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Sky Atlas
Sky Atlas
(4 stars)
Download for Android Like
500 - 1,000 downloads
Add this app to your lists
Sky Atlas is not planetarium or simulation software. It is designed analog to a paper atlas for the purpose of looking up sky positions of celestial objects. The electronic form takes advantage of zooming and selection of objects to be displayed or not -- possibilities which are not available to paper. The star chart is plotted on equatorial coordinates. Current horizontal positions, rise & set times, etc. for objects can be viewed after selection of an object of interest. A star chart can be saved to external memory card for documentation purposes, such as websites or blogs.
The use of Sky Atlas is believed to be simple, intuitive and largely self-explanatory, yet requiring basic knowledge of astronomy and familiarity with your Android phone.
Atlas Objects
Opens a list of object categories. Tap on a category to view available objects. Upon selection of an object, its data is shown in a message box, from which to return to selection of another object or choose to center an object on the star chart. Categories which contain a large number of objects are assigned a sub-menu (tap on screen's menu button) which allow to narrow down by various criteria dependent on the nature of the category.
* Constellations
* Named Stars
* Nearby Stars
* Binary Stars
* Variable Stars
* Exoplanets
* All Messier objects with images
* Bright deepsky objects with images
* All Caldwell objects with images
* Solar System Planets
* Dwarf Planets & Asteroids
* Comets
* Meteor Showers
* Hubble Objects
* Kepler Field Overlay
* Celestial Poles
This list of items is not directly related to the star chart, but to astronomical time-keeping, information and visualizations.
* Rise, set, twilight times
* Day & Night Visualization
* Planisphere
* Rectangular view of the sun's vicinity
* Earth Globe in 3D
* Moon Atlas in 3D
* Moon Calendar
* MSL Curiosity Station
* 3D planetary phase views
* Planetary Moons
* Spacecrafts
* Pleiades Close-up
* Solar Eclipses
* Greek Alphabet
* Glossary
* Historical Timeline
* Zodiacal Signs
* Martian Moons
* Plutonian Moons
This section is for astronomical computing, such as current positions of the Galilean moons, orbit simulation, calculation of optical equipment performance and more.
* Galilean Moons
* Orbit Simulator
* Distances among Stars
* Speed of Light Simulation
* Telescope Calculator
* Binocular Calculator
* CCD Imaging Calculator
* Optical Formulae
* JD-Date/Date-JD Converter
Star Chart
* Stars down to magnitude 6.4
* Constellation lines
* Constellation boundaries
* All Messier objects
* Bright NGC/IC objects
* All Caldwell objects
* Sun, moon and planets overlay
* Equatorial Grid
* Equator line
* Ecliptic line
* Associated object labels
* Color display
* Monochrome, negative display
* Nightview (red display)
Sky Atlas is designed only for Android phones operating in portrait mode. If you own a tablet please search for "Sky Atlas Tablet".
Galaxy Precident SCH-M828C and similarly small phones not supported.
Tags: sky atlas apk, sky atlas, smartstellar apk, скачать звездный атлас на андроид, sky atlas.apk, smartstellar.apk, exoplanet guide .apk, sky atlas for tablets apk, astronomical object atlas, requio web design sky atlas.
Recently changed in this version
Ver 1.38: Major asteroids added to the database, science updates
Ver 1.37: Planisphere can be enlarged, science updates
Ver 1.36: Better compatibility with hi-res phone screens and 7 inch tablets, science updates
Ver 1.35: Science updates
Ver 1.34: Adds all Caldwell object with images, science updates, online database update removed.
Ver 1.33: Database modified, exoplanet section modified to deal with all these Kepler planets.
Comments and ratings for Sky Atlas
• (59 stars)
by Mario Donoso on 29/03/2014
Excellent app | <urn:uuid:8ada2b07-1329-407e-9bdc-eb812a5554f2> | 2 | 1.914063 | 0.180659 | en | 0.674154 | http://www.appszoom.com/android_applications/books_and_reference/sky-atlas_bvdey.html?nav=related |
Quote Originally Posted by fsn77 View Post
So true, Grins... Someone when picking names for fish more or less assumed that this mimic coloration evolved in tangs because of the angel coloration, but it is also possible that the mimic coloration in those tangs evolved independently of the angel coloration.
Well, true to a degree. All evolution happens by circumstance and chance--it certainly isn't a guided or forceful (and by no means conscious) thing. A mutation chanced along that happened to be advantageous for the tang juvenile. Because of that, more survived and passed on that similar allele. They even found similar benefits from mimicking other angels, as well. This is obviously dependent the area the angel and tang are found in and coincides with angel populations. They don't do it on purpose, but it was obviously advantageous so the trait sort of "stuck." It is possible that the coloration developed separately, but it is unlikely given that these fishes' habitat now overlaps. There is far too much evidence to the contrary, especially given the information we have on other batesian mimics. | <urn:uuid:32919e72-eb1c-4aae-a6ce-22ac61fdcca7> | 2 | 2.34375 | 0.064993 | en | 0.969929 | http://www.aquariacentral.com/forums/showthread.php?147992-Why-do-tangs-mimic-angels/page3&language=ja |
Link Building: What Not To Do
Link Building: What Not To Do
Link Building: What Not To Do
Once you have WordPress installed and your WordPress theme uploaded, plug-ins working smoothly, you might realize that something is missing:
You already built an amazing website, but the world does not know about it yet.
What now? It is time to start building links, but building links is more difficult than it sounds.
The Power of Search Engines
The absolute best way to get and keep a flow of traffic is to rank highly for a specific set of keywords.
This is far easier said than done, but there are some great tools that can help with the research and writing of SEO-friendly content that targets keywords.
Without covering those aspects again, it is worth taking a look at just why targeting keywords is important, and that brings us full-circle back to search engines.
The plain and simple truth is that potential visitors are using search engines every single day, and they rarely look past the first few results.
Being one of those first few entries on a SERP (search engine result page) is the surest way to ensure traffic.
Google and other search engine companies know this, and they also understand that not everyone is interested in hard work.
In fact, some people are out to do the least amount of work to get on top of a SERP, even if that entails being less-than honest.
This brings us to link building, and it raises a key point: there are both good link building ideas and bad link building ideas.
Bad Link Building Ideas
We won’t spend a lot of time covering bad link building ideas because they are not part of a sustainable business model; sooner or later all your hard work could be made useless when a search engine determines that it is being manipulated.
Consider this: why do search engines exist? What is their part in the modern online world?
The answer is the search engines only exist so long as they produce relevant results quickly.
If you discovered tomorrow that Google would only send you to websites with old/outdated/inaccurate information riddled with spelling and grammatical errors, would you consider using another search engine?
While this might sound like a dream of Microsoft/Yahoo!, it is meant to illustrate the fact that search engines do have a vested interest in vetting the pages they recommend to searchers.
In modern terms this means multiple independent algorithms that analyze keywords, links, association with other pages, social networking, subscriptions, and other factors.
When one or more of these algorithms shows a site to be rated substantially higher than the others, then the site is generally flagged as being suspicious and will be evaluated.
For this reason alone it would never be a good idea to engage in anything that seems shady, such as buying bulk links.
Instead, you are better off looking into ways to build good links.
Why Are Links So Important?
As part of the complex algorithms that helps a search engine determine the quality of content on a page or site, links play a critical role.
Since it is not possible for humans at Google or other search engine companies to evaluate all pages, nor would it be possible for them to be as fair and unbiased as code.
A computer must perform the tasks of determining which pages and sites are more relevant than others in order to provide better search results.
In this context, it is possible to consider links to be almost like votes from other websites.
The more links a website or page has, the more useful it would seem to be on the surface.
This relationship is often referred to as link juice, but it is actually a lot more complex than it seems on the surface.
Here are a few basic points that are considered by search engines:
1) If two sites linked to each other and neither had any other links, incoming or outgoing, then both sites would have the same theoretical rating. For now, let us call these Site A and Site B.
2) If one of those two sites were to get an incoming link from another site, it would now rate higher than its peer. So, if Site A links only to Site B and Site B links to Site A, but Site C links only to Site A, Site A is now more popular than Site B. This means it is rated higher by search engines with everything else being equal.
3) Not everything is equal. Links are evaluated in a number of ways, including the anchor text, their position in a text, their position relating to other links within a text, the keyword content of the text they are located in, and the overall amount of influence of a page/text that the link is contained within.
The last rule is very complex, but here is an easy way to understand it.
Let us say that Site A and Site B both have comparable content quality as seen by a search engine (which uses several complex algorithms to evaluate text), and both discuss the latest Honda Civic.
Site C would lend a lot of link juice to Site A if it was in a related field, such as car reviews.
Less link juice would be passed if Site C was dedicated to the latest Barbie dolls and/or if Site C was not rated very high by search engines, but that is only the most basic way to look at it.
Takeaway Points
The point that we want to make clear… don’t use shaddy backlinks. In recent months Google has been tweaking it’s search algorithms.
You’ve probably have heard of them… they are know as the “Panda” updates… and they’ve been altering the search engine rankings of just about every site, from big to small.
But these updates are specifically meant to target any shaddy backlink building tactics. If you focus on building a great content site, that’s easy to navigate and loads quickly… then you won’t have to worry about these “Panda” updates.
Your site will grow naturally… and the DNA structure of a site that builds backlinks naturally to one that uses shaddy backlinks is noticeable.
If you need help with improving your core content, read over Core Content Defined and Examined. This guide will help clarify the importance of creating awesome content.
Pay close attention to the reasons that core content adds to your competitive advantage… and above all, put it into action.
What do you think about this article? Do you have anything else to add? Let’s continue the discussion in the comments section.
If you like this post, feel free to share it via Twitter and Facebook.
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Written by
• Keith Davis says:
Hi Chad
I always found the on page SEO pretty easy, but the link building… not so easy.
I’ve never been tempted to try any large scale manipulation of links.
I’d rather stay on the good side of Google.
We all want to get those links overnight, but again Google knows that link building takes time and if they arrive overnight! Big penalty.
Guess the bottom line is slow and steady link building over a long period of time.
• Thanks for the insights re: links. I’ve been blogging for a little more than a month now and am rather proud that in my little niche of art quilt blogs I end up on the first page of Google if you search under “art quilt blogs”. (No parens, and I end up on the 2nd page.) I’ve been pretty consistant about wriitng regularly, but only have a few links to people in the field that I respect. Where else should I be looking?
Thanks for your help, Nancy Smeltzer
• Crackethill says:
Thanks for those pointers on link building. One question for you Chad: If you have exchanged links with bad sites and you got penalized by Google which caused your rankings to fall, if you removed all those links from your website, will that correct the faults? Or do the bad sites have to remove your website link from their site too? | <urn:uuid:8ee41c34-fc2e-46bb-8e32-cc406fc5600c> | 2 | 1.742188 | 0.039054 | en | 0.943087 | http://www.artofblog.com/link-building-what-not-to-do/ |
Cold War: A Brief History
The MIKE Test
On November 1, 1952, the United States detonated a 10.4-megaton hydrogen device in the Pacific on the Enewetak Atoll in the Marshall Islands. The test, code-named "Mike," was the first successful implementation of Edward Teller and Stanislaw Ulam's concept for a "Super."
MIKE mushroom cloud
The MIKE Test
Since scientists had limited information on how well lithium deuteride would work, they chose instead to use liquid deuterium, which needed to be kept below -417° F (-250° C). A six-story cab was built to house "Mike" with its complex cooling system. Weighing 65 tons, the apparatus was an experimental device, not a weapon. A two-mile-long tunnel that extended from the device to another island was filled with helium that would provide data on the fusion reaction.
Even those who had witnessed atomic tests were stunned by the blast. The cloud, when it had reached its furthest extent, was about 100 miles wide and 25 miles high. The explosion vaporized Elugelab, leaving behind a crater more than a mile wide, and destroyed life on the surrounding islands.
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By Matt Damsker, Special for USA TODAY
Anyone who has seen David Lean's classic film Lawrence of Arabia may be forgiven for not quite grasping what the British and Ottoman Turk empires were up to in the Middle East during World War I.
Oh, the complexities: Turkey's alliance with Germany, the imperial arrogance of Great Britain and France, the plight of the Arab tribes and native populations of the region. This was a geopolitical muddle of epic, often tragic, proportions. Amazingly, Lean captured its outline in his 1962 masterpiece.
Thrillingly, Scott Anderson's Lawrence in Arabia (**** stars out of four) does exactly that, weaving enormous detail into its 500-plus pages with a propulsive narrative thread.
Yes, Anderson has a stupendous protagonist in Thomas Edward Lawrence, the enigmatic legend who, at 5-foot-5, wasn't tall enough to qualify for military service. Yet it was T.E. Lawrence who nursed the 1916 Arab revolt against the Turks, courting treason and defying his British superiors along the way.
If he was egomaniacal, he was equally honorable, refusing to abet Britain and France's plan to betray the Arab tribes once they had defeated Turkey. And it was Lawrence who commanded the daring raid on the Arabian port of Aqaba, attacking not from the sea but from inland, across the harsh desert of the Hejaz. In doing so, his motley army of Arab tribal fighters — led by the austere Bedouin prince, Faisal Hussein, and the fierce champion of the Howeitat tribe, Auda Abu Tayi — effectively ended Turkey's domination of Syria and Arabia, setting the stage for the modern Middle East.
"How," Anderson asks, "did a painfully shy Oxford archaeologist without a single day of military training become the battlefield commander of a foreign revolutionary army, the political master strategist who foretold so many of the Middle Eastern calamities to come?"
Drawing heavily from Lawrence's famous account, Seven Pillars of Wisdom, Anderson locates the living Lawrence — a poet, an ascetic who could endure great pain and deprivation, an iconoclast who rejected knighthood and died on a motorcycle at age 46. Yet his shocking lack of familial empathy (as when informed by his mother of his brothers' deaths in the war) suggests some level of personality disorder.
Anderson's account surrounds this seminal anti-hero with a constellation of characters, each part of a mosaic of influence that colors our world today. Jewish agronomist Aaron Aaronsohn and his sister, Sarah, not only led an anti-Ottoman spy ring, they encouraged Britain to protect the Jews of Palestine, leading to the establishment of Israel. Djemal Pasha, the mercurial governor of Ottoman Syria, made whimsical decisions almost daily and can't escape blame for the genocidal expulsion and slaughter of Armenians from Turkey's Anatolian region. And William Yale, an American, won from Pasha the vast exploration concessions for the Standard Oil Company that would yield the black fruit of the region's petrochemical dominance after the war.
But inevitably, it is Lawrence, the central adventurer, who astonishes us — with his vision, his tirelessness, his capacity for gathering and acting on intelligence. Lawrence saw the future and was chillingly prescient about his Arabia, especially in his assessment of Abdul Aziz ibn-Saud, who would conquer much of the Arabian peninsula in 1923, naming it Saudi Arabia.
Lawrence warned that ibn-Saud and his Islamic fundamentalists, the Wahhabists, were not representative of Islam so much as medieval fanatics. For the next 90 years, writes Anderson, the Saudi royal family would survive by "buying off the doctrinaire Wahhabists who had brought them to power … so long as their disciples directed their jihadist efforts abroad. The most famous product of this arrangement was to be a man named Osama bin Laden."
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Soy Alert
by Debi Pearl of No Greater Joy Ministries
October 2001
This past month a dear friend of mine called with the disturbing news that she had estrogen receptive breast cancer. She asked, “What do you know that could help me?” I knew nothing, so I got busy on the web trying to find everything I could on the subject.
I found more than I could have imagined. In the course of my research, I discovered that I had been swallowing a lot of propaganda. If you say something loud enough, often enough, and convincingly enough you can make anyone believe anything you say. The commercial side of the health food industry in America has vigorously promoted soy products and additives, turning a deaf ear to research that should throw up red flags. While other countries have acknowledged the potential danger and taken steps to warn their citizenry, powerful, rich concerns in this country have not admitted the problem.
Soybeans! Healthy, right? Full of vitamins? Full of protein? Yes, everyone knows that. Not according to new research. It is common knowledge that soybeans are loaded with plant compounds that mimic estrogen, a female hormone. Many post menopausal women use soy products to help control hot flashes and other problems caused by hormonal imbalances. And soy is very effective in supplying the hormones needed! Think about it. If soy products supply sufficient hormones to balance out older women, what are they doing to newborn babies fed soy formula? What is this female hormone doing to men who have a constant diet of tofu and soy milk? What about younger women who already have a full supply of estrogen; how does a diet of estrogen rich soy affect them? Research is now strongly pointing to some very disturbing facts. I have summarized many studies and reports and have tried to give a brief outline of the increasing volume of research now being done.
This was a wake-up call. People were asking, “If soy does this to birds, what is it doing to us?” National health agencies and physician associations of some countries have warned their populace to exercise caution in using soy based infant formulas. In the U. S. two of the Federal Drug Administration’s own researchers, Daniel Doerge and Daniel Sheehan, have stepped forward to protest their own agency’s allowance of health claim labeling regarding the effects of soy protein on coronary health. In a letter to the FDA, they cite their deep disturbance over potential risk to the public by the FDA’s failure to require that the same safeguards be put in place for soy use as for estrogenic (prescribed hormone substances) and goitrogenic drugs (thyroid medication), i.e., that people be informed of the risks and be under a physician’s care while using it.
Our Babies
Preliminary studies are indicating that children given soy formula go through puberty much earlier than children who were not fed soy products. Why? Because the phytoestrogens/ isoflavones in soy act like a hormone in the body, causing the infant to have hormones like the adult body. A 1994 study done in New Zealand revealed that, depending on age, potency of the product, and feeding methods, infants on soy formula might be consuming the equivalent of up to 10 contraceptive pills a day. By exposing your baby to such large amounts of hormonal-like substance, you are risking permanent endocrine system damage (pituitary gland, pineal gland, hypothalamus, thyroid, thymus gland, pancreas, ovary, testis, adrenal glands). Phytoestrogens (substance in soy) are now strongly implicated, through research, in thyroid disorders, behavioral and developmental disorders and cancer. Thyroid problems are now in epidemic proportions. Theodore Kay of the Kyoto University Faculty of Medicine noted in 1988 that “thyroid enlargement in rats and humans, especially children and women, fed with soybeans has been known for half a century.” Recent research leaves little doubt that dietary isoflavones in soy have a profound effect on thyroid function in humans. If you were fed a soy formula or soy products and suffer from a thyroid disorder, contact for help.
Little Boys
“Early puberty (caused by consuming soy products) may increase a boy’s chances of developing testicular cancer later in life, because it means longer exposure to sex hormones,” said University of North Carolina researcher Marcia Herman-Giddens. Congenital abnormalities of male genital tracts are also increasing. Recent studies found a higher incidence of birth defects in male offspring of vegetarian, soy-consuming mothers.
The hormone issue is not the only concern. Research now in progress strongly ties aggressive behavioral problems in children to soy. Soy formula has manganese levels that are 50 times higher than the level found in mother’s breast milk. Research is now showing that high levels of manganese found in soy beverages may be neurotoxic to babies, causing brain damage. These studies suggest a correlation to the dramatic increase in ADHD and violent behavior seen in adolescents today. The website: reviews a study of unusually high manganese levels found in the hair of hyperactive children and youths convicted of felony crimes. Manganese is a trace metal that is essential for life, but when it is on overload it becomes “manganese-toxicity syndrome.” If I had a child who was a soy child and showed signs of aggressive behavior, I would study oral chelation to see if the manganese levels could be removed naturally.
Allergies are a growing concern. Soy is one of the most allergenic foods in modern diets. It is reported in several research reports to contain at least 30 allergenic proteins. Many of our prepared foods from MSG to crackers and cookies, to frozen fish sticks, and TV dinners, to drinks and most everything in between contain soy. Many soy products are listed as natural ingredients or natural flavorings. Health authorities in other countries are taking products off the markets until they are clearly labeled due to the wide spread allergic reactions to soy. Does your child have asthma? If so, then it is time for you to do your own homework and find out what can be done to clean up your family’s diet.
Little Girls
We regularly get letters from parents that are shocked and horrified to have discovered that their babies, as young as 18 months, are, without doubt, masturbating. It is a shocking but growing phenomenon. Some of the problems are associated with small children clutching vibrating toys, but not in all cases. Yet, there must be a predisposing prompted by hormones. Could it be caused by the hormone element in soy formula? It is becoming clear that our little girls’ hormonal levels are being elevated at a very young age by the health food we eat! Soy-formula provides a hormone level at least 240 times higher than breast milk.
In 1982 pediatric endocrinologists reported that their studies indicated an increase in the incidence of breast development in girls younger than eight years of age. In the first study of 130 little girls, 68% of them had the onset of thelarche (breast development) before they were 18 months old! Investigators found a positive statistical association between thelarche and the consumption of soy formulas (affecting 22 girls), various meat products (affecting 10 girls) and the mother’s history of ovarian cysts (affecting 16 girls). For years, health food gurus have been blaming hormone fed chickens (chickens fed soy) for our early puberty problems, but they remained silent about the hormones we have been eating in the vast number of soy products!
Little girls that go through puberty early face a greater lifetime risk of breast cancer and early ovarian cysts, which is a factor in ovarian cancer and of developing autoimmune thyroid disease (ATD).
Younger Women
Over the years I have known women of childbearing age who guarded their diets, were in excellent health, did not have a family history of breast cancer, and yet came down with breast cancer and died. Why? What was the common factor in these women? You will be shocked to learn that phyto-estrogen compounds found in soy may actually increase the risk of breast cancer. Dr. Claude Hughes, director of the Women’s Health Center at Cedar-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles said of chemicals found in soy, “It can speed up divisions of those cells that are already cancer cells that depend on estrogen for their growth.”
Chanfeng Wang and Mindy S. Kurzer, who wrote Phytoestrogen Concentration Determines Effects of DNA Synthesis in Human Breast Cancer Cells say, “Our data suggests the possibility that, at typical concentrations in humans, phytoestrogens and flavonoids and lignans may stimulate, rather than inhibit, growth of estrogen-dependant tumors.”
It is important to understand that it is not uncommon for hormonally active agents to act as both estrogens and anti-estrogens, to stimulate or inhibit the growth of certain types of cells, such as those found in the human breast. The difference lies in doses and life stages. It is a double-edged sword. Risks may greatly outweigh the benefits. Research strongly suggests that younger women need to use soy products with care and not upset the natural estrogen levels with an overload from an outside source.
Two glasses of soy milk a day, over the course of a month, contains enough of the chemical to change the timing of a woman’s menstrual cycle. Many women of child-bearing age are having terrible mood swings, depression, and they experience monthly PMS. Could these women be playing havoc with their hormones by what they are eating? We already know that women on birth-control pills are known to have more volatile emotions due to the hormonal upset. Just 100 gm of any soy product has the estrogenic content of a contraceptive pill.
Our Men...A Half Helping of a Man?
What are phytoestrogens doing to the men? Researcher, W. David Kubiak reports that “...because female hormones or estrogen given to men in small quantities can quickly overwhelm androgen activity, and soy produces estrogen molecules in biologically significant amounts, it might be inferred that a steady diet of miso, tofu, soy sauce, and so on might not be best for leadership trainees or aspiring Lotharios (lovers).”
Researchers believe that the trend toward lower male fertility may be due to environmental estrogens, including the soy phytoestrogens. There is strong evidence that soy phytoestrogens inhibit an enzyme which is required for the synthesis of testosterone and the development of the CNS-gonadal axis. Much research is now being done to determine the effects of soy on male animals (even male insects) of all sorts. Research with animals and insects from the grasshopper to the cheetah, are showing that soy affects males by making them less confident, less aggressive, indecisive, show less sexual interest, lower sperm count and in some studies less everything male. Research on humans is slow (years), but the short-term studies on men are showing the information obtained through animal life spans correlate with what is happening in human research. A Half Helping of Man? Research sure looks that way. I am sorry for all the soy products I tried to shove down my husband’s and sons’ throats and thankful they were ‘male-stubborn’ and refused my “health food.”
Old, Old, Old Men and getting older with each serving of tofu eaten
The longest study on soy products began in Hawaii in 1965 with 8,006 Japanese-American men. It questioned the men about 27 foods and drinks. Over the years the men were monitored, questioned, and studied. The study shows a significant statistical relationship between two or more servings of tofu a week and “accelerated brain aging” and even an association with Alzheimer’s disease, says Dr. Lon White, who has been studying diseases and aging in this Honolulu Heart Program. White said the scientists found “a significant link between tofu consumption during midlife and loss of mental ability and even loss of brain weight.” Tofu was the only consistent link among the men. “The test results were about equivalent to what they would have been if they were five years older and the guys who ate none, their test scores were as though they were five years younger.” Said White. The brains of 300 men who died were examined in a unique autopsy study conducted as part of the Honolulu aging project. White reports, “But what I did see was the simple weight of the brain was lower. Shrinkage occurs naturally with age, but atrophy progressed more rapidly in those men who had consumed more tofu.”
At the conference where White presented his findings, Finnish scientist Herman Adlercreutz, who led the scientific explosion of interest in his studies on soy 20 years ago, said of soy and it components, “I am myself frightened a little bit by all this. There is so much we don’t know.”
Lon White, who has been a researcher in this field for many years said, “The bottom line is these are not nutrients. They are drugs. They will have some benefits and some negative things.”
In my study I noticed several important factors. Those who are speaking out against soy products, use extensive data and research reports. They also do not have monetary gain as a motive for putting out the information.
On the other hand, those promoting soy show an obvious lack of scientific study and research. Information promoting soy products often refers back to the Asian people’s dietary habits and their health records. Soy advocates also do not share critical information about the conditions in which the soy plant is grown, which can greatly change the chemical structure of the plant, causing the soy plant to have antiestrogenic effects, rather than estrogenic effects. Stress, fungus, and other environmental and growth conditions can change the types and amounts of phytochemicals responsible for soy’s touted health benefits or risks.
The way the Asians use soy is also never mentioned. The vast majority of soy eaten in Asian countries is used in combination with protein foods, such as pork, fish, milk or eggs. The animal proteins greatly change the chemical structure of the food and how it is digested. Much of the soy in Asian countries is also highly fermented (using fungus), the process changing the hormone-like properties. In the literature I read that told how healthy the Asian people are because they ate soy did not mention that research is finding that Alzheimer’s is higher in Asian people than any other group in the world. As I studied soy’s health benefits, it would have helped if the soy industry would have addressed some of the findings of the research that has been done and is now being done that so clearly points to some serious health threats, but I could find no serious rebuffs. Many people would lose huge fortunes if this information began to affect the health food markets.
I have read for days, even weeks. My neck is stiff from sitting in one spot researching. There are thousands of pages on soy, stating that it is wonderful, and thousands of pages saying how terrible it is. After all I have read, it is clear that money is the deciding factor, not health. Soy is a drug, like many herbs. It is too powerful of a drug to use freely as a food. I visited a health food store yesterday. There was aisle after aisle and shelf after shelf of ready-made, packaged, long lasting, processed, soy health food. There were soy based vitamins, medicines, creams, lotions, rubs, green drinks, baby food, cereal, crackers, milk, soup, cookies, meat substitute, noodles, hot drinks, sauces, nut substitute, chips, candy bars, and anything else a person eats. While I stood there looking around, I felt like I had been a big fool to have thought that all that stuff was healthy. When men try to improve on what God gave, it should be questioned. Cereal should be grains; milk should be the way it was in the Promised Land; meat should be as it was when Jesus fed the multitude, or when Abraham fed the angels of God, and vegetables should be garden fresh.
Isaiah 7:15 — Butter and honey shall he eat, that he may know to refuse the evil, and choose the good. (prophecy of Jesus and what he would eat and why)
II Samuel 17:29 — And honey, and butter, and sheep, and cheese of kine, for David, and for the people that were with him, to eat: for they said, The people is hungry, and weary, and thirsty, in the wilderness. (God’s anointed man and his army are fed)
Isaiah 7:22—And it shall come to pass, for the abundance of milk that they shall give he shall eat butter: for butter and honey shall every one eat that is left in the land. (noted because it was a blessing from God)
Life is learning, and learning is expending an effort to know the truth. I have given you just a tiny bit of information. Chances are if you buy any prepared foods, you are eating soy. If your child was raised on soy formula, you need to do research. If your child has unusual behavioral problems, you need to study this through. If your child has asthma or allergic health issues, then you need to get to work and find out if this concerns you. If you have thyroid problems or breast tumors or cancer, this might help you find an answer to good health. If your husband lacks leadership and male dominance, but you seem to have a strong assertive drive, then stop eating soy and do some research. If you have stomach ulcers or lack digestive enzymes, stop eating soy. If you have been sucked into the health food craze like so many of us, you need to do some major homework. Don’t ask me. I won’t respond to inquiries. It is in your hands now. It is for you to find out for yourself and make your own decisions. For more information check out The Whole Soy Story
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Social networking in Sarajevo: analyse this (over Bosnian coffee)
Article published on March 22, 2011
Article published on March 22, 2011
Bosnia's capital wears its war wounds from the 1992-1995 war with Serbia honestly, the signs on its bomb-shelled buildings and pavements. What about its mental scars fifteen years on? Amidst a blaze of foreign healing initiatives, few private psychologists and one 'social networking internet cafe', this is a society which is resolved to solve its problems - globalised as they are - over coffee
A London telephone box sticker adorns huge glass door panes in Ciglane. The tourist red disrupts the communist-era district's visual identity. This is the first internet cafe specifically emphasising social networking in Bosniaand Herzegovina, according to its owner in Sarajevo, Tarek Kapetanovic. On the top floor four computers are dominated by a gender-equal teenage youth, who are partially clouded in cigarette smoke. Below, the two cabins for skype calls stand momentarily empty on this winter afternoon. 'No-one here invented anything,' says Tarek affably as we sit in his colourful cafe, a former disused building owned by his father. Named ka5an after the blogger username that has identified Tarek online over the last 12 years, it may well be the first cafe arising from a blogger's personality in the region. 'Everybody's looking for a job, everybody's surfing the web,' says Tarek, a tidy nod to the 60% unemployment suffered by a country where some 31.2% surf online. Now the 31-year-old is pushing Bosnia to stay open to the world and connected with each other.
Psychology in a small country
The social media revolution is being encouraged in this themed cafe in SarajevoBosnians are locked into microsocieties. It's a necessary evil thanks to the complex political structure of the country.Try and muster this in a sentence: fourteen administrations for 4 million people governed by a shared institution of a rotating Croat, Serb and Bosniak president every eight months. Fifteen years since the end of the war was marked by the anniversary of the Dayton Accord on 14 December 2010. The peace treaty signed in Paris led to a quasi partition of Bosnia: today, 51% belongs to the 'Bosnian Federation' (Bosniaks and Croats) and 49% to the 'Serb Republic'. Issues like foreign policy or the budget are managed as in any other country. But matters like education and telecoms are defined according to these micro-administrations. For Tarek's business, it means there is no independent regulatory body. The main operator BH Telecom (in the Federation; the Serb Republic has its own - ed), 'takes money from people. We have ADSL so people can communicate with their kids and pay cheaper.' Beside us, groups of men drop in and order thick Bosnian coffee, which is similar to Turkish coffee. They have no intention of going online, turning the concept of this 'cybercafe' on its head, transforming it into a regular cafe. Why did Tarek leave the climes of Florida to return to a post-war Sarajevo? Up pops the s-word. 'People in this society have friends. We don't need a shrink!' he laughs.
'Bosnia is a promised land in psychology,' admits Dzenana Husremovic, a psychologist specialised in methodology, as we hollow out an empty lecture hall at the university of Sarajevo. Psychology was only established as a department here in 1989. 'You have traumatised people. People born during the war. It's a specific character of a multicultural country which brought us to war. We’re trying to restore this multicultural paradigm.’ The country's history appeals to various therapeutic disciplines. In The Art Therapy SourcebookCathy A. Malchiodi discusses how when deprived of basic necessities during the 1992-1995 siege of Sarajevo, orchestras concerts and choirs were 'a particular story of the people of Sarajevo.' Foreigners like the Slovenia-based German Claudia Knoll, who ran a six-month 'music therapy project Sarajevo' in 2010, are still enjoying exploring the capital's psyche.
'Healing' Sarajevo
Four short days in Sarajevo mean I narrowly miss the phenomenon of the Moroccan healer Mekijem Torabi, who set up camp at the Zetra sports centre. From 10.30 til 4pm everyday except Fridays throughout October and November, citizens from Bosnia as well as neighbouring Croatia and Serbia saw the parallel queues for biometric passports at the police stations and raised them at their game. 2, 000 people a day, young and old alike, were queuing to watch the Moroccan mystic 'heal' bottled water from Sarajevo Brewery by touching it. The spiritual event was free, though the centre charged 1 convertible mark or KM (50 cents or 43p) for parking spaces and another KM for the bottles. Ruminations on the business practices of this highly successful character aside – some internet forums brand him a fraud - he seems to fill a gap where an entire region has its arms open to optimism and hope.
So are Bosnians wedged in the post-war clutches of the therapist's sofa? Four days of avoiding the cliché in Sarajevo and meeting people who lost their fathers, who are part of a nation which literally feels fatherless, was pinpointed by Tarek mentioning it almost gratuitously. 'Today the social pathology is very close to a general one. We fell into the trap of globalisation,' assures private psychologist Aneta Sandic at the grandiose Becka Kafana ('Viennese Cafe' of Sarajevo).
'Bosnians fell into the trap of globalisation'
The problem with psychotherapy in Bosnia, she argues, changing the subject, is the lack of theory, of educators, of experts. ‘You work with pain and deep suffering,' she says. 'You need knowledge, supervision and basic practical knowledge. For the last 5-10 years Serbs and Croats have been coming to do training. Usually we do it over skype calls.' Before that, people had to go to Zagreb or Belgrade – ‘which has its own history of psychologists’ - to study it. One of the most famous Balkan psychiatrists is the former Bosnian Serb leader Radovan Karadžic, accused architect of ethnic cleansing in Kosovo and Serbia. In 2008 he was discovered in Belgrade working as a New Age healer. ‘He was helped,’ believes Sandic. ‘People want to forget. Humans make war, it tells us a lot about us. Like ants, or rats. I have no comment for people who kill to kill.'
Globalised, visa liberalised
‘Psychology in Bosnia has this curse that people can be the best psychologists for themselves,' laughs Dzenana. 'Bosnians are very strong in social networking. We solve our problems over coffee.’ Aneta Sandic disagrees. ‘We were like that, but now there’s a lot of envy and competition. It’s globalisation.' She has a point – sort of. The young Bosnians I meet are running out of overflowing cafes parallel to the river to catch Avatar in the cinema. They're telling me they dream of studying abroad. But they're also angry about that shooting that took place on the bridge they crossed the other day by a young 'war kid'. Sandic's work defines the soul as being very slow, something to be approached from different angles. It's a bit like Bosnia. ‘During world war two we had tradition and divisions as we do now,' she explains. 'Then in Yugoslavia everything was equal. Then what happened happened, four years of chaos. Now we speak of tolerance which didn’t exist between the 50s and 80s. The structure of our own reality changed. We had such a big social trauma.'
The bar is famous for its toilet, which has a television and free necessities, as well as free fruit at the entry
Dzenana believes there may definitely be more of a story for these symptoms in Bosnia after the effects of visa liberalisation; for three months now Bosnians have been able to travel to the 25 countries of the Schengen zone without a visa. ‘That will help us break the romantic picture of finding a job and so on easily,' she finishes. 'People are going to be exposed to different cultures. It will strengthen their identity, help understand ‘who I am'.’ Sarajevo's European horizon might be dotted with new blue passports, but it's some consolation. For example, it won't be taking anyone as far as the red telephone boxes of London, which is not in the Schengen zone.
Thanks toSladjana Perkovic
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Rob Hardy: Translations and mistranslations of Chinese food history in the U.S.
September 2, 2009 8:07:00 AM
Rob Hardy -
In 1784, the Empress of China, an American ship bearing American ginseng, sailed to China for trade. It was the first time the new nation had tried such trade, and the Americans did not know what to expect, for instance, in what they might be served at dinners. It was all well if they ate with the British or Portuguese who were already trading there, but dining with the Chinese would have been a problem.
"They not only use the same kind of flesh, fish, and fowl that we do, but even horse flesh is esteemed proper food," wrote a previous visitor to China. The sailors would have been puzzled by all the rice, and especially by the use of chopsticks, and they would have been astonished that any meat brought to the table was already cut up into bite-sized bits, since there was no tradition of carving at table. (The Chinese, in their turn, would have been disgusted by the slabs of American meat floating in gravy.) We don''t have an account of the ship''s dining encounters, but it would have marked the start of culinary exchanges and misunderstandings that have continued to our day. In "Chop Suey: A Cultural History of Chinese Food in the United States" (Oxford University Press), food writer Andrew Coe has written about Chinese food traditions and their translations and mistranslations into America, their acceptance into both respective American coasts, and their adoption as the take out food of choice for middle America. It''s an odd history, told with humor and many anecdotes, and it may make you long for something more than General Tso''s famous chicken.
For centuries, cooking had been considered one of the most important arts in China, and the Chinese thought that mastering the art made people civilized rather than barbarian. The overall impression westerners got, however, was that the Chinese subsisted on oily, garlicky stews. There was also the suspicion that anything might go into that stewpot: rats, mice, snails, kittens and puppies. It did not matter that the same pigs westerners favor were overwhelmingly the most popular meat on the Chinese table, nor that the Chinese had refined tastes for animals that were not pets or vermin, like jellyfish or sea cucumber. The strongly xenophobic reaction of visitors eating in China was horror of what the Chinese thought of as acceptable sources of meat.
If that wasn''t enough, they could assume a horror of the way the Chinese cultivated their vegetables, a way "which is filthy and disgusting in the extreme," wrote one observer in 1866, "... and the soil is stimulated to rank productiveness by the application of the most offensive manures."
Even visitors who appreciated the cuisine got to express disapproval somehow; the author Bayard Taylor in 1851 wrote that dishes at a Chinese banquet were "numerous and palatable, but hardly substantial enough for a civilized taste." (Perhaps this was the original "It''s delicious, but an hour later you''re hungry again" complaint.)
In his section on the history of food in China, Coe notes many practices that we would recognize now. Restaurants in China have a long history of serving gourmet food, since the time when in Europe fine food could only be found in courts and monasteries. Further down the line were cook shops and street vendors. There were dim sum restaurants, where the bill was totaled by adding up the number and size of the empty plates on the diner''s table.
By the mid-19th century, Chinese were coming to America and bringing their notions of food with them. There are famous stories that a particular cook or a particular visiting Chinese official invented chop suey and bestowed upon America its recipe, but it was really too general a meal to be invented by one person. More probably something very much like it was eaten in Chinese regions that contributed most to the immigration. It was simple fare (the Cantonese words from which the name comes mean something like "odds and ends"), but once the Chinese were here, at least some of them were prosperous enough to want to have banquets like they had had back home. Every now and then whites would "slum" to the novelty of such a banquet, like the one held in the Hong Heong Restaurant in San Francisco in 1865, where there was stewed pigeon, fried shark''s fin, bird''s nest soup and maybe a 100 other courses. A guest at the banquet was glad to be rescued by being called away by a banker he knew with the greeting, "I knew you were hungry -- let us go get something to eat..." and they crossed over to an American restaurant, with relief. The organizer of a similar feast in New York in 1884 found that when things were supposed to start, "half the party went missing, giving excuses that ''were more ingenious than satisfactory.''"
This all changed when chop suey became a fad in the early 20th century. Bohemians liked the dish, which was filling and cheap, and customers "liked the cut-rate, exotic décor of red lanterns and prints of pretty Chinese girls and landscapes." Restaurants took on the synecdochic name; you would meet someone at the chop suey on the corner. The dish was "the food of the moment, both sophisticated and enjoyed by everyman." The fad peaked in mid-century, when Chinese restaurants everywhere served it and it had been transformed to something suburban. Coe is too severe when he says, "Today, chop suey is a relic in most parts of the United States, another food fad that has ended up on the trash heap of culinary history." There are too many Chinese restaurants still serving it for this to be true, and some of us still find it pretty tasty. But those who had enjoyed the fad (along with the accompanying chow mein and egg foo young) aged, and new immigrants came in with their own ideas about home cuisine; there was more to eating Chinese than just a standard set of Cantonese American dishes. There was plenty of spice and flare in the new way of Chinese dining, and that''s not just General Tso''s chicken. This was a dish that actually was invented, by a chef named Peng Chang-kuei. The name came because Peng admired General Tso, who was a real military hero but was not, as the story goes, a chef after he retired from the battlefield. It isn''t, therefore, a "real" Chinese dish, but an American expression of the spicy Hunan and Sichuan traditions.
Then there are authentic Chinese banqueting halls. Having started with the first American traders to China, Coe winds up with Nixon''s visit to China and the preparations for it. Henry Kissinger, we learn, was a chopstick klutz, and was a sucker for duck dishes that probably got him to agree to a concession or two. The sort of banqueting food they ate might not be as readily available as the chop suey standards that can be found in any American town, but top scale Chinese dishes can be found easily in metropolitan areas. Coe''s delightful book is a bit of "odds and ends" itself, with pages on the use of pidgin, Chinese-kosher cuisine, the new look of San Francisco''s Chinatown after the earthquake, the connection of Chinatowns with white slavery, and the Kon-Tiki craze for Cantonese food. The Chinese food we get is mostly a hybrid; Coe has documented a cuisine that may not always be authentic Chinese, but is a genuine American success story.
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The Religion Factor: An Introduction to How Religion Matters - By: Jacob Neusner
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The Religion Factor: An Introduction to How Religion Matters
Westminster John Knox Press / 1996 / Paperback
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From the Introduction- Religion makes an important difference in the lives of nations, peoples, communities, and individuals. In this book we ask, How does religion matter in the everyday lives of ordinary people and in the present-tense affairs of the communities in which we live? The emphasis is on our own country, the United States. Religion--so we maintain--makes vast difference in the social order, and for most Americans it forms a primary fact of life. But how, in concrete terms, are we to identify the difference religion makes? The contributors to this volume provide answers to that question.
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Format: Paperback
Vendor: Westminster John Knox Press
Publication Date: 1996
ISBN: 0664256880
ISBN-13: 9780664256883
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Publisher's Description
In this companion to the best-selling World Religions in America: An Introduction, renowned contributors explore the importance of religion in the lives of people, communities, and nations. Their concern is not with particular doctrines within the various religious traditions, but with how real people live these traditions today and the impact this has on the larger social order.
Author Bio
William Scott Green is Professor Emeritus of Religion and Judaic Studies and Dean Emeritus of the College of Arts and Sciences at the University of Rochester in Rochester, New York. Jacob Neusner is Distinguished Service Professor of the History and Theology of Judaism and Bard Center Fellow at the Bard College Institute of Advanced Theology in Annondale-on-Hudson, New York. He is the author of several books, including Judaism When Christianity Began, The Emergence of Judaism, and the popular textbook World Religions in America, all of which are available from WJK.
Publisher's Weekly
How does religion influence life in this postmodern and pluralistic era? In every way, assert the 17 diverse essayists who examine various religious influences on political discourse, gender, media and other aspects of American life. How does, for example, the American Muslim experience of media reveal hidden biases in reporting? How does a Buddhist encounter death? How does a Christian respond to political and economic issues? Some essays, like John Updike's review of religion's influence on literature, are outstanding. Others are more academic, even pedantic. All strive to model toleration and religious pluralism--which, as editor William Scott Green writes in the final essay, are not only goals of democracy but also core values of the American experience. The collection leaves unresolved, however, the question of how religions in America, each asserting its own fundamental religious truths, can also share the values of toleration and religious pluralism. (Nov.)
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9.23: Thunderstorms
Difficulty Level: At Grade Created by: CK-12
Practice Thunderstorms
Practice Now
What lives fast and dies young?
That describes most thunderstorms. Thunderstorms can be very intense but may last for only a matter of minutes. They're fun (and dangerous) while they're active, though.
Thunderstorms are extremely common. Worldwide there are 14 million per year — that’s 40,000 per day! Most drop a lot of rain on a small area quickly, but some are severe and highly damaging.
Thunderstorm Formation
Thunderstorms form when ground temperatures are high, ordinarily in the late afternoon or early evening in spring and summer. The two figures below show two stages of thunderstorm buildup ( Figure below ).
(a) Cumulus and cumulonimbus clouds. (b) A thunderhead.
As temperatures increase, warm, moist air rises. These updrafts first form cumulus and then cumulonimbus clouds. Winds at the top of the stratosphere blow the cloud top sideways to make the anvil shape that characterizes a cloud as a thunderhead. As water vapor condenses to form a cloud, the latent heat makes the air in the cloud warmer than the air outside the cloud. Water droplets and ice fly up through the cloud in updrafts. When these droplets get heavy enough, they fall.
A mature thunderstorm with updrafts and downdrafts that reach the ground.
This starts a downdraft, and soon there is a convection cell within the cloud. The cloud grows into a cumulonimbus giant. Eventually, the drops become large enough to fall to the ground. At this time, the thunderstorm is mature, and it produces gusty winds, lightning, heavy precipitation, and hail ( Figure above ).
The End
The downdrafts cool the air at the base of the cloud, so the air is no longer warm enough to rise. As a result, convection shuts down. Without convection, water vapor does not condense, no latent heat is released, and the thunderhead runs out of energy. A thunderstorm usually ends only 15 to 30 minutes after it begins, but other thunderstorms may start in the same area.
Severe Thunderstorms
With severe thunderstorms, the downdrafts are so intense that when they hit the ground, warm air from the ground is sent upward into the storm. The warm air gives the convection cells more energy. Rain and hail grow huge before gravity pulls them to Earth. Severe thunderstorms can last for hours and can cause a lot of damage because of high winds, flooding, intense hail, and tornadoes.
Squall Lines
Thunderstorms can form individually or in squall lines along a cold front. In the United States, squall lines form in spring and early summer in the Midwest, where the maritime tropical (mT) air mass from the Gulf of Mexico meets the continental polar (cP) air mass from Canada ( Figure below ).
Lightning and Thunder
So much energy collects in cumulonimbus clouds that a huge release of electricity, called lightning , may result ( Figure below ). The electrical discharge may be between one part of the cloud and another, two clouds, or a cloud and the ground.
Lightning over Pentagon City in Arlington, Virginia.
Lightning heats the air so that it expands explosively. The loud clap is thunder . Light waves travel so rapidly that lightning is seen instantly. Sound waves travel much more slowly, so a thunderclap may come many seconds after the lightning is spotted.
Thunderstorms kill approximately 200 people in the United States and injure about 550 Americans per year, mostly from lightning strikes. Have you heard the common misconception that lightning doesn't strike the same place twice? In fact, lightning strikes the New York City's Empire State Building about 100 times per year ( Figure below ).
Lightning strikes some places many times a year, such as the Eiffel Tower in Paris.
• lightning : A huge discharge of electricity typical of thunderstorms.
• thunder : The loud clap produced by lightning.
• Thunderstorms grow where ground temperatures are extremely high.
Use this resource to answer the questions that follow.
1. How do clouds form?
2. How do storms develop?
3. What creates lightning?
4. What is sheet lightning?
5. What is a leader stroke?
6. What is a return stroke?
7. Why is thunder usually heard after you see lightning?
8. What is a lightning rod?
1. Why are thunderstorms so common?
2. What is the energy source that feeds a thunderstorm?
3. What causes a thunderstorm to end?
A huge discharge of electricity typical of thunderstorms.
The loud clap produced by lightning.
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Is a mummer some type of religious person?
Mumming is putting on a holiday play or pageant in which the actors use gestures, masks, props, and elaborate makeup, but do not have spoken lines. The players, called mummers, would travel from house to house to perform. They would also perform at the village "publick house," or pub.
While mumming can be traced to Great Britain during the Middle Ages, these folk plays spread to other parts of the world. You can still find mumming traditions happening in Newfoundland, Canada; Cornwall, England; and Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
The origins of the word aren't clear — some etymologists attribute it to an old English word mumm (meaning "silent"), while others say it derives from the old German word mummer (meaning "disguised person").
In Thomas Hardy's Return of the Native, Eustacia tells her grandfather,
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Sahar Saba: Women's rights in post-Taliban Afghanistan
Sahar Saba is a spokesperson for the Revolutionary Association of the Women of Afghanistan (RAWA), the oldest women's humanitarian and political organization in Afghanistan.
CNN: Thank you for joining us today, Sahar Saba, and welcome
SAHAR SABA: Greetings to everyone joining this chat. I'm really happy to be here today with you to talk about the situation in Afghanistan. It's important for us to talk about the future in Afghanistan.
CNN: Is the Taliban retreat from Kabul and other Afghan cities a victory for the women of Afghanistan?
SABA: In some ways, yes, it's a victory. Seeing that there are no Taliban in power, it's really something that everyone was wishing for. So of course, this is a great and positive change in the Afghanistan situation, especially for women. But seeing that other criminal groups like the Northern Alliance will replace them is not good news for Afghan women and people in general. So the situation is confusing for everyone about what will happen. If we have the Northern Alliance in power, then nothing will be changed, especially for women. So we can't deceive ourselves by seeing only few women without burqas or working in TV or radio. It's really something for the people around the world to make them think that things have changed. But things haven't changed; there are still social, psychological, problems. Women are still suffering. It's not the end of tragedy. We still have a long way to go. We need to work hard to get rid of fundamentalism.
CHAT PARTICIPANT: How do the rights of women under the Northern Alliance compare with those under the Taliban?
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SABA: In fact, let me tell you that there was not a big difference between [the way the] Taliban were treating women and the way Northern Alliance was treating women. When they came into power in 1992, the situation of women was getting worse day by day, and whatever women had before, they lost. The only difference we can see was that the Northern Alliance didn't announce officially restrictions on women. But practically, they were worse, in their ways of raping women, kidnapping women, destroying hospitals, offices, museums, burning books. The security was not good in any case. So women were apparently allowed to go out, but they didn't dare to go out, because they were kidnapped, and in many cases, young women disappeared, and their bodies were found later in front of their house, gang-raped.
So there are years we will never be able to forget. It's not something to trust these groups anymore. They are criminals who must pay for what they've done. They are two sides of one coin, the Taliban and the Northern Alliance. The only difference is that one was in power, and the other was trying to be in power. They are against women, against civilization, against democracy. How can we forget that groups in Northern Alliance called democracy an infidel, gateways to hell? So now, when they talk about women's rights or education, or rights to work, it's really just like a joke, insulting those women.
CHAT PARTICIPANT: How do the Taliban and/or the Northern Alliance justify treating their women this harshly when the Koran teaches otherwise?
SABA: There are many factors for this treatment of women by the Taliban, or Northern Alliance or any fundamentalist group. Many of these people were raised or trained from childhood in a way to be against women, that women are nothing for them and of no value for them. Many of them have never seen women or talked to them, let alone thought of their freedom. Second, for many of the rulers and many other countries, the rulers use religion with their own interpretation, which is better for them, not for women. They take advantage of many very conservative points, and it gives them this chance. Most importantly, they have the power of the gun. With a weapon, you can justify anything you want to do. It's not a crime for them, but for them, with guns, you cannot expect them to justify what they are doing.
