a0ccf5c52885> | 2 | 2.40625 | 0.032353 | en | 0.805844 | http://knowitbasic.blogspot.com/ |
Use Old Milk Cartons to Send Delicate CDs Through Snail Mail
It's a law of the universe that whenever you need a jewel case, there are none to be found. If you find yourself needing to mail a CD, make an envelope out of a milk carton to keep them protected.
This hack is super easy—certainly easier than driving to the office supply store for a CD case. All you need are some scissors and some way to seal off the bottom of the envelope. To make the envelope, you just cut off enough of the top and the bottom to make a slightly-larger-than-CD-sized box, flatten it out, and cut off a little "envelope lip" to close the top. The creator of the carton-envelope, BCome, used a sewing machine but if you're not too set on style, a strip of duct tape would do just fine (though I'd put the carton envelope in another envelope to mail it with this method). Check out the link to BCome's blog and the Unplgged post for more pictures and detailed instructions. Got any other snail mail hacks? Sound off in the comments!
Sorry about the repost, everyone. | <urn:uuid:645298ef-4297-4137-9dab-94fec59be4f7> | 2 | 1.734375 | 0.028349 | en | 0.908219 | http://lifehacker.com/5503901/use-old-milk-cartons-to-send-delicate-cds-through-snail-mail?tag=cds |
LINGUIST List 10.989
Fri Jun 25 1999
Review: Davenport and Hannahs: Phonetics & Phonology
Editor for this issue: Andrew Carnie <>
1. DETERDING David Henry (SOA), Review of Davenport & Hannahs: Introducing Phonetics and Phonolog y
Message 1: Review of Davenport & Hannahs: Introducing Phonetics and Phonolog y
Date: Thu, 17 Jun 1999 10:53:39 +0800
From: DETERDING David Henry (SOA) <>
Subject: Review of Davenport & Hannahs: Introducing Phonetics and Phonolog y
Mike Davenport and S.J.Hannahs. Introducing Phonetics and Phonology. Arnold
(UK), Oxford University Press (USA). 1998. 196pp.
Reviewed by David Deterding
This book begins with a fairly traditional overview of phonetics, with one
chapter each on articulation, consonants and vowels. Next there is a
chapter on acoustic phonetics. Finally, the bulk of the book (pages 73 to
187) is devoted to phonology, covering a wide range of different approaches,
including: phonemes and allophones, feature-based derivational phonology,
and autosegmental phonology. The aim of the chapters on phonology is to
present an overview of the major approaches to the field rather than pursue
a single theoretical framework in depth, and the book always tries to
outline weaknesses in different approaches and suggest criteria for
selecting between them.
Critical Evaluation
As this book is intended partly as a general introduction to phonetics, the
simple list of topics given above reveals a rather startling omission: there
is nothing, not even one mention, of intonation! Surely intonation is
sufficiently important to merit a few pages, even if these were only to
acknowledge the existence of the topic and explain why it is not covered in
greater depth.
The book might therefore be regarded as an introduction to segmental
phonetics and phonology. Some of the discussion of phonology does make
reference to suprasegmental topics such as syllable structure and metrical
feet, but this is done to provide an explanation of segmental phenomena,
such as the possibility of using an alveolar nasal in the first syllable of
'incline' while only a velar nasal is possible in the first syllable of
'inclination' (p.150).
As an introduction to segmental phonetics, there is (to my mind) one rather
serious flaw. The first, absolutely fundamental lesson in phonetics is
surely to distinguish orthography from transcription, but this book does not
achieve this very well. For example, we find a reference to the 'c' sound
in 'cat' (p.5), which is rather unfortunate in a phonetics book. Indeed the
bracketing convention for transcription is not introduced till page 18, and
then only for consonants, so even after that, we continue to find a rather
confusing mixture of orthography and transcription, such as 'sa[b m]an' (as
a result of assimilation) (p.26) and '[lj]ute' and 'pi[l]ow' (p.32).
As consonants are presented before vowels, use of phonetic vowel symbols is
mostly avoided in the discussion of consonants; but even this is not
achieved consistently, as quite a few vowel symbols manage to slip in before
they have been introduced, for example when discussing the distribution of
word final linking 'r' (p.33) and the occurrence of [j] (p.34). Moreover,
there is mention of [o] as a 'high mid back vowel' (p.32) and discussion of
'high vowels' and 'low vowels' (p.35) in the chapter on consonants, before
the concepts of vowel height and backness are introduced (p.39) in the
following chapter.
In the chapter on vowels, there is an extraordinary amount of detail
describing regional variation. Although the base accent for exemplification
is RP, we are typically given information about pronunciation of vowels in a
wide range of places, so for example reference is made to the pronunciation
of mid back vowels in London, North England, Minnesota, Glasgow, Northern
Ireland, Geordie, East Anglia, the East Midlands and the South West of
England (p.48-49). While dedicated students with a finely-tuned sensitivity
to accent variation might find this fascinating, it seems likely that others
would find it somewhat tedious, and those who are not familiar with the
geography of Britain and have never met a Geordie are likely to be left
totally bewildered.
The chapter on acoustic phonetics is a fairly clear introduction, though the
discussion of formant transitions is a bit confusing. For example, we are
told (p.68) that "an alveolar consonant causes the F2 of the following vowel
to rise (compared with the vowel alone without a preceding alveolar)", but
this does not tally with the diagrams on the following page which show that
F2 after [d] rises with a following [i] but falls with a following [u].
Perhaps the concept of a 'locus' would have been helpful, but this term is
not explained or used within the text even though it appears three times in
Table 5.2 (p.70).
In the chapters on phonology, there is a real danger when so many approaches
are presented that the material will get totally confusing. Surprisingly,
this never happens, and chapters 6 to 11 of this book are a model of clarity
and a delight to read. The reason for this is that there are just a few
well-selected examples explained carefully and methodically, so that even
when completely different analyses are presented side-by-side, they appear
to complement each other and deepen our understanding of the issues rather
than conflict. The clarity of the presentation in these chapters on
phonology is really impressive.
Indeed, the tone of the second half of this book is very different from that
of the first few chapters on phonetics. Unfortunately, it is not just the
tone that differs, as some of the material is inconsistent between the two
parts. For example, the vowel in 'go' is presented as [U] (I am using
here to represent a schwa) on pages 49, 51, and 52, but as [oU] on pages 79,
99, 147 and 155, even though RP is supposedly adopted as the base model
throughout. And in Exercise 1 on page 173, there are no less than 9
instances where the vowel symbol differs from the system suggested for RP on
page 52.
In fact, the vowel in 'go' causes an even more severe problem in chapter 6
on Features. In the tables, it is shown as [o:] and is analysed as [+tense]
(p.89), and this serves to distinguish it from Cardinal Vowel 6 (the
backward 'c') which is shown as [-tense]. In the text on page 86 and again
on page 88, the vowel in 'horse' is shown with a length marker [:], but in
the tables on the same pages, this long vowel is not listed, and instead CV6
without [:] is shown. Unfortunately, this is not just a simple typo -- if
the vowel in 'horse' is a long vowel and thus [+tense], the analysis
provides no way to differentiate it from [o:], and this means that the
feature analysis breaks down as it fails to differentiate all the vowels
Despite the existence of a few other such problems (such as 'supralaryngeal'
appearing twice in Fig 9.1 on p.136 -- presumably the second instance is an
error for 'place'), the meticulous presentation in the second half make it a
real candidate to serve as a highly accessible and delightfully clear
introductory textbook on phonological theory.
[About the reviewer: David Deterding is an Assoc. Prof. at NIE/NTU,
Singapore, where he teaches phonetics, syntax, and translation. He has
published on the intonation of Singapore English (JIPA, 24:2, 61-72) and the
formants of British English (JIPA, 27, 47-55), and he is the co-author with
G. Poedjosoedarmo of The Sounds of English: Phonetics and Phonology for
English Teachers in Southeast Asia, Singapore: Prentice Hall, 1998. His
webpage is:] | <urn:uuid:e6f5294e-e8b2-4337-ab52-6cabf1a7d4ba> | 2 | 1.609375 | 0.025634 | en | 0.915176 | http://linguistlist.org/issues/10/10-989.html |
Saturday, February 28, 2015
Parenting Month 52: Passing tests
A new belt
This month's milestone was T's advancement testing for Taekwondo. He passed! Of course, the issue is not if the dojang passes him, when dealing with pre-schoolers, it is silly to hold them to a real serious standard. The question at hand is how does he handle himself in a setting where he needs to perform on demand. The norm is to be scattered and play around, another common reaction is to freeze in nervousness (which is T's historical norm), the goal of a preschooler in a martial arts program is to pay attention and follow when being specifically addressed (and generally you accept being relatively stationary the rest of the time.)
Under those standards, T did very well. As a child who does not like crowds, he handled the crowd and structure of testing day well (much bigger group than I have ever seen there). So we were gratified to see him dealing with it through chatting with the instructors (benefit of being one of the first to show up), concentrating on his forms, and even paying attention as it was everyone's turn. (of course, it probably was because he was trying to remember the forms of the upper ranks)
Another source of gratification is that he was focused during his turns. He was grouped with the smaller (i.e. younger) kids (4 year olds) and the obvious thing that makes 4 yr olds different than 6 yr olds is that 6 yr olds pay attention to what they are doing and the 4 yr olds generally did not. So that he did focus on what he was supposed to was good to see. We don't often get a chance to see him in a setting with other kids his age, but being able to focus on what he is doing is something we have tried to encourage in many areas.
Other activities for the month include more cooking. I've been letting him work on the stove for making jello, pudding, and pies from mixes. And having him stir while the pot is on the stove. This has two problems, one the danger from a hot pot or stove, which is not as visually apparent as a knife blade is, second, that these required continuous stirring over a period of time. Reality is that his endurance is just short of what is needed here. If he gets to the point where he can stretch out another minute, he will reach the point where he can see the transitions in form caused by the food being exposed to heat. But for now, he likes the activity of doing something that we tell him is dangerous and that he needs to be careful around. And it provides another way of discussing perseverance and focus on task. (in addition to the usual comments about cooking being a good way to talk about math)
He continues to read more. This past month we have realized that he is pretty much out of the emerging reader series. His current reading level is Dr. Seuss. The shorter books he reads happily away (including reading them to his baby sister) Long books such as Cat in the Hat are possible, but when he finished Cat in the Hat, he was tired (he did not realize how long the book was going to be.
Another area is preparation for kindergarden. I took T to an open house for one school that we are looking at (because they will take in someone who has not turned 5 before September). It looks promising. After a couple of rooms he warmed up to our student guides and was chatting away with them. I have noticed on previous occasions that the older kids are used to interacting with the younger ones, and had an opportunity to discuss it with some of the staff who explained how they encourage it. And we talked about how the evaluation would be done (basically, the primary evaluation would be from his preschool, which is not something that we will worry about). There is a clear difference in T thriving in a smaller environment, and this is besides the fact that we don't like the idea of T being in pre-Kindergarden for a period approaching two years, then being in a half-day kindergarden (which is what our area is like). So this school has a lot of things going for it in our book.
A also had a big 9 month milestone. Her first deliberate word (i.e. not counting the various vocalizations like mamamabababagagaga *sqwawk*) ah-ooh, to be used when something drops or falls. I'm particularly happy because I've been trying to train her to say this over breakfast all month. And this was actually T's first deliberate word as well.. S thinks that ai-yaah is a candidate for a second word, which she clearly picked up from her big brother. I'm not convinced that it is deliberate as opposed to mere mimicking.
Saturday, January 31, 2015
Parenting Month 51: I can do that
Cutting peppers to go on a pizza
Cutting peppers to go on a pizza
This month's catch phrase is "I can do that." I think that a characteristic of the pre-school years is the see-saw back and forth between a child wanting to become independent, but wanting the security of the parents. In our case, it expresses itself in the form of competency. And right now, we are well into the development of competency side of the spectrum.
Competency has a number of manifestations with T. One is the reading. At this point, he is at the Dr. Seuss level of reading. The small books are easy. The longer classics are not hard, but they are long and they test his endurance more than his reading ability. We are at the point where it is possible to put him on the floor or couch with a pile of books and he will read away. What is really cute is when we put him next to A and he reads to his little sister (and she pays attention!). The other place this shows up are LEGO sets. He can now read instructions well enough to follow instructions on reasonably complex sets (where the recommended age range begins at 8 or lower). His most recent one was the LEGO Movie trash chomper (recommended age begins at 8). It took him three days to complete it, but he did it pretty much on his own.
Building the LEGO Master Builder Academy Space Fighter
Building a LEGO Master Builder Academy Space design #3
The second place that competency manifests is in taking part of tasks around the house. He can handle simple tools (hammer, screwdriver) and can do set tasks (nail in place, screw already set) and we have him at least touch many such tasks as they come up (he does not have the strength to finish the job). Also light vegetable cutting (with a plastic knife) and food prep (mixing) is within his level of competence.
And while he has better and worse days, there are the days where he is very helpful around the house (cleaning up, clearing the table). Actually, there are days where he is hyper-polite and helpful. It is cute and almost funny as he says please and thank you and does things like get food, help prepare, put the used dishes in the sink, and even help take care of mei-mei (little sister), and he keeps this up all day! (the consistent use of polite words after an half an hour or so drives S and I to the point where we have to make an effort to keep from laughing)
Dinner time. Is this yummy?
Dinner time for mei-mei
The Taikwondo classes have been a contributor to this. Each month has a character building theme, and this month the theme was 'goals.' And part of the assessment is to develop a list of 10 goals, and for T, these were dominated by goals to do standard daily tasks himself (put on/take off shoes, jacket, clothes, etc.). He has gotten into it. He thinks of goals at all sorts of times (especially at night when we talk about what he did during the day) and he immediately wants to add it to the list (which he will remember the next morning!). And reminding him that he declared something a goal is incentive enough for him to give it a good try.
Sibling interaction is another area where we are quite fortunate. T and A are quite fond of each other. A is easily amused by T's activities, and T actively assists in entertaining and taking care of A (given his size as a four year old). What is amusing is now that A is semi-mobile and can scoot, she tries to join in with whatever T is doing if he is close to reaching distance. And sometime he is not careful and she turns out to be a lot closer than he thought and can grab something.
A is turning into a babbler. Typically, after she eats, she is good for an extended period of babbling away if there is a willing conversation partner. I usually get this dark and early in the morning when I get her when she is awake and everyone else wants to sleep longer. (typically after she gets fed) I get breakfast for myself and she babbles away. Today I brought her to a Red Cross meeting and she amused everyone by babbling after eating (I took her out to a hallway) until she finally stopped, because she fell asleep! Everyone joked that it sounded like she was telling a story, not just vocalizing.
As far as parenting was concerned, this was a very pleasant month. Both children being engaged in their worlds, and increasing their competencies at the level they are at. And both being well behaved in the outside world. While both are not pass around kids (neither of them takes well to strangers), we joke that they are both advertisements for having children and we both get encouraging comments while out and about.
Up next, getting ready for pre-kindergarden assessments for T (we really don't want to have him do pre-K again next year like his birthday would require, and his reactions to stranger can lead to problems when it is time to do assessment). And we probably should try to get A out and about more for more interaction with people (even if we are in a cold northeastern winter!)
Friday, January 30, 2015
Lessons in teaching: Fall 2014 edition - Using the news
I had started using news articles to illustrate class concepts last year, but this year I started doing so from the very beginning and made it a standing part of the class to do this once a week in both of my classes last semester. Of course, taking 10~30 minutes a week out of class came at a price. In both cases it meant a chapter not being covered. And I pointed this out to the class when time came for course evaluations.
Every week I would identify news articles, magazine articles, or blog posts to discuss in class. (or sometimes it was a historical case). The discussion would always open by evaluating the article through a standard technique. In my decision analysis class it was either generating a value tree or a decision tree. In my simulation class it was generally generating an event diagram (i.e. a white board exercise).
The cases included the international and domestic (U.S.) handling of the Ebola outbreak, health care provider reactions to the rise of independent urgent care clinics, potential expansion of a light manufacturer, pulling a goalie in hockey in the final minutes, flu vaccinations, Corporate restructuring, the construction of super containerships, NASA Commercial Space initiatives, waving a (baseball) runner home, handling of death threats (Gamergate), Space Shuttle Challenger launch decision, automation of warehouses and manufacturing, delivery of disaster response services, and hub and spoke airline operations.
For the discussions themselves, it was a great way of getting students interested. Because of the wide range of topics, international, domestic US, health, industrial, sports, space, different people tended to get into different discussion topics, so across all of the cases, a very large portion of the classes contributed to the conversation at some point.
The other big benefit of the cases was to reinforce the modeling aspect of both classes. For decision models this meant many opportunities to consider the value tree and decision trees, even as we moved to other techniques and topics. For simulation, this was the chance to work on modeling while the course focused on analytical and statistical methods. Even for those who did not take part in the class discussion, there were a few discussions that I think were particularly memorable.
One unexpected benefit was that I had an opportunity to engage in give and take. Once we got past the first few sessions, we were comfortable with me questioning some of the responses, or asking to go a little deeper than the first answer. (without scaring the student into a shell) Students also started asking questions, so we occasionally got a real discussion going.
Sometimes it was fairly light and even entertaining discussion (sports were good for that). And there were times that it went very serious (we looked at the decision not to provide protection from threats of mass murder with plans in Utah with Anita Sarkeesian (meaning it also involved the politics of gender oppression). Ebola was also a big one in September.
So, when compared to the loss of a chapter of coverage, I think that this was a worthwhile direction. The course evaluations commented on how much the students liked using current events as examples of material, and that they felt confident in modeling (which is only one or two chapters in each subject). Compared to a chapter of material that would probably be forgotten, I'll take the tradeoff.
Thursday, January 15, 2015
Small Town Heroes by Harmon: Book Review
Small Town Heroes (Wearing the Cape, #4)Small Town Heroes by Marion G. Harmon
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
So the main character of the series, Astra, gets herself taken away from Chicago, her home, and her friends, because she sees a vision of something she should not know anything about. She makes new friends, learns how to work with others who are extremely competent, and her old team gets to meet the new ones.
I liked this book because it maintains that in the world of superheroes, the most dangerous ones are the ones that can plan. Astra is depicted as someone who is learning how to do this, and she spends the book recognizing she is around people who do it well. A team of third-string supersoldiers is depicted as being a match for a first-string villian because of teamwork, and these opponents are the most dangerous, not because they are the most powerful that Astra has faced, nor because the Young Sentinals are weaker than the main Sentinal team, but because this group works well together. All of the supers (and other leadership figures) are highly competent and dangerous, and that makes for a better story than many.
The book can get a little corny/sappy occasionally, and that may be because the main character is a pixie teenage girl. But it helps that everyone is competent, and the main hero, while competent and universally accepted, still has much to learn and the others around her have much to teach
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Monday, December 29, 2014
Parenting Month 50: A-T-A yaaa! enrichment and assertiveness
Carnegie museum of natural history
We're reading instructions for mommy at the Carnegie Science Center. This is the next step.
We have finally caved in to the suburban parenting pattern of enrichment classes. In our case we focused on the one thing that we do not provide: lessons in assertiveness. And the vehicle we chose was a local taekwondo studio that had started out around two years ago. We are not particularly interested in mastery, although if T wants this to be his sport for his growing up years, we would not be particularly disappointed. But we want him to relate to other adults (or at least older people) who are authority figures and can give instruction for him to follow and command respect.
Actually, we are more interested in that he can build confidence in action outside the safe harbor that we provide when we teach him things. When we first went, they were telling us about how martial arts classes in pre-schoolers helps in the case of pre-schoolers who need to burn off energy and bounce of the walls at home. As we have a child whose worst episodes of acting up are probably laughable to most parents of pre-schoolers, we replied that was not the problem. But what we are worried about is that he grow in confidence in action.
He is an introvert, and the son of two introverts, who are fully aware that much of the world is organized and evaluated with extroverts in mind. And we see that in his daycare. He was part of a trio of introverted boys. They have separated on their fourth birthdays to another daycare, the pre-K at our daycare, and the second pre-K class. And the one in the other pre-K class is worried of him being lost in the shuffle (it is large, the size is at the room physical limit. While on academic and artistic levels he is expressive (he is in a small class), when it comes to crowds (they merge in the afternoon) he still withdraws amidst the hurly burly of 20+ preschoolers running around.
The first sessions were what would be expected. As the class does their warmups, exercises, and yells, he withdraws. But, in a credit for this school (and the fact that there are few beginners at any point in time) he got some personal assistance from the school owner. So the first few session, he essentially had private classes, and now he takes his place with the rest of the (small) class. Progress!, and kudos for the school!
In other areas, he is enjoying his small, pre-K class. There are only around 8 students, and reports are that he is active talker in the group activities; circle time, singing, etc. Arts are slow, as he is very deliberate so projects take much longer than others, but he does them. He reverts to form when the classes merge in the afternoon (the extra space for the second pre-K class has another purpose in the afternoon).
He is increasing his academic abilities. With LEGO we went through the City Advent Calendar, which required that he take a small number of blocks and figure out how to make the object based on an iso-picture, as the month progressed, he was getting noticeably better at the spatial awareness, and doing the Christmas presents was much better at figuring out instructions by himself. He is also getting better at working with random pieces, as we build things and make up story lines to go with them.
He enjoys reading, especially as he is much more competent at phonics. He will pick out new books, and while he may ask us to read it, by 3-4 pages in he is doing most of the reading. We find it especially amusing when we he reads books to his little sister, because he does it using a teacher voice (as much as a four year old can imitate a teacher).
Lighttable at Carnegie museum of Natural History
Making patterns with shapes on a light table
A is becoming a sneaky little baby girl. She has started manipulative play, taking toys and waving them around. She can move things to her mouth, such as a toy, or more useful, her pacifier (funny event, sometimes when she wants to cry, she will use her hand to move the pacifier over so she can cry more effectively). Our other big observation was that she is now mobile. She can scoot. At the beginning of the month, we were not sure, because she does not move that fast. But give her a few minutes, she will have noticeably scooted on the playmat towards a desired goal. Our funny moment was when T was trying to play with A's toys (on the pretext of teaching A how to play with them), and she scooted over a couple feet and picked up one of his completed LEGO sets. We see a lot of that in the future.
Friday, December 26, 2014
The Way Into Chaos by Harry Connolly: Book Review
The Way Into Chaos (The Great Way #1)The Way Into Chaos by Harry Connolly
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
Harry Connelly has made an incredible world. The Way into Chaos is named because it has its protagonists surviving in a world that has fallen from order into chaos. The heroes and other characters are complex, each with a range of motivations. There are those like one of the protagonists who think of things like honor, loyalty to the empire he has sworn an oath to, and devotion to a cause. Others may have had such thoughts, but have looked around them and believed that the empire that they were loyal to has fallen. Others were never loyal to the empire, and made choices on what they thought was best as order fell around them, and a new threat entered there land.
The diversity and depth of the characters is what draws you in. In the first chapter, you are introduced to many characters and their backgrounds, only to have most of them gone by the end of the second chapter. As the book goes on, there are several rounds of this, parties form around the protagonists on their missions, only to break up and go their separate ways in the course of events. These are not handpicked heroes chosen for a special mission. These are individuals who made there way out of disaster into a dangerous world, trying to make their way within their limits. And that keeps my attention as I went page after page. I'm looking forward to working through the rest of this trilogy.
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Thursday, December 18, 2014
Thinking with Data by Max Shron: Book Review
Thinking with DataThinking with Data by Max Shron
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
Thinking with data focuses, not on how to do data analysis, but on the questions that one should be asking. It does so in two ways, first through providing an overall framework to looking at situations, then working through a series of topics using examples to serve as plausible paths of decision making. In a fairly short book, it covers the framework, determining purpose, threats to validity, experimental design, and a few extended examples that illustrates both concepts and deviations. It is a useful quick big picture book that is useful for those whose focus has been on the methods of data analysis or for those who do not have a quantitative background but are faced with data questions and need to be able to work with data analysts.
The first part is probably the most rewarding. Max gives a framework of how to frame a data problem. Context (who is interested in the problem, what are their overall goals and why, what is the goal of the project), Need (the specific need that could be solved through the use of the data model), Vision (an understanding of what the results of data analysis would be like), and Outcome (an understanding of how the data analysis results would be used). The end of this framework would be a story that you can tell
Next is a discussion of how the details of the problem could be fleshed out. The content is probably familiar to anyone who has had to work with stakeholders. The valuable portion here are the vignettes of working through this process on projects. In particular the fact that the vignettes are not projects that necessarily go smoothly, so it does not have the idealized feel that many published vignettes do.
Next is a discussion of presenting the results. The focus here is that the results are not the output of the data analysis, but the use of the data analytics methods to construct and argument. And that argument is going to be presented to people who have backgrounds, prior beliefs, prejudices, and sometimes reasons to argue against your findings.
How to address these disputes is through conducting experiments and testing alternative hypothesis. So a section of the book is on defining causality and designing experiments (interventions) to handle different types of alternative hypotheses.
What makes this useful is the framework and the vignettes. It is good for a quick introduction to this area. As others have noted, it is not tightly organized, so after the first chapter with the framework, it is not useful as a reference, but it helps in focusing how to think.
I teach classes on working with data, and one area that is difficult to get across is the concept that there is a unified whole in the topic, not only a bunch of separated techniques. I plan on using much of what is in this book to help provide that unified whole my classes.
Disclaimer: I received a free electronic version of this book as part of the OReilly Bloggers program.
View all my reviews | <urn:uuid:99f0a6ed-b29a-497a-b3cf-9d21d353bf5d> | 2 | 2.0625 | 0.023296 | en | 0.981235 | http://lugerpitt.blogspot.com/ |
older people
The main focus of this learning object is depression amongst older people. The learning object begins by highlighting some of the problems with defining and diagnosing 'depression' and then goes on to discuss the estimated numbers of older people that are thought to suffer from the condition. Issues that make people more or less vulnerable to developing depression in later life are also examined. Finally, effective treatments for depression and explanations for why it so often remains unrecognised in older people is discussed.
In this learning object you are introduced to the importance of seeing later life as one phase of an entire course of life from birth to death shaped by earlier life stages and experiences. Meaning and identity are important to mental health in later life and require that we can connect past, present and future in our lives. A highly influential theory of the life course which embodies these themes is the psychosocial theory of Erik Erikson, which you will consider in Section 2.
This report asks what contribution research can make to transform the experiences of black and minority ethnic older people. Uniquely, it engages black and minority ethnic older people in informed discussion about research and how it can bring about change in their lived experiences.
| <urn:uuid:a16bcfad-9c87-46c7-864a-7ae8186b5207> | 3 | 3.21875 | 0.657721 | en | 0.961017 | http://lx.iriss.org.uk/category/learning-exchange/people-groups-and-communities/older-people?page=25 |
Take the 2-minute tour ×
I want to generate a r-regular graph with n vertices. rn = 2m.
Current best:
(1) take n vertices; randomly pick a vertex v of degree < r.
(2) S = set of all vertices of degree < r, and not a neighbor of v.
(3) create an edge between v and a random element of S.
(4) repeat.
Is there a more parallel way to do this?
Suppose I wanted to randomly pick an element in [1...n]. I could do it sequentially like:
take 1 w/ prob 1/n
else take 2 w/ prob 1/n-1
else take 3 w/ prob 1/n-2
Or I could do it "one shot" by generating a random element between [1...n].
Similarly, I want to generate a r-regular graph "one shot" rather than an single edge at a time.
This is to build mental intuition of what it means to "uniformly pick a r-regular graph."
share|improve this question
What sorts of random entities are available? Specifically, can you generate a random permutation? Part of my reason for asking is that the special case $r=2$ of your question is pretty close to asking for a random permutation. Another part is that conversely, for general $r$, by thinking of each vertex as having $r$ half-edges already attached, your problem becomes one of pairing up these half-edges, which looks similar to finding a random permutation of the set of half-edges (though you'd have to do something to avoid loops and multiple edges). – Andreas Blass Aug 26 '11 at 3:43
2 Answers 2
up vote 4 down vote accepted
This question is more difficult that it seems.
Firstly, there is a difference between picking edges of a graph uniformly, and picking a $r$-regular graph uniformly.
Let $G_{r,n}$ be the set of $r$-regular graphs on $n$ nodes. By "uniformly pick a $r$-regular graph", you need to create an algorithm that chooses $G \in G_{r,n}$ with probability $1/|G_{r,n}|$. There are probabilistic methods to do this, perhaps they even lend themselves to parallelization.
See the section on algorithms for generation of random regular graphs here. In particular,B. McKay and N. Wormald, Uniform Generation of Random Regular Graphs of Moderate Degree, Journal of Algorithms, Vol. 11 (1990), pp 52-67
share|improve this answer
The Wormald method (alluded to in @Daniel's answer) is an application of the "configuration model" introduced by Bollobas (look in his "Random Graphs") It does not work (not in finite time) for graphs of degree greater than around 4. There has been more recent work on this by Kim and Vu (see http://dl.acm.org/citation.cfm?id=780576, there is presumably an arxiv version also), but be forewarned that it is of more theoretical than practical value (it is not clear how large a graph needs to be before the distribution is "close enough" to uniform). Interestingly, while the Wormald algorithm is morally parallel (you generate a configuration at once, then throw it out if it is not a simple graph), the algorithm Kim/Vu analyze (the algorithm is not due to them, and goes back to the ancients, the analysis is theirs) does it one vertex at a time, so "parallelism" is quite expensive, to get back to the OP's original question.
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This answer is really good and deserves to be upvoted (but I can't upvote), and since I could only accept one answer; accepted the one with the user with lower reputation score to encourage more MO participation. – random graphs Aug 26 '11 at 11:03
Your Answer
| <urn:uuid:9170e040-21e4-469f-92a9-860696c57ce7> | 2 | 2.390625 | 0.886163 | en | 0.933689 | http://mathoverflow.net/questions/73726/generating-r-regular-random-graph-in-parallel/73745 |
European Alder (Black Alder)
Alnus glutinosa
Betulaceae (birches)
A medium-sized tree, suckering and forming thickets; fast-growing when young; usually developing a single trunk with an oval-headed crown. In landscaping, it is sometimes grown as a "feature" plant with multiple trunks.
Leaves alternate, simple; dark glossy green; usually nearly circular, 1½–5 inches long; the tip shallowly notched, appearing cut off (truncate), or sometimes broadly rounded; margins coarsely toothed, sometimes also with small lobes.
Flowers March–April, male and female catkins borne on the same tree; female catkins resembling dark conifer cones.
Similar plants: Horticultural varieties feature yellow leaves, cut leaves and columnar growth. Our native species of alder is the common alder, Alnus serrulata, which is usually much smaller and has narrower leaves that have finely toothed (not lobed) edges.
Height: to about 50 feet.
Habitat and conservation:
This tree tolerates waterlogged soil and is sold as an ornamental for wet or boggy sites, especially in the northeastern United States. It can also survive in drier areas. Many landscapers like European alder because, like a legume, it can fix atmospheric nitrogen and improve soil fertility. Also, it tolerates both acid and slightly alkaline conditions. If you are considering planting this species, read more about it—and consider native alternatives, too, including common alder.
Distribution in Missouri:
Planted statewide. Based on evidence worldwide, it certainly has the potential to reproduce on its own, but in Missouri it has only been documented escaping from cultivation in Greene County.
Native to Europe and Asia, this tree is planted widely as an ornamental. In some parts of the United States and elsewhere in the world, this species becomes weedy to the point of becoming a big problem. In Missouri, it is known to have escaped from cultivation in only one locality, along the shore of Lake Springfield, in Greene County. Because of this one record, it is officially included in the flora of our state.
Human connections:
European alder boasts a lengthy list of historic uses in the Old World, ranging from various medicinal uses to lumber, furniture, clog-making and the smoking of fish. Today, it is widely used as an ornamental, for land reclamation and as a starter tree for reforestation.
Ecosystem connections:
We all know about the importance of trees as habitat for birds, but one of the big ecological benefits of this tree lies underground. Alder roots develop nodules that contain symbiotic bacteria that transform inert gaseous nitrogen into nitrates that plants can use for nourishment.
Shortened URL | <urn:uuid:c94d9396-9de1-4231-b869-2aea19d3bca0> | 3 | 3.234375 | 0.19406 | en | 0.93056 | http://mdc.mo.gov/discover-nature/field-guide/european-alder-black-alder |
Elsewhere in ghost towns: Kolmanskop
Image credit:
Every time all my favorite people leave town, you're liable to find me whining about how "this place is a ghost town," etc. That feeling either fades or it doesn't, but if ghosts were sandmen, they'd be all over this town:
Kolmanskop is a ghost town in southern Namibia, a few kilometres inland from the port of Lüderitz. In 1908, Luederitz was plunged into diamond fever and people rushed into the Namib desert hoping to make an easy fortune. Within two years, a town, complete with a casino, school, hospital and exclusive residential buildings, was established in the barren sandy desert.
But when diamond sales floundered post WWI, the exodus began, and by the fifties the dunes started repossessing what had been left behind. I wonder if there's a way to get a modest dune installation in my bedroom. It's dramatic, sure, but it also looks terribly comfortable, and isn't the Tempur-Pedic craze just about passé now, anyway? Link via Fogonazos.
January 28, 2008 - 5:30pm
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Deep Read: Same-sex marriage and the Obama presidency
Caroline McMahon
Did US President Barack Obama endorse same-sex marriage because it was gaining acceptance or because it was the right, albeit unpopular, thing to do?
Revelers display US and gay pride flags as they celebrate the legalisation of gay marriage in Washington state. (AP)
On Tuesday November 6, Barack Hussein Obama was elected to his second term as president of the United States. He will be the fourth democratic president in the last 100 years to serve two terms, solidifying his legacy in US history.
Receiving considerably less attention, particularly outside of the United States, are the great strides made on the marriage equality front and the president's role in that regard. For the first time ever, the right to same-sex marriage was passed by referendum in Maine, Maryland and Washington. This happened not only once, but three times in the same night.
Given that same-sex marriage had been put on the ballot in a number of states and failed over 30 times in the recent past, this was a crucial step towards progress that also showed a sweeping shift in attitudes with regards to same-sex marriage in the United States. This is also a much-needed justification for other state legislatures that have already taken the initiative to legalise same-sex marriage without the public vote, a move that has garnered heavy criticism from opponents as non-representative legislation.
Given that this is the first time that same-sex marriage has been on state ballots since Obama endorsed it in May 2012, the relationship between the two cannot be purely coincidental. Rather the question posed should be: which came first, Obama's endorsement or an increased acceptance for marriage equality? Did the president endorse same-sex marriage because it was gaining acceptance or because it was the right, albeit unpopular, thing to do?
The answers to these questions are complex and not yet fully known. However, we can draw distinct connections between current events surrounding same-sex marriage, LGBTQ equality more generally, and changing public opinion. The shifting perception of equality and the president's public support for same-sex marriage are arguably co-dependent. The president will always, to a certain degree, be a reflection of some existing public opinion in the country, and vice versa.
Obama could not, and would not, have endorsed same-sex marriage without already increasing public support for gay rights and marriage equality. We've seen this support in the form of endorsements and activism from equal rights organisations, politicians, public figures and some international leaders for decades. These various actors have been a reflection of a national and international dialogue that is increasingly human rights-conscious on multiple fronts, not just LGBTQ rights.
While Obama's initial election can be attributed to a multitude of non-related flukes (anyone but George W Bush, hope and change), his re-election would not have happened without a progressively tolerant public that is well aware of the president's stance on marriage equality and LGBTQ rights, and who wants representatives who are a reflection of those evolving beliefs and standards.
That said, Obama set a precedent with his same-sex marriage endorsement that no other public figure in the world could. With an endorsement from the president of the US, one of the world's greatest powers, same-sex marriage finally stood a chance to begin to find its footing in mainstream politics and law. While Obama's popularity had been a source of debate during his first term, the latest election has proven that the president is still in a position to influence a sizeable percentage of voters.
This election season, Obama's endorsement of marriage equality likely had the largest effect on voters that have been undecided about same-sex marriage, but admire and respect the president's views enough to be swayed by them. This can be seen in the case of Maine, in which the majority of voters shot down a Bill legalising same-sex marriage as recently as 2009 only to vote in favour of it on Tuesday.
Before election night, the commentary surrounding the impact of Obama's same-sex marriage endorsement was purely theoretical. Some have said that it was too much too soon, some thought it wasn't enough. What is evident is that his endorsement has made a significant and lasting impact on progress with regards to same-sex marriage in the United States, even if it was just a few simple steps in that direction.
So what now? It will be interesting to see to what extent Obama's influence is carried within and beyond state borders, and into the broader international community. His re-election and the legalisation of same-sex marriage through referendum in three states is an affirmation that the United States public is as tolerant and progressive as it has ever been. The US has the leadership, and thus the great potential, to entrench the growing universal shift towards tolerating and protecting alternative sexual relationships. The question now is whether or not the US will take on that role, and with what vigour.