CHAT PARTICIPANT: What lengths are the United Nations and the United States willing to go to insure their equal rights?
SABA: The only way is to do something to stop fundamentalism. As I said before, fundamentalism was not only in the form of Taliban. We still face that danger with Northern Alliance and different groups in the alliance. The best way to help Afghan women is to stop fundamentalism in Afghanistan, to get more power, to be more strengthened in Afghanistan. For this, we believe it is time for the intervention of the international community and the UN, to put a peacekeeping force into Afghanistan, and their first task must be to disarm all warring factions in Afghanistan. To promote, to protect, to ensure women's rights, we need a stable government, with a guarantee of peace and freedom, that will give chances to women to go out of their houses. For this, it's not possible with weapons, we need peace, security, women's rights and issues [which we can achieve] only if we don't have people like the Northern Alliance in power.
CHAT PARTICIPANT: Is there a role model amongst other Muslim nations that Afghanistan should follow in this movement for women?
SABA: The situation of women in Afghanistan or treatment of women in Afghanistan cannot be found in any other Islamic country, even Iran or Saudi Arabia. We believe that other women are suffering, but it's not really comparable to what the women of Afghanistan have experienced. They want to see peace, security, and freedom. It can happen in any Islamic or non-Islamic country. It's needed for human beings. We can find the situation of women even in Pakistan is very much different from our women, even in many other Islamic countries, [in] Africa and all these. We really are outside of things. We don't want war, poverty, fundamentalism, whether in an Islamic country or non-Islamic country.
CHAT PARTICIPANT: It has been suggested that the former monarch head the new government. What are your thoughts regarding that?
SABA: From the beginning, we have supported the former king, and we also have made it very clear why, and it was only the comparison between the fundamentalist groups and him. Under him, when he was ruling Afghanistan, the situation was really different especially for women. For many people it was like a paradise. After the Taliban and the fundamentalist groups came in 1992, it was like a hell. That was why we supported him. Also, he can play a role as a symbol for Afghan women and men who are in favor of him. So he can play an important role, and must. We support the processes that will bring him into Afghanistan.
CNN: Have women ever had rights in Afghanistan?
SABA: Let me tell you that the situation of women in Afghanistan, for centuries, it was not something to be happy about. But in the last 50 years, it was going to change. For example, under the king, and after him, under President Daoud, the situation of women was better. If you ask many Afghan women what was the best time in their life, they will say definitely the time of the former king. What was different, was that change was happening, change for better. Even in the villages, the mentality toward women was going to change. After the fundamentalists came, the wheels turned back: another tragic aspect of our situation, of our suffering. Even if we had those rights, we lost them, and under fundamentalists, we are not confident as human beings.
CNN: Thank you for joining us today.
SABA: You are welcome. Thank you.
Sahar Saba joined the chat room via telephone from Islamabad and provided a typist. The above is an edited transcript of the interview on Monday, November 19, 2001 at 12:30 p.m. EST.
• Revolutionary Association of the Women of Afghanistan
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View Full Version : How To check whether Caps Lock is on
05-27-2009, 12:43 PM
Hi all ,
I want to put an additional check for user while entering password whether
CapsLock is On or not..
can any one help me out ....:)
Thanx in advance
05-27-2009, 01:19 PM
problem resolved
Philip M
05-27-2009, 01:58 PM
Google is your friend!
06-01-2009, 06:18 PM
The link provided does not detect if the caps lock is on. It only detects if you use a capital letter. This is a false script and should be renamed.
06-01-2009, 06:32 PM
Actually, it checks if what's inputted is coming in as being an upper-case letter while shift is not being held or whether it is a lower-case letter while shift is being held. Considering CAPS LOCK is a toggle on the KEYBOARD itself, which changes what code the keyboard sends to the computer rather than a toggle on the computer and JavaScript can only detect currently pressed keys.... (at least as far as I know, correct me if I'm wrong)... that seems like a pretty good way to mimic CAPS LOCK detection. Of course, it won't work that great when the user has caps lock pressed and is putting in numbers or special symbols, due to them being unaffected by CAPS LOCK, but eh... it still works in a way. Solution is correct within the limitation of the programming language used. Try to actually have some comprehension of what's being done before pointing accusatory fingers.
rnd me
06-01-2009, 10:38 PM
in firefox for sure, possibly elsewhere, you could simply simulate a key press, and detect the value.
This would be able to actually detect if capslock was on, instead of examining unknown input.
you would know for example, that [A] was pressed, and if it's === to "A" then caps is on...
this has the further benefit of warning a user about capslock BEFORE they start typing, unlike the posted solution which nags them after they have begun typing...
06-02-2009, 12:19 AM
Not sure how you plan to do that, considering generating a key event requires you to pass the direct key code that it's going to be simulating. So if you give it the code for 'A' (which is 65), what will be sent to the browser is 65... no matter whether you have caps lock turned on or not. What I'm trying in this case in FF3 is:
<script type="text/javascript">
function simulateClick() {
var fireOnThis = document.getElementById('someID');
evObj = document.createEvent('KeyboardEvent');
evObj.initKeyEvent( 'keypress', true, true, window, false, false, false, false, 65, 65 );
function checkKeyCode( e ) {
var KeyID = e.which;
<input type="text" id="someID" value="" onkeypress="checkKeyCode(event)" />
<input type="button" value="keypress" onclick="simulateClick()" />
It does trigger the function assigned to onkeypress on the element I'm firing the event on, but every time the function fires, I get the same key code back no matter whether CAPS LOCK is pressed or not. All in all, that doesn't seem to actually solve the issue, even though it was a good idea.
After some thinking though, I personally doubt JS would have that kind of capability... i.e. simulating a user actually pressing a key on their keyboard... because that would have plenty of fun exploit uses... like someone simulating a CTRL + ALT + DEL combo and other things like that. As such, the event wouldn't go beyond the scope of the browser and the browser itself does not know whether CAPS LOCK is turned on or not... or if it does, it doesn't give JavaScript the permission to alter and/or read it.
rnd me
06-02-2009, 10:30 AM
hmmm. thanks for checking this, sad it didn't work.
i figured if you sent the raw key code (the second to last argument) it would render the keypress. this is true to an extent; sending a backspace is a very fast way to clear a textarea selection without slicing. i knew the fun ones like print screen and ctrl+v were censored. but some of the keys, a lot of them actually, do indeed work as expected.
here is a list of the raw keyCodes (http://websvn.wyzo.com/filedetails.php?repname=wyzo&path=%2Fmozilla%2Fdom%2Fpublic%2Fidl%2Fevents%2FnsIDOMKeyEvent.idl&sc=1), it's a pretty cool list, and it's hard to track down.
sadly, A-Z are blocked from accepting raw keycodes, so you have to specify a unicode char instead, and that has a preset case.
so, we must wait for the first actual keypress to test for caps lock.
i wonder if vbscript's sendKeys method suffers the same lockout...
06-02-2009, 11:01 AM
i had this same problem, i was trying to detect whether the caps lock was pressed or not for a password field.
I spent a long time looking but until the user inputs anything you are not gonna detect caps lock pressed.
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Tag Archives: mediation
#WRawesome Online: Jason Dykstra
Waterloo Region Awesome Online:
Jason Dykstra
I first met Jason Dykstra online and watched him as he learned how to use social media over the last year and a half. He’s since matured in his use and definitely qualifies as Waterloo Region Awesome Online.
From Cambridge, Ontario, Jason is someone you should be following on Twitter (@jasondyk). In part because he’s an excellent example of how to use it well. He engages in conversation to build relationships and community. He also share valuable content.
Jason is a mediator who practices alternate dispute resolution. In short, he helps people handle conflict. As he wrote recently:
We aren’t always looking for it, but it will often find us. It gets us at work, at home, even on our peaceful walks through the park or a rowdy evening at the bar. It affects our productivity, our finances, our emotional and physical well-being, even our self-esteem. We can run and hide from it, curl up in bed in the fetal position or go in “guns a blazing.” What are we talking about? Conflict. It surrounds us, it’s everywhere, the question is; how are we to deal with it?
From “Engaging with Conflict Starts with Listening.”
Jason shares his own content AND content from others that help you to deal with conflict or grow as a person. For example, here he talks about how to avoid reacting to conflict. People follow Jason because they know he shares information that they want and need.
Jason helps us to handle conflict in a constructive way that strives to find win-win solutions. Following him on Twitter is a good start to improving how you react to the conflict that all of us experience. | <urn:uuid:7092c9bd-135d-411c-bf0a-15d18ade4d0d> | 2 | 1.617188 | 0.018279 | en | 0.925821 | http://www.communicateandhowe.com/tag/mediation/ |
Smartphones make our lives easier, but it can come all crumbling down if your device is misplaced or stolen. Thankfully, apps like Find My iPhone give you more options than hoping someone will answer your lost device when you call. But apps like Find My iPhone are limited because how can you locate or call your device if the battery dies? Lookout for Android has added a nice new feature which assists with locating lost cell phones even if the battery dies.
Before your device dies, Lookout records the location of your smartphone. Users can then log into their Lookout account to see the last known location of their device. If your phone was stolen, more than likely it will not be at that location but it does give you better insight as to where it may be.
Mashable reports that Lookout developer, Plan B, is working on a similar app for iOS and plans to release it in the near future. near future.
Download Lookout for your Android device here. You will regret not downloading it if you misplace your phone in the future.
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Torispherical dish end calculations.
Discussion in 'Chemical | Metallurgy' started by prashpan, Aug 23, 2012.
1. prashpan
prashpan Enthusiast
Can Anyone give me the formula for calculating plate size needed to make the 10 % torispherical dish ends for a reactor?
Diameter of reactor is 3000 mm
Height of Reactor is 3500 mm
volume required is 25 m3
Shell Thickness is 10 mm
I Want to Know is what shall be the diameter of 12 mm circular plate required before it can be bent to form the dish ends?
2. A.V.Ramani
A.V.Ramani Guru
I do not think that there is any formula as such.
There is a thumb rule used in industries. It is more an internal practice.
For shallow dishing, the diameter of the plate circle is usually the final OD of the dish plus 3 x t, where t is the thickness of the original plate. During forming a bit of the material flows from the centre towards the edges, which will give some small thickness difference over the profile.
3. prashpan
prashpan Enthusiast
Actually I want to calculate the weight of a reactor.
Now the weight of the cylinder can easily be calculated by multiplying volume X Density.
But in order to calculate the volume of top and bottom dish ends i need diameter of the plate from which they are fabricated.
Now the approx weight of such a reactor come out to be close to 8-8.5 tons.
But by my calculations it is coming out as only 4.5 tons. Even if we add gearbox, motor, nozzles etc. the difference should not be so large.
4. A.V.Ramani
A.V.Ramani Guru
Please see section on torispherical dished ends. The formula for approximate volume (multiply by density for weight) is given there. Calculate the outside volume and the inside volume separately; the difference is the volume of the dished end.
(Pages 31-32)
5. mechky
mechky Certified CEan
See if the following relations help you in computing the correct mass:
CR = Do
KR = 0.1Do
SF = 3.5t
DH = 0.1935Do – 0.455t
THi = SF + DH
Do = external head diameter
SF = straight flange height
Di = internal head diameter
DH = depth of dishing
CR = crown radius
THi = total internal head height
KR = knuckle radius
t = wall thickness
The external head diameter, 'Do' is usually equal to the outside diameter of cylindrical section.
Using these relations, prepare a solid model of the torispherical end in SolidWorks or any other software. Apply the material and then you can view its mass. Add it to the mass of cylindrical section and see if the total mass is coming out to be correct or not. This will ensure that the dimensions you are using are correct.
If the mass comes out to be correct, then only proceed with the theoretical formulae for volume calculations as they are approximate formulae and many simplified formulae give wrong answers.
• Like Like x 1
6. prashpan
prashpan Enthusiast
Okay, thanks for the formulae but i don't have solidworks.
7. prashpan
prashpan Enthusiast
Sir i did Calculated the volume by the formula given in the link. but by this calculation the weight is coming out as only 156.662 kg
Although the height "h" is coming as 578 mm which is correct.
Taking into consideration that R = Do for torispherical head.
8. A.V.Ramani
A.V.Ramani Guru
I have not done the detailed calculations. To me it appears that 156 kg is probably one tenth. I got about 1.25 tons as the weight by another approximate order of magnitude calculation. Which makes the total reactor weight more like 4.5 tons, which is what you got independently.
Have you considered the possibility that you are right?
9. prashpan
prashpan Enthusiast
Maybe but i will only find out when the reactor is fabricated, will get back when i know the answer.
10. feroz khan
feroz khan Newbie
sir i want to calculate the diameter of dish to be cut for a reactor of shell having id 1000 mm & thickness 8mm.Please help me .
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Just a Bad Habit or Addiction?
If you are unsure if your use of mind-altering substances is a harmless habit or a potentially harmful addiction, you are certainly not alone. Since man first crushed grapes and turned them into wine people have been asking themselves the very same question. While some who crushed grapes were satisfied with a glass or two of the wine they produced, there were some who drank until they reached the point of oblivion. Centuries later, most of us still know people who fall into each of these categories.
It seems (at first glance) to be a relatively simple question to answer. It is definitely not; countless numbers of people of all ages around the globe struggle with this intensely personal question.
There are a number of reasons why it is so hard to answer. First, no one wants to admit they have an addiction and few want to be referred to as a “drug addict” or an “alcoholic”. These terms alone conjure up disheveled, homeless folks huddled under bridges shooting up, popping pills or drinking from a brown paper bag. Like any other group in our society, addicts come in all shapes, sizes and income levels. The solid citizen (with two cars in the garage and a white picket fence) is as likely to be addicted to drugs or alcohol as the man or woman living on the streets.
Another reason many find the question difficult to answer is because the mental fog some users live in makes it nearly impossible to make accurate judgments.
Without a doubt, however, the biggest reason alcoholics and drug users can not admit to addiction is denial. The vast majority of people will have to break through the layers of denial before they can “own” their addiction and begin the process of recovery. Denial does not mean these people realize they are addicts and deny it because admission would mean defeat. No, it is much more complex than that. Even after having suffered major consequences as a result of using and having been diagnosed by a bevy of professionals, many addicts will continue to deny they have a problem. How can this be? They really believe they don’t have a problem. Often, they believe they are not like all the “others”, they can handle their liquor or drug of choice … they can quit any time they want. Typically, however, they don’t test that theory because they don’t try to quit. No one can make you believe you are addicted to a substance. It is a discovery you will have to make on your own. Yes, you can be guided, but the decision is yours alone.
You may be familiar with the folksy comedian Jeff Foxworthy. Foxworthy’s most famous routine is called “You Might Be a Redneck If …..” fill in the blanks. If you are completely honest, you may come to an important conclusion when you just consider this:
You Might Be an Addict If:
• You are no longer comfortable around your old friends
• You surround yourself with people who live their lives “high”
• You have given up previously enjoyable activities – playing baseball, swimming, dancing, etc. to get high instead
You find yourself isolating yourself more and more – you spend countless hours totally alone and non-productive
People who love you (trusted family and friends) are telling you they think you have a problem with drugs and/or alcohol
• The only people that agree with your assessment (you are not an addict) are the people you use with
• If you have lost jobs due to drugs/alcohol
• If you have lost friends due to drugs/alcohol
• If you have tried (time and time again) to control your habit … “I’ll only drink/use on weekends” … and you have failed repeatedly.
• If you sleep something like 2 hours or 18 hours each day
• If you have gained or lost a significant amount of weight rapidly
• If you have ever been jailed because of substance use or issued a DUI
These are only some indicators that might suggest you have an addiction. Maybe the best indicator is how happy are you? Or, are you miserable a great deal of the time? As stated earlier, only you can determine if your substance use is a habit or an addiction. There is good news for those who come to terms with the fact that they are, indeed, addicted. There are many sources of help available and there are many millions of individuals who are recovering from their addictions and who now live happy, productive and fulfilling lives. | <urn:uuid:836f27d3-f3fd-4742-be54-f56bf0659991> | 2 | 2.28125 | 0.02415 | en | 0.966965 | http://www.crchealth.com/addiction/drug-addiction-rehab/drug-addiction-rehab-2/home-2/addiction_or_habit/ |
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First-time Cruisers - Your Cruise Guide!
First-time Cruisers always have a lot of questions. Below we have a number of articles, and we do our best to present them roughly in the sequence you need, as well as the latest articles first. However we realize that by the time many people get here they are not always "just beginning" - they have figured our a few things.
So, we will try to answer the most basic questions first - but we also have different articles to address more complicated "first-time" topics in detail.
You don't need to read everything in this section to get started, but there is a wide a variety of articles here on different topics, so please take your time and look at as many articles as you can. If you are looking for a quick answer - PLEASE register with our forum and ask a question in the "first time cruisers" section.
Happy Cruising!
Basic Articles for First-time Cruises
MSC Cruises is beginning the process of stretching four of its older ships
One cannot predict when an event calamitous can occur.
An all new marine life-themed children's program will accompany "Seuss at Sea" across the Carnival fleet
On the first full seven-day cruise of the brand new, biggest ship from PortMiami - Norwegian Getaway
Cruise essentials: passports, transfers, cruise tickets and what's included in a cruise
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How free cruise travel scams work - do not to be taken for a ride!
I fought Murphy's law during a recent cruise, and the law won
What difference does the location of your stateroom make - on a moving ship more than you realize
How to find the best cruise ship for your personal style and save money.
Cruise survey shows what cruisers want from a cruise vacation today
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Why 1980 has fund managers dizzy
They read the Wall Street Journal for clues. Every day, in a thousand offices, men and women whose jobs depend on being right look at the figures again and wonder how things ever got to be this crazy.
They are bond and money-market portfolio managers, professionals paid to predict the future of financial markets. Over the last year this has been, to say the least, a difficult job. So these financiers tug anxiously at their suit coats, attempt to decipher some pattern from each day's financial news, and watch with awe as the market changes.
In April the prime rate rate was 20 percent. In July it was 11; now it is 20 again. Money-market certificate yields have ridden up and down on the interest-rate roller coaster. Bonds have fluctuated wildly.
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"It's a portfolio manager's nightime," says Patricia A. zlotin, president of Massachusetts Cash Management Trust. "There really aren't words in the English language to describe that kind of price move."
Perhaps the bond market has been pummeled the most. The very concept of a bond reflects a belief in stability: trust that sums invested now will be returned in 20 or 30 years, plus interest. But when investors can't see beyond the crest of the next economic hill, they begin to lose their faith in long-term investment. What if there's a valley in the distance? Worse still, what if there's a Grand Canyon?
"Investors are becoming very reluctant to commit for 20 years," says David Jones, principal economist of bond specialists Aubrey Lanston & Co. "It's a very tough time for the market. I think all kinds of fixed-contract debts are going to be forever altered." years to mature; right now the average payback period on money-fund investment is 29 days.
"We have been fairly cautious with our investments," says Emery Erickson, a portfolio manager at Investor Diversified Services.
But if a fund manager could predict when interest rates are going to peak and "go long" (put money into securities with longer maturity dates) at the right time, they could conceivably lock up their yields at a high level while therest ow the market dropped away.
Should they play it conservatively, or go for broke?
"Are we nervous?" Mr. Parrish asks. "Yes."
Many observers are suggesting interest rates will start down sometime early next year.
"Basically, the pattern suggests we're close to a peak right now," says H. Erich Heinemann, an economist for Morgan Stanley. "The demand for short-term credit is fading away quickly. The Fed, in my judgment, is going to hang in there."
Other experts are not convinced the Fed won't turn and run when the fighting starts. "Interest rates will peak only when the money supply begins to convincingly decline to its targets," Peter Crawford, a vice-president of Citibank, says.
For all involved, uncertainty is a watchword. No one is quite sure what the economic terrain ahead looks like. A steady eye and quick feet can keep them going forward, but long-term travel plans have become very hard to make.
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Britain says assault on Stanley may be delayed
Delay. A new awareness of the dangers and the political price of the entire war. But stiffened resolve to press on.
Those are the three results here so far of the latest waves of Argentine air attacks launched June 8 against British forces on or near the Falkland Islands. The details of the latest attacks are still sketchy.
But it appears casualties to British forces and ships were heavier than expected -- so much so that Whitehall sources began telling British reporters June 9 and 10 that the final assault on Port Stanley looked likely to be delayed.
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''That could be disinformation to fool Argentine forces,'' commented one military analyst here late June 10, ''because the British have used such tactics before - notably when they said they would take Port Darwin with hit-and-run attacks but proceeded to take it in one burst the next day.
''But there is reason to suppose that the casualties could indeed have lost the British men and supplies they need for an attack.''
At this writing, Defense Secretary John Nott was refusing to give detailed casualty figures because he said they would help the enemy. Speculation was that about 40 men on the landing craft Sir Galahad might have been killed. One other landing craft hit, the Sir Tristram, had only one casualty, it was thought.
The frigate HMS Plymouth was damaged but was still operational, according to the British, while four marines were killed and two Navy men injured on another small landing craft. Argentina says the Plymouth sank.
The news comes as a blow to Britain because suspense has been building up steadily each day that the Port Stanley assault is delayed. The British now want the fighting in the Falklands to be over soon, and they fear even more casualties to come.
''What worries me,'' the military analyst said, ''is that the British now have to go straight into massed Argentine forces -- 2,000 regular Navy and Air Force troops, and 5,000 conscripts.
''The British cannot pick them off on the flanks because the Argentines are now trapped right in the Port Stanley area, with nowhere to escape. They have to stand and fight. Even though many might give in, the British will find the final push expensive, I'm afraid.''
So far the British have lost upward of 120 men, two destroyers, two frigates, a big container ship, six Sea Harrier jump-jets, two Air Force Harriers, and 11 helicopters, according to figures published here June 10.
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Reporters on the Job
National Conscience: Correspondent Susan Sachs says that a case finding that France's national railroad was liable in deporting Jews during World War II has struck a chord.
"Most people, I think, would agree with what President Chirac said in 1995, that France and the French bear responsibility for the anti-Jewish actions during the Occupation, and that the French state is accountable as the successor to the Vichy regime," she says. "But when you start to put your finger on something like the railway, which was a brighter spot for France in terms of the Resistance, it's more difficult.
Many French Jews who lived through that period, who saw their parents and other relatives disappear, cannot forgive the SNCF or other state institutions, Susan notes. "When reporting this story, I heard those survivors say, with great emotion: 'Why did they do nothing?' "
Recommended: Could you pass a US citizenship test?
In 1996, the SNCF opened up its archives to historians and produced a report that said it was neither a collaborator nor a resistance organization, Susan says. After the report, the president of the railroad gave money to the Memorial of the Unknown Jew in Paris, and contributed funds for orphans of deportees.
"The SNCF was active in resisting, and did blow up trains that had Germans on them – though it did nothing to the trains that carried Jews to the death camps. By the end of the war, there were hundreds of daily disruptions to the train schedules from acts of sabotage on the tracks or on the train cars themselves," Susan says.
But while there were people inside the SNCF who aided Resistance efforts, the railroad was found to have been efficient to a fault in deportation efforts. "The point of this case is the argument that the railways were crueler than they had to be," Susan says. "They exceeded the requirements of the Nazis."
– Amelia Newcomb
World editor
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Shield (3.5e Creature Ability)
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Shield is a protection unique to certain creatures, most of which are constructs. A shield defends the creature it envelopes and has the ability to soak damage of most any kind. A creature with the shield special quality has a deflection bonus to Armor Class equal to half its HD (with a minimum of +1 and a maximum of +10). For every HD a creature has, the shield that protects it has 5 hit points. Shield hit points are regained at a rate of 1 hit point per HD per hour. When a shield's hit points are depleted, its deflection bonus to AC disappears until the shield gains at least 1 hit point, unless otherwise noted in the creature listing.
Shield Absorption: As long as a shield has hit points remaining, it can absorb damage of virtually any kind, from physical damage types (bludgeoning, piercing, slashing) to energy damage types (acid, cold, electricity and fire), to force damage, to even most typeless forms of damage. Shields are even effective to touch attacks. Shield absorption functions as both a damage reduction/- and damage resistance of 10 plus 5 for every 5 HD, to a maximum of 30. Damage dealt over this amount bypasses the shield and is dealt to the creature itself. A shield cannot absorb more damage than it has hit points at any time. After the damage of an attack is reduced by shield absorption, any remaining damage is still susceptible to any other damage reduction or resistance to energy types the creature may have.
Only certain damage dealing effects can pass through a shield, such as a sonic effect, a gaze attack or psionic effects. Spells that do not deal damage and that do not require touch are unaffected by a shield.
Greater Shield[edit]
Certain powerful war machines have more powerful shielding. The greater shield special quality does not have a shield absorption limit, but absorbs all damage from any attack until it depletes, and furthermore never loses its deflection bonus. A greater shield regains a number of hit points per round equal to 10 plus an additional 5 points for every 5 HD the creature has (similar to fast healing).
Perimeter Shield[edit]
Certain machines possess shielding that does not only protect themselves, but also creatures or other machines that surround them closely. Perimeter shields are always of the greater variant, possessing a number of hit points and a recharge rate that corresponds to the HD of the creature possessing the shield, but instead of just granting its deflection bonus to just the creature that projects it, it grants that bonus to ranged attacks against all the creatures that reside within the field. When an attack breaches a perimeter shield, the damage that remains after being reduced by the shield is lost. Unlike ordinary shields, perimeter shields cannot be passed physically at all in either direction until the shields are down. All physical attacks are affected by the shield, including the ones that are made from inside it against creatures outside it. The machine possessing the perimeter shield mey either choose or be programmed to still allow energy-based ranged weapons, effects or spells to pass through the shield to target those outside it normally.
Perimeter shields are always projected as a spherical field with a radius of 10 ft. or twice the reach of the creature that possesses it, whichever is higher. The shield is not adversely affected by movement; when the shield is forced to inhabit a space that contains a wall or floor due to the creature controlling it moving around, it simply passes through those things.
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Columnist MARIA SULTAN gives her impressions about nuclear weapons in the hands of non-traditional nuclear states and the US reaction to this
The end of the cold war has drastically altered the bipolar world order and the traditional east-west rivalry between Moscow and Washington, has given way to a tentative cooperation between the two arch-enemies. However, with the end of the cold war, there is also a growing sense of the fear of proliferation of weapons of mass destruction and that nuclear fissile material is being smuggled out of Russia. The mere existence of the weapons in the black market further compounds the risk, of these weapons and the fissile material, reaching the hands of terrorist groups, 'rouge states', or regional powers which would, in turn, seriously jeoparadise the security of the entire world.
The proliferation of the weapons of mass destruction is likely to emanate from the weapon stock-piles of the former Soviet Union. The 'new threat' is basically split into three dimensions or major challenges to the US security.
The first was to secure and consolidate the Soviet Union's far-flung arsenal of tactical nuclear weapons, the type which would be most useful to a terrorist group or rouge state in search of an instant nuclear capability. The second challenge was to cope with the fact that Soviet strategic nuclear weapons - principally its nuclear-armed-intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBM's) were located in four of the Soviet successor states, raising the prospect that the demise of Soviet Union might result in the emergence of several states with intercontinental forces. Finally; the third post-Soviet challenge was and remains to prevent leakage of nuclear weapons or weapons usable material from Russia and the rest of the former Soviet Union.1 Hence, in short, the era of superterrorism or nuclear terrorism has arrived which has been compounded by Soviet Empire's continued economic crumbling and the alleged seizure of fissile material in Germany and other parts of Europe.
The explicit danger from Russia derives from the fear that nuclear weapons and materials are being stored in installations that lack adequate security, which are themselves located inside a highly unstable country.2 The risk therefore, is that the former Soviet nuclear weapons and materials for economic and other compulsions may find their way into the hands of 'rouge states'. 'The American and Russian policies have not yet begun to address this problem in a manner that is commensurate with their stakes in the issue'.3 In addition to the proliferation of fissile material, the passive threat, emergent after the demise of Soviet Union is the high possibility of brain-drain from the former Soviet Union or the transfer of technological know-how by Soviet scientists to terrorist organizations 'rouge states', or the threshold nuclear states which would expedite their on-going nuclear programmes in their quest for attaining nuclear capability.
Loose Nukes: Conceptual Aspects
The theory of 'Loose Nukes' basically constitutes two basic dimensions, one, aiming at the leakage of nuclear fissile material from Russia and its policy implications on the United States of America. The second, essentially relates to the phenomenon of nuclear terrorism and its high probability occurrence in the world today. However, the element common to both of these aspects is the projected presence of the third party or terrorist groups, states or organizations who may realize their dream of having possession of nuclear weapons. This has seemingly attained a real dimension with the dissolution of the former Soviet Union, its growing economic instability, unsecured fissile material sites and the vulnerabilities of their scientific community.
The theory of Loose Nukes has been promulgated by a set of arguments and propositions to sustain the assumptions. With respect to the fissile material leakage, it is being held that it is already occurring and weapons grade nuclear material from the former Soviet Union is being diverted and that it could get much worse in frequency and magnitude. Second, the assumption made is that in the post-cold war international environment nothing constitutes greater threat to the US security interest than the nuclear leakage and that the US response to the threat has been utterly insufficient and the level of effort does not equal the US stakes in this respect. The arguments are based on the 'facts' that nuclear knowhow related to the manufacture of crude atomic device is easily available and the most convenient access can be found in the classics such as Los Alamos premier: First lectures on how to build an atomic bomb. (Although not exactly a blue print, the book is considered a good guide to the physics of nuclear fission.4 The latest information flow on the information super-highway i.e., the internet, e.g. articles written by Daud Pota etc. have further elaborated or so to speak lessened the risk of potential access to such classified information for the parties concerned.
There is yet an emergence of a new kind of terrorism. From the nerve gas attack in Tokyo to the World Trade Centre attack in 1993 to the bombing of the Federal building in Oklahoma City, there is now a new breed of terrorists, who are fundamentalists or religiously motivated fanatic groups bent on causing mass death and destruction for achieving political ends.5' All the three attacks reinforce the idea that the age of superterrorism has arrived and there are all the indications that in future, the US soil will be made a terrorist target as propounded by former national security council official retired Lt. Gen. Robert Schweitzer: 'The Trade Centre bombing proved that trans-national terrorist groups are targeting the United States'.6 In addition to the possibility of the use of weapons of mass destruction by terrorists the possibility of rogue states getting their hands on fissile nuclear material brings a new dimension to the proliferation challenge that USA faces according to Michael Mazoar an analyst with the centre of strategic and international studies: 'the smuggling of weapons grade nuclear material to rogue states would be the most dangerous type of proliferation by far. All the country would have to do is to design the weapon itself, which is not that demanding technologically. Because you don't know where the weapon programme is, you have no military option nor is it time to a visible production programme that would allow you to get international sanctions.7 Last but not the least the theory contends that the proliferation problem has attained a new impetus as an era of neo-non proliferation has arrived: 'The spread of nuclear weapons and the means to deliver them has already advanced so far that the important question is no longer how to stop their proliferation, but how to prevent them from being used.8
The fundamental question now is how USA would respond to the threat as it is localized, that common non-proliferation regime is most likely to fail in addressing the proliferation problem, especially compounded by 'Loose Nuke' phenomenon. Hence the State Department's counter proliferation initiative9 quietly adopted by Clinton in 1993, aimed at tackling the problem more vigorously in taking adequate defensive measures against proliferation through terrorism.
The deteriorating condition of the Soviet Nuclear arsenal, due to its economic malfunctioning is being addressed by initiatives such as Nunn-Lugar Cooperative Threat Reduction Programme (an overall aid package to Russia) does not fully commensurate the problem of 'Loose Nukes'. Therefore more direct efforts are considered desirable to counter the challenge, which the USA now encounters. In this regard emphasis on counter proliferation initiative (CPI) is greatly being hailed by both USA and its allies.
Loose Nukes - Definitional Imperatives
There is some inherent looseness in the definitional aspects of the 'Loose Nukes' concept.
During the cold war era, 'Deterrence' was the central concept and proliferation of Nuclear Weapons through the non-proliferation regime was kept in check and limits through the mobilization of world public opinion and international structures, barring few threshold states. Things seemed to be quite well under control, however, the end of cold war has unleashed an ever present Frankstein of mass proliferation of Nuclear materials mainly due to the falling apart of erstwhile Soviet Union (S.U.).
The functional incremental capability of this new threat from the dismantled Empire is based on the following assumptions.
1. High grade nuclear trafficking panorama exists in Russia.
2. The collapse of the Soviet system has diminished the ability of Russia and other former Soviet states to maintain and control nuclear stock piles.
3. Proliferation risks are enhanced by the near bankruptcy and corruption in the former Soviet Union.
4. Formerly the cream of Soviet society, nuclear scientists are suffering from psychological dilemma (a sense of loss of function and purpose among enterprize employees) also aggravate the soaring rate of nuclear crime.10
5. Nuclear thieves are basically amateurs at work but the fear of the Russian mafia getting involved in these kind of operations is of special concern.
6. There exists a potential of a nuclear mafia. The Russian mafia representa-tives are viewing nuclear smuggling options with Italian cartels and other international crime organizations, to bring or utilize the God gifted crime opportunity of nuclear theft or smug-gling compounded by the current scenario in the former Soviet Union.
7. The most formidable task of the Loose Nuke problem is tracking tens of thousands of weapons across Russian territory and complete the requirements of START-I (which means the dismantling of the weapons from the Soviet Arsenal).
8. Loose Nukes problem was heightened by the success potential of terrorist groups organizations, rouge states, and threshold states. The threat posed by possession of fissile material is real11, due to them, in addition to, the revolution of informa-tion highway, the easy access to portable type nuclear weapons.12
US Measures for Nuclear Material Security
The problem of Loose Nukes is seen as a paramount concern by US government. Earlier the year 1996 a classified CIA report on the danger of Loose Nukes from the former Soviet Union was delivered to President Bill Clinton. As a result, says spector, a classified 'special order has been issued to the Pentagon, making the situation America's 'number one security priority'. The order remains secret for fear, that publicity could trigger a backlash in Russia and cause problems for Boris Yeltsen.13
Similarly Gur contends, that Russian nuclear arsenals have been privatized and are prey to gangs of criminals. If this trade is not tackled head on, the risk of nuclear terrorism, both individual and state sponsored, in the next decade will be unprecedented.14
In short, due to responsive transitional mobility of the Loose Nuke problem the USA has taken a multidimensional approach. Accordingly in 1994, Bill Clinton issued Executive Order 12938 stating that the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction and their delivery means consolidate an usual and extraordinary threat to the national security, foreign policy and economy of United States.15
In this regard, the US Defence Counter Proliferation Initiative (DCI) has attempted to develop a balanced multitiered approach to counter proliferation,16 the official US definition of counter proliferation refers to 'the full range of US efforts to combat proliferation, including diplomacy, arms control, export control and intelligence collection and analysis with particular responsibility for assuring that US forces and interests can be protected, should they confront an adversary armed with weapons of mass destruction and missiles.17
The US department of defence is currently focusing its investments in the military systems to support counter proliferation in four areas; passive defence; active defence; counter defence, and measures to counter paramilitary covert and terrorist NBC threats. The programmes outlined below represents new ongoing department of defence's projects and new initiatives strongly related to counter proliferation.
Passive Defence
It involves military capabilities that provide protection against NBC weapons effects. Passive defence programme involves contamination avoidance, force protective and decontamination (approximately $ 30 million has been budgeted in F Y 1996 for these elements of passive defence).
Active Defence
This fact of counter proliferation involves programmes that improve capabilities to detect, track, identify, intercept, destroy and neutralize NBC war heads delivered by airborne launch platforms, ballistic missiles and cruise missile, while minimizing collateral effects. It is also continuing to implement the new priorities established for ballistic missile defence, identified in the department-wise bottom up review. (The new priorities respond to the end of cold war).
Measures to Counter Paramilitary, Covert and Terrorist Threats
Acquisition investment in this category are intended to protect military and civilian personnel facilities and logistical/mobilization nodes from the special class of NBC threats, both in USA and overseas (this category of threat is increasing).
Intelligence: Effective intelligence support is critical to all aspects of Department of Defence (DOD) counter proliferation initiative. The intelligence community would provide accurate and timely intelligence assessments on the motivations and plans of leaders in states that may select to develop NBC to the clandestine procurement networks used by states to terrorist groups and organizations, to movements, intentions, capabilities and activities of transitional groups such as ethnic or regional movements by the suspected proliferants.
The sum up, proliferation prevention is USA's primary objective and DOD contributions to proliferation prevention is part of a coordinated national effort, involving multiple departments and agencies, allied states and international organizations. Defence Department support includes Nunn Lugar Cooperative Threat Reduction (CIR) programme, export control activities and department of defence's inspection verification and enforcement support for the treaties and arms control regimes that limit NBC weapons and the associated delivery systems. The Defence Department also plays an important role in the four thrusts involved in the proliferation prevention, denial, reassurance, dissuasion and actions to reverse proliferation.18
In addition to the department of defence and Bill Clinton's counter proliferation initiative, which was quietly adopted as US policy in June, 1993.19 US measures for handling the Loose Nuke problem especially in regard to a terrorist group using a nuclear device on the US territory. United States of America has a especially trained bomb squad commonly known as Nuclear Emergency Search Teams (NESTS), under the US department of energy, basically deals with civilian criminal nuclear weapons. The role of NEST is to deal with a nuclear device in such a manner that it cannot produce a nuclear yield. NEST members are volunteers, however, the team's size would depend on the threat but its mission would be the same: search for device, pinpoint its potential for a nuclear yield and disable, i.e. neutralize a bomb. NEST can also call in the department of energy in aerial surveillance aircraft normally used to monitor nuclear power plants and mining sites to find radiation spots.20 NEST would basically be used as back-up for the FBI lead to respond to nuclear terrorism in the United States of America (it can move to any location in USA at an extremely short notice). In order to compound the security problem i.e., of the insecure nuclear sites in former Russia and the relevant Loose Nuke problems.
America has taken various credible steps in securing the vulnerable questioned sites in both Russia and the newly independent Central Asian Nuclear State i.e. Kazakistan. Ukraine and Belarus. The most effective effort made in this direction has been the Nunn-Lugar Cooperative Threat Reduction programme (CTR)21 to assist in the dismantlement of Soviet Union's Strategic offensive arms, but in a larger context CTR is only one component of a larger threat reduction umbrellas. Other components included, under the Umbrella are military to military contact programmes, safeguards transparency and irreversibility (SII), talks and other various confidence building measures.22 Uptil now USA has committed 1.27 billion to assist the states of the former Soviet Union in safely disposing of their weapons of mass destruction, included in this programme are initiatives to help ensure the security of nuclear weapons under transport to dismantlement facilities; financial and technical assistance in the designs of new nuclear material storage facilities and improvements in control and accountability system in Russia; establishment of science and technology centres in Moscow and Kiev to provide employment for several thousand nuclear weapon scientists and engineers.
US thinks that as the brain drain is going to cause the incalculable proliferation challenge, special efforts have been and are being made by the US to accommodate the former Soviet republic's scientists' community either in America or Europe or to give special aid packages to the former Soviet Union to put a block on the migration of Soviet scientists to rogue state; threshold nuclear states or terrorist organizations. In addition, the US department of energy's national laboratories are working closely with their Russian counterparts to improve security, mainly by transferring commercially available technology to former Soviet Union.23
Other efforts include CIA and state departments efforts such as done in Kazakistan by 'Operation Sapphire'.24 Ultimately it would not be wrong to state that the US measures to secure the fissile material from former Soviet Union include a whole panorama of measures or efforts led by the US Government.
Dangers of Nuclear Theft: Pilferage Issues and the Reality Calculus
Since 1991 the press has been filled with stories of pilferage nuclear smuggling from the former Soviet Union. Reflecting this reality, is the German federal police report showing the increasing numbers of suspected nuclear crimes in Germany: 41 in 1991, 158 in 1992, 241 in 1993 and 267 in 1994. German federal intelligence service estimates that there were 124 nuclear smuggling cases world wide in 1994, compared with 53 in 1992. Some 30 to 50 percent of the cases admittedly entailed fraudulent claims, that is either the seller could not gain access or could not deliver the promised challenge.25 Seizures of radioactive material have also been reported in other parts of western Europe mainly Switzerland, Italy, Belgium and Austria etc.26
In short, there seems to be a general trend of nuclear smugglers to sell their merchandise in western Europe, despite many effective seizures made by the western European authorities in regard to this problem. Literally hundreds of incidents have been reported since the end of cold war. However, majority of them have been or have not involved weapon usable material. Since 1992 there have been six well-known cases of theft or illicit trafficking. an employee stole approximately 3.7 pounds of Highly Enriched Uranium (HEU) from the Scientific Production Association at Padolsk, Russia in mid-1992.27
Though the risk analysts, believe fundamentally that nuclear trafficking is taking place in the former Russia however, it is viewed as rudimentary, basically on account of the fact the seizures made by the German, Russian or European authorities mainly precluded nuclear materials which could be characterized in international market as radio active junk and they comprised low grade uranium (in pellet or oxide form-strontium 90, cesium 137).28 Though there have been reportedly three and six cases according to various information where high quality of uranium has been seized but the synchronized third generation time phase has basically resulted in very less amount of the desired nuclear material. The much publicized nuclear theft in this regard has been of 0.8 gram sample of 87.7 percent pure uranium, 235 gm in Bavarian town of Landshtut. Similarly mixed oxide atomic fuel of 363 grams of plutonium was found from the luggage of a Colombian national and two Spaniards.29 Pilferage is basically, thought to be accruing from the following avenue, the fissile material smuggled from the former Soviet Union from Nuclear Research Institutes, secondly from the newly independent Central Asian States with considerable nuclear capabilities (namely Ukraine, Belarus, and Kazakistan). However, due to Kazakistan Muslim identify fear of terrorist having direct en routes have been more widely projected. Thirdly, dismantling of nuclear weapons is accruing both in former Soviet Union and USA under START-I auspices. Proliferation is most likely to be somewhere downstream in the dismantlement process and not from frontline Russia nuclear weapons.30 The great emphasis laid by the high believers of Loose Nuke problem on this aspect of pilferage is due to the uncanny belief that though uptill now, not large, quantity of proliferation of nuclear material has happened from former Soviet Union's dismantled nuclear arsenal but the fact remains that even a small traction of the fissile material from Russian weapons could create a small nuclear weapons arsenal that could upset a regional balance of power or expedite threshold state i.e. India, Pakistan or Israeli nuclear programmes or that of the rouge states. Similar is the case with respect to the possible brain drain of Russian scientists to these potential actors of nuclear politics. In this arena of the actors, Iran and Iraq are seen as the potential destabilizers of the status-quo of international power configuration.
On the Nuclear front, Iran is intensely shopping for all of the critical components needed and hiring nuclear scientists. They have acquired nuclear technology from Russia, Pakistan, China, some European companies and the former Soviet Republics like Ukraine, Kazakistan, Turkmenistan and AzerBaijan.31
Similar views are held for actors such as Iraq. Sadam or any successor, will seek to rebuild Iraq's conventional military forces and reconstruct its nuclear, biological, chemical (NBC) warfare and ballistic missile capability.32
The proliferation of Nuclear fissile material has been compounded by the presence of active mafia interests and economic disintegration of the former Soviet Union. Though the theory of nuclear danger sounds pretty logical it is necessary to view it closely. The proponents of the 'Loose Nuke' problem claim that the end of proliferation chain lies with actors such as Iraq, Iran, Pakistan or North Korea. However, a most fascinating detail seen in uranium seizures around the world has been that all seizures have been made either in Germany or Western Europe (though majority of them have included false alarms or low grade nuclear material). Now this seems a bit confusing i.e. why would the proliferants use a European route for the delivery of goods, especially when there are routine reports of seizure there, and why is it so that they don't use an East Asian channel or may be a more direct channel, through Afghanistan. The only explanation given in this regards is that Germany is more strategically placed as it is here that East and West Europe meet. Though this fact may be valid but as regards a clandestine operation, it seem a bit far-fetched. Besides, parallel logistical capacity seems to invalidate this argument.
It is said that proliferation is most likely to occur from the dismantled weapons. There seems to be a dichotomy as all weapons were dismantled under Russian and American supervision. In addition, to this, in Nov. 1994, the Nunn Lugar programme partially funded the removal of 600 kg of HEU (Highly Enriched Uranium) to USA from Kazakistan. US provided assistance, total about nearly $500 million to Russia, Belarus, Kazakistan and Ukraine under the same programme; categories of assistance included destruction, dismantlement, chain of custody and demilitarization.33 Now this is a bit peculiar situation because USA is assisting former Soviet Union, then how is pilferage possible from these arsenals without American consent as their strong stance about proliferation exists.
Similar views were held about former Russian states such as Belarus, Ukraine, and especially Kazakistan. The great load of proliferation threat was laid on Kazakistan. Due to her being a Muslim State, and holder of uranium excavation sites, in addition to bad economic situation. The rouge states or threshold states were most likely to select this site for nuclear material smuggling, this is a highly fascinating view because facts on ground depict a different picture. First of all, these states signed NPT and declared themselves as non-nuclear states and secondly START-I, main crunch of reduction of nuclear weapons was made from the nuclear arsenal of these states. Thirdly, the dismantling process occurred under international inspection (IAEA) and under the NPT framework. Then how proliferation or nuclear smuggling is going to happen in future (with countries having no nuclear potential). And if the security of the sites in question were not under proper safeguards, why then objections were not raised by IAEA? This is a question which has not been fundamentally addressed by either the US government or international media.
Accordingly, it is that stated nuclear smuggling is most likely to occur from these sites because the economic situation is deplorable. All the Central Asian States have high literacy rate as in Kazakistan it is approximately 99%. Owing to the fact that mostly Russian nuclear tests have been occurring in these areas, people have had a general know-how about the ill effects of radiation, especially in Kazakistan since Ulbinsky factory (mail box 10, before 1967), transformed into a nuclear town in 1970 due to a number of ecological and environmental reasons, is now the world's most polluted area'34.
The prevailing public opinion on nuclear tests has been and currently is unfavourable of nuclear programmes, even for commercial purposes35. There seems to be two kinds of theories of nuclear material about the former Soviet Union. amateurs (i.e. employees of nuclear enterprises and storehouses; relatives or friends of nuclear insiders, basically local enthusiasts) or people working or belonging to the Russian Mafia. The fact remains that the security level of these sites has deteriorated but nevertheless not so that anyone can walk in and steal the merchandize. Nuclear power plants are usually computerized sites and it is not easy to take uranium, without the fear of radiation leak or radiation exposure to the potential thieves. When asked from Russian and Kazak officials as regards the security of these sites and the possibility of nuclear theft, the Kazak diplomate said: Stealing from nuclear sites in Kazakistan is impossible. There exists a strict regime and the level of security is very good, be it the nuclear sites for commercial uses or otherwise. Further elaborating his views on the Loose Nuke problem he said, there is no smuggling, no reality, it's a mirage, anyone who will try to steal, he would get caught36. When asked as to what are the possibilities of nuclear mafia or Russian mafia getting involved in the racket of nuclear proliferation, he stated that there does not exist a credible organized crime in Kazakistan, though people are reverting to theft, for various reasons, however, the potential, as such does not exist as the literacy rate is 100% and they have just come out of strict Soviet regime. When asked about the feasibility of nuclear theft from mining sites in Kazakistan, he confirmed that it is impossible and regime protecting the sites is Soviet trained; it is a rumour which travels from one newspaper to another without having actual basis or concrete facts to support the view'.37
After the START-I process and the dismantling of nuclear weapons from the Central Asian States the fear is that Russia would become the world's most concentrated area with respect to the strength of nuclear warheads, and consequently nuclear smuggling potential would increase considerably.
Ambassador James E. Goodby, former principal negotiator for the safeguards, transparency and irreversibility talks, puts it this way: 'No one can afford to be complacent about the existence of nuclear bombs and the material which make them even in smaller numbers38. The threat of nuclear proliferation and concerns about safety and security of Russian stock-piles are real and growing.39 Russia is a party to START-I Treaty and has signed START-II, that will reduce the size of its strategic forces considerably. In February, 1994, State of Union Address, Russian President Boris Yeltsin described one of two priorities for Russia's National Security as strengthening the arrangements governing the non-proliferation of mass destruction weapons and sophisticated technologies and enhancing control over Russia's commercial interest in the sphere40. According to a Russian state official, all the nuclear sites in Russia are under strict protection of Russian army. In addition, each site has its own security services and currently the successors of KGB are looking after the nuclear material security41. When asked that organized crime in Russia is testing the waters for nuclear smuggling, he said that Russian Mafia is strong. But they do not want to get into serious trouble with the authorities and the government as nuclear smuggling is perceived in Russia as a serious crime. He further elaborated that they know that any case of nuclear smuggling would be looked into carefully' 42.
When questioned about the possible brain drain of Russian scientists to terrorist organisations or 'rouge states' etc. He stated Russian borders are open, however, laws pertaining to state security dictate that any scientist who is working for nuclear facilities cannot leave without the government's permission (at least for five years). Similarly in response to the possible threat of proliferation of nuclear weapons from Russian stockpiles, he said: under START-I, both (USA & USSR) exchanged information about old warheads, number of modifications made, and secondly all the weapons and information is listed 43.
When inquired about the negative American response to the Russian sale of a nuclear reactor to Iran or the possibility of proliferation of nuclear fissile material to these states, he stated 'Iran and USSR have been good trading partners, and the nuclear power plant being given to Iran, has no dangers; it is considerably safeguarded' 44. He further strengthened his statement by saying that USA and Russia are major exporters of armaments to the world. It is the economic competition which disturbs USA in this field. They want Russia to lose its major buyers (Iran and Iraq). He said 'USA is using all kind of financial and political influence to direct the interests of its military industrial complex'45. He further added it is a business and financial interest not just a political conflict. It is in reality an economic conflict. As a subsequent response to the proliferation of nuclear material from Russia since the end of cold war, America has given considerable economic aid packages to Russia with nearly independent Soviet states to redress the problem of proliferation. In this regard, from the much publicized Nunn-Lugar programme to Operation Sapphire, there has been considerable progress made on the military to military contacts. 'In 1992 a sister base programme between the 2nd Bomb Wing at Barks-dale (AFB) and a Russian Bomb wing from Ryazan was established. In 1994 and 1995, Russian strategic rocket force (SRF) officers visited US missiles bases and US strategic command headquarters, (US STRATCOM). In a reciprocal visit Admiral Hank Chiles, former (US STRATCOM) Commander in Chief (CinC), met with General Sergeyev. US missileers have visited Russian ICBM sites in USA in July 1996 to reboost on going programme'45. From related aid packages to the agreements of Highly Enriched Uranium '(HEU) deal' 46 signed at Moscow. 'The US department of energy national laboratories are working closely with their Russian counterparts to improve security47. With the on going momentum of proliferation related efforts to confidence building measures between USA and USSR the possibility of leakage of the questioned material seems almost an impossibility (with few exceptions). But then exceptions can also be traced back to the western world or to America so to speak e.g. in the case of Israel's nuclear arsenal and American foreign policy response (the Sampson option). Coming back to the theory of Loose Nukes, no credible evidence has been brought in front of the world and even the most ardent believers of the theory agree to this fact.