Caroline is a United States citizen and an intern at the Centre for Applied Legal Studies
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Omaha, Nebraska
Spring 1998
Volume 9, Number 2
Religious Freedom vs. Compelling State Interests
Bette Novit Evans
Associate Professor of Political Science
Religious freedom is one of America's most cherished constitutional rights.1 To identify religious freedom as a right is to recognize that it deserves protection, even in the face of strong conflicting values. Sometimes the costs to these other values are substantial indeed, and sometimes they are even sufficient to outweigh rights claims. When a right is constitutionalized, it is protected from change through the ordinary political process. I think of a constitutional right as one of the ways our Founding Fathers put a thumb on the scale on the side of some very important liberties, so that they cannot easily be voted away by careless majorities, or balanced away when they become inconvenient.
It is easy to see why we need a thumb on the scale. If the interests of a single individual are balanced against a whole social policy, the individual will almost always lose. This is what happened when the Supreme Court majority in the Smith case tried to balance Alfred Smith's interests in participating in a peyote ceremony at his church against the state's interest in waging a vigorous war against illicit drugs.2 This kind of balancing of interests places the individual at a disadvantage because more widely shared interests can easily outweigh the interests of dissenting individuals or groups. In fact, this kind of balancing doesn't treat rights as rights at all.
To protect our special commitment to rights, the courts over the last 60 years have developed a way to keep a thumb on the scale. When a law threatens certain fundamental rights, the laws defenders assume the burden of proof to justify it. They have to convince the court that (1) the challenged law served not just an important public purpose, but a genuinely compelling one; (2) the law was well tailored to achieve that purpose, and (3) the purpose could not be achieved by some less burdensome method. This method of argument is called the compelling state interest test. Perhaps the single dearest statement of this doctrine is in Wisconsin v. Yoder, in which the Supreme Court upheld the right of Amish parents to give their teenagers traditional vocational training in the community rather than send them to schools. In Chief Justice Burger's words ". . . only those interests of the highest order and those not otherwise served can overbalance legitimate claims to the free exercise of religion."3 While the standard gives special weight to religious freedom claims, that extra weight has not always been sufficient to outweigh State claims. Very often, other interests do prevail against religious claims. As important as religious freedom is, Courts have ruled that public health and safety, protection against fraud, and even administrative consistency sometimes outweigh religious freedom claims. Still, when the Smith case was argued, lawyers for both sides assumed the compelling state interest standard to be the appropriate standard of review. Thus, when the majority rejected this standard, they made a significant reversal in constitutional policy to the surprise of both parties to the case.
No case in this generation has fueled battles over religious freedom like the majority's cavalier treatment of religious liberty in Smith. The case began when Alfred Smith and Galen Black were fired from their jobs in a drug rehabilitation program for using peyote, which was part of religious ritual of the Native American Church. They applied for unemployment compensation, but their application was denied on the grounds that they were fired for work related misconduct. Smith and Black appealed the denial of state benefits, and the Oregon Supreme Court decided in their favor, but in 1990 the United States Supreme Court ruled against them. Beyond the specific ruling on peyote use, the decision in Smith significantly narrowed the scope free exercise protection. The decision divided the Court as well. Justice Antonin Scalia wrote the opinion of the Court, speaking for himself and four other Justices. Justice O'Connor wrote a concurring opinion, joining him in the decision, but disagreeing profoundly with his reasoning. Three justices dissented.
According to Justice Scalia, general laws that do not discriminate against any particular religious practice do not violate the constitution. Because Oregon's drug laws were not targeted at the Native American church, but only incidentally penalized the Church's peyote rituals, the constitution was not violated. Moreover, he asserted that the First Amendment does not require that laws burdening religious exercise be justified by a compelling state interest. This removes the thumb from the scales on behalf of religious liberty and allows courts simply to weigh the interests of Smith and Black against the whole state policy of combating illegal drugs. As we have seen, without the extra weight of the compelling state interest test, religious practices like theirs do not fare very well. This throws protection of religious liberty back to the political process, as Justice Scalia recognized, in one of his most quoted and most criticized lines: "Values that are protected against government interferences through enshrinement in the Bill of Rights are not thereby banished from the political process." He readily admits that "leaving accommodation to the political process will place at a relative disadvantage those religious practices that are not widely engaged in; but that unavoidable consequences of democratic government must be preferred to a system in which each conscience is a law unto itself . . ."
Justice Scalia feared that anyone with a religious objection to a law could simply refuse to obey it and demand an exemption as a constitutional right; the result would be anarchy. Especially in a religiously plural society, virtually every ordinary policy, from labor to health policy, foreign policy to education could potentially burden the religious interests of some faith. In Scalia's words, to hold such laws presumptively invalid--at least as applied to religiously motivated persons, would be "to make an obligation to obey...a law contingent upon the law's coincidence with religious beliefs, except where the State's interest is compelling," permitting one "to become a law unto himself." This danger is all the more troubling, he argues, because "we are a cosmopolitan nation made up of people of almost every conceivable religious preference." Hence, "we cannot afford the luxury of deeming presumptively invalid, as applied to the religious objector, every regulation of conduct that does not protect an interest of the highest order."
Scalia found the compelling state interest standard vulnerable on another count as well. He argues that it is inconsistent with judicial restraint. When judges place their thumbs on the scale in favor of individual rights, they are weighting the balance against a decision made in the political process in this case, by the legislature of the State of Oregon. Furthermore, by removing the balancing from the legislative process and placing it in the hands of unelected judges, this process enhances the power of courts to substitute their judgment for those of elected officials.
Justice Scalia's reasoning did not persuade four of his colleagues. Justice O'Connor's opinion and the vigorous dissent authored by Justice Blackmun, provide a strong defense of compelling state interest. What looked like a weakness to Justice Scalia looked like a strength to these justices. Without serious judicial scrutiny, the fate of minority religions would indeed be left up to the political process, which is precisely what the Bill of Rights is intended to prevent. "The very purpose of a Bill of Rights was to withdraw certain subjects from the vicissitudes of political controversy, to place them beyond the reach of majorities and officials and to establish them as legal principles to be applied by the courts."
In Justice O'Connor's words:
"Only an especially important government interest pursued by narrowly tailored means can justify exacting a sacrifice of First Amendment freedoms as the price for an equal share of the rights, benefits, and privileges enjoyed by other citizens."
Dissenting Justice Blackmun reminded his brethren that: "It is not the State's broad interest in fighting the critical 'war on drugs' that must be weighed against respondents' claim, but the State's narrow interest in refusing to make an exception for the religious, ceremonial use of peyote." From this perspective, the dissenters concluded that virtually nothing is lost by granting the exemption especially since the State could present no evidence of harm resulting from sacramental peyote use. The dissenters pointed out that both the United States and 23 states exempt sacramental use of peyote from criminal prosecutions, without reported problems.
The decision in Smith galvanized one of the broadest coalitions of activists ever assembled. Religious fundamentalists joined forces with civil libertarians, religious leaders of virtually every faith, and constitutional scholars organized to persuade Congress to restore the compelling state interest test to federal law through legislation. Responding to this broad-based demand, Congress in 1993 adopted the Religious Freedom Restoration Act, which legislatively restored the standard for constitutional review in the federal courts.4 The statute could not be more clear about Congress' attitude toward the Smith precedent:
in Employment Division v Smith, the Supreme Court virtually eliminated the requirement that government justify burdens on religious exercise imposed by laws neutral toward religion; and the compelling interest test as set forth in prior Federal court rulings is a workable test for striking sensible balances between religious liberty and competing prior government interests.
Congressional adoption of the Religious Freedom Restoration Act demonstrates the genius of our complex democracy, and undermines Justice Scalia's rather simple view of majority rule. By adopting the Act, Congress put the weight of the popularly elected branch of government squarely behind the compelling state interest standard and thus squarely behind a strong judicial protection of constitutional rights. So, when the Supreme Court struck down the Religious Freedom Restoration Act in Tune, 1997 in the Boerne case5 supposed defenders of majority rule turned out to be just the opposite, telling the Congress to butt out of constitutional issues and leave them to the Courts alone. Striking down the law meant both overriding the electoral branch of government and maintaining a very constricted view of religious liberty. It is difficult for such a court to proclaim itself as either champion of majority rule or of individual rights.
I think it helps to think of this whole conflict within the context of our political system as a whole. The genius of our political system is the distribution of power. The variety of governmental institutions at all levels helps provide access to many different groups; those who may be disadvantaged in dealing with one institution may find more favorable access in another. Congress may be attentive to certain kinds of interests, and courts to others; federal agencies have particular constituencies, but State agencies, city councils, other institutions are receptive to others. Every branch including the courts is constituted to provide access to some different combination of interests. The compelling state interests test empowers courts to balance interests in different ways than legislative or administrative procedures. Policies made by legislative or administrative bodies are likely to be responsive to mainstream interests. When these policies are challenged in courts, judges weigh the balance with different weights. The different institutions and different measuring devices contribute a crucial redundancy to the system of constitutional protections. There is no guarantee that judicial decisions will differ from legislative ones, but there is a second option to increase the opportunities for religious interests to receive a serious hearing. The courts provide a place for conflicting interests to be heard, and to be weighted on a different scale than those used in the original instance.
If there is a happy side to this story, it is the fact that in our system of government not even the U.S. Supreme Court has the last word. State Courts and legislatures are free to give more vigorous protection under their own constitutions, and school boards, city councils, landmark commissions, and legislatures keep the process going. In American constitutional politics, there is no final authority. The story continues.
1 The very first words of our Bill of Rights declare that "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion or prohibiting the free exercise thereof . . ."
2 Employment Division, Department of Human Resources of Oregon v Smith 494 US 872 (1990).
3 406 US 205 (1972).
4 Pub. L. No. 103-144; 107 Stat. 1480.
5 City of Boerne v Flores 117 S. Ct.--(1997) | <urn:uuid:bbb2e516-554a-4b93-9dd9-35df14784c80> | 3 | 2.765625 | 0.058611 | en | 0.953184 | http://moses.creighton.edu/csrs/news/s98-1.html |
Monday, July 31, 2006
Germany, theoretical physics, and string theory
Why was it so? No doubt, Germany has paid a tax for the official ideology that took over in 1933 and that couldn't be sustainable for 1000 years. It has also paid for the lost war which is related to the previous sentence but it is not equivalent. Moreover, America became a leader in many other fields of human activity and the American scientists have had a lot of good luck after the war. Nevertheless, I feel that the main reason is different and I will call it "intellectual conservatism of the Central European science". Before we will look at these subtle issues, let us sketch the German role in the current developments in string theory.
German-speaking string theorists
There are actually quite many string theorists from Germany and Austria. Many of them are our friends, many of them have made very important contributions to string theory, and many of them are famous. The readers from Germany might find a list of some countrymates who are working in the field of string theory and closely related fields. The list below is in no way pretended to be complete or representative. Later, I will try to add the names that I forgot and that shouldn't be missing.
• Wolfgang Lerche who has together with Dieter Lüst and Bert Schellekens, among many other things, proposed the huge number of the stringy vacua 20 years before it became fashionable to talk about them
• Katrin Becker
• Melanie Becker (both sisters wrote not only great research papers but also a new string theory textbook with John Schwarz that you simply can't miss)
• Julius Wess, a supersymmetry expert and co-author of a famous book
• Axel Krause who is an expert in heterotic superstring phenomenology
• Volker Braun who likes to construct heterotic Standard Models
• Herman Nicolai who is a key player in the supergravity community, one that has fully merged with the string theory community after the discovery of M-theory
• Andreas Karch who is a famous superstring phenomenologist and a co-author of some well-known papers with Lisa Randall, among many others
• Dieter Lüst who is incidentally also the first co-author of a string theory textbook (link)
• Susanne Reffert, a charming expert in algebraic geometry and flux compactifications
• Urs Schreiber (blog) who enjoys gerbes and category theory and tries to reveal their role in string theory
• Niklas Beisert who loves spin chains in AdS-CFT
• Raphael Bousso, the prince of holography, who was born in Israel but otherwise is connected with Bavaria
Because you will surely be able to find the information about the people yourself, let me add a few names without a description:
I invite everyone to add other names in the comment section.
You might agree that there exists no physical law that would prevent German physics from regaining a leading role in theoretical physics, especially after the center of the world's experimental particle physics moves to CERN in Switzerland once the LHC gets started in 2007. But we should first try to understand why the American science has been ahead of Germany and Europe for a few decades.
Intellectual conservatism of the Central European science
In Central Europe, many of us have been educated by scholars whom we like(d) and whom we admire(d). They have been our examples and they have taught us important things. But I am sure that there will be many people especially from the younger generation who will agree that certain features of the mood and of the policies can be blamed for the fact that the European theoretical physics after the Second World War could not quite compete with its American counterpart. We may even invent names for some of the culprits:
1. the American financial attractor that has caused some brain drain
2. the working American free market of ideas and its less viable European counterpart
3. the relative inability of European scholars to allow their younger colleagues to get further
Concerning the brain drain, it remains the case that most of the German string theorists work in the U.S. but there exist reasons to think that this factor could start to evaporate because of the changes in the funding of science and because of recent developments on the forex market - developments that have been very unfortunate as a majority of the dollar holders will probably confirm. ;-)
The second and the third culprits have not yet disappeared. The relatively weak capitalist spirit of the Central European market of ideas has its beginnings in the 19th century when certain policies took over in Germany, Austria-Hungary, and other countries. Indeed, we also know what a "Dozent" is in the countries of the former empire of Austria-Hungary. Otto von Bismarck, a de facto co-father of the European big government concept, is another villain. Let us try to caricature and exaggerate the differences between the American approach and the Central European approach.
In the American system, new ideas are actively looked for and they are appreciated, together with their happy authors. In the Central European context, it is more important to be compatible with the old ideas - let us call them "perfectly balanced ideas" - that are currently dominating the intellectual landscape and in which the old myths and pre-conceptions play a comparable role to the newest developments. This difference between the continents has many ramifications. In the idealized Central Europe, higher age is always an advantage for a scholar because the more years you spend within the system, the more you are expected to become compatible with it.
We can almost never be quite sure which ideas will turn out to be valuable in five or thirty years but people must nevertheless make some decisions at present. How do they do it? In the American context, it is clearly important for an idea to be able to impress and excite others: in the context of science, I really mean other experts. Despite the risk that a subset of the exciting breakthroughs will turn out to be nothing else than a cheap fad, the American approach has many undisputable advantages. If people are not afraid to get excited together with others, the critical mass for the research of a class of questions can be easily reached. The people in such a community have another motivation to do what they do besides their personal curiosity and/or career plans: happy feedback from other scientists.
Whenever there is a lack of cool or obviously valuable ideas in a certain scientific field, the conservative intellectual approach may turn out to be a better strategy to avoid dead ends and various kinds of general deterioration of the whole communities. You might think that in average, the conservative approach is as good as the progressive approach. But you would be wrong because the eras in which the progress is fast are more important for science than the dry eras. In these fast eras, the progressive attitude is superior.
(To avoid a confusion, I should make it clear that the adjective "progressive" in this text essentially means "right-wing" while "conservative" means "left-wing" even though some American socialists and communists are deeply confused about this question.)
The importance of the amount of interest and the potential that hides in a certain scientific work has many consequences. The value of a particular work in science can differ from the value of other contributions by orders of magnitude. This possibly huge difference is appreciated by the American approach much more than it is appreciated in Central Europe. In analogy with the general continental European egalitarianism, people as well as ideas are often viewed as a uniform fluid. Writing "some scientific work" is more important and looked for in contemporary Europe than "making thrilling discoveries" that could impress others who understand the matter and who will cite the discoverers.
The third difference between America and Central Europe that I mentioned is the insufficient desire of the Central European scholars to support their students and younger colleagues in getting further than the previous generations. A particularly bad habit is to penalize students and others for being interested in and working on new ideas. That should never happen in an ideal world. If a student understands all the required established insights, what she consistently adds to this knowledge and this list of topics underlying her future work must always be rated positively even though her teacher is too old to appreciate new ideas or a modified philosophy that accompany them. Although this comment surely applies to many scientific fields and beyond, I will naturally focus on high-energy theoretical physics and try to be very concrete.
There are tens of thousands of Peter Woits in Europe. I mean people who are not really curious and who actually wish the progress in science to be non-existent. And even when the progress is substantial, these people will try to pretend that it does not exist simply because progress is a bad news for them. Tens of thousands of people who describe as "not even wrong" or at least "nicht einmal falsch" theories that they don't want to comprehend. We are talking about people who have learned something many decades ago and who want nothing else to become important because they don't want to digest new things. I mean people who don't want their students to be more successful because such a success could make them jealous - and it could ignite inconvenient comments from others because they are not able or willing to partially take credit for the successes of their younger peers. People who have no alternatives to the proposed theories and no other genuinely interesting ideas for that matter. People who like to discourage others. People who are much better in discouraging others than in making positive contributions. The only feature that has made Peter Woit special and semi-famous is that these uninteresting and generic personal characteristics and more or less worthless writings for crackpots and for sourballs have been combined with the cool American technology of blogging.
Let me summarize. The current relatively dry era in particle physics and theoretical physics will surely end at some time. Germany may re-gain an important role in pure science if its advantages are going to be combined with the known virtues of the spirit of America and if the "Woitian" bad mood is going to be avoided. Werner Heisenberg and Wolfgang Pauli used to have a very different approach and Pauli himself would certainly say that Woit's critical comments are "nicht einmal falsch". Very much the same remarks hold for the rest of Europe and other sciences and not only sciences.
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Grade levels
Praying Mantis for Kids
The Praying Mantis is named for the fact that its large front legs hold up its body when resting in a position that resembles prayer. It can be a startling sight for those unfamiliar with the huge insect. Ranging from two to five inches in length, a fully mature mantid may be as long as a small bird. Most mantids are bright green or brown in coloration. A few may look pink. Mantids, however, are harmless to humans and are consumers of many insects considered harmful to plants and crops. Mantids are the only insects that are able to turn from side to side in a 180 degree angle. The Praying Mantis has a uniquely adapted hollow chamber inside its body that is thought to enable the detection of bat echolocation. The bat is one of the mantid’s chief predators.
The Praying Mantis is a voracious predator that eats flies, crickets, grasshoppers, and occasionally, other mantids. Very rarely, a large mantid will kill a small bird such as a hummingbird. The Praying Mantis uses its powerful jaws to bite its prey in the neck.
The Praying Mantis is most commonly seen in September or October when females are searching for males to mate with. After mating, the female mantis sometimes bites the head off the male. She will occasionally eat him. The female then lays a mass of up to 400 eggs in a sticky substance (known as an ootheca) attached to a tree, branch or twigs. After laying her eggs, the female soon dies. The eggs will hatch in spring. The nymphs look like very small adults and take until the following summer to develop fully. They will molt (shed exoskeletons) six or seven times.
Quick Praying Mantis Video
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Thursday, August 25, 2011
Keeping Your Database “Fresh” Using MERGE Engine
Keeping Your Database “Fresh” Using MERGE Engine:
Problem Statement:
As you store more and more records in your tables, your database becomes slower and slower. if you do not have a good archiving strategy and implementation, chances are your Web applications will slow down over time due to time consuming data scans in large tables. Don’t you wish your database looked exactly as new as it looked the day you turned it on live?
Good news! There is a way you can achieve a “fresh” feel for your database using the MERGE table engine. In this article we will discuss how. The best part of this solution is that you do not have to change your Web application a single line to take advantage of this hack!
The best way to describe this solution would be to use an example scenario. Assume that you have a MySQL table that stores order information. Every day new orders are being inserted into this table. If you run a large e-commerce site, you would have a huge order table in your hand in a year or so. As order table gets larger, your Web application gets incrementally slower and slower.
You could solve this problem by removing or archiving the order information to a different table and change your Web application responsible for showing order info to handle both tables in the code. This is a very desirable solution as the burden of database size issue falls on the Web application and not the database itself.
What would be ideal is a solution which allows you to empty the order table on a schedule — say daily, weekly, monthly, quarterly or even yearly — and have no change in your Web apps. Imagine if you could empty your order table every night and have all the old records still accessible as easily as before without changing a single line of Web application! Wow, that would be great. Enter MERGE Engine from MySQL!
MySQL Merge Table
Benefits of MERGE Engine
When you recreate a table to exists as a union of two or more merged tables using the MySQL MERGE engine type, you can direct all your INSERT traffic to a table in the union so that INSERT traffic completes less with your SELECT, UPDATE, DELETE traffic for older records. How much of the competition is reduced depends entirely on your applications.
Recreating your table with MERGE engine
MySQL MERGE table engine is designed to allow you just that. Here is how you can make it work:
• Create two identical copies of your order table and call them order_live and order_archive
• Create a new table called order with the same structure with ENGINE=MERGE UNION=(order_live,order_archive) INSERT_METHOD=FIRST; at the end of your create table statement
Now you should have order_live, order_archive and a merge table called order which is a union of the first two tables. Your Web application accesses the order table as usual. All inserts go to order table which automatically writes them into order_live (due to setting the INSERT_METHOD=FIRST option in the create table statement). This means your Web application continues to function exactly as before but new orders automatically enters into order_live table.
Setting up a cron job to move old data
Now setup a simple cron job that moves all records from order_live to order_archive using:
LOCK TABLE db_name.order_live WRITE;
REPLACE INTO db_name.order_archive SELECT * FROM db_name.order_live;
TRUNCATE db_name.order_live;
UNLOCK TABLE db_name.order_live;
This cron job locks the order_live table in db_name database so that no write operation is permitted during the execution of the cron job. It then inserts (or replaces if the records already exists) the order_live records into order_archive table. Once the data from order_live is copied into the order_archive table, the data in order_live is truncated. This frees up the order_live table. The lock on the order_live table is then released.
At this point, you have a fresh, empty order_live table ready to take the orders of tomorrow. The new orders will insert themselves into order_live via the merge interface provided by the order table and your older records are safely stored in the order_archive for other parts of your Web application to perform SELECT operation. Since your Web application only deal with the order table itself, there is no need for your application to know where the actual record resides.
For example, say you inserted an order with order_id set to 1000 today and it got moved to order_archive when the cron job ran. Now say for some reason your application need to perform a rare but needed update statement tomorrow on this record, it still will perform a query such as UPDATE order SET field=value WHERE order_id = 1000; without needing to know anything about the physical table location of the record. Beautiful, isn’t it?
Caveats of MERGE table
Nothing is ever free from caveats; sorry. The major caveats that we found when using MERGE table is related to altering merge table fields. Say you want to add a new field to your order table, you will have to add the fields in all the member tables and then recreate the merge table itself.
1 comment: | <urn:uuid:0597f8e6-bd1f-4286-8e2e-9e6de77b4cdc> | 2 | 1.710938 | 0.360247 | en | 0.904068 | http://mustalikachwala.blogspot.com/2011/08/keeping-your-database-fresh-using-merge.html |
Submitted by AKR 666d ago | opinion piece
TALKING POINT: Video Game Piracy ~ The Good, the Bad, and the Excuses
As Master Yoda would say: "Sensitive topic, this is." If he ever did say that, he'd be right. When it comes down to the Video Game Industry, or even any part of the entire Entertainment industry ~ piracy is a very hot-topic. But we'll just keep the focus on Video Games.
So, how exactly does Piracy affect video games, developers and consumers? Let's take a look at some of the popular excuses made to try and justify piracy - and why they may hold water, or not . . . (3DS, Dev, Industry, Nintendo DS, PC, PS Vita, PS3, PS4, Wii U, Xbox 360, Xbox One)
SuperSteve + 667d ago
There's only two reasons to ever pirate a game:
One, the game is not available for purchase (for whatever dumbass reason) in your region of the planet.
Two, the game is no longer available for sale, anywhere.
DRM is NOT an excuse to pirate. Vote with your wallet and sooner or later, the foolish suits will get the message that it doesn't work and only hurts legitimate sales. Pirating is counter-productive in that it sends the message that you don't want to pay for the game, but still play it.
Dark_Overlord + 666d ago
"DRM is NOT an excuse to pirate."
I disagree
I purchased Dawn Of War 2 for PC (retail disc), from a market seller. When I tried to install the game, it said the code had already been used (Don't know how, the game was sealed), contacting Valve they requested the receipt, which I provided. However as it was just a basic till receipt (just cost and cash tendered etc) they wouldn't help, and as I'd opened it the seller wouldn't take it back. So I was stuck with a coaster I'd paid £20 for, so I headed straight to a torrent site and downloaded the game.
As far as I'm concerned, I brought that game legit and the DRM screwed me so IMO pirating it was justified. Funny thing is I don't have to have steam or GFWL running for it to work (Saves system resources) :)
#1.1 (Edited 666d ago ) | Agree(0) | Disagree(0) | Report | Reply
Kratoscar2008 + 666d ago
You cant compete with the word "free" so the best way to avoid your game being pirated is to offer incentives of buying your game and stablish a good relationship with your consumers.
Here the games costs too much to spend on them but if the product is good and i respect the company (ie SMT and ATLUS) then i buy them, if is a so so game and has Capcom on it then i would seriously consider to buy the game rather than pirate it (RE6 and Capcom).
MestreRothN4G + 666d ago
I pirate most games and buy the ones I like and think deserve my vote/money. Have bought more than 20 games in the last year.
My turn to say: #dealwithit.
And no, I don't care about your holier than thou attitude. The formula is very simple: good game + respect for gamers = certain buy.
#3 (Edited 666d ago ) | Agree(5) | Disagree(5) | Report | Reply
jeeves86 + 666d ago
You know you have really no way of proving what you say is true, right? You could just pirate every game and then 'claim' that you buy the ones that you like.
MestreRothN4G + 666d ago
Despite actually having easy ways to prove my purchases (pics for instance), it's completely irrelevant to me if you believe it or not.
Yes, I could. I could also say I am the pope. But why?
I have about 15k achievement points on X360, almost all of it on pirate games, and a level 16 PSN account, 100% of it with originals. Take it or leave it.
Geez, I wonder if you have seen a "you can't prove it" post on the internet and wanted to post it too as a random reply someday... smh...
jeeves86 + 666d ago
Why would you brag about the achievements on pirated games? Getting an achievement in a pirated game isn't an accomplishment at all. Getting an achievement in a game you actually paid for is something worth boasting about, which...you do. And good for you.
The thing about your original response is that it's just another excuse for pirating. "I pirate games that I don't like." That's still pirating. And then you follow it up by saying that you have 15k in achievements from pirated games. So either you have pirated a f*cktonne of games 'just to try them out' or you regularly pirate games and play them to completion, using the little 'I only pirate games I don't like' as an excuse to give yourself a 'holier than thou' attitude.
A game you didn't like - a completely subjective and useless descriptor. If you buy a game and don't like it, then don't buy again from that same publisher/developer. That's how you vote with your dollar. If you go to a store and don't like their cashiers, do you steal candybars and then go back and pay for the ones you liked?
#3.1.2 (Edited 666d ago ) | Agree(0) | Disagree(0) | Report
MikeMyers + 666d ago
This was actually quite well thought out. The bottom line is this, gaming is a hobby not a right. Nobody owes you anything.
Of course the best way to counter piracy is to offer a better service. That can be quite hard to do with something like games that are often a one time purchase. If you can get the exact replica somewhere else for free how can you compete with that?
#4 (Edited 666d ago ) | Agree(0) | Disagree(0) | Report | Reply
InTheLab + 666d ago
So...if you don't like/respect a dev...you pirate?
The excuses just keep rollin in...lol
jeeves86 + 666d ago
Right...because how can you change your practices that people disagree with if you don't have any finances to change with?
#5.1 (Edited 666d ago ) | Agree(0) | Disagree(1) | Report | Reply
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Thursday, 9 August, 2001, 17:16 GMT 18:16 UK
Tuning the tubes
Delft University
A predictable electronic signature seen in a carbon nanotube
By BBC News Online's Jonathan Amos
This colourful image is music to the ears of physicists.
It shows how the energy associated with electrons reverberates down a tube made of carbon atoms just 1.5 nanometres (billionths of a metre) in diameter.
Like an organ pipe that resonates to set up sound waves of a certain frequency and wavelength, this tiny cylinder is also playing a note - an electronic one.
And researchers believe that if they can learn how to "tune" such tubes they will be one step nearer to building fantastically small devices in which power is carried along even smaller wires.
Better control
Carbon nanotubes are sheets of graphite (carbon) that have rolled up on themselves. The molecules would look - if you could see something so small - like a soccer ball that had been stretched in one direction, or a roll of chicken wire (see bottom of page).
Interest in them stems from their remarkable electrical and mechanical properties, which come from the very precise way in which their atoms are arranged.
But if scientists are to exploit these properties to make new composite materials and ultra-small electronic circuits, they need to be able to better control their manufacture.
This means mass production of tubes, with the ability to make specific sizes to order.
It also means a better understanding of the tubes' properties and how they can be tuned - and here the work of Serge Lemay, of the Delft University of Technology in the Netherlands, and co-workers is significant.
'White puddles'
They probed very short tubes - less than 40 nanometres in length - with a scanning tunnelling microscope (STM), one of the few devices that can "see" detail at the atomic level.
The STM contains a fine metal tip, which feels for "bumps" and "grooves" in the electronic structure of the tube, producing images like the one above.
"We can see how each individual electron is distributed on the surface of the tube," Serge Lemay told BBC News Online. "The image corresponds to a distribution of the electron density for each electron - each family of white puddles corresponds to one electron that is delocalised on the surface of the nanotube."
Crucially, the patterns seen at different energies are predictable and reproducible.
The implication here is that if controlled synthesis of nanotubes does eventually become possible, scientists should be capable of tuning the tubes' properties.
Delicate interference
"If we can synthesise what we want then the electronic properties become important," Serge Lemay said. "What our work shows is that there are very delicate interference effects - quantum mechanical effects - that decide how the electrons move.
"Those effects are visible - they are not so subtle that they get lost in the noise. And they should be accessible to experiments and hopefully to technology.
"The dream is to be able to use these nanoscale effects to make new types of devices - new types of transistors that use principles that are entirely different to those that are currently used in electronics."
"Whether that turns out to be possible is still too early to say."
The Dutch research is published in the journal Nature.
Graphic BBC
Like chicken wire: The tube is a cage of carbon atoms and could form a minuscule wire in an electronic device
See also:
06 Nov 00 | Sci/Tech
Carbon tubes reach their limit
13 Dec 99 | Sci/Tech
World's smallest tweezers
Internet links:
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Share “Tramel: Harold Holden's statue honors the...”
Tramel: Harold Holden's statue honors the men lost in the Oklahoma State plane crash
In 2001, Harold Holden was asked to create a memorial to honor those killed when a plane carrying 10 members of the Oklahoma State University basketball program crashed in Colorado. Holden's kneeling cowboy has become a symbol of mourning for the university and the state.
by Berry Tramel Modified: January 23, 2011 at 9:22 am • Published: January 22, 2011
KREMLIN — Harry Birdwell drove over from Stillwater 10 years ago and told Harold Holden what Oklahoma State University wanted. A life-sized tribute to the 10 men who died in the 2001 OSU basketball plane crash.
Holden, a renowned...
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IONS Discussion Thread Comments: Religion vs. Spirituality seems that these discussions have become a mixture of spirituality and religion. Each of us may have words that distinguish between the two; I will offer my words:<br /> Religion is supported by beliefs. True spirituality is an experience that does not require belief.<br /> As a member of IONS, I am supportive of both science and spirituality. At the cutting edge of science is neuroscience. In professional journals, neuroscience proclaims that the human experience of self is an illusion. In its purest form, the experience of no self is a liberating spiritual experience.<br /> I am hopeful that reconciliation between spirituality and science can be found in the proclamation of neuroscience and the spiritual experience of no self. If this is to occur, clear distinctions must be made between spirituality and religion. History reveals that the illusion of “earth at center of the universe” was only dismantled by overcoming obstinate resistance by religious dogmatism.<br /> Unmasking the center of the universe illusion occurred during humanity’s infancy; the illusion of self is being slowly unmasked as humanity enters maturity…….Jim en-usSun, 26 Feb 2012 18:00:47 -0800DelamerDuverus agree. We prefer to know and to admit that we do not know, and then to ask for understanding. Belief gives no foundation. However, we often have things on the back-burner of our mind which we consider possibilities. The Mind of Man, our guidance, do not have names and though we use an Identification to name them, Delamer Duverus, loosely translating to mean "from the sea or giver of truth", it is only for our convenience. To them it is not who we are which makes us important, but only what we do to serve our people, our function, which gives us our importance. We can be a carpenter, a housewife and mother, or a teacher, researcher, etc. When He first came to us in 2001, He had us walk away from everything, even our family pictures. We trusted. Without the pictures, we keep in the present as our children have matured and don't keep them in the past. We keep heading for the future, turning to the Universal Mind for every need and decision we make. As well as being part of a Speciel Mind, we each have an individual memory, a soul or ego, a record of our experiences through our many concatenations, and these are all just memories, but does that make them an illusion in neuroscience? Is this what you mean in regard to illusion of self? It's very intriguing. We'll have to read more. Thanks.Fri, 24 Feb 2012 21:02:26 -0800 When I think of religion, I think of dogma. Basically, all religions have some pretty hard, fast rules about what constitutes the "right way of thinking," what are "absolute no-no's," and what may result in pennance, reconcilliation, partial or total ostracization from the herd. Spirituality, as separate from religion, may have less dogma associated with it, though I have met non-religious people who were dogmatic about their beliefs and associated lifestyles. I don't think that religion can be separated from spirituality because religions are an expression of spirituality. Whatever else religions may be, they most often have their roots in a shared interpretation of spiritual reality. Also, whether or not folks subscribe to a particular religion, they may have deeply spiritual experiences of the world, as do many of the folks in religious congregations. Non-religious spiritual and aspiritual people may have values that are cogent with those taught in religions, but theirs may have been derived/acquired from elsewhere. What they see as the origins of these beliefs, they may not judge to be spiritual, but others may think their ethics arose from exposure to others with religious beliefs! Anyway, I am not sure that true spiritual experience doesn't require belief. Wouldn't the idea that one has a spirit constitute a belief, in the first place? How does one reach Nirvana, if one doesn't experience oneself as self before experiencing oneself united with the One--and know that there is a difference????? Personally, I think the illusion is that we are ever separate in the first place.Fri, 24 Feb 2012 21:11:57 -0800 been giving thought to the "illusions of self", and we think that slowlygetnthar is right, that the only illusion is that we think we are separate. We are not our body, of course, we each have an individual soul or ego, and we are a part of a Speciel Mind which gives us our connection to others, but our spirit or soul is real, because we can't imagine why God would be here trying to help humanity evolve if we weren't real. We feel certain that part of the maturation of our species is to gain that Oneness as we evolve, as we become less of a threat to the whole, and as we align our goals/desires with the Oneness, in our desire to serve it. We just watched a video on Nour Foundation, "To Be or Not To Be: The Self as Illusion" and it was Pim van Lommel through his research with near-death experiences who noted that many of those who experienced same felt a sense of greater connectedness, of unity, oneness. Sat, 25 Feb 2012 11:00:51 -0800 Centi is difficult to admit one is wrong, but I must do so with explanation. My dissatisfaction with the manner in which religion has begun to dominate these discussions led me unknowingly into the camp of the material reductionists who I have always viewed as having a limited view of reality in their denial of spirituality. I do believe that there is room in these discussions for dialogue relating to the distinction between spirituality and religion, but as I write this I am not eager to participate. Sat, 25 Feb 2012 13:47:16 -0800 often use religious terms to couch our understanding because some truth does spring from the Christian religion despite their other dogmas which are just that, dogmas, beliefs which lead us away from the truth. From our sojourn with Delamer Duverus to guide us in our understanding, we can now easily see that religion is often a product of Satan, what we call the Alien Mind, and its goal to thwart humanity by controlling our thinking. Satan knows that humanity desires something for which they don't understand, and so it tries to give it to us in the form of religion, something we will accept, though many times it is in error. We hesitate to write about specific religions and their dogmas, because we do not have an awareness of what is acceptable here on this forum. We do not want to offend. To us spirituality is simply the knowing that our Reason for Being is to serve our Creator as He serves us, to live by the Laws of God, and to cast out the Seven Deadly Sins. This may sound religious, but it is the Pattern which brought us to God and the Reason of Things. Sat, 25 Feb 2012 14:15:04 -0800 I disagree that religions are a construct of Satan. I think they are a construct of humans, not Satan. I seriously doubt that most religions have been founded on ill-intent, though, as the saying goes, "The road to Hell is paved with good intentions." I do think we are all prudent not to discuss tenets/dogmas of different religions in specifically derogatory manners, here, on this website. I do think it is okay to mention religious beliefs and practices that are pertinent to discussions, since many traditions have long held beliefs that are being born out in scientific examinations of the mind/consciousness/quantum mechanics. Really, I think the purpose of these IONS forums is to let us explore consciousness, spirit, mind, and science in our daily cognitive and numenistic experiences/realities--or something along those lines. I also think we could discuss spirit without discussing G*d, but it would be difficult, sometimes. I also think, judging from the overlong and involved religious statements some folks make on these forums, that some participants' motives may be to proselytize more than discuss, at times, and I hope we shy away from that. I really dislike the people who just post a website they want us to go visit, instead of keeping the topics and discussions relevant to the Noetic Sciences Institute's mission or even stating, first, how they think the websites posted are relevant to the threads. Again, I see these examples as folks trying to proselytize, instead of exploring the various possibilities folks want to discuss here.Sat, 25 Feb 2012 14:35:48 -0800 understanding of religion vs. spiritual began with knowing a man we called our mentor who heard God's voice and the reason we can say God is because we could see the fruits of his writings and they were good and peaceable and created a foundation of truth upon which we could rest our head, so-to-speak. A woman we met also heard a voice in her mind which guided her to do things, but the fruits of her god were not good, for it encouraged her to steal, to lie, and commit other sins, but it also threatened to kill her son if she didn't do what it asked. She called it her entity, and it did teleport her, perform miracles, and lead her to important information if she needed it, but it also trapped her in its web by giving her a vision and a "born-again" feeling. Our question was, what is going on here? Who can one trust? This goes back to the first time we read the Bible through and decided it was junk because why would God say don't kill, but then tell Joshua to go kill in His name? We wanted the truth and that was all we wanted. When God took pity on us and our pea brain, He began to speak to us to straighten things out. This is when He gave us an understanding about Satan, what we call the Alien Mind, and how it works to thwart humanity, and how being empathetic it could also come as the "Lord" and lie to humanity. We later learned that this woman had lost God's blessing from the sins of the father, and grandfather. Those sins visit unto the next generations, and when we lose God's blessing, we lose the protective veil that cover our mind which protects us from the worst of the Alien Mind. However, now anyone can lose this God's blessing through the use of drugs of abuse and SSRI like drugs. Constantine had a vision, "In this sign you will conquer", and through the handiwork of the Alien Mind turned a peaceful religion into one of killing. Joshua was similar, but he wasn't Hebrew, he was only of the riff-raff that Moses brought out of Egypt with the Hebrew. Several religions were brought into being where killing someone because they don't believe as they is justified because it is written in their holy book, because their prophet was told by "god" that this was truth. That's not the "humane" (to borrow a word from Kyrani) God that we know. While it is true that most humans are not evil, they are easily deceived. Yours truly was one of them, until we were straigtened out by the Giver of Truth, or God. If God be true, then all men are liars. Sun, 26 Feb 2012 07:39:23 -0800 With all due respect, I think your logic is flawed, DelamerDuverus. Just because humans do destructive things with divinely inspired messages doesn't mean the message is flawed. It means the human is flawed. Dismissing major religious texts as "junk" could even fall into this category. What I often find with those who have found new spiritual paths for themselves, is they insist the old one was wrong and discredit everything they encountered there. They become myopic with the blind self-assured brainwashing of their new dogma and behave arrogantly, dismissively of others, disrespectfully about others' beliefs, and proselytize til the cows come home. It doesn't mean they have found the truth, it just means they have some new dogma. Dognma does not = G*d...and...NO ONE HAS A MONOPOLY ON G*D. G*D's blessing is that we are part of G*d. We contain G*d light within us. G*D is in us. We are eternally connected to everything that is past, present, and future, via our connection to G*d. THAT IS ETERNAL. IT CAN NEVER BE TAKEN AWAY. So, there's no need to poo-poo Joshua, Moses, the bible, the woman you mention...etc.,...Cultivate the light in your soul. It doesn't involve manipulation by Satan. Spewing dogma and being derogatory about everything else is not going to make that happen. Fear-based spirituality seems purty counter-productive, doesn't it??????????? Cultivating the light in your soul involves opening the heart and stilling the mind to be receptive. That's easy, isn't it? Sun, 26 Feb 2012 09:58:41 -0800 Deist once told me that there were no such things as demons. He thought all the talk about JeSus casting out demons was a myth, though he used the word, "poppycock", if we remember rightly. We explained that our mentor had the gift of seeing into the spirit world, and could see the aura and the energy lines of the body, could see ghosts and would help them if he could continue on with their journey, and he could see the entities and many forms of demons afflicting people. He saw black, wispy demons with red eyes which help project the Seven Deadly Sins at people to cause problems; he saw the grey-alien like demons at the doors of almost all buildings keeping a constant watch on who goes where and what they are thinking about and how to influence our thinking to their evil intent; and he saw the green, monkey demons which hang on humans like an albatross causing them odd behaviors. One man brought his son to our mentor because the youth obviously had an odd behavior of beating his chest and then opening his shirt to speak into it. The man had committed a murder and his son was suffering under his sin. We also now know another man who sees the same. A remote viewer saw an entity on George Bush's head speaking for George empathetically. He called it an Armageddon entity. Poppycock? We prefer to know rather than to believe. Our God, and He doesn't really care what we call Him as long as we call on Him, doesn't answer all our questions when we ask them, but in time lets us experience the truth so that we know. We only came to this forum because God led us to do so. He wanted us to see something. We have. Thanks, everyone, for sharing.Sun, 26 Feb 2012 17:47:27 -0800, DelamerDuverus, your response is so obtuse as to be indecipherable. Eschew obfuscation! Say it clearly so it doesn't sound like uncommon nonsense. Sun, 26 Feb 2012 18:00:47 -0800 | <urn:uuid:e3e02fec-527f-46e3-a2f6-10ec249e9cdc> | 2 | 1.789063 | 0.020528 | en | 0.976774 | http://noetic.org/discussions/open/297/feed.xml |
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Viscount James Bryce, The Predictions of Hamilton and Tocqueville [1887]
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1334 toc
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Viscount James Bryce, The Predictions of Hamilton and Tocqueville. John Hopkins University Studies in Historical and Political Science, ed. Herbert B. Adams. 5th Series, no. IX (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University, 1887).
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About this Title:
A short essay in which the great English observer of American politics evaluates the predictions of Hamilton and Tocqueville about the course of American democracy.
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The text is in the public domain.
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Table of Contents:
Edition: current; Page: [3]
JOHNS HOPKINS UNIVERSITY STUDIES in Historical and Political Science
History is past Politics and Politics present History
THE PREDICTIONS of Hamilton and De Tocqueville
Publication Agency of the Johns Hopkins University
Edition: current; Page: [4]
Copyright, 1887, by N. Murray.
john murphy & co., printers,
Edition: current; Page: [5]
A student of American institutions who desires to discover what have been the main tendencies ruling and guiding their development, may find that the most dramatic and not the least instructive method of conducting his inquiry is to examine what were the views held, and the predictions delivered, at different points in the growth of the Republic, by acute and well-informed observers. The contemporary views of such men as to the tendencies which prevailed in their own day and the results to be expected from such tendencies have a value that no analysis made by us now, with our present lights, our knowledge of what has actually followed, could possess, because we cannot help reading into the records of the past the results of all subsequent experience.
To do this with any approach to completeness would be a laborious undertaking, for one would have to search through a large number of writings, some of them fugitive writings, in order to gather and present adequate materials for determining the theories and beliefs generally prevalent at any given period. I attempt nothing so ambitious. I desire merely to indicate, by a comparatively simple example, how such a method may be profitably followed, disclaiming any pretensions to have sought to exhaust even the obvious and familiar materials which all students of American history possess.
Edition: current; Page: [6]
For this purpose, then, I will take two famous books—the one written at the very birth of the Union by those who watched its cradle, and recording incidentally, and therefore all the more faithfully, the impressions and anticipations of the friends and enemies of the infant Constitution; the other a careful study of its provisions and practical working by a singularly fair and penetrating European philosopher. I choose these books not only because both are specially representative and of rare literary merit, but because they are easily accessible to European readers, who may, by referring to their pages, supply the omissions which want of space will compel me to make, and may thereby obtain a more complete and graphic transcript of contemporary opinion. One of these books is the Federalist—a series of letters recommending the new Constitution for adoption to the people of New York, written in 1788 by Hamilton, Madison and Jay. The other, which falls almost exactly half-way between 1788 and our own time, is the Democracy in America of Alexis de Tocqueville.
I.: The Ideas and Predictions of 1788.
I begin by briefly summarizing the record which the Federalist preserves for us of the beliefs of the opponents and advocates of the Draft Constitution of 1787 regarding the forces then at work in American politics and the probable future of the nation.
To understand those beliefs, however, we must bear in mind what the United States then were, and for that purpose I will attempt to recall the reader’s attention to some of the more salient aspects of the Federal Republic at the epoch when its national life began.
In 1783 the last British soldier quitted New York—the last stronghold that was held for King George. In 1787 the present Constitution of the United States was framed by the Convention at Philadelphia and in 1788 accepted by the requisite number of States (nine). In 1789 George Washington Edition: current; Page: [7] entered on his Presidency, the first Congress met and the machine began to work.1 It was a memorable year for Europe as well as for America—a year which, even after the lapse of a century, we are scarcely yet ripe for judging, so many sorrows as well as blessings, πολλὰ μὲν ἐσϑλὰ μεμιγμεν, πολλά δε λυγρά, were destined to come upon mankind from those elections of the States-General which were proceeding in France while Washington was being installed at Philadelphia.
All of the thirteen United States lay along the Atlantic coast. Their area was 827,844 square miles, their population 3,929,214, less than the population of Pennsylvania in 1880. Settlers had already begun to cut the woods and build villages beyond the Alleghanies; but when Kentucky was received as a State into the Union in 1792, she had a population of only 73,677 (census of 1790). The population was wholly of English (or Anglo-Scotch) stock, save that a few Dutch were left in New York, a few persons of Swedish blood in Delaware, and some isolated German settlements in Pennsylvania. But in spite of this homogeneity the cohesion of the States was weak. Communication was slow, difficult and costly. The jealousies and suspicions which had almost proved fatal to Washington’s efforts during the War of Independence were still rife. There was some real conflict and a far greater imagined conflict of interests between the trading and the purely agricultural States, even more than between the Slave States and those in which slavery had practically died out. Many competent observers doubted whether the new Federal Union, accepted only because the Confederation had proved a failure and the attitude of foreign powers was threatening, could maintain itself in the face of the strong sentiment of local independence animating colonies which after throwing off the yoke of Britain, were little inclined to brook any external control. The Constitution was an experiment, or Edition: current; Page: [8] rather a bundle of experiments, whose working there were few data for predicting. It was a compromise, and its very authors feared for it the common fate of compromises—to satisfy neither party and to leave open rents which time would widen. In particular, it seemed most doubtful whether the two branches of the Legislature, drawn from so wide an area and elected on different plans, would work harmoniously, and whether general obedience would be yielded to an executive President who must necessarily belong to and seem to represent one particular State and district. Parties did not yet exist, for there was as yet hardly a nation; but within a decade they grew to maturity and ferocity. One of them claimed to defend local self-government, the rights of the people, democratic equality; the other, the principle of national unity and the authority of the Federal power. One sympathized with France, the other was accused of leaning to an English alliance. They were, or soon came to be, divided not merely on burning questions of foreign policy and home policy, but also—and this was an issue which mixed itself up with everything else—as to the extent of the powers to be allowed to the central Government and its relations to the States—questions which the curt though apparently clear language of the Constitution had by no means exhausted, though by specifying certain powers as granted and certain others as withheld, it had supplied data for legal argument on points not expressly dealt with as well as on the general theory of the Constitution.
Slavery was not yet a leading question—indeed it existed to some slight extent in the Middle as well as in the Southern States, but the opposition of North and South was already visible. The Puritanism of New England, its industries and its maritime commerce gave it different sentiments as well as different interests from those which dominated the inhabitants of the South, a population wholly agricultural, among whom the influence of Jefferson was strong, and doctrines of advanced democracy had made great progress.
There was great diversity of opinion and feeling on all Edition: current; Page: [9] political questions in the America of those days, and the utmost freedom in expressing it. Over against the extreme democrats stood an illustrious group whose leader was currently believed to be a monarchist at heart, and who never concealed his contempt for the ignorance and folly of the crowd. Among these men, and to a less extent among the Jeffersonians also, there existed no small culture and literary power, and though the masses were all orthodox Christians and except in Maryland, orthodox Protestants, there was no lack of scepticism in the highest circles. One may speak of highest circles, for social equality, though rapidly advancing and gladly welcomed, was as yet rather a doctrine than a fact: and the respect for every kind of authority was great. There were neither large fortunes, nor abject poverty: but the working class, then much smaller relatively than it is now, deferred to the middle class, and the middle class to its intellectual chiefs. The clergy were powerful in New England: the great colonial families enjoyed high consideration in New York, in Pennsylvania, and above all in Virginia, whose landowners seemed to reproduce the later feudal society of England. Although all the States were republics of a hue already democratic, every State constitution required a property qualification for the holding of office or a seat in the legislature, and, in most States, a similar condition was imposed even on the exercise of the suffrage. Literary men (other than journalists) were rare, the universities few and unimportant, science scarcely pursued, philosophy absorbed in theology and theology dryly dogmatic. But public life was adorned by many striking figures. Five men at least of that generation, Washington, Hamilton, Franklin, Jefferson and Marshall, belong to the history of the world; and a second rank which included John Adams, Madison, Jay, Patrick Henry, Gouverneur Morris, James Wilson, Albert Gallatin, and several other gifted figures less familiar to Europe, must be mentioned with respect.
Everybody professed the principles of the Declaration of Independence and therefore held a republican form of government Edition: current; Page: [10] to be the only proper, or at any rate the only possible form for the central authority as well as for the States. But of the actual working of republican governments there was very little experience, and of the working of democracies, in our present sense of the word, there was really none at all beyond that of the several States since 1776, when they broke loose from the British Crown. Englishmen and Americans are more likely than Continentals to forget that in 1788 there was in the Old World only one free nation and no democracy.1 In Europe now there remain but two strong monarchies, those of Russia and Prussia, while America, scarcely excepting Brazil and Canada, is entirely (at least in name) republican. But the world of 1788 was a world full of kings—despotic kings—a world which had to go back for its notions of popular government to the commonwealths of classical antiquity. Hence the speculations of those times about the dangers, the merits, the characteristic tendencies and methods of free governments under modern conditions, were and must needs be vague and fanciful, because the materials for a sound induction were wanting. Wise men when forced to speculate, recurred to the general principles of human nature. Ordinary men went off into the air and talked at large, painting a sovereign people as reckless, violent, capricious on the one hand, or virtuous and pacific on the other according to their own predilections, whether selfish or emotional, for authority or for liberty. Though no one has yet written the natural history of the masses as rulers, the hundred years since 1788 have given us materials for such a natural history surpassing those which Hamilton possessed almost as much as the materials at the disposal of Darwin exceeded those of Buffon. Hence in judging the views of the Federalist writers2 and their antagonists, we must Edition: current; Page: [11] expect to find the diagnosis often inexact and the forecast fanciful.
Those who opposed the Constitution of 1787, a party both numerous and influential in nearly every State, were the men specially democratic and also specially conservative. They disliked all strengthening of government, and especially the erection of a central authority. They were satisfied with the system of sovereign and practically independent States. Hence they predicted the following as the consequences to be expected from the creation of an effective Federal executive and legislature.1
1. The destruction of the States as commonwealths. The central government, it was said, would gradually encroach upon their powers; would use the federal army to overcome their resistance; would supplant them in the respect of their citizens; would at last absorb them altogether. The phrase “consolidation of the Union,” which had been used by the Convention of 1787 to recommend its draft, was laid hold of as a term of reproach. “Consolidation,” the consolidation of the States into one centralized government became the popular cry, and like other plausible catchwords, carried away the unthinking.
2. The creation of a despot in the person of the President. His legal authority would be so large as not only to tempt him, but to enable him to extend it further, at the expense of the liberties both of States and of people. “Monarchy,” it was argued, “thrown off after such efforts, will in substance return with this copy of King George III, whose command of the federal army, power over appointments, and opportunities for intriguing with foreign powers on the one hand and corrupting Edition: current; Page: [12] the legislature on the other,1 will render the new tyrant more dangerous than the old one. Or if he be more open to avarice than to ambition, he will be the tool of foreign sovereigns and the means whereby they will control or enslave America.”2
3. The Senate will become an oligarchy. Sitting for six years, and not directly elected by the people, it “must gradually acquire a dangerous preëminence in the government, and finally transform it into a tyrannical aristocracy.”3
4. The House of Representatives will also, like every other legislature, aim at supremacy. Elected only once in two years, it will forget its duty to the people. It will consist of “the wealthy and well-born,” and will try to secure the election of such persons only as its members.4
5. The larger States will use the greater weight in the government which the Federal constitution gives them to overbear the smaller.
6. The existence of a strong central government is likely, not only by multiplying the occasions of diplomatic intercourse Edition: current; Page: [13] with foreign powers, to give openings for intrigues by them dangerous to American freedom, but also to provoke foreign wars, in which the republic will perish if defeated, or if victorious, maintain herself only by vast expenditure, with the additional evil of having created an army dangerous to freedom.
That some of these anticipations were inconsistent with others of them was no reason why the same persons should not resort to both in argument. Any one who wishes to add to the number, for I have quoted but a few, being those which turn upon the main outlines of the Philadelphia draft, may do so by referring to the record of the discussions in the several State Conventions which deliberated on the new Constitution, known as Elliott’s Debates.
I pass from the opponents of the Constitution to its advocates. Hamilton and its friends sought in it a remedy against what they deemed the characteristic dangers of popular government. It is by dwelling on these dangers that they recommend it. We can perceive, however, that, while lauding its remedial power, they are aware how deep-seated such dangers are, and how likely to recur even after the adoption of the Constitution. It is plain from the language which Hamilton held in private that he desired a stronger and more centralized government, which would have approached nearer to that British Constitution which he regarded as being, with all its defects, the best model for free nations.1 And in a remarkable letter written in February, 1802, under the influence of disappointment with the course events were then taking, he calls the Constitution he was “still labouring to prop” a “frail and worthless fabric.”
We may therefore legitimately treat his list of evils to be provided against by the new federal government as indicating the permanently mischievous tendencies which he foresaw. Edition: current; Page: [14] Some of them, he is obliged to admit, can not be wholly averted by any constitutional devices, but only by the watchful intelligence and educated virtue of the people.
The evils chiefly feared are the following:
1. The spirit and power of faction, which is so clearly the natural and necessary offspring of tendencies always present in mankind, that wherever liberty exists it must be looked for.1
Its causes are irremovable; all you can do is to control its effects, and the best prospect of overcoming them is afforded by the representative system and the size of American with the diversities among its population.
2. Sudden impulses, carrying the people away and inducing hasty and violent legislative measures.2
3. Instability in foreign policy, due to changes in the executive and in public sentiment, and rendering necessary the participation of a comparatively small council or Senate in the management of this department.
4. Ill-considered legislation, “facility and excess of lawmaking,”3 and “inconstancy and mutability in the laws,”4 form the “greatest blemish in the character and genius of our governments.”
5. The Legislature is usually the strongest power in free governments. It will seek, as the example of the English Parliament shows, to encroach upon the other departments; and this is especially to be feared from the House of Representatives as holding the power of the purse.5
6. The States, and especially the larger States, may overbear the Federal government. They have closer and more Edition: current; Page: [15] constant relations with the citizen, because they make and administer the ordinary laws he lives under. His allegiance has hitherto belonged to them and may not readily be acquired by the central authority. In a struggle, should a struggle come, State power is likely to prevail against federal power.
7. There is in republics a danger that the majority may oppress the minority. Already conspicuous in some of the State governments, as for instance Rhode Island, this danger may be diminished by the application of the federal system to the great area of the Union, where “society will be broken into so many parts, interests and classes of citizens, that the lights of individuals or of the minority will be in little danger from interested combinations of the majority.”1
8. Another source of trouble is disclosed by the rash experiments which some States have tried, passing laws which threaten the validity of contracts and the security of property. As there is unwisdom in these, so there are signs of weakness in the difficulty which State governments have found in raising revenue by direct taxation.2 Citizens whose poverty does not excuse their want of public spirit refuse to pay; and the administration fears to coerce them.
Not less instructive than the fears of the Federalist writers are their hopes. Some of the perils which have since disclosed themselves are not divined. Some institutions which have conspicuously failed are relied on as full of promise.
The method of choosing the President is recommended with a confidence the more remarkable because it was the point on which the Convention had been most divided and had last arrived at an agreement.
“The mode of appointment of the Chief Magistrate of the United States is almost the only part of the system, of any consequence, which has escaped without severe censure, or which has received the slightest mark of approbation from its Edition: current; Page: [16] opponents. . . . If the manner of it be not perfect, it is at least excellent. It unites in an eminent degree all the advantages the union of which was to be wished for. . . . The process of election affords a moral certainty that the office of President will never fall to the lot of any one who is not in an eminent degree endowed with the requisite qualifications. Talents for low intrigue, and the little arts of popularity may alone suffice to elevate a man to the first honors in a single State, but it will require other talents and a different kind of merit to establish him in the confidence and esteem of the whole Union, or of so considerable a portion of it as would be necessary to make him a successful candidate for the distinguished office of President of the United States. It will not be too strong to say that there will be a constant probability of seeing the station filled by characters preëminent for ability and virtue.”1
It is assumed that America will continue an agricultural and (to a less extent) a commercial country, but that she will not develop manufactures; and also that the fortunes of her citizens will continue to be small.2 No serious apprehensions Edition: current; Page: [17] regarding the influence of wealth in elections or in politics generally are expressed.
The contingency of a division of the States into two antagonistic groups is not contemplated. When the possibility of State combinations is touched on, it is chiefly with reference to the action of small and of large States respectively. In particular no hint is dropped as to the likelihood of the institution of slavery becoming a bond to unite the Southern States and a cause of quarrel between them and the Northern.1
Although the mischiefs of faction are dwelt on, nothing indicates that its embodiment in highly developed party systems, whose organizations might overshadow the legal government, had occurred to any one’s mind. Still less, of course, is there any anticipation of the influence to be exerted on politics by the distribution of offices.
Let us now see which of these views and forecasts have been verified by the event.
Of those put forth by the opponents of the Constitution not one has proved true. The States are still strong, the President is not a despot, though for a time during the war he came near being one, nor has he ever fallen under the influence of any European power. The House does not consist of the “wealthy and well born;” the large States do not combine against nor press hardly on the smaller; no great country has so few wars or indeed foreign complications of any kind. Although persons are still found who call the Senate “an oligarchy,” they only state the undeniable fact that it consists of comparatively few persons, most of them wealthy, and that it has a strong corporate feeling in favor of the personal interests of each of its members. It is really as dependent on public opinion as the House, perhaps even more afraid of public opinion, and almost as directly the offspring of popular election. One is in fact surprised to find that of the many arrows Edition: current; Page: [18] of accusation levelled at the Constitution, all should have flown wide of the mark.
The deeper insight and more exact thinking of Hamilton and Madison fastened upon most of the real and permanent weaknesses in popular government. Yet even they could not foresee the particular forms which those weaknesses would assume in the new nation. To examine in detail the eight points specified above would involve an examination of the whole of recent American history. I shall therefore simply indicate in a word or two the extent to which, in each case, the predictions of the Federalist may be deemed correct or the reverse.
1. The spirit of faction has certainly, as Madison expected, proved less intense over the large area of the Union than it did in the Greek republics of antiquity or in the several States from 1776 to 1789. On the other hand, the bonds of sympathy created by the Federal system have at times enabled one State to infect another with its own vehemence. But for South Carolina, there would have been no secession in 1861. To-day the “demon of faction” is less powerful in the parties than at any previous date since the so-called “Era of Good Feeling” in 1820.
2. Sudden popular impulses there have been. But finding a ready and constitutional expression in elections, they do not lead to physical violence, while the elaborate system of checks seldom allows them to result in dangerous Federal legislation. In the States the risk of bad laws is greater, but it is largely averted by the provisions of the Federal Constitution as well as by gubernatorial vetoes and the restrictions of recent State Constitutions.
3. The early history of the Union furnishes illustrations of feebleness and inconstancy in foreign policy, yet not greater than those which mark most monarchies. Royal caprice, or the influence of successive favorites, has proved more pernicious in absolute monarchies than popular fickleness in republics. That of late years the foreign policy of the United Edition: current; Page: [19] States has been singularly consistent is due not so much to the Senate, nor even to the good sense of the people, as to the fact that the position and interests of the nation prescribe certain broad and simple lines.
4. On public matters, at least, Congress has not been prone to waste or excess in legislation. At present, it is more blameable for what it neglects or postpones than for what it enacts. The censure is more true of the States, especially the newer Western States.
5. The House of Representatives has doubtless sought to extend its sway at the expense of other departments. Whether it has succeeded is a question on which good observers in America itself differ; but the fact of their differing proves that the encroachments have not been considerable. Whenever the President is weak or unpopular, Congress seems to be gaining on the Executive Chief. When the latter is presumably strong, he can keep the Legislature at bay.
6. In the struggle which never quite ceases, though it is often scarcely noticed, between the States and the Federal Government, the States have rather lost than gained ground. Nor are the larger States more practically formidable than the small ones. No State would now venture to brave the Federal Judiciary as Georgia did, and did successfully, in the disgraceful case of the Cherokee Indians.
7. As regards the so-called tyranny of the majority, a question too large to be fully examined here, I must be content to remark that it has not hitherto proved a serious evil in America. This, however, is due rather to the character and habits of the people and their institutions generally than to the mere extent and population of the Union, on which the Federalist writers relied.
8. There is some foolish Congressional legislation, and, of course, much more foolish State legislation. But property is secure and the sense of civic duty seems, on the whole, to be improving.
It will appear from this examination and from the fact Edition: current; Page: [20] (noted a few pages back) that some remarkable developments which political life has taken never crossed the minds of the authors of the Federalist, that these wisest men of their time did not foresee what strike us now as the specially characteristic virtues and faults of American democracy. Neither the spoils system nor the system of party nominations by wirepullers crossed their minds. They did not foresee the inordinate multiplication of elections, nor the evils of confining eligibility for a seat in the legislature to a person resident in the electing district. No student of history will deem that this detracts from their greatness, for history teaches nothing more plainly than the vanity of predictions in the realm of what we call the moral and political sciences, in religion, in ethics, in sociology, in government and politics. Deep thinkers help us when they unfold those permanent truths of human nature which come everywhere into play. Historians help us when, by interpreting the past, they demonstrate what are the tendencies that have so prevailed in recent years as to create the present. Observers keen enough to read the mind of the present generation may help us by rendering it probable that those tendencies, or some new ones just appearing, will be ruling factors in the near future. But beyond the near future—that is to say, beyond the lifetime of the generation which already holds power—no true philosopher will venture. He may indulge his fancy in picturing the details of the remoter landscape; but he knows that it is a region fit for fancy, not for science. In the works of great thinkers there are to be found some happy guesses about times to come; but these are few, indeed, compared with the prophecies whose worthlessness was so soon revealed that men forgot they had ever been made, or the dreams which, like those of Dante, idealized an impossible future from an irrevocable past.
As regards the views of Hamilton and Madison, who, be it remembered, do not present themselves as prophets but as the censors of present evils, it may be added that the Constitution Edition: current; Page: [21] which they framed and carried checked some of these very evils (e.g., the unjust lawmaking and reckless currency experiments of the State legislatures); and that it was obviously impossible till the Federal government began to work to say how the existing forces could adapt themselves to it. Hamilton remarks in one of his letters that he holds with Montesquieu that a nation’s form of government ought to be fitted to it as a suit of clothes is fitted to its wearer.1 He would doubtless have added that it was difficult to make sure of the fit until the coat had been tried on.
The causes, moreover, which have affected the political growth of America are largely causes which were in 1788 altogether beyond human ken: the cotton gin, steam communications, Irish and German immigration have been supreme factors in that history; but even the first of these had not risen over the horizon in that year, and the last did not become a potent factor till half way through the present century.2 What the sages of the Convention shew us, are certain tendencies they discern in their contemporaries, viz.:
Recklessness and unwisdom in the masses, producing bad laws.
Unwillingness to submit to or support a strong government.
Abuse by the majority of its legal power over the minority.
Indifference to national as compared with local and sectional interests, and consequent preference of State loyalty to national loyalty.
That each of these tendencies then existed and might have been expected to work for evil, admits of no doubt. But if we ask American history what it has to say about their subsequent course, the answer will be that the second and third tendencies Edition: current; Page: [22] have declined, and do not at present menace the public welfare, while the first, though never absent and always liable to marked recrudescence, as the annals of the several States prove, has done little harm in the sphere of National Government. As to the fourth, which Hamilton seems to have chiefly feared, it ultimately took the form not of a general centrifugal force, impelling each State to fly off from the system, but of a scheme for the separation of the Scuthern or slave-holding States into a separate Confederacy, and in this form it received, in 1865, a crushing and apparently final defeat.1
II.: De Tocqueville and his Book.
Fifty-one years after the recognition of the independence of the United States, fifty-three years before the present year, Alexis de Tocqueville published his Democracy in America, one of the few treatises on the philosophy of politics which has risen to the rank of a classic. His book, therefore, stands half way between our own days and those first days of the Republic which we know from the writings of the Fathers, of Washington, Hamilton, Jefferson, Adams, Madison. It offers a means of measuring the changes that had passed on the country during the half century from the birth of the Union to the visit of its most famous European critic, and again from the days of that critic to our own.
It is a classic, and because it is a classic one may venture to canvas it freely, without the fear of seeming to detract from the fame of its author. The more one reads De Tocqueville, the more admiration does one feel for his acuteness, for the delicacy of his analysis, for the elegant precision of his reasonings, for the limpid purity of his style; above all for his love Edition: current; Page: [23] of truth and the elevation of his views. He is not only urbane, but judicial; not only noble, but edifying. There is perhaps no book of the generation to which he belonged which contains more solid wisdom in a more attractive dress.
We have here, however, to regard the treatise not mercly as a model of art and a storehouse of ethical maxims, but as a picture and criticism of the government and people of the United States. And before using it as evidence of their condition fifty years ago, some observations must be made as to the reliance we may place upon it.
The first observation is that not only are its descriptions of democracy as displayed in America no longer true in many points, but that in certain points they were never true. That is to say, some were true of America, but not of democracy in general, while others were true of democracy in general but not true of America. It is worth while to attempt to indicate the causes of such errors as may be discovered in his picture, because they are errors which every one who approaches a similar task has to guard against. De Tocqueville is not much read in the United States, where the scientific, historical and philosophical study of the institutions of the country, apart from the legal study of the Constitution, is of quite recent growth. He is less read than formerly in England and even in France. But his views of the American government and people have so passed into the texture of our thoughts that we cannot shake off his influence, and in order to profit by it are bound to submit his conclusions and predictions to a searching though respectful examination.
The defects of the book are due to three causes. He had a strong and penetrating intellect, but it moved by preference in the a priori or deductive path, and his power of observation, quick and active as it was, did not lead but followed the march of his reasonings. It will be found, when his method is closely observed, that the facts he cites are rather the illustrations than the sources of his conclusions. He had studied America carefully and thoroughly. But he wanted the necessary Edition: current; Page: [24] preparation for that study. His knowledge of England, while remarkable in a foreigner, was not sufficient to show him how much in American institutions is really English, and explainable only from English sources.
He wrote about America, and meant to describe it fully and faithfully. But his heart was in France, and the thought of France, never absent from him, unconsciously colored every picture he drew. It made him think things abnormal which are merely un-French; it made him attach undue importance to phenomena which seemed to explain French events or supply a warning against French dangers.
He reveals his method in the introduction to his book. He draws a fancy sketch of a Democratic people, based on a few general principles, passes to the condition of France, and then proceeds to tell us that in America he went to seek the Type of Democracy—Democracy pure and simple—in its normal shape. “J’avoue que dans l’Amérique, j’ai vu plus que l’Amérique: j’ j’ai cherché une image de la démocratie elle-même, de ses penchanis, de son caractère, de ses préjugés, de ses passions.
Like Plato in the Republic, he begins by imagining that there exists somewhere a Type or Pattern of Democracy, and as the American Republic comes nearest to this pattern, he selects it for examination. He is aware, of course, that there must be in every country and people many features peculiar to the country which reappear in its government, and repeatedly observes that this or that is peculiar to America, and must not be taken as necessarily or generally true of other Democracies. But in practice he underrates the purely local and special features of America, and often, forgetting his own scientific cautions, treats it as a norm for Democracy in general. Nor does he, after finding his norm, proceed simply to examine its facts and draw inferences from them. In many chapters he begins by laying down one or two large principles, he develops conclusions from them, and then he points out that the phenomena of America conform to these conclusions. Instead of drawing the character of Democracy from the aspects it Edition: current; Page: [25] presents in America, he arrives at its character a priori, and uses those aspects only to point and enforce propositions he has already reached. It is not Democracy in America he describes, but Democracy illustrated from America. He is admirably honest, never conceding or consciously evading a fact which he perceives might tell against his theories. But being already prepossessed by certain abstract principles, facts do not fall on his mind like seeds on virgin soil. He is struck by those which accord with, he is apt to ignore those which diverge from his preconceptions. Like all a priori reasoners, he is peculiarly exposed to the danger of pressing a principle too far, of seeking to explain a phenomenon by one principle only when it is perhaps the result of an accidental concurrence of several minor causes. The scholasticism we observe in him is due partly to this deductive habit, partly to his want of familiarity with the actualities of politics. An instance of it appears in his tendency to over-estimate the value of constitutional powers and devices, and to forget how often they are modified, almost reversed in practice by the habits of those who use them. Though no one has more judiciously warned us to look to the actual working of institutions and the ideas of the men who work them rather than to their letter, he has himself failed to observe that the American Constitution tends to vary in working from its legal theory, and the name Legislature has prevented him, like so many other foreign observers, from seeing in the English Parliament an executive as well as a law-making body.
In saying that he did not know England, I fully admit that his knowledge of that great free government was far beyond the knowledge of most cultivated foreigners. He had studied its history, had lived among and learnt the sentiments of its aristocracy. But he had little experience of the ideas and habits of the middle class, whom the Americans then more resembled, and he was not familiar—as how could a stranger be?—with the details of English politics and the working of the English Courts. Hence he has failed to grasp the substantial Edition: current; Page: [26] identity of the American people with the English. He perceives that there are many and close resemblances, and traces much that is American to an English source. He has seen and described with perfect justness and clearness the mental habits of the English and American lawyer as contrasted with those of the French lawyer. But he has not grasped, as perhaps no one but an Englishman or an American can grasp, the truth that the American people is the English people, modified in some directions by the circumstances of its colonial life and its more popular government, but in essentials the same. Hence much which is merely English appears to De Tocqueville to be American or Democratic. The functions of the judges, for instance, in expounding the Constitution (whether of the Federation or of a State) and disregarding a statute which conflicts therewith, the responsibility of an official to the ordinary courts of the land, the co-existence of laws of a higher and lower degree of authority, seem to him to be novel and brilliant inventions instead of mere instances of general doctrines of English law, adapted to the circumstances of a colony, dependent on a Home Government or a State partially subordinated to a Federal Government. The absence of what the French call “Administration” and the disposition to leave people to themselves which strike him, would not surprise an Englishman accustomed to the like freedom. Much that he remarks in the mental habits of the ordinary American, his latent conservatism for instance, his indifference to amusement as compared with material comfort, his commercial eagerness and tendency to take a commercial view of all things, might have been just as well remarked of the ordinary middle-class Englishman, and has nothing to do with a Democratic Government. Other features which he ascribes to this last named cause, such as habits of easy social intercourse, the disposition to prize certain particular virtues, the readiness to give mutual help, are equally attributable to the conditions of life that existed among settlers in a wild country where few persons were raised by birth or wealth above their fellows, and everyone Edition: current; Page: [27] had need of the aid of others—conditions whose results remain in the temper of the people even when the community has passed into another phase, a phase in which inequalities of wealth have already begun to be marked, and temptations have appeared which did not beset the Puritans of the seventeenth century.
It is no reproach to De Tocqueville that France formed to him the background of every picture whose foreground was the New World. He tells us frankly in the Introduction that the phenomena of social equality, as they existed in France, and the political consequences to be expected from them, filled his mind when he examined the institutions of America; he hoped to find there lessons by which France might profit: “J’ai voulu y trouver des enseignements dont nous puissions profiter.” But with this purpose before him, he could hardly avoid laying too much stress on points which seemed to have instruction for his own countrymen, and from fancying those things to be peculiar and abnormal which stood contrasted with the circumstances of France. De Tocqueville is, perhaps of all eminent French writers, the least prone to assume the ways and ideas of his own country to be the rule, and those of another country the exception; yet even in him the tendency lurks. There is more than a trace of it in his surprise at the American habit of using without abusing political associations, and at the disposition of Legislatures to try experiments in legislation, a disposition which struck him chiefly by its contrast with the immutability which the Code of the First Empire seemed to have stamped upon the private law of France.