Despite considerable evidence of theft and trading activity, the existence of a true black market for nuclear material is difficult to establish. Legitimate buyers of stone radioactive substances are few and far between. Indeed in Europe, the principal buyers are the obvious candidates such as North Korea, Iraq, Pakistan, Iran, Islamic Jehad representatives or at least, purchases of nuclear contraband by such groups have yet to be demonstrated conclusively. Instead, the market as such seemingly comprises an assortment of police, under cover agents, intelligence operatives, journalists. For example the large 363-gram plutonium shipment from Moscow that was seized in Munich last August was the product of an elaborate sting operation conducted by the Bavarian police and the German police.47
The basic question which arises from the fact that usually the prospect buyers of nuclear fissile material have been intelligence undercover or police agents from Europe and America, is why are these people posing as buyers and by doing what they are doing, is not possible that they themselves are trying to induce a profit motive in Russian society for fissile material smuggling and trying to substantiate a demand cycle for these products in the Soviet States; and why are they trying to create an artificial demand. As uptill now there has been no on record evidence of any possible politerants (Supposed by Loose Nuke theory making the deals). In view of the above statements fundamental question stands still i.e. why are the Americans crying wolf?
Nuclear Terrorism: Possibility of use of the 'Loose Nukes' by terrorists.
Leonard Specter, Director of the nuclear non-proliferation project at Washington based Cargnegie Endowment, says
'There is a race against the clock to get the mass of nuclear material in Russia. Secured before it lands in the hands of terrorist or 'rouge states'. To Russian officials, such tactics are, designed to embarrass Moscow and pressure it to make its nuclear programmes more amenable to united states and its western allies.48
The nightmare that most worries the experts involves, terrorist organizations armed with nuclear weapons. The idea of nuclear terrorism is a concept as old as the beginning of the Cold War. During the Cold War, it was feared by most western analyst that a possible nuclear war between Soviet Union and America would basically be caused by state sponsored nuclear terrorism by Soviet Union or the communist block or the religiously motivated groups or terrorists belonging to the Islamic countries. The theory about the 'Islamic bomb has been rampant in the western press for quite sometime, in which a Muslim terrorist organization gets its hands on a nuclear device and tries to blow up a western capital city. The break up of Soviet Union has further enhanced this concept but before we go into the details of nuclear terrorism due to the Loose Nukes problems, it is necessary to comprehend, what nuclear terrorism stands for? Whether the term nuclear terrorism is used in journalistic or political context it is rarely defined. Risk analysts usually talk about 'Terrorists', 'Rogue States' Threshold States' 'Terrorist organization' and 'organized crime' in the same pretext. But the fact of the matter is that all of them are different actors with possibly different motivations. standings or position in world affairs.
Term Nuclear Terrorism usually describes as an act employing a nuclear device or targeting a nuclear facility.49 However, in the case of Loose Nuke problem 'it is basically rated as the possible threat of a terrorist using nuclear device, which is profoundly portrayed as the threat of portable bomb or a crude nuclear device i.e. home made nuclear bomb. The most common assumptions made in this regard are: (1) since the design of nuclear weapons and their technical principles are well known, especially as regards the most candid information available on the information highway (internet). It is a distinct possibility that terrorists will build their own nuclear weapons. These type of statements have been encouraged by various US State agencies and analysts reports 'In 1977 a study by an office of technological assessments concluded that a very small group without secret information could make a nuclear bomb. And a year later the US Senate Committee on Governmental affairs was told that under certain conditions an individual in possession of proper material, could design a nuclear weapon.50 J. Carson Mark, former head of nuclear weapons' development at Los Alamos does not think that a lone individual could build a bomb. A conflicting view to Taylors who designed the largest as well as the smallest nuclear weapons developed for the USA.51
The most common perception related to the making of A-bomb is, that the hardest component to have an access to its Uranium or nuclear fissile material. According to some research analysts, very less amount of uranium that is highly enriched or plutonium can help in the manufacture of a A-bomb. Before we get into in the debate, how viable is the concept that a terrorist would use a nuclear bomb or a suit case bomb. It is necessary to define who is a terrorist? And what does he stand for i.e. that in the theory. The working definition of department of defence and the CIA for the sake of reporting to Congress, which appears in title 22 of US code section 2656 (fd) is 'the term terrorism means premeditated, politically motivated violence perpetrated against non-combatant targets by subnational groups or clandestine agents, usually intended to influence an audience. The term 'International Terrorism' means terrorism involving citizens or the territory of more than one country. The term 'terrorist group' means any group practising or that has any sub-group that practice international terrorism'.52
Terrorism is a highly value laden term but nevertheless the important aspects to be viewed before declaring a criminal a terrorist is that terrorist is a politically motivated person. Be it in the form of a terrorist organisation or an individual and, the main objective behind terrorist activities is in fact his subsequent dedication to his political motivations or political purpose. The main aim of a terrorist is not to kill but to get as many audience as possible so that his cause is seen with an empathy by people. Terrorists don't want many people dead, they want many people to know. Beside for a terrorist organisation or a terrorist, the commensurate to nuclear blackmail or nuclear terrorism. The demand has to be equally important, therefore goals like the release of a comrade or the acceptance of the organisation as a credible organisation for a cause, usually blackmails of lesser order would do. The current international public opinion to the aversion of nuclear weapons in general, would make it very difficult for any terrorist organization to declare, state sponsors or run away with the loot. As in either case the American retaliatory blow for state sponsors would be heavy and could result in a nuclear strike. In addition, to the above possibility the most salient assumptions made about terrorists, are that they want nuclear devices and are actively pursuing this objective. If these assumptions are bought for instance and the theory that due to break up of former Soviet Union Nuclear fissile material is on the black market. The point to ponder is why has not any terrorist organisation or 'rogue state' or a 'threshold state', bought and used it, it has after all been quite some time since the end of Cold War.
Why is it so that no buyers of the 'rouge states', threshold states, or the 'terrorist community' are being caught in the fissile material seizures are debated over their authenticity of the leakage problem and the possible terrorist use of them. The lack or absence of the supposed buyers from the black market is a bit of enigma. Coming to the theory of rouge state i.e. Iraq or Iran's undying interests in nuclear fissile material it seems to be based on stereotype images rather than actual hard evidence. Currently Iraq is under strict pressure of the USA, it is going through the worst crisis of its history. Secondly, Iran is a signatory to NPT and the IAEA has not been able to provide credible evidence to declare the Iranian nuclear operations with real deviations. The US administration's more serious contentions about Iran's drive to acquire nuclear weapons are problematic. The US government has not produced any hard evidence to support its claims. The Director General of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), Hans Blix, indirectly criticized Washington's allegations about Iran's trafficking in nuclear materials. He stressed that IAEA inspectors have never seen any diversions of nuclear materials for military ends during regular visits to Iran and have had no difficulties in implementing safeguards agreement.53 American foreign policy suffered a major blow, when America declared Iran as a sponsors of International terrorism and put a complete American trade embargo on Iran and asked its allies to do the same and they refuted the American view.
On the one side when it seems considerably a distinct possibility for any nation state to openly declare itself as a patron of international terrorism and the possibility of the use of nuclear device by a terrorist organisation or any other actor.
Let us dare to venture into the controversial theory of portable nuclear bomb or the use of a crude atomic bomb by terrorists on the USA soil compounded by Loose Nuke problem. According to scientific knowledge about the nuclear device. a crude atomic bomb would be as stated by Munir Ahmed Khan, eminent physicist, 'would need something like 50kg in case of highly enriched uranium and 8 to 10 kg in case of plutonium. The size would be 4 meters in diameter in case of uranium and half of this in case of plutonium'.54 Roughly speaking a crude atomic device would be equal to that of Hiroshima sized 'Fat Man' (atomic bomb). When asked about how real is the threat of portable nuclear weapons possible technology possession by developing, rogue states or terrorist organisations, he stated that 'Portable nuclear weapons are highly sophisticated weapons, currently only few of the major powers have the technology mainly Soviet Union and the United States'55.
Further explaining the possibility of use by potential proliferates he said that 'no developing country can make them, they need tremendous infrastructure and economic resolve'56.
In response to the question that, would a portable bomb have any kind of radiation leak he said that 'there would be out-surface radiation, may not be radiation at ground levels, however, the radiation spots could be easily detected and it would not pass airport security by any means' 57. There has been considerable fear in the western risk analyst community that Russian made Spatnez (suit case bomb) would leak out of former Soviet Union. The interesting part is that there has been no actual seizures of this kind of weapon by any agency anywhere in the world. When asked upon to elaborate the statement that can a nuclear weapon be assembled at the target area by a terrorist, he said that 'for this purpose the material has to be taken in parts, for efficiency purposes it should be divided into 2 to 3 parts. In addition, highly skilled people are necessary plus smuggled nuclear equipment is needed. Over and above, the possibility of a stolen nuclear device would not work as it is to far-fetched.
The most fascinating part in the entire discussion is what role the American Nuclear Emergency Search Teams (NESTs), are going to play. These teams have special equipment to measure radiation and identify radiation sources and they can move to any location in the United States at very short notice. Besides to make a threat credible, terrorists would not only have to seize a nuclear weapon, they would have to number into their ranks someone with special knowledge about a particular nuclear device, i.e. if they steal an entire weapon, because security system such as those used in American Nuclear Weapons commonly known as 'Passive Action Links' (PALS) are also used by the Russians. In addition to this, most of the nuclear weapons are hard to use and transport, due to specific designs, by terrorists, without being caught by the authorities, be it the Russian or American though it is claimed that rampant corruption in Russia, could lead to major proliferation risks or leakage from arsenal. The hard line fact remains that Russia would not want proliferation to take place as it could seriously change the regional balance of power for Russia, as elaborated by the Russian State official. 'Russian government is active on the issue of proliferation, and is doing everything in its power to upgrade any defaults in the security system.58 Time after time, fear of unaccounted fissile material in Russian Nuclear Laboratories is brought on the front, thus an equal security dilemma exists about the American and European Nuclear Stockpiles.
There is too much unaccounted for: In the US alone, at least nine thousand pounds were missing from the books through 1981 ... Some 260 commercial nuclear power plants are operating in the non-communist world today and each has the capacity to produce bomb capable plutonium, some upto 300 kilograms a year - altogether a total of about 45 tonnes a year, equivalent of atleast 6,000 nuclear weapons. It is projected that amount of civilian plutonium in the world will exceed 'super powers' military stockpiles within the next decade. Transport of so much dangerous material in open commerce may well turn out to be 'Achilles heel' of the nuclear industry and a prime target for terrorist theft'.59
The above given facts, elaborate the point that if nuclear theft is to take place and terrorist can have an access to nuclear fissile material, it is not necessary that the only avenue open to them would be from the Russian Nuclear Industry as the sites in west are as susceptible to theft as are their Russian counterparts. On the contrary, due to such extra-ordinary threat perceptions of the US and the west to Russian problem, the level of scrutiny on the Russian side makes it comparatively far more difficult than from anywhere within the USA.
A rusty freighter, controlled by extremists willing to inflict mass slaughter to publicize their cause, heads towards New York city. The entire world media is focused on New York, as the terrorists put forward their claims and demands, a crisis situation prevails in the entire United States. With government in Washington in dire circumstances. The terrorist either belongs to the category of militant Islamic fundamentalists or a former Soviet General, who is humiliated at Soviet Union's current situation and wants to avenge his country's collapse from the leader of the capitalist world, that is, United States of America.
The above given scenario is nothing else than the manifestation of the American fear, of nuclear terrorism. The reality calculus of the situation, has seemed to have gotten a new impetus, due to the break up of former Soviet Union. Leakage of nuclear fissile material and the greater possibility of nuclear devices used by terrorists, rouge states or the threshold states.
American media is rampant with stories of nuclear proliferation from Russia and its future possibilities and anticipations.60 American print media is not alone in its crusade against 'Nuclear terrorism and the Loose-Nuke problem', American electronic media, is closely followed by its allies, fosters the same cause. It is further supported by American intelligentsia and the US State Department's official apprehensions and responses to the 'Loose Nukes' problem, from fictional writings such as the 'The Fifth Horseman' by Fedrick Forseyth (written way back in 1980s) to Movie mania of 1990s ranging from productions such as 'Broken Arrow', 'True Lies' 'Airforce One' 'Under Siege II' 'Golden Eye', 'Hotshots II', 'Austin Powers' etc. The four part presidential campaign of Dick Lugar in which scarce tactics about the threat of nuclear terrorism are used to try and get people to vote for him.61
It seems as if America is preparing itself for the improbable future. The possible use of a nuclear device by terrorist falls into high risk, low probability category. The possibility of nuclear terrorism remains more fancy than facts. It is, however, the favourties bogie man of the threat mongers. Even the bulletin said a year ago in an editorial that 'The possibility that a terrorist group might obtain nuclear weapons is a real danger' a real danger meaning that it is more likely today than in the 1970s when terrorism was far more prevalent and nuclear weapons were stored worldwide, not counting nuclear-armed ships routinely visiting foreign ports.'.62
Nuclear terrorism is a wild card which the Americans are bent upon using in the post Cold War scenario, to get the high moral ground, and to wriggle themselves out of any unwanted policy situations regarding their nuclear policies and nuclear arsenals.
It is a card which the Americans have been using for quite sometime. However, in the post Cold War era, the frequency of the use has on the average been more high.
It is worth remembering that, US governments since a long time have been, over inflating threats to justify to the home public, their level of expenditures on military arsenals especially for the nuclear arsenal.
The justifications given for proceeding with some type of strategic defence initiative, did not concentrate on the threats of a deliberate nuclear attack, but instead emphasized the threats posed by other nuclear states and the ever present possibilities of an accidental or unauthorized use of nuclear weapons. President Bush once expressed the need for strategic defences by warning against the danger of renegades.63
Justifying the counter proliferation initiative taken by President Clinton, in the executive order declared the threat of nuclear terrorism as the number one security threat to the United States. Currently Clinton Administration is trying to analyze the viability of a national Threat Missile Defence (TMD) which is viewed by the Russians as an undermining of Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty (ABM). In the post Cold War scenario, the enemy is no more as clear for the United States as it was during the Cold War era. Bush acknowledged that the US was no longer facing a monolithic Soviet Union but rather 'the enemy is uncertainty, the enemy is unpredictability.64 And in this climate of uncertainty the 'Loose Nuke' problem, to greater extent, is defined as the new security threat to US and the rationale for continued US Nuclear Superiority even after the Cold War. The counter proliferation is just a step ahead in the same direction. However, the dichotomy present between non-proliferation regime and the spectrum of the new thinking in Washington, based on counter proliferation is a bit hard to comprehend. According to risk analysts, the break up of former Soviet Union has increased the risk of proliferation to non-state actors as well as to rouge and threshold states. As traditional non-proliferation structures have not been and are not fully able to curtail the proliferation problem. The most ardently quoted actors are India, Pakistan and Israel etc.
Parallel transitional contingency of the new spectrum of thinking on proliferation trends concludes that in the post-cold war era non-proliferation regime has had the most success. The recent indefinite extension of Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) underscores the fact that the vast majority of states continue to see that their security is best served workout nuclear weapons.
States that have eliminated their nuclear programmes or halted them include Argentina, Belarus, Brazil, Kazakistan, South Africa and Ukraine. Even North Korea and undeclared nuclear states of India and Pakistan have demonstrated considerable restraint.63
Proliferation studies in the post-Cold War era show a decreasing trend in proliferation practices rather than an increasing trend. Before the end of Cold War and the collapse of Soviet Union, non-proliferations advocates tended to over rate the breath and immediacy of the threat of nuclear dispersion, partly to raise the visibility of the issue on the western security agenda, where it usually came second to the Super Power competition.
'With the transformation of the international system in 1989-91, concern for 'Loose Nukes' assumed top billing on the US-security agenda. Not only did US non-proliferation policy have to cope with previously suspected proliferants, it now has to contend with ex-Soviet weapons in three former Non-Russian Republics, plus nuclear expertise which might migrate from the territory of the former Soviet Union.66
Similarly US National Security Surveys (1993-95) about nuclear security issues in post Cold War era concluded that there has been a rising trend in the belief of nuclear terrorism. Fear of an all-out nuclear attack against US has been replaced by the fear that nuclear weapons will fall into the wrong hand and be used against the US by some smaller country or by extremists and terrorists.67
The above stated perception of threat by the American Public seems to be in direct contrast to the realities on ground. The fact of the matter is that American public has been exposed to the fear of nuclear annihilation for so long that it has become indebted in their psyche to perceive even a very less probable factor relating to Nuclear threat as a very real and live phenomenon.
Ever since the atomic bomb was used on Japan, 53 years ago, Americans have wanted to forget Hiroshima, yet its legacy has seeped deeply, if subtly, through the pores of culture and consciousness.68 Fears of nuclear war was seen differently from the fear of war as it meant the end of the world. The American public went through various stages. Initially it was total denial, closely followed by acceptance and then hysteria due to the Russian accession to Nuclear Club in 1950s. However, during the Cold War it was more a case of 'Psychic numbing' which was to find a safe haven in the concept of Mutual Assured Destruction (MAD) and the concept of deterrence. The end of cold war has once again left the American people with the fear of the unknown but nevertheless the 'psychic havoc' of the bomb subsided (i.e. after Cold War) and almost nobody actively worries about nuclear war any more.69 The American nuclear export controls, have almost followed a similar route to that of American Psycher as elaborated by David Fisher (1) total denial 1946-53. America was coming to terms with its new found power, however, the quick proliferation of nuclear weapons to Russia in close proximity with American allies, France and Britain, followed by China. America changed its policy of 'Atom for peace' to the construction of Non-proliferation regime. Making it sure that the horizontal proliferation is curtailed at all cost, the preceding years after 1967 till present show this perception with ample amounts of evidences to back this view.70
American controversial nuclear non-proliferation policy has been actually a by-product of policy of preponderance which has been actively pursued by the Americans since 1945.
'The link between America's security, its preponderance, and an American led world order was articulated in 'NSC-68', which states that the purpose of American power is to foster a world environment in which American system can survive and flourish and the strategy of preponderance is a policy which (United States) would probably pursue even if there is no Soviet Union'.71
The strategy of preponderance assumes that US has a vital milieu interest in maintaining stability in the international system, underlying the strategy is the fear of what might happen in a world no longer shaped by a predominant US power.71 The post-cold war environment, has given America, the predominant power as far as the nuclear arsenal is concerned. But multilateralism is likely to become an important feature of nuclear politics. It seems as if American obsession with preponderance has led to this paranoia. The threat of 'Loose Nukes', is in fact a keynote of the nuclear politics in the post Cold War era, rather than the actuality on ground. According to George Lanham, former Vice President of RAND Cooperation (a think tank), 'Terrorism is vastly overrated threat in US Society'. He further stated that 'Terrorism is vastly over exaggerated in the US and terrorists are not as real or serious a threat as is claimed'.72 The point brought home from the debate on nuclear terrorism compounded by 'Loose Nuke' problem is that it is in fact a crisis situation in which the low probability of the reality factor is blown out of proportion to justify certain courses of action and policy stands taken by the USA, ranging from exertion of diplomatic pressure on Ukraine. Belarus and Kazakistan to accede to nuclear non-proliferation regime as non-nuclear states, to actual use of power against Iraq to some extent and the excuse for and continued sanction against her, to economic embargoes on Iran, to justify of billions of dollars expenditure on Clinton's counter proliferation initiative, to exertion of pressure on Russia to ratify START-II Treaty, to the need or the desire to put a theatre missile defence (TMD) throughout the US soil. It seems that the 'Loose Nuke' problem has given America the essential pedestal for the High Moral ground of its foreign policy imperatives and the much needed new impetus for America to continue to play a better role in the nuclear politics of the post-cold war era. Because it seems a bit difficult to perceive the correct dimensions of a scenario of nuclear terrorism, which has had no example to show for its glorious past. The underline fact about the Loose Nuke Theory is: that reality exists but its probability to happen in future is very low (as its entirely based on the theory of nuclear terrorism). Though the reality factor is pretty low but the Americans have cried wolf for so long, there exists a fear that it might become a self-fulfilling prophecy. In the highly dynamics security scenario of the post Cold War era where change is the only constant factor, to predict the future, is a highly speculative phenomenon. However, the past and present dimensions of the 'Loose Nukes' problem conclude that its more a matter of threat perceptions and stereotype images rather than a possible threat scenario of the near future.
Maria Sultan is working at the Institute of Strategic Studies, Islamabad as a Researcher and also completing M.Phil programme in Defence and Strategic Studies, Quaid-i-Azam University, Islamabad.
1991 1995
Russia 7,327 6,530
Ukraine 1,512 300
Kazakistan 1,360 0
Belarus 81 18
Total 10,280 6,848
*33% reduction
This table has been taken from William J. Perry, Department of Defence Report on PROLIFERATION: THREAT AND RESPONSE for fiscal year 1996 (Washington, DC: GPO Department of State - April -1996)
1991 1995
Russia 2,074 1,345
Ukraine 210 50
Kazakistan 144 0
Belarus 81 18
Total 2,509 1,413
* 44% reduction
This table has been taken from William J. Perry, Department of Defence Report on PROLIFERATION: THREAT AND RESPONSE for fiscal year 1996. (Washington, DC: GPO Department of State - April - 1996)
"Kazakistan is fulfilling its pledges for the elimination of nuclear weapons. We were the first CIS state to ratify START-I and the Lisbon Protocol. The only delays were due to the fact that we were trying to secure guarantees that this is our lawful property and that we will be compensated for the cost of the enriched uranium."
This table has been taken from William J. Perry, Department of Defence Report on PROLIFERATION: THREAT AND RESPONSE for fiscal Year 1996 (Washington, DC: GPO Department of State - April-1996)
1. Allison etal, 'Avoiding Nuclear Anarchy', the Washington Quarterly, Vol. 20, No. 3 (Summer 1997), PP.185-186.
2. Ibid., P.189.
3. Ibid.,
4. David Huges, 'When Terrorist go Nuclear', Popular Mechanics, Vol. 173, No.1 (January 1996), pp.56-59.
5. James Kitfield, 'The Age of Super Terrorism', Government Executive, Vol. 27, No.7 (July 1995), pp.46-51.
6. Ibid., p.46
7. Ibid., p.48.
8. Leonard Spector, 'Neo Non-proliferation', Survival, Vol. 37, No.1 (Spring 1995), pp.66-85
9. The Defence Counter proliferation Initiative was publicly announced in December 1993, speech by Secretary of Defence Les Aspin, Office of the Press Secretary, The White House Fact sheet: Non-Proliferation and Export Policy, September 27, 1997.
10. Reneselaer W. Lee III, 'Post Soviet Nuclear Trafficking, Myths, Half Treeths and the Reality', Current History, Vol. 94, No.594 (October 1995), p.345.
11. Joe L. Hogler, 'Threat Reduction: A framework for the future of Nuclear Arms Control', Strategic Review, (Summer 1997), p.47.
12. A.S. Eumulf, 'The Threat of Portable Nuclear Weapons', Crystal, (December 1994), pp.254-255.
13. Gray, et al, 'The Loose Nukes', Macleans, Vol.109, No.17, (April 22, 1996), pp.24-26.
14. Nadine Gur, 'Return to darkness', New Scientist, Vol. 155, ISS.2092, (July 26, 1997), pp.30-43.
15. Keith B. Payne and Kortunov Andrei, 'The Character of the problem' Comparative Strategy, Vol.16, No.2, (April-June 1997), pp.127-133.
16. William Perry, Department of Defence Annual Report to the president and the congress for Fiscal year 1995, (Washington DC; US. G.P.O., February 1995), pp.25, 72, 73.
17. Deutch M. John, Report on Non-proliferation and Counter-Proliferation activities and programme, (Washington D.C. Office of Deputy Secretary of defence, May 1994), p.l.
18. William Perry, Department of Defence Report regarding Proliferation: Threat and Response for April 1996 (Washington D.C. U.S. G.P.O. April 1996), pp.57, 58: also see Pete. V. Domenici, 'Countering Weapons of Mass destruction', The Washington Quarterly, Vol.18. No.1. (Winter 1995), pp.145-162.
19. Ibid., pp.47-60.
20. These teams have also been trained to make exact identification of materials, defuse nuclear Weapons, Limit damage if an explosion occurs and decontaminate irradiated areas. Nests mem- bers include scientists, engineers, technicians and support personnel from the American Nuclear Research facilities for further details see David Hugues, Up. Cit., p.59.
21. The Nonn-Lugar-Co-operative Threat Reduction programme, was sponsored by Sam Nunn, D.G. A and Richard Lugar, it was incepted in 1991 USA, it basically aims at giving aid packages to former USSR to finish the threat of nuclear smuggling from the area. See e.g. Alison, et al, Op. Cit., p.189-191; also see Fred C. like 'Facing Nuclear Reality', The Washing Quarterly, Vol.20, No.3, (Summer 1997), pp.87-90.
22. Joe L. Hogler, Op. Cit., pp.47-50.
23. David Huges, Op. Cit., p.58.
24. In 1993 a deal was made between USA and Kazakistan to transfer 600 kg of (H.E.U) to the USA with the help of CIA. It was labelled operation Sapphires' Sadieh Lortian, 'Kazakistan's Nuclear Status and Regional Security', Amv Darya, (Summer and Fall 1996), pp.247.
25. Renselaer W. Lee III, Op. cit., pp.344-345; also see David Huges, 'Uranium Seizure, heighten Terrorism', Aviation Week and Space
Technology, Vol. 142, ISS.14, (April 3, 1995), pp.63-64.
26. James Blaker, 'Coping with New; Clear and present danger from Russia', Arms Control Today, Vol.25, No.3, (April 1995), pp.14-18.
27. Alison, et al, Op. cit., pp.190-191.
28. Resesselaer W. Lee III, Op. Cit., p.343.
29. Ibid., pp.344-345; also see Walter Goodman, 'Television Review; Russians Loose Uranium', The New York Times, Nov. 19, 1996.
30. James Blaker, Op, Cit., pp. 14-15.
31. Roger Medd and Frank Goldstein, 'International Terrorism on the eve of a new millennium', Studies in Conflict and Terrorism, Vol.20. No.3. (July-September 1997), p.292.
32. William Perry, 'Department of Defence Report regarding Proliferation: Threat and Response, Op. Cit., p.18.
33. Joe. L. Hogler, Op. Cit., p-50.
34. Sadieh Lotfian, Op. cit., pp.254-257.
35. Ibid.
36. A personal interview taken by the author of Kazakistan Counseller in Pakistan.
37. Ibid.
38. Goodby E. James, 'Recent development in US, Russian Co-operation in Nuclear Materials', US Department of State dispatch, Vol.6, No.36, (September 4, 1995)p.676.
39. Joe L. Hogler, Op. Cit., pp.50-51.
40. William Perry, Department of Defence's Report on proliferation: Threat and Response, Op. Cit., p.30.
41. A personal Interview conducted by the Author of a Russian diplomat.
42. Ibid.
43. Ibid.
44. Ibid.
45. Jo E. L. Hogler, Op. Cit., pp.50-51; also see Loois Rene Beres, 'The Meaning of Terrorism for the Military Commander' Comparative Strategy, Vol. 14, No.3. (July-September 1995), pp.287- 299.
46. Agreement Signed at Moscow Summit, was the US-Russian H.E.U. purchase agreement in which America has agreed to buy Highly Enriched Uranium from Russians dismantled weapons for next 20 years; see Alison et al, Loc Cit.
47. Renesselaer W. Lee III, Op. Cit., p.46.
48. Gray, et al, Op. cit., pp.56-59.
49. Karl-Heiz-KAMP, 'An Overrated Nightmare', The Bulletin of Atomic Scientists, Vol. 52, ISS4, (July 1996), pp.30-34.
50. David Hugues, Op. Cit., pp.58.
51. Ibid.
52. US-Department of State, 'Patterns of Global Terrorism, 1993', (Washington D.C: Department of State, Office of the Secretary of State, Co-ordinator for counter terrorism, April 1994), p.VI.
53. Fawaz A. Gerges, 'Washington's Misguided Iran Policy', Vol.38, No.4, (Winter 1996-97), pp.5-15.
54. A personal interviews conducted by the author of physicist Dr. Munir Ahmed Khan.
55. Ibid.
56. Ibid
57. Ibid
58. Interview of the Russia diplomat.
59. Louis, Rene Beres, 'Terrorism and Global Security: The Nuclear Threat', (Colorado: Westview Press, 1987), pp.17-18.
60. See for e.g. Kornard. M. Kressley, 'Why can't we ban the bomb', The Futurist, Vol. 29, No.4, (July-August 1995), pp.27-30; also see Keith J. Payne, 'Deterring the use of weapons of mass destruction: Lessons from History', Comparative strategy, Vol. 14, No.4. (Oct-Dec. 1995), pp.347-359.
61. Bob Garfield, 'Lugar for Prez ads Scare up Spector of nuclear terrorism', Advertising Age, Vol. 67, ISSI, (Jan. 1, 1996), p.3.
62. William M. Arkin, 'The bomb has many friends', The Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, Vol. 53, ISS2, (March 1997), pp.37-39.
63. Niall-Michelsen, 'Presidential Views of Nuclear Threat', The Journal of Strategic Studies, Vol.17, No.3, (September 1994), p.263.
64. Ibid. p.260.
65. Mitchell Reiss. 'Nuclear Roll back Decisions: Future Lessons', Arms Control Today, Vol.25, No.6, (July-Aug-1995), p.10.
66. William. H. Kincade, 'Reassessing the potential for nuclear proliferation', Arms control Today, Vol. 25, No.7, (September 1995), p.37.
67. A US National Surveys (1993-95) on Evolving perceptions of security, (New Mexico: University press of New Mexico, March 1996), p.254.
68. Fred Kaplan, 'Living with reality of nuclear weapons', The Frontier Post, August 7, 1995.
69. Ibid.
70. A paper read by David Fisher, 'The Historical Evolution of Nuclear Export Controls: 1945-1993', at the Rjukan Conference on Nuclear Technology and Politics, on 16-18 June in 1993, at Rjukan, Norway.
71. See NSC-68 in Thomas Eziold and John Lewis Gaddis, eds, Containment: Documents on American Policy and Strategy, 1945-1950, (New York: Columbia University Press, 1978). p.401, pre ponderance is a realist strategy.
72. Christopher Layne, 'From preponderance to offshores balancing:, International Security, Vol. 22, No.1, (Summer 1997), p.94. | <urn:uuid:2217763a-f1ed-4c63-97e6-4b1a8fe1b585> | 2 | 2.171875 | 0.177166 | en | 0.943804 | http://www.defencejournal.com/may99/loose-nukes.htm |
Disney Urban Legends
The Matterhorn
The Legend: Hundreds of gullible Disney fans were led to believe that they could help Disney Imaginengineers saw the Matterhorn in half.
Behind the Legend: In 2001, someone with the screen name "SuperCynthia" posted a startling message on a popular Disney-fan bulletin board Web site. The post claimed to have been written by the head of Imaginengineering for Disneyland, and it claimed that volunteers were being sought to assist the company in sawing the Matterhorn in half. According to the post, management had decided that the newly opened Disney California Adventure needed another thrill ride, and the Matterhorn was going to be moved to its sister park and renamed Mount Shasta. But because the mountain was too large to move in one piece, it was going to be split vertically into two sections which would be individually trucked down Main Street and across the esplenade to their new home.
For obvious reasons, Disneyland fans went bananas at the announcement. How could Disneyland even think of moving such an icon to another park? Would the newly vacated space be reclaimed by Tomorrowland and +used to expand the Submarine lagoon in preparation for a new attraction that management promised was on the way? Didn't people understand that Walt wouldn't have done this? Why didn't they just demolish the entire Disney California Adventure Paradise Pier area and rebuild it as a mountain range in which an extensive ride filled with high-tech audioanimatronic figures could be built?
But despite their doubts, thousands of Disneyland fans signed up to wield one of the gigantic saws, jackhammer the mountain off its foundation, fill and attach the thousands of weather balloons that would keep the halves upright during their journey, operate a mammoth crane, help direct traffic out of harm's way, capture and care for the mountain's fierce snow monster, see that the ball from the basketball court didn't get lost, and more. Hundreds more indicated that they would be willing to help demolish the Disneyland train station (and underlying berm), Disneyland and California Adventure main gates, and Monorail track to make room for the bisected mountain's trip. In return, volunteers would be given a pin and the opportunity to purchase pricy limited-edition event merchandise. Lunch would be available for a nominal fee.
When the day came, Disneyland was crammed with confused volunteers. Nobody appeared to take credit for the joke, and eventually everyone just decided to laugh it off and enjoy the park. To this day, nobody knows who started the hoax, and it remains part of Disneyland history.
Note: Ironically, the day chosen for the hoax just happened to be the one day all year that was blacked out for all Disneyland annual passes, so all of the "volunteers" had to purchase park admission.
The Legend: If the submarine lagoon is ever drained, the Matterhorn will fall over.
Behind the Legend: Now what kind of sense would that make? Could you imagine an engineer allowing such a situation to exist? The fact of the matter is, if the lagoon is drained the Matterhorn sinks a couple of feet and that's it.
The Legend: There is a basketball court inside the Matterhorn.
Behind the Legend: Almost. There is a storage room at the top of the Matterhorn, part of which has been decked out like a half-court basketball court. The other portion of the room is occupied by a half air-hockey, half foosball table.
That's Not At Disneyland, Three!!!
Get a book!
Get another book! | <urn:uuid:24ca0abf-9e8d-423d-ab73-c010f22491cb> | 2 | 2.21875 | 0.468394 | en | 0.958168 | http://www.disneylies.com/legends/matterhorn.html |
60 percent of the people in the state of California live within the 56,512 square miles that make up Southern California. 22 million people in a car obsessed region. Take a trip on any of the major highways or boulevards during rush hour and you will definitely get a taste of this congestion. From the looks on people’s faces, they are not doing this simply for pleasure. Most Californians spend a good amount of time driving to and from work. The cost of commuting for many has been blindly accepted as a cost of doing business to live in the area. Many middle class Californians simply accept this as a part of their daily reality. It is amazing how many hours of lost productivity occur by people stuck in traffic or driving to and from work. The employment hubs usually have very little residential housing and most Californians opt to live miles away from work. We have many commuting from the Inland Empire into downtown Los Angeles and Orange County on a daily basis. What is the true cost of the commuting culture in Southern California?
True Cost of Commuting
It is very typical for people to drive 20 to 40 miles on one way commutes in California. It costs money to maintain your car from fueling up, insurance, and regular maintenance (let alone the mental toll it takes on people). The IRS provides annual standard mileage rates. For 2012, the rate for each mile driven was 55.5 cents.
Keep in mind that many two income households have two commuters so the costs are multiplied twice. I went ahead and calculated these figures for various round-trip mileage scenarios:
commute time costs
These commutes are very common but I doubt people really consider the true cost of their driving habit. Plus, many take their cars out on vacation as well adding more miles. Take for example a couple commuting in from Riverside into Irvine:
commute riverside irvine
Approximate mileage: 40 miles one way
Approximate commute time: 1 to 2 hours (each way depending on traffic conditions)
For each person taking this trip, they are dropping $44 per day on the commute. Keep in mind there are many costs to driving including:
-Maintenance (i.e., oil changes, tires, brakes, tune-ups, etc)
-Car Insurance and Registration
-Car payment (many have leased or financed cars)
A 40 mile one way commute is likely costing you $11,100 per year. This is not farfetched when you consider the monthly car payment on many new cars to be $500 alone (or $6,000 per year). If two people in the household are making this commute, the actual annual cost is up to $22,200. After 10 years this is a cost of $222,000 and just imagine if this money was actually invested?
This commute from the Inland Empire (Riverside and San Bernardino Counties) into Los Angeles and Orange County is very common. But you also have people driving from LA to OC and OC to LA for example. Now consider this in context to this data:
Riverside County
Median Household Income: $52,883
Paycheck California:
paycheck california
Given a net pay of $3,485 that $22,200 per year in commuting costs takes on a bigger meaning.
Lost Hours of Productivity
The median home price for homes in the Inland Empire are much more affordable than in LA and OC:
Median home price
Riverside County: $229,000
San Bernardino: $183,000
Given the historically low rates on the market, buying in these areas would likely make a lot of sense. Yet I would seriously only examine this if you lived and worked out in these regions. Many middle class Californians feel that in order to buy a home, they need to drive to qualify as some in the real estate industry put it. In the context of commuting costs, how much is it really worth?
Also, keep in mind that assuming a fortunate one hour commute each way from this distance, you are spending 10 hours a week in the car. In essence many Californians are adding one additional workday with no pay just to get to work. Millions of Californians do this on a daily basis and I rarely hear about the above details which reflects a culture that simply assumes that driving is an absolute must for daily existence. Just like housing, I think many simply focus on the monthly payment and miss the bigger picture.
It is far better to rent or lease close to your place of employment rather than living very far from your work to purchase a home. Some take on brutal commutes just to buy a place. I think if people really did the commuting calculations, they would realize the cost of purchasing their home would take on an entirely new perspective. I completely understand the deep desire to own a home but from an economic perspective, I’m not sure if people realize how expensive of a proposition they are making by locking into a long commute.
Take that hypothetical couple commuting from Riverside into Irvine. After ten years, simply by socking away their commuting costs they can purchase a home in Riverside outright. The catch is finding employment where you live. So why not live close to work and bank the savings?
People think that prices only go one way with real estate. Let us look at the median home price for Riverside County ten years ago compared to today:
Median home price: Riverside County
November 2002: $228,000
November 2012: $229,000
And keep in mind the current median price is already inflated by the artificially low Fed interest rate and the massive amount of investor buying. This implied cost of commuting is also a reason why single family homes near employment hubs cost more as well. For the typical household, say every hour of productivity is worth $25 so you are also facing an opportunity cost by being stuck in traffic for hours on end.
The reason large down payments are so rare in California is that the vast majority of people simply fail to look at the bigger picture. The cost of commuting is large and many people make it more expensive by financing their car purchases. Ultimately when people buy a home they are also buying a lifestyle. To actually buy and commit to a long commute is a very expensive proposition.
86 Responses to “The commuter culture of California – The cost of commuting and buying real estate far from your place of employment.”
• If the the household is income is $52,883 in Southern California, the household really ought to move out of the area and live somewhere cheaper, or upgrade its skills and earn more. For the area, that’s just poverty wages.
• I rent and commute 140 miles round trip every day because I can never tell how long a job will last and the price of real estate is so outrageous. I live in a rent controlled apartment and pay $1,200/month for a 2 bedroom apartment in Warner Center. My commute might take 6 hours a day or it might take 4 hours a day. When this job is finally over, I will be better off paying my lower rent. Overall, I might have been better off moving 4 years ago, but income stability in IT is non-existent. Washington DC is always scheming to bring in more cheap foreign labor. I was out of work for 2½ years w/o unemployment at one time and the threat of more labor dumping is always there.
• Another cost of to society of rent-control. Rent control is about winning the lottery or having an inside connection, or being young and a future professional.
• Rent control is a panacea for the uneducated and profit control for the building owners. How much would you invest in your portfolio if the government capped your returns? Over time the buildings deteriorate and rarely is new stock added. Everyone loses except the government.
• Methinks RM is throwing good money after good. If he gets 15mpg in his commute he is spending just under $650.00 a month in gas alone. Let’s assume a 10% cost of commute if he moves close to work, about 7 miles. That is $585.00 saved on gas to apply to rent giving me a monthly rental cost of $1785.00 for his rent controlled property.
Add in the savings in insurance, food (less cooking due to lost time means eating out more), depreciation, opportunity and the loss of health and that west valley location looks like a prison lifestyle. I imagine he could rent a place close to work where he could bike to the job.
If he knows the gig is only 6 months he’s smart but if his choice is out of the potential for layoff well it’s been said before that American’s are not good at math.
• the government is ‘scheming’? You know people don’t need to immigrate here to benefit from IT jobs from American companies, right? And of the highly educated professionals gaining green cards how is it different from any other developed nations immigration policies?
• The H1B thing actually has more advantages than just companies getting cheaper labor this way. H1B immigrants basically have to stay with the same company, they get almost slave labor with that kind of loyalty, the kind of loyalty no American worker has because they know it’s a one way street. Also there have been studies done that H1Bs are used to keep the hiring in certain industries YOUNG (it’s why tech industries are notorious for age discrimination). Because why hire an older person and their associated health care costs (even if they are health nuts in perfect health insurance costs are based on age) in a world of employer provided healthcare when you can get a young H1B immigrant? So “scheming” may be a bit strong, but exactly what is baised here is not exactly positive, and they know what the results are. There are academics that have done studies on H1Bs keeping STEM field hiring young and so on.
• I think your conflating health care costs of older workers with direct pay systems. Entities hiring H1Bs I’d hazard are large group health plans. Any age related costs of medical would be buried in their actuarials and they are already paying them. I do like the rest of your argument tho. I know someone in IT who hires and he says it is difficult to get people with the needed skill sets. I’m not in on the details but I think there are only so many website building openings but a whole lot of degrees and certificates in same and not so many in C+ and Perl.
• RM and JRS.
I’m glad someone brought up the H1-B visa problem.
The IT. industry use to be such a lucrative and sought after field, with hiring bonus’s, stock options, rapid hiring, and lots of job security.
Now the large corporate software and IT companies like Micosoft, Google, Apple, Orocle and others collude with the Democrat party politicians and the cheap labor wing of the Republican party (think MC Cain and Lindsay Graham) to lower wages by flooding the job market with millions of Indian and Chinese immigrants that work for a fraction of what their American coworkers use to work for.
One keeps hearing the IT. Ceo’s constantly begging for more H1-B visas because they say there are not enough educated Americans to fill the jobs.
Economics 101 says if there was an IT. labor shortage, wages would be going up. The dirty little secret is that there is only a shortage of Educated Americans willing to work at the low wages that these CEO’s are willing to pay.
JRS and RM have vividly described an extremely tough and depressed IT. jobs market, and the only reason for it is because our politicians have been bought by the cheap labor lobby to work actively against American IT. workers, as well as the American interest, by flooding the work force with millions of immigrants with the sole purpose of depressing wages. What’s even more despicable is they continue to do this during a virtual jobs depression, with over 20 million Americans unemployed.
JRS and RM it’s time to wake up and realize that American immigration policy is hurting your career and income. You’ve been sold out in Washington, and that because of this you’ve joined the ranks of common labor, which has felt the brunt and the wage stagnation that is caused by mass immigration and uncontrolled illegal immigration. American labor in the construction, and service industry has felt this unfair competition for decades.
RM and JRS, I hate to be the bearer of bad news but there comes a tipping point where Americans virtually abandon a field in our own country because mass immigration drives wages so low. Ask any American; carpenter, Mason, roofer, gardener, meat processor or chef how mass immigration has helped their livelyhood.
My suggestion to you and any of the readers here who understand and agree that illegal immigration and mass immigration is hurting American workers is to look up Numbers USA. and join them and demand an end to illegal immigration and an immigration moratorium so that the wages of Americans can stare to rise.
• The reality of IT is that of endless automation. In the 1960s the best jobs were that of punch cards reader operators…
The productivity of a developer varies from 1 to 50 and the truly talented ones commend athlete like pricing i.e 300-500k a year with massive bonuses.
There is only 20-30k mathematicians in the world and the latest languages like Haskell and Scala can only be fully utilized by those.
I built alone a software that would require 20-30 developers a few years back… and guess what? the company I am CTO of will never hire anyone else.
Law of diminishing returns hits fast after 1-2 developers now.
• W, I think the point he’s making is that moving would be taking on a risk. He might save in the short term, but then what if his next job winds up being closer to his rent-controlled apartment, and double the distance from his new digs? Then he’d be really screwed.
I think the point is about the bird in the hand?
• One of the related impacts is of that on our children living near freeways. There is plenty of research to show that children living within 500 yards of a freeway have higher incidence of respiratory problems… but wonder for those commuters on the freeway for 1-2 hours a day and its impact on their health.
• Could the same health relationship be drawn from just living in a densely populated city?
• Yeah I was thinking that.
I’ve only been to LA once, and the sky was brown that day! It was the 1st time I ever had a palpable sense that there was clearly air pollution. I can’t help but think just living in certain places must put up your health risk. I had a friend who lived in Belgrade a few years back and she said the pollution was noticeable there.
I’m figuring if you’re sitting in traffic… or just sitting in your car running, there has to be some kind of an effect.
I am seeing in my google search for “studies on health effects of commuting” that there have been some studies.
And I found this…
Which seems to focus on high blood pressure, because “it’s a stressful activity” (commuting in traffic).
Though I know that high blood pressure also has to do with sleep & non-sleep relaxation habits as well… relaxation, as much as sleep, is important.
And I remember about 10 years ago I was on 5:30am flight from Ontario California to San Francisco, and the guy on the plane next to me, when I said I wasn’t used to having to get moving so so early (4am)… he told me that getting up for a 5:30am flight was actually sleeping in for him! He of course lived in the general vicinity of Ontario… and said he said his commute to work was almost 3 hours one way… so he always got up around 3:30am…
I just couldn’t help but think that even if he worked 8 hours a day (assuming with inclusive lunch), that would only leave him only 10 hours for dinner, sleeping and any relaxation & recreational activities, and surely something pretty important was getting shorted there.
• apolitical scientist
Though I do think the good doctor somewhat overestimates the dollar cost of commuting, the quality of life impact to which he alludes is very real. When I purchased my home in Ventura County 20+ years ago it was a 3 minute drive or 10 minute bike ride to work. That job lasted another 5 years and then the best available alternative 25 miles away – no longer bikeable, but still a relatively easy commute. That job lasted another 15 years and then I was forced to take one in the belly of the beast, a 50 mile commute down the 101/405 corridor with a million of my closest friends. Having to get up before 5 every morning and waste 2+ hours behind the wheel is every bit as unpleasant as the doctor suggests.
My point is that, even for those who buy a home with an eye to minimizing commuting, subsequent events may drag one into the SoCal long commute lifestyle. As the doctor points out the LA area just structurally has a lot of jobs in an industrial corridor with relatively few desirable and/or affordable homes. Unless one is fortunate these areas of concentrated jobs may well be where one ends up working if one settles in the area.
PS. My personal situation isn’t quite so bad as this happened to me relatively late in my career. I just need to stick it out for another few years and then will retire and leave the state. If I were 20 years younger I’d have moved and started over rather than accepting my current commute.
• Drinking and Driving is fun
I have no desire to sit in a car for more than an hour to get to a job. I’ve done it for 10 years. No thanks. I’ll reduce my consumption of crap before I waste my time doing that anymore.
• I assume the option of renting your house out for cashflow, and temporarily living in LA was considered at least briefly? Proximity is always a priorty for me: The suburban sprawl & bedroom society baffled me as a youngster. Us humans repeatedly defy logic and reason, but instead are oftentimes irrational.
• Your best comment ever. For many years I commuted as a freelancer in LA. Then I went on staff. Sick of the commute by private car and the horror of late night subway trips home I moved to South Pas. Eight miles from the office. Between the motorcycle purchased as a ticket to the head of the line and the gold line it felt like being in a major US city as an urban worker. I had no rent control but landed a landlord who owned the property since the mid-sixties turned in a rental vitae earning rent raised once for 10% over a six year period (for less than RMs after the increase). Saved even more by buying a used bicycle which allowed me to leave my vehicles parked for weeks at a time. I left with a regret. Regret that I hadn’t moved to and bought in South Pas in the 70s when I had been urged to. Sure can’t now.
My braggadocio post aside some can commute long distances in LA and do so without the high financial costs. Several co-workers commuted via train or bus from outlying valleys.
• apolitical scientist
When I bought my house I was single. Life isn’t quite as simple when you have a family. My wife has a good job in Ventura County (only a 10 minute commute from our home). Moving to improve my commute and ruin hers wasn’t a particularly palatable option, nor was splitting the difference and living in the SFV.
My situation is hardly unique. More than half of my coworkers lived close to work when they bought their places, but through a series of consolidations and transfers ended up working in the LAX area aerospace nexus with a similarly awful commute. Most of them have working spouses and kids enmeshed in school and are every bit as stuck as I am. Again my point is that, even with the best intentions and apparently good choices in home location to minimize driving, workers in LA with families often eventually get stuck with the commute from hell. Do you really think all those poor jokers on the 405 at rush hour chose that drive voluntarily?
BTW. I almost feel bad complaining since my situation isn’t as bad as most. Though I do have to wake up obscenely early this means I can go home fairly early as well and miss the worst traffic. My commute is usually a bit less than an hour each way. Several of my coworkers live up in the Antelope Valley, get up before 4AM and trek a solid 1.5-2 hours each way, day in, day out.
• Before I left LA for Montana in 1975, I knew a salesman who lived in Agora, far west end of the Valley, and had to take a job in the OC. This was so repellent to me that it was one of the factors that convinced me to get out of there.
Now I live 2.5 miles from work.
• Anything over 30 minutes each way is soul draining not to mention wallet draining IMO.
I promised myself next job will be in walkable distance.
• Edward Sullivan
Great stuff. See also:
• I am repositioning my career do to the commute, limited positions and salary deflation.I rather make less than spend time in traffic, stressed out and burning up time. I have less time in front of me than behind me. I’m in my 50’s. (Times flies!)
The only way I would stay in my game and make some great money, is to commute to mid-whishire or downtown L A. No park and ride to a train and a reasonable walk, it’s a deal breaker. Love the beat of the city , but “ain’t” driving there.
Anyone who would live in BFE needs their head examined. East Ventura County at least have some opportunities if you are flexible. I am, I’m kinda fond of eating and paying my bills.
• People often don’t want to live where they work, so much so they are willing to pay more and waste away hours a day to live in a nicer neighborhood. These people were not brainwashed into a “car culture mentality.” Most make very rational decisions about where they want to live, even though they aren’t rational about the amount they pay. The new urbanists can peddle their propaganda, but happy talk doesn’t change reality.
• Drinking and Driving is fun
But what about culture? What about diversity? what about getting exercise getting chased through the streets? What about a free market drug program that the streets have to offer?! LOL!
• feelgood
I went to a Congress For New Urbanism meeting at USC years back. They were all for generfication of the downtowns and gettting everyone out of their cars. Funny that most got into their gas guzzling SUV and drove back to the burbs. It was laughable.
We use the L A subway when we can. I am more loyal to public transportation then the flag waving BS artists I’ve met. They are so full of it.
• I detest public transportation. I get uptight crammed into small spaces with thousands of my closest friends. It feels like the opposite of freedom.
• Time is your most valuable asset. 2+ hours on the LA freeways during rush hour is literally taking your life in your hands everyday, not to mention robbing you from time with your loved ones. Is buying (renting from the bank) really worth it, if you to live so far from where you really might want to live? I think not INMHO. Throw in all the other factors and renting closer to work is a better choice. Especially, since jobs have become unstable in the last 12 years. Look folks, whether you like it or not, we have been in a recession since 2000. Only government manipulation (FED) has kept the illusion going. Don’t buy into it unless you can truly afford where you WANT to live and your income is NOT DEPENDENT on an employer. Globalization has changed the game.
On the Westside of LA, where most of the work really is, the housing market is being gamed by the banks. Leaking out property ever so carefully, as they no longer have to worry about foreclosure. Yet still, someone is still picking up short sales at 50 – 75 cents on the dollar off 2007 peak prices. More than likely, Hedge Funds, PE companies and even other banks as well.
Meanwhile, the average buyer takes it in the shorts again. Wash, rinse and repeat.
• There’s also the fact that any type of transit option (other than driving on congested freeways) is nonexistent in So Cal. Even living 10 miles from work can mean an hour-long commute.
• Is it possible that you aren’t fully aware of all the options? I work from home and I live in Murrieta but when I used to commute to downtown LA, I took a commuter bus to Corona and from there a metrolink train to downtown LA. The entire cost was ~$200 month unlimited use. The downside is that it took 2.5 hours each way but I was sleeping or watching movies on the laptop the entire way. I had a few times that I commuted to downtown San Diego, imo much more pleasant. 1.5 hours each way on commuter bus the entire way (1 transfer). That cost was less than $150 per month unlimited.
I have family that live in Rancho Kookamonga that take the metrolink to downtown LA and it takes less than 1 hour each way because they have an express schedule. Again, the cost is less than $250 per month and none of the stresses of driving.
• My husband used an electric bike for 3 years commuting to diff jobs in LA. the only time he’d drive was Santa Monica. we lived in Eagle Rock then Burbank. We rented a great apt in Burbank. 2000 month but it was the best we lived in our 18 years there. Sold the house , moved into apt, used electric bike and smiled.
• And stopped used the words “I hate..” and “why is”. Moved to Las Vegas and live a very peaceful life now..believe it or not. I still don’t.
• Well, I use to see hispanic immmirgants ride their bikes early in the morning in Anaheim to work. Usually they lived at the most 10 miles away.
• I commute 25 miles because I don’t want to live anywhere near my place of employment. It’s a willing sacrifice for a better family life. Luckily the wife’s job does not require any freeways and pays higher than average.
Work where you have to work, live where you want to live.
• In a free market the poor would be pushed away from the city centers or industrial centers. Why not pay more to live closer to work? Makes sense in a free market. But….Who wants to move into a section 8 area and pay twice as much for housing then their under-skilled, multi-child, underemployed neighbor? Govrnments at all levels are making it harder for the average productive person to have a decent quality of life. The rich or high achievers can pay extra and live where they need to live but the ave. joe has to chose from apartment, house in ghetto or house in Chino Hills or Victorville. why are so many parts of Costa Mesa a sh!t hole? One of the most convenient places for a productive OC worker to live? And also near the ocean. Tons of crappy apartment
complexes built in the 60s that should have been torn down years ago. The government is more concerned about preserving ghettos than cleaning them up. What about Long Beach? Bottom line is the productive responsible legal resident should be able to push the less productive out and force them to commute into the city and industrial centers. They can ride a 2 hour bus. their time is not as valuable. they recieve more then they pay in taxes. Let 60 miles east of LA be the ghetto and downtown LA be a safe enjoyable area for people who work. These crazy commutes are because of the preservation rather than the destruction of ghettos. For someone coming to the USA for the first time via LAX and traveling to downtown LA on surface streets they would thinke the USA is a 3rd world country. HAPpy New Year!
• I don’t believe this to be true. Every major metropolitan city I can think of is filled with lots of ghetto people. Especially the most expensive Manhattan.
• I don’t believe it either but for other reasons. In a free market, city living would be cheaper than suburban living. High population density lowers all kinds of costs of living; housing, services, utilities and more are much cheaper to provide per capita in a high-density environment, ceteris paribus. But, add in some do-gooder regulations, fees, taxes on city dwellers and layer on the subsidies for people living in the boonies (or owning second homes in the countryside) and whaddya know, city living gets expensive.
So, why do poor people still congregate in central cities? Welfare. Welcome to Detroit. And central Los Angeles County.
Free the People! End subsidies and abolish regulations.
• Great post. So very true.
• Metrolink ticket from riverside irvine one way = $10. Monthly Pass $281.50*
• I have to live away from work since I don’t want my children assaulted, etc.
I want to live around white people since I am white and that is my community. IF we had deed restrictions where we can have white neighborhoods, then I could live close to where I work.
Whites have to be careful and have to avoid huge areas of cities today. The safety of my children, and the school they will attend, and number one. Once a schools gets over 20% black or mexican, then it goes to hell.
• Al, I understand where your coming from, and I understand what a nightmare most of Los Angeles county is for White Americans who need a clean safe affordable area with good schools. I have kids and I also need a good safe environment for my kids.
I don’t know where you work, but check out Santa Clarita, it’s got just what your looking for, good schools, A higher population of White Americans and it feels like a traditional American town. It’s a very family oriented area.
The for sale inventory is pretty low right now, but I highly recommend it to American families who have kids and live in LA county.
• Santa Clarita: Yes, I agree. It is a very nice community, but what percentage of the population actually works there? Everybody I know living there commutes to LA. I even know one who commutes to San Pedro…in his car.
• The Sh!t Keeps Piling Higher and Deeper
Funny, the last 6 or 7 mass school shootings have been in practially 100% white neighborhoods. Columbine………..New Town…….Heritage High………the list goes on. What do you expect broke people to have for schools? If there ain’t no money for themselves, how do you expect them to have nice schools? LOL!
• Commuting sucks and is for suckers.
• The Sh!t Keeps Piling Higher and Deeper
That is true, but it’s Festivas for the rest of us!!!! I’d do anything to be able to work at home. As always here about how people would get bored and not have the social interactions they’d have in an office. I could careless. Why do I want to hear about my boss drone on and on about some BS? Or how about listen to the nitwit cry and complain about her astronomical student loan debt and other useless crap.
I got enough problems of my own and quite frankly, I’m tired of hearing other people’s crap too.
• Why is the article including the factors below in their analysis? These are costs that are independent of whether the individual has a long commute or not (you most certainly will have a car even if you don’t have a long commute), and they drive up the “estimated cost per mile” immensely.
What the article should be doing:
-Comparing the cost of a long commute as compared with a short one
What the article is doing:
-Comparing the cost of having a car and a long commute vs not having either of these things
•Car Insurance and Registration
•Car payment (many have leased or financed cars)
• JOE Blow is talking about Costa Mesa. There were two things that caused that changed, namely the opening up of South Orange County which whites fled to get away from Santa Ana and Anaheim back in the 1980’s and 1990’s and then towns like Costa Mesa and so forth were left as immirgant destinations. Costa Mesa is odd a nice section and a crappy section. Two, companies have been hiring hispanic immirgants and some asian ones whether they are legal and illegal for 30 years and many politicans don’t care what happens. Costa Mesa was still not too bad back in the 1980’s but opening up Mission Viejo and the South cities later spilled some trouble for Costa Mesa and many older OC cities..
• What I usually do is compare the cost of some type of housing unit near my work, and one within X miles / minutes to see how much commuting “saves”. Most of the time the additional gas and time (perhaps stress) for longer distance results in minimal monthly savings. For me it’s San Jose region vs. something like Gilroy (45mins) or Hollister (75mins). My commute is already 30-45mins. The additional 70-100% commute time drops about 25% of the house price per sq. ft. regionally, but I’m not willing to go that far.
• The Sh!t Keeps Piling Higher and Deeper
I got a job in Baltimore last year and I laugh at you So Cal guys and gals like to think how bad parts of your state are. I literally commuted from a friends house in Fairfax, VA to Northern Baltimore everyday. EVERYDAY…….75 miles one way. Why? Well, Baltimore……that’s why.
I’d much rather be happy where I live than worry about where I work and the like. It’s easier to either find a job or loose one than it is to find a place where you enjoy living.
Things always change. Some bad nieghborhoods become good, some good become dumps. It’s always been that way, and I don’t see it changing anytime soon.
I’ve moved so many times in the last 10 years after college. Ohio to Atlanta, then to Tampa, then to Orlando, then to blah blah blah.
I’m not leaving where I’m at now. Tired of moving. Tired of finding another place to live. Tired of chasing the money that always evaporates as soon as I have to move again for the same old BS job. All fields are becoming the same and we are all in the same boat.
Less money, less healthcare, less benefits. I don’t care who you are, no one is safe.
I can honestly say I am happier now than I have ever been. I like where I live and I like my job. I get ZERO benefits, but I work in a nice office and make plenty of money to save and go out on the weekends. I consider myself lucky these days.
• And you didn’t even add in all the costs associated with keeping the price of oil somewhat affordable. Non stop war in the mid east-Asia, vast military presence all over the world, gargantuan military budget, etc.
And the environmental costs: bad air, land fills full of used tires, vast junkyards, etc.
And, if global warming/climate change is for real, add another layer of justification in there too. This paradigm doesn’t work, so it will fail. Don’t ask me when.
• Like Carlin said, the earth does not need “saving” from man….it will soon shake off mankind like a bad case of the fleas. The earth has been here for 4 billion years and modern man for a few hundred thousand years. A blip. As we escalate our numbers (213,000 more people every day on earth), we’ll crash and burn from disease, famine, war, polluted environment, climate change, or a combination of the above. We’re pretty smart for animals, but just a nuisance in the grand scheme of things.
• The good news is that your story is applicable only to southern California, the Bay Area, and most of the northeast, particularly the New York and Washington DC metro areas. The rest of the country mercifully doesn’t endure or require such brutal and costly commutes. The bad news is that these regions collectively account for about one-sixth of the nation’s population.
I remember watching a 20/20 feature in the 80s called “Is This A Life?”, which followed the intrepid folks on a van pool journey from Moreno Valley to TRW in Redondo Beach, where they all worked. The van left the assembly point at 5:30 AM and arrived from its return trip at 8:30 PM–and that didn’t include prep time in the AM and drive time both ways to and from the assembly point.
I could relate because I was doing the same in central New Jersey, rising at 5 AM to reach the assembly point at van pool departure time of 6:15 AM, and arriving in Newark at 7:30 AM or thereabouts. I did this for eleven plus years, because I was obsessed about owning a home and was willing, as you put it, to drive (or at least vanpool it or take the NJ Transit train) to qualify.
In retrospect, it was undoubtedly one of the stupidest things I ever did. It cost me untold hours wasted for a house that I bought in 1986 for $88,600 and sold in 1999 for $89,900. The best I can say about the experience is that I really did like living in it. I had a beautiful big backyard, and my location had great access to loads of amenities in the area: New York, Philadelphia, Atlantic City, Jersey Shore beaches, Princeton, the Poconos, and the Amish Country were all within a 90 minute drive.
For the past ten years, we’ve lived in northern Nevada, which unfortunately has seen its own real estate collapse, from which we were not exempt. However, our house is much larger and has a spectacular unobstructed view of the Pine Nut Mountains. My commute, before my retirement, was all of 20 minutes with hardly any traffic either way. Before that, we rented in town for two years with a five minute commute which enabled me to come home for lunch!
While the value of our house here has declined precipitously since we bought it, at least we have very low mortgage payments and low property taxes (especially when compared to New Jersey!), and we don’t have to sell it. This time I don’t have to eat a loss, and if we have to die here, so be it. We are an hour from Reno and Lake Tahoe, and I certainly can think of far worse places to live.
One thing for sure: I will never live in a metro area again.
• The Bay area is fine-it has BART and Caltrain, the ferries and MUNI in SF. Most east and south bay cities also have a good transit system-as does the north bay.
Socal not that nice-though I think the transit options are becoming better.
• 20 years in LA and never not worked from home. Would absolutely not live here if I had to commute 30-60 miles each way.
• If you can work from home you should relocate to a cheaper place. I’d like nothing better than to work from home (software QA, there’s really no reason I can’t long term) and move to Reno or some place cheap. I’d even take a wage cut as long as I was still ahead for the region’s living wages.
• Well, only automation or robotics will eliminate a lot of the low skilled workers. Car washes can be automated and robots can be developed to take over the farmwork more granted the greater La area only employs only 1percent of illegal immirgants into farmwork and even some gardener and maid jobs can be cut down by some robots. La by 2020 could if robots take over reduce the illegal immirgant workload by at half or at least a third. The tech fields I agreee politicans are always flooding those with foreign competition and makes it harder for the native born. Canada is the opposite most of the immirgation is more at the high skilled and less at the low skilled. They even have a good contract set up with Mexico that prevents farmworkers from staying in Canada many of them go between Washington and Canada on their guestworker program for farmworkers..
• Well, most of the public schools in SC are over 20 percent Mexican even Mission Viejo high now is 23 percent. Mexicans are younger on average than whites so this shift is happening. Two, a lot of cheaper housing by SC standards are in the older suburbs in La or are in the Mexican areas of OC.
• The Sh!t Keeps Piling Higher and Deeper
Why are Mexicans so evil?
• 1) Non-Western values;
2) Low impulse control (IC);
3) Militant racist/La Raza “dis izz OUR land” credo;
• 4) Last time I checked… MEXICO was run by… Mexicans. Maybeez SoCalers don’t… want that??? Haven’t taken a scientific poll, but… I will lay odds. ;)
• Why do you call them “evil”? They are not. They have difficulty learning languages. yes. Many cannot speak Spanish after 500 years of Spanish domination. Most would rather work at menial jobs than go to school, but that is why liberals like them (no competition and cheap help). But that is no evil, just “peasant”. The problem comes in when liberals tell us they are going to pay our social security and Medicare when they are incapable of doing so and maintaining their peasant lifestyle.
All that aside, there is nothing wrong with California filling up with Mexicans and becoming a mini-Mexico. Its just that we Anglos do not want to live in Mexico. No judgment, no blame, it just doesn’t suit us.
What we really cannot afford is letting Mexican escapees abandon their country and come to America to take sub-minimum wage menial jobs, and then turn around and pay hundreds of thousands of dollars to turn their kids into rocket scientists, doctors and lawyers because it is “racist” to have a bunch of dumb Mexicans and smart Anglos.
Think about it: if we have to pay astronomical amounts of money turning Mexican peasant babies into little Anglos because it is Evil Racism to have a subculture of little brown peasants, why are we letting them move to America in the first place?
• I remember my commutes from Santa Monica to Sylmar every day back in the 90’s and back then the 405 North in the mornings was a piece of cake (65 mph the whole way). Then in early 2000’s I switched jobs to work in Moorpark. Santa Monica to Moorpark in the mornings (405N to 118W) was a 45min drive but the evening drive home would often times be 90 minutes. That was a killer, so I moved to Thousand Oaks at that time for a 10 minute drive each way. Now I am self employed, work from home for the past 10 years and need to thank my lucky stars that I have no commute at all. But if you talk to several people who work from home you will find the lack of relating to coworkers, added distractions, does have its drawbacks but perhaps minor compared to several-hour-commutes each day.
• I am self-employed too and love working from home. It’s too bad it’s not an option for everyone. But, some companies will let you work 4 ten hour days, which if you have a long commute it will save one day of it. And also, you’d probably be going in earlier than than the morning rush hour and going home later than the evening rush hour. Some companies will let you work one day at home. I was pushing for one of these myself, before I decided to be self-employed.
All in all, I think it is nice to have more at home hours (unless you want to get away from the family for longer).
I don’t see the lack of interaction with co-workers as a big deal anymore. People used to say that to me and I think I adopted their thoughts. Besides, I go out to lunch at least once a week (can afford it now that I pay next to nothing in transportation costs).
• I agree with what you said doctor but not everyone is in the position. I was single 7 years ago and I live less than a mile away from work. I live in work in downtown LA, but I met my wife and I move 15 miles away because i don’t want her to commute far from her work. And that’s in Torrance, our rent for a two bedroom crappy apartment there is $2,000, and we have a 4 year old daughter thys about to go to school this coming school year, so we started looking for a house and we picked valencia due to quality of life, a little better public school because if I live near my work, the cheapest school within the 5 miles radius in downtown LA is $1000 a month and if your kid goes to private school up until they’re in high school they will want to go to expensive school in college. Did the doctor compute if you have two kids going to private school near downtown LA. It’s way more expensive than commuting.
• We picked a new community in valencia,ca and we looked at a community where the people who owns a property has kids too like us. I have no plans of letting my kids live in a rental in downtown LA this young. But after they go to college im going back to downtown LA and rent there for convenience. My current PITI right now is $2,000 with a decent size house and its brand new. me and my wife gas is $600.00 and we love new cars, we pay $700/month for the car. for the past 10 years, even though Im less than a mile from work I still have a new car. Either we live far or close we will still buy two card. It a SoCal culture in our generation. Lucky for other generation who doesn’t like new cars, kudos for that and good for you.
• Dotmike
I also moved to Stevenson Ranch about 4 weeks back..Bought a home in SR which was on short sale. Got a good deal. I lived and worked in Burbank for 12 years and still work in Burbank. Commute time wise is not bad but I have to fill gas once a week instead of once in 3 weeks now. Agree with you on SR and Valencia on the quality of life and schools..awesome places !
• Dotmike and Mnair,
congratulations on your purchase in Santa Clarita. I’ve been living in Santa Clarita for about six years now. I have to say I really like it a I don’t think I would live in any other area of LA county.
Most of the schools here are good, the population density is low compared to most of LA county and over all the town is pretty family oriented.
The air in Santa Clarita is cleaner than most areas of LA because the mountain pass where the 5 and the 14 meet, blocks off a lot of the smog from the San Fernando Valley.
Santa Clarita is part of LA county, but you feel a real separation from LA because the demographics are little different here, which gives it a more tradition American feel.
If you get a chance, go do some horse riding in Acton sometime, it still has a kind of wild west feel and it’s beautiful.
• I agree with you Greg of LA, it took me more than a year to decide where should we live in LA county and Orange County, and I believe Valencia/SR/SC is the best bang for your buck. Thank for the info greg in LA regarding Acton. M nair, You will definitely enjoy it here, people here are very nice and friendly. Like what Greg of LA mentioned, the area is family oriented, you will feel the difference of LA life, a more traditional american feel and you are still not far away from LA.
• Current rent + Current cost of driving Vs. New rent + New cost of driving
Pretty simple….. I currently commute 95 miles (round trip)
• I used to drive 100 miles a day round trip on the hell hole known as the 405. Never again! I think I figured out the equation: for every year of that commute, it took a half a year off my life. When you add up all the costs and other things (time, health, sanity, etc)…it’s simply not worth it. Rent or buy close to work or just move out of the area.
• Geezus, talk about the wrong stretch of road to take. I used to have only ~20 miles commute on 405fwy (each way) and that already took 1.5-2 hours each way.
• Mike – I have no idea what you mean by…
Rent control in Los Angeles allows landlords to raise rent according to the dictates of the Rent Stabilization Board. The increases are consistently 3% on places where the utilities are electric and are paid by the renters and 4% in cases where the landlord has a gas heated building where he/she pays the bill. When tenants move, the landlord can charge market rate for apartments. Since most of the people do move within a few years, only a few of the units are much below market rate. Landlords also have to pass inspections so they can’t let their properties deteriorate to levels that are too terribly bad. The places don’t usually have the most updated kitchens and bathrooms, but the landlord can’t get higher rent if some improvements aren’t made so it’s the landlord’s loss when improvements aren’t done. With proposition 13, landlords who purchased properties many years ago don’t pay much in taxes so maybe they’re still making a boatload of money with minimal upgrades. I don’t see how the renters who are paying a 3% increase every year compared to owners who bought at reasonable rates years ago and are paying a smaller increase (about 1%) with proposition 13 are in a better position than the owners. Where’s the cap on the landlord earnings under these circumstances – especially when many of these properties are in high end locations in Los Angeles. Minimal commute for the renters & high gain for the long term landlords. Looks like a win/win compared to the inflated property prices buyers would have to pay to enter these neighborhoods.
• Generally, I think that we’re stupid to put up with the crap that SOCA hands us. Most of us could go anywhere else and have a better quality of life, for about HALF the cost. This place is just stupid, insanely stupid. The prices that people pay for rents and mortgages are just stupid. You say the sunshine is worth it? Nah….it’s the stupidity fueling this mess.
• The Sh!t Keeps Piling Higher and Deeper
I hear North Dakota is hiring………..
• I do like living in SoCal but I cannot blame you. The worst thing about SoCal are the large majority of people. Self centered, egotistical, narcissistic, selfish asshats.
• Mike from Downey
I worked at three places where I had a 35 mile commute each way. Two were in northern Cal, and during the buildup of the internet companies, it was a bad commute. Then, I had a 35 mile commute from OC to Montebello. It was a minimum of 1.5 hours, and 3 hours if it rained. I finally bought a house in Downey (pre-bubble), and had a 10 minute commute on surface streets. Downey was more expensive than the outlying areas, but it was well worth it. I could go home for lunch. Peace of mind is worth a lot.
• Forever_Sidelined
Does anyone here own and live in a condo? Seeing as though I don’t want long commutes and would like to live in metro LA- well, in a good area of LA- a condo seems like the only alternative. Even though condos in good areas like SM, Westwood, WeHo and Downtown are just as expensive as a house sometimes (not to mention sky high HOAs), I’ve been eyeing some in not-so-prime areas. I know it’s almost like living in an apartment, so I’m definitely worried about the noise factor. But I’ve read people warning about condo’s in a nightmare way…”Out of control rising HOAs!”…”20k special assessments”…”Never again!”. Anyone here have any search tips or positive experiences? I am leaning towards townhouse type condos and ones that don’t have that apartment to condo conversion feeling. “Community Laundry” is a good indicator. Of course an upper floor is ideal. Thanks all!
• I disagree, the math here doesn’t even add up. It says its better to rent closer to the metro where your job is, but if rent is $2000, for 30 years, that’s $720,000 down the drain, and you’ll probably still own a car if you have a family. If you own a modest home in riverside, and commute, the commute alone adds only $516,000 over 30 years down the drain in just gas & insurance, unless you own a hybrid or Volt, then costs come way down to just insurance/maintenace -speculating around $25,000. Really its about lifestyle preference. Jobs and commutes can change over the years. I’ll take a commute to have the space and own my home over rent and have to put up with loud neighbors and noise pollution any day.
• If you rent for 30 years, you have nothing to retire in, you own no real assets to sell or pass on, renting is never a good long term solution, financially.
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Civil Law Legal Definition:
Related Terms: Common Law , Civil Code , Roman Law , Quasi-Delict , Obligations , Ecclesiastical Law , Civil Liability , Civil Law Rule , Law
Has several meanings. In common law jurisdictions, the term can mean law as between citizens; law which regulates affairs between citizens or persons as between themselves (private law).
Can also be distinguished from the criminal law which is the state or government's list of prohibited actions, and the process or procedure for dealing with transgressions thereof.
The most common use of the term is to refer to civil law legal systems. Many states in the world have comprehensive legal systems called civil law jurisdictions, largely inspired by Roman law, the primary feature of which was that laws were written into a collection; codified, and not determined, as is common law, by judges. Germany and France sustained the bridge between Roman law and civil law (old French law book cover pictured).
French civil law book coverThe primary feature of civil law (since the 450 BC • Twelve Tables) is that law has to be set in ink and published before it can apply to the people; to thus avoid the discretionary and insular justice imposed from time to time by judges in their written decisions (and which, in a common law jurisdiction, becomes law until it is changed by yet another decision or by statute). These documents - nothing more than a very large statute - are called civil codes.
Most common law jurisdictions have taken to codifying much of their law in subject-specific statutes.
Louisiana's Civil Code deals with:
"... the legal capacity of persons, the contract of and effects of marriage, grounds for divorce, classification of children and parental authority, the acquisition, ownership, use, disposition, or donation of things and property, conventional obligations (contracts), and the resolution of conflict of laws".
Speaking of the civil law and civil code systems, and comparing to common law, one law professor wrote:
"One might say that the world is divided into two manners of men: the man who says: 'I have in my pocket a blueprint plan of the universe, complete and written down: whenever I meet a new problem or have an old one I have only to consult my plan and by simple logic deduce the appropriate answer.'
"Of such men are good civil law lawyers made.
"And the man who says: 'I don't have a preconceived plan for the universe all written down: I can't anticipate all the problems of the world: I'll meet them as they come, one by one bringing to bear upon them my experience and common sense, and I'll not lay down any general rule, but answer only the problem before me.'
"Such men make good common law lawyers.
"From these different positions certain conclusions seem possible. First, the man who lives by the preconceived plan will find his stability, his security in the written word - the code - the statute - and will say that the general principles set forth therein survive even erroneous application, while the man who declares that he has no preconceived plan, but only individual solutions to particular problems, is apt to find his stability, his security in the individual instances and their conscientious repetition in experience."
Philadelphia judge F. Biddle (1866-1968), who sat at the Nuremberg Trials, once remarked that:
"In this court, the unwritten law is not worth the paper it isn't written on."
Civil law states generally have a civil code, or a single code of the most-used or commonly referred to laws, such as Quebec, Puerto Rico, France, Louisiana and almost all of Africa, Asia and Europe (except, notably, England).
References or Further Reading:
Categories & Topics:
Unless otherwise noted, this page was written by of
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German has three extra vowels: ä, ö, and ü. The German word for those curious double dots over the vowels is Umlaut (oom-lout) (umlaut). Umlauts slightly alter the sound of the vowels a, o, and u, as outlined in this table. These sounds have no equivalent in English.
Pronouncing Vowels with Umlauts
German Letter Phonetic Symbol As in English German Example
ä (long) ai say (“ay” in “say” with spread lips) nächste (naiH-ste) (next)
ä (short) ê bet (clipped “e”) fällen (fêl-en) (to fell [a tree])
ö er her (without the “r” sound) schön (shern) (pretty) (remember: no “r” sound)
ü ue lure (“ooh” with pursed lips) Tür (tuer) (door)
To make your German vowels ä, ö, and ü sound a bit more authentic, try progressing through the ä, ö, and ü sounds, pronouncing the vowels as though you’re getting ready to kiss someone — in other words, round your lips and pucker up, baby! The ü sound is pronounced with very pursed lips.
Pronouncing diphthongs
Diphthongs are combinations of two vowels in one syllable (as in the English “lie”). This table lists the German diphthongs and shows you how to pronounce them.
Pronouncing German Diphthongs
German Diphthong Phonetic Symbol As in English German Example
ai/ei/ay ay cry Mais (mays) (corn)/ein (ayn) (a)/Bayern (bay-ern) (Bavaria)
au ou loud laut (lout) (noisy)
äu/eu oy boy Häuser (hoy-zer) (houses)/Leute (loy-te) (people)
ie ee see Miete (meet-e) (rent)
Both the long German vowel i and the German vowel combination ie are pronounced like the English letter e in see, but the German ei, ai, and ay are pronounced like the English letter y in cry. | <urn:uuid:6022b399-42e7-4a53-948e-7bb8d34dbd81> | 4 | 3.828125 | 0.084407 | en | 0.866065 | http://www.dummies.com/how-to/content/basic-german-pronouncing-a-o-and-u.html?cid=RSS_DUMMIES2_CONTENT |
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Positive Externalities: “CutThroat” or “Cuddly” Capitalism?
by Elaine Schwartz • Jun 30, 2013 • 496 Views
Having just enjoyed several weeks in Paris, a friend of mine returned to the US with huge applause for the French health care system. Several days later, she was delighted to see Robert Frank’s NY Times column, “What Sweden Can Tell Us About Obamacare.”
As an economics teacher, I always think and sometimes cannot resist asking, “What is the cost?” Please note that by cost, I mean sacrifice. Because we have a limited supply of land, labor and capital, more healthcare means less of something else.
But…less of what?
Economists Daron Acemoglu, James Robinson, and Thierry Verdier have one possible answer. In a 2012 paper, they speculate that nations with “cutthroat capitalism” are much more likely to propel the world’s progress because greater income gaps create entrepreneurial incentives. By contrast, countries with a “cuddly” form of capitalism become free riders. They enjoy the technological progress that others have made possible.
As a result, they suggest that the world might not be a better place if all countries have huge social safety nets. Somewhere, capitalism needs to drive people to create the innovations that fuel GDP growth. This means that if everyone were to become like the Scandinavians, then the world would have less affluence. With less affluence, fewer countries would be able to afford their social safety nets.
In other words, the authors hypothesize that “cutthroat capitalism” generates the positive externalities that benefit the well being of the entire world. So, when my friend and Robert Frank compliment the healthcare offered by France or Sweden, perhaps they could mention that the cost might be more of the innovation and affluence that sustain social safety nets.
Your opinion of the correlation between work hours and patents in the two following graphs?
Annual average hours works. Source: OECD (2010)
Annual average hours works. Source: OECD (2010)
Patent filings per million residents at domestic office. Source: World Intellectual Property Organization
Sources and resources: Providing perfect ammunition for both sides of the welfare state debate, the Acemoglu, Robinson, Verdier paper (the source of the above graphs) has reservations while Dr. Frank expresses more enthusiasm. You might also want to see a slightly different view of capitalism in Good Capitalism Bad Capitalism by William Baumol, Robert Litan and Carl Schremm.
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YESTERDAY, I argued that it should be much easier for developers to build on city land as they see fit, but that the structure of local government institutions typically places strict constraints on what can actually be done with a piece of land. The problem is that government structures empower those who face negative impacts from new building relative to those who receive benefits from new building. Kevin Drum follows up on the post by noting that there should be a Coasean solution to the problem—winners should be willing to pay the losers to be able to build, such that everyone is happy—but it's difficult to see how to get there:
I'm certainly concerned about those things in my neighborhood, and I'd be unhappy if someone wanted to erect a 50-story skyscraper next door that turned the street outside my door into a seething, 24/7 stream of cars and weekend partiers. And unfortunately for prospective developers, that's an externality that's very difficult to mitigate. You can reduce it, maybe by paying for a street widening project or some such, but that's small beer. And in theory, you could simply pay off local residents. I might not like all the new traffic and noise, but if you paid me $5,000 a year to put up with it, maybe I'd mind it a lot less. But who do you have to pay? And how much?
In my post yesterday I linked to a new paper by George Mason law professor David Schleicher, in which he examines some of the governance issues surrounding zoning questions. He notes that urban economists might usefully study the issue of international trade. Trade, like urban development, creates net benefits, but the gains are widely distributed while the costs are focused on a small group that is therefore heavily motivated to fight trade liberalisation. To bring forward liberalisation, governments had to adopt a number of institutional changes that facilitated the kinds of Coasean bargaining Mr Drum suggests needs to occur. One example is trade-adjustment assistance, which is essentially a government transfer payment to those hit hardest by reductions in trade barriers. Such payments can shift the impact of openness on affected firms and households from negative to neutral or positive, thereby reducing opposition to and facilitating liberalisation.
Cities could do something similar. Mr Schleicher proposes a system of redistribution based on the relatively common institution of tax-increment financing (TIF). Cities increasingly use TIF to help pay for local infrastructure. It promises the increase in future tax revenue generated by a value-adding public investment toward payment for the investment itself. A variant could be applied to development. A large new project should generate greater tax revenues for the city. A portion of those revenues could be used to offset the tax burden of residents living within the area most affected by the development; say yes to the skyscraper, in other words, and your property tax bill should drop.
Ronald Coase suggested that efficiency was possible in the presence of externalities provided transaction costs between affected parties were low enough. This may be a case when government has a useful role to play in lowering those transaction costs. | <urn:uuid:35d7717c-2275-485a-bee4-7075527f9725> | 2 | 1.953125 | 0.033245 | en | 0.962577 | http://www.economist.com/blogs/freeexchange/2012/02/development-incentives?sort=3 |
EXACTLY 56 years after Dwight Eisenhower signed into law a bill authorising the construction of an interstate-highway network, Congress passed a transport bill on June 29th. John Mica, who chairs the House transport committee, boasted of passing “the most important transportation reform bill since Eisenhower”. Barbara Boxer, who chairs the Senate’s environment committee, crowed that Congress had “saved” the transport network Eisenhower had created.
In truth, they have little to brag about. Yes, this was the first long-term transport bill since the last one expired in September 2009. And they did pass it in the nick of time: the last in a series of short-term extensions was due to expire the next day. But they only “saved” America’s transport network by avoiding a foreseeable and utterly unnecessary disaster.
Still, the new bill passed both the Republican-dominated House and the Democrat-controlled Senate by large margins—no mean feat these days. Both sides made concessions. From their bill Republicans dropped provisions mandating construction of the Keystone XL oil pipeline and restricting the Environmental Protection Agency’s ability to regulate coal ash. The final bill authorises around $120 billion over the next 27 months; the bill that John Boehner, the Speaker, advocated earlier this year would have given $260 billion over the next five years.
But Republicans prevailed in a battle over streamlining environmental regulations and reviews, designed to speed completion of transport projects. And this bill, like previous ones, heavily favours roads and highways over mass transit (dedicated funds for bike and walking paths also faced the chop). It keeps transit funding roughly at its current level, which mass-transit advocates say is far too low.
A functional compromise bill is nothing to sneeze at, but neither is this one much to cheer about. On the crucial subject of revenue it does far too little. It raises a modest amount by increasing premiums paid to the federal pension-insurance corporation. But the federal tax on petrol has been stuck at its current 18.4 cents a gallon since 1993, even as Americans drive less in more efficient cars. Raising the petrol tax is political poison, so Congress has hit upon a drearily predictable solution: to take the money from somewhere else.
This is not new: between 2008 and 2010 Congress transferred $34.5 billion from the general fund into the Highway Trust Fund (HTF), which collects federal petrol taxes and funds transport spending. The new bill gives the HTF $18.8 billion from the general fund and $2.4 billion from a fund to repair underground storage tanks. Earlier this year the Congressional Budget Office forecast the HTF’s insolvency by 2013. The current bill forestalls this until 2015. Eisenhower would be unimpressed. | <urn:uuid:95f0a8f7-5589-47c9-aa98-37880360bf71> | 2 | 2.34375 | 0.022356 | en | 0.947989 | http://www.economist.com/node/21558309 |
DEFENDANTS in American securities suits do not always know how strong a hand they hold. They may fight and lose their case, when they should have settled. Or they may fold too early, when they could have stayed in the game and won.
Folding a strong hand is what Citigroup, JPMorgan Chase and Canada's CIBC appear to have done. In 2005, under pressure over their alleged roles in the fraud that felled Enron four years earlier, they each agreed to settle with the bust energy trader's shareholders for $2 billion or more. Though the sums were huge, they calculated that fighting on would only prolong the agony. That after all was the fate of lenders who refused to settle promptly in a case involving WorldCom, another dotcom-era implosion.
But in light of a court ruling this week, the banks look to have made an unwise bet. Reversing an earlier decision by a district judge, a federal appeals court ruled that a class action pitting Enron shareholders against three banks that had refused to settle could not go ahead. “Pleased” in public, the lenders—Credit Suisse, Merrill Lynch and Barclays—were privately cock-a-hoop. They may now avoid paying even a cent to the shareholders. It was also good news for holdouts in a separate Enron-related case, including the Royal Bank of Scotland and Toronto Dominion, which also stand to benefit. The plaintiffs, corralled by Bill Lerach, a lawyer, were aghast. They had been seeking $40 billion in total from those with any kind of link to the firm's accounting shenanigans.
Under a principle known as “scheme liability”, Mr Lerach had argued that Enron's financial advisers should be on the hook because they had helped devise its schemes to park debt off its balance sheet and inflate its revenues. But the three-judge panel ruled that even if the banks had “aided and abetted” fraud “by engaging in transactions to make it more plausible”, they owed no duty to Enron's shareholders. In essence, they decided that only those who mis-state accounts, not those who assist them, can be sued en masse.
That may seem unfair, but it is likely to stand. Though Mr Lerach and his lead plaintiff, the University of California, plan an appeal to the Supreme Court, few legal experts think the justices will take up the case. This is probably the end of the road for most shareholders, if not all. Though they can still sue individually, even the biggest awards would not match the costs of a prosecution.
Some see the ruling this week as yet more evidence of the tide turning against securities class actions. It follows a similar decision in December against plaintiffs looking to sue banks over their underwriting of public offerings. Judges are increasingly acknowledging that class-action certification, designed to be a mere step in the litigation process, all too often puts defendants under unbearable pressure to settle, even when they have a reasonable chance of winning on merit. But, as Adam Savett of Institutional Shareholder Services points out, securities law is still a largely unsettled area, reflected in the very different decisions emerging from the various appeals-court circuits. Banks that call their opponents' bets in the legal poker game will not always be as lucky as the three that prevailed this week. | <urn:uuid:96af02f8-df0c-4e4d-b3d5-77c34b36b41e> | 2 | 1.6875 | 0.050899 | en | 0.977071 | http://www.economist.com/node/8893674 |
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Authors:Mollenkopf, John
Issue Date:2008
Series/Report no.:Working Paper, Institute of Urban and Regional Development 2008,08
Abstract:Like other old blue collar cities of the Northeast and Midwest, New York City and its surrounding metropolitan area have faced some serious headwinds from deindustrialization, disinvestment, racial succession, white flight, social and cultural conflict, and many other adverse force. Like many other old industrial cities, New York went through a turbulent period of economic and social decline from the late 1960s through the early 1980s. In New York City's case, this involved a public sector fiscal crisis and high levels of residential property abandonment and arson as well as a more generalized decline of population and employment. Yet unlike the many other once-proud cities that have had to adjust to a lesser status over time, New York has rebounded markedly from its low point in the mid-1970s. Today, it is hard to believe that broad swaths of the New York City terrain had essentially no market value only thirty years ago. Instead, luxury loft buildings are rising next to the Brooklyn Queens Expressway and a high priced luxury hotel has been built next to the Gowanus Canal, erstwhile scene of dead bodies and raw sewage overflows during heavy rains. What accounts for this dramatic turn-around? How and why did New York City prove to be so resilient, when its 19 century rivals along the East Coast, Philadelphia and th Baltimore, have continued to lose population steadily, as have Cleveland, Detroit, Milwaukee, and St. Louis, and even Chicago? This paper considers some provisional answers to that question.
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GPU clusters change the game in visual computing
Posted: 31 Mar 2014 Print Version Bookmark and Share
Keywords:Nvidia GPU cluster
Following the game-changing IndeX, a GPU clustering approach that combines compute cycles and rendering cycles in a single interactive system, Nvidia has introduced another GPU code called Pascal. Pascal builds on the former by giving it higher attributes—bandwidth, capacity, and energy efficient per bit.
Up until now, (literally) you could use a single GPU for parallel processing and it did a fabulous job offering 10s to 100s of speed-up for certain classes of problems.
But we always want more so the idea was developed (by Nvidia's Germany group that until 2011 was Mental Images the ray tracing company) that you should be able to gang clusters of servers with GPUs in them and get more power.
That cluster-gathering scheme for visualizing huge volumetric datasets is called IndeX.
But we still want more. So what if you could gang up multiple GPUs within a cluster?
Well, now you can with a GPU-to-GPU inter-linking connection that is called NVlinks. With NVlinks you get scaling of GPUs in a cluster, and scaling of clusters. Just image the bitcoin farming you could do—it boggles the mind.
For example, real-time visualisation of volumetric data is essential for experts in a variety of fields; they use it to gain a visual insight. Dense, high-resolution, 3D images are used in medical examinations, meteorologists study the weather, and geophysicists use it to find oil deposits. This is the big, really big, data.
The Taranaki Basin dataset (Crown Minerals and the New Zealand Ministry of Economic Development). Source: Nvidia
However, the amount of data produced from a high-resolution simulation can be extremely large. It challenges traditional visualisation methods—and the researchers want more.
A typical geological subterranean survey is 80km to 120km wide and long, and goes down another 8km to 10km or more.
The geologists would like to get a resolution of at least 20m, which would yield 60B per data point, and end up with 20GB per shot. They take a lot of samples because one of the analyses they like to do is to make a movie.
If you look at the above image and notice the blue or orange slice, imagine either one of those slices moving back and forth to reveal the underground structure. These "movies" have to run at 30fps.
The usage model in medical diagnostic using CAT or MRI scans has exactly the same issues and data sizes.
And both, medical and geophysical (to name just two) are critically important to life threatening. Now think about weather systems, simulated nuclear explosions, and simulations of cars crashing into walls and you get a feeling for enormous amounts of data that needs to be processed, and processed fast.
To try and wrangle this data under control and get the benefit of parallel processing using GPUs, Nvidia developed a scheme to put GPUs in a box they call a cluster, and then via a LAN gang up the clusters (the GPUs communicate with each other via PCIe or InfiniBand).
This design, which Nvidia calls IndeX, allows for scaling of one to n-clusters, and basically makes the solution a function of the checkbook of the researchers.
The IndeX software infrastructure contains scalable computing algorithms that run on a separate workstation or, more likely, a dedicated GPU-compute cluster.
Essentially, IndeX brings together compute cycles and rendering cycles in a single interactive system.
This is a big deal, in every sense of the word. Being able to leverage the compute power of a dedicated GPU cluster by means of a GPU rendering cluster is game-changing in interactive visual computing.
That's great, and systems are using it. But we want more, and faster; we always want more and faster. One way to get more, and faster is to stuff the clusters full of GPUs that could talk to each other more efficiently—more bigger clusters.
At Nvidia's GPU Technology Conference (GTC) the company announced a new GPU code named Pascal.
Pascal (the subject of a separate discussion/article) has many interesting features, not the least of which is build-in, or rather I should say, built-on, memory. Pascal will have memory stacked on top of the GPU. That not only makes a tidier package, more importantly it will give the GPU 4x higher bandwidth (~1 TB/s), 3x larger capacity, and 4x more energy efficient per bit.
Basically the already high-speed GPU to video memory bandwidth will go up four orders of magnitude. That alone will help speed up things, but Nvidia took it one-step further and added GPU-to-GPU links that allow multiple GPUs to look like one giant GPU.
Nvidia chart
Nvidia's NVLinks connecting four GPUs and the CPU (Nvidia).
NVLink addresses this problem by providing a more energy-efficient, high-bandwidth path between the GPU and the CPU at data rates 5 to 12 times that of the current PCIe Gen3. NVLink will provide between 80GB/s and 200GB/s of bandwidth.
The numbers are astronomical, and they need to be because the data sizes and rates aren't slowing down and are also astronomical. And, just to make a pun, this now improves astrophysics and astronomy research too. (Nvidia's GPU-compute systems are being used to tease out the beginning of the big bang—now that's truly BIG data).
And the really good news? The costs and power requirements are not astronomical, in fact, the power requirements are less than a tenth of what they would have been (for an equivalent amount of compute resource) four years ago.
This is the opening phase of a new threshold in understanding of enormously complex systems like weather, geophysics, mechanics, and the human body.
Ten years from now our lives will be so much better because of the wonders in medical science and the management of multi-faceted systems, we'll look back on 2014 with sympathy and say, how did they ever get along with such primitive tools?
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Marine biodiversity and food security
Content Cover Image
"Callyspongia sp. (Tube sponge)" by Nhobgood Nick Hobgood - Own work. Licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0 via Wikimedia Commons - http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Callyspongia_sp._(Tube_sponge).jpg#mediaviewer/File:Callyspongia_sp._(Tube_sponge).jpg
Harvesting of wild fish and shellfish from the oceans provides food to the earth’s population, particularly in the developing world, and is a major contributor to the world economy. In the USA alone, fishing supports an industry worth nearly $50 billion annually. Although fishing commenced very early in human history, it was during the 20th century that its reach and impact spread around the globe and into deep waters, first with the advent of motorized vessels near the turn of the century, and later as a result of widespread availability of cheap oil, refrigeration, and increasingly effective technology. These developments made fishing an intensive global industry, particularly after Word War II. Modern fisheries, including both landings and by-catch, currently consume 24-35% of global marine primary production in the continental shelf and major upwelling areas, corresponding closely to recent estimates that humans now appropriate roughly one quarter of the land’s potential net primary production as well. Humans are thus the dominant marine predator on earth. And our appetite appears to be near the limit of what the oceans will bear. As of 2005, the United Nations’ Fisheries and Agricultural Organization (FAO) reported that 52% of world fisheries stocks are currently “fully exploited”, meaning that they are being harvested at rates estimated to be near their maximum sustainable limit, 24% are overexploited or depleted, meaning that they are being harvested at rates not sustainable in the long term, and 1% are considered to be recovering from depletion.
caption Trends in marine fishery catches as a function of fish diversity. (A) Trajectories of fish and invertebrate collapses (i.e., falling below 10% of maximum historical harvest) over the last 50 yr (?=collapses by year, ?=cumulative collapses). Data are shown for all (black), species-poor (<500 species, blue) and species-rich (>500 species, red) Large Marine Ecosystems (LMEs). Regression lines are best fit power models corrected for temporal autocorrelation. (B) Map of all 64 LMEs, color-coded by total fish species richness. (C) Proportion of fish and invertebrate taxa that had collapsed, (D) average productivity of non-collapsed taxa (in % of maximum catch), and (E) average recovery of catches (in % of maximum catch) 15 yr after a collapse in relation to LME fish species richness. (F) Number of fished taxa as a function of total species richness. (G) Coefficient of variation in total catch, and (H) total catch per year as a function of the number of fished taxa per LME. (Source: Worm et al. 2006
This intense and sustained fishing pressure has had multifarious impacts, both direct and indirect, on the environment and biodiversity of the oceans. Direct impacts include, for example, damage to the seabed from trawling or to coral reefs from dynamite fishing. Indirect impacts arise as the reduced abundance of harvested species ripples through the food web. For example, the blooms of jellyfish that have increased rapidly worldwide in the last decade are believed to result in part from “fishing down the food web” – as fisheries depleted large predators they turned to smaller, plankton-feeding fishes such as anchovy and sprat, whose removal allowed zooplankton populations to increase, providing abundant food for jellyfish. Jellyfish have thus replaced fishes as the dominant planktivores in several areas, and there is some concern that these community shifts may not be easily reversible, since the jellyfish also eat the eggs of their fish competitors.
In the last few decades, human impacts on the oceans have rapidly become more visible and pervasive. Many scientists believe that earth is now in the midst of a major extinction of species and a worldwide reorganization of ecological communities driven by human transformation of the global environment. The oceans were long considered immune from these impacts, but it is now clear that many marine species also are being severely depleted. Although few marine species have gone extinct globally, many have been lost from local communities as their numbers have dwindled and they have been restricted to small refuge areas. This loss of biodiversity from the oceans has potentially profound consequences because, unlike terrestrial agriculture, which involves intensive management to maximize production, marine fisheries harvest the produce of wild marine ecosystems. Thus, seafood harvests are much more intimately dependent than terrestrial agriculture is on natural infrastructure in the form of biodiversity—the variety of interacting wild animals, plants, and microbes—and the habitats that support them. This dependence of fisheries on natural ecosystems raises an important question: How might this ongoing loss of biodiversity affect the supply of seafood to the human population and economy?
The functional significance of marine biodiversity
Insights from experiments
The consequences of changes in diversity and composition of biological communities for ecosystem functioning have been an active topic of research in recent years. There is particularly strong interest in how such changes influence the services that ecosystems provide to humans, such as food production (including fisheries but also pollination and agricultural pest control), water and air purification, waste disposal, coastal erosion control, etc. Most research on links between biodiversity and ecosystem functioning has involved small-scale, controlled experiments. A growing body of such research reveals that changing biodiversity can influence several properties of marine food webs and ecosystems, including nutrient use and cycling, productivity, transfer of energy and materials between trophic levels, and the stability of these processes. First, experiments show that in communities with multiple prey species, the total biomass of prey is often more resistant to control by predators than where only one or a few prey species are present. In other words, prey diversity provides some resistance to top-down control. One reason, apparently, is that diverse biological communities contain species with a range of lifestyles and characteristics, so they are more likely by chance alone to contain at least one prey species that is resistant to predation. Second, because co-occurring species tend to differ in how they use resources, diverse communities of marine organisms tend to use resources more completely than do communities of only a few species. That is, higher diversity can enhance efficiency of the community’s total production and tends to result in higher total biomass in a given area. Third, diverse communities of prey organisms (including algae) generally support better growth and condition of predators (or herbivores) than do single prey species, evidently because the diverse prey provide a more balanced diet. This has been demonstrated experimentally for marine protozoans, crustaceans, and sea urchins. Finally, experiments with plants and sessile invertebrates show that more diverse communities tend to show less variation in biomass through time, and to resist disturbance better and recover from disturbance faster, than do communities with few species. That is, diverse communities tend to be more stable in the face of changing environments.
Importance of biodiversity for fisheries: the evidence
The experimental evidence, mostly based on small-scale studies, thus suggests several important links between biodiversity and marine ecological processes. These generalizations have potential implications for fisheries, and consequently for human well-being. But can the conclusions from these studies really be extrapolated to predict effects of declining biodiversity at the large spatial and temporal scales in which fisheries operate in real marine ecosystems?
caption Bluefin tuna have been severely overfished and some scientists believe they are in danger of extinction. (Source: NOAA)
To answer this question, it’s worth first specifying what is meant by biodiversity loss. It’s easy to understand that extinction of a fish species would be detrimental to the fisheries that target it directly. But complex interactions among species can also produce important rippling influences of loss of a species on the structure and dynamics of ecosystems. For example, the blue crab (Callinectes sapidus) is one of the largest fisheries in the Chesapeake Bay, USA, with a value of almost 19 $M in Virginia alone in 2004. Blue crabs have declined in abundance in recent decades, partly as a direct result of fishing, but also as an indirect consequence of loss of seagrasses that provide nursery habitat for young crabs. Similarly, when wasting disease decimated eelgrass (Zostera marina) throughout the North Atlantic in the 1930s, the Maryland and Virginia fisheries for bay scallops, which depend on eelgrass, crashed and never rebounded. These examples show how loss of a major habitat-forming species, eelgrass, can have important indirect consequences for other species.
The commonness of these indirect,and often unpredictable, interactions among species raises the broader question of whether species richness per se—the number of species rather than the presence of particular species—has predictable effects on how natural ecosystems work. A recent study involving collaboration of 14 marine ecologists, fishery researchers, and resource economists sought to answer this question, focusing on how the variety of ocean life might benefit human society. This effort synthesized data from a wide range of sources from the laboratory experiments discussed above to global surveys of fisheries data. At the global scale, these authors analyzed relationships between fish species richness and fishery production across the world’s 64 Large Marine Ecosystems, which vary naturally in diversity. Surprisingly, the results were generally consistent across scales, from short-term laboratory experiments to patterns in fishery dynamics on a global scale. The global survey showed that ecosystems with naturally low diversity had lower fishery productivity, more frequent “collapses” (operationally defined as strong reductions in fishery yield), and lower tendency to recover after overfishing than naturally species-rich systems. Given that any such large-scale comparison inherently involves various confounding factors, it is all the more striking that the correlations with diversity found in the global fishery data match closely the expectations from theory and the results of small-scale experiments.