But this constant great reference to France goes deeper than the political philosophy of the book. It determines its scope and aim. The Democracy in America is not so much a political study as a work of edification. It is a warning to France of the need to adjust her political institutions to her social condition, and above all to improve the tone of her politics, to create a moral and religious basis for her national life, to Edition: current; Page: [28] erect a new fabric of social doctrine, in the place of that which, already crumbling, the Revolution had overthrown. We must not, therefore, expect to find in him a complete description and criticism such as a German would have given of the government of America in all its details and aspects. To observe this is not to complain of the book. What he has produced is more artistic, and possibly more impressive than such a description would have been, as a landscape gives a juster notion of scenery than a map. His book is permanently valuable, because its reflections and exhortations are applicable, not merely to the Frenchmen of fifty years ago, but to mankind generally, since they touch upon failings and dangers permanently inherent to political society. Let it only be remembered that in spite of its scientific form, it is really a work of art rather than a work of science, and a work suffused with strong, though carefully repressed emotion.
The best illustration I can give of these tendencies of De Tocqueville will be found in a comparison of the first part of his work, published in 1834, and now included in the first and second volumes of recent editions with the second part published in 1840, and now forming the third volume. In the first part the author keeps close to his facts. Even when he has set out on the a priori road, he speedily brings his theory to the test of American phenomena: they give substance to, and (so to speak) steady the theory, while the theory connects and illumines them. But in the second part (third volume) he soars far from the ground and is often lost in the clouds of his own sombre meditation. When this part was written, the direct impressions of his transatlantic visit had begun to fade from his mind. With all his finesse and fertility, he had neither sufficient profundity of thought nor a sufficient ample store of facts gathered from history at large to enable him to give body and substance to his reflections on the obscure problems wherewith he attempts to deal.1 Edition: current; Page: [29] Hence, this part of the book is not so much a study of American democracy as a series of ingenious and fine-spun abstract speculations on the features and results of equality on modern society and thought, speculations which, though they have been singled out for admiration by some high judges, such as Ampère and Laboulaye, will appear to most readers over fanciful, over confident in their effort to construct a general theory applicable to the infinitely diversified facts of human society, and occasionally monotonous in their repetition of distinctions without differences and generalities too vague, perhaps too hollow, for practical use.
How far do these defects of De Tocqueville’s work affect its value for our present purpose, that of discovering from it what was the condition, political, social, intellectual, of the United States in 1833 and what the forces that were then at work in determining the march of the nation and the development of its institutions?
It is but slightly that they impair its worth as a record of facts. De Tocqueville is so careful and so unprejudiced an observer that I doubt if there be a single remark of his which can be dismissed as simply erroneous. There is always some basis for every statement he makes. But the basis is occasionally too small for the superstructure of inference, speculation and prediction which he rears upon it. To borrow an illustration from chemistry, his analysis is always right so far as it is qualitative, often wrong where it attempts to be quantitative. The fact is there, but it is perhaps a smaller fact than he thinks, or a transient fact, or a fact whose importance is, or shortly will be, diminished by other facts which he has not adequately recognized.
When we pass from description to argument he is a less safe guide. By the light of subsequent experience we can perceive that he mistook transitory for permanent causes. Many Edition: current; Page: [30] of the phenomena which he ascribes to democracy were due only to the fact that large fortunes had not yet grown up in America, others to the absence, in most parts of the country, of that higher education and culture which comes with wealth, leisure and the settlement of society. I have already observed that he sometimes supposes features of American politics to be novel and democratic which are really old and English, that he does not allow sufficiently for the imprint which colonial life had left on the habits and ideas of the people, an imprint which though it partly wears off with time, partly becomes transformed into something which, while you may call it democratic, remains different from the democracy of an old European country, and is not an index to the character of democracy in general.
It need hardly be said that the worth of a book like his is not to be measured by the number of flaws which a minute criticism can discover in it. Even a sovereign genius like Aristotle cannot be expected to foresee which of the influences he discerns will retain their potency: it is enough if his view is more piercing and more comprehensive than that of his greatest contemporaries; if his record shows the high water mark of the learning and philosophy of the time. Had history falsified far more of De Tocqueville’s predictions than she has done, his work would still remain eminently suggestive and stimulating. And it is edificatory not merely because it contains precepts instinct with the loftiest morality. It is a model of that spirit of fairness and justice, that love of pure truth which is conspicuously necessary and not less conspicuously difficult in the discussion, even the abstract discussion, of the problems of political philosophy.
III.: De Tocqueville’s View of the United States.
Before we examine the picture of the social and political phenomena of America which De Tocqueville has drawn, let us see what were the chief changes that had passed on the Edition: current; Page: [31] territory of the Union, on its material resources, on the habits and ideas of the people during the forty-six years that elapsed from the publication of the Federalist to that of the Democracy in America.
The territory of the United States had been extended to include the whole valley of the Mississippi, while to the northwest it stretched across the Rocky Mountains as far as the Pacific. All beyond the Missouri was still wilderness, much of it wholly unexplored, but to the east of the Mississippi there were now twenty-four States with an area of 2,059,043 square miles and a population of fourteen millions. The new Western States, though rapidly increasing, were still so raw as to exercise little influence on the balance of national power, which vibrated between the free Northern and the Southern Slave States. Slavery was not an immediately menacing question, for the first wound it made had been skinned over, so to speak, by the Missouri Compromise of 1820, but it was evidently pregnant with future trouble, for the number of slaves was rapidly increasing, and the slaveholders were already resolved to retain their political influence by the creation of new slave States. The great Federalist party had vanished, and the Republican-Democratic party, which had triumphed over it, had just been split up into several bitterly hostile factions. Questions of foreign policy were no longer urgent, for Europe had ceased to menace America, who had now no neighbors on her own continent except the British Crown on the north and the Mexican Republic on the south. The protective tariff and the existence of the United States Bank were the questions most agitated, but the main dividing party lines were still those which connected themselves with the stricter or looser interpretation of the Federal Constitution—that is to say, they were questions as to the extent of Federal power on the one hand, of the rights of the States on the other. New England was still Puritan and commercial, with a bias towards Protection, the South still agricultural, and in favor of free trade. The rule of the masses had made its greatest Edition: current; Page: [32] strides in New York, the first among the other States which introduced the new methods of party organization and which thoroughly democratized (in 1846) her Constitution. Everywhere property qualifications for office or the electoral franchise were being abolished, and even the judges formerly nominated by the State Governor or chosen by the State Legislature, were beginning to be elected by universal popular suffrage and for terms of years. In fact a great democratic wave was passing over the country, sweeping away the old landmarks, destroying the respect for authority, casting office and power more and more into the hands of the humbler classes, and causing the withdrawal from public life of men of education and refinement. State feeling was still strong, especially in the South, and perhaps stronger than national feeling, but the activity of commerce and the westward movement of population were breaking down the old local exclusiveness, and those who saw steamboats plying on the Hudson and heard that locomotive engines were beginning to be run in England, might have foreseen that the creation of more easy, cheap and rapid communications would bind the sections of the country together with a new and irresistible power. The time was one of great commercial activity and great apparent prosperity; but large fortunes were still few, while in the general pursuit of material objects science, learning and literature had fallen into the background. Emerson was still a young Unitarian minister, known only to the circle of his own friends. Channing was just rising into note; Longfellow and Hawthorne, Prescott and Ticknor had not begun to write. Washington Irving was probably the only author whose name had reached Europe. How disagreeable the manners of ordinary people (for one must of course except the cultivated circles of Boston and Philadelphia) seemed to the European visitor may be gathered from the diaries of Richard Cobden and Sir Charles Lyell, who travelled in America a year or two after De Tocqueville. There was a good deal of ability among the ruling generation of statesmen—the generation Edition: current; Page: [33] of 1787 was just dying out with Madison—but only three names can be said to have survived in the world’s memory, the names of three party leaders who were also great orators, Clay, Calhoun and Webster.1
In those days America was a month from Europe and comparatively little affected by Europe. Her people walked in a vain conceit of their own greatness and freedom, and scorned instruction from the effete monarchies of the Old World, which in turn repaid them with contemptuous indifference. Neither continent had realized how closely its fortunes were to be interwoven with those of the other by trade and the movements of population. No wheat, no cattle were sent across the Atlantic, nor had the flow of immigration from Ireland, much less from Germany, as yet begun.
The United States of 1834 had made enormous advances in material prosperity from those of 1789. They had become a great nation, and could become a great power as soon as they cared to spend money on fleets and armies. Their Federal government had stood the test of time and of not a few storms. Its component parts knew their respective functions, and worked with less friction than might have been expected. The sense of national unity, powerfully stimulated by the war of 1812,2 was still growing. But the level of public life had not risen. It was now rather below than above that of average private society. Even in the realm of morality there were strange contrasts. A puritan strictness in some departments of conduct and a universal recognition of the sanctions of religion co-existed in the North with great commercial laxity, while the semi-civilized South, not less religious Edition: current; Page: [34] and valuing itself on its high code of honor, was disgraced by the tolerance accorded to duels and acts of murderous violence, not to speak of the darker evils which slavery brought in its train. As respects the government of States and cities, democratic doctrines had triumphed all along the line. The masses of the people had now realized their power, and entered into the full fruition of it.1 They had unlimited confidence in their wisdom and virtue, and had not yet discovered the dangers incidental to popular government. The wise elders, or the philosophic minds who looked on with distrust, were either afraid to speak out, or deemed it hopeless to stem the flowing tide. They stood aside (as Plato says) under the wall out of the storm. The party organizations had just begun to spread their tough yet flexible network over the whole country; and the class of professional politicians, at once the creator and the creature of such organizations, was already formed. The spoils of office had, three years before, been proclaimed to belong to the victors, but few saw to what consequences this doctrine was to lead. I will not say that it was a period of transition, for that is true of every period in America, so fast do events move even in the quietest times. But it was a period when that which had been democratic theory was passing swiftly into democratic practice, when the seeds sown long ago by Jefferson had ripened into a waving crop, when the forces which in every society react against extreme democracy were unusually weak, some not yet developed, some afraid to resist the stream.
IV.: De Tocqueville’s Impressions.
Let us see what were the impressions which the America of 1832 made on the mind of De Tocqueville. I do not pretend Edition: current; Page: [35] to summarize his account, which every student ought to read for himself, but shall be content with presenting those more salient points to which our comparison of 1832 with 1788 on the one hand, and 1887 on the other, relates.
He is struck by the thoroughness with which the principle of the Sovereignty of the People is carried out. Fifty-five years ago this principle was far from having obtained its present ascendancy in Western Europe. In America, however, it was not merely recognized in theory, but consistently applied through every branch of local, State and national government.
He is impressed by the greater importance to ordinary citizens of State government than of Federal government, and their warmer attachment to the former than to the latter. The Federal government seems comparatively weak, and in case of a conflict between the two powers, the loyalty of the people would be given rather to the State.1
The basis of all American government is to be found in the “commune,” i. e., in local government, the ultimate unit of which is in New England the township, in the Southern and Middle States the county. It is here that the bulk of the work of administration is done, here that the citizens learn how to use and love freedom, here that the wonderful activity they display in public affairs finds its chief sphere and its constant stimulus.
The absence of what a European calls “the administration” is remarkable. Public work is divided up between a multitude of petty and unrelated local officials: there is no “hierarchy,” no organized civil service with a subordination of ranks. The means employed to keep officials to their work and punish offences are two: frequent popular election and the powers of invoking the ordinary courts of justice to obtain damages for negligence or unwarranted action. But along with the extreme “administrative decentralization” there exists a no less Edition: current; Page: [36] extreme “governmental centralization,” that is to say, all the powers of government are collected into one hand, that of the people, the majority of the voters. This majority is omnipotent; and thus authority is strong, capable of great efforts, capable also of tyranny. Hence the value of local self-government which prevents the abuse of power by a central authority: hence the necessity for this administrative decentralization, which atones for its want of skill in details by the wholesome influence it exerts on the character of the people.
The judges enjoy along with the dignity of their European brethren the singular but most salutary power of “declaring laws to be unconstitutional,” and thus serve to restrain excesses of legislative as well as executive authority.
The President appears to our author to be a comparatively weak official. No person, no group, no party, has much to hope from the success of a particular candidate at a Presidential election, because he has not much to give away. The elective system unduly weakens executive authority because a President who approaches the end of his four years’ term feels himself feeble, and dares not take any bold step: while the coming in of a new President may cause a complete change of policy. His re-eligibility further weakens and abases him, for he must purchase re-election by intrigue and an unworthy pandering to the desires of his party. It intensifies the characteristic fault of democratic government, the predominance of a temporary majority.
The Federal Supreme Court is the noblest product of the wisdom of those who framed the Federal Constitution. It keeps the whole machine in working order, protecting the Union against the States, and each part of the Federal government against the aggressions of the others. The strength of the Federation, naturally a weak form of government, lies in the direct authority which the Federal courts have over the individual citizen: while their action, even against a State, is less offensive than might be expected because they do not directly attach its statutes, but merely, at the instance of an Edition: current; Page: [37] individual plaintiff or defendant, secure rights which those statutes may have infringed.
The Federal Constitution is much superior to the State Constitutions; the Federal Legislature, Executive and Judiciary, are all of them more independent of the popular majority, and freer in their action than the corresponding authorities in the several States. Similarly the Federal government is better than those of the States, wiser, more skilful, more consistent, more firm.
The day of great parties is past: there is now a feverish agitation of small parties and a constant effort to create parties, to grasp at some principle or watchward under which men may group themselves, probably for selfish ends. Self-interest is at the bottom of the parties, yet aristocratic or democratic sentiment attaches itself to each of them, that is to say, when a practical issue arises, the old antithesis of faith in the masses and distrust of the masses reappears in the view which men and parties take of it. The rich mix little in politics. Secretly disgusted at the predominance of the crowd, they treat their shoemaker as an equal when they meet him on the street, but in the luxury of their own homes lament the vulgarity of public life and predict a bad end for democracy.
Next to the people, the greatest power in the country is the press: yet it is less powerful than in France, because the number of journals is so prodigious, because they are so poorly written, because there is no centre like Paris. Advertisements and general news occupy far more of their space than does political argument, and in the midst of a din of opposing voices, the ordinary citizen retains his dull fixity of opinion, the prejudices of his sect or party.
A European is surprised, not only by the number of voluntary associations aiming at public objects, but at the tolerance which the law accords to them. They are immensely active and powerful, and do not threaten public security as they would in France, because they admit themselves, by the very fact of their existence, to represent a minority of voters, and seek to prevail by force of argument and not of arms.
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Universal suffrage, while it gives admirable stability to the government, does not, as people in Europe expect that it will, bring the best men to the top. On the contrary, the governors are inferior to the governed,1 the best men do not seek either office or a seat in the House of Representatives, and the people, without positively hating the “upper classes” does not like them; and carefully keeps them out of power. “Il ne craint point les grands talents, mais il les goûte peu.”
The striking inferiority of the House to the Senate is due to the fact that the latter is a product of double election, and it is to double election that democracies must come if they will avoid the evils inseparable from placing political functions in the hands of every class of the people.2
American magistrates are allowed a wider arbitrary discretion than is common in Europe, because they are more constantly watched by the sovereign people, and are more absolutely at its mercy.3
Every office is, in America, a salaried office; nothing can be more conformable to the spirit of a democracy. The minor offices are, relatively to Europe, well paid, the higher ones ill paid. Nobody wears any dress or displays any insignia of office.4
Administration has both an unstable and an unscientific character. Few records are kept of the acts of departments, little information is accumulated, even original documents Edition: current; Page: [39] are neglected. De Tocqueville was sometimes given such documents in answer to his queries, and told that he might keep them. The conduct of public business is a hand to mouth, rule of thumb sort of affair.1
Not less instability reigns in the field of legislation. Laws are being constantly changed; nothing remains fixed or certain.2
It is a mistake to suppose that democratic governments are specially economical. They are parsimonious in salaries, at least to the higher officials, but they spend freely on objects beneficial to the mass of the people, such as education, while the want of financial skill involves a good deal of waste. You must not expect economy where those who pay the bulk of the taxes are a mere fraction of those who direct their expenditure. If ever America finds herself among dangers, her taxation will be as heavy as that of the European monarchies.
There is little bribery of voters, but many charges against the integrity of politicians. Now the corruption of the governors is worse than that of the governed, for it lowers the tone of public morals by presenting the spectacle of prosperous turpitude.
The American democracy is self-indulgent and self-complacent, slow to recognize, still more slow to correct, its faults. But it has the unequalled good fortune of being able to commit reparable faults, of sinning with impunity (la faculté de faire des fautes reparables).
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It is eminently ill-fitted to conduct foreign policy. Fortunately it has none.
The benefits which American society derives from its democratic government are summed up as follows:
As the majority make the laws, their general tendency, in spite of many errors in detail, is to benefit the majority, because though the means may sometimes be ill chosen, the end is always the same. Hence the country prospers.
Every one is interested in the welfare of the country, because his own welfare is bound up with it. This patriotism may be only an enlarged egotism, but it is powerful nevertheless, for it is a permanent sentiment, independent of transient enthusiasms. Its character appears in the childish intolerance of criticism which the people display. They will not permit you to find fault with any one of their institutions or habits, not even if you praise all the rest.1
There is a profound respect for every political right, and therefore for every magistrate, and for the authority of the law, which is the work of the people themselves. If there be exceptions to this respect, they are to be found among the rich, who fear that the law may be made or used to their detriment.
The infinite and incessant activity of public life, the responsibilities it casts on the citizen, the sense of his importance which it gives him, have stimulated his whole nature, made him enterprising in all private affairs also. Hence, in great measure, the industrial prosperity of the country. Democracy effects more for the material progress of a nation than in the way of rendering it great in the arts, or in poetry, or in manners, or in elevation of character, or in the capacity for acting on others and leaving a great name in history.
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We now come to the darker side of the picture. In democracies, the majority is omnipotent, and in America the evils hence flowing are aggravated by the shortness of the term for which a legislature is chosen, by the weakness of the Executive, by the incipient disposition to elect even the judges, by the notion universally received that the majority must be right. The majority in a legislature being unchecked, laws are hastily made and altered, administration has no permanence, officials are allowed a dangerously wide range of arbitrary authority. There is no escape from the tyranny of the majority. It dominates even thought, forbidding, not indeed by law but through social penalties no less effective than legal ones, the expression of any opinion displeasing to the ordinary citizen. In theology, even in philosophy, one must beware of any divergence from orthodoxy. No one dare tell an unwelcome truth to the people, for it will receive nothing but incense. Such repression sufficiently explains the absence of great writers and of great characters in public life. It is not therefore of weakness that the free government in America will ever perish, but by excess of strength, the majority driving the minority to despair and arms.
There are, however, influences which temper the despotism of the majority. One is the existence of a strong system of local self-government, whereby nearly all administration is decentralized. Another is the power of the lawyers, a class everywhere disposed to maintain authority and to defend that which exists, and specially so disposed in England and America because the law which they study and practice is founded on precedents and despises abstract reason. A third exists in the jury, and particularly the jury in its action in civil causes, for it teaches the people not only the regular methods of law and justice, but respect for law and for the judges who administer it.
Next we come to an enumeration of the causes which maintain republican government. They are, over and above the constitutional safeguards already discussed, the following:
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The absence of neighboring States, and the consequent absence of great wars, of financial crises,1 of invasions or conquests. How dangerous to republics is the passion for military glory is shown by the two elections of General Jackson to be President, a man of violent temper and limited capacity, recommended by nothing but the memory of his victory at New Orleans twenty years before.2
The absence of a great capital.
The material prosperity of the country, due to its immense extent and natural resources, which open a boundless field in which the desire of gain and the love of independence may gratify themselves and render the vices of man almost as useful to society as his virtues. The passions which really agitate America are commercial, not political.
The influence of religion. American Protestantism is republican and democratic: American Catholicism no less so; for Catholicism tends itself to an equality of conditions, since it treats all men alike. The Catholic clergy are as hearty republicans as any others.
The indirect influence of religion on manners and morality. Nowhere is marriage so much respected and the relations of the sexes so well ordered. The universal acceptance of Christianity, an acceptance which imposes silence even on the few sceptics who may be supposed to exist here as everywhere, steadies and restrains men’s minds. “No one ventures to proclaim that everything is permissible in the interests of society. Impious maxim, which seems to have been invented in an age of liberty in order to give legitimacy to all tyrants to come.”
The Americans themselves cannot imagine liberty without Christianity. And the chief cause why religion is so powerful Edition: current; Page: [43] among them is because it is entirely separated from the State.1
The intelligence of the people, and their education, but especially their practical experience in working their local politics. However, though everybody has some education, letters and culture do not flourish. They regard literature properly so called with disfavor: they are averse to general ideas. They have no great historian, not a single poet, legal commentators but no publicists, good artisans but very few inventors.2
Of all these causes, the most important are those which belong to the character and habits of the people. These are infinitely more important sources of well being than the laws, as the laws are in turn more important than the physical conditions.
Whether democracy will succeed in other parts of the world is a question which a study of America does not enable the observer confidently to answer. Her institutions, however suitable to her position in a world of her own, could not be transferred bodily to Europe. But the peace and prosperity which the Union enjoys under its democratic government do raise a strong presumption in favor of democracy even in Europe. For the passions and vices which attack free government are the same in America as in Europe, and as the legislator has overcome many of them there, combating envy by the idea of rights, and the presumptuous ignorance of the crowd by the practice of local government, he may overcome them here likewise.
One may suppose other institutions for a democracy than those the Americans have adopted, and some of them better ones. Since it seems probable that the peoples of Europe will Edition: current; Page: [44] have to choose between democracy and despotism, they ought at least to try the former, and may be encouraged by the example of America.
A concluding chapter is devoted to speculations on the future of the three races which inhabit the territories of the United States. (I need not transcribe what he says of the unhappy Indian tribes. Their fate was then already certain: the process which he saw passing in Alabama and Michigan is now repeating itself in California and Oregon.)
The presence of the blacks is the greatest evil that threatens the United States. They increase, in the Gulf States, faster than do the whites. They cannot be kept forever in slavery, the tendencies of the modern world run too strongly the other way. They cannot be absorbed into the white population for the whites will not intermarry with them, not even in the North where they have been free two generations. Once freed, they would be more dangerous than now, because they would not long submit to be debarred from political rights. A terrible struggle would ensue. Hence the Southern Americans, even those who regret slavery, are forced to maintain it, and have enacted a harsh code which keeps the slave as near as possible to a beast of burden, forbidding him to be taught and making it difficult for him to be manumitted. No one in America seems to see any solution. The North discusses the problem with noisy inquietude. The South maintains an ominous silence. Slavery is evidently economically mischievous, for the Free States are far more prosperous: but the South holds to slavery as a necessity.
As to the Federal Union, it shows many signs of weakness. The States have most of the important powers of government in their hands; they have the attachment of the people; they act with vigor and promptitude, while the Federal authority hesitates and argues. In every struggle that has heretofore arisen the Federal Government has given way, and it possesses neither the material force to coerce a rebellious State nor a clear legal right to retain a member wishing to dissolve the Edition: current; Page: [45] Federal tie. But although the Union has no national patriotism to support it (for the professions of such patriotism one hears in America are but lip-deep), it is maintained by certain interests—the material interests which each part of the country has in remaining politically united with the rest. Against these one finds no strong interests making for material severance, but one does find diversities not indeed of opinion—for opinions and ideas are wonderfully similar over the whole country—but of character, particularly between Northern and Southern men, which increase the chances of discord. And in the rapid growth of the Union there lies a real source of danger. Its population doubles every twenty-two years. Before a century has passed its territory will be covered by more than a hundred millions of people and divided into forty States. Now all partnerships are more difficult to keep together the more the number of partners increases.1 Even admitting, therefore, that this hundred millions of people have similar interests and are benefited by remaining united, still the mere fact that they will then form forty nations, distinct and unequally powerful, will make the maintenance of the Federal Government only a happy accident. “I cannot believe in the duration of a government whose task is to hold together forty different peoples spread over a surface equal to the half of Europe, to avoid rivalries, ambitions and struggles among them, and to unite the action of their independent wills for the accomplishment of the same plans.”2
The greatest danger, however, which the Union incurs as it grows is the transference of forces which goes on within its own body. The Northern States increase more rapidly than the Southern, those of the Mississippi Valley more rapidly Edition: current; Page: [46] still. Washington, which when founded was in the centre of the Union, is now at one end of it. The disproportionate growth of some States menaces the independence of others. Hence the South has become suspicious, jealous, irritable. It fancies itself oppressed because outstripped in the race of prosperity and no longer dominant. It threatens to retire from a partnership whose charges it bears, but whose profits it does not share.1
Besides the danger that some States may withdraw from the Union (in which case there would probably be formed several federations, for it is highly unlikely that the original condition of State isolation would reappear), there is the danger that the central Federal authority may continue to decline till it has become no less feeble than was the old Confederation. Although Americans fear, or pretend to fear, the growth of centralization and the accumulation of powers in the hands of the Federal Government, there can be little doubt that the central Government has been growing steadily weaker, and is less and less able to face the resistance of a refractory State. The concessions of public territory made to the States, the hostility to the United States Bank, the (virtual) success of South Carolina in the Nullification struggle, are all proofs of this truth. General Jackson (then President) is at this moment strong, but only because he flatters the majority and lends himself to its passions. His personal power may increase, but that of the President declines. “Unless I am strangely mistaken, the Federal Government of the United States tends to become daily weaker, it draws back from one kind of business after another, it more and more restricts the sphere of its action. Naturally feeble, it abandons even the appearance of force. On the other side, I think I perceive that in the United States the sentiment of independence becomes more and more lively Edition: current; Page: [47] in the States, and the tone of provincial government more and more pronounced. People wish to keep the Union, but to keep it reduced to a shadow: they would like to have it strong for some purposes and weak for the rest—strong in war and almost non-existent in peace—forgetting that such alternations of strength and weakness are impossible.”
Nevertheless the time when the Federal power will be extinguished is still distant, for the continuance of the Union is desired, and when the weakness of the Government is seen to threaten the life of the Union, there may be a reaction in its favor.
Whatever may be the future of the Federation, that of republicanism is well assured. It is deeply rooted not only in the laws, but in the habits, the ideas, the sentiments, even the religion of the people. It is indeed just possible that the extreme instability of legislation and administration may some day disgust the Americans with their present government, and in that case they will pass rapidly from republicanism to despotism, not stopping by the way in the stage of limited monarchy. An aristocracy, however, such as that of the old countries of Europe, can never grow up. Democratic equality will survive, whatever be the form which government may take.
This brief summary, which gives no impression of the elegance of De Tocqueville’s reasonings, need not be pursued to include his remarks on the commercial and maritime greatness of the United States, nor his speculations on the future of the Anglo-American race. Still less shall I enter on the second part of the book, for (as has been observed already) it deals with the ideas of democracy and equality in a very abstract and sometimes unprofitable way, and would need a separate critical study.
But before passing on to consider how far the United States now differ from the republic which the French philosopher described, we must pause to ask ourselves whether his description was complete.
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It is a salutary warning to those who think it easy to get to the bottom of the political and social phenomena of a nation, to find that so keen and so industrious an observer as De Tocqueville, who has seized with unrivalled acuteness and described with consummate art many of the minor features of American politics, has omitted to notice several which had already begun to show their heads in his day, and have since become of the first importance. Among these are
The system of party organization. It was full grown in some States (New York for instance), and spreading quickly through the rest.
The influence of commercial growth and closer commercial relations in binding together different States of the Union and breaking down the power of State sentiment. He does once refer to this influence, but is far from appreciating the enormous power it was destined to exercise, and must have exercised even without railways.
The results of the principle proclaimed definitely just before his visit, that public office was to be bestowed for political service alone, and held only so long as the party which bestowed it remained in power.
The rise of the Abolitionists (they had begun to organize themselves before 1830 and formed a National Anti-Slavery Society in 1833) and the intense hostility they aroused in the South.
The growth of the literary spirit, and the beginnings of literary production. The society which produced Hawthorne, Emerson, Longfellow, Channing, Thoreau, Prescott, Ticknor, Margaret Fuller—not to add some equally famous living names—deserved mention as a soil whence remarkable fruits might be expected which would tell on the whole nation. Yet it is not once referred to, although one can perceive that De Tocqueville had spent some time in Boston, for many of his views are due to the conversations he held with the leading Whigs of that day there.
The influence of money on politics. It might have been Edition: current; Page: [49] foretold that in a country with such resources and among a people of such restless commercial activity, great piles of wealth would soon be accumulated, that this wealth would find objects which it might accomplish by legislative aid, would seek to influence government, and would find ample opportunities for doing so. But of the dangers that must thence arise we do not hear a word.
V.: Examination of De Tocqueville’s Views and Predictions.
Such were the United States in 1832, such the predictions which an unusually penetrating and philosophic mind formed of their future. I will not attempt to enquire whether his picture is in all respects accurate, because it would be unprofitable to contest his statements without assigning one’s own reasons, while to assign them would lead me into a historical disquisition. A shorter and simpler course will be to enquire in what respects things have changed since his time, for thus we shall be in a position to discern which of the tendencies he noted have proved permanent, what new tendencies have come into being, what are those in whose hands the destinies of the Republic now lie.
I have noted at the end of last section the phenomena which, already existing in De Tocqueville’s time, he omitted to notice or to appraise at their due value. Let us see what time has brought forward since his day to alter the conditions of the problem as he saw it.
The great events that have befallen since 1834, are these:
The annexation of Texas in 1845.
The war with Mexico in 1846, leading to the enlargement of the United States by the vast territories of California, Nevada, Utah, Idaho, Arizona and New Mexico.
The making of railways over the whole country culminating with the completion of three great Trans-Continental roads in 1869, 1881 and 1883 respectively.
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The establishment of lines of swift ocean steamers between America and Europe.
The immigration from Ireland (immensely increased after the famine of 1846), and from Germany (beginning somewhat later).
The War of Secession, 1861-65.
The laying of submarine cables to Europe, and extension of telegraphic communication over the whole Union.
The settlement of the Alabama claims, an event scarcely less important in American history than in English, because it has immensely diminished the likelihood of a war between the two countries. In De Tocqueville’s time the hatred of Americans to England was rancorous.1
The growth of great cities. In 1830, only two had a population exceeding 100,000. There are now (census of 1880) twenty which exceed that population.
The growth of great fortunes, and of wealthy and powerful trading corporations: the stupendous development of speculation, not to say gambling, in stocks, shares and produce.
The growth of the universities and of many kindred literary and scientific institutions.
These are events which have told directly or indirectly upon politics. I go on to enumerate the political changes themselves of the same fifty years.
The democratization of State Constitutions, total abolition of property qualifications, choice of judges by popular vote and for terms of years, restrictions on the power of State Legislatures, more frequent use of the Referendum.2
Development of the spoils system, consequent degradation of the increasingly large and important civil service, both Federal, State, and Municipal.
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Perfection and hierarchical consolidation, on nominally representative, but really oligarchic lines, of party organizations; consequent growth of Rings and Bosses, and demoralization of city government.
Manumission and subsequent enfranchisement of the negroes in the Southern States.
Intensification of the national (as opposed to State) sentiment consequent on the War of Secession; passion for the national flag; rejection of the dogmas of State sovereignty and right of nullification.
To these I add, as powerfully affecting politics, the development not only of literary, scientific and historical studies, but in particular of a new school of publicists, who discuss constitutional and economic questions in a philosophic spirit; closer intellectual relations with Europe, and particularly with England and Germany; increased interest of the best class of citizens in politics; improved literary quality of the newspapers and of periodicals (political and semi-political) generally; growth of a critical and sceptical spirit in matters of religion and philosophy; diminished political influence of the clergy.
We may now ask which of De Tocqueville’s observations have ceased to be true, which of his predictions falsified. I follow the order in which they were presented in last chapter.
Although the powers of the several States remain in point of law precisely what they were (except as regards the Constitutional amendments presently to be noticed) and the citizen depends as much on the State in all that relates to person and property, to the conduct of family and commercial relations, the National or Federal Government has become more important to him than it was then. He watches its proceedings more closely, and, of course, thanks to the telegraph, knows them sooner and more fully. His patriotism is far more national, and in case of a conflict between one or more States and the Federal power, the sympathies of the other States would almost certainly be with the latter.
Local government has been maintained in its completeness, Edition: current; Page: [52] but it seems to excite less interest among the people. In the larger cities it has fallen into the hands of professional politicians, who have perverted it into a grasping and sordid oligarchy.
There is still, as compared with Continental Europe, wonderfully little “administration.” One is seldom reminded of the existence of a government. But the influence of Federal legislation on the business of the country is more considerable, for the tariff and the currency, matters of immense consequence ever since the war, are in its hands.
The dignity of the judicial bench has in most States suffered seriously from the system of popular election for comparatively short terms. In those States where nomination by the Executive has been retained, and in the case of the Federal Judges (nominated by the President) their position is perhaps the highest permanent one open to a citizen.
The President’s authority received a portentous increase during the war, and although it has now returned to its normal condition, the sense of its importance has survived. His election is contested with increasing excitement, for his immense patronage and the magnitude of the issues he may influence by his veto power gives individuals and parties the strongest grounds for hope and fear. Experience has, on the whole, confirmed the view that the re-eligibility of an acting President (i. e., the power of electing him for an immediately succeeding term) might be dispensed with.
The credit of the Supreme Court suffered somewhat from its pro-slavery decisions just before the war, and has suffered slightly since in respect to its treatment of the Legal Tender question. Nevertheless it remains respected and influential.
The State Constitutions, nearly all of which have been reenacted or largely amended since 1834, remain inferior to the Federal Constitution, and the State legislatures are, of course (possibly with a few exceptions in the New England States), still more inferior to Congress.
Two great parties reappeared immediately after De Tocqueville wrote, and except for a brief interval before the war when Edition: current; Page: [53] the Whig party had practically expired before its successor and representative the Republican party had come to maturity, they have continued to divide the country, making minor parties of slight consequence. Now and then an attempt is made to start a new party as a national organization, but it rarely becomes strong enough to maintain itself. The rich and educated renewed their interest in politics under the impulse of the Slavery and Secession struggle. After an interval of subsequent apathy they seem to be again returning to public life. The secret murmurs against democracy, whereof De Tocqueville speaks, are confined to a mere handful of fashionable exquisites less self-complacent now than they were in the days when they learnt luxury and contempt for the people in the Paris of Louis Napoleon.
Although the newspapers are much better written than formerly and those of the great cities travel further over the country, the multitude of discordant voices still prevents the people from being enslaved by the press. The habit of association by voluntary societies continues to grow.
The deficiencies of the professional politicians, a term which now more precisely describes those whom De Tocqueville calls by the inappropriate European name of the governors, continue marked.
So, too, the House of Representatives continues inferior to the Senate, but for other reasons than those which De Tocqueville assigns, and to a less degree than he describes. The Senate has latterly not maintained the character he gives it.
Whether American magistrates did ever in general enjoy the arbitrary power De Tocqueville ascribes to them, may be doubted. They do not enjoy it now, but in municipalities there is a growing tendency to concentrate power in the hands of one or a few officers in order that the people may have some one person on whom responsibility can be fixed. A few minor offices are unsalaried; the salaries of the greater ones have been raised, particularly in the older States.
The methods of administration, especially of Federal administration, Edition: current; Page: [54] have been much improved, but are still behind those of Europe, one or two departments excepted.
Government is far from economical. The war of the Rebellion was conducted in the most lavish way: the high protective tariff raises a vast revenue and direct local taxation takes more from the citizen than in most European countries.
Congress does not pass many statutes, nor do they greatly alter the law. Many legislative experiments are tried in the newer States, but the ordinary private law is in no such condition of mutability as De Tocqueville describes. The law of England suffered more changes between 1868 and 1885 than either the common or statute law of the older States of the Union.
The respect for the rights of others, for the regular course of law, for the civil magistrate, remains strong; nor have the rich (at least till within the last year or two) begun to apprehend any attacks on them, otherwise than as stockholders in great railway and other corporations.
The tyranny of the majority does not strike one as a serious evil in the America of to-day, though to be sure people are always foretelling the mischief it will do. It cannot act through a State legislature so much as it may have done in De Tocqueville’s days, for the wings of these bodies have been generally clipped by the newer State constitutions. Faint are the traces which remain of that intolerance of heterodoxy in politics, religion or social views whereon he dilates. Politicians on the stump still flatter the crowd, but many home truths are told to it nevertheless in other ways and places, and the man who ventures to tell them need no longer fear social proscription in the Northern or Western States, perhaps not even in the Southern.
The Republic has come scatheless out of a great war, and although the laurels of the general who concluded that war twice secured for him the Presidency, they did not make his influence dangerous to freedom. There is indeed no great capital, but there are cities greater than most European capitals, Edition: current; Page: [55] and the Republic has not been imperilled by their growth. The influence of the clergy on public affairs has declined: whether or no that of religion has also been weakened it is more difficult to say. But every body continues to agree that religion gains by its entire detachment from the State.