Importance of biodiversity for fisheries: mechanisms
What mechanisms might explain these trends? One likely explanation for the greater resilience of more diverse ecosystems is that fishers can switch more readily among target species when there are many species available, potentially providing depleted species a chance to recover before their populations are irreparably harmed. This mechanism is consistent with theory, small-scale experiments, and with the finding of lower variation among years in total catch in ecosystems with higher fish diversity. It is also consistent with the finding of apparent compensatory change in exploited fish communities. For example, in the tropical Atlantic, longline fisheries for billfish show a pattern of sequential peaks in catch of different species, with decline of prized blue marlin in the 1960s accompanied by a rise in catch of sailfish, which then declined in turn as swordfish catches increased through the late 1970s and 1980s. The result was that total billfish catch remained relatively stable through time despite boom and bust patterns in the catch of individual species. A similar pattern has been seen on Georges Bank, where the decline of cod through the 1960s was accompanied by a steep rise in flatfishes. It has also been suggested that the booming Maine lobster catches of recent years may reflect their release from predation by the now collapsed stocks of predatory cod.
caption Seafood for sale at a fish market in the Malaysian city of Kota Kinabalu. (Source: Photo by Emmett Duffy)
These findings suggest that biodiversity can provide a form of security with an analog in financial markets: a diverse portfolio of fish stocks, like a portfolio of business stocks, can buffer an investment against fluctuations in the market (or the environment) that cause major declines in individual stocks, thus preserving society’s options in the face of change. This stabilizing effect of a biodiverse portfolio is likely to be especially important as environmental change accelerates with global warming and other human impacts.
For the industries that harvest seafood, and the human societies that are obliged to manage these public resources, the implication of these results is one that has not yet been widely integrated into fishery management, namely that productive fisheries that are sustainable over the long term depend on a normally functioning ocean ecosystem. This in turn depends on a variety of less conspicuous, easily ignored species of microscopic plankton, small invertebrates, coastal wetland plants, and so on. Growing evidence from a variety of sources indicates that loss or reduction of such species often has consequences that ripple out through the food web, degrading the ocean’s capacity to provide not only fish harvests, but other services to humanity such as coastal erosion control and water purification. If such interactions are indeed general—and the concordance of theory, experiments, and observed trends in global fishery catches suggest that they are—they imply that continuing erosion of ocean biodiversity has real potential to compromise food security, particularly for the developing nations and small island states whose populations and economies depend heavily on wild fish harvests. In summary, loss of ocean biodiversity is more than just an esthetic issue, it portends significant consequences for human health, economic and food security.
Can we preserve both ocean biodiversity and fisheries?
Threats to the ocean are multifaceted, and the solutions need to be as well. Effective ocean conservation and management involve three R’s: Reserve unspoiled habitats where possible, Restore degraded ones, and Reconcile the several, often competing, demands of human society with the need for long-term sustainability of the natural infrastructure that feeds those demands. One promising approach that begins to address all three of these goals is ocean zoning, that is, designation of certain areas for particular uses and others that are partly or fully protected. Such zoning has been used routinely on land for many years. The growing network of limited-access or no-take marine reserves helps address both the reservation of relatively untouched habitats and the restoration of degraded ones. Marine protected areas (MPAs) allow fishes and other organisms to reach the high abundances and large body sizes necessary to maintain stable reproductive populations, and can help maintain both biodiversity and productive fisheries. Zoning for other uses such as recreation, fishing, and energy generation can, if done properly, reconcile the various needs of human society with effective preservation of ecosystem structure and services. Obviously, the long-term effectiveness of such zoning will also depend on continuing efforts to reduce inputs to the oceans of toxic materials and the nutrients that produce dead zones, to develop adjacent coastal watersheds responsibly, and to minimize human-induced climate change.
A second general approach to making fisheries more sustainable involves ecosystem-based management (EBM). Historically, governance and management of marine ecosystems has been fragmented among largely isolated agencies and regulatory bodies. Analysis and decision-making focus narrowly on specific issues, such as management of particular fish stocks, coastal development, water quality, and human health. Yet it is well known that there are complex interactions and feedbacks among species, environmental parameters, and human impacts. EBM thus aims to provide an integrated, place-based approach to simultaneous management of interrelated human activities and ecosystem processes. Ecosystem-based management has been mandated by, for example, the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Act of 1981 in Australia, the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act (1996, reauthorized 2006) in the USA, and the International Convention on the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources. Due to the complexity of the tasks, it is no surprise that implementation of EBM remains an evolving science.
Finally, aquaculture is frequently suggested as a solution to the environmental impacts of exploiting wild fish stocks. But the answer is not simple. Farming carnivorous fishes like salmon can cause as much or more environmental harm than wild capture fisheries because carnivores demand large quantities of food, which typically comes from forage fish harvested from the ocean, and also because of their prodigious waste output. If aquaculture is to be part of an environmentally (and economically) sustainable long-term solution, rather than part of the problem, it must employ animals low on the food chain such as catfish and tilapia, avoid transmitting diseases and genetic defects to wild fish, and produce minimal waste and habitat destruction. Achieving these goals requires effective management and policy.
A major challenge for conservation, which is even more acute in the oceans than on land, is that the greatest threats to the environment now are global in scope. Foremost among these, in addition to fishing, are climate change and ocean acidification resulting from fossil fuel combustion and associated carbon emissions. Solutions to these global problems will require new, more effective international governance structures and agreements, and prompt action.
caption Overexploitation of several key marine species as food resources in different parts of the world have made them seriously endangered. However, if proper legislative measures are implemented and judicious, scientific management of marine biological resources are adopted then food security can be ensured along with successful conservation of impacted species. The most important aspect is the intention and attitude of humans in long term, sustainable and judicious exploitation of marine resources replacing indiscriminate harvest practices and slowly reducing anthropogenic pressures on impacted populations of marine species for long term benefits of securing marine biodiversity. A-C. Wide diversity of marine species that are consumed as important food sources across the planet. D. Sharks at a marine conservatory in Mexico. Photo credits: A-C: Peiman Zandi; D. William Cetzal-Ix; Source: Saikat Basu, own work.
Further Reading
• Byrnes, J.E., Reynolds. P.L., Stachowicz, J.J. 2007. Invasions and extinctions reshape coastal marine food webs. PloS ONE 2(3):e295.
• Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO). 2007. The state of world fisheries and aquaculture 2006.
• Hilborn, R. 2007. Defining success in fisheries and conflicts in objectives. Marine Policy 31:153-158.
• Loreau, M., Naeem, S., Inchausti, P., Bengtsson, J., Grime, J.P., et al. 2001. Biodiversity and ecosystem functioning: current knowledge and future challenges. Science 294:804-8
• Loreau, M., Naeem, S., Inchausti, P. (editors). 2002. Biodiversity and ecosystem functioning: synthesis and perspectives. New York: Oxford University Press. ISBN: 0198515715
• Orr, J.C., Fabry, V.J., Aumont, O., et al. 2005. Anthropogenic ocean acidification over the twenty-first century and its impact on calcifying organisms. Nature 437:681-686.
• Pauly, D., Christensen, V. 1995. Primary production required to sustain global fisheries. Nature 374:255-257.
• Sala, E., Knowlton, N. 2006. Global marine biodiversity trends. Annual Review of Environment and Resources 31:93-122.
• Srivastava, D.S., Vellend, M. 2005. Biodiversity-ecosystem function research: is it relevant to conservation? Annual Review of Ecology, Evolution and Systematics 36:267-94.
• UNEP. 2006. Marine and Coastal Ecosystems and Human Well-Being. A Synthesis Report baed on the findings of the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment. UNEP.
Duffy, J. (2015). Marine biodiversity and food security. Retrieved from http://www.eoearth.org/view/article/154466
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The Group
ERAMET is a French mining and metallurgical group and a world leader in its business sectors. Its sustainable development policy guides its deployment and diversification.
In pictures
Alloys, ore and people
Discover the video clip presenting the ERAMET group’s five values
As the world’s second-largest producer of manganese ore and alloys, ERAMET works hard to preserve and recycle this increasingly-sought-after ore, essential for producing a key resource: steel.
ERAMET, the world's seventh-largest producer of nickel and the second-largest producer of ferronickel, is historically a primary supplier, particularly for the manufacture of stainless steel and special steels.
ERAMET is currently the world's second-largest producer of parts manufactured by high-power closed-die forging. They are intended for the aeronautics and gas turbine sectors.
Other metals
ERAMET diversifies its portfolio into special metals on promising markets. It markets cobalt, titanium and tungsten-based products and studies new activities centred on lithium, zirconium, niobium, rare earths, etc.
ERAMET is voluntarily committed to dialog and transparency. In all the regions where it has sites, the Group is making clear commitments and taking measurable actions. | <urn:uuid:c5a9afcd-2345-40d5-a19a-f45149953e1c> | 2 | 1.6875 | 0.030956 | en | 0.908118 | http://www.eramet.com/en |
EWG || Human Toxome Project
chemical information
Chemical Class:
Found in these people:
Michael Lerner
Found in these locations:
Bolinas, CA
Arsenic is classified as a known human carcinogen, associated with increased risk of developing cancer of the skin, lungs, bladder, kidney, liver, and colon (NTP 2002). Longer exposures to arsenic can be deadly. Arsenic is also associated with: eye irritation and infection; skin disorders (increased pigmentation, corns, warts, itchy rash); kidney failure, anemia; respiratory toxicity (irritation, infection, breakdown of the nasal septum, lung hemorrhage, fluid accumulation); circulation disorders (Raynaud's syndrome, blood vessel constriction, cold hands and feet, numbness in hands and feet); cardiological effects (low blood pressure, heart attack, stroke, high heart rate, arrhythmia) and neurotoxicity. Neurological effects of arsenic exposure include peripheral nerve damage, hallucinations, memory loss, and agitation. A high level of arsenic in drinking water is associated with diabetes. Exposure during pregnancy is associated with spontaneous abortion, low birth weight, stillbirth, and possible malformations (ATSDR 2000a).
In laboratory animals, arsenic causes weight loss, diarrhea, lesions of the ear and feet, gastrointestinal tract lesions, liver toxicity, kidney toxicity, and increased susceptibility to infection (ATSDR 2000a). Arsenic compounds also cause lung and stomach tumors in lab animals (NTP 2002). Fetal exposure can result in decreased birth weight, fetal death, delayed growth, chromosomal abnormalities, and skeletal malformations (ATSDR 2000a).
Arsenic (inorganic only)
Known human carcinogen in pressure-treated wood and food. Common tap water pollutant.
Arsenic (inorganic only) has been found in 1 of the 9 people tested in EWG/Commonweal studies.
Results for Arsenic (inorganic only)
in urine
EWG/Commonweal results
• found in 1 of 9 people in the group
0 ppb in urine 21
Arsenic (inorganic only) results | <urn:uuid:24378e73-caa8-4ac3-b4f2-fa321dcc1b1a> | 3 | 2.953125 | 0.11802 | en | 0.872131 | http://www.ewg.org/sites/humantoxome/chemicals/chemical.php?chemid=30003 |
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Cat rescues in Haifa
Forever safe
Forever safe
Karla Kirby
Israel’s Cat Society operates excellent services for cats tortured, stranded on rooftops, trees and gutters and those hurt by accidents.
This caring society operates a shelter on the outskirts of Haifa where discarded or wounded cats are treated and kept while they try to find homes for them. Regrettably, the number of cats in quest of adoption grows continually. In year, 2006 their shelter housed about 250 cats, by 2010 they had over 400 and are besieged to maintain them. Many do not find homes and stay put in the society’s shelter for good.
In 2011, they established a regional clinic to offer medical care for homeless cats only. They treat cats suffering from neglect, illness, wounds, abandonment, and road and other accidents, and saddest of all—cruelty.
The Society attempts to find homes for adoptable cats in its shelter, and act as a go-between connecting people with felines to give away and people who want to adopt them. The adopters agree to spay/neuter the cat when the time comes, either privately or through the society’s subsidized rates.
They also work with foster families who look after kittens until they are mature enough to be vaccinated (about two months old), when they are brought back to the shelter to seek adoption.
When the number of street cats becomes a quandary, some factories, places of employment and even local authorities “resolve it” by poisoning the felines, even though this is indeed illegal. The society dedicates enormous effort in trying to prevent such brutal, unlawful mass poisonings of street-cat populations throughout Haifa and the north. When possible they file a complaint with the authorities, but can only do so if eye witnesses are willing to come forward, and this is not constantly the case. If they receive advance notice of a poisoning program they turn to the local authority. Oft times they have had great success in preventing poisonings by appealing to the mayor or to the head of the local authority in whose power they were about to be carried out. They have also received help from the Ministry of the Environment, and once in a while from Knesset members or Ministers who have deep concern about the problem; these include Ms. Yael Dayan while a Member of the Knesset, Advocate Abraham Poraz while Minister of the Interior, and Mr. Yossi Sarid while Minister of Education. Sadly it is relatively atypical to get advance caveat of these illegal mass exterminations; more often than not the Society is told about them too late.
Since its foundation in year 1966 the Society’s top priority has been to raise the knowledge and understanding of animals keepers, especially cat owners, regarding their accountability towards them. Over the years held school lectures, they run youth programs and operated many advocacy stands. Several of those stands are run by their youth--teenagers aged 12 to 18.
They do their dead level best to help people of modest incomes to care for cats: these include retired people, new immigrants, the under-privileged, seniors’ homes, and at any location where cat populations are being sporadically and unlawfully poisoned. The Society devotes great attempts in assisting all these segments of the population, particularly with spaying/neutering their cats. They in particular stress help to new immigrants from Eastern Europe, who on the one hand are recognized for their love of animals but on the other hand lack the essential awareness of how to take care of them and be liable for them. The Society reaches out to this population through the local Russian-language newspapers, both to advocate the spaying/neutering of cat populations and to offer subsidies for cat owners to spay/neuter their pets.
The Society receives about 600 calls per month to its round-the-clock hotline. Like all their actions, the hotline is operated by volunteers who get back to the caller within a few, short hours. Characteristically requests for help include: animals in distress, medical treatment, adoption requests, rescue requests, request for financial help for spaying/neutering, requests for professional information and advice, volunteering offers--particularly from teens, referrals from the municipality for pick up of abandoned cats with kittens, wounded felines, and mass giveaways of unwanted cats because of allergies, owners moving to places that forbid pets, owner’s travelling abroad, threats to ditch domestic cats who could not survive outside and more. .
Donations are accepted from all over the world and every cent is put to a good cause---helping felines.. | <urn:uuid:bd2c7612-d4b5-4bc3-a045-7a17a3bf0244> | 2 | 1.914063 | 0.029265 | en | 0.960403 | http://www.examiner.com/article/cat-rescues-haifa?cid=rss |
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Country music concert scene of 50 alcohol related emergencies
A country music concert at the Xfinity Center in Mansfield, Massachusetts last Saturday night was the scene of yet another problematic substance related incident. Over 50 people were taken into protective custody for intoxication and 22 were taken to local hospitals for alcohol and or drug overdoses. Emergency responders at the scene treated 46 people who had too much to drink.
Music concerts have long had a legacy of drug use, dating back to the early sixties when marijuana and hallucinogens were the drug of choice. The Grateful Dead, Jefferson Airplane and other San Francisco based groups were famous for their “Acid Tests” where drinking supplies were laced with hallucinogens for the audience as well as the band.
The documentary filmed at the Woodstock Music and Arts Festival in 1969 includes an announcement from the stage by concert organizers that “The brown acid…is not too good” and liable to cause negative effects.
More recently it was the TD Bank North Garden in Boston that saw a large number of drug related emergencies at an electronic music concert in June. The drug of choice for this genre of music appears to be “Molly”, a powerful hallucinogen.
Although the ages of the people who ran into trouble at this weekend’s Keith Urban concert are not known, it is usually younger people who experience alcohol related problems at events such as this. The reasons for this are:
1. Younger people usually do not have as much experience, if any with using alcohol and are unaware of their limits.
2. Because the concert venue prohibits underage alcohol use, many concert-goers load up before arriving at the concert. Under these circumstances, they are not subject to the concert venue’s limits, where trained servers monitor the amounts provided.
3. Younger people are more susceptible to peer pressure, especially when they are with people a few years older.
4. Recent research has shown that the human brain does not fully develop until around age 25, rendering the decision-making and processing capabilities of teens less than capable when faced with challenging decisions.
Local concert venues have been making concerted efforts to control the use of substances during events but it is unclear what else can be done to protect those who tend to indulge too much in what they think will heighten the experience.
For more on substance related problems at recent concerts check: | <urn:uuid:b5960ec1-149e-40c6-9fff-085529cd62fa> | 2 | 1.75 | 0.042068 | en | 0.965178 | http://www.examiner.com/article/country-music-concert-scene-of-50-alcohol-related-emergencies?cid=rss |
Károly Kisfaludy
Kisfaludy, Károly (käˈroi kĭshˈfŏlōdē) [key], 1788–1830, Hungarian dramatist, founder of the Hungarian national drama. Kisfaludy traveled abroad extensively and studied painting before he returned to Hungary and began his literary career. His Tatars in Hungary (1819) was the first genuinely dramatic Hungarian play and the first of the many successes by which he established the national drama and the Hungarian romantic movement. With his brother Sándor he was cofounder (1822), editor, and a major contributor of the vigorous, influential literary journal Aurora. Among his works are the comedies The Suitors and The Rebels and the tragedy Irene. His brother, the poet Sándor Kisfaludy, 1772–1844, is considered the first major romantic poet of Hungary. He is especially celebrated for his two volumes of love lyrics, The Loves of Himfy (1801, 1807).
| <urn:uuid:dd815f90-d6a9-401d-97c0-7e8ab728cdd3> | 2 | 2.34375 | 0.042314 | en | 0.940101 | http://www.factmonster.com/encyclopedia/people/kisfaludy-karoly.html |
Student Hacker Expelled After Pointing Out Massive Security Flaw
After pointing out that the data of 250,000 students across Quebec was exposed, Ahmed Al-Khabaz was kicked out of college.
Last fall, a 20-year-old computer science student named Ahmed Al-Khabaz at Dawson College in Montreal was building a mobile app with a friend to allow their classmates to more easily access their college accounts when they came across a bit of "sloppy coding" in the university's computer system. The security flaw, he told Toronto's National Post, would allow "anyone with a basic knowledge of computers to gain access to the personal information of any student in the system, including social insurance number, home address and phone number, class schedule, basically all the information the college has on a student."
And this particular computer system wasn't just being used at Dawson. The flaw exposed the data of 250,000 students across Quebec. Al-Khabaz duly reported it to the administration. A week later, he decided to run a software test to see if it had indeed been fixed. That's where his life took an unexpected tailspin: The software company contracting with the university called him, threatened him, and made him sign a non-disclosure agreement. Then the computer science department voted 14 to 1 to expel him for "unprofessional conduct."
After Al-Khabaz's ordeal was reported in the National Post on Monday, the company, Skytech, turned around and offered him a job. But the college is standing by its decision. Al-Khabaz maintains he was a white hat the whole time. "I felt I had a moral duty to bring it to the attention of the college and help to fix it, which I did. I could have easily hidden my identity behind a proxy. I chose not to because I didn’t think I was doing anything wrong."
It seems that Canadian universities, like many businesses and agencies worldwide, need to take a closer look at their data security. In November a lost hard drive exposed the information of over half a million Canada Student Loan borrowers, a misstep that's leading to a class action suit.
[Photo by Flickr user Angus Kingston]
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• T-Dawg
great - so the message is that if you discover stuff like this, keep it to yourself. brilliant!!!
those who can, do
those who can't do, teach
those who can't teach ... they're administrators | <urn:uuid:e7c09047-0ac9-4dfa-9bd5-0d631ffc7e5f> | 2 | 1.59375 | 0.044229 | en | 0.976938 | http://www.fastcompany.com/3005016/student-hacker-expelled-after-pointing-out-massive-security-flaw |
Are Knockoff IPhone Chargers Electrocuting People?
A Chinese woman who allegedly died after a shock received via her charging iPhone may have been using an unauthorized third-party charger.
Last week a 23-year-old Chinese woman was killed allegedly via an electric shock that came from her iPhone, which was plugged in and charging. Apple said it would help Chinese authorities investigate the incident. Ma Ailun was using an iPhone 4, and fresh information on the case suggests that her phone was most likely plugged into an unauthorized third-party charger, which may have been the source of the shock. Also this week, a Chinese man reportedly went into a coma after being shocked while plugging his iPhone 4 in.
According to the South China Morning Post, unauthorized chargers can be made with cheap components, and are simply not designed to meet rigorous safety standards. Apple complies with international safety standards for its own phone charger designs. The current theory is that an unauthorized charger, lacking the proper electrical and thermal protection, broke down (possibly through overheating) and sent mains voltage through the charger cable to the iPhone in the woman's hands. In late 2012, a British man suffered a non-fatal electric shock when he bought a knockoff Apple iPhone charger that exploded, presumably under similar circumstances.
Apple has previously suffered its own charger failures when early editions of its tiny iPhone charger unit designed for the U.S. market could be physically broken in such a way they left the metal tines still plugged into the wall outlet, potentially enabling electric shocks. The company recalled the units and redesigned them to prevent this type of accident.
[Image: Flickr user Håkan Dahlström]
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• Ruel
C'mon! What kind of write-up is this?! Was the Chinese guy holding the charger when he got electrocuted? He wasn't. He was holding the Apple iPhone! They changed the actual story. Duh. Common Sense. Use your fr3@kin' head guys - this is another cover-up released by CrApple: to keep the so-called "immaculate" image of its products. Look deeper!
• SpaceCadet
Apple is at fault for this.
They have created proprietary chargers that are overpriced.
Whenever you create an opportunity by price gouging, knock offs will follow.
If Apple used a standardized micro-usb port on their phones, everyone would be happy and there would not be cheap imitations.
I have several knock offs because I want a longer cord than apple supplies.
Yes, they are poor quality, but i get them 5 at a time for $5 each.
Funny, but as I sit here, my wife is telling me her iPad does not charge and the cable is breaking.
Time to reorder from China.
• iPhone5 user
A friend of mine works at Apple and the problem has gotten so bad that Apple is even willing to take back the fake cables and replace them with authentic Apple cables. I guess they don't want to be at fault in any way, but I think that's good on Apple's part. (This is at least his store in Toronto.)
• rizqidjamaluddin
The issue isn't at the USB-to-proprietary-plug, it's the outlet-to-USB unit. One can argue about the proprietary cable, but that part was irrelevant in this case (as far as we know, anyway).
USB has a specific set of rules on how to use it to charge, and iPhones (and all other devices that accept USB charging) are built to be compatible with this. If something goes wrong, it'll be in the USB power source, not the cable.
• ikkf
Can't say I blame anyone for using third-party chargers. Authentic chargers run at $50 apiece, which is ridiculous.
• deV14nt
So the phone is overpriced by 50-100% and the charger is overpriced by over 400%. Your point? | <urn:uuid:2fd5c533-e9d0-46f2-90df-bb93d516fd97> | 2 | 1.5625 | 0.0425 | en | 0.967513 | http://www.fastcompany.com/3014555/where-are-they-now/are-knockoff-iphone-chargers-electrocuting-people |
Best Film Editing
Sequences of All-Time:
From the Silents to the Present
Part 6
Best Film Editing Sequences of All-Time
Film Title/ Director & Editor and Film Description
Easy Rider (1969)
d. Dennis Hopper
Film Editor: Donn Cambern
The iconographic, 'buddy' film, actually minimal in terms of its artistic merit and plot, was both memorialized as an image of the popular and historical culture of the time and a story of a contemporary but apocalyptic journey by two self-righteous, drug-fueled, anti-hero (or outlaw) bikers eastward through the American Southwest. The questing riders were:
• "Captain America" Wyatt (Peter Fonda)
• long-haired Billy the Kid (Dennis Hopper)
Easy Rider had little background or historical development of characters, a lack of typical heroes, uneven pacing, jump cuts and flash-forward (back-and-forth) transitions between scenes, an improvisational style and mood of acting and dialogue, background rock 'n' roll music to complement the narrative, and the equation of motorbikes with freedom on the road rather than with delinquent behaviors.
Before the film ended, there was a momentary, quick flash forward prophetically revealing the film's tragic ending - it was an aerial shot of a fire burning alongside a highway, the final image of the film:
Wyatt's motorcycle burning beside the road - an aerial shot floating upwards above his motorcycle.
The Wild Bunch (1969)
d. Sam Peckinpah
Film Editor: Louis Lombardo
Director/co-writer Sam Peckinpah's provocative, brilliant yet controversial Western, shocking for its graphic and elevated portrayal of violence and savagely-explicit carnage, was hailed for its truly realistic and reinterpreted vision of the dying West in the early 20th century.
The much-imitated, influential film was book-ended by two extraordinary sequences, both massacres.
The gang of desperadoes were first assaulted in the film's opening ambush following a failed bank robbery in a Texas border town. And then in the film's conclusion, they were brutally destroyed as united comrades in a selfless, redemptive act - by a savage and vindictive Mexican warlord after a double-crossing arms deal.
The two scenes included some of the bloodiest, most violent shoot-ups ever filmed. Peckinpah choreographed each of the film's two bloodbaths as a visually prolonged, beautiful ballet - a slow-motion, aesthetically breath-taking, non-gratuitous, lyrical, extreme celebration of bodies being torn apart by bullets.
With numerous, elaborate montage sequences and staccato shifts, the film set a record for more edits (3,643 shot-to-shot edits at one count) than any other Technicolor film up to its time.
The French Connection (1971)
d. William Friedkin
(Best Film Editing Winner: Gerald B. Greenberg)
The film's most incredible scene was the hair-raising sequence of unbelievable car-chasing.
New York detective "Popeye" Doyle (Gene Hackman) was driving a car at 90 mph in pursuit after a suspected drug dealer in a hijacked elevated subway train above him.
During the chase, he - among other things - half-collided with another car, dodged a mother and her baby carriage, and side-swiped a delivery van, all the while furiously honking the car's horn and frantically switching from his brake to accelerator.
The Godfather (1972)
d. Francis Ford Coppola
(Best Film Editing Nominee: William H. Reynolds, Peter Zinner)
In the final extraordinary baptism scene, probably occurring in 1955, Michael Corleone (Al Pacino) acted as godfather at the christening of his sister Connie's (and Carlo's) child, his nephew and namesake. [The infant in the scene was director Coppola's daughter Sofia Coppola in an uncredited role.]
The scene brilliantly crosscut back and forth from the church to locations throughout the city as gangland murders were orchestrated. With controlled intensity, Michael engineered a cold-blooded mass killing of Barzini, Tattaglia, Greene and all other rival gangleaders of the Five Families to settle the "Family business."
While methodically committing the series of vicious and bloody counterattack murders to confirm his position as the new godfather, he was at the church altar listening to holy recitations of the priest during the baptism - in juxtaposed scenes.
The killings took place in the following order:
• Clemenza killed Stracci and Cuneo (Rudy Bond) as they emerged from an elevator in the St. Regis Hotel
• after Michael renounced Satan, in a massage and sun lamp room, Moe Greene was shot through the eye (through his black-rimmed glasses) by an unknown assailant - blood dripped down his face from behind the shattered lens
• Willy Cicci (Joe Spinell) killed a guy trapped in a revolving door
• Rocco Lampone and another man machine-gunned Philip Tattaglia and a 'whore' naked in bed
• posing as a New York cop, Neri killed Barzini's bodyguard (with two shots), Barzini's chauffeur (with another shot), and Barzini himself (with three shots in the back as he fled up a flight of stairs)
Best Film Editing Sequences
(chronological order)
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US101 becomes H-71, but why?
Lockheed Martin’s US101, better known in Europe as the AgustaWestland EH101 and winner of the prestigious US Navy VXX presidential helicopter competition, has been officially designated the VH-71A. As the last helicopter to receive an official US military designation was AgustaWestland’s A109, operated by the US Coast Guard as the MH-68A Enforcer, that begs the question “what happened to the H-69 and H-70?”. An informative website, www.designation-systems.net, may have the answer. In its section on missing US Department of Defense designations, the website speculates that H-69 has not been assigned because of its sexual overtones, while H-70 may have been skipped to avoid confusion with Sikorsky’s S-70 – the export version of the H-60 family. The US101, meanwhile, is competing for the US Air Force’s CSAR-X combat search-and-rescue requirement. If it wins, it will presumably become the MH-71B.
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The Yahyel
Extraterrestrial Brothers, said by Bashar to be likely to be the 1st civilization to make formal 3rd Density contact with humanity. This was the
For more answers, read the facinating book channeled by Shaun Swanson with Jefferson Viscardi as curious questioner.
Avatars of the Phoenix Lights UFO
I've not asked for permission to reprint the material, but here are some interesting teasers from the book.
Physical Appearance: Humanoid
They are in fact a mix of human DNA mixed with a few other (unknown) extra-terrestrial races.
The Yahyel are one of the closest space brethern to us in appearace (up there with the PleiadiansZeta and Essassani) with both male and females averaging about 5'6" tall (1.68 meters). The one being interviewed by the channel was 5'4" and 120 pounds (54.5 kg).
Head, eyes, ears, arms legs, hands with 4 fingers and a thumb? Yes. Perhaps that is why they will be the first to greet us physically. It won't be as much as a shock, or invoke as much fear and misunderstanding.
A few physical differences:
They have only 3 small toes with a big toe. The have hair but very short, it does not grow out (similar to hairs on human fingers.) No mustaches or beards, and they look rather bald. The hair color ranges from platinum blond "to the bright yellows ...in some of your Sun's solar flares."
They do not have eyebrows. Their eyes are larger then human eyes, both horizontally and vertically. They are not almond shaped near the nose, but rounder there. (Perhaps they do not have tear ducts?) They were a shield over their eyes when awake. When they remove their "contact lens", for example in low light conditions, or when interacting with people socially, their eyes are more iridescent than human eyes, and seem almost to glow from within. Most Yahyelians have blue eyes, ranging from a very light blue to a deep medium blue.
They gestate their young 7 to 8 months before the female gives birth. | <urn:uuid:590692ca-ab74-45b3-9e98-e3105beb2a45> | 2 | 1.5 | 0.182711 | en | 0.957338 | http://www.floating-world.org/yahyel.htm |
Bullionville (Douglas Co.) We Visited: 4/30/2007
Our Dinner: Scrambled eggs, NY Steaks,& hash browns
38° 50' 02"N, 119° 30' 17"W USGS Double Spring Quad
Directions: From Fallon: US 50 East 62.3 miles to Carson City; US 395 South 34.7 miles to Holbrook Junction; East on SR 208 for 6.3 miles to local road; generally northwest on local road for 9.7 miles
From Fallon: 113 miles
What Was
Not to be confused with Bullionville in Lincoln County, Nevada. What little I could find out about Bullionvile came from the book Pine Nut Chronicle - History of Douglas County Mines by Nyle Nation. Even then, the mention is brief. One wonders why it's on the USGS map at all. Mr. Nation mentions that Bullionville was a "primitive, early-day mining camp" in his chapter on the nearby Longfellow Mine. By "early-day" I'm assuming Mr. Nation is referring to the period of around the 1860's. He talks about Mr. A.C. Pratt building a mill 100 yards below the camp of Carman Hieghts, which was situated about "...1,500 feet below the Longfellow Mine in Mill Canyon." Some miners apparently lived in cabins at Bullionville during this time. The population of Bullionville probably never exceeded twenty men.
Post Office: None
Newspaper: None
What is
There's a whole lot of nothing at Bullionville, with regards to the mining camp itself. This is probably because there wasn't a lot there to begin with- mostly tents with a few wooden buildings. There are some ruins at the Longfellow mine, presumably the remains of the hoisting works, and the mill which is situated down Mill Canyon a ways. The altitude here is between 8500 and 9000 feet, which makes for some cold winters, I reckon.
Mr. Nation's map suggests coming from US 395 via Blossom Canyon. That route is now marked with a big No Tresspassing sign. An alternate might be coming up via Minnehaha Canyon, which sounds infinitely more fun. That would involve taking Topaz Ranch Road north and then Canyon Rd north.
Historical debris awaits you at the Longfellow mine, the principle hole in the Greater Bullionville metro area.
Down the road a piece, the remains of what I believe is Pratt's Mill.
It's a hazy view of the Singatse Range and- behind them- the Wassuk Range, looking east from the Longfellow Mine.
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Supreme Court: Obama’s Recess Appointments Violated Constitution
The Supreme Court stood up to Obama. It was a unanimous decision, but not entirely so.
There was no Supreme Court disagreement as to whether Obama’s recess appointments were illegal. Instead the liberal majority protected the recess appointment, while conservatives dissented.
The Supreme Court on Thursday said President Obama had violated the Constitution when he bypassed the Senate to appoint officials to the National Labor Relations Board during a brief break in the Senate’s work.
But the larger message of the court’s majority opinion, written by Justice Stephen G. Breyer and joined by its four more liberal members, was that there is a role for recess appointments so long as they are made during a recess of 10 or more days.
Justice Antonin Scalia agreed with the result in the case but issued a caustic concurrence from the bench. “The majority practically bends over backwards to ensure that recess appointments will remain a powerful weapon in the president’s arsenal,” he said.
“We hold that, for purposes of the Recess Appointments Clause, the Senate is in session when it says it is, provided that, under its own rules, it retains the capacity to transact Senate business,” Justice Stephen Breyer wrote in the majority decision.
Having concluded that the Senate was in session during pro forma sessions, the majority provided historical context showing how unprecedented the NLRB appointments were.
“[T]hough Congress has taken short breaks for almost 200 years, and there have been many thousands of recess appointments in that time, we have not found a single example of a recess appointment made during an intrasession recess that was shorter than 10 days,” Breyer wrote. “Nor has the solicitor general.”
Justices Elena Kagan, Sonia Sotomayor, Anthony Kennedy and Ruth Bader Ginsburg joined Breyer’s decision.
Justice Antonin Scalia concurred in the judgment, but wrote a separate opinion describing recess appointments as an anachronism in an age of high-tech communication devices. Chief Justice John Roberts and Justice Samuel Alito and Clarence Thomas signed on to Scalia’s opinion.
Scalia’s opinion sought to further constrain executive power, saying recess appointments are only constitutional when vacancies arise during a true recess, and expressed concern about the standards set by the majority.
“The majority replaces the Constitution’s text with a new set of judge-made rules to govern recess appointments,” Scalia wrote.
Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, cheered the court’s check on “President Obama’s unlawful abuse of the president’s recess appointments power.”
“This marks the 12th time since January 2012 that the Supreme Court has unanimously rejected the Obama administration’s calls for greater federal executive power,” Cruz said in a press release.
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., responded to the ruling by urging reform to Senate rules that require a 60-member majority to move legislation and nominations.
The interesting question is whether the liberal justices would have even gone this far if Reid hadn’t declared war on the filibuster.
• Gee
Emperor Odumba ignores any laws that he doesn’t like them
• Ivan Ewan
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In the Garden:
Middle South
October, 2003
Regional Report
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This summer, I watched this ancient old climber bloom for two months on a neighbor's fence.
The Case for Climbers
Although I'm not usually a bearer of bumper stickers, I've considered having one made that says "I break for climbing roses." Amazingly exuberant, climbing roses can charm a chain-link fence, arch over an entryway, or turn a simple trellis into a beautiful boundary. There's no time like fall to build a fence or trellis to support a climber you want to plant in the spring, or to sculpt and secure a climber you already have in your garden.
Nifty New Climbers
Many country gardens feature old climbing roses, but newer varieties have much to offer in terms of disease resistance, cold tolerance, and plenty of energy for repeat bloom. Some, such as pink 'Polka' put out strong fragrance, and 'Paprika' can be counted upon for heavy production of orange-red blossoms followed by a good crop of colorful and nutritious hips. Today's climbers also are more restrained than many older strains, with canes that top out at about 12 feet. This makes them easier to fit into a home landscape.
Lovely Laterals
As you plan for the installation of a new climber (or prune and tie an old one), keep in mind that climbing roses bloom best when the branches rise up 4 feet or so and then arch outward until they become horizontal. This growth pattern helps the plants intercept lots of light, and it stimulates the production of short lateral branches, which bear the biggest bouquets. Fences that allow air to circulate freely are ideal, provided they are sturdy enough to support the plants.
Beyond trellising, modern climbing roses require little maintenance. Allow new plants to grow unpruned for two years. After that, prune out only the oldest canes. Many gardeners in our region prune their climbers only every other year, which works well when the plants are happy with their site, soil, and support structure.
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Computational creativity and the future of AI
"Vegetarian cutlet factory" produces endless slabs of fake meat
March 8, 2012
Some realistic-looking 'meat,' created by Fraunhofer's vegetarian cutlet factory
There are a number of reasons that some people choose not to eat meat - for instance, they may not want to support the slaughter of animals, they may wish to avoid the health risks associated with consuming too much animal protein, or perhaps they're not big fans of the environmental impact of raising livestock on a commercial scale. Unfortunately, if these people still want to eat meat-like foods, a lot of the meat alternatives currently available are kind of ... yucky. Germany's Fraunhofer Institute for Process Engineering and Packaging, however, is working on a device nicknamed the "vegetarian cutlet factory." It produces continuous slabs of veggie-based mock meat, which is reportedly quite similar to the real thing.
Fraunhofer is one of several groups involved in the European Union "LikeMeat" project, the aim of which is to develop palatable, cost-effective meat alternatives from raw vegetable materials. Some of the main plant sources being looked at include wheat, peas, lupins and soya.
Some previous attempts have involved a hot extrusion process in which plant proteins are mixed with water, heated under high pressure, then pushed into a die. Unfortunately, as soon as the mixture is extruded its temperature drops dramatically, causing it to release steam and foam up. The resulting souffle-like texture isn't exactly like that of steak.
In Fraunhofer's process, the plant protein and water are brought to a boil, but then allowed to cool back down. Since no sudden pressure release occurs, no foaming takes place. Also, however, as the paste cools, its molecules form into chains. This results in an end product with a meat-like fibrous texture.
This process is carried out within the prototype vegetarian cutlet factory machine, which is reportedly about the size of two table tennis tables. It is capable of creating "one endless piece of meat" that is about one centimeter (0.39-inch) thick, and that can be formed into shapes such as morsels, slices, or entire cutlets. It can put out 60 to 70 kilograms (132-154 lbs) of "meat" per hour, or 300 to 500 kilograms (661-1,102 lbs) a day.
While the consistency and texture of the meat substitute are said to be superb, the flavor apparently still requires a little work. Nonetheless, the Fraunhofer researchers believe that by the end of the LikeMeat project, in one year, that challenge will be overcome. In the meantime, interested parties might also want to keep an eye on what's happening in the field of lab-grown meat - although vegetarians beware, it would technically still be meat.
Source: Fraunhofer
About the Author
If their food is so good why do they want it look and taste like ours?
If GOD didn't want us to eat animals why did he make them out of meat?
If you are a vegitarian I don't think I can trust you!
Eric Eisinger
8th March, 2012 @ 01:10 pm PST
That sure puts the mystery in mystery meat. I dont think soya based meat substitute would be a very good option for males. We get enough estrogen from the modern environment with out shoveling it past our tonsils.
Bob Ehresman
8th March, 2012 @ 01:29 pm PST
Uhm, Preach Much?
I'd like my technology news liberal agenda-free, please!
[We're just providing some explanation as to why there's a demand for meat substitutes -Ed.]
8th March, 2012 @ 01:42 pm PST
Food Porn.......
i LOVE tins of textured vegetable protien.......
I love REAL meat.......
I LOVE pictures of FOOD.......
Mr Stiffy
8th March, 2012 @ 03:26 pm PST
Amazing glibness and indifference to suffering in previous comments.
Oestrogen: no, sorry, it was actually found that normal consumption of phytoestrogen levels will produce only minimal physical changes in males. [1]
As for the 'if God doesn't want us to eat animals why did He make them out of meat?' - sorry, if you're serious, this is just beyond ridiculous (it's like: if God didn't want us to set people on fire, why did He make them flammable?), and if it isn't, it's such a tired old meat-eater chestnut. Anything to blind yourself to the fact that you're openly contributing to the mass torture and slaughter of non-human animals, ey?
Oh and 'liberalism' - yeah, as if not eating meat is a political decision.
It's amazing to what lengths people go to in order to mask the fact that they're simply being unethical, when there are evidently far better options available, like the increasingly viable artificial meat option as shown in the article.
8th March, 2012 @ 03:49 pm PST
We will find it in all sorts of processed goods if it is any good.
John Spieker
8th March, 2012 @ 04:44 pm PST
Well,one day as the population continues to overtake resouces,meat will become a very expensive protein source. Animal meat is a very inefficiently produced food compared to vegetables(including grains and nuts etc). Deride it now,but these types of meat subsitutes may one day all you can afford.
And yes,I am a lacto-vegetarian,and no,I don't bother with any of those mock meat products.
8th March, 2012 @ 05:25 pm PST
The main reason for imitation meat is not for vegetarians... but to encourage non-vegetarians to adopt a diet with less to no meat, by providing a substitute.
All vegetarians I know has no preference for these; I on the other hand do, not because it tastes like meat, but some of them just taste good by itself. Prob also because I eat everything.
And btw Gragraposker, meat are already expensive, if not for government subsidies that directly and indirectly (i.e. feed grains) props up the meat & dairy industry which allow for lower prices.
So Annawyn, (using your faulty logic), by eating meat you are actually a socialist. oh am gee.
Calvin k
8th March, 2012 @ 09:07 pm PST
@Annawyn, those are reasons that vegetarians give - just ask one! My teenage daughter is against the slaughter of animals, so despite the fact that I'm a dyed-in-the-wool carnivore, she hasn't eaten meat since she was 10. Inconvenient? Very much, but then it would be wrong for me to impose my philosophy on her, wouldn't it?
Marcus Carr
8th March, 2012 @ 09:39 pm PST
Science fiction writers predicted this decades ago
9th March, 2012 @ 02:37 am PST
finally beginning to understand this joke...
"Q. how do you know if there's a vegan in your pantry?
A. don't worry they'll tell you"
John McMullen
9th March, 2012 @ 02:52 am PST
Yes John if the subject comes up they will talk about it just like you will. I am always amused at how uncomfortable some carnivores get when the subject comes up. I'm a carnivore and the subject makes me uncomfortable too, but I actually like the some of the alternatives, they are getting better all the time. I could live without meat if you gave me something that was looked and tasted just like it without the side effects, I'm not a picky eater.
And if we're going to get political Annawyn, it does make you a socialist.
The Hoff
9th March, 2012 @ 07:21 am PST
Ohhhh dear! We're at it again! The Royal Vegan-Omnivore Turret Championships.
Hey folks, follow the money. Just imagine what you might be dining on while rocketing through the cosmos on your way to another planet or such. Fresh meats and vegetables? I think not. Soy based? Never! IV drip of essential food matters? You betcha! We are lab rats my friends, nothing but lab rats.
As for the here and now, if you love your steaks and such, buy high quality pastured dead animals vs the crap sold in the meat section. Not that difficult to find but waaaay overpriced. Drive out to the country and visit some farms! Great way to spend a Saturday or Sunday or both! Chug home in your petroleum sucking vehicle with coolers full of good stuff, have at it until the next trip out. But for heavens sake, forget the arguments pro and con regarding meat vs non-meat. It's all BS! Scramble some un-born chickens and go for it! Stuffed pig intestines! Yummy! And for sure, milk from 1/2 gallon plastic containers from cows that take more drugs than the Mexican Mafia can provide and YOU, my sweet chums, are paying for it all through taxes and other support from YOUR gone-wild government. Ohhhhh what a mess we're in!
Pheadar O'Tyrrell
9th March, 2012 @ 09:23 am PST
Interesting stuff this. However, have you considered that by everyone switching to eating a plant based meat substitute it would cause a mass extinction of most farm animals? Firstly farmers would reduce/eliminate stock to make room for crops and secondly no demand for meat would result in no sales of stock and no economic reason to keep them. In New Zealand up to the late 1989's there were around 70 million sheep on farms, now with a big shift to dairy farming that number has halved. Think what would happen if we all turned vegan over the same period... No more chickens, sheep, goats, cows or pigs. Unless you visited the zoo...
9th March, 2012 @ 09:33 am PST
there are dozens of meaty veg things already
why is this written to look like it's a brand new idea:?
9th March, 2012 @ 09:36 am PST
Exactly how does my desire to enjoy the tasty flesh of dead animals make me a socialist? Those "government subsidies" you mentioned in passing are a common ploy of a certain political party to demonize their target dujour. Let me clue you in, complements of Reason Magazine (i wont include the link as it might block my post).
"The Difference Between a Tax Break and a Subsidy: Exposing economic confusion on the left and right." May 17, 2011
Should American taxpayers stop subsidizing big oil companies? How about abortions? There seems to be a lot of confusion on the issue. In part, that's because there's a lot of confusion about what a subsidy really is.
To hear liberals talk, it's scandalous that Americans are forking over their hard-earned tax dollars to prop up Big Oil. Former Virginia Gov. and DNC chairman Tim Kaine, now running for Jim Webb's Senate seat, last week called on his opponents to join him in opposing "government giveaways for big oil companies," as he put it. "Rep. Tim Scott (R-SC) Defends Fairness of Giving Billions in Oil Subsidies to Exxon," snarled the liberal ThinkProgress last week. " In March, the group groused that "House Republicans unanimously voted to continue big oil subsidies worth billions of dollars a year, even as oil companies are enjoying windfall profits from skyrocketing prices." On Thursday, Virginia Democratic Party executive director David Mills said the oil companies were "getting free money from the government."
Just one problem. Those "subsidies" are not subsidies. They are tax breaks. Of the $4 billion in alleged subsidies to Big Oil, $1.7 billion derives from a domestic manufacturing tax deduction intended to keep factories in the U.S. It is available to every company, not just oil companies. Another $850 million comes from another tax provision, also available to every U.S. corporation, that gives a credit for taxes paid to foreign countries - just as you can deduct your state taxes from your federal income taxes. Yet another $1 billion comes from tax rules that let oil companies treat oil in the ground as capital equipment for write-down purposes, and the rest comes from rules that let oil companies write off certain business costs immediately.
Maybe these are dumb rules. Maybe they need changing. But in no sense can they be called subsidies - i.e., money taken from Smith and given to Jones. The failure to tax Exxon more does not increase your payment to the IRS by one red cent.
How do we know tax credits should not be called subsidies? Just ask The New York Times, which recently tore into House Republicans for their "New Attacks on Women's Rights." The Times editorial excoriated the GOP for passing the "No Taxpayer Funding for Abortion Act." According to the newspaper, the bill "imposes new limitations on abortion access by driving to end abortion insurance coverage in the private market using the nation's tax system as a weapon. A provision would deny tax credits to small businesses that offer private health plans that cover abortion . . . The measure also eliminates the medical-expense deduction for most abortions. . . . Overall, the bill treats tax benefits as the equivalent of public expenditures for abortion." That is something the Times says Congress should not do.
At least regarding abortion. But on May 6, the Times was commending Democratic Sen. Max Baucus as someone who "gets it" on energy. Baucus "is drafting a bill that seeks to repeal $4 billion in annual taxpayer subsidies to the oil industry. . . . The tax breaks - fast write-offs for drilling expenses, generous depletion allowances, and the like - may have been useful years ago but are wholly unnecessary when oil prices and industry profits are reaching new highs."
Likewise, ThinkProgress also considers eliminating the tax write-offs for abortion services the equivalent of a tax hike, calling the proposal a "tax increase on women and small businesses. . . . the bill forces women and small businesses that provide health insurance that covers abortion to pay more in taxes than they would otherwise." Yet when Exxon objected to plans to cut the oil companies' tax breaks, ThinkProgress said the company had "publicly whined . . . that 'they want to increase our taxes.' "
Some conservatives are just as duplicitous - or, if we are being generous to everyone involved, just as unaware of their own contradictions. A tax break for abortion is a government subsidy, they claim, while a tax break for an oil company is not.
Take House Speaker John Boehner. Late last month, he said the oil companies should "pay their fair share" by losing their tax credits and whatnot. But a few days later he recanted, insisting that "raising taxes was a non-starter," as The Hill put it. Then on May 4 Boehner took to the House floor to endorse the No Taxpayer Funding for Abortion Act. "I rise to express my support for . . . applying a ban on taxpayer funding of abortion across all federal programs," he said. "Enacting this legislation would provide the American people with the assurance that their hard-earned tax dollars will not be used to fund abortions."
Well, the law already provides such an assurance, through the Hyde Amendment. And it is fatuous to say that cutting Jones' taxes by $100 because Jones had a medical procedure somehow takes an additional $100 out of Smith's pocket. If that were true, then cutting Jones' taxes by $1,000 would raise Smith's taxes by the same amount as well, and cutting all taxes to zero would at the same time raise all taxes to infinity. Garbage.
(For what it's worth, Virginia's Eric Cantor supports both the abortion measure and the elimination of oil company tax breaks. Two points to him for being consistent.)
A tax break is not a public expenditure and should not be treated as such. But if partisans on the left and right are going to treat it as such in some instances, the least they could do is treat it as such in all of them.
9th March, 2012 @ 09:48 am PST
Jeff Michelson
9th March, 2012 @ 09:55 am PST
That may well be...but it will happen long after I'm dead and burried...
9th March, 2012 @ 12:05 pm PST
Mmmm... cholesterol, high blood pressure, heart bypass surgery...out of control health care costs, throw that on the bbq! once in a while meat is ok, most of the time non-meat, this is a good alternative and is welcome
9th March, 2012 @ 01:45 pm PST
Humans are omnivores. Without supplements for vitamins and other vital chemicals we can only naturally obtain from meat, a vegetarian diet is not a healthy diet.
If you are eating a strict vegan diet, without supplements for what you are missing, you are on a path towards some very nasty health problems.
Gregg Eshelman
9th March, 2012 @ 02:05 pm PST
@Gregg thank you for a sane, reasonable comment.
Racqia Dvorak
10th March, 2012 @ 03:59 pm PST
comment Jeff Michelson - March 9, 2012 @ 09:55 am PST
That would surely be a clever way to solve the overpopulation problem, now wouldn't it be?? I eat a limited amount of meat, but am primarily a lacto-vegetarian. Ah yeah, and I also eat some raw, dead fish too.
10th March, 2012 @ 04:56 pm PST
10th March, 2012 @ 07:57 pm PST
Before I start, lets get this out of the way, I am cannivore and enjoy my steak like the next person, but... Back on the subject, NO you don't need to eat just meat to fulfill your diet and a healthy life style. There are numerous cases that have proven over and over again that animal meat is the LEADING cause for deseases and cancer to our society.
There are numerous societies/communities in the 20th centuries that don't have a full animal meat diet and live very productive lives. Do some reading on the China project that was done in the 70s and was published in 80s. Since then China have allowed McDonalds into their country...Hey, what a quinky dink, now they have tons of health issues that they NEVER had before.
Last but not least, under no circumstances you should trust the FDA to tell you what to eat which is lead by the meat industries and recently allow growth hormone onto cows when all the other federation outside the U.S. had a huge ban on it.
If you don't like to read, watch "Forks over Knives" or "Food Matters" - that is a good place to start.
No, I don't trust process foods and strongly doubt this company can pull this off and bet healthy @ the same time.
Luan To
11th March, 2012 @ 08:40 pm PDT
@ Annawyn
:-) I see you failed to understand my sarcastic demonstration of your faulty reasoning from your first post.
Ignorantly claiming reasons to not eat meat simply as "liberal agenda" is like me claiming eating meat make you a "socialist". Both are ignorant simplification making unfounded statement, and politically motivated without just reason.
Now you have felt the negative effect of such statements, hopefully next time you will not be so quick to make another similar one.
Calvin k
16th March, 2012 @ 05:10 pm PDT
So when is someone going to start producing vegetable shaped meat? What about fruits? Do we have any shapes left for them?
18th March, 2012 @ 02:44 pm PDT
Another good movie on the subject,try "Bad Taste",one of Peter Jackson's little gems before "Lord of the Rings"-very funny.
21st March, 2012 @ 06:37 pm PDT
I for one will never stop enjoying the miracles of nature that are our animals exhibit. Pigs take slop, feed, and unmentionable substances and turn them into BACON, Ham and Porkchops!!! Cows eat grass, hay, and feed, and turn them into delicious juicy steaks! What has the soybean ever given us but a questionable aftertaste?
22nd March, 2012 @ 09:31 am PDT
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Abdul Qadeer Khan, Pakistan's nuclear scientist, enters politics
Abdul Qadeer Khan, the scientist who made Pakistan a nuclear power, is forming his own political party.
Abdul qadeer khan politics pakistan august 2012Enlarge
Disgraced Pakistani nuclear scientist Abdul Qadeer Khan waves as he walks in a garden in Islamabad on February 7, 2009. Khan is set to stir up the next election with his political movement, Tehreek-e-Tahaffuz Pakistan, launched in July 2012. (FAROOQ NAEEM/AFP/Getty Images)
Abdul Qadeer Khan, the man who made Pakistan into a nuclear power, is set to shake up the upcoming election as he heads a political movement, according to the Associated Press.
Khan, who admitted to leaking nuclear secrets to Iran, North Korea and Libya, is haled as a hero in Pakistan, but viewed as a pariah in the United States, the AP noted.
Khan aims to target the youth vote, and he said, "We need a new generation of political people and technocrats," according to the Guardian. "My message to young voters is: don't bring these old politicians back. Don't give your vote to thieves and liars. But who exactly they vote for, is up to them."
More on GlobalPost: Book claims Pakistan played role in bin Laden raid
According to Pakistani newspaper The Express Tribune, Khan's campaign launched under the banner "Tehreek-e-Tahaffuz Pakistan," which translates to Movement for Protection of Pakistan.
Khan told the newspaper, "I will consistently urge youth to elect honest persons in upcoming elections and stand for survival of the country."
More on GlobalPost: Christian girl arrested for blasphemy in Pakistan cannot read: Vatican
"The leaders of most of the big political parties are robbers and corrupt," Khan told the AP, taking aim at President Asif Ali Zardari, the co-leader of the Pakistan People's Party and former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, head of the Pakistan Muslim League-N.
Khan, who headed Pakistan's nuclear program, was punished by house arrest in 2004 for stealing technology to build a nuclear weapon, said the Guardian. Those restrictions have since been lifted, despite Washington still viewing Khan as a "serious proliferation risk." | <urn:uuid:d921e12f-884b-41dc-ad14-f0b39257cacd> | 2 | 1.789063 | 0.038554 | en | 0.960619 | http://www.globalpost.com/dispatch/news/regions/asia-pacific/pakistan/120829/abdul-qadeer-khan-pakistans-nuclear-scientist-politics |
What is the connection between humans and Neanderthals, eyeballs and dogs? Photo by Reuters/Purina
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Yael Bogen
Illustration Photo by Yael Bogen
Shakespeare invented many new English words. Over 1,500, in fact. “Epileptic” is one. “Puking” is another. “Alligator,” “skim milk” and “obscene” are a few more. In Act III of “A Midsummer Night’s Dream,” Oberon says to Puck:
“Then crush this herb into Lysander’s eye;
Whose liquor hath this virtuous property,
To take from thence all error with his might,
And make his eyeballs roll with wonted sight.”
Before this speech there was “eye” and there were “balls” − but no one had thought to put them together. And that, it turns out, is a pretty big deal. Why? Well, if you’ve ever wondered why your eyeballs are so white − actually, the technical term for the white around the iris is the sclera − it turns out you’ve contemplated something very basic about what makes us who we are.
We’re the only primate with white sclerae, not to mention eyelids that allow our eyes to be clearly visible. Compared with the dark sclerae, the dark surrounding skin and droopy eyelids of chimpanzees, gorillas, bonobos and orangutans, our eyes render us open books.
Whether our heads lean left or forward, bob incessantly or stay as still as a church mouse, it’s easy to follow our gaze. This means that we can communicate better by signaling our intentions. And in allowing us to understand each other better, to read each other with ever increasing accuracy, our white eyeballs played a part in making us human.
If a white sclera provided an advantage in communication, a new theory now claims that our whites were not aimed exclusively at ourselves. Before we come to that, though, we need to consider a different question: How is it that we modern humans, Homo sapiens, survived and populated the planet, whereas Neanderthal man (Homo neanderthalensis) disappeared? After all, the Neanderthals had been successfully living in what is today Europe and parts of western and central Asia for well over 250,000 years before we showed up, walking out of Africa just 70,000 years ago. They made tools and created art, built homes with animal bones, even had a language.
As archaeological and paleontological evidence suggests, the two human species lived side by side in Europe and the Middle East for about 10,000 years, between 45,000 and 35,000 years ago. But then, rather suddenly, the Neanderthals began to dwindle. Whether or not there was a small amount of interbreeding between the two groups (a matter that continues to be debated) more recently than 25,000 years ago, no Neanderthals remained.
What happened? The answer is that nobody really knows. Sudden climate changes that affected our stocky, large-headed cousins more than us − this is one hypothesis that’s been offered to solve the mystery. Two volcanic super-eruptions around 40,000 years ago is another. And violent extinction at our own hands is − albeit not terribly complimentary to ourselves − a third.
But now a new hypothesis has appeared, one that is not perhaps so damning as much as it makes us look rather differently at our canine companions. According to this theory, the reason why we humans made it through the Paleolithic era whereas Neanderthals whimpered and withered is that we domesticated dogs. Dogs are furry and cute, you might say, fun to play with, and really the sweetest little creatures. What kind of an advantage could they have possibly given us over the well-adapted, sturdier Neanderthal?
Paleolithic dogs weighed, on average, 32 kilograms and had a shoulder height of at least 60 centimeters. These were beasts comparable to today’s German Shepherds, not minuscule Pomeranians held on laps by petite models on the Champs Elysées.
At the sites where the canines’ remains were found in latter-day Siberia and the Czech Republic, an abundance of mammoth bones were also found. If the modern Blackfeet and Hidasta Indians of the American West – who used dogs as beasts of burden to lug their loads – are an example, it may well be the case that Paleolithic dogs helped carry mammoth meat from kill sites back to camp. If they did, they would have saved humans a lot of energy, rendering each kill a greater net gain in food. More food would mean better-fed mothers with more milk to service more babies. Which would mean population growth.
A recent paper in the Science journal by Paul Mellars and Jennifer C. French, analyzing 164 archaeological sites of Homo sapiens and Neanderthals, shows that in the period of overlap, we humans overwhelmed our cousins in sheer numbers, outbreeding them as much as 10 to 1. Could dogs lugging meat have been responsible?
All hypotheses about the deep past necessarily have to be tentative; there is a large element of storytelling just by dint of the métier. Alas, great swaths of our history will forever remain beyond our reach. But “Just So Stories,” à la Rudyard Kipling, can be convincing, which is why researchers have begun looking more closely at other ways dogs could have been helpful to humans.
Investigating the closest thing we have today to a mammoth hunt, a pair of researchers from the Finnish Game and Fisheries Institute compared the results of hunting moose with and without dogs, and found that using large Norwegian Elkhounds or Finnish Spitzes increased the average carcass weight per hunter by 56 percent. A further study of the Mayanga and Miskito peoples of Nicaragua showed that 85 percent of the mammals caught in hunts involved the use of dogs. In fact, dogs proved crucial for encountering game in the first place – the hunters were six times more likely to find armadillos using dogs, and nine times more likely to find agoutis (large, and apparently very tasty, rats).
Dogs also save humans a lot of time. A recent study of the Bofi and Aka forest hunters of the Central African Republic showed that porcupine hunts were 57 percent faster, and pouched rat hunts 41 percent faster, when dogs were on the trail. These dogs were not cuddled or played with, but strictly used for hunting. The very idea that they should be thought of as pets or companions would be considered a joke and absurd.
Until recently, the domestication of dogs was thought to have occurred about 17,000 years ago, well after the last Neanderthal had perished. But archaeological finds in Belgium and elsewhere suggest that wild wolves may have been selectively bred by humans beginning as far back as twice that number of years. This would, more or less, coincide with the human-Neanderthal overlap, and yet all dog bones found so far have been exclusively in Homo sapiens sites.
In one of these, at Gravettian Predmostí in the Czech Republic, a complete skull of a dog was found with a large bone inserted between its jaw and cranium, suggesting that perhaps valued hunting dogs were honored and maybe even buried with ritual.
Which brings us back to Shakespeare and eyeballs. In “A Midsummer Night’s Dream,” Lysander falls in love with Hermia, but cannot marry her because her father wants her to wed Demetrius. Running away on a forest path together, the lovers − and Demetrius − encounter the mischievous elf Puck, who applies a magic ointment to the eyes of the two men, making them both fall in love with a second woman, Helena. Poor Hermia is dismayed, but not all is lost. Puck applies the ointment again, this time only to Lysander, whose love for Hermia is magically restored. Since Demetrius remains in love with Helena, the two couples can live happily ever after − all’s well that ends well.
“The course of true love never did run smooth,” Lysander comforts his beloved, expressing the theme of the play. But another way to look at it is that eyes matter.
What, then, is the connection between humans and Neanderthals, eyeballs and dogs? In a recent article in American Scientist, anthropologist Pat Shipman tenders a guess. In the years that the great British primatologist Jane Goodall lived at Gombe Stream National Park in Tanzania, she observed two male monkeys with a mutation: Their sclera were white. A third female developed white sclera in old age. But the mutation didn’t spread, and died with the monkeys.
Why? Shipman suggests the answer might have to do with the fact that while chimps do hunt, meat makes up only 2 percent of their diet. Paleolithic humans, on the other hand, depended on game to a much greater extent (closer to 30 percent). Since being able to read a gaze is of great help in communicating during a silent hunt, clear sclera would stand to benefit early humans handsomely but carry less advantage for chimpanzees. And the whiter our sclera, the better overall cooperators we could become.
If white eyeballs played a role in turning us into the über-cooperative species that we are, they might also explain why dogs provided such an advantage. For dogs are notoriously good at following eyes: as good, in fact, as human infants. When you move your head but keep you eyeballs still, dogs, unlike monkeys, are not fooled. That we, rather than Neanderthals, should have domesticated dogs may provide a new and fascinating piece for solving the puzzle of their disappearance and our triumph. And, of course, this might be part of the explanation of our white eyeballs. Man’s best friend indeed, but also his maker.
Still, notice how many assumptions go into this theory: 1) That dogs make hunts more efficient because they take cues from human gazes; 2) That human sclera were not white, or as white, before the domestication of dogs; 3) That selection pressures for coevolution of white sclera and dog hunting were strong enough compared to selection pressures for white sclera to aid communication in humans alone; 4) That a greater mutation rate for white sclera in humans allowed our early ancestors, and not Neanderthals, to put especially tame wolves or “incipient dogs” on the hunt; 5) That the canine bones found in early archaeological sites belonged to hunting dogs; and 6) That we did in fact domesticate dogs as early as 40,000 years ago. The list goes on and on. Not one of these assumptions is proven.
At the moment, then, this is nothing more than, if you like, a midsummer night’s dream. So hold your applause and keep your eyes open for new evidence. The course of finding the truth, after all, as Shakespeare and his heroine Hermia knew all too well, never did run smooth. | <urn:uuid:e39b81d2-648e-4e60-8109-d5f82b23846d> | 3 | 3.109375 | 0.129383 | en | 0.962011 | http://www.haaretz.com/weekend/magazine/dogs-as-pets-how-dogs-may-have-helped-homo-sapiens-triumph-over-neanderthals-1.461768 |
Square A. A rock-hewn cave (Fig. 2) and to its south, a hewn shaft with a niche at its bottom, were exposed. The passage from the cave to the shaft was blocked by different size fieldstones (Fig. 2: Section 1-1). The entrance to the cave (0.79 × 0.95 m) was in the northern side and it led to a cavity (2.25 × 2.80 m, height 1.5 m) that contained fill and several potsherds from the Byzantine period (L118).
The shaft of the cave (Fig. 2: Section 2-2) became bell-shaped toward its bottom (upper diam. 0.82 m, lower diam. 1.2 m, height 1.6 m); the alluvium fill that accumulated in it included fragments of pottery vessels from Middle Bronze II and Iron II (L123). A niche (Fig. 2: Section 3-3; 0.80 × 0.95 × 1.05 m) in the side of the shaft contained a fragment of an ossuary from the Chalcolithic period and potsherds from Iron II (Loci 131, 135).
Two fragments of Chalcolithic ossuaries (Fig. 3:1, 2) were discovered, not in situ. Three bowls and two bases that dated to Middle Bronze II were found in the cave’s entrance, including a thin carinated bowl of metallic fabric with an everted rim (Fig. 3:3) and two bowls (Fig. 3:4, 5) and two bases (Fig. 3:6, 7) of levigated and well-fired clay. Most of the Iron II ceramic finds recovered from the niche dated to the ninth–eighth centuries BCE, including round carinated bowls, some slipped red (Fig. 4:1–11), cooking pots (Fig. 4:12–19), a jug (Fig. 4:20) and a juglet (Fig. 4:21).
The cave, almost certainly hewn in MB II, was probably damaged when the shaft and the niche to the south were quarried. It seems that the latter were used for storage during Iron II, after the passage linking them to the cave was sealed.
Square B. Three phases that dated to Iron II were exposed (Fig. 5). The third and latest phase was represented by a wall (W103) aligned north–south and built of one row of medium-sized fieldstones (0.20 × 0.35 × 0.45 m) that were preserved a single course high. A floor (L113), paved with medium fieldstones (0.25 × 0.25 × 0.30 m) that were set on a bedding of small fieldstones (L112), abutted the wall. The finds ascribed to the second phase included Wall 134, partly excavated below W103, which was oriented east–west. The wall, preserved a single course high, was built of small fieldstones (0.08 × 0.15 × 0.10 m) and founded on tamped earth (Loci 140, 141). A rectangular plastered installation with round corners (L133) was exposed to its south. The first phase was represented by a circular rock-cutting (L143) beneath W134. It contained a yellowish brown clay fill mixed with small potsherds that could not be dated. The excavation of the rock-cutting, down to the discovery of its upper part, was then suspended and its nature could not be clarified.
The ceramic finds from the first two phases dated to Iron I and II and included bowls (Fig. 6:1–4), cooking pots (Fig. 6:7–9) and jars (Fig. 6:10–12).
The remains most likely indicate that some sort agricultural activity had transpired at the site during Iron II. | <urn:uuid:b2115c7f-a4da-4ad3-9222-ea581a8331f0> | 3 | 3.0625 | 0.051895 | en | 0.964621 | http://www.hadashot-esi.org.il/report_detail_eng.aspx?id=1300&mag_id=115 |
Hinduism Today Magazine Issues and Articles
In Another Life...
Category : April 1998
In Another Life...
The facts and fallacies of analyzing past lives
Water terrified Bruce Kelly. Even the sight of a swimming pool caused him to tremble. He did not know why, for he never was in danger while swimming or boating, even as a small child. He avoided enclosed spaces and couldn't stand to be in an airplane. Though a natural athlete and a successful sales manager of medical supplies, he simply could not shake these deep-rooted fears. Finally he sought professional therapy. By hypnotic regression, a therapist forced Kelly's memories backward in this life, asking him to remember anything related to water in his teens, then his childhood, then as an infant and then... Kelly shouted at his startled therapist, "Mayday, Mayday"--Anglicized m'aidez, French for "Help me," the international distress call. "We're hit, we're sinking," he screamed. Suddenly his last life and his traumatic death on a World War II submarine had opened to his inner vision, and in that flash, the origin of all his fears was revealed. Finally, water could be his friend.
This fascinating true-life reincarnation case was showcased on the TV program "Unsolved Mysteries." Because Kelly had researched and identified his past life, Hinduism Today was able to obtain the birth charts of both lives, as well as the horoscope for the moment of death. Upon examination we found definite connections between both birth charts, but many more between the death chart and the present birth chart. This is often the case when a death is traumatic.
In this life, Kelly's ascendant or rising sign is Libra, with Mars, Saturn and Neptune. This is already revealing, as Saturn relates strongly to past life characteristics, and with Mars, the planet of violence, and Neptune the lord of the seas, we start to see a window into his past. In his previous life as James Johnston of Alabama, USA, Rahu (the moon's north node) was in Libra. Rahu is an indicator of one's dharma, where one is headed or directing energy. The unfulfilled dharma of Johnston relating to Libra, became the rising sign of his next life as Kelly. But more significant, Mars and Saturn were in Aries when Johnston's submarine was hit by a torpedo and slowly sank, and in the next life both planets reversed to their opposite sign placement in Libra. To top it off, the ascendant was Libra when Johnston died, which became the ascendant of Kelly. Johnston was born with the Moon in the watery sign of Scorpio, in the 12th house, afflicted by Saturn, an indication of his early death in water in a distant place, while Neptune was in Cancer, in the 8th house (of death). Kelly was reborn with the Moon in the watery sign of Cancer along with Ketu, an indication of the water phobia from the past-life horror of slowly drowning as the submarine filled with water. Jupiter had traveled once around the zodiac since Johnston left his body at the bottom of the Celebes Sea near Indonesia and arrived back again in Taurus when he was reborn, twelve years later, in Glendale, California. In this case, the intensity of the moment of death, along with its planetary positions, were carried forward to the next life. At death the Sun, Mercury and Venus were in Capricorn and at rebirth the Sun, Mercury, Venus and Rahu were all in Capricorn, as if Kelly was picking up right where he left off. When the planets came back into a similar vibration as the moment of death, the soul of Johnston was impelled to be reborn.
Actual documented case studies of reincarnation have helped dispel many misunderstandings about the process. The first is that if the past life was rather blasé or very short, the present life chart may not relate to it at all, but connect to several lives back. Second, not all of the aspects of your present horoscope necessarily relate to a specific past life. The choice of a new birth, along with the horoscope that accompanies it, is somewhat like buying a new car with unwanted extras. We may be obliged to accept certain anomalies in life in order to acquire the basic birth pattern needed to fulfill our karmic debts. Some aspects of our present life may be simply part of a package deal. For example, a soul may need to take birth when Mercury is in the 12th house in Pisces, to bring forward a great spiritual and internalized intellect, but the same combination could cause chronic feet problems. We should not presume that this person misused his feet in a past life, such as by kicking a cow, and is now paying the price. They have simply accepted a minor inconvenience to acquire the greater asset. For this reason it is not possible to relate every planetary position in a birth chart to a specific past life deed and therefore not possible to indicate precisely who you were in a past life, based purely on a birth chart. But when faced with inexplicable fears or desires that have long puzzled you in this life, it may be helpful to look further back than this lifetime for the original cause. | <urn:uuid:a4096ac2-f75a-4b12-9118-2cb641e39b88> | 2 | 1.867188 | 0.025665 | en | 0.978225 | http://www.hinduismtoday.com/modules/smartsection/print.php?itemid=4746 |
Tortoise Lamp
I love turtles as they are very nice animals and kids just love them. They are harmless and people think they are so wise because they never hurry. They are the symbol for old age and experience, for wisdom and patience. Some of them are huge and some are really tiny, but they are all so cute. That is why some designers from Loxton, a lighting company, thought it would be a good idea to manufacture tortoise-like lamps for the kids’ room. This lamp not only looks like a tortoise, but it is very interesting in desgin. It has the tortoise shell made of coloured glass, so it looks like a mosaic.
View in gallery
The glass in the Tortoise Lamp is coloured in white, green and blue and the light bulb inside makes itspread colourful lights around. You can use this lamp on the desk or table in the kids’ room or maybe in the living room if you like turtles, too. The designer kept all the features of the living animal, so you can easily recognize the head and four legs of the tortoise and enjoy the colourful shell. The lamp works with a 25w pygmy light bulb that provides the amount of light that is necessary for a night lamp, but not for making your homework. The item is now available for £35.90. | <urn:uuid:a8bed08d-b67e-4cd6-a23f-307833487b38> | 2 | 1.53125 | 0.021724 | en | 0.966496 | http://www.homedit.com/tortoise-lamp/ |
Sat Hon Headshot
A Field Guide to Taoist Meditation
Posted: Updated:
On Finding a Teacher
On one fine summer day, as I strolled aimlessly along a riverbank,
Beset with a thousand disquietudes,
I chanced upon an old woman fishing under the shady cool of creeping willows.
I wanted to ask her my thousand questions regarding the sun, moon and the creation of the universe and my purpose in life and oh so many more,
She placed her fingers on her lips: Fish are rising.
So I stood there and watched.
The freckled river shimmered with flashes of light like scales of an anaconda.
Clouds drift and tugged the blue horizon with their thick, silken strands;
Shadows of the willow grove deepened.
I felt my questions draining away.
Finally, as she slowly reeled in her line, I laughed as I saw that the line was without a hook.
How does one catch fish without a hook? I wondered.
As she turned to go, I know that tea is ready and I am invited.
Following behind her light, drifting footsteps, a gentle breeze combs through the willow branches,
I catch fragments of their whispering: A big one she caught..
* * *
Taoist meditation is action without aim. It is an aimless, meandering meditation without technique or prefabricated notion -- fishing without a hook. In Taoism, the very nature of this existence is considered a total meditation of the cosmos. Yet, my clinging mind needs something concrete, steps and the knowhow. Thus, began my foray into the wide horizon of meditation.
Taoist alchemical meditation
I consider this the most simple yet, the most difficult of meditations. There is no technique, no particular posture or formality. Just this very instance of one's existence is the meditation. One takes each moment as perfect, whole and everything in its rightful place; thoughts, emotions and such are wonderful, magnificent manifestations and an expression of one's true nature. It is likened to a man waking up after a long coma to find everything -- every thought utterly sweet. In other words, as in the case of a patient of mine who suffered partial paralysis from a stroke, the sharp pain of a needle was felt with overwhelming joy and gratitude.
When I teach this pathless form of meditation to students: that there is nothing to teach and everything is perfect and in harmony just as they are in this very moment. I am usually met with the following:
"Ughh. But you have taught us nothing," is a common response.
"Exactly," I laugh. While, some walk out in a huff.
"Charlatan!" they shout.
A few stay, hoping that perhaps at a later time I will eventually reveal the secret techniques to them. They will also leave empty-handed and full of blame and anger. Only a rare individual or two will awaken to this instantaneous perfection of suchness.
"You lying thief!" they laugh. And perhaps, we will then share a cup of Dragon Well tea.
Mentak Chia's macrocosmic/microcosmic meditation
The representative of this lineage of Taoist meditation is Master Mentak Chia who guides students in circulating their endogenous energy/Qi through the acupuncture meridians. Master Chia also utilizes the internal visualization of the inner smile in this meditation. Smiling to one's angry liver or soothing the weeping lungs might seem farfetched, but such inward smiling does have wonderful healing affects on the organs and their functions. Furthermore, in the opening of the endogenous energy channels, the source and root causes of pathogens are vanquished and one's health is restored. In summary, the Healing Tao meditation system emphasizes the harnessing of the mind's power in the health process and guides one toward healing.
Yan Xan's inner child meditation
In this meditation, one is seated in a chair and initially the breath is settled as a way to calm the mind and body. Then one visualizes the image of oneself as a small child at the age of four or six years old. Often, a vivid image of one's childhood emerges with crystalline clarity. Then with each breath, the inner child enlarges in size until he/she completely fills one's present body. I have found this meditational process extremely effective in dealing with childhood traumas. But readers should proceed with caution. One should always have a competent and enlightened guide in doing Yan Xan's inner child meditation.
The golden flower meditation
The eminent sinologist Richard Wilhlem translated the "golden flower," or jin hua Taoist sutra, into English. This book is an esoteric Taoist alchemical text used to guide initiates toward immortality (or at least longevity) by the creation of the immortal fetus. As Carl G. Jung mentioned in Wilhem's memorial service, Wilhem's tragic death was attributed to the incorrect practice of this meditation. In essence, the golden flower text is a combination of the above two meditational techniques: opening the channels and visualization of the birth of the immortal fetus. Through a hundred day process of laying the foundation by at first opening the channels, and then 1,000 days of creating an immortal embryonic energy entity within. The initiate is said to achieve the next level by projecting their consciousness outside of their body -- the initial stage being only an invisible shadow of oneself that others cannot perceive. This ethereal body can travel vast distances of space and experience reality as we know it, but this entity cannot interact in a concrete way with anyone or anything around them. After 10,000 days, or nine years of further cultivation, the initiate advances further into the realm of true immortality by the achievement of a concrete, solid, conscious projection of self. At this stage, the initiate must still maintain their physical body, although at this point, it is in a catatonic state. Meanwhile, the projected self wanders and functions like a normal person. However, as their true physical body's biological functions are in a state of hibernation, they will age at much slower pace. Caution: In the last 200 years of modern Chinese history, I have not personally verified a single individual of this lineage who has achieved this advanced level. A few have claimed that they can project their consciousness outside of their body, but an objective assessment of their claims has not been proven. Obviously, this particular path is filled with pitfalls and practitioners often deviate into psychosis. At this point in time, only one teacher, Wang Li Peng, teaches this cultivation in sporadic seminars in China.
Qigong dynamic meditation
As China morphs from a feudalistic society into the modern era, old time martial artists are transforming their martial fighting skills into healing practices. Master Wang Hiang Xia, the founder of Yi Quan or Mind Martial form, created a series of standing meditation postures such as Tree Hugging stance or Taming the Dragon stance. This dynamic meditation employs the use of imagination and visualization such as Standing Like a Windsock Filled with Breeze in order to distill the mind into a dynamic power force. In his martial system, the laser sharpness derived from meditation is then used later on for sparring and fighting. Yi Quan's dynamic meditation is a wonderful healing meditation with only minor side effects: spontaneous movements and shaking. However, these side effects are symptomatic of one's endogenous channels being opened. Once the stagnation is freed up then the shaking and movements cease as well. As Master Wang once said: Moving greatly is not as fine as moving in smaller motion, tiny movement is not as fine as stillness. Hence, dynamic meditation can be said to guide one from motion into stillness.
I was taught to focus my awareness at the Dantien, a region three fingers' width beneath my navel, but I noticed that my menses have become heavier, should I continue to practice this form of meditation?
To place one's awareness at the lower Dantien, or Elixir Field, is a common practice given by many Taoist based meditation teachers. According to my Grandmaster, Nan wei gen, for women it is particularly worrisome and for most potentially unhealthy in the long term. Such focusing will often result in dysmenorrhea and fibroid tumors. If your menstrual flow has become abnormally heavy and you are practicing this type of meditation, it is crucial that you consult a physician and your meditation instructor regarding such symptoms.
I have been meditating for 13 years now and my mind is still filled with thoughts?
Don't be fooled by the label of meditation in this case. In reality, for 13 years, you have been seated in obsessive wool-gathering. A discursive mind thus seated in meditation for a lifetime will remain as such. Likewise, a couch potato also seated and watching TV for decades and proclaiming this as a form of practice will never approach the silence of meditation.
How can I improve myself?
Self-improvement is a trap. It is the sleight of hand originated by the mind in self-delusion. You cannot bootstrap yourself to heaven with forceful effort. In order to improve yourself, you project a future based on your habitual conditioning. Thus, this is a false premise.
Is being aware of my breath during meditation bad for me?
It is impossible to tell without actually directly assessing your state of health. In general, anapana (breath awareness) is a wonderful initial introduction to the "practice" of meditation. Notice the word, "practice," which means that anapana is still a preparation and therefore a dress rehearsal for meditation. It is not quite a real meditation yet. Meditation begins when all thoughts, perceptions and notions of the self dissolve.
Do you have any meditation teachers that you can recommend?
Yes, there are many wonderful meditation centers and teachers that I have personally encountered and found to be both compassionate and wonderful guides. The following is a list of teachers and centers that I have either directly encountered and/or experienced in their system/lineage:
David Nichtern is wonderful master of meditation of the Shambhala lineage. Besides being a great, loving meditation teacher, David possesses extraordinary simplicity in guiding beginning students in the deepening stages of the meditation path.
Elaine Retholtz is a teacher of Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) and an associate teacher at the New York Insight Meditation Center. Her approach to teaching meditation is within the context of healing and health. Elaine is a quiet and gentle teacher with extensive knowledge of acupuncture energetics.
Around the Web
Taoism - Meditation Taoist Meditation (9781570625671): Thomas Cleary: Books
YouTube - Taoist Meditation - Lao Tzu vs. Chuang Tzu
Taoist Meditation: Methods for Cultivating a Healthy Mind and Body ...
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[b-greek] Smart's rule and Hebraic influence (Harris)
From: Dan Parker ([email protected])
Date: Thu Oct 26 2000 - 16:34:56 EDT
> What possible relevance does this have to do with the clear example
> that contradicts Smart's "rule"? I'm still curious how you would
> Stephen Carlson
Stephen, I did not go into more detail on this because I assumed you
had read my response to this which I posted earlier to Kevin Woodruff
regarding his quotation of Murray Harris' use of Ps 5:3. I posted
the following at that time, in part:
"1) Porter (The poor man's Porter, Rodney Decker) and Winer
(35-38) do not agree that the grammar of the NT is affected
by any Hebraic or Aramaic influence.
2) BDF (81) agrees and considers the LXX and "passages
translated from a Semitic language" to have Hebraic
3) Therefore Harris' example of Ps 5:3 is not a good
parallel to John 20:28, because Winer says that although most
of the LXX manages to produce good Greek, Psalms generally
does not and that "The translation of the Psalms is, in
general, one of the most heedless." (Winer 35-38)"
This apparently was not clear, so I will attempt to elaborate.
Harris said:
"Finally the repeated MOU, so far from necessarily indicating
two distinct addressees, simply reflects the repetition of the
pronominal suffix with copulated nouns in Hebrew and Aramaic (as
shown in the LXX's Ps 5:3 by HO BASILEUS MOU MAI HO THEOS MOU)"
Harris speaking of the fact that the nouns "King" and "God" in
the Hebrew of Psalm 5:2 both have first person pronominal suffixes.
His stated view is that the reason for the double MOU in both Ps 5:3 and
John 20:28 is that they are both influenced by the same Hebrew syntax.
This is an admission that without the Hebraic influence it would
"necessarily" indicate that two persons are in view. The sole reason
he gives to the contrary is his view that if Thomas spoke Aramaic it
would affect the syntax of John 20:28. This is an admission that such a
"rule" as Smart has proposed does indeed have merit!
Where Harris goes wrong is that he does not support his contention that
this indeed happened at John 20:28. To make it worse all the leading
grammarians disagree with him on the point of whether this phenomena
actually occurs with any frequency in NT Greek.
The reason I used Proverbs 24:21 is because both Smart and Sharp
eliminate "Translation" Greek from their rules for precisely this reason.
If you do not agree that this is a valid exception then you must also
agree that Sharp's rule also has an exception ... and that is Proverbs
24:21. I will not try to force you do admit this if you do not wish.
In the article written by D L. Christiansen "A Reexamination of Granville
Sharp's Rule" he has the following footnote #16:
"The sole LXX contender for the title of Sharp's dethroner
(Proverbs 24:21 [FOBOU TON QEON UIE KAI BASILEA]) is not
admissible, even though it clearly contradicts the rule; the
omission of the article before the clearly distinct is a comment,
not on hellenistic Greek syntax, but on the slavish
method of translation employed by certain of the LXX scribes.
cf. Wallace, Selected Notes, 104-5; also Thomas Fanshaw Middleton,
The Doctrine of the Greek Article, new ed., (London: J.G .F.
& J. Rivington, et al, 1841): 120."
Smart's rule clearly states right up front that only "Native" Greek is
covered by the rule. Therefore, Psalms in the LXX cannot be used as
a exception to Smart's rule. This exception is not arbitrary, but based
on a documented characteristic of some Hebrew that is translated into
I would also like to comment on some of the criticisms of the rule with
respect to the number of exceptions. The exceptions are actually far
fewer than Sharps because:
1) Sharps excludes plural nouns, Smarts does not.
2) Sharps excludes quasi proper names, Smarts does not.
3) Smarts works with both articular nouns and anarthrous nouns.
Dan Parker
| <urn:uuid:54e1176c-cb00-4651-b783-0f08bef49ea3> | 2 | 2.078125 | 0.026784 | en | 0.897781 | http://www.ibiblio.org/bgreek/test-archives/html4/2000-10/2547.html |
As the nation is enjoying the frivolity of fireworks, barbeques and the company of friends and family, I hope we all take some time to reflect on the essence of July 4: Independence. It's a time to look at where our nation has been, where we came from and to apply those principles to our present and future.
There was a reason that grossly outnumbered and under-equipped colonists staged a revolution. It is the same reason that so many Americans have fought and died in the 300-plus years since that first war for independence. It's our independence of thought and mind that allows America to remain the innovative powerhouse it's been for decades.
In business, independence isn't easy. All companies are beholden to market fluctuations, customer demands and vendor abilities. While we're dependent on certain forces beyond our control, there are areas that companies can control--who we do business with, what our customer expectations are and how we grow.
At OtterBox, we're proudly independent of external decision-making powers because we are a family-owned company that is self-financed. Because of this freedom, we're able to offer our employees a monthly profit sharing-type bonus, additional paid time off for volunteer hours and other benefits that often are placed on the chopping block at businesses that must answer to shareholders or other debt financiers. OtterBox isn't required to offer these perks, but because we are free to offer them, we do. It's good business.
As a nation, we've almost done a 360-degree turn since the American Revolution. Taxes, litigation and debt have taken away the nation's independence. Our citizens and certain businesses and industries are dependent on a very convoluted government system.
It's a broken system that needs fixing. A business that operates on a broken system goes out of business. Until recently, it was hard to imagine a government going out of business, but Greece and Spain are painting vivid pictures of what that can look like.
Being an election year, voters are about to get their fill of politicians and politics. Business owners, entrepreneurs, employers and employees should be thinking about whether or not we are independent, and if not how we can get there. | <urn:uuid:5fd28ae1-7362-4db4-93cb-f655de15b28b> | 2 | 1.648438 | 0.472337 | en | 0.969969 | http://www.inc.com/curt-richardson/independence-is-good-for-business-and-country.html |
Warby Parker, a fashionable eyeglass company based in New York City, has seen some explosive growth in the last year. The company launched in 2010. Since then, the start-up has scaled to 60 employees, grown 500 percent, and has already moved into bigger offices—twice.
The company's business model is simple: Glasses, including lenses, are $95. There's also a component of social good: for every pair bought, a pair is donated to someone in need. About 50 percent of the company's sales are driven by word of mouth—a testament to the strength of the company's story. In short, people are proud of Warby Parker, and want to share the company's mission with their friends and family.
Read more from GrowCo
The company's co-founder, Neil Blumenthal, addressed a crowd of more than 550 entrepreneurs and business owners GrowCo this week. He offered a bit of insight into how and why the company has grown so rapidly, and how your start-up can steal a bit of wisdom from Warby.
1. Cut out the middle men.
Why are glasses traditionally as expensive as, say, an iPad? The answer to that question can be summed up in one word, explained Blumenthal: Luxotica. Luxotica is a $7 billion multi-national corporation that pretty much owns the eyewear industry—from Ray Ban to LensCrafters. By working with a manufacturer in China, and designing the glasses themselves, Blumenthal and his co-founders were able to cut out the middle men and make the glasses far more affordable.
"We were able to transfer billions of dollars from these multinational corporation to normal people like you and me," Blumenthal says.
2. Don't overspend on unnecessary marketing.
Guess how much Warby Parker spent on marketing and advertising when they launched? $10,000? $100,000? The correct answer is zero. The company launched with two well-placed editorials in Vogue and GQ. When the magazines hit newsstands, the Warby Parker site crashed. Within two weeks, they had sold out of 15 styles of eyeglasses, and had a waitlist of 20,000 customers. In fact, the company only recently (about six months ago) began marketing on Google AdWords.
3. It all comes down to company mission.
When the company moved into their new offices a couple of months ago, Blumenthal and his co-founder, David Gilboa, decided to knock down the walls of the office. Why? "It gives visibility to everyone there," he says. "We want to institute mechanisms for people to learn on a regular basis." | <urn:uuid:014a227a-1563-49ab-9f64-ab82d7cb409c> | 2 | 1.546875 | 0.866346 | en | 0.974093 | http://www.inc.com/eric-markowitz/3-reasons-warby-parker-is-killing-it.html |
1. Bring New Perspectives and Ideas
If customers could diagnose their own problems and come up with workable solutions on their own, they would do so. The reason that they're turning to you and your firm is that they're stuck and need your help. Therefore, you must be able to bring something new to the table.
2. Be Willing to Collaborate
Customers absolutely do NOT want you to sell them something, even something that's wonderful. They want you to work with them to achieve a mutual goal, by being responsive to the customer's concerns and ways of doing business. Ideally, customers want you to become integral to their success.
3. Have Confidence In Your Ability to Achieve Results
Customers will not buy from you if you can't persuade them that you, your firm, and your firms offerings will truly achieve the promised results. It is nearly impossible to persuade a customer to believe in these things unless you yourself believe in them. You must make your confidence contagious.
4. Listen, Really Listen, to the Customer
When they're describing themselves and their needs, customers sense immediately when somebody is just waiting for a break in the conversation in order to launch into a sales pitch. In order to really listen, you must suppress your own inner-voice and forget your goals. It's about the customer, not about you.
5. Understand ALL the Customer's Needs
It's not enough to "connect the dots" between customer needs and your company's offering. You must also connect with the individuals who will be affected by your offering, and understand how buying from you will satisfy their personal needs, like career advancement and job security.
6. Help the Customer Avoid Potential Pitfalls
Here's where many sellers fall flat. Customers know that every business decision entails risk but they also want your help to minimize that risk. They want to know what could go wrong and what has gone wrong in similar situations, and what steps you're taking to make sure these problems won't recur.
7. Craft a Compelling Solution
Solution selling is definitely not dead. Customers want and expect you to have the basic selling skill of defining and proposing a workable solution. What's different now though is that the ability to do this is the "price of entry" and not enough, by itself, to win in a competitive sales situation.
8. Communicate the Purchasing Process
Customers hate it when sellers dance around issues like price, discounts, availability, total cost, add-on options, and so forth. They want you to be able to tell them, in plain and simple language, what's involved in a purchase and how that purchase will take place. No surprises. No last minute upsells.
9. Connect Personally With the Customer
Ultimately, every selling situation involves making a connection between two individuals who like and trust each other. As a great sales guru once said: "All things being equal, most people would rather buy from somebody they like... and that's true even when all things aren't equal."
10. Provide Value That's Superior to Other Options
| <urn:uuid:11791dfa-2c59-45c3-ac9b-c2a39c18dd4c> | 2 | 1.585938 | 0.733949 | en | 0.970111 | http://www.inc.com/geoffrey-james/10-things-every-customer-wants.html?cid=readmore |
No more regular 9-to-5 gig working for someone else and playing by their rules. You have a great idea for a business and you are ready to be your own boss. Before you can spread your wings and fly solo, you need to prepare your family for the entrepreneurial path. Your spouse and your children need to be engaged early on in the process about what's involved with the transition from having a job to running a business.
When you start a new business the entire family is affected and not always in a positive way. Becoming an entrepreneur can be emotionally draining and time consuming. It can turn into a very stressful situation for you and your family. This problem is exacerbated when family members are unsupportive or resentful of the new business. This is why it's important that you are very professional in handling business matters from the on-start. Your family must give you the respect, support, and trust you need to succeed.
While it might sound counter intuitive, start out with an exit strategy, says Don Schwerzler, a family business expert and founder of the Family Business Institute, headquartered in Atlanta. Meaning is this going to be a family business that is passed down from generation to generation. Or do you plan to retire in 25 years and sell the business. Will your children share in the assets of the business if it's sold or when you die, even though they may never work in the business or claim any ownership stake, he asks. What if you get divorced, how will this impact the business. If your children start out working in the business, what steps will be taken so that they can leave the company without interfering with the family dynamic. You need to draw up a shareholder agreement and a buy-sell agreement, suggests Schwerzler.
This may sound a like a paperwork brain drain. "I would err on the side of having too much documentation than not enough," Schwerzler says. There are going to be issues regardless of whether or not you have family members working in the business. But troubleshooting in a family business becomes more trying because it is like being in a room full of mirrors, he adds. "Each reflection or memory is slightly altered for every member of the family." For instance, what if your spouse gives you $10,000 to start the business; is this a loan? Or what if your spouse works for you free of charge or contributes to refining the business idea. Once the business starts making money, will you payback your spouse? It's smarter to have all of that laid out in writing, says Schwerzler.
Here are some things you can do to better prepare your family for entrepreneurship.
Dig Deeper: Why So Many Entrepreneurs Get Divorced
1. Secure your family's support.
Small business experts say that significant tensions arise in the household when the family doesn't share the same expectations as the entrepreneur with regard to the direction of the business. Even more so if the family believes you are indulging a pipe dream and that the business will not succeed. They may tolerate your business in the beginning but grow resentful down the road. If your spouse doesn't believe your business is a serious venture, there will be conflict in the relationship. Say that you buy equipment for the business; your spouse has to understand this is a necessity and not view it as you wasting money.
2. Be strategic with your finances.
Unless you have come into a cash windfall, you are moving from a two-income family into a situation where you may not be making any money, says Augustus McMillan, a business consultant in Baltimore. If your spouse earns enough money to cover the household expenses, he or she might be agreeable to a reduced income from you temporarily. If not, you will need to build up enough savings to cover the loss of income for the first several months. How quickly do you see revenues coming in? "Most families are just living up to their means rather than below their means. You want to make sure that the bills can get paid as you are building the business," says McMillan.
Dig Deeper: 7 Rules for Avoiding Conflicts of Interest in a Family Business
3. Understand what family sacrifices will be made.
It is important to have a family understanding and agreement on what each member has to give up like entertainment, vacations, eating out, and luxury items. McMillan says to examine what extent are you putting the family resources and assets at risk for the business, such as using the family home as collateral for a business loan or tapping into the funds of your 401k plan? If the business fails, the family's savings could be wiped out; the home foreclosed; and even the college education funds for the kids or your retirement money depleted.
4. Talk openly with family members.
If you are a home-based business talk to the people you live with. This can be your spouse or your parents, for instance. "They may have no idea what is going on or how hard you are working once they leave the house," McMillan says. "You don't want them making up stories in their heads about what you do." So, keep them abreast of what is happening with the business. "If you get a new client, a new development, or a new prospect tell them about it." Even if your spouse or children are not directly involved with the business, they need to be in the loop. What happens if you suddenly die, your family needs to be able to make well-formed decisions about what next to do with the business.
Dig Deeper: How to Hire Family Members
5. Hold regular family meetings.
Just like you need a professional management system for the business, "I recommend that you formalize a communication system for the family," says Schwerzler. You shouldn't be having conversations in the hallway or the bathroom. There should be scheduled, structured family meetings with a written agenda. Also, you want to have rational problems and rational decisions rather than irrational problems and emotional decisions. For instance, "you may have a situation where dad is more rigid in thinking but mom is focused more on what's best for the children. So, she may dismiss why the children are showing up late at work." You want to avoid a breakdown in communication or a situation where parents are pitted against each other, he adds.
6. Teach your children about the business.
Be candid with your children about the business. Explain to them concepts like cash flow—money coming in and money flowing out of the business. But don't force them to work for the business, says McMillan It is a great idea to expose children, especially young kids, to the principals of entrepreneurship such as hard work and dedication. If your children aren't interested in your line of work and find it boring, find something that they like to do. If they like design, then you may have them work on your web page, he explains.
Dig Deeper: My Husband's Next Business
7. Create a family business plan.
Ideally, you will want to establish three sets of plans: a family plan whereby members determine the overall goals of the family and the resources needed to achieve those objectives; an individual one that helps each family member determine his or her own personal goals and how to balance those needs with the family's and business's needs; and a business plan, which addresses such issues as ownership and management control, family involvement in the business, and overall strategic direction of the business. Schwerzler says use the family plan to drive the business and manage expectations, especially if you plan to have your children who are married and their spouses involved with the business.
8. Balance family life with entrepreneurial life.
It is very tough running the business and running a household. Everyone will have a different level of commitment to both tasks. But it is important that you spend enough time with your spouse, your children, and yourself, Schwerzler recommends. "When you are starting a business there are such limited resources. Money is scarce. Time is precious. You have to put in long hours. Stress levels run high when you are expecting a check to come in and it doesn't show."
McMillan says most new entrepreneurs fail to realize how many hours (which could be as much as 70 to 80 hours a week) they have to put in to make the business successful. "You can't have an employee mentality. The work isn't going to come to you, but you have to pursue the work." If you used to work only 40 hours a week as an employee, that means the time spent on other things, including family, is sacrificed and now eaten up by the business. You need to schedule in bonding time with family and other relationships.
Dig Deeper: 10 Tips for a Happy Marriage
A final word of advice is to make sure that you set benchmarks for your new business. What do you plan to achieve one month from now, two years, five years and so on. Schwerzler says, "You always have to make sure that you are working on your business and not just in your business." | <urn:uuid:1cbcfbe0-ff01-406c-9812-bea4bc01d6bc> | 2 | 1.515625 | 0.046569 | en | 0.975058 | http://www.inc.com/guides/201102/how-to-prepare-your-family-for-entrepreneurship.html |
Like all CEOs, Jay Goltz was painfully aware of how expenses can whittle away profits. "I'd spend all day looking at bills and think, 'If my employees only knew what it takes to keep this place going," says the president of $7-million Artists ' Frame, in Chicago. Meanwhile, he suspected his employees were studying invoices of pricey framing jobs and wondering, "Why aren't we making more money?" Goltz decided that a meeting of minds was in order. "It occurred to me that employees had no idea what workers' compensation costs or what I spend on advertising or rent." So he decided to show them -- in a way that they all would be able to understand.
Last January, Goltz gathered his 110 employees for a role-playing session, during which vice-president of operations Mitch Gabel posed as a customer with a $100 framing job and Goltz represented "the company." Using a fistful of oversize dollar bills, Gabel handed over his "cash" as Goltz itemized the expenses that went into attracting the customer and completing the job. "What do you think our ads in the yellow pages cost?" Goltz asked the employees. "It's $50,000 a year, or about 5% of each job ." Gabel relinquished $5, and then watched his stack of money shrink as Goltz continued collecting for health insurance, maintenance, rent, materials, labor, the telephone, and so on. When he was finished, Gabel was left with a paltry $5. "It was easy for employees to see that the difference between making money and losing money is sliver thin," says Goltz. "I wanted them to get perspective on the expenses that aren't obvious to them and to use that information to make better decisions."
Did he make his point successfully? "It got me thinking about how much the company spends on inventory," says Victor Torres, who is in charge of ordering supplies. He says he now orders materials in bulk to save money on freight and takes care to use whatever inventory is in-house before reordering. And Henryka Kowalska, a supervisor in the mat department, says the presentation "changed the way I process paperwork." She now makes sure the right material is in stock and in perfect condition before she passes the order on to production. "We save time and material," she says.
"For an hour's worth of time, I couldn't ask for a better payoff," says Goltz, who will now begin a series of smaller, more focused meetings. "We'll teach the production people the cost of a redo and show the salespeople how much it costs to lose a customer," he says. "That kind of presentation brings everything down to the level of their own pocketbooks, and it doesn't require a lot of heavy-duty financial analysis." | <urn:uuid:f281a56f-c473-4296-a589-e0e03948d6e6> | 2 | 1.546875 | 0.04557 | en | 0.983641 | http://www.inc.com/magazine/19960801/1778.html?cid=readmore |
Slavic Languages and Literatures | Elementary Serbian and Croatian 1
S101 | ALL | Staff
Elementary Serbian and Croatian, conducted in English, will
concentrate on the acquisition of language skills, oral and written,
for the purpose of reading, listening, composition and conversation.
The elements of modern Serbian and Croatian grammar will be
introduced to enhance proper and correct usage. Near the end of the
fall semester several abridged versions of literary texts by authors
from different parts of the former Yugoslavia (Copic, Nusic, Andric,
etc.) will be read in order to give the students an idea of the
language beyond the limits of the textbook.
Assigned texts and materials:
(London: Hodder and Stoughton, 1993).
2. Materials from Croatian language programs for foreigners.
Grading and assessment of students' performance:
- regular classroom attendance and participation: 40%
- quizzes: 20%
- midterm examination: 15%
- final examination: 25%
- 8 grammar quizzes
- midterm exam (after 8 weeks)
- final exam | <urn:uuid:46499af5-686b-4a61-a717-12fbd912b5aa> | 3 | 3.03125 | 0.064365 | en | 0.87979 | http://www.indiana.edu/~deanfac/blspr05/slav/slav_s101_ALL.html |
How do I wrap a handle with wire under tension?
I am joining two tool handles and I want the wire under 50 - 100 pounds of tension so the handles won't wobble. I will then use JB Weld over the wire to hold it in place. I will be forming a handle over that to make it comfortable to use. If you have a good handle making idea that would help too.
Picture of How do I wrap a handle with wire under tension?
jtobako4 years ago
Is JB Weld going to hold a smooth wire under that tension? It's only as strong as aluminum, and DOES separate from smooth surfaces. You might want to test or add some kind of mechanical holding to it.
Prfesser4 years ago
A metal lathe used to be the tool for winding wire into springs or coils for motors. A similar arrangement could be jury-rigged. A "headstock" into which the blade of the tool is clamped, such that it can rotate on its axis. Wire is fastened to the tool handle, and the rest of the wire has a 100 lb weight attached to it, arranged so that the weight can be slid on the wire. Turn the spindle of the headstock to wind some of the wire, slide the weight down the wire, wind more, etc.
I think an old edition of South Bend's "How to Run a Lathe" is online. Leaf through it to see if it has pictures of a winding setup. Good luck!