The negro problem remains, but it has passed into a new and for the moment less threatening phase. Neither De Tocqueville nor any one else could have then foreseen that manumission would come as a war measure, and be followed by the grant of full political rights. It is no impeachment of his judgment that he omitted to contemplate a state of things in which the blacks have been made politically the equals of the whites, while immeasurably inferior in every other respect, and destined, apparently, to remain wholly separate from them. He was right in perceiving that fusion was not possible, and that liberation would not solve the problem, because it would not make the liberated fit for citizenship. His remark that the social repulsion between the races in the South would probably be greater under freedom than under slavery has so far been strikingly verified by the result.
All the forces that made for the maintenance of the Federal Union are now stronger than they were then, while the chief force that opposed it, viz., the difference of character and habits between North and South, largely produced by the existence of slavery, tends to vanish. Nor does the growth of the Union make the retention of its parts in one body more difficult. On the contrary, the United States is a smaller country now when it stretches from the Bay of Fundy to the Gulf of California, with its sixty millions of people, than it was then with its thirteen millions, just as the civilized world was larger in the time of Herodotus than it is now, for it took twice as many months to travel from Persepolis or the Caspian Sea to the Pillars of Hercules as it does now to circumnavigate the globe, one was obliged to use a greater number of languages, and the journey was incomparably more dangerous.
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Before steamboats plied on rivers, and trains ran on railways, three or four weeks at least were consumed in reaching Missouri from Maine. Now one goes in seven days of easy travelling from Portland in Maine to Portland in Oregon. Nor has the increased number of States bred more dissensions. The thirty-eight states are not as De Tocqueville assumes, and this is the error which vitiates his reasonings, thirty-eight nations. The differences in their size and wealth have become greater, but they work more harmoniously together than ever heretofore, because neither the lines which divide parties nor the substantial issues which affect men’s minds coincide with State boundaries. The Western States are now, so far as population goes, the dominant section of the Union, and become daily more so. But their interests link them more closely than ever to the North, through which their products pass to Europe, and the notion once entertained of moving the capital from Washington to the Mississippi valley has been quietly dropped.
Before bidding farewell to De Tocqueville, let us summarize his conclusions and his predictions.
He sees in the United States by far the most successful and durable form of democratic government that has yet appeared in the world.
Its merits are the unequalled measure of freedom, as respects action, not thought, which it secures to the ordinary citizen, the material and social benefits it confers on him, the stimulus it gives to all his practical faculties.
These benefits are likely to be permanent, for they rest upon the assured permanence of
Social equality.
Local self-government.
Republican institutions.
Widely diffused education.
It is true that these benefits would not have been attained so quickly nor in such ample measure but for the extraordinary natural advantages of the New World. Nevertheless, these Edition: current; Page: [57] natural advantages are but subsidiary causes. The character of the people, trained to freedom by experience and by religion, is the chief cause, their institutions the second, their material conditions only the third; for what have the Spaniards made of like conditions in Central and South America?
Nevertheless, the horizon is not free from clouds.
What are these clouds?
Besides slavery and the existence of a vast negro population they are:
The conceit and ignorance of the masses, perpetually flattered by their leaders, and therefore slow to correct their faults.
The withdrawal from politics of the rich, and inferior tone of the governors, i. e. the politicians.
The tyranny of the majority, which enslaves not only the legislatures, but individual thought and speech, checking literary progress, preventing the emergence of great men.
The concentration of power in the legislatures (Federal and State), which weakens the Executive, and makes all laws unstable.
The probable dissolution of the Federal Union, either by the secession of recalcitrant States or by the slow decline of Federal authority.
There is therefore warning for France in the example of America. But there is also encouragement—and the encouragement is greater than the warning.
Of these clouds one rose till it covered the whole sky, broke in a thunderstorm and disappeared. Some have silently melted into the blue. Some still hang on the horizon, darkening large parts of the landscape. But how near may be the danger they threaten, and how serious, are questions fitter to be discussed by Americans than by a European.
North Carolina did not ratify the Constitution till November, 1789; Rhode Island not till May, 1790.
The Swiss Confederation was scarcely yet a nation, and the few democratic cantons were so small as hardly to come into account.
Of these writers Hamilton must be deemed the leading spirit, not merely because he wrote by far the larger number of letters, but because his mind was more independent and more commanding than Madison’s. The latter rendered admirable service in the Philadelphia Convention of 1787, but afterwards yielded to the (in the main unfortunate) influence of Jefferson, a character with less purity but more vehemence.
I take no account of those objections to the Constitution which may be deemed to have been removed by the first eleven amendments.
See Federalist, No. LIV.
Federalist, No. LXVI, p. 667. “Calculating upon the aversion of the people to monarchy, the writers against the Constitution have endeavored to enlist all their jealousies and apprehensions in opposition to the intended President of the United States, not merely as the embryo but as the full grown progeny of that detested parent. They have to establish the pretended affinity, not scrupled to draw resources even from the regions of fiction. The authority of a magistrate in few instances greater, in some instances less, than those of a Governor of New York, have been magnified into more than royal prerogatives. He has been decorated with attributes superior in dignity and splendour to those of a King of Great Britain. He has been shewn to us with the diadem sparkling on his brow and the imperial purple flowing in his train. He has been seated on a throne surrounded with minions and mistresses, giving audience to the envoys of foreign potentates in all the supercilious pomp of majesty. The images of Asiatic despotism and voluptuousness have scarcely been wanting to crown the exaggerated scene. We have been taught to tremble at the terrific visages of murdering janizaries, and to blush at the unveiled mysteries of a future seraglio.”
Federalist, No. LXII.
Federalist, Nos LVI and LIX.
Though he, like other observers of t’ at time had not realized, and might not have relished, the supremacy, now become omnipotence, which the House of Commons had already won.
Federalist, No. X (written by Madison) and in other letters.
Federalist, No. LXII.
Federalist, No. LXI.
Federalist, No. LXXII.
“The Legislative Department is everywhere (i. e., in all the States) extending the sphere of its activity and drawing all power into its impetuous vortex. . . . It is against the enterprising ambition of this department that the People ought to indulge all their jealousy and exhaust all their precautions.” Federalist, No. XLVII.
Federalist, No. L.
Federalist, No. XII.
Federalist, No. LXVII. In ad 1800, twelve years after Hamilton wrote this passage, the contest for the Presidency lay between Jefferson and Aaron Burr, and Hamilton was compelled by his sense of Burr’s demerits to urge his party to vote (when the choice came before the House of Representatives) for Jefferson, his own bitter enemy. What he thought of Burr, who, but for his intervention, would certainly have obtained the chief magistracy of the nation, may be inferred from the fact that he preferred as President the man of whom he thus writes: “I admit that his (Jefferson’s) politics are tinctured with fanaticism; that he is too much in earnest in his democracy, that he has been a mischievous enemy to the principal measures of our past administration that he is crafty and persevering in his objects, that he is not scrupulous about the means of success, nor very mindful of truth; and that he is a contemptible hypocrite. But, &c.” (Letter to James A. Bayard, Jan. 16, 1801.)
After this it is superfluous, as it would be invidious, to dwell on the deficiencies of some recent Presidents or Presidential candidates.
“The private fortunes of the President and Senators, as they must all be American citizens, cannot possibly be sources of danger.” Federalist, No. LIV.
But as to the early emergence of the opposition of Northern and Southern men over slavery, see the first chapter of Dr. Von Holst’s History.
“I hold with Montesquieu that a government must be fitted to a nation as much as a coat to the individual and consequently that what may be good at Philadelphia may be bad at Paris and ridiculous at Petersburgh.” To Lafayette, Jan. 6th, 1799.
The first cargo of cotton was sent from America to Europe in 1791 and the cotton gin invented in 1793.
When we come to De Tocqueville, we shall find him touching but lightly on the two first of the above tendencies (partly, perhaps, because he attends too little to the State governments), but emphasizing the third and fearing from the fourth the dissolution of the Union.
Sainte Beuve says somewhere of him, “Il a commencé à penser avant d’avoir rien appris: ce qui fait qu’il a quelquefois pensé creux.” Thiers once said, in the Chamber, “Quand je considère intuitivement, comme dirait M. de Tocqueville.”
To none of whom, oddly enough, does De Tocqueville refer. He is singularly sparing in his references to individuals, mentioning no one except Jackson for blame, and Livingston (of the Louisiana Code and Secretary of State, 1831-33) for praise.
An interesting discussion of the effects in this respect of the War of 1812 is contained in Mr. N. M. Butler’s paper in the Johns Hopkins University Studies, No. VII of the Fifth Series.
Dr. Von Holst gives at the beginning of the second part of his Constitutional History a powerful picture of the democratic revolution, and inswarming of a new class of men, which accompanied the election and installation of Andrew Jackson.
Note the singular fact that he does not give any description of a State as a commonwealth, nor characterize the general features of its government.
This is a common remark of visitors to America, but it arises from their mistaking the people they see in society for the “governed” in general. They go with introductions to educated people: if they mixed with the masses they would form a different notion of the “governed,” as De Tocqueville rather oddly calls the ordinary citizens.
It is remarkable that De Tocqueville should have supposed this to be the chief cause of the excellence he ascribes to the Senate.
The only instance given of this is in the discretion allowed to the officers of the New England townships, whose functions are, however, unimportant. I greatly doubt if the statement is or ever was generally true.
Still true as regards public offices, save and except the Judges of the Supreme Court when sitting at Washington.
This has ceased to be true in Federal administration, and in that of the more advanced States.
De Tocqueville does not say whether he intends this remark to apply to State legislation only or to Federal legislation also. He quotes dicta of Hamilton, Madison and Jefferson to the same effect, but these testimonies all refer to a time anterior to the creation of the Federal Constitution. Admitting that such instability did exist in 1832 as respects the States, one is tempted to believe that De Tocqueville was unconsciously comparing America with France, where the Code has arrested legislation to an extent surprising to an English observer. During the last thirty years there have been more important changes in the ordinary law annually made by the English Parliament than by most American legislatures.
Every one knows how prominent this trait is among the observations which European visitors pass upon America. It is now much less noticeable than formerly. I can even say from experience that it had sensibly diminished between 1870 and 1883.
This observation seems strange indeed to any one who has read the commercial history of the United States since the great crisis of 1838.
Jackson’s popularity began with his military exploit: but his hold on the people was due to other causes also. His election coincided with the rise of the great democratic wave already referred to.
I do not profess to summarize in these few lines all that De Tocqueville says of the character and influence of Christianity in the United States, for he devotes many pages to it, and they are among the wisest and most permanently true that he has written.
Can this have been true even in 1832?
No proof is given of this proposition, which is by no means self-evident, and which has indeed all the air of a premiss laid down by a schoolman of the thirteenth century.
He has however nowhere proved that the States deserve to be called “peoples.”
The protective tariff was felt as a grievance by the South, being imposed in the interest of the Northern and Middle States. No doubt, the North got more gain out of the Union than the South did.
“Il est impossible d’imaginer une haine plus venimeuse que celle des Americains contre les Anglais.”
In the form of the amendment of particular provisions of State Constitutions. | <urn:uuid:ffdb5b6b-bce3-490a-adf3-b499939fb1ee> | 2 | 1.882813 | 0.02007 | en | 0.970518 | http://oll.libertyfund.org/titles/1779 |
Designers and front-end developers get all the credit. They’re the ones that produce the most readily visible changes to your favorite service or product. Most customers never even realize that there are countless engineers toiling away in data centers, working on infrastructures and behind-the-veil fixes in order to make some of their dream features a reality. And that’s a shame.
The experience of using a piece of technology isn’t based solely on the look and feel of that piece, it’s also based on how well — and how, period — it works. Unfortunately, these nuts-and-bolts are hard to market, despite the impact that they have on the overall experience.
There’s a special kind of rage reserved for those times when your iPhone says you can’t download an app because it’s over 50MB in size. The previous limit — 20MB — was manageable, so you’d think that something 2.5 times the size would be easy to work with, but it’s not. Why? Because of the new iPad and the Retina graphics that developers have to include in their applications.
It’s hard to explain to consumers why the battery in one phone lasts longer than the battery in another phone. All they care about is the fact that they missed a call from their Great Aunt Susan, because they had played half an hour of Angry Birds and watched a single YouTube video. Try explaining to someone, why they can’t download a game on their iPhone, and watch the expression on their face as you tell them that it’s because of something that’s used by a device that they’re not even worried about. Then duck, because something is going to end up being thrown.
Fixing any of these problems will provide a real, tangible benefit, but they aren’t immediately visible. In a world where tech pundits were complaining that the iPhone 4S looked like the previous generation iPhone, and that the Retina Display iPad isn’t a worthy upgrade, it’s impossible to deny that looks matter. If someone thinks that increasing the display on only a display isn’t a big deal and recommends waiting until the next generation (which, incidentally, happens every generation), how will that person react to a device that “only” increases the battery life?
Going forward, we’re going to see a lot more companies focusing on building out the backend for consumer-facing goods. They may not be the next big company that everyone and their mother knows about, but I’m sure that we’ll end up noticing the work that they’ve done, even if we don’t give them credit for it. | <urn:uuid:48fdae93-dc1a-44c1-917e-1da9fb3e968e> | 2 | 1.515625 | 0.049755 | en | 0.960635 | http://pando.com/2012/04/11/back-end-engineers-are-the-unsung-heroes-of-the-tech-industry/ |
Hispanic American Parenting
In Hispanic parenting the gender of the child being reared has not always been taken account for although research shows a difference. “Although the literature is clear that parents of mexican and hispanic descent treat boys differently than girls to socialize them according to specific cultural gender roles, it is less clear whether parents of mexican and hispanic descent emphasize one parenting style over another based on the gender of the child” (Samaniego and Gonzales 1993). Parenting practices also differ between hispanic fathers and mothers depending on the age and gender of the child. Research also shows that tend to be more involved with their children daily than other ethnic groups. There are a great deal of differences in the way Hispanic and other American children are socialized. Hispanic cultures tend to put more emphasis on obedience and respect for adult authority. “ A directive style of communication between parent and child is most common, with little collaborative conversation, elaborated speech models, or early literacy experiences”(Espinosa and Lesar 1994). Due to the value of extreme respect for adult authority, Hispanic parents believe in an absolute authority to the school and teachers, which means they believe the schools job is to educate and the parents job is to nurture. The two jobs do not mix in the Hispanic culture. Hispanic parents like the other major ethnicities hold strong family ties, believe in family loyalty and have a collectivist orientation about community and culture. | <urn:uuid:03cb042c-3a49-4943-9be6-e66f760f0f3e> | 3 | 3.4375 | 0.090893 | en | 0.952217 | http://parentingstyles1.blogspot.com/2010/05/hispanic-parenting.html |
Topic Area: Endangered Species Recovery and the Role of Native Tribes
Geographical Area: Idaho, U.S.A.
Focal Question: How did the role of the Nez Perce tribe affect the implementation and management of Idaho’s gray wolf reintroduction program?
(1) Cheater, Mark., "Wolf Spirit NWF Priority. (Nez Perce Indians saving gray wolves)." National Wildlife (August, 1998): p. NA(1).
(2) Kenworthy, Tom, "Interior’s Recall of Wild: Gray Wolf to be Brought Back to the Rockies." The Washington Post ; May 5, 1994; p. A1.
(3) Nez Perce Wolf Education and Research Center World Wide Web site:
(4) Suagee, Dean B., "The Cultural Heritage of American Indian Tribes and the Preservation of Biological Diversity." Arizona State Law Journal (Summer, 1999): pp. 483-524.
(5) Wilson, Patrick Impero, "Wolves, Politics, and the Nez Perce: Wolf Recovery in Central Idaho and the Role of Native Tribes." Natural Resources Journal (Summer, 1999): pp. 543-564.
Reviewer: Chris Connell, Colby College ‘00
The long debate over the reintroduction of the gray wolf to the northern Rockies is a good example of how transactions costs -- the costs involved in organizing parties on either side of the issue, bringing parties together to bargain, and the actual bargain itself -- can often impede the bargaining process and delay action, especially in the case of environmental problems. In 1978, the federal government listed the wolf as an endangered species in the lower 48 states (except for a population in Minnesota that was classified as threatened). Two years later, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS), which is responsible for protecting endangered species, produced a recovery plan for wolves in the Rocky Mountains which included reintroducing several Canadian wolves into Yellowstone and central Idaho. The first group of wolves was finally released into these regions in January 1995, 15 years after the original proposal. Why was the negotiation process over this issue so drawn out?
This debate was divided on many fronts. First and foremost, livestock owners, who had a lot of power with the Idaho legislature, feared that the reintroduced predators would begin taking cattle and sheep. Moreover, under the Endangered Species Act (ESA), the livestock owners would be left powerless in controlling the situation as it is illegal to kill an endangered species, even if it is on private land. If wolves were to be reintroduced, they favored reducing their status to a "non-essential experimental" population, thereby giving ranchers greater flexibility in protecting their livestock, and assuring landowners that reintroduction would not disrupt or preclude future management and development options. Many environmentalists claimed that this was a backwards logic. They noted that wolves had been prevalent from Mexico to the Arctic Circle until the late 1800’s, when the U.S. began to systematically destroy what they viewed as a nuisance to livestock owners. Thus, these groups vehemently opposed reducing the status of the wolf, an animal which was once an essential part of the region’s ecosystem and had a right to be there, to "non-essential experimental."
On another level, this debate encompassed the long-running struggle between the federal and state governments for control and direction of public lands policy. The state of Idaho viewed the federal government’s proposed wolf recovery program as an infringement on state sovereignty, especially with the wolf classified as an endangered species, because it would give the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) substantial powers over areas in which the wolves roamed. Thus, while the state legislature could not prevent federal agencies from proceeding with such a program, it did pass legislation in 1988 that expressly prohibited the Idaho Department of Fish and Game (IDFG) from participation in most wolf recovery efforts, including the expenditure of funds for such activities. This state refusal to participate in the implementation of a wolf recovery program forced the federal government to seek out viable alternatives, effectively giving the Nez Perce the opportunity and the challenge of managing the program at the regional level. In March 1995, following Fish and Wildlife Service approval of the wolf management program proposed by the tribe, the two sides reached a five-year agreement to give the tribe responsibility for tracking and monitoring the wolves, disseminating public information, and carrying out educational activities, with USFWS providing funding and maintaining oversight.
This marks the first time the federal government has contracted an Indian nation to manage the recovery of an endangered species, and it has been successful in two major ways. First, the presence of the Nez Perce has reduced fears on all sides, thus accelerating and simplifying the reintroduction process. Second, the wolves are flourishing under Nez Perce’s management program, which blends traditional wisdom and modern science.
For many, the wolf recovery effort is a symbol of a highly contested shift to ecological values, as expressed by environmentalists, and away from extractive, utilitarian values, as expressed by Idaho land and livestock owners. The involvement of the Nez Perce in the project has allayed fears on both sides because, unlike contemporary industrialists and environmentalists, who have often viewed their positions as mutually exclusive, many natives possess a core set of values that includes both viewpoints. This is true because, historically, natives have felt a close spiritual tie to their land, and to the wolf in particular, while simultaneously realizing that responsible extraction of its natural resources could yield huge economic benefits for the tribe.
All sides seemed to be at least somewhat more comfortable with having the Nez Perce oversee the reintroduction program. Environmentalists felt that they actually cared more about the wolves than the state government, and would therefore do a better job of protecting them. At the same time, livestock owners and the state officials that represented them realized that wolves were going to be reintroduced into the area at any rate, and that, since the Nez Perce were more sensitive to local needs than the federal government, they represented the "lesser of two evils."
This is not to say there have not been problems. Wolves have killed livestock. But in the spirit of compromise that Nez Perce originally brought to the bargaining table, it has been able to appease most ranchers by compensating them for losses through a fund that has been established in conjunction with Defenders of Wildlife, a non-profit group based in Washington, D.C.
In terms of the actual implementation of the program, the Nez Perce have thus far been able to dispel anxieties over whether they would be able to manage the reintroduction as efficiently as the state department. In 1996, the tribe documented the first wolf reproduction in Idaho in sixty years, and as of 1996, the Idaho wolf population has expanded to more than 115 wolves in 12 packs. Of even more interest is the holistic approach it has taken in implementing the program. For instance, when the wolves were first brought to central Idaho, a tribal elder sang a religious song to welcome them. He later said that the wolf had always been a major part of the tribe’s culture, and that the reintroduction had been like "meeting an old friend." Whether or not this attitude helps the wolf recover may be debatable. But the real significance of this attitude, I believe, is that it reflects a quality that is much needed in the face of today’s environmental problems: sincerity. In this case, the western gray wolf should be very thankful for it. | <urn:uuid:d4447e22-a477-441a-8965-ab3bcb429d37> | 3 | 3.359375 | 0.033599 | en | 0.954511 | http://personal.colby.edu/personal/t/thtieten/end-id.html |
Take the 2-minute tour ×
If I have Lennard-Jones potential, how can I calculate equilibrium? $$ U(r)=\epsilon \left ( \left (\frac{r_m}{r} \right )^{12}-2 \left (\frac{r_m}{r}\right )^6 \right ) \ $$
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closed as too localized by dmckee May 6 '13 at 2:10
-Is this a HW question by chance? We don't usually solve HW questions here. If you want a hint, I would sketch a plot of the potential. Particular points should jump out as candidates for an equilibrium positions - if recall your calculus class there is a way to find said points... – DJBunk Jul 11 '12 at 21:25
Equilbrium of what? Two atoms? Temperature? Zero temperature? Many atoms? fluid? gas? This is not a question as it stands. – Ron Maimon Jul 12 '12 at 1:45
$ \vec F = -{d U \over dr } = 0$ – Santosh Linkha Jul 12 '12 at 2:59
1 Answer 1
A hint: The derivative of a potential energy such as $U$ is, with suitable sign, a force. At equilibrium what should the force be?
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Take the 2-minute tour ×
I'm confused by the derivation of the canonical ensemble, namely the origin of the probability density, that is the Boltzmann factor. Here's what I have:
We have a system of particles with $(N_{tot},V_{tot},E_{tot})$ in thermodynamical equilibrium that we divide into two subsystems, $A$ and $B$. Let $(N,V,E)$ describe $A$, and let $(N',V',E')$ describe $B$. We have the relations $$ N+N' = N_{tot} $$ $$V+V' = V_{tot}$$ $$E+E' \approx E_{tot}$$
where in the last one we've neglected any potential interaction between the particles, arguing that the number of degrees of freedom in any interaction is orders of magnitude smaller than the total amount of particles, because interactions are short ranged.
Now, consider the probability that subsystem $A$ has energy $E$. This is the ratio of the number of microstates of the entire system wherein $A$ has energy $E$ to the number of microstates such that the entire system has $E_{tot}$:
$$P(A \mbox{ has }E)= \frac{\Omega_{tot}(A \mbox{ has }E)}{\Omega_{tot}(E_{tot})}$$
but since we've neglected the interactions, we can factor the numerator:
$$P(A \mbox{ has }E)= \frac{\Omega(E)\Omega ' (E')}{\Omega_{tot}(E_{tot})}$$
where the omegas follow the same convention with primes and subscripts as the other variables. But now I don't understand how to get the Boltzmann factor... this relies on having
$$P(A \mbox{ has }E) = C \cdot \Omega ' (E')$$
But I don't see why that's true... $\Omega(E)$ isn't constant, is it?
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Thanks, I remembered this answer of yours but unfortunately I'm not yet at a level where I can understand it. So I guess for the moment I'm stuck with trying to understand my subpar derivation :) – DepeHb Jul 7 '13 at 20:54
1 Answer 1
up vote 2 down vote accepted
Courtesy of Kittel's Elementary Statistical Physics:
Like Kittel, I'm going to call the two subsystems S (for subsystem) and R (for reservoir), instead of A and B.
The first key: instead of counting the states of S with exactly energy E_s (a set of volume 0 in the full phase space), consider the states within a small amount $\delta E_s$ of $E_s$. Then the probability $dp$ that S's energy falls within that range is:
$$ dp = C d \Gamma_{tot} = C d \Gamma_s \Delta \Gamma_r $$
where $d \Gamma_{tot}$ is the volume of system phase space for which A is in the range $[E_s-\delta E_s, E_s]$, that volume factors into subsystem and reservoir phase space volumes, $d \Gamma_s$ is the volume of the subsystem phase space with the desired energy, and $\Delta \Gamma_r$ is the volume of reservoir phase space that keeps the total energy at $E_{tot}$.
Now the (dimensionless) entropy of the reservoir $\sigma_r$ is:
$$ \sigma_r(E_r) = \log \Delta \Gamma_r $$
We want to Taylor-series expand this entropy about the total energy to get a term proportional to $E_s$. The reservoir energy $E_r$ is:
$$ E_r = E_{tot} - E_s $$
Now the second key: So that we can truncate the Taylor series after the first term, we assume that the reservoir is much, much bigger than S, so that $E_s << E_{tot}$. Then:
$$ \sigma_r(E_r) \approx \sigma_r(E_t) - \frac{\partial \sigma_r (E_{tot})}{\partial E_{tot}} E_s = \sigma_r(E_t) - \frac{E_s}{\tau} $$
where $\tau$ is the (normalized) system temperature, by definition (where again we're employing the assumption that the reservoir is much larger than the subsystem, so that the same temperature characterizes both reservoir and system). Plugging in:
$$ dp = C \Delta \Gamma_r d \Gamma_s = C e^{\sigma_r(E_r)} d \Gamma_s = A e^{-E_s/\tau} d \Gamma_s $$
where $ A = C e^{\sigma_r(E_{tot})} $ is a constant (since it's evaluated at $E_{tot}$.)
And there you are.
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06/15/12 Veterinary Inspection Kills Dogs!
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Animal Friends appeals to citizens and the media to save lives
- Horror: Miljenko Jurjevic, Marica Cikojevic and Ljerka Fuckala carried out the massacre of abandoned and adopted dogs
Animal Friends is receiving numerous alerts from hour to hour from shocked citizens that the veterinary inspectors of the Ministry of Agriculture - Miljenko Jurjevic, Marica Cikojevic and Ljerka Fuckala – are heartlessly killing dogs under the assumption of the danger of rabies. Yesterday, at the Shelter for abandoned animals of the City of Zagreb in Dumovec, they have killed 20 dogs under the suspicion of rabies, and the terrible killings continue. The reason for killing these innocent dogs is a puppy that was adopted more than a month ago from Dumovec, and was diagnosed to have rabies after being bitten recently by another animal in the caretaker's yard. Although the starting point of rabies is in the courtyard area where the puppy was bitten, the veterinary inspection has killed 20 dogs in Dumovec and more than ten animals that were in Noah's Ark Welfare Association's shelter, some of which were vaccinated against rabies last year. In addition to that, veterinary inspectors have been calling citizens who have adopted dogs from shelters and are asking them to return the animals so they could euthanise them. Appalled caretakers are afraid for the safety of their adopted dogs.
Dogs killed in Dumovec were quarantined; their behavior and health constantly monitored by the Dumovec professional staff vaccinated against rabies, so the dogs were no threat to anyone, nor other animals or humans. Regulations on measures to control and eradicate rabies among animals provides that, if there is suspicion of animal rabies, the veterinarian must perform a clinical examination by observing the animals three times for ten days to determine feasibility of suspected rabies. Veterinary inspections mercilessly kill dogs, although the existence of rabies is not established, nor has any dog underwent the procedure required by any laws and ethical awareness 21st century. Even in the case of justified suspicion of rabies it is unacceptable to solve the problem by killing innocent animals, instead of testing and humane approach.
Rabies is a severe disease and should not be exploited for killing the dogs with no sign of rabies and without implemented procedures prescribed by law for determining rabies. It is significant that they attacked a shelter with "no-kill" policy, while many "shelters" tolerate killing of hundreds of dogs, as well as the lack of compliance with the conditions prescribed by law. They have attacked innocent traumatized animals. Veterinary inspectors are killing and deliberately ignoring the other options available to determine the actual risk of rabies and dogs for rabies testing. By unduly killing the dogs, they are spreading panic that could actually cause the spread of rabies. Specifically, people with a suspected rabid dog would place him under observation, but would not do that it if they think their dog would be killed by the inspectors for prevention.
Abandoned animals are already victims of irresponsible people in the shelter and foster homes and seek safety and a warm home. They were greeted by death, just because they found themselves in the wrong place at the wrong time, with veterinary inspectors who disgrace their profession by unjustified killing, and do not respond to numerous cases of abuse and killing of animals in shelters, as pointed out by many organizations trying to save the abandoned dogs.
Animal Friends suggests an appeals to citizens and the media to save lives and to put an end to the terror of veterinary inspection, which occurs under the guise of protecting animal and human health. Dangerous condition is exploited to intimidate people and the slaughter of innocent and suffering animals. Animal Friends filed a criminal complaint against the veterinary inspectors who killed the dogs. Animal Friends also urged the citizens to write to the Ministry of Agriculture and to seek immediate cessation of the killing of animals and to sign a petition for the reform of veterinary inspection (e-mails: [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]).
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Visual cycle
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Revision as of 00:17, April 27, 2007 by Robin Patterson (Talk | contribs)
It has been suggested that this article or section be merged into Visual phototransduction. (Discuss)
Visual cycle v2
The Visual Cycle
The visual cycle refers to the conversion of a photon into an action potential in the retina. This process occurs via G-protein coupled receptors called opsins which contain the chromophore 11-cis retinal. 11-cis retinal is covalently linked to the opsin receptor via a schiff base forming a retinylidene protein. When struck by a photon, 11-cis retinal undergoes photoisomerization to all-trans retinal which changes the conformation of the opsin GPCR leading to signal transduction cascades which ultimately causes an action potential which results in visual perception.
Following isomerization and release from the opsin protein, all-trans retinal is reduced to all-trans retinol and travels back to the retinal pigment epithelium to be "recharged". It is first esterified by lecithin-retinol acyltransferase (LRAT) and then converted to 11-cis retinol by the isomerohydrolase RPE65. Finally, it is oxidized to 11-cis retinal before traveling back to the rod outer segment where it can again be conjugated to an opsin to form a new, functional visual pigment (rhodopsin).
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Psychology Wiki
Working through
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Working through is the process in psychoanalysis and psychodynamic psychotherapy, when a therapist and patient follow on from an interpretation exploring the implications while overcoming the resistance in order to enable the client to accept the previously repressed material underlying their symptoms. It is the working through of the implications of the new understanding. It is believed that such working through is critical towards the success of therapy.[1]
Mary had idolised her mother and hated her father because he abused her. In therapy she came to relise that her mother must have known about the abuse. This new insight means that Mary had to work through the implications and reevaluate her feelings towards her mother, perhaps eventually discussing the issue with her. It is called "work" for a reason as it can be very difficult and exhausting emotionally to process such new information.
See alsoEdit
References & BibliographyEdit
1. Sundberg, Norman (2001). Clinical Psychology: Evolving Theory, Practice, and Research, Englewood Cliffs: Prentice Hall.
Key textsEdit
• Freud, S (19) Remembering, Repeating and Working-Through.
Additional materialEdit
External linksEdit
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Essay:A critical view of the article on Holocaust Denial
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Essay.svg This essay is an original work by qwertyuiop.
[This essay does not advocate, or even discuss to any extent the content of, Holocaust revisionism. It addresses the right to investigate, and accuses the Holocaust Denial article of condoning denial of free thought and—unique to this topic—suppression of the normal process of open historical enquiry. That article at best fails to address the issue and at worst supports suppression of free speech and fair comment using the straw man of "Denial".]
[edit] The rationalist approach
Most rationalists will reject the majority of fringe theories such as 911 “troof”, flying saucers, aliens secretly on Earth among us, moon-landing “hoax”, etc. not because they are “evil” but because we have looked at the evidence and do not find it convincing. We do not try to forbid the expression of such views. We also reject conventional religion, although in this case we find ourselves in the minority and we fight hard for our right to dissent.
As rationalists we support open scientific investigation and condemn the imposition of dogma. We form opinions and theories to which we hold only as long and as far as they appear to us to offer the best available model for reality, and we are happy to refine, modify or even abandon them if we are convinced that more appropriate models have been developed. We encourage research and investigation in any area in order to advance knowledge. If anyone tells us that we must not hold a position because it is “evil” or “against God”, we rightly laugh at them. If they try to browbeat us by physical or moral force such as exerted by the Catholic Church, the fundamentalist Christian Right, fundamentalist Islam, Hinduism, Judaism, Communism, Fascism or any other -ism, we rightly combat them. We do not want to suppress their right to express their views, even though they try to suppress ours. We will even fight for their rights if they are suppressed or attacked by a different -ism. We believe in tolerance and, above all, openness. It is an essential component of a rationalist view that we are always open to evidence that our opponents may be right on some, or even all, points. In general, we recognize that real life is complex and that a black and white portrayal is rarely accurate. We do not accept a position simply because some authority tells us we should.
[edit] Holocaust exceptionalism
Yet there is one sacrosanct exception: the Holocaust. I do not use the word “sacrosanct” sarcastically nor to give offence, but to point to the way that a particular attitude of unquestioning reverence to an event of history, combined with a dogmatic fixation on precise numbers and events, has gradually, since about 1980, become established as a simplistic and quasi-religious dogma that may not be subject to any enquiry. (The word holocaust, itself a religious term, was not used in earlier decades. It was then more likely to be found in the context of a “nuclear holocaust”.) It is promoted by a well-budgeted media blitz, by emotive educational programmes forced upon schools, by museums and memorials, and by both moral and physical intimidation. Far from situating events in the global picture of the most horrific war in history, you almost get the impression that WW2 was a side issue to the main event of the Holocaust. You do not have to be a dissenter yourself to see the undesirability of this emotion-laden imposition of “memory”, with its suppression of enquiry, or to suspect its motives.
[edit] Norman Finkelstein and the "Holocaust Industry"
Norman Finkelstein[1], an American Jewish University professor, whose parents both survived camps, who lost the rest of his family in the Second World War and who has not questioned the events of the Holocaust, has written The Holocaust Industry in which he exposes self-appointed representatives of the Jewish community who, in his view, have exploited the Holocaust to obtain large amounts of money for themselves (Elie Wiesel charges many thousands of dollars for one lecture) and from the German government and the Swiss banks: money which has gone not to aid the now-limited number of needy camp survivors but to finance museums and propaganda and to support the State of Israel (which Finkelstein opposes). He considers it has become a religious dogma which you must believe in and worship or be declared a heretic.
Interestingly, Finkelstein had the active support of Raul Hilberg, probably the most respected mainstream Holocaust historian, until the latter's death in 2007. Hilberg had also expressed doubts as to whether the Holocaust was centrally organised by Hitler: doubts which if expressed by a revisionist today in Germany could well lead to years in prison. Hilberg, like a number of mainstream Holocaust historians, pointed out the unreliability of eye-witness testimony. Another, Jean-Claude Pressac, has been quite scathing about the poor quality of Holocaust testimony, stating "The record is rotten to the core".
[edit] Denialism v. Revisionism
People who are usually called Holocaust deniers mostly reject this label and prefer Revisionist. I would like to avoid name-calling and look at the proper use of these two terms.
I would think that, as normally used, "denier" is a pejorative term which implies one or more of three things:
- dishonesty: arguing for something you do not actually believe, because it suits your purpose, or
- obstinate argumentation from a preconceived position ignoring or rejecting by reflex all contrary evidence, or
- total rejection, which may be honestly held.
Revisionism, on the other hand, simply means deviating from the commonly held view. The term is ethically neutral. In the context of WW2 it usually means an interpretation more sympathetic to the German or Japanese position. AJP Taylor [2] and, more recently, Patrick Buchanan [3] have written revisionist histories of the origins of the war, where they argue that it arose more from failures of communication than from German expansionism, and that a minor border dispute was turned into a world catastrophe. They also question Churchill's role. Other recent revisionist discussion suggests that Stalin, who had already occupied the Baltic states, Bessarabia and Eastern Poland, was planning in 1941 to move against Germany and possibly the rest of Europe, and that Barbarossa was at least partially preemptive.
In the context of the Holocaust anyone doubting any aspect of the conventional story may be classed as a revisionist, but those who identify themselves as Revisionists (with a capital R) usually question:
- the six million figure
- intent to exterminate
- the existence of gas chambers
This generalisation does not always hold. David Irving, for example, thinks that large scale killings of the order of two to three million took place on Eastern front and in the Reinhardt camps. While pointing out his differences he still appears to class himself as a Revisionist. Irving's views have changed a lot over time, he says in the light of new evidence, in particular the Eichmann papers he uncovered.
[edit] Criminalisation of dissent
In Germany, France, Austria, Spain, Poland, and a number of other countries, you will be jailed for several years simply for expressing a dissenting opinion. You take major risks even by just looking at a website. The most famous dissenter of recent years, David Irving, is not even a Holocaust denier. He has expressed doubts about the Auschwitz gas chambers and considers the six million number too high, but he says that several million were killed, mainly on the Eastern front and in the Reinhardt camps of Northern Poland. He places the responsibility with Himmler rather than Hitler.