PS: Leather strips might make a more comfortable handle. Or parachute cord, or thin braided (not twisted) rope.
bucklipe (author) Prfesser4 years ago
This is closer to what I thought of. I was brain storming a method where the handle would sit in a cradle and I would attach the wire with a weight hanging from it. To turn it I would use two wrenches...
Re-design4 years ago
Anchor one end then wind as tightly as you can and anchor the other end. Now drive some thing metal wedges between the wire and the tool. Better yet just weld the tools together and cover with a handle material. | <urn:uuid:92e4a19e-772c-4aa4-82df-91b52b391b29> | 2 | 2.25 | 0.177738 | en | 0.926048 | http://www.instructables.com/answers/How-do-I-wrap-a-handle-with-wire-under-tension/ |
China Investment Corporation - CIC
DEFINITION of 'China Investment Corporation - CIC'
A government-sponsored entity of the People's Republic of China that seeks to invest in securities and commodities abroad. The CIC was initially funded with around $200 billion, which originated from the issuance of long-term treasury bonds by the People's Bank of China (PBOC). The bond proceeds were then converted into dollars through the foreign exchange market.
INVESTOPEDIA EXPLAINS 'China Investment Corporation - CIC'
The CIC provides a vehicle for investing the massive trade surplus that exists in the nation. The CIC will receive regular inflows of capital to help suppress this figure.
Speculations abound as to how the CIC will impact the world financial markets. China has been a large investor in U.S. Treasuries for many years, but hopes to earn a higher return on its foreign investments by diving into stocks, bonds and commodities such as oil and gold. Critics point to general corruption in China's political and economic system and wonder what kind of regulations will exist within the CIC to prevent it from being run in a similar fashion.
One of the first announced investments of the CIC was a 10% stake in U.S.-based private equity firm Blackstone Group, a move that sparked concern on Wall Street at the prospect of Chinese influence on U.S. corporate operations through the stock market.
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Trading Center | <urn:uuid:a4513d5d-23ea-4573-94fa-f22926c69f06> | 2 | 2.09375 | 0.042494 | en | 0.934985 | http://www.investopedia.com/terms/c/china-inv-corp.asp |
Convertible Preferred Stock
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Also known as "convertible preferred shares."
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All investors should read each year the annual report from their top stocks, which contains valuable information and facts they weren't probably aware of.
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Trading Center | <urn:uuid:bcbbc684-a84e-47bd-87f0-db6dbc81562a> | 3 | 2.703125 | 0.652671 | en | 0.917896 | http://www.investopedia.com/terms/c/convertiblepreferredstock.asp |
FRANCOS (pl. of Franco, the Ladino equivalent of Arabic Franji, Ifranji), term used in Muslim countries of the Eastern Mediterranean to designate all Europeans. *Benjamin of Tudela (12th century) used the term in the same sense (Massa'ot, ed. by M.N. Adler (1907), 19, 23). Since the time of the *capitulations treaties between France and the Ottoman Empire (1535), the term has been generally used for the protected (Christian) merchants who came from European countries. In later times Jewish merchants from Europe were also protected under the capitulations treaties. Consequently, one finds the name Franco in Sephardi rabbinic literature from the 16th century onward as a term for European Jews. In Eastern Europe it first came to mean a Jew who was a Turkish subject, and then a Sephardi, Ladino-speaking Jew. In modern Hebrew slang the term Franji is used with the same meaning.
Neubauer, Chronicles, 1 (1887), 157; E.W. Lane, An Arabic-English Lexicon, 6 (1877), 2389; R. Brunschvig (ed.), Deux récits de voyage inédits en Afrique du Nord (1936), 55, 121, 67, 135–6, 158, 192, and n. 3; Lutski, in: Zion, 6 (1940/41), 46–79; Baron, Community, 3 (1942), 101–2.
[Haïm Z'ew Hirschberg]
| <urn:uuid:0ae678d6-d2c1-46e8-8315-782bf579de87> | 3 | 2.84375 | 0.858879 | en | 0.866145 | http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/judaica/ejud_0002_0007_0_06684.html |
Inuit group says US climate policy violates human rights
[JURIST] The Inuit Circumpolar Conference (ICC) [advocacy website], representing Inuit indigenous peoples in Alaska, Canada, Greenland and Russia, has filed a petition [PDF text; summary, PDF] with the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) [official website] accusing the US government of violating Inuit human rights by failing to adequately fight the thaw of Arctic ice. The ICC argues that climate change is undermining Inuit hunting culture and is tantamount to human rights abuse [ICC press release]. The ICC is hoping for a declaration that US climate policies breach the 1948 American Declaration of the Rights and Duties of Man and international laws and has asked the IACHR to recommend that the US adopt mandatory limits on emissions of greenhouse gases. The ICC said in June that it planned to file the petition [JURIST report], but the actual filing coincides with the ongoing UN Climate Change Conference [official website; JURIST report], where 189 nations are discussing ways to fight global warming. The Kyoto Protocol [text] mandates that signatories curb their greenhouse gas emissions, but the US withdrew from the agreement in 2001. Reuters has more.
About Paper Chase
| <urn:uuid:f072fa7f-c6ec-4b68-b63e-e7722ec8466b> | 2 | 2.484375 | 0.072098 | en | 0.912749 | http://www.jurist.org/paperchase/2005/12/inuit-group-says-us-climate-policy.php |
How many miles does the average midfielder run in a standard soccer match (90 minutes)
As Midfielders run the most in a soccer game, their running volume is around 10,000 meters (six miles) in 90 minutes, four miles per hour. Midfielders are the key to success; as in most soccer games, the team that is able to control the middle of the field typically wins and because of this many coaches put their best players at the midfield positions.
Midfielders must be solid defenders who can help out on the back line and skillful enough to jump into the offensive attack. However, there are some coaches that stress that midfielders should first think defensively, they should also be able to quickly cycle the ball forward after dispossessing an attacker.
The midfield position is great for beginning players to learn because it requires building a well-rounded skill set as midfielders always have to defend, dribble, pass, shoot, and even score.
In latest buzz, former Miami FC Midfielder Juan Pablo Galavis will star in the upcoming season of ABC's "The Bachelor" (returns in January 2014), the producers have revealed in the finale of the ABC reality show “The Bachelorette”.
Updated on Friday, August 09 2013 at 04:19AM EDT
Collection: soccer | <urn:uuid:2d1f7981-82e2-4dbd-a9f7-4503d5c2b87e> | 2 | 2.15625 | 0.07244 | en | 0.976183 | http://www.kgbanswers.com/how-many-miles-does-the-average-midfielder-run-in-a-standard-soccer-match-90-minutes/10824731 |
Weather Blog
Northwest climate change report: Shrinking snowpacks, drier summers
Northwest climate change report: Shrinking snowpacks, drier summers
FILE - In this Jan. 31, 2012 file photo, Natural Resources Conservation Service employees Chris Mundy, front, and Nicholle Kovach measure snow depth at a site near Wanoga Snoplay Area west of Bend, Ore. (AP Photo/The Bulletin, Rob Kerr)
Tuesday was a big day in the science community with the release of a major federal scientific report on climate change.
The report breaks the nation down into 8 geographical regions, including the Pacific Northwest, which for their report encompasses Washington, Oregon and Idaho.
The report does do a much better job of translating incredibly complex scientific research into something the general public can benefit from -- something that has been missing in the debate thus far and a very important feat in a world where there are thousands of voices -- some who know what they're talking about; some who have no business claiming expertise about it -- clamoring on the subject that has become dangerously politicized.
What's already happened:
The report states that temperatures across the Pacific Northwest are averaging about 1.3 degrees warmer now than they were in 1895, with the most notable rise in winter (the other three seasons' rises were much less significant.)
The report does note there has been a slight increase in the number of heat waves over the past century, with that number at 70 percent above the long term average over the past 20 years, with 5 of the top 10 regional heat waves happening in the past 20 years.
On the other hand, there has been a slight decrease in the frequency of cold waves over the past century with all of the top 10 regional cold snaps occurring before 1991.
As for precipitation, the reports states that rainfall has generally increased a little but trends are small with respect to natural variability and there hasn't been any statistically significant overall changes found.
What's expected to happen:
The simulations the report used were based on various assumptions about future human activity and CO2 emissions, but all show some warming (See map here). Southeastern Idaho would feel the most warming in the Northwest, while the coastal regions would see the least due to proximity to the chilly Pacific Ocean, but all areas would warm somewhat. Using the lesser emission scenario, Washington would warm about 1.5 degrees in 2021-2050, then 2.5 degrees into the 2041-2070 time frame, and about 3.5 degrees in the 2070-2099 time frame.
If you use the more aggressive emissions scenario, the I-5 corridor could warm 3.5 degrees by mid century and 5-6 degrees by the end of the century while southeast Idaho could be 8.5-9.5 degrees warmer.
The models also suggests the Willamette Valley, southern Oregon, much of Eastern Washington and particularly southern Idaho could see a marked increase in number of days each year with high temperatures and 95 degrees or warmer.
On the flip side, the freeze-free period across the region is forecast to increase by 25-35 days, perhaps even more than 40 days shorter in Western Washington and Oregon.
As for rainfall, the model simulations for the Northwest aren't as decisive. There is a general theme that it could end up a little wetter in Washington in the fall and winter but not significantly so. The models also don't seem to indicate there would be a noticeable increase in extreme precipitation events in our region.
There is, however, a better signal that summers would be drier, perhaps as much as 10 percent across the region.
Biggest climate change impact: Our mountain snowpack
One of the region's most critical dependencies is on our mountain snowpack. The mountains are a critical water bank that as the snow melts in the spring, powers our region's rivers and economy. That snow melt doesn't just simply let us get a glass of water at night and water our lawns in July, it supplies crucial irrigation supplies for our vast agricultural landscape and also provides 40 percent of the nation's total of hydroelectricity. It also provides for our expansive fish, wildlife and forested ecosystems.
The report says human activities have already strained our water supplies to where there are big conflicts between those who depend on water supplies in dry years, and those dry periods will become more frequent and extended as the century progresses.
The report that the average projected decrease in summer precipitation is about 10 percent could have a large effect on frequency and intensity of wildfires and lack of water for agricultural purposes (to say nothing of our ski industry.)
Average snowpack on April 1 has already decreased about 20 percent since 1950, the report states, with spring snow melt occurring between 0 and 30 days earlier, depending on location (although the last few years have had healthy snowpacks in Western Washington and later than usual snow melts.)
The report states that by 2050, snow melt is projected to begin 3-4 weeks earlier than the 20th Century average, leaving summer flows substantially lower. The reduced flows will require more tradeoffs among those who need the water, such as hydroelectricity generation, city reservoirs and agricultural irrigation demands. The economic impact of reduced hydroelectric power could be hundreds of millions of dollars per year, the report states. And reduced river flows could severely impact salmon runs.
As for agriculture, the report says the risk of a water-short year, for example as when Yakima basin junior water rights holders are allowed only 75% of their water right amount, is projected to increase from 14% in the late 20th century to 32% by 2020 and 77% by 2080, assuming no emission adaptations.
Coastal vulnerabilities
Rising sea levels are also a concern of a warming planet as glacial melt occurs. The Pacific Northwest is in a bit of a unique situation in that the coast is ever-so-gradually rising due to tectonic shifts, so the sea level rises so far have been counterbalanced a bit by rising land -- although the report warns that will change after the next great subsidence quake offshore that occur every few hundred years and the coast may drop as much as 40 inches or more relative to sea level.
But even taking these factors into consideration, projections shows sea level rises around 2 feet by the end of the century. Strong warming El Nino conditions can add as much as 4-12 inches to sea levels for several months.
The report states that as sea levels rise, areas within 3.3 feet in elevation of high tide will be inundated more frequently and coastal wetlands and beaches will decline in quality. Ocean acidification will also affect marine species and warming ocean surface temperatures -- perhaps as much as 2.2 degrees by mid century, the report states -- will also affect marine life.
And finally, rising waters could affect property owners along coastal waterfronts, threaten wastewater treatment plants, ferry terminals and coastal road and rail transportation, the report states.
Forest Impacts
The report indicates change in climate will also damage our forests, from increasing wildfires to insect outbreaks and tree diseases, "virtually certain to cause additional forest mortality by the 2040s and long-term transformation of forest landscapes."
And if you go with the high emissions scenarios, the report projects the region will undergo extensive conversion from subalpine forests to other forest types by the 2080s.
As for wildfires, with hotter, drier summers, the mean annual area burned in the Northwest is expected to quadruple, and the probability that 2.2 million acres would burn each year across the Northwest would rise from 5 percent to 50 percent.
Hopefully this report helps "clear the air" a bit on the complex and politicized, but important subject. I've only scratched the surface on the report -- the full report can be found online and is broken down into highlights and the full-fledged report.
Dealing with climate change is not something the United States can do alone, but we can take the lead in having a honest and scientifically sound debate on its merits and what can be done to help mitigate its effects.
As the report states: "The cumulative weight of the scientific evidence contained in this report confirms that climate change is affecting the American people now, and that choices we make will affect our future and that of future generations."
For More Information:
* National Climate Assessment Home Page
* National Report Highlights
* Full National Report
* Northwest Region Highlights
* Northwest Region Full Report
* Northwest Climate Change Statistical Data | <urn:uuid:7d25d3f7-5542-40bb-b577-a8d579689f2a> | 3 | 2.984375 | 0.021491 | en | 0.957718 | http://www.komonews.com/weather/blogs/scott/Climate-Change-Report-Projected-effects-on-the-Pacific-Northwest-258168571.html |
View Full Version : U.S., Royal Thai Marines hone their decon skills
05-31-03, 01:52 PM
U.S., Royal Thai Marines hone their decon skills
Submitted by: MCB Hawaii
Story Identification Number: 2003530205658
Story by Sgt. Alexis R. Mulero
ROYAL THAI MARINE BASE, CAMP SAMAESAN, Thailand(May 19, 2003) -- ROYAL THAI MARINE BASE, CAMP SAMAESAN, Thailand - Nuclear, biological, chemical and radiological weapons have altered the way Marines prepare for combat. Not only must Marines be proficient in their occupational specialty, but they must also be able to perform their job in a mission orientated protective posture suit.
In addition to operating in their MOPP equipment, Marines must also be familiarized with the set-up and operation of a decontamination site for equipment, vehicles, and chemical casualties.
That is why more than 50 Marines of 3rd Marine Expeditionary Brigade and more than 80 Royal Thai Marines participated in a combined nuclear biological and chemical decontamination exercise at Royal Thai Marine Base, Camp Samaesan, Kingdom of Thailand, May 18-19.
"Considering chemical weapons are or prevalent in the world and such focus has been directed toward them, it's important for the U.S. and its allies to prepare for any type of contingency our enemies may throw at us," said Sgt. Clint Schwarz, NBC training noncommissioned officer.
The two-day event began with a full day of classroom time to familiarize all service members involved with how the following day's exercise would evolve. Some of the classes taught were individual protective measures during immediate, operational and thorough decontamination and the use of chemical detector kits.
During the second day, staff noncommissioned officers and officers from both nations watched the exercise transpire before their eyes. Also, Thai and U.S. Marines continued sharing ideas on decontamination, set up a detail equipment and a troop site, rehearsed for that afternoon's event, and accomplished all tasks involved during every scenario given.
"NBC training is like having an insurance policy," said PFC Christian Marrero, NBC specialist, BSSG-3. "You don't want to pay the dividends up front, but when it's time to perform, you realize it's true value."
The exercise provided U.S. and Thai Marines with a better understanding of the operational procedure each nation takes during an NBC decontamination exercise and strengthened ties with Thai forces.
"In the battlefield, it's no longer Thai or U.S. Marines. It's allies fighting for a common cause," said Marrero. "By studying each other's tactics, the operations will move more smoothly and the mission can be accomplished more effectively."
06-02-03, 02:10 PM
An interesting article.
But why posted in the Royal Marines Commando forum? | <urn:uuid:c846e332-1b48-4f48-80e6-d0f51ad4111f> | 2 | 2.171875 | 0.023963 | en | 0.943169 | http://www.leatherneck.com/forums/archive/index.php/t-7375.html |
Reighton Hall, Filey
The Yorkshire Emigration
In 1771 Lt. Governor Michael Franklin of Nova Scotia travelled to northern England to seek immigrants. He was looking for skilled farmers who could take up lands formerly cultivated by the displaced Acadian minority, and who could counterbalance growing republican sentiment within both Nova Scotia and the Colonies to the south. For five years, until the British Government began to grow alarmed at the scale of emigration to North America, agents actively recruited settlers in Yorkshire .
The first of these Yorkshire emigrants arrived in 1772 aboard the Duke of York. This vessel departed Liverpool on March 16, 1772 with 62 passengers, and reached Fort Cumberland on May 21, 1772. On board were Charles Dixon, Thomas Anderson, George Bulmer, John Trenholm and others. During the period 1773-1775 additional vessels left for Nova Scotia, the largest number arriving during the spring of 1774, when 9 ships carried settlers from England to Halifax.
In all, more than one thousand people emigrated from Yorkshire and Northumberland to Nova Scotia (including parts of what later became New Brunswick) between 1771 and 1776. As a group, they comprise 'The Yorkshire Emigration', a significant event in the history of the Maritime provinces. The settlers shared a common language and dialect, a pioneering spirit and — as the years passed — strong bonds created by intermarriage. Many were Methodists, and instrumental in the establishment of the Methodist Church in Canada. Almost all remained loyal to Britain during the Eddy Rebellion, thus helping to determine the future of both Nova Scotia and the future nation of Canada.
Gord Ripley, Teeswater, Ontario | <urn:uuid:339ba58f-3657-4cb5-bafd-d39d2f4cac17> | 4 | 3.96875 | 0.077534 | en | 0.95329 | http://www.libris.ca/yrkfam/ |
Are You Living The American Dream?
The American Dream, Past And Present
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Have you found the American dream? For decades, people living in the United States have been in pursuit of this phenomenon for their lives and their children’s legacy. But what is the American dream and how can you make it part of your life?
The “American dream” definition comes from a book published in 1931 called The Epic of America by James Truslow Adams. It reads: “…life should be better and richer and fuller for everyone, with opportunity for each according to ability or achievement….” In that era of our country’s turbulent transition from mostly rural to mostly urban lifestyles following World War I, the flu pandemic, and the Great Depression, people were looking for inspiration. They needed goals to aspire to, and hope to make them happen. American dreams included the desire for a good-paying job, a healthy family and the potential to become whatever one wished.
In the lands of our ancestors, opportunities for self-actualization and unlimited success were negligible except for those born into families of class and privilege. But in the United States, personal and communal values of individualism and the work ethic instilled by Puritan settlers and hopeful immigrants carved a new identity for the American people. It provided them with the chance to have dreams, and reach them, by sheer will and perseverance.
Whether you have an American dream or are still looking for one, the following points will help to clarify its meaning.
The American Dream is Attainable By All
There are no social, religious or racial boundaries that can prevent anyone from striving for an American dream of their choosing.
Everyone has an equal chance, more or less, to achieve their goals and become whoever they wish to be, including immigrants and disabled persons. Despite periodic obstacles like racism and gender issues, most people in this country are able to accomplish all they want to, with or without others’ help. Some may need more assistance or support than others.
Since the concept of an American dream evolved during a period of financial hardship in our country, it is understandable that for many people, the “dream” represented job security and financial success. Although government programs like WPA and Social Security soon were implemented to provide Americans with temporary and long-term financial support, people sought not just jobs, but careers that would be fulfilling and lasting.
The American Dream of Home Ownership
Along with secure jobs came benefits like the American dream home. The era of farm living and urban apartments gradually evolved into suburban homes with grassy yards and picket fences. Housing developments sprang up to provide affordable home ownership.
In addition to home ownership, families could buy automobiles and appliances—increasingly on revolving payment plans, or credit. Enjoying more leisure time than previous generations, families could now afford to take vacations, pay country club memberships and buy sporting equipment.-
More children went to college to ensure that they could get better jobs and live their own American dream. The standard of living rose significantly to reflect a prosperous middle class, a hefty wealthy class and social programs for the lower class.
Through three quarters of the twentieth century, the American dream represented opportunities to get ahead and become everything that parents were not able to do. But later in the century, the American dream changed shape to embody new opportunities for a changing society.
The New American Dream Emphasizes Equal Rights and Challenges Old Norms
Rights for minorities, women, criminals, and even the unborn were questioned and debated, with legislation enacting various laws that supported and negated proposed rights based on policymakers’ interpretations.
Returning full circle to our nation’s origins, this dream allowed people to reject the status quo of material prosperity and to embrace simple life on communes or shared living communities. Rejecting restrictive clothing, engaging in freer lifestyles, and growing one’s food were two ways in which people returned to their roots as the new American dream. Executives began leaving professional careers to buy farms or vineyards, and many women went back to treading the mommy track over climbing the corporate ladder.
Instead of working hard and saving money to reach their goals, some people began looking for easy ways to cash in on success, such as buying lottery tickets or trying to win cash on prize-awarding game shows. Today, many full-time and part-time employees are choosing to work from home on a flexible schedule that allows them to spend time with families or pursue other interests.
The American Dream and Becoming a Success
Opportunities to become successful are still part of our national identity. Higher education is more accessible than ever, and more students are entering college to earn undergraduate and graduate degrees.
And the idea of homeownership has taken on a new spin. People not only own their own homes, but some have vacation or summer homes, while others travel the country several months a year in their RV’s (recreational vehicles). Two-income families where spouses live in different parts of the country are a growing trend, leading to two-home ownership. Larger, more spacious, and exceedingly elegant homes are being purchased by middle class Americans today.
American Dreams Continue to Flourish
As our immigration rates escalate, more people from around the globe are coming to the United States to live their own dream of getting a decent-paying job and settling into a comfortable society.
Some work two jobs not only to make ends meet, but to get ahead and enjoy a life of substance.
Few countries in the world enjoy the standard of living, equal rights and material opportunities that are abundant in the United States. The swelling tide of immigration is evidence of this fact. From getting an education to enjoying a meaningful career, personal fulfillment is readily available to those who are willing to seek it out. As our society continues to recognize barriers and deal with them to provide expanded access to individual success, we must continue as a society to help others realize their American dreams so that no one feels disenfranchised or short-changed with respect to opportunities.
The American dream began as a vague reference to our aspirations for a better life. Since then, millions of people have reached their dreams and worked to help others achieve theirs. The more we work together to embrace an American dream that benefits everyone, the sooner our society will reach its potential and continue to be a beacon of light to those in search of hope and success.
Are you living your life to the fullest?
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Hard Disk
If you want to do much more than just boot Linux/m68k you will need 60 MB or more of free space on your hard disk and a supported hard disk controller. Add another 20 MB of disk space to the base requirements to use X.
In addition, you'll need some swap space. Any amount will do (and you will need less if you have more RAM). 16 MB of swap space is a fairly reasonable size for most systems; the kernel is limited to using 128 MB of swap space.
Due to the general law that your files will expand and multiply to fill your available disk space, I recommend getting the largest disk you can afford (and your system can handle reliably). | <urn:uuid:f1187807-dffb-4531-9d50-0be3123b7231> | 2 | 1.914063 | 0.034735 | en | 0.90597 | http://www.linux-m68k.org/faq/hdisk.html |
What is sleep apnea?
Sleep apnea is a common sleep disorder in the United States. The disease is more common in men, African Americans, Hispanics, and Pacific Islanders than in other groups. Further, at least one in 10 people older than 65 has sleep apnea (Source: NHLBI).
Sleep apnea occurs due to two causes: obstruction of the airways and irregular brain signals. Most commonly, people develop sleep apnea from relaxation of soft tissue in the back of the throat that blocks the passage of air, resulting in obstructive sleep apnea (OSA). Central sleep apnea (CSA) is caused by irregularities in the brain’s normal signals to breathe.
The signs and symptoms of sleep apnea can last indefinitely or come and go. The disease course varies among individuals. Some people with sleep apnea have no symptoms, while others may have severe problems with sleep, decreases in blood oxygen levels (hypoxia), difficulty concentrating, irritability, and fatigue. Fortunately, sleep apnea can be treated successfully with lifestyle changes, breathing devices, and, in severe cases, surgery.
Seek immediate medical care (call 911) for serious symptoms, such as chest pain, headache, shortness of breath, severe sweating, or weakness or numbness on one side of the body.
What are the symptoms of sleep apnea?
Sleep apnea causes frequent drops in your oxygen level, and reduced sleep quality triggers the release of stress hormones. This raises your heart rate and increases your risk of high blood pressure, heart attack, stroke, and arrhythmias (irregul... Read more about sleep apneasymptoms
What causes sleep apnea?
How is sleep apnea treated?
Main treatment for sleep apnea
The ... Read more about sleep apneatreatments
This Article is Filed Under: Lungs, Breathing and Respiration
Popular Lungs, Breathing and Respiration Slide Shows
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| <urn:uuid:c805fba0-23db-436a-a577-ab96ff8d1b81> | 4 | 3.53125 | 0.40236 | en | 0.925443 | http://www.localhealth.com/article/sleep-apnea-1 |
The Transformation From Mechanical To Wireless Communicating Locks
If we take the time to see the transformation of door locks from the mechanical key operated, to electrified locksets, to standalone battery operated locks and finally to networked battery operated locks, we can get a better understanding of how each of the locks operate, their features and conveniences. A number of these features have created significant opportunities for controlling access. Many have become required standards for end-users including audit trail and time-date capabilities.
Locksmiths have installed, keyed and serviced mechanical cylindrical and mortise locks that include the Kwikset 400BDL, National E-Z Set, Sargent 8 Line and 8100 Series, Schlage D/ND Series and K/L Series, and Weiser A500 Series. These residential and commercial grade cylindrical locks could be rekeyed by removing the knob, pull the tail shaft and rotate plug, or popping out the cylinder assembly to name three of the more common lock cylinder removal methods. We learned how to service these and other locks and even had to read the instructions on a few of them.
Mechanical locks have basic locking methods. A key is required to unlock the lock. Some locks require a key to lock them. Over time, master keying techniques expanded and provided greater opportunities for controlling physical access. In addition, clever locksmiths and lock manufacturers developed different types of locks and keys to further control access. These included double cylinder lock cylinders, key trap lock cylinders, one way lock cylinders, construction keys and specific applications for mortise and cylindrical locks. However, someone still had to insert the proper key into the lock in order to gain access.
The first electronic access control devices were introduced in the 1980s. Mortise locks were electrified using electromechanical solenoids to power the latch mechanism by aftermarket re-manufacturers such as Architectural Control Systems Inc., Command Access, Marray and the lock manufacturers themselves. To operate these locks, an external power source, a switch and wiring were required. The switch in some of the early installations was a doorbell button and the power supply a simple transformer.
These early electrified locks provided the end users with a method to remotely control access. The front door could remain locked and someone did not have to physically go to the door in order to provide access. The person, sometimes a receptionist or secretary, would have to press a momentary button to temporarily unlock the lock. Some of the early installations were jewelers, travel agents and businesses in questionable neighborhoods.
Over time, the current draw and the size of the electromechanical solenoids improved. As solenoids became small enough, cylindrical locks became available electrified. Electrified locks are available with Fail Safe and/or Fail Secure electromechanical solenoids.
This choice determines the condition of the lock mechanism. A Fail Safe operation electromechanical solenoid unlocks the door lock and a Fail Secure operation solenoid keeps the door locked when power is turned off. More important are the door monitoring capabilities, which include REX (Request to Exit), latch and deadbolt monitoring, lock cylinder monitoring and door position monitoring capabilities. The features depend upon the lock manufacturer and the model.
The first standalone (without wires) battery operated electromechanical lock was introduced in the late 1980s with a number of other lock manufacturers introducing their models. The inclusion of a circuit board-equipped lock provided many new ways to control access. These battery operated locks did not require any external wiring, external power source or multiple components for installation.
Over the years, a number of different function standalone, battery operated electromechanical locks have been developed. In addition to the cylindrical, mortise and exit device application, companies such as Adams Rite, Sargent and others have introduced their version of the narrow and medium stile aluminum/glass door compatible locks that are designed to operate the Adams Rite style of deadbolts and deadlatches.
The advantage of the standalone, battery operated electromechanical lock was having all of the components in one unit. Battery power eliminated the need for wiring. Standalone eliminated compatibility issues and technical support problems as well as warranty issues. If there is a question or problem with a standalone lock, only one telephone number needs to be called to the lock manufacturer for technical support.
The cost to purchase a standalone electromechanical lock was and is usually more than the cost of individual wired components. However, the installation is significantly less expensive. This left the choice of wired versus standalone to the “construction of the building,” the locksmith or the end-user. “Construction of the building” refers to if the walls or jambs were concrete filled, resulting in a very difficult and time consuming job of properly running wires.
Standalone, battery operated electromechanical locks can provide features including:
Hierarchy systems (Master, Submaster, Supervisor, User, Service Code, etc.)
User Code Groups
Hundreds or thousands of User Codes
Time/date methods for controlling access
Lock down (Supervisor code access or no code access)
Passage mode – unlocked
Downloadable audit trail (lock history)
Ability to identify when override key was used
Credentials - Keypad, magstripe, proximity, SmartCard, etc.
Touch pad versus keypad
Battery condition indicator
Anti-tamper – three incorrect code and the lock shuts down for a period of time
Standalone locks require someone to go to each lock to determine lock condition, battery strength, to retrieve the audit trails or to make programming changes. Programming changes can be accomplished by having a person download (data transfer tools) or physically program changes at each of the locks. Programming at the lock normally requires the lock to be equipped with a keypad or a port to which a computer or tool can be connected. Programming and checking multiple locks can be time consuming.
However, the upside is the ability to control access by limiting users to specific time ranges and days. If the lock has a built in holiday calendar, it is possible that no programming is required to lock out users on weekends and specific holidays.
To provide more universal options, standalone locks are available to be installed onto narrow stile aluminum/glass doors, as well as be installed onto wood and metal door using cylindrical locks, mortise locks and exit devices. Some lock manufacturers including Alarm Lock offer double-sided locks that are commonly installed onto gates to control access.
During the 2000s, wireless communication became an available feature for standalone, battery operated electromechanical locks. Wireless communication means no wires to transfer the information to a personal computer or to another lock. There are many different methods of wireless communication and the different software programs that operate them.
Most network-capable standalone, battery operated electromechanical locks use an access point, a gateway. A gateway is a node (wireless router) that serves as an access point to another network. For these locks, a gateway wirelessly connects the lock to the personal computer. Depending upon the lock’s manufacturer, the gateway can be wireless or wired to the personal computer.
One important feature of the newer standalone and networked electromechanical locks is the increased memory. This enables the locks to have thousands of users, larger audit trail capabilities and more defined access control limitations. This memory capability also provides some lock manufacturers products to have lock programming, user-data and use information stored in the locks themselves to be able to have uninterrupted access control should there be a power out for the personal computer.
When a system has been installed, the computer through the gateway and the locks transmit and receive information including adding or removing user codes, time/date changes, determining battery condition, lockdown or passage mode, etc. Just about everything that can be accomplished at the lock itself.
For example, a new employee proximity identification card can be swiped at the computer and programmed into the system. The proximity card is handed to the employee who can gain access at each authorized door during the appropriate times. All of this can be done without having to go out to any of the locks.
Some electromechanical lock manufacturers offer upgrade paths for their products. Schlage AD Series Electromechanical Locks are designed to be upgraded. The credential reader and the communication module can be changed out.
For example, a company just starting out does not have need for multiple credentials, just standalone electromechanical locks. The AD Series locks purchased have just a keypad. Over time, they grow and want to institute employee badges using emerging technologies and wireless communications. The keypad reader can be changed out to a proximity or SmartCard credential. The communication module can be changed out to a hardwired or wireless communication module.
Over the years, lock manufacturers have developed specialty applications for some of the wireless communications battery operated locks. Persona locks are appearing on college campuses and housing. Persona technology is available through the Assa Abloy Group companies. Another specialty application is the Kaba-Ilco Oracode system. The standalone, battery powered Oracode is keyless and cardless. An electronic PIN based keypad equipped lock grants access through a time sensitive code. This web based software operated lock can be programmed to grant access from anywhere in the world. The end-user enters the PIN to gain access for a limited time frame. Once the time has expired, the PIN can no longer gain access.
Some standalone, battery powered electromechanical wireless communication lock manufacturers use proprietary software, which does not allow competitors’ products to be introduced to network. Other lock manufacturers including Sargent and Schlage have open architecture systems that permit the locksmith or the end-user to choose the 3rd party software and controllers.
Programming complexity varies from lock manufacturer to lock manufacturer. For existing Trilogy installations, standalone and Trilogy Networx locks can share a common database using the later versions of the Alarm Lock DL-Windows software.
The development of electromechanical locks provides greater opportunities to sell your customers on higher levels of access control with simplified installations. Many of these locks install into standard door prep. Some do not even require large cross bore opening that would affect a fire rated opening. Most lock manufacturers offer training for locksmiths.
To view additional Locksmith Ledger articles on wireless locks, visit visit Web Site: www. | <urn:uuid:540b0aa7-78c0-4705-9fa9-38f229d9d39e> | 2 | 2.46875 | 0.034854 | en | 0.935914 | http://www.locksmithledger.com/article/10228415/the-transformation-from-mechanical-to-wireless-communicating-locks?page=3 |
1. Introduction
A. What is parallel processing?
1. Two or more computers cooperating to accomplish one task
B. Why parallel processing?
1. To accomplish tasks too big for one computer alone
C. Basic paradigms
1. Shared memory
i. Some people find it easier to use, conceptually and practically
ii. Requires special hardware (e.g. dual processors, really 'spensive specialized machines)
iii. Out of our price range
2. Message-passing
i. Harder?
ii. No special hardware needed--networks of workstations
iii. Probably the most useful paradigm for YOU, valued listener, which is why I'm covering it.
3. There are other paradigms, and combinations of paradigms (for example, a virtual shared memory system actually implemented with message-passing), but these tend to be too slow to bother with and/or not used outside academia. Also, I don't have enough time to cover them.
2. Introducing MPICH
A. MPICH is a Free (speech) implementation of the MPI (Message Passing Interface) standard
1. It's just a C library.
i. If you know C, you can use MPICH.
ii. Works on any architecture that has a C compiler
B. Getting MPICH
1. http://www-unix.mcs.anl.gov/mpi/mpich
C. Installing MPICH
1. http://heather.cs.ucdavis.edu/~matloff/MPI/NotesMPICH.NM.html
D. Running MPICH/common traps and how to avoid them
1. MPICH function calls are verbose and picky
2. Fortunately, you can mostly do them cookbook-style, and MPICH defines a bunch of macros to help you on your way
3. To compile your program: mpicc <flags> <programname>
i. Standard cc flags accepted (e.g. -g, -o)
4. To run your program:
i. Have a process group file in your working directory. This file tells MPICH how to find the other computers you're using.
a. IMPORTANT! All nodes must be in every other node's .rhosts file. If not, your program will die with "Permission denied". This problem is extremely common.
b. The process group file looks like this: (show an example)
ii. Start your program with 'mpirun -p4pg <your-process-group-file> <executable-name>'.
C. The Distinguished Node
1. It's important to remember that the SAME program runs on all nodes, and therefore that the same instructions get executed on all nodes.
2. But some jobs only need to be done once per program run. Printing out results, say.
3. You just put in a little test in the program--if I'm node 0, then I print out the results. Node 0 now has a special job to do--it's distinguished.
4. In fact, having a distinguished node is frequently very handy! Sure, we could just have it print out the results. But we could also give it more special work to do. We could make it a master node and put it in charge of overseeing all the other nodes, for example.
3. Planning Your Program
A. Is parallel processing right for this task?
1. If the task isn't absofrickinglutely huge, probably not.
2. Finding all primes less than N--> pp outperformed sp only when N>1e6
B. Divvying up the work
1. Data parallelism: divide up the data among processors
i. Task pool
a. Every node grabs a chunk of data from a task pool, works on it, and grabs another one, until there are no more chunks left
b. You'll usually have a distinguished node in charge of handing out work and collecting results.
c. Responsive--new tasks can be added to the task pool dynamically
d. Example: graphics rendering, SETI@home
ii. Blocks of data
a. Every node does the same task on a pre-specified chunk or chunks of data
b. Requires static data, but if enough is hard-coded in advance, you might be able to get useful work out of the distinguished node
c. Example: keyspace searches, matrix operations
2. Functional parallelism: divide up the job among processors
i. Pipeline
a. Every node does a different step of a larger task
b. Ideally, each step requires roughly the same time/computing power
c. Think of a production line
3. Granularity
i. Fine-grained: smaller chunks of data/smaller tasks per node
a. More responsive, better load balancing (usually)
b. Higher communication costs--> performance hit
ii. Coarse-grained: bigger chunks of data/larger tasks per node
a. Less responsive, possible load balancing problems
b. Less communication needed--> performance gain
C. Spotting Oportunities for Parallelizing Your Task
1. Look at your loops
i. If your loop is executed N times, could either
a. many processors take a fraction of N (i.e. node 1 takes iterations 0..25, node 2 takes iterations 26..50, etc.)?
b. many processors each take a part of the work done in the loop? (i.e. node 1 takes instructions 1..5, etc.)?
ii. If you split up the work in one of those ways, how much communication would be required between nodes? The ideal situation would be no communication required, for problems that parallelize exceptionally well (embarassingly parallel).
D. Problems that do not parallelize well
i. Anything that requires extensive user input or I/O
ii. Performs particularly poorly under message-passing; performance may be OK under shared memory (graphics accelerators)
4. Anatomy of your average MPICH program
A. Data types in MPICH
1. Basically the same as in C, they just have different names.
i. Portability reasons--there's also MPICH for Fortran
2. You must use the MPI names in MPI function calls.
3. You don't need to cast, say, int to MPI_INT, or vice versa.
B. Basic structure
1. #include mpi.h
2. Any constants you want to use?
i. I suggest you #define constants for the types of messages you want to send. You can use them to get your nodes to figure out what kind of message they've just gotten and what action to take.
ii. For example, you can: #define WORK_MSG 1; #define STOP_MSG 0, and tell your worker nodes to return if they get a message of type STOP_MSG.
2. In the main() function
i. MPI_INIT(argc, argv): required for all MPICH programs. You must call this function before trying to access command-line args.
ii. MPI_Comm_World(&Numnodes) Finds out how many nodes there are and puts that in Numnodes.
iii. MPI_Comm_Rank(&Me) Finds out the "rank" of this node (its unique id among all nodes used) and puts it in Me.
iv. Parting of the Ways
a. Now that everything's set up, time to get everyone working.
b. if (me == 0) {hand_out_work; collect_results;}; else {do_work; send_results;}
v. The End: MPI_Finalize(); Also required for all MPICH programs.
5. Writing Your Program
A. How nodes communicate
1. TCP/IP packets... with all the flexibility and overhead you've come to expect from TCP/IP.
i. Internode communication is your bottleneck
B. Blocking vs. nonblocking I/O
1. Blocking I/O (synchronous)
i. When a node wishes to talk to another node, it waits (blocks) until both parties are ready to talk
2. Nonblocking I/O (asynchronous)
i. When a node wants to talk to another node, it just fires off its message and carries on
3. Which to use?
ii. Use nonblocking sends & receives if you don't care exactly when a message is received. But if you DO care (say you need information from another node before you can do something), use blocking receives.
4. Send format: MPI_Send(void *buf, int count, MPI_Datatype datatype, int dest, int messagetag, MPI_Comm commhandle);
5. Receive format: MPI_Recv(void *buf, int count, MPI_Datatype datatype, int source, int tag, MPI_Comm comm, MPI_Status *status);
C. Scatter, Gather, and Broadcast
1. Up 'til now, we've discussed point-to-point communications. Now for some pp-specialized communication
2. Broadcast/multicast
i. One node sends the same message to all other nodes
ii. Say each node is responsible for iterations x through y of a certain loop. Instead of hardcoding x or y, you can calculate the chunk size at runtime and send that.
iii. MPI_Bcast(void *buffer, int count, MPI_Datatype datatype, int root_id, MPI_Comm comm);
iv. This is more elegant than having N sends/receives, but I didn't use it much. I don't know why not.
3. Scatter
i. A node has an array. It sends the ith element of the array to node i.
ii. You can use this to send different information to each node.
iii. MPI_Scatter(void *sendbuf, int sendcnt, MPI_Datatype sendtype, void *recvbuf, int recvcnt, MPI_Datatype recvtype, int root-id, MPI_Comm comm);
iv. Remember that EVERYONE executes the scatter. MPI is smart enough to figure out who's sending and who's receiving.
4. Gather
i. A node has an array. The information sent to it by node i is put into the ith element.
ii. Suppose each node has a subtotal, say, of the prime-finding problem. You can do a gather to put each node's subtotal in an array resident at the distinguished node, and then add 'em all up.
iii. MPI_Gather(void *sendbuf, int sendcnt, MPI_Datatype sendtype, void *recvbuf, int recvcount, MPI_Datatype recvtype, int root_id, MPI_Comm comm);
iv. Everyone executes the gather. (see above)
D. Locks and barriers
1. Locks
i. Protect critical sections, avoid race conditions
a. There are sections in practically every program where you don't want more than one process at once.
b. For example, the "commit" phase of a database change operation, writing results to disk, etc.
c. Place a lock at the start of the critical section, and an unlock at the end
ii. How to use them efficiently
a. Keep critical sections as short as possible! Every second spent in a critical section is a second when, potentially, no one else can work
b. If you find that an awful lot of your code is in critical sections, re-consider whether parallel processing is an efficient way to approach your task.
2. Barriers
i. Stop here and wait for everyone to catch up
ii. Mostly useful at the end of a program--you usually put a barrier before aggregating or printing out results, for example--but you may find them useful elsewhere, too.
6. Debugging and Optimizing Your Program
A. Debugging a pp is a giant pain
1. Using printf statements
i. BEWARE! You cannot assume that they appear on your screen in the order that they were generated.
2. Attaching gdb to a running process
i. A more elegant solution, but I haven't had great success with it. Cumbersome.
ii. In your program, have a statement like "foo = 1; while (foo) {};"
iii. Start them all up and make note of the pids.
iv. Type 'gdb <pid>' on each node
v. Within gdb on each node, set foo=0
vi. You should now be able to step through the program from within gdb.
B. Deadlock
1. If your program hangs, look for the usual, mundane program-hanging culprits first.
2. But also consider deadlock--two or more nodes waiting, forever, for the other one(s) to give up waiting.
3. Example: Two nodes each wish to send the other a piece of data and receive a piece of data from the other. Each does a blocking receive and then a send. What happens? Each waits, forever, for the other to be ready to send data.
C. Load balancing
1. In a perfect world, all nodes would do an equal share of the work
2. In the real world, it's not uncommon to find that one node, or, less commonly, a subset of nodes, is doing most/all of the work.
3. Common symptoms of this: your pp program takes as long or longer than a single processor program would; you put printfs in the worker function and all printfs come from the same node.
4. To fix: Look long and hard at the way tasks are handed out.
7. Miscellaneous/Wrap-up
A. For more information
1. Parallel Programming: Techniques and Applications using Networked Workstations and Parallel Computers, by Barry Wilkinson and Michael Allen
2. Parallel Programming with MPI, by Peter Pacheco
3. ECS 158, Parallel Programming, won't be offered this academic year. UCD's own Prof. Norm Matloff has a *great* MPI page at http://heather.cs.ucdavis.edu/~matloff/mpi.html . | <urn:uuid:060547ae-467e-40c3-b23e-1d5e93f216d7> | 3 | 3.078125 | 0.894292 | en | 0.868328 | http://www.lugod.org/presentations/pptalk/parallel-processing.html |
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Sensors Sensors 1424-8220 MDPI 10.3390/s140304466 sensors-14-04466 Article An Interactive Tool for Outdoor Computer Controlled Cultivation of Microalgae in a Tubular Photobioreactor System DormidoRaquel* SánchezJosé DuroNatividad Dormido-CantoSebastián GuinaldoMaría DormidoSebastián Department of Computer Sciences and Automatic Control, UNED, C/Juan del Rosal, 16, 28040 Madrid, Spain; E-Mails: (J.S.); (N.D.); (S.D.-C.); (M.G.); (S.D.) Author to whom correspondence should be addressed; E-Mail:; Tel.: +34-91-398-7192; Fax: +34-91-398-7690. 03 2014 06 03 2014 14 3 4466 4483 13 01 2014 21 02 2014 04 03 2014 © 2014 by the authors; licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. 2014
This paper describes an interactive virtual laboratory for experimenting with an outdoor tubular photobioreactor (henceforth PBR for short). This virtual laboratory it makes possible to: (a) accurately reproduce the structure of a real plant (the PBR designed and built by the Department of Chemical Engineering of the University of Almería, Spain); (b) simulate a generic tubular PBR by changing the PBR geometry; (c) simulate the effects of changing different operating parameters such as the conditions of the culture (pH, biomass concentration, dissolved O2, inyected CO2, etc.); (d) simulate the PBR in its environmental context; it is possible to change the geographic location of the system or the solar irradiation profile; (e) apply different control strategies to adjust different variables such as the CO2 injection, culture circulation rate or culture temperature in order to maximize the biomass production; (f) simulate the harvesting. In this way, users can learn in an intuitive way how productivity is affected by any change in the design. It facilitates the learning of how to manipulate essential variables for microalgae growth to design an optimal PBR. The simulator has been developed with Easy Java Simulations, a freeware open-source tool developed in Java, specifically designed for the creation of interactive dynamic simulations.
photobioreactors biocontrol biotechnology laboratory education simulators interactive programs modeling Java
Microalgae are of increasing interest for research and industry. Microalgae culture for energy production has emerged as an interesting alternative to fossil fuels and biofuels [1,2]. Its great potential to produce a wide range of important biochemical components for food or medicine is also well known [3]. Even though in the last years microalgae biomass has generated overwhelming interest, cultivation of microalgae is not an easy task. Difficulties arise from, e.g., the need to avoid contamination, the energy supply and cultivation conditions. For example, high light intensities can lead to photo- inhibition, but low intensities probably limit the photosynthesis activity and other related cellular processes.
Present only a few hundred tons of products are produced in closed photobioreactors (PBR for short). One of the most important hindrances to a sustainable commercial use of algae cultures is the lack of suitable PBRs to guarantee optimal microalgae growth conditions.
The design and development of a PBR for maximum production of microalgae involves many questions: detailed knowledge of light distribution, mass transfer, scalability, etc. Apart from maximum production, other factors such as design, cost effectiveness, low maintenance costs or energy requirements need to be optimized. To date, no PBR fulfills all these requirements.
On the other hand, process sensing is an essential and integral component of PBR technology. Industrial PBR systems demand accurate tracking of multiple culture parameters to correctly reflect the process dynamics, and from which appropriate actions can be implemented to enhance process performance. In addition to the standard sensors for temperature, dissolved oxygen, and pH, many sophisticated electronic sensors for measuring a variety of culture and process parameters (such as viability, metabolic activities, biomass and nutrient concentrations) are available. However, most of these sensors are limited by high cost, poor long-term stability, or both. Furthermore, installation of the required manifold of electronic hardware sensors would make the PBR system prohibitively expensive not only in terms of design and construction, but also maintenance.
These considerations suggest the necessity of advanced simulation tools in order to let researchers study new methods to improve the productivity. These tools would help investigate in depth the design and control of optimal PBRs to enable production under controlled and commercially competitive conditions.
The field of biotechnology is characterized by rapid changes in terms of novelty and by highly sophisticated processes (for instance, PBRs) that require careful design, operation and control in order to be run under safe and optimal conditions. Therefore facing a highly competitive global economic environment operational excellence is the key to exploiting these opportunities. This has to be added to the inherent complexity of the biological systems. To cope with all these issues innovative, reliable, smart, and cost-effective manufacturing processes are demanded, but, to meet these requirements involves the education of new engineers and vocational training students with tools that take advantage of the application of novel information and communication technologies to education in biotechnology and bioprocesses.
The use of computer simulations in the control process field to build models or to model real-world phenomena in order to help students gain insights into the behaviour of complex systems is of growing importance. Prominent advantages of virtual laboratories are not new [46]. Interacting with a simulation in virtual laboratories enable learners to gain better understanding of real systems, processes or phenomena through exploration, testing of hypotheses, and discovering explanations for processes.
In this context, the development of PBRs simulators tailored to the student profile is necessary. To date and to the authors' knowledge, no virtual laboratory for a PBR system has been developed. For vocational training students or plant operators, the development of virtual laboratories to master the operation of a PBR more from a qualitative view that from a quantitative and engineering perspective is justified. For the control and chemical engineering student, PBR simulators are fundamental to appreciate the complexity of these multivariable biological processes.
The advantages of a PBR interactive simulator, such as the one described in this paper, are clear, either for students or from an industrial point of view. It provides opportunities for users to modify their mental models, by comparing the outputs of the model with their expectations, and also it engages or motivates students to explore different effects which will lead to understanding. From an industrial point of view, the necessity of more advanced simulations PBR environments is compulsory. Many design factors must be optimized and balanced to implement an algae growing system in a large commercial facility.
The paper is organized as follows: Section 2 describes the PBR system. Section 3 presents the real system overview. In Section 4 some environmental issues are shown. Section 5 presents the PBR system developed in Easy Java Simulations (EJS for short). The paper ends with some concluding remarks and considerations about further works.
The Photobioreactor System Photobioreactor Design
Mass cultivation of microalgae requires an appropriate culture system. There are different technical solutions for such cultivation [7,8]. Basically they can be classified in open PBR (known as raceways), which are open to the air, and closed PBR.
Open Systems
The benefits of open systems lie in the ease of construction. They are also less expensive to build and maintain than closed systems. An open system can be in the form of a lake, pond, or some large open vessel that can hold water. Major limitations of this design include: (a) its susceptibility to evaporation; (b) the contamination by invasive species, which could take over the pond requiring draining and/or treatment; (c) the requirements for large areas of land; (d) temperature fluctuations that can affect algal growth; (e) in addition, once microalgae flourish, it is also difficult to get the maximum amount of light to all the microalgae since the pools are somewhat deep and efficient circulation is problematic.
Closed Systems
Closed PBRs create an enclosed growing environment for algae cultivation where light, air, and nutrients are supplied at regulated levels to ensure optimized growth. Some benefits of these closed systems are: (a) microalgae cultures can grow free of potential contaminants such as microorganisms; (b) they provide higher production rates than open systems; (c) they are easier to manipulate and control, allowing the optimization of the essential variables and providing high growth rates; (d) they have less evaporation than open systems; (e) interior lighting can be adjusted for proper exposure levels. Problems with closed systems involve mainly the fact they are more expensive to set up and the facilities require greater amounts of maintenance.
An important factor of PBRs to maximize the growth conditions is their design, that is, the geometry employed to get an efficient distribution of light. The most common closed PBR geometries are the flat plate, the annular, and the tubular ones (see Figure 1). A complete description of these categories is given in [9].
Flat plate PBRs have received much attention due to their large illumination surface area. Generally, these PBRs are made of transparent materials for maximum utilization of solar light energy. Accumulation of dissolved oxygen concentrations in flat rates PBRs is relatively low compared to tubular PBRs. It has been reported that with flat plate PBRs high photosynthetic efficiencies can be achieved [1012].