Germar Rudolf and Ernst Zundel have been jailed in Germany. Jurgen Graf was forced into exile from Switzerland to escape prosecution. None of them were demonstrated to be inciting hatred; simply writing or publishing material which questioned aspects of the Holocaust was enough. No defence is possible: the court “takes judicial notice” of the established view. (Irony of ironies: Rudolf's books, which are not polemic, but studies of chemical analyses, were ordered to be burned.) In France the law ridiculously requires you to accept everything decreed at Nuremberg, despite the fact that much of what was “established” at Nuremberg is no longer accepted by mainstream historians either. For example none of them any longer believe there were extermination facilities on any camp in Germany itself, or that people were killed in steam chambers or on electric floors, or that the Germans were responsible for the Katyn massacres.
David Irving was fined 30,000 DM by a German court for saying the gas chamber shown to tourists in Auschwitz 1 is a post-war partial reconstruction by the Soviets and Polish Communists of what is alleged to have previously existed. Later the Auschwitz Museum authorities admitted he was right. [4] (Last word on the last line but two, and the only recognition on the entire site as far as I am aware.) Irving's conviction was not rescinded.
There have been moves to force all EU countries to accept such legislation. In the mid nineties they were stopped by the United Kingdom, led by Home Secretary Michael Howard (who, incidentally, is Jewish); he was supported by the EU Commissioner Leon Brittan (also a British Jew). Later efforts have also been stopped by the United Kingdom and the Scandinavian countries. There have been moves in the UN to get a worldwide ban.
[edit] Physical intimidation, taboo and moral pressure
Even in countries where there is no such legislation, intense moral pressure, destruction of careers and serious physical violence are used to silence dissent and to discourage others from investigating the heretical view. Robert Faurisson has been beaten up on ten occasions; on one of them his life was in danger.[5] The American Jewish revisionist, David Cole, aroused particular bile. He was threatened with violence by the JDL [6] and the ADL to the point where he was forced to sign a recantation and has disappeared from public view. His recantation has all the sincerity of confessions in a Stalinist show trial. [7] Fred Leuchter, the American execution-chamber specialist who investigated cyanide residues in Auschwitz, had his career destroyed. Norman Finkelstein, who is not even a revisionist, was refused tenure at his university as a result of a massive campaign against him by the Holocaust establishment.
Ernst Zundel had his house burned down and a pipe bomb which would have killed anyone who opened it sent to him through the post. The Institute of Historical Review had their premises burned down and David Irving had his home burgled and his printing premises burned. Their meetings and talks are systematically and violently disrupted. Bradley Smith, an American who is in no way racist, whose political position is liberal, has sought to get universities to allow open debates where differing views on the Holocaust may be expressed. He is vilified and on the rare occasions when his advertisements in student newspapers were accepted by a paper they were banned by the institution.
Joel Hayward [8] was not a revisionist but chose to make a study of revisionism in an MA history thesis at Canterbury University in New Zealand. Although the University rated his thesis very highly, awarding it first-class honours, several years later it was put under heavy pressure by the New Zealand Jewish Council to revoke his degree and Hayward was unable to pursue his career in New Zealand. Big guns, in the form of Richard Evans [9], who had appeared in the Lipstadt-Irving case, were employed against him. Evans launched a vituperative personal attack on him. He had a nervous breakdown, was forced to repudiate his thesis, and was only able to make a career by emigrating to the UK and completely abandoning any further Holocaust-related work. This, like the beatings received by Faurisson, illustrates very clearly why historians in academic institutions stay well away from the Holocaust unless they are prepared to accept it uncritically.
There are many further examples, too numerous to list here. We are entitled to ask why, if the orthodox Holocaust position is so firmly based, there is so great a fear of any divergent view that such measures of brutal suppression, which exist in no other context, are necessary. Stalin and Mao were tyrants probably each responsible for more deaths than Hitler, but there is no taboo on investigating the extent and the context of their atrocities.
[edit] Revisions accepted since Nuremberg
The evidence for the official story is not as incontrovertible as is claimed. Many changes were made before it became set in stone: there is no longer any talk of human soap or shrunken heads, no more lampshades, no gas chambers in Belsen, Buchenwald, Ravensbruck or anywhere in Germany, where the exterminations were originally believed to have happened. Yet the improbably precise (contrast with Iraq) figure of six million has remained an unchanged article of faith for sixty-five years, despite even mainstream Jewish historians (Reitlinger, Hilberg) coming up with smaller figures. No one will claim to tell you with similar certainty the scale of Ukrainian, Russian, German or any other losses. The real question is not "Was there a Holocaust?"; it is "What exactly happened in the events we call the Holocaust?". Scholars (and indeed all of us) should be as free to examine this as any other topic in history.
[edit] The case against the deniers of debate
The magnitude of the horrors suffered by non-combatants during WW2 in Eastern Europe is difficult to apprehend from our tranquil and affluent early 21st century. But horrors they were, and inflicted by all sides on all sides: Germans, Jews, Poles, Russians, Ukrainians, Balts, Croats, Serbs... Those living in Poland, Ukraine, Byelorussia and, let us not forget, Germany, with mass deportations of civilians and fire-bombing of cities, probably suffered most. That the Jews as a group were specifically targeted and suffered great losses, brutality and hardships seems beyond doubt, though they were not alone and, like everyone else, they were also perpetrators: a major motive for attacks on Jews by civilian mobs in Eastern Europe was revenge; fearing Germany more than Russia, and subject to antisemitism from Nationalists at home, Jews had generally welcomed and collaborated with the Soviet invasions, and a large proportion of the NKVD were Jewish. Large numbers of Balts and Poles—many of whom did not survive—were deported to Siberia in cattle trucks, and when the Germans drove back the Russians, political prisoners were massacred by the NKVD before the retreat.
Jewish suffering is not in question. But the official view is that there was a deliberate German policy of extermination, largely using gas chambers and that the six million figure should be considered sacrosanct. Perhaps it is accurate, despite the scarcity of material evidence and lack of forensic investigation. But if it is, why does it need legal prohibitions with prison sentences along with arson, physical assault, moral taboo, vilification and destruction of lives and careers to protect it? That is a serious question that the article on Holocaust Denial should be addressing.
"Holocaust Denial" is to a large extent a straw man. People like Alan Dershowitz and Deborah Lipstadt, who I believe is credited with coining the term, refuse to debate or discuss with anyone who does not accept without reservation their own immutable version of what happened, which is promoted with polemic and emotion rather than reasoned presentation. While there do exist racist apologists who would like to deny Nazi persecution, they are a minuscule fringe group with little influence and generally despised. It is not the position of most Revisionist historians. But anyone who chooses to examine, or who finds inconsistencies in, even a part of the mainstream story is calumnied with these accusations. It is convenient to set up this straw man, resort to ad hominem and dodge addressing the issues raised. If you simultaneously ban revisionist views from all mainstream media and mount a massive worldwide propaganda campaign, the general public will take your version for granted.
[edit] Shades of grey
We should not be looking at the issue in terms of deniers and believers. Subjecting an established version of what happened to examination is not denial. In between the black and the white are a thousand possible shades of grey. Yet suggest that any detail of the official version might be open to query and not only will your view be denied consideration but you will have accusations of "denier" and "hater" thrown at you, and by some contorted and malicious logic you will be accused of condoning or even approving the atrocity. There is no justification for brutally suppressing the normal historical process of objective investigation of what happened, its scale, or how it came about. Even if everything the revisionists say were arrant nonsense, they would have the right to make their case in a rational manner and have it reviewed in a rational manner. The factuality of events and validity of arguments are independent of the political position of the proponents: if you think dissenters are motivated by hatred, attack the hatred, while addressing the the arguments; anything else is ad hominem; people can be right for the wrong reasons. However, the haters are rarely the scholars, but polemicists and political extremists who have latched on to their work. Academic freedom should be non-negotiable. Both the underlying issue of the Holocaust and this issue of suppression of debate by imprisonment, taboo and intimidation are topics far too serious for the sub-undergraduate facetiousness employed in the article.
[edit] EU moves and an opinion from Leon Brittan
This issue is a very real and topical one as a move is again afoot to class "Holocaust Denial" as criminal hate speech throughout the EU. Let me finish with some words from a speech by Leon Brittan, the EU Commissioner and former UK Home Secretary. As mentioned above, he and fellow Jew Michael Howard successfully opposed a similar move in the nineties, but it keeps coming back. It has so far been successfully resisted by the UK and the Scandinavian countries, with their strong traditions of free speech. Brittan said:
"If we have a law to stop people saying things, even though they are palpably untrue, then God help us. It is one thing to incite hatred and another to express views, however disagreeable, on historical events. If the freedom of speech means anything at all, it includes the right to be wrong and tendentious, and the right even to cause offence. And if we, as Jews, now live in comparative security, it is largely because we have the good fortune to live in societies where such freedom is taken for granted.
The whole process of historiography is one of revision, not only because new facts and documents come to light, but also because even established facts can be reassessed and reinterpreted, for one generation rarely sees events through the perspective of another. To demand laws that the received wisdom surrounding the Holocaust should forever be insulated from the process goes against every dictate of reason. Such laws are wrong in principle and are ineffective and possibly harmful in practice. [...]
Any attempt to stifle their [Revisionists'] work, however, will always lay one open to the suspicion that one has something to hide. And nothing such people can say is quite as damaging as the suppression of their right to say it."
Qwertyuiop (talk) 15:35, 6 February 2010 (UTC)
[edit] Afterthought
From RatWiki's principles:
2 Analyzing and refuting crank ideas.
3 Explorations of authoritarianism and fundamentalism.
The article is undertaken in the spirit of "2". I think it also needs to examine what Finkelstein calls the "Holocaust Industry" for "3".
I also think the snarkiness, which I know RatWiki encourages, detracts from the objectivity and makes it look like what I called above "sub-undergraduate facetiousness". Qwertyuiop (talk) 09:31, 27 February 2010 (UTC)
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Family Values
I’m sure by now you’ve heard of the ginormous spider web that was spun in Texas. The thing was huge — 200 yards long — and it was spun by multiple different species. That interspecific collaboration got Bill Poser thinking, so he blogged about it at Language Log:
The web covers hundreds of square meters. Not only was it built by hundreds of spiders, who normally build isolated webs and eat each other if they get too close, but entomologist Allen Dean reports that they belong to twelve different families! We’re talking massive inter-species communication here folks, and not particularly closely related species either. It is comparable to communication and collaboration between human beings (family Hominidae) and Lar Gibbons (family Hylobatidae).
Twelve different families! To show you how diverse these spiders are, Poser reveals what species we’d have to collaborate with to accomplish such inter-species team work. Only he underestimates the scale of the difference. You see, Poser falls victim to taxonomic bias, assuming that a family in one taxon (spiders) is equivalent to a family in another taxon (primates).
Before we get any further, allow me to remind you of the major taxonomic categories used for classifying animals:
To use humans as an example, we’re in the kingdom Animalia, aka the animals. Our phylum is Chordata, which is made up predominantly of the vertebrates (ie, things with backbones). Our class is Mammalia, our order is Primates, our family is Hominidae, and our species name (made up of the genus and species titles) is Homo sapiens. Many mnemonics have been developed to aid students in remembering the taxonomic groupings, playing off the first letter in each word. My favorite: King Plays Cards On Fat Girls’ Stomachs.
Anyway, mammalian families aren’t all that diverse. The family Hominidae contains only four extant species (humans, chimps, gorillas, and orangutans). If they were invertebrates, we’d probably classify them as a genus (or sub genus). But, because they’re closely related to us, they get their own family (that’s taxonomic bias). Other mammalian families are more diverse; Muridae (mice, rats, and gerbils) contains hundreds of species, and it’s the largest of all mammalian families. As a point of comparison, the genus Drosophila has over a thousand species. Yes, a single insect genus is more specious speciose that the largest mammalian order.
But counting species isn’t the only way to determine diversity within a taxon. We can also estimate the age of the taxon using fossils and DNA. Let’s look again at the Muridae. The species that make up this family last shared a common ancestor approximately 25 million years ago (mya). To go back to our invertebrate example, the species in the genus Drosophila last shared a common ancestor approximately 60 mya. Once again, the invertebrate genus is more diverse than the mammalian family.
Hopefully I’ve shown you that comparing taxonomic categories across different taxa is fairly meaningless. What gets named as a family in one taxon contains less diversity than a genus in another taxon. But what about the spiders? What would be the equivalent collaborator for humans to accomplish the same amount of inter-family collaboration that we see in the spider web in Texas? A group of entomologists at Texas A&M sampled spiders from the web and classified them based on their families and species. The three most abundant families were:
1. Tetragnathidae (long-jawed orb weavers)
2. Salticidae (jumping spiders)
3. Araneidae (orb-weaver spiders)
All three of these families belong to the suborder Araneomorphae, which was thought to have radiated in the late Paleozoic or early Mesozoic Era (reference), or about 250 mya. Tetragnathidae have been observed as early as the Cretaceous Period, which came at the end of the Mesozoic Era, about 150 mya. We’ll use this date as a lower-bound estimate of the divergence times for the spiders found in the web in Texas. What follows is therefore a search for a taxon with the minimum amount of divergence from humans to achieve the equivalent amount of divergence between the spiders in the huge web.
Mammals diverged from birds and reptiles about 300 mya. This date can be used to calibrate a molecular clock, which can then be used to estimate the divergence dates between different vertebrate lineages provided we can sequence DNA from extant representatives of those lineages. Kumar and Hedges used this approach to estimate the divergence times between humans and various other vertebrates. At about 150 mya, the human lineage (and all other eutherian mammals) diverged from the marsupials. This was followed by a rapid radiation of the eutherians, giving rise to the mammalian orders we see today. Humans and gibbons (Poser’s chosen equivalent collaborator) diverged about 15 mya.
Contrary to what Poser claims, humans collaborating with gibbons is not equivalent to the various spider families working together to build I gigantic web. To accomplish such an inter-taxon collaboration, humans would have to work with kangaroos, koalas, or possums. I’m not sure how they do things in Australia, but I doubt they’ve got Tasmanian devils working construction.
1. #1 Sven DiMilo
September 14, 2007
a single insect genus is more specious that the largest mammalian order
That’s kind of a judgment call…you mean “speciose.”
My favorite mnemonic for the Linnaean taxonomic hierarchy:
Kissing Passionately Can Open For Great Sex.
2. #2 Bill Poser
September 15, 2007
Thanks for the improved estimate. However, I don’t think that it is entirely fair to say that I got it wrong. The fault is really that of biologists who continue to use a patently inadequate system of taxonomy, namely one that reifies categories like “family”, as if they had some meaning, when they don’t. Without the detailed information about which species are involved and the estimates of divergence times, to which I didn’t have access. the traditional Linnean taxonomy provides the only available distance measure.
So, why don’t biologists bite the bullet and forget about these meaningless node labels?
3. #3 RPM
September 15, 2007
We don’t have the energy to overcoming the inertia of the current taxonomic system. Plus, changing taxonomy requires dealing with taxonomists, which can be an arduous task.
4. #4 Jim Thomerson
September 17, 2007
I’m a fish taxonomist. I think the species I recognize are real entities, so let’s not discuss species concepts here. I think a genus or family, etc, should be monophyletic. It should have some morphological uniformity, and should be diagnosable in such a ways as to separate it from any closely related genus or family. If a group is proposed as part of a general phylogenetic scheme, it should be at the same level as its sister group. If the sister group is a genus then the group, even if only a single species, should be a separate genus.
None of this says that genera, families, etc. have, or should have, equivilent numbers of species. So, as said, comparing numbers of families in different groups can be quite misleading. It has also been pointed out that well studied groups tend to have more species, and sometimes genera, than poorly studied groups. Drosophila being a fine example.
We have described a new genus for a species originally described in a genus where it really did not belong. Our genus was later synonmized with a genus in a different sufamily, but now it is back, I think about where it belongs. It is the single species sister group of another genus according to DNA. Another new genus for a single species. Not related the way we thought, according to DNA. Its sister group is another genus.
5. #5 Drugmonkey
September 18, 2007
King Philip Came Over For Grape Soda
6. #6 Drugmonkey
September 18, 2007
King Philip Came Over For Grape Soda
7. #7 Uschi Symmons
September 22, 2007
Great post! Having just completed my biology degree the memory of having to learn hundreds of species along with their appropiate classification is still fresh. I remember that after we had learnt a lot of plant taxonomy in first year they reclassified a lot of species and we had to learn a new system in second year – it was so frustrating. And our tutors kept telling us this was just because they wanted all equal taxons represent equal categories, which I think is more or less impossible anyway. Any system concosted by humans is bound to be anthropocentric, and in the end, what’s wrong with that? In the end I’m kind of sceptic that a spider is going to walk up to a taxonomist any time soon to complain that spider families aren’t equal to Mammalian ones.
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November 2002
Solar Eclipse - December 4 2002
Southern Africa is getting set for another spectacular event in the astronomical calendar, the second total solar eclipse in under 18 months. If you are fortunate enough to be in the narrow strip, the path of totality running across Southern Africa, you will view a total solar eclipse for up to 80 seconds. Regions outside of this will only view a partial eclipse.
The detailed map of the path of totality passes through Angola, Botswana, Zimbabwe, South Africa (the extreme northern parts of South Africa: Messina and the Kruger National Park) and Mocambique.
The Johannesburg planetarium gives detailed information on the times of the eclipse over various towns and regions in southern Africa.
But what exactly is a solar eclipse?
Case Rijsdijk from the South African Astronomical Observatory explains.
Understanding Eclipses
by Case Rijsdijk
South African Astronomical Observatory
The darkening of the Sun during the day was for ancient people an omen, usually evil. In China people would beat drums and set off firecrackers, hoping to chase away the "evil dragon that has swallowed the Sun". Great riches and power were bestowed on those who were able to predict eclipses of the Sun and Moon. Failing to predict them accurately had dire consequences as two Chinese astronomers found out: they had their heads cut off!
The Sun (diameter 1 400 000 km) is very much larger than the Earth (diameter 13 000 km). The Sun is also far away from the Earth, about 150 million km. So in its orbit around the Sun the Earth casts a cone shaped shadow pointing away from the Sun. Fig. 1 below shows the Earth in four different positions in its orbit around the Sun with the shadow pointing away from the Sun.
The Earth orbits the Sun in a plane called the ecliptic, and the Moon's orbit around the Earth is inclined at 5o to this plane, Fig. 2
For a lunar eclipse to occur the Moon must be full. In addition the plane of the Moon's orbit must be oriented so that when the Moon is full, the Sun, Earth and Moon are more or less in a line. As shown in Fig. 2 the Moon usually passes above or below the Earth's shadow. The Moon crosses the plane of the Earth's orbit when the Moon is far from full and there is no eclipse.
Fig. 3 shows what happens when the orientation of the Moon's orbit enables the Moon to pass into the Earth's shadow. A lunar eclipse or an eclipse of the Moon occurs when the Moon passes into the Earth's shadow as shown below in Fig. 4. A lunar eclipse is visible from everywhere on the dark side of the Earth. During a lunar eclipse the Moon is never absolutely dark.
Even when the Moon is totally eclipsed, it is still illuminated by sunlight which filters through the Earth's atmosphere around the base of the shadow and is refracted and scattered into the shadow and onto the Moon. Red predominates for the same reason that the setting Sun is red.
Astronauts on the Moon would see a bright red ring around the Earth as they saw all the sunrises and sunsets happening simultaneously around the world! The Moon can take on a range of colours from dark brown and red to bright orange and yellow. The exact appearance depends on how much dust and clouds are present in the Earth's atmosphere.
It is also possible that the Sun, Earth and Moon alignment is not exact. The Moon can then pass through a part of the umbra (region of total shadow) and then there is a partial eclipse. In other cases the Moon does not pass through the umbra at all, just going through the penumbra (a region of partial shadow). Such an eclipse is called a penumbral eclipse. Finally it is possible for the Moon to just pass through a part of the penumbra and then there is a partial penumbral eclipse. These last two types are often difficult to see as the Moon hardly appears to darken.
Solar Eclipse (or eclipse of the Sun)
A solar eclipse occurs on one of the rare occasions when the Moon comes exactly between the Earth and the Sun as shown in Fig. 5. This happens when the Moon is new and the orbit is oriented so that the Sun, Moon and Earth are in line at the time of new Moon.
If the Moon is close enough to the Earth at this time, the Moon's shadow can then reach the Earth, blocking direct sunlight for anyone inside the patch P in Fig. 6, covered by shadow.
As the Earth rotates the spot P will trace out a narrow path across the Earth's surface. This path is called the path of totality and everywhere within the path an observer will see a total eclipse of the Sun, Fig. 7A, where the Sun is totally obscured by the Moon. In areas close to the path of totality observers will see a partial eclipse of the Sun and it will be partially obscured by the Moon, Fig. 7B. As observers move further and further from the path of totality, they will see progressively less of the Sun obscured by the Moon. This means that the total eclipse cannot be seen by everyone on the daylight side of the Earth, but only by those in the path of totality.
The Sun's corona is a tenuous envelope of ionized gas, glowing partly from sunlight being scattered off free electrons and partly from the recombination of energetic ions. During a total eclipse it is possible to see the Sun's corona around the Moon's silhouetted disk. Even though the corona extends a great distance from the Sun, it is normally too faint to be seen in the bright daylight sky. The shape and size of the corona varies through an 11 year sunspot cycle. Eclipses are important for studying the Sun's corona.
Because the Moon's orbit around the Earth is not circular, but elliptical (egg-shaped), it is possible that the Moon's shadow, the umbra, does not reach the Earth and then there is an annular eclipse. Here a ring of the Sun can be seen around the Moon when observed from a place directly in line with the Sun and Moon, Fig. 7C. Of course anyone not directly in line would see a partial annular eclipse. The word annular comes from the Latin anulus meaning ring.
The diagrams above show the appearance of the Sun at different times during total, partial and annular eclipses:
7A the Moon passing in front of the Sun as seen from within the umbra,
7B the Moon passing in front of the Sun as seen from within some part of the penumbra,
7C the Moon passing in front of the Sun as seen during an annular eclipse.
Some Future Lunar Eclipses
Date Time (SAST)
May 16 2003 05:40
Nov 09 2003 03:18
May 04 2004 22:30
Mar 04 2007 01:21
Feb 21 2008 05:26
Johannesburg Planetarium
Science in Africa - Africa's First On-Line Science Magazine
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Pheesical geografie
Frae Wikipedia
Lowp tae: navigation, rake
True-color image o the Yird's surface an atmosphere. NASA Goddard Space Flicht Center image.
Pheesical geografie (an aa kent as geosystems or pheesiografie) is ane o the twa major sub-fields o geografie.[1] Pheesical geografie is that branch o naitural science which deals wi the study o processes an patterns in the naitural environment lik the atmosphere, hydrosphere, biosphere, an geosphere, as opponed tae the cultural or biggit environment, the domain o human geografie.
Within the body o pheesical geografie, the Yird is eften split either intae several spheres or environments, the main spheres bein the atmosphere, biosphere, cryosphere, geosphere, hydrosphere, lithosphere an pedosphere. Research in pheesical geografie is eften interdisciplinary an uises the seestems approach.
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Take the 2-minute tour ×
I have had a red warning box on top of the page when I access GMail. It says that there have been three attacks from China:
IP Address:
Location: Xuancheng, Anhui, China
and two others.
Is this common?
Could this be done from anywhere around the world or just from China? I mean, if the Chinese firewall will block hackers e.g. from France, US or Israel to access some computer in Xuancheng, Anhui, China and act as a Chinese attack or the wall is preventing from this.
It seems IMO that attacks from China is the most common place of attack. Is this just a coincidence or purposefully doing because it is not easy to ask Chinese government for permission of logs when using China servers for attacks on EU or US targets.
This is in an email from Google:
Someone recently tried to use an application to sign in to your Google Account, [email protected]. We prevented the sign-in attempt in case this was a hijacker trying to access your account. Please review the details of the sign-in attempt:
Tuesday, October 23, 2012 10:06:26 AM GMT
IP Address: Location: Xuancheng, Anhui, China
The Google Accounts Team
share|improve this question
The Chinese Firewall is not really a firewall, the way it is usually meant. It is actually more of a massive outbound content filter. – AviD Oct 23 '12 at 12:13
I'm not sure what you mean by the fourth paragraph. Could you clarify what security policy you expect the Chinese Firewall to implement? Are you asking whether the attribution of an attack to an IP is high confidence, or are you asking something about the Chinese firewall? – Mark C. Wallace Oct 23 '12 at 12:43
I should point out, in many cases I have discovered that Google claims access from a particular country, only to find out said access was not possible. So there is no guarantee that somebody actually in China accessed your account. – Ramhound Oct 23 '12 at 16:31
Well, i had the same situation and It really can be from China, but hacker could also use IP changer. Anywhere, you better change your password and save your mail-box. – Daruntim Oct 24 '12 at 12:47
3 Answers 3
up vote 2 down vote accepted
Well, there are actually a range of questions in there but the big one is your second last paragraph.
The Internet allows us to be attacked by individuals anywhere in the world.
Access controls help to prevent a lot of attacks, but all of them can be bypassed given enough effort, and this includes the Great Firewall of China along with every other device or application. The only way to be sure is to disconnect your computer entirely, then lock it in a room, and hide the key. And post guards. And watch the guards etc
So this is why security is really a business decision - you can get as much security as you pay for, but if you are a desirable target you need to buy much more security.
Various surveys by companies such as Kaspersky show the apparent sources of attacks, and China is high up there, but so are the US, Eastern Europe, Israel, the Philippines, and a wide range of countries. While some of this data is no doubt correct, some of it is likely to be spoofed by smart attackers routing through machines in other countries.
And the whole issue of getting logs from other countries - it is a nightmare. Many ISP's just won't divulge this info. Some countries block requests entirely.
share|improve this answer
+1. I don't think there is much more to tell.. These things happen. – Henning Klevjer Oct 23 '12 at 12:14
You forgot the underground concrete bunker with a Faraday cage lining the walls. And is that disconnect also from power, or do I need a generator in that room with it? – ewanm89 Oct 23 '12 at 12:29
I think there is a confusion on the "Great Firewall of China". Isn't the main purpose of this so called firewall to censor some websites ?
At least i wouldn't say the firewall is preventing any chinese hacker to hack all around the world.
Anyway, as RoryAlsop pointed, no firewall could really prevent someone from china to scan/hack someone anywhere in the world. Modern hackers oftenly use hosts all around the world as proxy to hide the real origin of their actions.
Then in that case, could hackers use proxies in china to make people less likely to trace them back ? It could be. It's sure possible to do so.
I would say there is a lot of malicious traffic coming from china more because of it's very important population rather than the protective country's policy on hacking.
share|improve this answer
What do you mean by "very important population"? – user13779 Oct 23 '12 at 12:28
This answer would be stronger if (a) the question were clear and (b) it included references/citations. – Mark C. Wallace Oct 23 '12 at 12:48
@MarkC.Wallace by references/citations you mean screenshot of my Google Mail Account? – user13779 Oct 23 '12 at 12:58
No, but a reference to the firewall would help; the discussion indicates that there is some confusion over the goals/purposes/security policy of that firewall, and I think a citation would transform the discussion away from assertions and into research. The answer could also include a reference out to how hackers use proxies - again, at the moment that is an assertion, but it would be stronger with evidence. Plus "important" vice "large" . I'm not saying this is bad I'm saying that the valuable answers have cites. – Mark C. Wallace Oct 23 '12 at 14:56
@MarkC.Wallace - user15324 can't provide more details because they have no idea what they are talking about. Besides its pretty clear that the Great Firewall of China is an advanced content filter ran at the nation state level. ISPs all over the world filter content, its nothing new, the ISP is just ran by government in this case. – Ramhound Oct 24 '12 at 15:57
While Google does send similar warnings, this one is clearly a phishing scam trying to steal your account.
Phishing scams include e-mails that request your login:password information, or links to fake web-sites that ask for your login:password. For web-sites, the printed link may look valid but the actual link could go someplace different. They often include threats of closing your account if you don't respond. If the message didn’t come from an @google.com address, it is fake.
You can ignore it, use the drop-down menu next to reply to "Report Phishing", or use the following form: http://mail.google.com/support/bin/request.py?contact_type=abuse_phishing picious messages: http://mail.google.com/support/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=29381
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Your Answer
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Take the 2-minute tour ×
While using data pump import over network link in Oracle:
impdp test/test@db10g tables=SCOTT.EMP network_link=REMOTE_SCOTT
directory=TEST_DIR remap_schema=SCOTT:TEST
Where are we creating directory object (TEST_DIR, for the above example)? On source or target database? Or both?
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1 Answer 1
impdp with network_link, TEST_DIR directory needs to be created at local. In your example where @db10g database is running.
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I'm trying to create an animation using HTML5 canvas and Javascript. I have very little prior knowledge of Javascript. The first part of the animation is to make a circle 'grow' until the edge touches a cross. The cross then moves along the edge of the circle. Individually, these parts work fine but, as I'm using setInterval(), both animations play at the same time rather than waiting for the first to finish before starting the second.
What would be the easiest way to do this? I would be happy using HTML buttons, but <button onclick="setInterval(aRot,30);">Next Step</button> doesn't seem to work.
My 'orrible 'odgepodge of code is viewable at http://jsfiddle.net/jtYkN/12/
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You could use something along the lines of Raphael to make your life easier. – egasimus Jul 10 '12 at 15:35
The easiest way depends on how you are currently performing the animations. Might we see your code? – Charmander Jul 10 '12 at 15:36
Why not perform a simple check to figure out when the first anim finishes and then run the second? Am I missing something? – biril Jul 10 '12 at 15:39
@Charmander I've added the code to the original post. – user1515199 Jul 10 '12 at 15:46
1 Answer 1
up vote 1 down vote accepted
First off you really want to use requestAnimationFrame rather than setInterval. Its made specifically for animations. According to paul irish..
Why should I use it?
Heres how I would implement what your talking about
// all credit to paul irish on this part
window.requestAnimFrame = (function(){
return window.requestAnimationFrame ||
window.webkitRequestAnimationFrame ||
window.mozRequestAnimationFrame ||
window.oRequestAnimationFrame ||
window.msRequestAnimationFrame ||
function( callback ){
window.setTimeout(callback, 1000 / 60);
function growCircle () {
// code to make the circle bigger
function rotateCross() {
// code to make the cross rotate
(function animate(){
if ( /* code to tell if the circle has finished growing */ ) {
} else {
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Thanks! This works very well. After some refactoring, I'm using a switch statement on a string 'phase' in my animate() function. Just in case you're curious, jsfiddle.net/SSW29 – user1515199 Jul 10 '12 at 21:03
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| <urn:uuid:c9487fe9-d9ab-4241-842f-d5ef5cc72c63> | 3 | 2.875 | 0.505181 | en | 0.844161 | http://stackoverflow.com/questions/11416850/sequential-animations-in-javascript |
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I have an SQL function which returns the minimum and maximum selling price of an item. I'd like to make a query which gets other StockItem columns together with it's selling price
like so:
SELECT i.StockItemID ii,
pli.SellingPrice AS MinSellingPrice,
pli.StandardSellingPrice AS MaxSellingPrice,
FROM SC_StockItem AS i,
func_GetPrice(17, i.StockItemID, 5) pli
However this gives an error:
Msg 4104, Level 16, State 1, Line 12 The multi-part identifier "i.StockItemID" could not be bound.
any idea how I can do this ?
Thanks in advance
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1 Answer 1
up vote 8 down vote accepted
If that is a table valued function, then you can use OUTER APPLY:
select i.StockItemID ii,
pli.SellingPrice as MinSellingPrice,
pli.StandardSellingPrice as MaxSellingPrice,
from SC_StockItem as i
OUTER APPLY func_GetPrice(17, i.StockItemID, 5) pli
From MSDN:
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great Thanks :) – Jonny Jan 11 '13 at 15:23
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| <urn:uuid:0e4ddb05-3815-4e93-be9b-c71f6d2b809e> | 2 | 1.59375 | 0.158376 | en | 0.740145 | http://stackoverflow.com/questions/14280230/sql-server-passing-table-columns-to-a-functions-parameter |
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I'm trying to unpack bytes in python :-
import struct
c_struct_exp='struct lokesh { int i=5;} lm;'
struct.error: unpack requires a bytes object of length 4
please, help me with format string expression in unpack method.
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1 Answer 1
up vote 2 down vote accepted
unpack is for unpacking binary data, not C source code. To follow your example of single integer member structure:
>>> from struct import *
>>> pack('i', 134)
>>> unpack('i', '\x86\x00\x00\x00')
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I'm not using C source code directly. I'm converting c source code into raw bytes :- bytes(c_struct_exp,'utf-8') before using it in unpack methode.. – Lokesh Kumar Jan 25 '13 at 15:44
Try printing the output of your bytes(...) call - it's still source code. unpack decodes memory image of a structure, not its source description. – Nikolai N Fetissov Jan 25 '13 at 16:25
okk :) got it... actually i'm trying to decode a C struct packet from a C client at server side(python receiving end).. how can i can decode unpack received raw bytes(C struct,which is memory image and not a source code at client side)... how can i unpack a structure of the above type :- typedef struct packet{ int command; union{ struct{int data[100]; int ttl[100];}; struct{ char config[256]; };};} myPacketStruct; – Lokesh Kumar Jan 25 '13 at 17:27
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| <urn:uuid:91af00fb-0ab2-4511-a51e-c7fa1f71384d> | 2 | 2.421875 | 0.494673 | en | 0.720422 | http://stackoverflow.com/questions/14522535/how-to-unpack-bytes-using-struct-module-in-python |
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Okay, this is a bit of a tricky one...
I am programming an add-in for MS Outlook 2007, using VS 2010 and VSTO, and VB.NET. My goal is to prompt the user to print off emails that they receive from certain email addresses. (This would be done with a simple MsgBox.)
Specifically, I would like the prompt the user when they are done reading the email. My concept is that it should work similarly to the "Read Receipt" functionality in Outlook. (You know, those annoying things..."The sender has requested a receipt that you have read this email blah blah")
So, the user reads the email, and then when they go to close the Inspector (or change focus to a different item if they are in Explorer view) the MsgBox pops up. I have noticed that the timing on this matches when the email becomes "read".
I have been chasing this across Google and MSDN and tutorial websites for a few days, here's what I've found:
Round 1: The Mailitem object has an UnRead property, and it also has a PropertyChange event. I can use AddHandler for PropertyChange on every Mailitem in the Inbox, tying them into a single Subroutine that checks the argument of the PropertyChange event to make sure it's UnRead. Seems fairly workable, except that PropertyChange doesn't pass the calling object's identity, so I have no way of knowing what email in the Inbox just lost "unread" status.
In fact, none of the Mailitem events seem to pass their identity, probably because someone (MS I guess) assumes that you have a direct pointer to the Mailitem object in the first place. So this route doesn't seem to work.
Round 2: I can grab all of the Mailitems in the Inbox into a collection, then restrict them to just the Unread ones.
Dim inbox As Outlook.MAPIFolder = Nothing
Dim WithEvents unreadItems As Outlook.Items
inbox = Me.Session.GetDefaultFolder(Outlook.OlDefaultFolders.olFolderInbox)
unreadItems = inbox.Items.Restrict("[Unread]=true")
Since unreadItems was Dimmed WithEvents, I could write a Sub to Handle unreadItems.ItemRemove, which would work fine. But the ItemRemove event has no object argument! Doh!
Round 3: Let's say I do the opposite: I get the inbox contents and restrict to [Unread]=false, then use the .ItemAdd event. This would work to a degree, except that it would theoretically call whenever an "[Unread]=false" item was dumped into the Inbox by the user from any folder, not just a change from the Unread to Read group within the Inbox. So, unless I'm misunderstanding something here, also not an option.
Round 4: Now, something I also thought of was simply Dimming the Inbox items collection WithEvents and going off the .ItemChange event, but this event doesn't really specify what changed about the object, so no dice.
In closing, I'm pretty darn stumped with this. I am very close to backing down from my goal. A lame alternative is to alert the user when they receive an email from one of the designated addresses (because I believe the Application.NewMail event won't give me any hassle). But then, I will have to simply alert the user--I won't prompt them to print an email they haven't even read yet.
This alternative is undesirable and I figured that I would present my problem for inspection and suggestion.
P.S. I'm coming from making iPad apps with Objective-C, where I'm building most of the object hierarchy myself...it's weird to have to deal with COM objects that have such limitations.
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1 Answer 1
up vote 3 down vote accepted
I'm not quite sure how you want your UI to behave, because it's not quite clear when the user is done reading their email. One way to look at it is that they are done when they have looked at it, meaning that the inspector window has shown the mail and the user is switching to another one. To catch that, you would probably be best off watching events from the inspector, not the mail items. The other way to look at it is that a mail is read whenever it is marked as Read. Be aware that the user may actually turn off the option to mark items as read automatically! This can be done in Tools->Options->Other->Reading pane, like this:
enter image description here
Also, the user may select items and mark them as read manually, so you need to think about what you want do in that case.
If you want to watch for the change in "read" property of the MailItem, you are very close in round 1. The thing you need to add is that you shouldn't tie all of your handlers to a single subroutine in a single object instance. Instead, you can create your own class, something like this (C# code):
class ItemWatcher
// The Outlook mailitem to watch for
private Microsoft.Office.Interop.Outlook.MailItem itemBeingWatched = null;
public ItemWatcher(Microsoft.Office.Interop.Outlook.MailItem item, Form1 parentForm)
itemBeingWatched = item;
itemBeingWatched.PropertyChange += new Microsoft.Office.Interop.Outlook.ItemEvents_10_PropertyChangeEventHandler(itemBeingWatched_PropertyChange);
void itemBeingWatched_PropertyChange(string Name)
// Respond to property <Name> in the object itemBeingWatched having changed
Then you need to create a collection of your ItemWatcher classes and set them to watch your emails.
Note that you will also need to watch for items you need to add/remove from your collection of watched items, when a new mail arrives or an old mail is deleted/moved.
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Very nice. I suppose I should have thought of that, actually. One question: would it even be possible to achieve the same effect if someone turned off that option (so all emails stayed Read even when they had seen them?). I wonder how the Read Receipt functionality behaves when Outlook is configured that way. I'll have to check it out. Either way, you've basically solved my problem! – Matt Mc Nov 16 '11 at 23:41
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| <urn:uuid:3c1f22b3-36b7-48cb-a46e-6cf754862e17> | 2 | 1.617188 | 0.185128 | en | 0.937333 | http://stackoverflow.com/questions/8145506/read-event-for-mailitem-in-outlook-2007-vsto-vb-net |
In recent years, several states have eliminated the legal requirement that all motorcyclists wear protective helmets when riding. Effective August 1, 1997, Arkansas changed its motorcycle helmet law to require helmet use only for riders under age 21, and effective September 1, 1997, Texas required helmet use only for riders under age 21 and for older riders who have not completed a rider education course or who do not have at least $10,000 medical insurance coverage. Kentucky also repealed its universal helmet law. Effective July 15, 1998, that state required helmet use only for riders under age 21, riders operating with a learner's permit or licensed but with less than one year of riding experience. Effective August 15, 1999, Louisiana repealed its universal helmet law, thereafter only requiring riders under the age of 18 and those without at least $10,000 of medical insurance coverage to wear helmets. Florida is the most recent state to eliminate its universal helmet law, effective July 1, 2000.
The present work evaluates the effects of the helmet law changes in Kentucky and Louisiana. It follows a recently completed examination of the law changes in Arkansas and Texas (Preusser et al., 2000). To provide the appropriate context for the results, this chapter reviews the history of motorcycle helmet use laws in the United States and summarizes the effects of enacting, amending, and repealing these laws. The material is an update of that originally reported by Preusser et al. (2000).
1966-1975: Most States Enact Universal Helmet Use Laws in Response to a Federal Requirement
Prior to 1966, no state had enacted a motorcycle helmet use law. The Highway Safety Act of 1966 (P.L. 89-564) changed this situation abruptly. The Act required the Secretary of Transportation to set uniform standards for state highway safety programs. One of these standards, issued in 1967, dealt with motorcycle safety. It included the requirement that states adopt universal helmet use laws -- laws that mandate helmet use by all motorcycle riders. States that failed to comply would lose a portion of their federal-aid highway construction funds.
States immediately began to enact and implement universal helmet laws. Twenty-two states had universal helmet use laws in effect by the end of 1967 and 14 more states added laws in 1968. By 1975, 47 states and the District of Columbia had adopted universal helmet use laws.
From the first, helmet use laws generated controversy. The Illinois law, effective in 1967, was repealed in 1969 after being declared unconstitutional by the Illinois Supreme Court.
Michigan enacted a universal helmet law in 1967, repealed it in 1968, and enacted it again in 1969. Kansas enacted a universal helmet law in 1967, amended it to cover only riders under 21 in 1970, and reinstated universal coverage in 1972. Oklahoma did likewise, enacting a universal helmet law in 1967, amending it to cover only riders under 21 in 1969, and reinstating universal coverage in 1975 (finally amending it again in 1976 to cover only riders under 18).
1976-1980: Half the States Repeal or Amend their Universal Helmet Use Laws after Congress Eliminates Sanctions
In 1975, under the authority of the Highway Safety Act of 1966, the Secretary of Transportation was prepared to penalize the three states (California, Illinois, and Utah) still lacking universal helmet laws by withholding the specified portion of their federal-aid highway construction funds. This action prompted Congress to revisit the Highway Safety Act. Congress eliminated the motorcycle helmet law requirement and withdrew the potential withholding of funds from states without such laws. As a result, many states reconsidered their laws. By 1978, 25 states had repealed their universal helmet laws or amended them to cover only riders below a specified age (typically 18). Two more states did the same in 1979 and 1980, reducing the total number of states with universal helmet laws to 19 and the District of Columbia.
1981-1988: Period of Stability
In contrast to the preceding 15 years, the 1980s saw little legislative activity on the issue.. In 1983, Wyoming became the twenty-eighth state to repeal its universal law and require use only by riders under 18. In 1982, Louisiana re-enacted the universal use law it had repealed in 1976.
1989-1994: Gradual Re-enactment and Congressional Encouragement
Oregon and Texas re-enacted universal helmet use laws in 1989. Nebraska and Washington followed suit in 1990, as did Maryland in 1992. California, a state with more than 10 percent of the nation's registered motorcycles and one of only two states that had never had a helmet use law applicable to adults, implemented a universal law in 1992, following extensive debate and publicity. From 1992 to 1996, 25 states and the District of Columbia had universal helmet use laws in effect. Another 22 states had laws applicable only to young riders (usually those under the age of 18), while three states (Colorado, Illinois, and Iowa) had no use helmet law at all.
During this time, Congress once again took an interest in motorcycle helmets. In April 1990, Senators Moynihan and Chafee requested the United States General Accounting Office (GAO) to review and evaluate the available information on helmet effectiveness in preventing deaths and serious injuries, the effect of helmet laws on helmet use and motorcycle rider fatalities, and the costs to society of injuries to unhelmeted motorcyclists. GAO conducted the requested review and reported to Congress in July 1991. The report concluded that "helmet use reduces fatality rates and reduces injury severity among survivors of motorcycle accidents" and that "universal helmet laws have been very effective in increasing helmet use, virtually doubling use compared with experience without a law or with a limited law applying only to young riders. Under universal helmet laws, most states experienced 20 to 40 percent lower fatality rates than during periods without laws or under limited laws." The report recommended that "because there is convincing evidence that helmets save lives and reduce society's burden of caring for injured riders, the Congress may wish to consider encouraging states to enact and retain universal helmet laws. The Congress could return to the use of penalties [as in the 1966 Act], use incentives (e.g., making additional funds available to states that have universal laws), or use a combination of penalties and incentives" (GAO, 1991, p. 31).
With the GAO report findings as support, Congress used both a carrot and a stick to promote universal helmet laws as part of the Intermodal Surface Transportation Efficiency Act of 1991, commonly known as ISTEA. The carrot was additional federal funding for states. ISTEA provided special "incentive" grants to states with both universal motorcycle helmet laws and passenger vehicle safety belt use laws. A state qualified for a first-year grant by having these two laws in effect. In subsequent years, the state also was required to exceed minimum motorcycle helmet and safety belt use levels (helmet use of 75 percent in the second year and 85 percent in the third year). Twenty-three states and the District of Columbia received grants for one or more of the fiscal years 1992, 1993, and 1994 for which the grants were authorized.
As the stick, ISTEA provided that states without both a universal motorcycle helmet law and a safety belt use law by October 1, 1993, would have a portion of their fiscal year 1995 Federal-aid highway funds transferred to their highway safety programs. As most states had safety belt use laws in place, the provision's main goal was to encourage states to enact universal helmet laws.
The carrot and stick had little effect on state motorcycle helmet laws. Maryland has been the only state to enact a universal helmet law since 1992. At the end of fiscal year 1995, twenty-three states had safety belt use laws but did not have universal helmet laws by October 1993 and consequently saw the specified portion of their Federal-aid highway funds transferred in that fiscal year. Three additional states had a universal helmet law but lacked a safety belt use law, and two states lacked both laws.
1995-2001: Congress Acts Again; Five States Drop Universal Helmet Laws
In November 1995, as part of the National Highway System Designation Act, Congress repealed the ISTEA transfer provision for states lacking universal helmet laws, effective with fiscal year 1996. Efforts to amend or repeal universal helmet laws grew in many states and, as noted, Arkansas, Florida, Kentucky, Louisiana and Texas repealed their laws. At the end of 2001, 20 states and the District of Columbia had universal helmet laws in effect. Another 27 states had laws applicable only to some riders (typically riders under a specified age), while three states had no helmet law at all. (1) Figure 1 shows the number of states with a universal helmet law in effect at the end of each year, beginning in 1966. The shaded states in Figure 2 are those with a universal helmet law in effect at the end of 2001.
Figure 1. Universal Helmet Law States
figure - states with universal helmet laws by year 1966 - 2000
(1)The states with universal helmet laws at the end of 2001 were AL, CA, GA, MD, MA, MI, MS, MO, NB, NV, NJ, NY, NC, OR, PA, TN, VT, VA, WA and WV. States with no helmet laws were CO, IL and IA. See the Appendix for State Helmet Law History.
Figure 2. Helmet Law Status in 2001
figure - u.s. map showing states with universal helmet laws
Highlighted states have universal helmet laws.
The effects of state helmet law enactment and repeal have been studied in great detail. GAO's 1991 review summarizes all studies available in 1990. The GAO study and studies that have appeared since the GAO review are discussed below.
1991 GAO Review of Helmet Use Law Studies
GAO conducted a broad search for studies as of 1990 and discovered 46 that were published between 1975 and 1990, used data from the United States, and "contained original data or original analyses and met minimum criteria for methodological soundness" (GAO, 1991, p. 2).
GAO found nine studies that included data on helmet use in states with and without universal laws. These studies:
"reported that helmet use under universal laws ranged from 92 to 100 percent, while without a law or under a limited law [requiring only some riders to wear helmets], helmet use generally ranged from 42 to 59 percent. These data also indicated low helmet use among young riders in states with limited helmet laws" (GAO, 1991, p. 4).
GAO found twenty studies that compared motorcycle rider fatality rates under universal helmet laws with rates during periods before enactment or after repeal of these laws.
"These studies consistently showed that fatality rates were lower when universal helmet laws were in effect; most rates ranged from 20 to 40 percent lower. Several of these studies compared periods before a helmet law was enacted, while it was in effect, and after it was repealed. They showed that the decreases in fatality rates when laws were enacted were matched by comparable increases when the laws were repealed" (GAO, 1991, p. 4)].
GAO found thirteen studies with data on some aspect of the societal costs of motorcycle accidents.
"These studies indicated that nonhelmeted riders were more likely to (1) need ambulance service, (2) be admitted to a hospital as an inpatient, (3) have higher hospital charges, (4) need neurosurgery and intensive care, (5) need rehabilitation, and (6) be permanently impaired and need long-term care" (GAO, 1991, p. 4).
Studies Since 1990
Several studies have appeared since GAO's review. Some investigate the effects of enacted helmet laws in several states. Others provide new data on the effectiveness of helmets in preventing injury.
Arkansas was among the first group of states that adopted a universal helmet law in 1967. That law was repealed as of August 1, 1997. Preusser et al. (2000) found that following the law repeal, helmet use declined from 97 percent to 52 percent while fatalities and injuries increased. The percentage of cases involving head injury also increased.
Arkansas has relatively few motorcyclists fatalities per year. In the three years before the repeal (1994-1996) the state experienced an average of 21 motorcyclists killed per year. This increased to 25 killed per year in the three years after the law change (1998-2000).
California's universal helmet law became effective in January 1992. Kraus et al. (1995) observed helmet use at 60 locations in seven California counties, twice before and four times after California's law became effective. They concluded that helmet use increased from about 50 percent in 1991 to more than 99 percent in 1992.
Kraus et al. (1994) compared California's motorcycle crash experience in 1991, before the law, with 1992, after the universal law. Motorcycle fatalities statewide decreased 37 percent in 1992 compared with a year earlier. The fatality rate per registered motorcycle decreased 26 percent.
There is now considerably more data regarding motorcycle fatalities in California since its adoption of a universal helmet law. In the five years immediately before the universal law (1987-1991), the annual average of motorcyclists killed was 596. In the five years following adoption (1992-1996), the average was 274, a 54 percent decrease. Figure 3 shows the trend in the state's motorcyclist fatalities over the 1987-2000 period. Prior to the adoption of the universal helmet law, fatalities had declined from 716 in 1987 to 505 in 1991. A sharp decline was then experienced following enactment of the law. This was followed by gradual declines through 1998, then increases in 1999 and 2000, mirroring national trends.
Kraus and Peek (1995) studied injured motorcyclists treated at 18 hospitals in 10 California counties between January 1, 1991 and December 31, 1993 (2,037 patients in 1991, before the law, and 2,753 in 1992 and 1993, after the law). Helmet use among these injured motorcyclists rose from 30 percent in 1991 to 86 percent in 1992 and 88 percent in 1993. Both the severity and number of head injuries per rider decreased after the law.
Figure 3. California Motorcyclists Killed, 1987-2000 (Source: FARS)
figure - number killed versus year 1987 - 2000
Maryland's universal helmet law was adopted in 1992. Mitchell et al. (2001) used autopsy records to study the effects of the law. They reported that there was a 36 percent decline in the number of motorcyclist fatalities in the 33-month period immediately following the law compared to the 33 months just prior to the law. Helmeted motorcyclists were significantly less likely to have died from traumatic brain injury as compared to non-helmeted motorcyclists. In the five years prior to the law's adoption (1987-1991) the state averaged 49 motorcyclist fatalities per year. In the five years after the law's passage (1993-1997) the state averaged 28 motorcyclist fatalities. However, as shown in Figure 4, fatalities have been on the increase in recent years.
Figure 4. Maryland Motorcyclists Killed, 1987-2000 (Source: FARS)
figure - number killed versus year 1987 - 2000
Nebraska's universal helmet law became effective in January 1989; a previous universal law had been declared unconstitutional by the Nebraska Supreme Court and was repealed in 1977. Mulleman, Mlinek, and Collicott (1991) observed a 26 percent reduction in crashes per registered motorcycle in 1990, compared to the five previous years and to five adjoining states without universal helmet laws. They also studied all motorcyclists with reported crash injuries in two urban counties during 1988 and 1989 (421 in 1988 and 250 in 1989). They found that the universal law produced sharp declines in the numbers and rates of injuries, hospital transports, hospital admissions, severe injuries to the head, and deaths.
Nebraska is another state with relatively few motorcyclist fatalities. Nevertheless, in the five years just prior to adopting a universal helmet law, the state averaged 24 fatalities per year. In the five years just after the universal law, fatalities declined to an average of 10 per year. In 2000 the state experienced just three motorcyclist fatalities.
Texas enacted a universal helmet use law in 1968, repealed it in 1977 and required helmet use only for riders under 18, and re-enacted a universal helmet law in 1989. Lund, Williams, and Womack (1991) present data showing that helmet use increased from less than 50 percent just before the 1989 universal law to 90 percent immediately after the law became effective and to 95 percent two months later.
Mounce et al. (1992) found an 11 percent reduction in serious injury crashes per registered motorcycle after the law, using police-reported data. Hospital data from the first nine months after the law showed that motorcyclists injured after the law suffered less serious injuries and were less likely to have head or face injuries than motorcyclists injured before the law. Fleming and Becker (1992) found a 13 percent reduction in fatalities and in severe injuries in the first 12 months after the universal law was reinstated, after using time series methods to control for long-term declines in motorcycle fatalities. They found a 57 percent decrease in head-related fatalities and a 55 percent reduction in severe head-related injuries among hospital-admitted motorcyclists.
Effective September 1, 1997 Texas again repealed its universal helmet law and thereafter required helmet use only by riders under age 21 or who had not completed a rider education course or who did not have at least $10,000 medical insurance coverage. Preusser et al. (2000) found that the 1997 repeal was accompanied by a decline in helmet use, an increase in fatalities, while non-fatal injuries did not change appreciably. However, there was a marked increase in traumatic brain injury cases and in the costs of treating these cases. Also, in the three years immediately following the law change (1998-2000), an average of 180 motorcyclists were killed each year compared to an average of 119 in the three years (1994-1996) before the law change; a 51 percent increase. See Figure 5.
Figure 5. Texas Motorcyclists Killed, 1994-2000 (Source: FARS)
figure - number of fatalities versus year 1994 - 2000
Washington's universal helmet law became effective in June 1990. Mock et al. (1995) analyzed 992 motorcycle crash victims admitted to the Seattle region's only level 1 trauma center from 1986 through 1993. They found that severe head injuries decreased from 20 percent of all admitted patients before the law to 9 percent after the law. Mortality among admitted patients decreased following the law.
In the five full years (1984-1988) before the universal law was adopted, Washington averaged 77 motorcyclist fatalities per year. In the five full years after the law (1991-1995), the average declined to 39 fatalities per year.
Helmet Effects. As part of the 1991 ISTEA legislation, Congress required NHTSA to study the effects of safety belt and motorcycle helmet use in crashes. NHTSA conducted the analysis using its Crash Outcome Data Evaluation System (CODES) data system, in which seven states linked data from their police crash reports, emergency medical services, hospital emergency departments, hospital discharge files, claims and other sources. NHTSA's 1996 Report to Congress found that "motorcycle helmet effectiveness ranged from 9 percent in preventing any kind of injury to 35 percent in preventing a fatality." "The average inpatient charge for motorcycle crash victims receiving inpatient care was $14,377 for those who used helmets, and $15,578 for those who did not" (NHTSA, 1996).
Additional analyses of the CODES data showed that helmet use for motorcycle riders involved in crashes ranged from 80 to 98 percent in three CODES states with universal helmet laws and from 30 to 49 percent in three CODES states without universal laws. Helmets were found to be 65 percent effective in preventing brain injuries in a crash (NHTSA, 1998a).
Sosin, Sacks, and Wilson (1990) used National Center for Health Statistics Multiple Cause of Death data to study motorcycle fatalities from 1979 through 1986. They found that 53 percent of the 28,749 motorcycle fatalities were associated with head injuries. Rates per population for motorcycle fatalities associated with head injury (adjusted by age, sex, and race) were almost twice as high in states without universal helmet laws as in states with universal helmet laws. Fatalities per registered motorcycle also were greater in states without universal helmet laws. In the two states that dropped universal coverage during the study period, motorcyclist fatalities per population rose substantially: by 184 percent in South Carolina and by 73 percent in Wyoming.
Kelley et al. (1991) studied 398 motorcycle crash victims in eight Illinois medical centers from April through October 1988. Illinois had no helmet law at that time. They concluded that unhelmeted patients had higher overall injuries (measured by the Injury Severity Score) and more frequent head and neck injuries than helmeted motorcyclists.
Kraus et al. (1995) studied 174 fatally injured and 379 nonfatally injured crash-involved motorcyclists in Los Angeles County, California, in 1988-1989, before California's universal helmet law. They concluded that "those not using helmets where helmet use is voluntary are a higher risk population than helmet users. They are more likely to be involved in crashes but, because they are unhelmeted, less likely to be protected against serious head injury."
Sakar, Peek, and Kraus (1995) studied 173 fatally injured motorcyclists in Los Angeles County, California between July 1, 1988, and October 31, 1989. They concluded that head and cervical spine injuries were more frequent in unhelmeted than in helmeted fatally injured motorcyclists.
Rowland et al. (1996) studied 86 fatally injured and 386 hospitalized motorcyclists in the state of Washington in 1989 (when Washington's helmet law covered only riders under age 18). They concluded that "motorcycle helmet use is strongly and independently associated with reduced likelihood and severity of head injury, reduced overall injury severity, and reduced probability of motorcycle-related hospitalization and death attributable to head injury."
Bigelow (2001) examined CODES data from 18,394 motorcyclists involved in crashes in the State of Wisconsin. Helmeted riders were less likely to have sustained traumatic brain injury across a variety of crash related factors including crash type, speed limit, highway type, and alcohol involvement. The average hospital charges for the brain injury cases was almost $28,806 and the average length of stay was 10.6 days.
Finison (2001) examined CODES data from 806 motorcyclists involved in crashes in the State of Maine during 1995 and 1996. Riders not wearing helmets were found to be three times more likely to have head injuries requiring EMS transport, hospitalization, or resulting in death than motorcyclists who were helmeted.
The studies since the 1991 GAO report confirm GAO's conclusions with more recent data. All studies concluded that universal motorcycle helmet laws raise helmet use to 90 percent or higher from pre-law levels of 50 percent or lower. Universal laws reduce motorcycle fatalities, fatality rates, and severe head injuries. The studies also confirm that helmets reduce the probability of injury, of head injury, and of fatality for crash-involved motorcyclists. | <urn:uuid:16edb1dc-4775-4cb0-ba3e-2c4d2b343889> | 3 | 2.921875 | 0.02579 | en | 0.955508 | http://stnw.nhtsa.gov/people/injury/pedbimot/motorcycle/kentuky-la03/Background.html |
Take the 2-minute tour ×
I'm trying to compile the firmware for my linksys WRVS4400N.
ls shows that exist but when it try to run it bash says it does not exist. I can also cat it, and it is an executable, not a shell script.
share|improve this question
what is output of ls -la for that particular file? – Ansis Atteka Aug 18 '11 at 21:29
@Ansis -rwxrwxrwx 1 1011 1011 31991 May 18 2006 mkdep – MMavipc Aug 18 '11 at 21:37
show us the line from your script, and the exact error message. What is your current directory when you try to invoke the "missing" file? – glenn jackman Aug 18 '11 at 22:15
@glenn It's not my script that's invoking it, it's cisco's makefile, I cant get the exact error message since it's running in a vm, but, bash: /pathto/mkdep file or folder not found – MMavipc Aug 18 '11 at 22:19
So that's where those trolls are hiding... – Breakthrough Aug 19 '11 at 0:30
4 Answers 4
up vote 5 down vote accepted
You mentioned that the output of file mkdep is 32-bit elf. You're running a 64-bit VM.
$ uname -m
$ ls -l ./example
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 92312 2011-08-18 16:52 ./example
$ file ./example
$ ./example
-bash: ./example: No such file or directory
Just make a new 32-bit VM and compile it there.
share|improve this answer
If you install ia32-libs, it should work afterwards. No need to create a 32bit VM. – Phil Feb 19 '13 at 15:32
Is it set to being executable? If not, then chmod +x filename. Is it in your PATH? If not, then call it as ./filename rather than just filename.
share|improve this answer
Its' set to executable, I've done ./mkdep to call it as well as using the full path, no dice. – MMavipc Aug 18 '11 at 21:26
You may need to run the file as sudo. – D'Arvit Aug 18 '11 at 23:17
When you try to execute a file and bash says it doesn't exist it sometimes means that bash believes the file is a script and that the interpreter specified in the first line (#!) does not exist.
If the files is named mkdep I would post the output of
file mkdep
hd mkdep | head
strace ./mkdep 2>mkdep.strace.txt
The strace command give info about system calls made, for example strace ls 2>ls.t puts the following into ls.t
execve("/bin/ls", ["ls"], [/* 22 vars */]) = 0
brk(0) = 0x8061000
fstat64(3, {st_mode=S_IFREG|0644, st_size=32311, ...}) = 0
mmap2(NULL, 32311, PROT_READ, MAP_PRIVATE, 3, 0) = 0xb7f7a000
close(3) = 0
read(3, "\177ELF\1\1\1\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\3\0\3\0\1\0\0\0\240\30\0\0004\0\0\0"..., 512) =512
fstat64(3, {st_mode=S_IFREG|0644, st_size=30624, ...}) = 0
share|improve this answer
(running on vm, too lazy to type everything out) ./mkdep returns file or folder not found. file mkdep returns 32-bit elf exe, and head mkdep returns binary data – MMavipc Aug 18 '11 at 21:53
mkdep is possibly generating this message because it can't find a file it needs?? – Linker3000 Aug 18 '11 at 22:04
@linker3000: Nope, it says Bash: /dirto/mkdep: file or folder not found – MMavipc Aug 18 '11 at 22:12
@MMavipc: try strace ./mkdep 2>mkdep.strace.txt this should give you some idea of what is going on. You may need to install strace from repositories. – RedGrittyBrick Aug 18 '11 at 23:08
Are you changing IFS in your script? I too encountered the same problem in one of my scripts and thought the same (32 bit file being read by shell script on 64 bit machine). But that wasn't the issue in my case. Instead, I was changing IFS to comma ',' and back to new line which somehow confused the parser and caused this error.
I just removed any change in IFS and it works just fine now!!!
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Your Answer
| <urn:uuid:87c0fdfc-6fb8-4bde-8120-cd1194f7ecf6> | 2 | 2.109375 | 0.437721 | en | 0.815542 | http://superuser.com/questions/324990/bash-says-file-does-not-exist-but-it-does?answertab=oldest |
Take the 2-minute tour ×
Is it possible to move icons (files) on the desktop of Windows XP without touching the mouse, using the keyboard only?
EDIT: I am specifically interested in an answer that does not involve simply emulating the mouse.
share|improve this question
Move them where? – Ƭᴇcʜιᴇ007 Aug 31 '11 at 21:10
Just around the desktop. – Ram Rachum Aug 31 '11 at 21:15
3 Answers 3
up vote -1 down vote accepted
No it is not possible.
The only way to move windows using your keyboard only is to use the "Move" command in the context menu on the title bar or task bar button. There is no "Move" command in the context menu of an icon on the desktop, neither is there an "Arrange Icons By" option.
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What's with the downvotes? If I'm incorrect, help me out by showing me how. If you just don't like me, man up. – music2myear Aug 31 '11 at 22:16
I downvoted because you admitted yourself that you're wrong on Stuart's answer. You can do this out of the box with Mouse Keys. Now that I see OP doesn't agree, though (to be fair, I think it IS an accurate answer to his question as worded) I'm not sure if I should retract or not. Hmmm. EDIT: Nevermind, I can't unless you edit. – Shinrai Aug 31 '11 at 22:28
superuser.com/questions/330469/… – nelaar Sep 12 '11 at 16:42
Another Superuser thread shows the steps for Windows 7 - checking Windows XP Accessibility should cover any differences for XP.
Steps from other thread pasted below:
2. Click Make the mouse easier to use.
4. Use the keys on the numeric keypad to move the mouse.
5. To move the mouse pointer: Press the arrow keys on the numeric keypad to move the pointer up, down, left, and right. Press the Home, PgUp, End, and PgDn keys to move the pointer diagonally.
6. To drag an item: Move the pointer over the item you want to drag, and then pres Ins. Use the direction keys to move the item, and then press Del to drop the item where you want it to go.
7. To click an item: Move the pointer over the item you want to click, and then press 5. To double-click an item, press the plus sign (+). To right-click an item, press the minus sign (-).
PS: You can also turn on Mouse Keys by pressing Left Alt+Left Shift+Num Lock.
share|improve this answer
@Ram Rachum - It answers the question of "Is it possible to move icons (files) on the desktop of Windows XP without touching the mouse, using the keyboard only?" Just because you don't LIKE it (and I don't either, it's clunky and not entirely with the spirit of what I think you probably meant) doesn't mean it doesn't COUNT. – Shinrai Aug 31 '11 at 22:30
+1: this is a valid answer. – surfasb Aug 31 '11 at 23:11
@Ram Rachum I'll refer you to my previous comment. If you're not happy with the responses, then edit your question to reflect what you actually want to know. – Stuart McLaughlin Sep 1 '11 at 13:59
@Ram Rachum Apart from the fact that my answer utilises the 'Ease of Access Center. From Microsoft: "The Ease of Access Center is a central location that you can use to set up the accessibility settings and programs available in Windows". I still have no idea what you are trying to achieve and as Shinrai said, you've received an answer to your question and there doesn't appear to be any alternatives, so the short answer to your question is 'Yes' but since you don't like that answer, it's 'No'. – Stuart McLaughlin Sep 1 '11 at 15:25
@Ram Rachum - I would say that your definition of "can" and "can't" needs a bit of modification. I would say you can't do it in such a manner that it's worthwhile, unless you have no other options. Just saying that you can't implies that it's completely impossible, which is clearly not the case. The answer is valid though, and if you ever for whatever reason absolutely had to move some icons and you had no pointing device available, this would be your only solution. – Shinrai Sep 2 '11 at 14:53
You can do a very inefficient trick!
You'll need to know that SHIFT+F10 allows you to open right-click context menu (call it CM for short). For best effect you'll need the following options to be set like so:
• Uncheck "CM > View > Auto arrange icons"
• Check "CM > View > Align icons to grid"
Now follow this series of steps, mix it up, add in some delete steps until you get the desired the result:
1. Put an item on the desktop (e.g. "CM > New > Text Document", hopefully the icon you want to move is already there.)
2. Select a random item using Down-Arrow key, then navigate to the item you want to move using arrow keys.
3. Push CTRL+C to copy the item onto your clipboard.
4. Push CTRL+V several times to fill up your desktop with that icon.
5. Locate the icon at the location you want, then delete the others.
6. Rename the file you want to keep ("CM > Rename")
Basically you can treat the desktop as a table of icons. After filling it, you delete the cells that you don't want.
You can re-select the desktop after having an item selected by deleting something. You should copy something then delete it to use this trick.
share|improve this answer
Haha........... – Ram Rachum Sep 12 '11 at 12:13
that ... is sketchy ... beyond measure. I like it! – warren Sep 12 '11 at 21:48
Your Answer
| <urn:uuid:4889b7ab-e2d1-49cd-90f5-88ad5bf850bd> | 2 | 1.757813 | 0.410743 | en | 0.912163 | http://superuser.com/questions/330469/can-you-move-items-on-the-desktop-with-the-keyboard-only?answertab=oldest |
Take the 2-minute tour ×
I'm running Virtualbox 4.1.2 (with the corresponding extension pack) on an up-to-date Ubuntu 11.10 host with Windows XP as a guest. I have a National Instruments USB-6251 device which I would like to use with my Windows guest OS. (since MATLAB's DAQ toolbox is only available in Windows)
NI does offer an RPM based driver installer, but the installer is giving me headaches because it can't find GLIBC since the "RPM database isn't populated" and when I bypass that error with the installer's --nodeps option, it fails saying that a 3.0 kernel is not supported and that I need a 2.6 kernel. Due to, at least, these two hurdles I'd rather not waste more time trying to set up a Linux driver when I don't need to use the device with Linux.
Running lsusb displays the device as
Bus 002 Device 008: ID 3923:72a0 National Instruments Corp.
and running lsusb -d 3923: -v returns a bunch of information.
But right-clicking the USB device icon in the virtual machine window's status bar indicates no device is connected.
No USB devices connected context-menu
Who can I get the Windows guest OS to see the device?
share|improve this question
1 Answer 1
up vote 7 down vote accepted
As often I found my answer while writing up the question. Posted it anway so others might benefit.
Turns out the issue wasn't that Linux didn't recognize the device, as I intially thought, but simply that my user didn't have enough permissions to access USB devices in general. Running
usermod -a -G vboxusers username
as suggested by Virtualbox, and then logging in and out, got it working.
enter image description here
share|improve this answer
Just be careful with usermod. If you don't use the right flags, you end up wiping out your groups. – Rob May 2 '12 at 17:41
Your Answer
| <urn:uuid:42c0ed91-73dc-406c-923f-4ff41f7e9250> | 2 | 1.671875 | 0.057877 | en | 0.915352 | http://superuser.com/questions/419582/virtualbox-linux-host-pass-non-recognized-usb-device-through-to-windows-guest?answertab=votes |
Take the 2-minute tour ×
When I want to edit a file from within a terminal window, the edit command is not recognised. I want it to open my editor (sublime text editor 2) and took the following steps:
Created a symbolic link on my path:
specified it as my default editor:
export EDITOR='subl -w'
The command subl starts the editor up, so that worked fine. I can also see that the environment variable is set correctly.
But I stil get the "-bash: edit: command not found" error when trying to edit a file by entering edit ~/.bashrc for example.
share|improve this question
Setting the EDITOR environment variable will just cause other (Unix-y) programs, e.g. svn or git, that require some kind of editing, to launch Sublime Text 2 instead of e.g. vi. If you're following a tutorial or manual, you're probably confusing the Windows and OS X parts. – Daniel Beck Aug 27 '12 at 9:16
When my collegues enter 'edit file.txt' it opens with a gui editor. When I do that I get the error as specified in the title. How do I make 'edit' open a gui text editor? – P5ycH0 Aug 29 '12 at 12:40
You did the same thing but with subl. Just rename the link you created in the first command. – Daniel Beck Aug 29 '12 at 12:53
1 Answer 1
up vote 0 down vote accepted
Edit is not a bash built-in command.
This means that the shell searches for a binary called edit in your PATH or an alias or a function called edit.
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Saturday, March 02, 2013
Signs of Life
Assad's forces are still capable of local ground successes despite their overall decline in fortunes.
Assad's troops have opened a supply line to their forces holding out in Aleppo:
Even in the waning days of World War II, the Germans managed to scrape up a major counter-attack. But that wasn't the tide turning.
Assad still has potent combat power compared to the rebels. That doesn't mean he has reversed his losing trend with a local success near Aleppo.
UPDATE: Rebels took a police academy in Aleppo that had been under attack for quite some time:
The walled complex at Khan al-Asal was turned into an army barrack from where artillery and rocket launchers gave cover for Assad's forces holding around 40 percent of Aleppo, the opposition sources said.
Assad still holds 40% of the city. | <urn:uuid:66e04cd8-4ce1-4100-b561-75eb42febce3> | 2 | 1.742188 | 0.078491 | en | 0.974993 | http://thedignifiedrant.blogspot.com/2013/03/signs-of-life.html |
The Chart Workshop: Sky Stories
Question: I’ve just started with astrology, and I’m having a hard time figuring out which aspects are the important ones. How do you learn this? Is there a system?
I hate to say it, but nothing but experience and instinct will teach you, and you’ll develop your own method as time goes on. There are as many ways to read a chart as there are astrologers. It’s more important to see what planets are highlighted, rather than aspects. I suggest, instead of focusing on aspects, try to find the stories the chart is trying to tell you.
There are some basic rules. For example, begin with the trinity of the Sun, the Moon, and the Ascendant. It will give you an overview. I add the dispositor of the Sun and the Ascendant ruler. Don’t just look at them shallowly, really look at them. Find the story. What house is the Sun in? That will give you an idea of the general life path, the main area of life the Sun wants to shine its light in. What is the dispositor, and what house is that in? That will show you where the Sun will apply its powerful energy. Dispositors of the Sun are very important, and often neglected. For example, you may think that an Aries is an Aries, but actually, there are 12 different types of Aries, depending on what sign Mars falls in. (And of course, house, sign, and other aspects differentiate it further.) An Aries with the Sun in the ninth is here to explore ninth house things, to adventure, to seek, to spread the word. If the dispositor, Mars, is in the fifth house, he will do it by some creative or self-expressive means. If that Mars is conjunct the Moon, it may mean exploring the psyche (an actor, perhaps, or any creative work that involves inner exploration), or through working with children or food or anything that could be symbolized by the Moon. That Moon/Mars aspect will be prominent, no matter what else is in the chart. This way of looking at the chart is much more ‘organic’ and meaningful than looking at aspects alone. You can do the same thing for the Moon and the Ascendant ruler, keeping in mind that the Moon sums up our past experience, and the Ascendant is involved with processing current experience. These three stories interweave to give us a real sense of the life path and purpose. If any of the influences are ‘doubled,’ say, the Ascendant in the above example is Leo, and the ruler is the Sun, those two ‘stories are brought together and that kicks the influence level of the planet way up.
Any planet on an angle will be dominant. Whatever touches it will pour into that end of the angle. Cardinal planets (houses 1, 4, 7 and 10) also like to show off. A stellium (three or more planets lumped together) will have strong influence.
Have a lookout for themes in a chart. The planets that represent those themes will point out which issues are most important to the client. See, in particular, if there is any particular emphasis on an outer planet. (See, “Adventures in Consulting: The Rule of Three.”) (I sometimes think there are three ‘tribes’ of people, Uranians, Neptunians and Plutonians). Aspects to that planet will also be prominent.
Since you mention that you are new to astrology, please allow me to make a suggestion. The single greatest thing that will help you to understand a chart is to really understand what the different houses represent, at all levels. They can manifest in either a mundane, psychological or spiritual way, and learning what they mean will help you understand in what way the different planetary energies may manifest. For example, the sixth house relates to health, but it also relates to the workplace. On a psychological level, it relates to the ‘clearing out’ that we do, a burning away of old habits and tendencies. No matter what sign is on the cusp (which will indicate the manner in which we do these sixth house things), it’s a Virgo house (Virgo being the natural sixth sign). Good health requires inner balance, which is what Virgo strives for. The workplace is where we serve. The sixth house is also our crisis of transformation, our crucible, where we must sort out what works from what doesn’t. Once you understand this, you will understand that a planet in a house has a certain task to perform, a certain function, and its purpose either blends or clashes with other planetary energies. Aspects to the planet will either aid or impede the planet in its task. I suggest Dane Rudhyar’s book, The Twelve Houses, or the book by Howard Sassportas, if you can find it.
About this entry | <urn:uuid:2b6268e5-d3af-4c00-bb73-6d6513ba61b7> | 2 | 1.96875 | 0.302594 | en | 0.948903 | http://theinnerwheel.com/2009/11/01/the-chart-workshop-sky-stories/ |
Tolkien Gateway
Nan Elmoth
Revision as of 23:04, 10 March 2006 by Hyarion (Talk | contribs)
Melian enchanted Thingol in Nan Elmoth, before they founded the realm of Doriath. Later the trees grew to be the tallest and darkest in Beleriand, blocking the sun entirely from the forest floor, and Eöl the Dark Elf dwelt there. Nan Elmoth was held to be part of Doriath, and Eöl paid Thingol with the black sword Gurthang as a fee for living there. | <urn:uuid:fdcad053-8e1d-4547-b890-bb354c7fec82> | 2 | 1.523438 | 0.347001 | en | 0.967832 | http://tolkiengateway.net/w/index.php?title=Nan_Elmoth&oldid=12649 |
First genetically modified salmon sparks FDA debate
Updated | Comment | Recommend E-mail | Print |
The AquAdvantageAE Salmon is much larger than the non-transgenic Atlantic salmon sibling of the same age. The FDA will review the Massachusetts-based AquaBounty Technologies' proposal for production and sale of a new Atlantic salmon with a growth hormone gene from the Chinook salmon that allows it to grow to market size in half the time.
AquaBounty Technologies, Inc.
A Food and Drug Administration panel will spend Sunday and Monday pondering the science of whether the first genetically engineered animal— in this case a salmon — should be sold as food for humans.
The agency's Veterinary Medicine Advisory Committee will offer its opinion to the FDA on whether these salmon are safe for people and the environment. On Tuesday, a public hearing will address whether the salmon can to be labeled as different from conventional salmon.
The Waltham, Mass., company that has been developing these salmon since 1989, AquaBounty Technologies, got a thumbs up from a panel of FDA scientists last month, which found the fish as safe to eat as any other Atlantic salmon.
The FDA is taking comments and has set no timeline for when a final decision is to be made, spokeswoman Siobhan DeLancey says. But AquaBounty CEO Ronald Stotish hopes filets from these genetically engineered salmon could be on sale in the USA as early as 2013.
FDA approval is necessary for the salmon to be sold in the U.S. as food. It's also considered a leader in science-based regulation by many other countries, so if the FDA gives its blessing to the salmon, other countries are likely to follow suit, Stotish says.
To create the AquAdvantage salmon, the company inserted a gene from a close cousin, the chinook salmon, into Atlantic salmon, the species used in fish farms. The gene is for growth hormone and is almost identical to the growth hormone gene the salmon already contains. A second bit of molecular machinery to turn on the gene year-round comes from the ocean pout fish, says Stotish.
Normally an Atlantic salmon would grow only during the warmer months when the days are long. The AquAdvantage salmon grow year-round, as long as they're kept in warmer water and fed sufficiently, Stotish says.
"You can reach two kilos (4.4 pounds) in a little less than two years with our fish, and it takes three years in an unmodified salmon," he says. The salmon also need about 10% less food to achieve the same weight as a normal fish.
Complex safety controls
That savings will be offset by the cost of very stringent biocontrols the company plans to place on the fish to make sure they don't escape in the wild. A concern voiced by the FDA and environmental groups has been that these fish might out-compete wild salmon, further harming already endangered populations.
There are two levels of biocontrol. First, the fertilized eggs are produced in a hatchery on Prince Edward Island in Canada. Baby salmon can live only in fresh water, so if they managed to get to the ocean, they'd die. They're also made to be all female and all sterile.
That doesn't satisfy Eric Hoffman, biotechnology policy campaigner for Friends of the Earth in Washington, D.C.
While young salmon require fresh water, adults can live in the sea, so storms and flooding could wash the breeding population out into the Atlantic, he says. The sterilization method is only 95% to 99% effective, so if even a few fertile salmon escaped in a storm, "these faster-growing fish, they could be bigger and they're going attract more mates," he says.
Stotish counters that if AquAdvantage salmon got into the wild, where food was limited and water temperatures were cold, they'd grow only as fast as regular salmon.
Next, the fertilized eggs are sent to Panama, where they're raised in tanks on dry land. The pens are also surrounded by fences. Even if the fish did escape into a nearby river, the water temperature as the water runs to the ocean is too high for salmon, and they would die.
Eric Hallerman, department chair of fisheries science at Virginia Tech in Blacksburg, says the AquaBounty biological containment plan looks good, especially the attention to training and oversight.
"I expect the results of phase 1 will show that the systems work and none of these fish got out and or if the did they'd die," he says.
Hallerman is hopeful that if AquaBounty's salmon prove to be economically viable when produced in tanks or ponds inland, they might reduce the sometimes environmentally problematic rearing of farmed salmons in pens in the open ocean, which produces waste and higher rates of disease that can be transmitted to wild salmon.
"Suddenly maybe the net pens aren't necessary. So we're having a trade-off here and it's mostly favorable," Hallerman says.
Questions remain
One question raised by several experts has been whether the high levels of containment, and the oversight necessary to make sure they are appropriately strong, would continue if the fish were meant for sale outside the USA. If the fish aren't sold in the USA, no FDA approval is necessary, says Anne Kapuscinski, a professor in the environmental studies program at Dartmouth College in New Hampshire.
"Who will assure that the multiple confinements are used as the use of these fish proliferates? It's not really clear how much authority the FDA has," she says.
Another other problem is that this new fish type might increase salmon consumption, and long-term that could be dangerous for already overfished fish populations because salmon are carnivores. Wild fish, often species humans don't eat, are caught and turned into fish meal to feed farmed salmon. It takes about 2 pounds of wild fish to produce 1 pound of farmed salmon, Kapulchiski says.
As for food safety, Jaydee Hanson, a policy analyst with the Center For Food Safety, says the studies done by the company aren't large enough to know for sure.
The center, which believes that no genetically engineered food sources (all plants up to now) have yet been sufficiently tested, wants large-scale trials of the salmon.
To the FDA, the AquAdvantage salmon are both a human food and an animal drug, in that the genes inserted into the salmon make the fish themselves a drug. Because of that, Hanson says, "the FDA logically can't say this construct is so different for the fish that it's a drug in the fish and then turn around and say it's so similar to the fish that it's the same and safe to eat."
Not the first
The AquaBounty salmon won't be the first genetically engineered animals approved in the USA, though it would be the first meant to be eaten. Already approved are GloFish, a small aquarium fish (actually a zebrafish) genetically engineered to glow a fluorescent shade of red, green or orange under black light.
Another genetically engineered animal already in use are goats that make an anticoagulant called ATryn in their milk. The drug is used to treat a rare disease known as hereditary antithrombin deficiency. The goats themselves and their milk cannot be sold for food. There is only one small colony of 200 or so goats in a guarded facility.
Likely next in line to start the approval process is the Enviropig, created by scientists at the University of Guelph in Canada. These are Yorkshire pigs which have been genetically engineered to be able to digest plant phosphorus more efficiently than normal pigs. Because of this, they don't require expensive supplements in their diet and their manure is much lower in phosphorous — a potent polluter of waterways.
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News World
German polar bear dies after eating coat, purse 0
QMI Agency
A polar bear died at a German zoo after it ate a coat and purse that fell into its enclosure, officials say.
Anton the polar bear was 25 years old. It died Monday at Stuttgart's Wilhelma Zoo.
Staff said they discovered Anton had eaten the items after the bear began to behave strangely and vomit.
The bear died of severe intestinal injury and inflammation.
Normally the bear would just tear the bag and jacket apart, but staffers said this time, "it must have been something very delicious that Anton could not resist."
The zoo said it's not uncommon for "careless" visitors to drop items into animal enclosures, but they need to be told when it happens.
"If we had known that something was in the pen, we might have been able to save Anton," veterinarian Tobias Knauf Witzens said.
Anton could have lived another 15 years if it hadn't eaten the jacket, staff said.
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Wednesday, November 17, 2010
Agflation and the Cross of Gold
Some things never change. American and European history remain "deep," that is dominated by long cycles of debate over fundamental questions, that are never really resolved one way or another. The desire for elites (mostly but not exclusively in the East) for cheap labor and expensive land, and Jacksonian type Westerners (think Sarah Palin and the Tea Party) for expensive labor (their own) and cheap land remains one of these deep cycles. The Federal Reserve's decision to buy back $600 billion of Treasury Bonds, and achieve another $300 billion of repurchases through re-investment of maturing securities, and the resulting inflation of agricultural products, at least in part, is another. Meaning the debate between the Free Silverites, and the Gold advocates, is not over. Just flipped, entirely.
Now of course the Fed is not solely responsible for the inflation of agricultural commodities. As the Financial Times has reported, much of this is due to intense Chinese demand and tight global supply in the face of this increased demand. China has a voracious appetite for cotton, which it turns into cheap clothing exported mostly to the US, various base metals including iron, copper, lead, and tin (propping up the economies of Australia, Chile, Brazil, South Africa, and other commodity exporters) which it turns into various auto parts, cheap electronics, and other consumer goods for the US export market. A rising demand for food, and in particular, more protein, has led to a demand not just for beef and pork imports, but food-stocks including corn, soybeans, and wheat. Meanwhile, floods in Pakistan have destroyed the current harvest, and Pakistan is a major exporter of cotton. Droughts and fires in Russia have led to a ban on exports of grain, and Russia is a major grain exporter. Uncertain harvests in India have led to bans on sugar exports, with uncertain harvests in Brazil leading to very high sugar prices.
As the Financial Times noted:
The spectre of inflation loomed over agricultural markets after the US slashed key crop forecasts and warned of shortfalls in grains.
Benchmark Chicago corn futures soared above $6 a bushel for the first time since August 2008, before ending lower. Soyabeans rose 4.3 per cent and New York cotton futures posted a record above $1.51 a pound. The price rises have revived fears of a repeat of the global food crisis of 2007-08.
Drudge has a link to a Financial Times story on global food inflation here.
But the FAO said the production response may be limited as rising food prices had made other crops, from sugar to soyabean and cotton, attractive to grow.
Sell-offs at the height of prices last week lowered prices a bit, but structurally the imbalance between demand (high) and supply (low) have led to gains, with March 2011 futures prices still strong, indeed higher in many cases than spot prices. Meaning inflation in food prices is here to stay, at least for the moment. And not just food either, cotton prices have soared to record heights, and oil is trading at about $90 a barrel. Food price inflation in China is reported at 8% annualized rates, with lower rates in the US at 1.4% over the last 12 months. In both cases the real rate of inflation is likely undercounted.
Anyone who has shopped for food regularly in the past year knows that prices have risen appreciably. First, in packaging reduced amounts of food for the price charged in prior years for larger amounts. And secondly, in outright price rises simply not counted by US economists. The things people buy, nearly every day, gasoline, milk, eggs, butter, bread, have all risen steadily over the past year. It is true that prices for cheap Chinese sneakers or electronics have remained steady, but that is not something people buy every day. The ordinary person's experience with inflation (at a time of lowered wages and massive job losses and unemployment) is remarkable as the elite's disconnect from this reality.
And while increased Chinese demand amidst tight global supply of commodities is part of the story, so is the struggle between the Free Silverites and the Gold Advocates.
In 1896 during the Democratic National Convention, William Jennings Bryan, the man pictured at the top of this column, gave the famous "Cross of Gold" speech. He said, "Having behind us the producing masses of this nation and the world, supported by the commercial interests, the laboring interests and the toilers everywhere, we will answer their demand for a gold standard by saying to them: You shall not press down upon the brow of labor this crown of thorns, you shall not crucify mankind upon a cross of gold."
Bryan's political base was that of small farmers in the West. Who had debts they wanted to inflate away. Free Silver, or more properly, loose monetary policy designed to create inflation, would allow the farmers to inflate away their debts to nothing. That would of course destroy the Eastern Financiers, with extensive cash holdings, as well as Eastern laborers who paid cash for consumer goods and food. Bryan's base was demographically too small, as the small farmers were just too few in number to make a difference. Strong monetary policy prevailed, arguably until the 1971 decision by Richard Nixon to end the Bretton Woods agreement of 1944.
From then onwards, various Presidents have had more or less inflationary policy, to cover systemic deficits, but the core of US policy has been a free-floating dollar and inflationary monetary policy. From Reagan through Bush, including Clinton, the policy has been to have inflation around 2-4%, on the theory that this level of inflation would not inflame US consumers but mark an expanding economy. Call it the Goldilocks theory of inflation. Just right.
"Helicopter Ben" Bernanke, Chairmen of the Federal Reserve, noted:
Suspicion is high that Bernanke, following Obama's marching orders, is determined to inflate away the Government debt, and also create high inflation to "force" companies with large cash reserves (which describes most large companies) to invest them to create economic growth rather than see their cash values decline in inflation. Bernanke in various public statements defending the Fed's purchase of $600 billion of US Treasury bonds, and the additional $300 billion re-investment in the same, by simply declaring the new money "created" has argued explicitly that inflation must be higher to force re-investment by major companies.
In other words, the most stupid policy one could imagine, is what the Federal Reserve (and Obama) are following. And it is the same debate over monetary policy that characterized most of the 19th Century, only reversed completely. [Astute observers will note that cheap dollars are merely serving to allow multinational corporations to invest in China and Vietnam and other places, taking US tax dollars to create jobs overseas where interest rates and returns are greater and labor is cheaper. Bernanke's and Krugman's and Obama's 1930's Depression models don't take into account US companies investing in China and other cheap labor places. FDR did not have to deal with Ford and GM and US Steel investing in China to earn more money than in the US.]
Now the loose monetary policy advocates are not relatively powerless small farmers, but East Coast and West Coast elites, with globally mobile investments, mostly sitting in government or the media or the universities, seeking to create inflation to preserve social spending (on their favorite hobby horses) and put away for another day a fiscal reckoning on the budget and spending. Those pursuing a strong currency are people who must buy the necessities of living every day, and do so on a limited budget.
On the one hand you have Obama, and Bernanke, and much of Wall Street, wanting high inflation to pump up stock prices, or commodity investments (which Wall Street makes a tidy profit on), and inflate away the government debt so that spending can continue, and on the other hand ordinary people who want to pay smaller amounts not larger ones of their earnings (which are not inflated) for daily living.
Deflation has been a feature of Japanese life since the end of the asset bubble (real estate) bursting in 1989. For most Japanese consumers, deflation has been tolerable, despite low or no economic growth, because their money goes much further. Inflation particularly linked to low or no economic growth (1970's stagflation) means a constantly eroding standard of living for ordinary people. While deflation means those with jobs at least, pay less every day not more for daily living.
Thus Obama's and Bernanke's objectives (and that of their Wall Street allies who donated heavily to Obama) are directly opposite that of ordinary people's. Who now, contra Bryan, want a cross of Gold. To protect them from inflation. The ads that run on shows like Glen Beck's on Fox News Channel, hit a populist chord with his viewers. Because they fear inflation as a mortal threat to their lives. Which it in fact is, and remains.
So what can be done to improve people's lives? Simple. Dump Helicopter Ben (Friedman's speech alluded to dumping money out of a helicopter to "save" the economy) and adopt a sound monetary system. Gold-backed dollars are probably out of the question, as there simply is not enough gold in US reserves or global reserves to back the dollar. But silver is another question. A silver backed currency, redeemable at a fixed rate, would force the US dollar into a strong rather than weak currency. This would hurt of course, US manufactured exports. But the exports themselves are a small portion of US manufacturing, itself only about 10% of all US jobs.
A strong dollar also means cheaper imported oil, and thus lower costs for daily living. Cheaper gas! A strong dollar can also promote more production domestically of grains and other food stocks, and cotton as well. Tariffs would have to be raised to keep US manufacturing from being flooded by cheaper foreign goods, but that is something that is far easier when US dollars buy much more food and gas than when it buys almost nothing. Certainly the experience of Argentina, which like Russia has used bans on wheat exports, has not been positive. The short term protection of prices in the local markets meant farmers stopped growing wheat and switched to soybeans, not subject to export bans. A strong dollar allows US consumers to outbid weak Chinese or other currencies, for the same bushel of wheat, and allows farmers to make money by planting more wheat.
A strong dollar also allows from a policy that is critical: US creation of currently imported foodstuffs internally. Some predict that Chocolate will be as expensive as Caviar in twenty years:
Chocolate industry experts say that in just 20 years, chocolate will be as expensive as caviar, Anthea Gerrie reports for the Independent. African farmers, who produce a huge chunk of the world's chocolate supply, are abandoning their farms because the work is so backbreaking and the pay so miserable. Their children are leaving for the city where they can life a better life.
Meanwhile, demand for chocolate is rising sharply as the Chinese and Indians develop Western a sweet tooth. "The biggest hope," Gerrie reports, "is a Nestlé project to replant 10 million trees over the next decade." But that will replace just a quarter of the trees lost in recent years. By 2030, we may face a depleted, miserable world in which only the rich can afford a chocolatey snack.
Cocoa of course, was native to Mexico. There is no reason that with a strong dollar, US farmers in parts of Texas, Louisiana, Alabama, Mississippi, Florida, Georgia, and even South Carolina cannot grow Cocoa trees. And harvest them with mechanical harvesting machines, the way many orange and grapefruit trees are done now. Does cocoa need to be grown in chaotic, violent, and poverty-stricken Ivory Coast, or in the US in subtropical regions (Puerto Rico and Guam are also good candidates) with the latest equipment substituting for cheap labor?
Coffee too, can be grown in the US. Hawaii currently exports premium coffee, but the plant itself is native to Ethiopia and Yemen. Meaning varieties can be grown in places like Southern California, or Arizona, or New Mexico, or Texas, or Louisiana, or Alabama, or Mississippi, or Florida, or Georgia, or South Carolina. As well again, as Puerto Rico and Guam.
Starbucks is opening its first ever coffee plantation in China, why not ones in the US employing a few people with labor-saving farming/harvesting techniques? Hawaiian growers are using coffee plants on trellises, to harvest the plants the way automated harvesters do grape vines in New Zealand, Australia, and some California vineyards. Some California growers are already experimenting with growing coffee this way, in California.
Certainly the government can play a small role, in providing credit and assistance. But private industry, taking advantage of strong domestic demand, and a more robust dollar, would be the model for growing US coffee and chocolate. The way California restarted its wine industry after prohibition, to become one of the dominant regions in the world. All of which is good for ordinary Americans.
The main feature of globalization is that cheap stuff comes with risks. Risks to supply, as shocks around the world are connected directly to ordinary Americans (and vice-versa). A "seat-belt approach" is needed along with global air bags of trade deals and the like. Meaning strong domestic supplies of key commodities and resources currently imported. From rare earths (currently not mined in the US due to environmental concerns and cheap Chinese competition) to coffee and chocolate, and particularly food and gas, the global system as configured is not working for most ordinary Americans. America has no power to change the global system, so it must create its own seat-belt to mitigate shocks from the global system of trade.
Fundamentally, a nation's economic and monetary system (which are mere reflections of each other) should be arranged to benefit ordinary people, not the rich and powerful (in concert with preferred poor people). A strong dollar, "the Dollar of our Daddies" provides the best means for ordinary people to play within the rules (save lots, work hard, spend wisely) and have a happy life. One less filled with anxiety because a Russian grain harvest failed, or a flood in Pakistan killed the cotton harvest. A strong dollar hurts stock prices, and commodity investors, but who cares? They are rich and powerful and can look after themselves. A strong dollar means a fiscal reckoning, well now, and programs like ObamaCare and others being junked as unaffordable (No Child Left Behind, Ethanol, "Green" subsidies, Fannie/Freddie, being prime candidates).
Will this require an all-out political battle against the powerful elites in the legal system, the media, the universities, and government? Assuredly. Can it be won? Yes, if put plainly: a strong dollar benefits ordinary people by reducing the price increases in daily life, and hurts Wall Street and the current elites.
It is simple as that.
Anonymous said...
Cacao is cultivated in tropical Mexico, which is never subjected to the cold spells that even southernmost Florida and Texas commonly experience. Gardeners in these areas will grow Cacao as an ornamental, but they bring their plants inside during the winter. And during the summers they fret over the leaves burning during hot dry periods that the humid tropics don't experience.
madmax said...
Educate yourself. Or at least start the process. Your protectionist economic commentary is embarrassing:
Whiskey said...
I would assume American farmers would have to hybridize the plants the way US winemakers did grape vines, subject to New World funguses absent in the Old World (why Jefferson could not grow the vineyard he tried to create).
As for protectionism, yes it produces economic inefficiency. But Mises never addresses what happens with a massive global cheater, a Mercantilist China. As a matter of policy, the US grew quite well with very protectionist policies, from the founding of the nation up until the 1940's. Without protectionism, as a practical matter, the US will remain poor.
Because the Chinese will obliterate US industry, what remains, by cheap labor and pollution/safety standards, and US services are already over-priced in comparison to cheap well, everyone in India and China.
Mises never dealt with cheap labor halfway around the world being competitive via services as well as goods, via the internet.
Chief Seattle said...
Whiskey is dead on about automating the cocoa harvest and breeding plants that can grow farther north. There's probably techniques and varieties sitting in a university lab right now, ready to go if the near-slave-labor in third world hellholes ever finds an alternative.
A weak dollar is the fairest and most politically acceptable way to sell protectionism right now. It would be better for the country to slap a big tariff on countries like China until they balance their trade. But that's not going to happen, so the next best thing is a weak dollar - imports get more expensive, exports grow, and the working poor will find that the increased jobs more than make up for the increase in the cost of essentials. Of course the non-investor class retirees will lose big in this scenario.
Whiskey said...
The problem Chief Seattle, is that while exports do get more cheap and imports more expensive, jobs tend to shift instead to greater returns, that is the Chinese Market.
In order to invest in China, firms must first create jobs in China, and secondly share technology (to enable native Chinese champions). This has been the experience from GE to Coca-Cola. The likely outcome of cheap dollars is stagflation and agflation (the latter already happening) with wages depressed by China.
Why open a factory here, when China can always lower the export price (by its own competitive devaluation)?
deminohio said...
I think the popular right is pretty tough on fiat currency/fractional reserve banking considering that it's the system we've had in place since the Great Depression, during which time our society has become arguably the richest in human history, with the greatest material abundance for the greatest number than any civilization hitherto extant.
On Protectionism: I'm likewise amazed at the failure of both the modern right and left to acknowledge that this country was built on protectionism, a system known as the "American System," dating all the way back to Alexander Hamilton. The idea that protectionism is always and everywhere undesirable is nothing more than a meme propagated by those with a faint memory and no understanding of a certain Ricardo somebody from undergraduate economics. Ricardo's theory of comparative advantage fails to account for modern conditions of mobile capital and excess capacity, under which, as a practical matter, everything gets made in China, nothing in America.
Paul said...
Read "The Image : A Guide to Peudo-events in America" by Daniel Boorstin . It is an eye opener and applicable today as it was when it came out in the early 1960s.
sestamibi said...
That makes no sense. There's no need to issue currency denominated in "dollars", an arbitrary standard, after all. Currency can be backed by gold regardless of the total amount on reserve simply by issuing certificates worth one gram, multiples, or fractions thereof for the total stock in reserve.
As for chocolate, it's always reassuring to know that the good folks at Mars, Hershey, and Nestle are so far-sighted: | <urn:uuid:0c8289e4-24f1-422e-8380-a88f65e3e3b9> | 2 | 1.640625 | 0.243644 | en | 0.957185 | http://whiskeys-place.blogspot.com/2010/11/agflation-and-cross-of-gold.html?showComment=1290034749319 |
Auto Repair Q&A
Cooling System
Auto Repair Products
Carburetor Repair
carburetor repair
by Aaron Turpen
Although most of today's vehicles use fuel injection and no longer include a carburetor, many older vehicles as well as the machines around our home and garage still use carbureted engines. It's not unusual for a carb to go bad or need maintenance, upkeep or repair.
What Does the Carburetor Do?
The carburetor controls the amount of fuel and air going into the engine's cylinders. It does this by combining the air intake (which is usually right on top of or directly connected to it) with the throttle control (attached to the throttle or gas pedal) for fuel. By combining control of these two elements, it allows only a set amount of fuel and air into the chamber to mix, giving the engine (hopefully) optimum burning ability.
Carburetor Repair and Gas Leaks
These are a common issue in carburetors as the gaskets on the carb and fuel line insert can become worn with time. Simple replacement is the fix. Sometimes, the leak is because of a worse problem, such as a cracked gas connection or warped carburetor seating.
Carburetor Repair and Fuel Delivery Problems
A poor mixture of fuel-air that is too rich or not rich enough can be attributed to the carburetor if there is not a problem in the fuel lines or delivery system itself. Most often, this is due to either a clogged inlet at the carb or a mis-adjustment of the mixture on the throttle.
Carburetor Repair and Air Flow
If there is too much or not enough air, which often gives symptoms similar to fuel problems, the culprit is likely the carb not opening enough due to a bad adjustment or debris causing things not to turn correctly.
Carburetor Repair and Maintenance
Most problems with carburetors can be avoided if they are properly maintained. Clean them with every oil change by either spraying cleaner into the carb while the engine is running or by using fuel additives. This simple addition to your maintenance routine can go a long way towards preventing future issues.
It is not recommended that you tune or adjust the carburetor unless you have the proper tools and knowledge to do so correctly. Tuning it incorrectly will mean bad economy and the distinct possibility of early wear and deterioration of many engine and carburetor parts.
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Yogi Bhajan Lecture: Living Consciously
Excerpts from a lecture by Yogi Bhajan on 9/23/02: Master’s Touch Kundalini Yoga Teachers Training Course
Student Question: What is the yogic equivalent of Albert Einstein's quote, “Problems cannot be solved by the same level of thinking at which they were created”?
Yogi Bhajan: Problems are always solved when we take shelter in higher consciousness.
I don’t agree that people live consciously; they want to have money, a house, a car, etc. A person who lives consciously doesn’t care, he knows these things shall come. Conscious living is: you try to become a saint; conscious living is, you try to become a most graceful, truthful, compassionate person.
Conscious living has many, many virtues—so many virtues that you don’t have time for this belittling nonsense. When you belittle yourself nobody can help you. You were born naked. Weren’t you? Can you deny it? It is a fact you can’t deny. So why you are upset now?
You need caliber, and over and above everything, you need tons of kindness, tons; mucho, mucho kindness. When somebody is very unkind, rude, brutish, abusive, at that time, if you can smile, you have learned kindness.
You are the leaders of tomorrow. You have to walk with your own consciousness, creativeness, clarity, purity, sympathy, service, sharing, caring. You have to. You have to have endurance and patience.
When you have consciousness, you will know that this planet belongs to God and it’s His power which prevails. You will surely be happy. There shall be no sadness in your life. Learn. Learn from a little flower how subtle its life is, how beautiful and soft its petals are, how great its fragrance is, how beautiful its color is. Can’t you look at one flower, and figure out all the subtlety? And develop an understanding at that time. You and that flower are the same thing. Yes or no?
God is not outside you. He is within you. Feel Him within you, so when you lie, just understand, the guy is hearing it. When you are doing something which is mean, God doesn’t like to tell you but He knows it. It is that sensitivity of knowledge which you have to achieve. It doesn’t matter how powerful or expensive a car may be, if it doesn’t have brakes, an accident is inevitable. If your mind doesn’t know how to stop within the psyche of the circumstances of the flow… to create a universe and unisonness in you—you have not learned to live as a human.
Technologically and psychologically you are social animals, social mammals, and you have been trained in a certain way, to feel a certain way, to believe in a certain way, and to know things in a certain way. In these next eighteen days you can come out of all restrictions and reservations. You can be as wide as the sky—akasha, as solid as the Earth permits you to be, as liquid as the oceans, as high and mighty as the mountains.
You have the right to be everything and then nothing. Out of nothing what will grow? It shall be something! Then you don’t care for fashion, you don’t care for this, you don’t care for that, you have to care for nothing, because you will have reached the point of feeling, understanding, and enjoying that, “you are you.” And that’s what you need. Somewhere in life you need to be you, not what your religion wants, not what your society wants, not what your country wants, not what your neighbors want. No, you have to be you. Then, serve all with a big smile on your face. You will be loved.
© The Teachings of Yogi Bhajan
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In Sweden’s Sami elections, land and water rights big issues
Radio SwedenEye on the Arctic
Nine parties are vying for seats in the Sami Parliament in this Sunday’s election. Toggan image (via Wikipedia Sweden)
Sweden’s indigenous Sami group goes to the polls for the Sami Parliament elections Sunday. The body, which represents all people of Sami heritage in Sweden, has never before had so many people registered to vote.
The Sami Parliament has elections every four years. But it is also a government agency within the Ministry for Rural Affairs, which among other things, compensates reindeer farmers when their herds are killed by predators and hands out grants to support Sami culture.
Nine parties are vying for seats in the Sami Parliament in this Sunday’s election. It is difficult to classify or call any of the parties left or right or center in the traditional sense.
Rather the parties differ from each other based on their stances on specific issues that are important to the Sami people.
One big issue revolves around the rights Sami reindeer herders should have compared to what rights non-Sami reindeer herders should have.
Lovisa Maria Josbrant, a first time voter, is enthusiastic about doing her duty. “I mostly know about what one party or another feels about reindeer herding and what their stances are on how to protect nature, these are the issues I’m engaged in,” she tells Swedish Radio news.
This election, over 8,000 people have registered to vote. That is quite a big jump since the first Sami Parliament election in 1993, when just over 5,000 people were registered.
Peter Sköld, a professor in Sami history at Umeå University, says there are several reasons for the increase. He says: “Partly more Sami have been born and turned 18 in 2013. But the Sami Parliament has also been around for twenty years so people trust it more politically. Also, more Samis have learned to speak Sami.”
In addition, Sköld says more parties are trying to get people onto the voter rolls.
But despite the increase in the number of registered voters, no one knows exactly how big the potential vote can be because it is impossible to say how many people are able to speak Sami, which is a requirement to be allowed to vote.
Another unknown, is how many Samis there are in the country. The number often floated about is 20,000, but that figure dates back to a government report from the 70s. Some researchers think it could be double that size.
Professor Peter Sköld says updated and more relevant statistics would strengthen the Samis as a group. He says it is obvious that you can be a more powerful political force if you have 100,000 people, rather than 20,000.
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03 February 2010
Policies for People, not special interests
During my class at Berkeley, I gave my students "the hardest assignment in the world," i.e.,
Please explain how a leader can promote an environmental program that will benefit the average citizen --- but not special interest groups --- and still get re-elected.
Although I provided numerous clarifications to my students, this assignment is pretty straightforward: solve a collective action problem.
Collective action problems are rife in the water sector, and -- you will see -- many other areas of social and political action. They arise from two factors. First, there is the misalignment of costs and benefits. A collective good gives benefits to everyone (as a "public good" like a radio station or "common pool good" like a community reservoir), and it's hard to exclude those people from enjoying it. Because of this non-exclusionary characteristic, it's hard to force those who benefit from the good to pay for its provision. Thus, we may see (and do see) that people "free ride," enjoying the benefits but avoiding the costs. Because of this free riding, the good may not be provided at all, creating our collective action problem.
While people commonly assume that collective goods will only be provided when the government taxes everyone and uses those funds to create them, there are numerous examples of social and private provision of these goods. (Religion often plays a part in motivating people.)
Right. So that's the context for the assignment I gave my students. Although many of them thought it unfair that I ask them to give a solution to a collective action problem (in one page, no less!), several of them gave interesting suggestions. These are what I wanted when I gave the assignment: some new thoughts from people didn't know how hard their assignment was supposed to be!
Before I get to those, note this further wrinkle: Their brief was directed at a politician who was going to face re-election, and -- it is assumed -- an opponent who would be able to draw support from whatever special interests were free-riding on the currently provided collective good or would suffer if that good (e.g., a clean environment) were to be provided.
And here are the first two ideas:
Andrew C. introduces an interesting idea to promote open spaces. Developers want to build houses, but home-owners (and enviros) want open space next to their properties. Politicians are caught between the two, but they often bow to developer interests. Andrew suggests that residential properties pay a higher tax, that this tax be used to retire undeveloped land, and that developers have the option of selling their parcels for open space -- or developing them -- via a tradable development permit that builds in the open space. This scheme works by linking present and future values, allowing future homeowners to pay off present developers.
Daniela C. has an easy answer to the problem of water that's too cheap -- let rate payers decide what the prices will be. Given that the current system tends to favor a minority -- water hogs -- at a cost (in terms of reduced reliability) to the majority, this makes a lot of sense. Of course, there's the problem of "let's charge nothing!" but that's easily overcome by presenting voters with a series of "break even" price decisions. I like it!
Check in tomorrow for five ideas to address climate and environmental issues..
1. Very interesting. Thanks to your students and you.
2. I especially like Daniela's idea. Brilliant!
3. Andrew's idea sounds very much like Transferable Development Rights (TDRs). A guy in my graduate class did his thesis on this subject and is now working on the King's County WA program. See http://www.kingcounty.gov/environment/stewardship/sustainable-building/transfer-development-rights.aspx
4. ...and all in one page. I spent a significant amount of time editing for length to make it fit.
I'm glad you thought my paper had some worthwhile ideas. In the midst of the grind a little positive mojo goes a long way.
I wanted to make a correction to the description. It's a small error but a big part of my plan.
The entire open space area would be off limits to builders from the start - paid for over time by higher property taxes. The city would parcel out other developable plots within the city limits (perhaps at favorable rates or with favorable contracts), and divide them among the developers. Essentially, these plots - which would be developed at some point anyway - would be sacrificed so that the open space measure could live. The developer contracts would be tradable, and worth more over time because the open space project would significantly restrict the supply of available land - these were the selling points to get developers on board. Higher future property values was also part of the rationale behind why homeowners would be willing to pay the tax.
My intention was to leave the land untouched...pristine. Developers would have no access.
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Old 03-22-2012, 07:40 PM #39
Tom Verhoeven
Dojo: Aikido Auvergne Kumano dojo
Location: Auvergne
Join Date: Aug 2011
Posts: 295
Re: Countering Ikkyo with Strength
Basia Halliop wrote: View Post
Tom, that's not what average means. It just isn't. The word average has a specific meaning.
The word 'average' in no way implies even slightly anything about the distribution within the group for which the average is being taken. The distribution within each group can very easily be (and often is) far bigger than the difference between the averages of each group.
E.g. take height, as it's more visible. If you measure 100 men, they will have many different heights. One man will be the tallest, one will be the shortest, and the rest in between. You can find the average height (we can use the most common kind of average which is a 'mean' = add all their heights and divide by the number of men).
Do the same for 100 women. A lot of the women will be taller than a lot of the men. But the average height for the male group will be bigger than the average height for the female group. And in the case of height, this difference will not be as big as the difference between the tallest and shortest man, but there will be a difference.
Or line up all 200 people by height from shortest to tallest. The men and women will be all mixed up with men and women at both ends of the line. But at the front of the line will be lots of women and fewer men, and at the end of the line will be lots of men and very few women.
That's the thing about statistics. They apply to groups. They don't have any meaning applied to individuals. Otherwise you would be 49% male, 1/3 chinese, etc...
So no, if you're being very very precise, you're right that the statement 'men are stronger than women' is not true, as it's not true in every case (though it's true in more cases than it's untrue, but still, it's often untrue). However, 'MOST men are stronger than MOST women' is true, and 'the AVERAGE man is stronger than the AVERAGE woman' is true.
If you use average in the sense of mean (add all there heights up and divide by the number of men), you end up with a figure that is not always very helpful. A good example is the average temperature of a region. If we add up all the daily temperatures within a year and divide them by the number of days you will end up for my region with a figure like 12 degree Celsius. Although this figure is absolutely correct, it is also a tautology. But if someone tells me that the temperature on average (meaning not counting the extremes) fluctuates in a year between -10 and + 35 Celsius I get a better idea. And if it is a little bit more specified like; in the summer it is on average between +15 and +35 Celsius, then I can safely conclude it is a good temperature to go out camping. With a more "correct" average of 12 C. I can not come to the same conclusion.
So it is not just a matter of the meaning of the word average, it is also about the kind of information that you are looking for. In the scientific tests they chose deliberately not to look at the mean figure. As that did not provide them with the information they were looking for.
Kind regards,
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