Annular reactors are typically translucent large diameter containers filled with algae suspended in a liquid medium, in which gases are bubbled from the bottom of the container. Since no precisely defined flow lines are reproducibly formed, it can be difficult to control the mixing properties of the system which can lead to low mass transfer coefficients, poor photomodulation, and low productivity. Moreover, to work with sufficient volume, the large diameter leads to a considerable dark fraction in the middle of the cylinder. This part does not contribute to productivity or may even have detrimental effects on growth.
The tubular PBR is one of the most suitable types for outdoor mass cultures. Most of them are usually constructed with either glass or plastic tubes. They consist of straight, coiled or looped transparent tubing arranged in various ways for maximizing sunlight capture. Properly designed tubular PBRs completely isolate the culture from potentially contaminating external environments, allowing extended duration algal cultures. Mixing of the cultures in tubular PBRs is usually done either with air-pump or airlift systems. This design is very suitable for outdoor mass cultures of algae since they have a large illumination surface area. On the other hand, one of the major limitations of tubular PBRs is their poor mass transfer. It should be noted that mass transfer (oxygen build-up) becomes a problem when tubular PBRs are scaled up. For instance, some studies have shown that very high dissolved oxygen levels are easily reached in tubular PBRs.
Comparing the three ways of engineering closed PBRs, the tubular ones facilitate better control of many culture environment parameters such as the carbon dioxide supply, the water supply, the optimal temperature, the efficient exposure to sunlight, the culture density, the pH level, the gas supply rate, or the mixing regime.
Production Cycle in a Closed PBR Tubular System
Even though not all PBRs look alike, they basically work in the same way. A working schematic of a generic tubular PBR system for outdoor microalgae culture is shown in Figure 2.
An outdoor microalgae culture only needs nutrients, sunlight, and carbon dioxide to grow. From a mixing unit, the culture flow usually progresses to a pump which moderates the flow into the tube. Built into the pump is the CO2 inlet valve. The tubular loop itself, which acts as a solar receiver, is used to promote the biological growth by controlling the environmental parameters. Different sensors are usually available in the tubular loop such as oxygen sensors to determine how much oxygen has built up in the plant, or pH or temperature sensors. Once microalgae have completed the flow through the tubular loop, they pass back to the mixing unit. Efficient mixing should be provided in this unit in order to produce a uniform dispersion of microalgae within the culture medium, thus eliminating light gradients or for distributing the nutrient concentration. Likewise air is bubbled through the bottom of the mixing unit to provide good overall mixing, sufficient supply of CO2, and efficient removal of O2. At this stage, an optical sensor determines the harvesting rate. When the microalgae are ready for harvesting, they pass through the connected filtering system. This filter collects the microalgae ready for processing, while the remaining microalgae pass back to the mixing unit. After harvesting water with nutrients can be added to the mixing unit.
Another system incorporated into many PBRs is a built-in cleaning system that internally cleans the tubes without stopping the production. This is an agitation system which prevents the microalgae from sticking to the walls of the vessel and diminishing the amount of available light.
Real System Overview Description of the plant
The virtual laboratory described in this paper is based in the microalgae production facility located in “Experimental Station of Las Palmerillas”, property of the CAJAMAR Foundation (Almería, Spain; see Figure 3a,b).
The facility consists of 10 tubular fence-type PBRs built as described in [1315]. Each PBR is made of a 400 m-long tube of 0.09 m diameter, with a bubble column 3.5 m high and 0.4 m in diameter for degassing and heat exchange. The tube diameter was optimized to maximize the culture volume per reactor, but minimizing yield losses caused by an excessive light path for photosynthesis. The tubes are optimally arranged to maximize the interception of solar radiation.
The tubular PBR model consists of two parts, which are a solar receiver (a continuous tubular loop) and a mixing unit (a bubble column). The culture is continuously recirculating from one to the other part using airlift and mechanical pumps. As the mass transfer and fluid-dynamics phenomena are different in each part, they are modeled separately.
In the bubble column both liquid and gas phases occur. On the one hand, the bubble (airlift) column circulates the culture through the solar receiver, where most of the photosynthesis happens. On the other hand, the oxygen produced by photosynthesis accumulates in the broth until the culture returns to the airlift zone where the accumulated oxygen is stripped by air (oxygen desorption) in order to prevent gas bubbles from recirculating into the solar receiver. In the external loop, the liquid circulates by a centrifugal pump where pure CO2 is supplied on demand for pH control purposes. Perfect mixing is considered in the liquid and gas phases. Cooling water pumped through a heat exchanger coil in the mixing unit is used for temperature control.
The complete system, as well as the data capture system and the control software which actually control and monitor all the facility activity, were designed and built by the Department of Chemical Engineering at the University of Almería (Almería, Spain).
Measurement and Performance Instrumentation
In the PBR system process sensing is an essential issue. In industrial PBRs it is desirable to reflect in a correct way the process dynamics in order to implement correct control actions to enhance the process performance. To this end many sensors and actuators are incorporated into the system for measuring a variety of culture and process variables (such as biomass, nutrient, concentrations, etc.).
The industrial PBR system on which this virtual laboratory has been inspired is endowed with different measurement and performance units. The sensors can be grouped as follows:
Temperature sensors: To measure the water temperature at the inlet and outlet of the heat exchanger, the average temperature of inlet water, the temperature of the mixing unit, the temperature of the culture, the ambient temperature, and the solar radiation.
Flow sensors: Different digital flowmeters are used to measure the CO2 flow, the air flow supplied to the bubble column and the heat exchanger inlet and outlet water flow.
pH sensors: Three different sensors placed at the entry of the column, in the central area of tubes and just before the point of the CO2 injection.
Dissolved oxygen sensors at the upper and bottom part of the column.
Turbidity of the concentration of biomass sensor: Located between the pump and the CO2 injection.
Although the PBR has all these sensors, the model implemented to control the system only uses a few of them. These are the three pH sensors, three temperature sensors situated in the external loop (one on top, one at the bottom, and the last at the halfway point of the loop), and the two dissolved oxygen sensors. It must be noted that this control system design (number of sensors, local controllers, etc.) is specific for this particular PBR design, but it can be easily extended for a different system.
In addition, there are a series of specific measures required for the operation. For example: the ambient temperature, the temperature at the inlet and outlet of the exchanger, the medium temperature water, the turbidity, the molar flow of CO2, the solar radiation, the air flow, the flow rate of cooling water, the medium flow, the flow of CO2, and the frequency of the CO2 injection pump. For all the above mentioned measures, sensors are used.
In order to use all these sensors, the PBR has a series of actuators such as a proportional valve (1–5 volts) flow CO2 input, a proportional valve for water in the heat exchanger, a proportional flow valve medium (nutrient), a frequency inverter in the internal fluid of the reactor recirculation, a proportional valve for air supply into the bubbling column.
From the actuators' point of view is important to note that the pump drive of the culture is driven by a frequency inverter which achieves the desired speed (set to 0.9 m/s). In addition, the entry of CO2 is controlled by a DC solenoid valve located just after the pump, so that the inflow is regulated manually by means of a rotameter (this flow has a value of 3 or 5 L/min). Moreover, the air in the column is controlled by a continuous valve, whose typical value is set at 80 L/min. Finally, the input to the heat exchanger flow is regulated by a continuous valve and this in turn is connected to two proportional valves, one for hot water and one for cold water, while the flow of medium is introduced into the reactor by means of a continuous valve located at the top of the column. Both performance measurement signals can be handled in real time in a way that is easy and simple, using a data acquisition module implemented by the Department of Chemical Engineering of Almería University.
The Mathematical Growth Model
Any model for a microalgae production system must consider the relationship between light availability and photosynthesis rate, the mixing and the gas–liquid mass transfer inside the system [15]. Bearing in mind these principles, a general growth model for photosynthetic microorganisms in PBRs can be developed, irrespective of the PBR design. The model of the PBR in this paper is based on mass balances, transport phenomena and equations simulating the biological phenomena taking place inside the culture.
The modeling of the tubular PBR can be divided into two main parts. The first part is the column, which can be approximated to a perfectly mixed reactor and where the composition of the output current is equal to the composition at any point within the reactor. The second part of the model is the external loop regarded as a flow reactor piston, wherein the composition of each differential volume varies relative to the length of the reactor. Perfect mixing is assumed in each differential element. The number of differential elements in the virtual laboratory is a parameter that can be interactively changed when the user wants to change the precision of the results.
The model includes mass balances in both the liquid and gas phase. For the liquid phase, changes in dissolved oxygen concentration are related to the gas-liquid mass transfer rate and the photosynthesis rate. Regarding the biomass concentration, it has been considered as directly dependent on the photosynthetic rate. Similarly inorganic carbon concentration can be calculated by a mass balance to the liquid phase. In the gas phase a mass balance is established for the oxygen and for the carbon dioxide. For readers interested in these aspects, a complete description of the model and assumptions about these balances are given in [16].
The main variables involved in the process of photosynthesis of microalgae cultures—dissolved oxygen, pH of the culture, biomass concentration, temperature, concentration of total inorganic carbon, oxygen mole fraction, mole fraction of carbon dioxide, and CO2 losses—have been included in the model. To include the influence of dissolved oxygen concentration on the photosynthesis rate, an inhibition model has also been used. A schematic representation of the model is shown in Appendix A.
As the mathematical model used in the laboratory is based on fundamental principles instead of empirical equations [16], it can be applied to other PBR types. As a result, a complete dynamic simulation model is obtained, thus enhancing its applicability in the design and operation of microalgae-based processes.
Environmental Issues Solar Radiation
Based on the equation of the Sun's position in the sky throughout the year, the amount of solar radiation on a surface at a particular tilt angle can be calculated theoretically as a function of latitude and day of the year. The virtual laboratory incorporates the simulation of the horizontal solar radiation (direct, diffuse, and global), that is the radiation measured on a horizontal surface. The solar radiation is considered by assuming the PBR is south-oriented to obtain the maximum solar insolation. It must be noted that no real data are used to simulate solar radiation, only synthetic values derived from a data model. Just by setting the latitude and the longitude of the PBR location and the clearness index it is possible to simulate solar radiation in a correct way. The clearness index represents the proportion of the extraterrestrial solar radiation that is lost due to absorption in the atmosphere. Broadly, this index is equal to the global solar radiation on the surface of the Earth divided by the extraterrestrial radiation at the top of the atmosphere. It varies from around 0.8 under the clearest conditions to near zero under overcast conditions. This index is useful to determine the local weather effects on the simulations or to define possible experiences in an easy way. We can, for instance, simulate and compare a set of cloudy or sunny days just by interactively changing the value of this index. It must be mention that the value of the clearness factor is fixed for each simulation. However the user can modify on-the-fly the value of this parameter using the corresponding editing field in the tool. Detailed information about the implemented solar radiation equations is available in [17].
Temperature Model
Temperature is a very important variable for the growth of microalgae, being difficult to control. In the virtual laboratory temperature variations can be simulated inside the reactor, so it is expected to be a useful tool for the simulation and design of microalgae PBRs.
Temperature profiles have been determined as a function of both operating (mass flow and inlet temperature) and environmental conditions (ambient temperature and solar radiation). Not only the mass flow and inlet temperature, but also the ambient temperature and solar radiation conditions have been taken into account.
The temperature mathematical model formulation includes heat conduction in the tube walls, convection inside the tube, and solar radiation. See [18] for details. This model combines theoretical concepts of thermodynamics with classical theoretical and empirical correlations of fluid mechanics and heat transfer.
The Volume Element Method (VEM) has been used to formulate the problem. In this way, the reactor pipes are divided into lumped volumes, such that only one time-dependent ordinary differential equation (ODE), based on the first law of thermodynamics, is produced for the temperature. Interactions between volumes are established through empirical heat transfer correlations for convection, conduction and radiation. Low computational demand with the inclusion of the main physical phenomena is the major advantage of the method used.
Control Architecture
PBRs are very complex systems with many inputs and outputs which allow a great range of operability to manage them. From a control point of view, in a PBR different variables such as the CO2 injection, the culture circulation rate or the culture temperature can be adjusted to maximize biomass production. Usually, PBR systems are controlled by means of on/off valves and thus classical on/off switching controllers are implemented. Also, system dynamics and disturbances are not considered in the control system design. In our lab, we try to improve the control architecture by including three low level PI control loops to manage the CO2 flow rate, the culture circulation rate, and the culture temperature. See Appendix A.
In the three controllers, the same methodology has been used [19]. First, models of the three actuators are identified (valves for the injection of CO2 and cold water, and a pump for the culture velocity), and then the controllers are designed. See [20] for details. In each loop, four possible control modes are available: manual, on/off, and PI with two modes (time-based and event-based). See [21] for details on the selected event-based strategy.
Regarding the harvesting, the tool allows the simulation of an ideal harvesting process using a manual control. The user can require a decrease in the biomass concentration at a particular time of the simulation.
The Photobioreactor Simulation Tool
This section describes the main features of the simulator. The simulation of a PBR system demands a graphical user interface (GUI) with a high degree of flexibility. The simulator has been programmed with EJS, a freeware open-source tool developed in Java, specifically designed for the creation of interactive dynamic simulations [22]. Users can access the laboratory by visiting the University Network of Interactive Labs [23] with standard Java-enabled web browsers.
Description of the Simulator
Figure 4 shows the main window of the simulator. It displays the schematic representation of the PBR, which has been made as self-explanatory and realistic as possible. In the figure, the different components of the system can be clearly visualized. The mixing unit is represented by the vertically-oriented bubble column and the solar receiver is the horizontally-located tubular loop. In this simulation tool the fence-like vertically horizontal stacked PBR is simulated. It is not possible to simulate other configuration like for example a horizontal (on the ground laying) PBR. The color of the bubble column and the tubular loop varies from pale to dark green according to the instantaneous biomass concentration. Along the tubular loop, there are three red circles pointing to the places where the sensors of pH and temperature are located. Also, there is a centrifugal pump at the output of the bubble column to circulate the culture and pure CO2 is supplied on demand for pH control after the pump output. Before the centrifugal pump and at the bottom of the bubble column, there is a manual valve to supply air to the column (air flow rate) for the oxygen desorption.
At the bottom part of the main window there are six panels which allow not only changes in multiple parameters of the system but also the management of the system operation process in a proper way. In the Simulation panel different parameters associated with the global radiation model or the simulation interval in days can be modified interactively (see Figure 5a). When changes in physical parameters of the PBR are required such as the pipe and column lengths or the column and pipe diameters, Design panel must be selected (see lower part in Figure 4).
Three different control loops, represented in the main view, have been implemented in the simulator: (1) loop to control the CO2 flow rate, located below the tubular loop. This control is needed because the use of CO2 represents a major operational expense in microalgae culture which has to be minimized; (2) loop to control the culture circulation rate – the liquid circulation rate controls the turbulence in the system for light integration; it also determines the mixing behavior and the mass transfer capacity and it greatly avoids detrimental concentrations of dissolved oxygen in the tubes. It is located besides the centrifugal pump; and (3) loop to control the culture temperature, located at the top of the bubble column. In the Control Panel (see Figure 5b) the user can select the control operation mode making use of the three subpanels, one for each control loop. If the system is run in manual mode, the user needs to directly set, using the editable field provided to this end, the value of the manipulated variable. Obviously, the simulation addresses its main pedagogical target when it is set to a particular controller. The options available are manual, on/off, time-based PI, and SSOD PI control [21]. Depending on the selected controller the user can manage different parameters.
The simulator also provides in the Profiles Panel the possibility of loading sets of data obtained from previous real experiences. It allows users to conduct experiences using real information, not artificial values. For example, it is possible to load a file with real solar radiation data obtained from a weather database instead of using the artificial radiation data. It is also possible to select, using check boxes available in the View Panel, the time plot of the main system variables (biomass, pH, dissolved O2, global radiation, injected CO2, O2 productivity, PBR temperatures profiles or controller signals).
Other parameters related to the model system temperature or to the initial states of the main variables of the system (biomass concentration, pH, dissolved O2) can be also interactively changed in the Radiation and in the Biological Panel, respectively.
The components of the described interface provide the basic functionality required to operate the application. At the top of the main window, a menu bar provides some additional features. It allows users to load or save a simulation and to select a predefined experiment to be performed. The user can also save a configuration, saving the geometrical, operational, biological and radiation parameters of a particular simulation in independent files. The simulation can be played, paused, and reset using the standard push buttons of the interface.
A Practical Example
This section presents a usage example of the simulator described above. Suppose that we want to measure the daily variation of the main variables such as culture pH, biomass concentration or dissolved oxygen in the culture for a particular PBR geometry, when no other parameters change. First the geometry is defined in the design panel, then the evolution of these variables can be observed just by selecting in the View Panel the corresponding variables (see Figure 6a).
As it can be observed, the dissolved O2 in the culture and the pH present a similar behavior. Dissolved O2 increases in the morning, reaching the maximum at midday, whereas in the afternoon, a decrease in dissolved O2 is observed due to a reduction of the photosynthesis rate. This variation indicates the existence of an oxygen accumulation term. Variation of culture pH is similar. The higher the solar irradiance is (see Figure 6b) the higher the pH of the culture is. Note that the solar radiation profile is easily obtained just by checking the global radiation button in the View Panel. The biomass concentration increases during the daylight period. Thus, accumulation of biomass in the reactor takes place.
The effect and control of the CO2 injected gas on daily variation of culture parameters can also be studied in an easy way. Figure 7 shows how the culture pH can be satisfactorily controlled with the increase and reduction CO2 flow rate in the injected gas. In this experience CO2 flow rate in the injected gas increased from 0 to 2.16 L/min at t = 4.15 h and then decreased from 2.16 to 0.72 L/min at t = 12.8 h using manual control. In this case, the steady state of the culture pH is 7.5 and 7.9 when the CO2 flow rate increases and decreases, respectively. However, if we address different experiences it can be noticed that the daily mean pH of the culture depends on the CO2 content. Nevertheless, similar daily variations in culture conditions are observed whatever the CO2 amount injected is.
Suppose we address a similar experience setting the CO2 flow rate to 2.16 L/min but using instead the PI control implemented in time-based mode. Figure 8 displays the pH culture evolution for such a case. The steady state of the culture pH is reached again at 7.5. In Figure 8 the evolution of the controller signals can be observed.
If we carry out the same experiment but using the PI control implemented in event-based mode, the evolution of both pH and controller signals is the one showed in Figure 9. In this case the pH steady-state is reached at 7.5, but more than two hours before it is reached with the PI time-based controller. Many other experiments can be carried out with the simulator such as the influence of CO2 content of the injected gas on the analysis of the biomass or in the dissolved O2, the control of the culture temperature, the O2 productivity, etc.
PBRs are among the most promising culture systems for potential large-scale production of microalgae-derived high-value products. The clear necessity of developing innovative reactors to directly take into consideration the needs of the production of energy can be considered, for instance. Overall it can be said that many of the attempts to produce microalgae biomass have so far failed because of poor PBR engineering. There is a lack of scientific consensus on how a suitable and scalable PBR has to be designed [24]. In this sense, the optimal design and control of PBRs is an interesting and difficult control problem that is being widely analyzed.
This work focuses on the development of a virtual tubular PBR laboratory. To date, no other interactive simulator has been developed for PBR systems. The developed virtual lab is a valuable aid for both teaching and research in PBR systems. It helps to learn how a PBR works and to understand how the essential variables involved in the algae growth behave and interrelate between each other. As the culture productivity of a PBR is to a great extent dependent on both hydrodynamic and geometric parameters, using this interactive tool, the performance of a specific design can be analyzed. This can help either to address any issues that occur during algae growth or to provide solutions in the design of an optimal PBR, so using this tool it will be possible to simulate different controls over the growth environment resulting an interesting way of achieving the highest productivity.
Several works can be carried out to improve the laboratory in the near future. A more advanced harvesting process has to be developed to reproduce the real behavior of this operation. An automatic variation of the clearness index should also be included. New high level control strategies must be implemented to control different variables of the system. Using advances control strategies optimal culture conditions have to be determined in order to maximize biomass productivity. The implementation of Nonlinear Predictive Control has already been used in PBR systems to this end in previous works [25]. It would be nice to apply this methodology to our simulation tool. The level of nutrients is also an essential variable to be controlled in order to ensure optimized growth. Moreover, a tilted surface could be incorporated into the PBR system by modifying the solar radiation estimation properly, because now only horizontal solar radiation is taking into account in the model.
This work has been funded by the National Plan Projects DPI2011-27818-C02-02 and DPI2012-31303 of the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness and FEDER funds.
Appendix A
A schematic representation of the model is shown in Figure A1, where the nomenclature used is the following:
[CO2]: carbon dioxide concentration in the liquid phase
[O2]: oxygen concentration in the liquid phase
[Cb]: biomass concentration
CT: inorganic carbon concentration
YCO2: carbon dioxide to nitrogen molar ratio in the gas phase
YO2: oxygen molar ratio oxygen to nitrogen in the gas phase
PH : PH in the culture
A complete description of the growth model can be found in [16].
Schematic representation of the model.
Appendix B
In order to get a simulation as real as possible, models of the actuators used in the PBR located in the Almería facilities were included in the interactive simulator. First, to identify the operation points of each actuator many experiments were made by using the reaction curve method. So, incremental and decremental step inputs of the same amplitude were applied to each actuator. With all this information, the cooling water valve dynamics was approximated by first order systems with delay, the CO2 valve by a first order system with a zero, and the culture pump by dynamics of second order. After obtained the three transfer functions, these were validated with different data to the previously used in the identification phase in order to check that the simulated dynamics were similar to the real ones. In Table B1 the transfer function obtained for each actuation system is shown.
Transfer functions of the identified models.
Culture pump CO2 valve Cooling water valve
5.14 ( 315.5 s + 1 ) ( 319.5 s + 1 ) 3.6 ( 1400 s + 1 ) 1059 s + 1 2.4 81.9 s + 1 e 329 s
As said before, the control of these actuators can be done by selecting manual or automatic operation. In case of choosing automatic, there are three options available to the user: on-off control, PI control with antiwindup mechanism, or event-based PI control (similar to PI controller but with a send of delta sampler located at the output of the sensor). Using the actuator models of Table B1 and the lambda tuning method, PI parameters for the three controllers were obtained. The transfer functions of the controllers are shown in Table B2.
Transfer functions of the PI controllers.
Culture pump CO2 valve Cooling water valve
0.39 ( 1 + 1 635 s + 1 ) 0.28 ( 1 + 1 1059 s + 1 ) 0.09 ( 1 + 1 81.9 s + 1 )
Currently, the dynamics of the actuators presented in Table B1 cannot be changed by the user in the graphical user interface. In next versions, a new tabbed panel will be included to let users modify the dynamics depending of the actuators selected for designing their own PBR. Regarding the PI controllers, the user can only introduce new parameters values (Kp and Ti) but it will possible to included more elaborated controllers by adding to the simulator a tabbed panel to write their own control code.
Conflicts of Interest
The authors declare no conflict of interest.
References BernardO.Hurdles and challenges for modelling and control of microalgae for CO2 mitigation and biofuel productionJ. Process Contr.20112113781389 CampbellP.K.BeerT.BattenD.Life cycle assessment of biodiesel production from microalgae in pondsBioresour. Technol.20111025056 MilledgeJ.J.Commercial application of microalgae other than as biofuels: A brief reviewRev. Environ. Sci. Biotechnol.2011103141 GuzmánJ.L.VargasH.SánchezJ.DormidoS.BerenguelM.Education Research in Engineering Studies: Interactivity, Virtual and Remote LabsDistance Education Issues and ChallengesNova Science PublishersNew York, NY, USA2007131167 DormidoR.VargasH.DuroN.SánchezJ.Dormido-CantoS.FariasG.EsquembreF.DormidoS.Development of a web-based control laboratory for automation technicians: the three-tank systemIEEE Trans. Educ.2008513544 DormidoS.Dormido-CantoS.DormidoR.SánchezJ.DuroN.The role of interactivity in control learningInt. J. Eng. Educ.20052111221133 RichmondA.Handbook of Microalgal Culture: Biotechnology and Applied PhycologyBlackwell PublishingOxford, UK2004 UgwuC.U.AoyagiH.UchiyamaH.Photobioreactors for mass cultivation of algaeBioresour. Technol.20089940214028 CarvalhoA.P.MeirelesL.A.MalcataF.X.Microalgal reactors: A review of enclosed system designs and performancesBiotechnol. Prog.20062214901506 HuQ.GutermanH.RichmondA.A flat inclined modular photobioreactor for outdoor mass cultivation of photoautotrophsBiotechnol. Bioeng.1996515160 RichmondA.Cheng-WuZ.Optimization of a flat plate glass reactor for mass production of Nannochloropsis sp. OutdoorsJ. Biotechnol.200185259269 SierraE.AciénF.G.FernándezJ.M.GarcíaJ.L.GonzálezC.Molina.E.Characterization of a flat plate photobioreactor for the production of microalgaeChem. Eng. J.2008138136147 MolinaE.FernándezJ.AciénF.G.ChistiY.Tubular photobioreactor design for algal culturesJ. Biotechnol.200192113131 AciénF.G.FernándezJ.M.SánchezJ.A.MolinaE.ChistiY.Airlift-driven external-loop tubular photobioreactors for outdoor production of microalgae: Assessment of design and performanceChem. Eng. Sci.20015627212732 WangB.LanC.Q.HorsmanM.Closed photobioreactors for production of microalgal biomassesBiotechnol. Adv.201230904912 FernándezI.AciénF.G.FernándezJ.M.GuzmánJ.L.MagánJ.J.BerenguelM.Dynamic model of microalgal production in tubular photobioreactorsBioresour. Technol.2012126172181 MunnerT.Solar Radiation and Daylight ModelsElsevierOxford, UK2004 BéchetQ.ShiltonA.FringerO.B.MuñozR.GuieyseeB.Mechanistic modeling of broth temperature in outdoor photobioreactorsEnviron. Sci. Technol.20104421972203 AströmK.J.WittenmarkB.Computer Controlled System: Theory DesignPrentice HallUpper Saddle River, NJ, USA1997 RodríguezC.FernándezI.GuzmánJ.L.BerenguelM.GabrielF.Puesta en Marcha de un Fotobiorreactor Industrial (in Spanish)Proceedings of the 2012 XXXIII Jornadas de AutomáticaVigo, Spain6 September 2012 BeschiM.DormidoS.SánchezJ.VisioliA.Characterization of symmetric send-on-delta PI controllersJ. Process Control20122219301945 EsquembreF.Easy Java Simulations: A software tool to create scientific simulations in JavaComput. Phys. Commun.2004156199204 VargasH.SánchezJ.JaraC.A.CandelasF.A.TorresF.DormidoS.A Network of Automatic Control Web-based LaboratoriesIEEE Trans. Learn. Technol.2011419208 MolinaE.AciénF.G.GarcíaF.CamachoF.ChistiY.Scale-up of tubular photobioreactorsJ. Appl. Phycol.200012355368 TebbaniS.LopesF.FilaliR.DumurD.PareauD.Nonlinear predictive control for maximization of CO2, bio-fixation by microalgae in a photobioreactorBioprocess Biosyst. Eng.2014378397 Figures
Commonly employed reactor designs.
Schematic of a tubular PBR for outdoor culture.
(a) Schema of the process. (b) Partial view of the mixing unit and the tubular loop of the PBR located in Almería (Spain).
Graphical user interface of the PRB system.
(a) Simulation Panel; (b) Control Panel.
(a) Evolution of the main variables. (b) Intensity of the horizontal solar radiation in W/m2 on the PBR along the interval of days selected in the simulation.
Effect in the culture pH when variation in the CO2 injected flow rate occurs.
pH and controller signals evolution for the CO2 flow rate control using the PI time-based mode controller.
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A Sorrowful Woman
“A Sorrowful Woman” is a selection written by Gail Godwin. Within this selection she shows how a marriage does not always lead to a perfect life. Godwin uses “A Sorrowful Woman” to portray modern marriages. “A Sorrowful Woman” is a parody of fairy tales. The traditional fairy tale has a fixed resolution- everyone lives happily ever after. At the beginning of “A Sorrowful Woman” the reader is given the illusion of a happy story because it begins “Once upon a Time” (Godwin 33). In this story the ideal of a traditional fairy tale is mocked. The characters in this selection are not given names (Godwin 33); this signifies that the characters are playing a universal role. The epigraph at the beginning of story suggests that she was not meant to be a wife and a mother (Godwin 33). The reason for this conclusion is because once upon a time implies that she thought her life as a wife and mother would be perfect. The sorrowful woman hit her child on purpose so that her husband would see it (Godwin 34). In a fairy tale the mother would be happy to spend time with her family. Godwin makes fun of fairy tales by having the characters do all the opposite things of characters in a fairy tale. When the sight of her family made her so gloomy and sick that she never wanted to see them again (Godwin 33). There was nothing that would relieve the sorrowful woman of her depression. Her husband gives her a sleeping drought that further depresses her, instead of revitalizing her (Godwin 35). He seemed to be eager to do whatever he could to please his wife because he thought that would make her happy. In “A Sorrowful Woman” the wife dies instead of living happily ever after, which is quite the opposite of “The Sleeping Beauty (Godwin 37).” The sorrowful woman detests the fact that she has a husband and a child to tie her down. She wishes for the life of a single woman. Instead of being happy with the fact that she...
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A Perfect Day of Eating
By: Carolyn Kylstra
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3:11 p.m.
That headache is still there—and you're getting over a cold and need something for that cough. And you have a date tonight.
Eat This: Ginseng
Benefit: Immunity boost
In a Canadian study, people who took 400 milligrams of ginseng extract a day had 56 percent fewer recurring colds than those who popped placebos. Studies suggest ginseng can boost the activity of key immune cells. Another benefit: Ginseng might boost your brainpower. British researchers found that people who swallowed 200 milligrams of the extract an hour before taking a cognitive test scored significantly better than when they skipped the supplement.
And This: Kiwi, oranges, red bell peppers
Benefit: Symptom relief
All three are packed with vitamin C. Studies suggest that taking in at least 200 milligrams daily may help shorten the duration of your symptoms the next time you're under the weather.
Quick tip: If you're really hacking up a lung, try downing a spoonful of honey. Penn State scientists found that honey is better at lessening cough frequency and severity than dextromethorphan, the most common active ingredient in over-the-counter cough meds.
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Les Nubians
One Step Forward (OmTown/Higher Octave)
The recent chart success of French duo Les Nubians' One Step Forward is both a heartening rebuke and a disturbing indicator of our country's xenophobic culture. Usually foreign-speaking artists have to learn to sing in English (like Shakira or T.A.T.U.) to succeed on the U.S. pop charts at the risk of being reduced to childlike novelties (Falco or Nena, anyone?), a sharp contrast to the open-mindedness of other countries that regularly send American artists up the charts. We assure ourselves that this has to do with the superiority and lasting influence of our music. If anything Les Nubians are proof that musicians around the world look to us for the latest innovations before attempting, with varying degrees of success, to rework those styles in their own distinctive voice.
Les Nubians' two discs -- One Step Forward and the 1998 debut Princesses Nubiennes -- are built on tastefully jazzy grooves, a sound that has been floating in the ether for the past three decades and has recently been tagged as the mark of "neosoul" (see Jill Scott, Erykah Badu, et al.). But the album has its charms, especially when it ventures into reggae, Afro-Caribbean, and French pop. The opening track features sisters Hélène and Célia Faussart practicing some vocalese over a breezy saxophone melody before smoothing out into the acoustic soul of "Temperature Rising," a mellifluous excursion indicative of Les Nubians' efforts to placate their growing U.S. fan base with English-language cuts. Much better is the cut "El Son Reggae," where the duo sing the story of a drug dealer over a tangy Afropean beat. Then there's the title track that sways and shimmies under the lines "Ma joie de vivre, ma joie de vivre/One step forward, two steps backward."
For sure Les Nubians is a purely commercial entity with few avant-garde pretensions, making One Step Forward a highly appealing if predictable disc. But it's almost impossible to imagine what this album would sound like without a strong Yankee influence: It probably wouldn't have an American distributor, or worse, would be marginalized as "world music" (as Princesses Nubiennes initially was). Perhaps the lines between the two have been so blurred that there is little distinguishing them and the safe yet tentative "neosoul" of One Step Forward is a step in the right direction for both. -- Mosi Reeves
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Why is Koheleth in Tanach?
'The Midrash BEN ISH HAI Message and Discussion Area': Other Jewish Religious Topics: Why is Koheleth in Tanach?
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Jacob Oslick (Seferkoheleth)
Monday, September 30, 2002 - 12:32 am Click here to edit this post
I recently convinced a secular Jewish friend of mine to read Sefer Koheleth. Like me, he quickly proclaimed it his favorite book in Tanach. But he also posed a question I couldn't answer: why is Koheleth part of the canon?
It's not particularly religious, and even touches upon heresy.
Some might argue that the last paragraph redeems it. Personally, the last paragraph has always seemed to me like it was tacked on by an editor. Still, even if one accepts the last paragraph as genuine, does it redeem the entire sefer? Why is it canon?
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Nicolo Rizzuto knew how to make enemies
Montreal Gazette
Nicolo Rizzuto knew how to make enemies
Nicolo Rizzuto Sr. (left), who police consider the former Mafia godfather of Canada, arrives in Montreal court with his defence lawyer Loris CavaliËre and an unidentified man (right) Thursday February 11, 2010 in Montreal where he plead guilty to two counts of tax evasion, less than two weeks after the cha
THE GAZETTE/Marcos Townsend
MONTREAL - Nicolo Rizzuto, the 86-year-old patriarch of Montreal’s most notorious Mafia family, shot dead in his home in Ahuntsic Wednesday night, knew how to make enemies and influence people.
Born in Cattolica Eraclea, Sicily, on Feb. 18, 1924, Rizzuto moved his family, including his then 8-year-old son Vito, to Canada in 1954.
Rizzuto began his criminal career as a member of the Cotroni clan, which controlled a vast swathe of Montreal’s criminal drug trade in the 1970s.
But he antagonized other crime families in Montreal and New York by playing fast and lose with the rules of the Cosa Nostra.
During the 1970s, he was described as a thorn in the side of mob leaders like Vincenzo Cotroni and Paolo Violi because he repeatedly sidestepped them and appeared to refuse to acknowledge Violi’s status in the organization.
The conflict culminated in Violi’s slaying on Jan. 22, 1978. It was Violi’s killing that solidified the hegemony of the Rizzuto clan in Montreal.
While a few of his associates were charged in the Violi killing, Rizzuto took off for Venezuela, where he lived for years and is alleged to have co-ordinated major drug smuggling networks.
He returned to Montreal in 1993. By then, it was alleged, his son Vito had been the head of the Mafia in Montreal for years.
Nicolo Sr. and Vito both moved into palatial homes on Antoine Berthelet Ave. in the north end of Montreal, a neighbourhood that came to be known as “Mafia row,” as other family members followed suit.
It was on that street that the elderly patriarch was gunned down Wednesday night.
In November 2006, Nicolo Rizzuto was arrested in Project Colisée, the joint police investigation into organized crime, on charges of extortion, bookmaking, drug smuggling and drug exportation.
Despite being on probation after the 2006 arrest, Nicolo Rizzuto was present for the funeral of his grandson, Nick Rizzuto, Jr., in January 2010. The patriarch’s grandson had been shot dead in Notre Dame de Grâce in late December 2009 in the most prominent Mafia hit since the Violi rubout.
Since then, other killings and disappearances designed to weaken the once all-powerful Rizzuto organization have led to what legal experts describe as a power vacuum in organized crime in Montreal.
Vito Rizzuto is serving a 10-year sentence at a prison in Colorado for racketeering related to the murders of three men in 1981. | <urn:uuid:8820888c-cd28-40a6-a98d-0f7f6bf060d4> | 2 | 1.546875 | 0.073861 | en | 0.97748 | http://www.montrealgazette.com/technology/Nicolo+Rizzuto+knew+make+enemies/3809987/story.html |
Toddler sleep problems
Generally, the two main issues parents would like to 'fix' as far as toddler sleep issues go are getting them to accept they have to go to sleep without high drama and getting them to sleep through the night.
Solving toddler sleep problems | Getting into a bedtime routine | Letting them cry | Getting them to fall asleep alone | Controlled crying | Getting your toddler to stay asleep | Early morning waking Wake-to-sleep
Does my toddler have a sleep problem?
The definition of a sleep problem depends on your expectations, ability to cope with interrupted sleep and family dynamics.
Some parents are happy to spend 12 hours lolling with their children in a giant bed. Others play musical beds throughout the night. And some parents require 12 hours of children being neither seen nor heard. So whether you consider your toddler has a sleep problem will depend where you are on this spectrum.
Likewise, as far as going to sleep is concerned, some parents are happy to sit on the sofa with their little ones until they drop off, while others want the children in bed at 7pm so they can watch the news/soaps or swing from the chandeliers without being pestered.
So the only person who can answer the question 'does my toddler have a sleep problem?' is you.
Solving toddler sleep problems
Similarly, the question of whether or not you want to resolve your toddler's sleep problems has a different answer for every family. Some parents think it's OK not to intervene, but just to wait and see how things turn out.
"It is fine to give her whatever comfort she needs during the night. She is small, and night times are scary without another person there. She isn't doing anything naughty or wrong." Mumsnetter FrannyandZooey
Some parents think that if 'sleep training' involves the child getting distressed or crying a lot, then they'd rather avoid it (aka the Path of Least Resistance). They choose to go with the flow and do whatever their toddler is happiest with, feeling that, eventually, when he or she is ready, they'll sleep through the night.
This approach might mean being physically near the child who's waking during the night, either by co-sleeping in the same bed or room, or having a bed or mattress on the floor of the child's bedroom. If you take this approach, over time (the theory goes) your toddler can eventually be encouraged to move into his own sleeping space, thus avoiding the need for 'training'.
The main advantage is that you avoid putting your child through the stress of sleep training, which may involve them getting distressed ie screaming their head off.
The disadvantage is some parents go completely loopy if they have to parent 24/7, and would rather eat their own duvet than have a wriggling toddler's legs kicking them in the head at ten-minute intervals throughout the night. These parents might want to take a different approach.
Take things slowly and try to tackle one thing at a time. If your toddler has no bedtime routine, wakes in the night, takes off her pyjamas and screams for a bottle of milk, there's no point trying to deal with everything at once. Start by resolving one thing at a time.
Before you start any sort of sleep training, sit down with your toddler and discuss the situation. Of course, the first words you probably utter each morning are 'Whhhyyy did you wake last night agaaain?' as you slam the Rice Krispies on the table, but actually talking about this with your toddler is essential.
She might be able to clarify what she's feeling, and articulate her night-time needs. And 'I want a cuddle!' or 'I'm cold!' are different needs altogether. Resolve what you can.
Getting into a bedtime routine
Although some parents hate the idea of routine, as far as bedtime is concerned a routine is pretty much essential to get most toddlers to wind down after an exciting day.
Keeping things calm and restful in the hour or so before bedtime will make your toddler more peaceful than if she is galumphing around the lounge wrestling with Granny at 8pm.
"My son is three. We have supper at 6pm, then he plays for a bit while I wash up. About 6.30pm it's upstairs to tidy his room, clean teeth and put PJs on. Then into bed and lots of stories and a chat about the day, then lights off and I lie with him until he falls asleep. Between 7.30pm and 7.45pm I'm back downstairs for some time to myself! It all sounds quite good and organised when written down like this but as you all know the reality is somewhat different and the times vary a bit!" Mumsnetter Rosie79
The main point of a bedtime routine, repeated each night, is to get your toddler into a relaxed state, so they're ready to fall asleep by the time they're tucked up in bed.
A typical routine would be something like: tea, bath, pyjamas, stories, milk, cuddle and sleep. There are lots of variations on this theme.
Other cues can be built into the routine, such as a special soft light, relaxation music or taped stories.
It does require a certain amount of discipline to maintain a bedtime routine day after day, but most parents think the pay-off of calmer evenings is worth the monotony.
Letting your toddler cry
When you're dealing with your toddler's sleep patterns and trying to adjust them, there's likely to be a not-inconsiderable amount of noisy objection to your plans. The sound of your child crying is horrid, and your urge to comfort him strong.
However, by this stage in your child's life, you probably know whether he is crying because he is angry and tantrummy, or because he is in pain or scared.
Getting your toddler to fall asleep alone
In films, parents put their children to bed, kiss them on the head, and leave them to fall asleep by themselves while mummy and daddy get on with their grown-up evening.
In real life, lots of children want their parents in the room with them, cuddling them or sitting them with, while they fall asleep. If you're quite happy sitting with your toddler while he drops off, then feel free to do so.
And if you have an iPad and a pair of headphones you can watch telly while being a present and caring parent at the same time. Everybody wins.
But if you want your toddler to fall asleep on their own, without you hovering at the end of their bed watching the clock and sighing, then you might want to try some (or all) of the following techniques.
• Method one: bribery
"When I put him to bed tonight, I said in desperation, 'If you stay in your room all night you can have a Milky Way!'' but he said, 'No, Mummy, me cuddle you MORE than Milky Way'." Mumsnetter Popsycal
Sometimes employing a star chart or a sticker chart, with the promise of treats when a certain target is reached, can have some success. A typical example might be to give one star for going to bed nicely and one star for staying in their own bed all night
But others are not particularly interested in the promise of a dinosaur sticker in the morning. So if bribery fails, you might need to think of another strategy.
• Method two: "I'll be back in two minutes"
The old trick of 'I'll come and check on you in X minutes' works for some toddlers. Say something along the lines of: "I'll just be in my bedroom and I'll come and check on you in two minutes if you're quiet, otherwise I'll go downstairs." Some toddlers can be persuaded by this, but do remember to check on them, otherwise they'll get very annoyed and won't believe you next time.
"Our son has a frog-shaped timer that often helps him get back to sleep. We put it on and say he can call for us again if he's still awake when it goes off. He goes to sleep and we sneak in and switch it off." Snowleopard
• Method three: gradual withdrawal
'Gradual withdrawal' or 'gradual retreat' does what it says on the tin, and involves you moving further and further away from your toddler each night (without causing them distress) until you're eventually so far away you're skipping downstairs where your glass of Rioja and the telly awaits. Gradual withdrawal is a good technique for more anxious and tearful children, who are bleating "Don't leave me, Mummy".
If you're already cuddling your child to sleep, then try one night just holding his hand, perhaps the next night sitting on his bed, and so on. The idea is your child is still comforted but you move further away each night.
Controlled crying is controversial (search for it in Talk to find out just how controversial) because it involves letting the child cry and not comforting them.
With this technique, you follow your usual bedtime routine, then put the child to bed and leave (like in the films). Unlike in films, of course, your toddler's then likely to start crying. With controlled crying, you do not go back to comfort them. Instead, you return to check on them after (for example) five minutes. Then you increase the amount of time in between each 'checking' – for example, you might leave it six minutes, or ten minutes, or 15 minutes.
"Crying and rapid return is an appropriate approach for tantrummy toddler sleep refuseniks." Mumsnetter Twiglett
Whether this approach is right for you and your child is up to you. If you've reached the uncontrolled crying stage (yourself, that is) it might be worth a try. It's worth reading up about controlled crying before you try it and, of course, it's important to talk to your toddler about what will happen beforehand, otherwise your odd behaviour might freak them out.
Unlike babies, toddlers are able to get out of bed, so when you are using crying techniques on toddlers you need to employ 'rapid return' ie return the child rapidly to her bed.
Some parents don't actually bother with the 'returning' part – and just set up a baby gate on the toddler's bedroom door so he can't escape.
Getting your toddler to stay asleep
Over the course of a night, humans sleep in cycles of lighter and deeper sleep. Like toddlers, we adults also sleep in cycles, but when we get to the ‘wakeful' stage of light sleep, we tend to turn over and go back to sleep, rather than screaming for mummy at the top of our voices.
Annoyingly, because your toddler's sleep cycles are not the same as your own, your own wakeful toddler is likely to scream loudly just as you are entering deep sleep, so your own sleep cycles are totally disrupted, and you feel rubbish the next day, a phenomenon with which many parents are wearisomely familiar.
There are a few different approaches you can try to get your toddler to sleep through till morning (which in toddler terms is still usually hours before the rest of the human race surfaces).
• Method one: be boring
The first rule of dealing with night-time waking is to be very, very dull. If you give in to your toddler's demands for warm bottles of milk, stories or CBeebies, then your toddler will learn that making a fuss yields positive results.
If you're just a very boring person who stumbles in, places them back in bed and tells them to 'shhhh', then, as one mum advises: 'Eventually, they'll realise they are getting all they are going to get, and will hopefully settle better.'
• Method two: co-sleeping
Some parents choose to co-sleep as a way of dealing with the night wakings. If this is what your child wants, then you might already have filed co-sleeping in the 'doing nothing' box, but for some parents co-sleeping can be a solution for surviving night-time perambulations.
The idea of co-sleeping is that the unsettled and wriggly toddler will be more settled in the parental bed, and so everyone will get more sleep. Not having to get out of bed to deal with night-time shouting can be more restful, and toddlers often stop waking fully in the night when they find mummy or daddy next to them already.
Some parents operate a sort of 'co-sleeping lite', and have a bed available in their bedroom for night-time wanderers to crash in.
• Method three: repetitive replacement
Waking in the night to creep (or most likely stomp) into the parental bed is very common, and if this is something you want to stop you'll need to practise 'repetitive replacement' - ie consistently hauling yourself out of bed and replacing your toddler in his own bed.
This method takes quite a bit of middle-of-the-night resolve, which is not always the easiest thing to come by, but eventually your toddler will realise that getting into your bed is not an option.
• Method four: staying by their side
This method is really a variation on repetitive replacement. Some toddlers - the type to race after you or rampage around the house - can't really be left to it, so lots of parents find the best thing to do is to stay with them during night-time waking.
Any approach will take a while to get used to, but you need to keep at it if you want to stop the night-time wanderings. But most Mumsnetters agree that 'one or two weeks of being really tough is all it takes'.
• Method five: (more) bribery
If all of the above fail, you may have to resort to serious bribery.
Early morning waking
Early morning wakers are a special type of hell, perhaps unmatched by anything else toddlerhood has to offer. Of course, your first approach should be to tell your toddler that it is still night-time and she should go back to sleep. And for most parents, doing absolutely anything to get them back to sleep at this time of the morning is perfectly acceptable, whether that means cuddling them or bringing them into your bed.
How to deal with persistent early-morning wakers
One technique some Mumsnetters recommend trying is called 'wake-to-sleep'.
The theory is that if you rouse your toddler slightly from their deep sleep an hour before their usual waking-up time and then leave them to resettle, you might disrupt their sleep pattern so they won't wake at the usual time.
So if they normally wake at 5am, you'll need to set your alarm for 4am (yes, we know it's horrific) and then go in and rouse them – just enough so they're nearly awake but will settle back to sleep again.
After three days you can let them sleep through and see if they will naturally wake at a more respectable hour. If not, you can try it for five or six days in a row (what fun!) and then let them sleep through.
Teach older toddlers when it's morning
For older toddlers, it might be worth investing in a 'morning clock', which is specifically marketed at parents trying to tackle this problem. The clock will change at a specified hour (eg a rabbit face will open its eyes) and you can instruct your toddler not to wake until this transformation has occurred.
Other things to try
• Use a digital clock and tell your toddler not to get up until the first number is seven, or whatever (this does rely on them being able to read numbers in the correct order).
• Put a lamp on a timer and tell your toddler that if the lamp's off it's still night-time, and he needs to stay in bed until the lamp is on.
Last updated: 19-Nov-2014 at 11:37 AM | <urn:uuid:c06e2bf3-c50c-4423-b8e8-3c5047fd99c9> | 2 | 1.96875 | 0.241996 | en | 0.96486 | http://www.mumsnet.com/toddlers/sleep-problems |
Jewish Papercutting
Folk art even the poorest folk could create
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Among the earliest known or recorded Jewish papercuts as such, very few can be dated with certainty to the latter part of the 18th century. Most of the items known today range from the early 19th century to the first decades of the 20th and were made in Central or Eastern Europe-- Alsace, Germany, Bohemia, Austria-Hungary, Galicia, Poland, Lithuania, White Russia, the Ukraine, Volhynia, Podolia, Rumania; in Turkey and parts of the Ottoman empire, French North Africa, Syria, Baghdad, and Palestine; and also migrants to North America and Western Europe.
Why Jews Cut Paper
These papercuts feature most of the traditional symbols and inscriptions found in Jewish ceremonial objects and amulets--many of them kabbalistic [mystical]--characteristic of the various Diaspora communities. The real or fantastic animals and birds, vegetation, utensils, urns, columns, the menorah, tablets of the Law, stars of David, the signs of the 12 tribes and of the zodiac, yadayim/hamsas (an upside down hand), eternal lights / lamps-in-niches, and the like, which appear and reappear in the compositions, had almost all meanings that were wide; if not universally understood in the community.
They were supplemented with calligraphic inscriptions in Hebrew (and sometimes in other languages), mainly passages from the Bible, the interpretive and homiletic texts, the prayerbook, cryptograms, acronyms, wise sayings, and magic formulas and incantations. Personal dedicatory and memorial inscriptions commemorating special family events were sometimes included as well. And occasionally--to the delight of those of us who crave to know more about them--the name of the maker of the papercutter, the date and place, and the name of the owner are indicated.
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Culture isn't just dusty old buildings and aging collections. Culture is in action and it's the daily activities and practices, festivals, ceremonies and events that weave the fabric of a society, not something to be preserved or observed but learned and practiced and there are ample opportunities in Thailand. Check with the TAT (tel. 01155) or the Bangkok Tourism Bureau (see their information offices around the city or call tel. 02225-7612) and keep an eye on magazines like Metro or local newspapers, The Nation and The Bangkok Post, for major events during your stay. The best part of Thai festivals is that you may come as an observer, but whether soaked by buckets of water on Song Kran or releasing candle floats down river on Loi Kratong foreign visitors aren't usually given the chance to just observe but are dragged in as participants.
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Thai cooking
Fancy a chance to learn cooking techniques from the pros? Thai cooking is fun and easy and there are a few good hands-on courses in Bangkok. You'll learn about Thai herbs, spices, and unique local veggies. You'll never look at a produce market the same again. Lectures on Thai regional cuisine, cooking techniques, and menu planning complement classroom exercises to prepare all your favorite dishes. The best part is after, when you get to eat them.
The Blue Elephant is the best in town. A large Belgian-based Thai restaurant chain popular throughout Europe, they have just opened this latest branch in a turn-of-the-century Thai mansion adjacent to Surasak BTS station. Classes begin at 8am with a visit to the market to pickup fresh ingredients for the day. Back in the classroom, you'll first watch demonstrations before stepping-up to your own deluxe cooking station to practice what you've learned under the watchful eye of a teacher. It's all fun and learning at the stoves before sharing your creations with the rest of the class in a delicious lunch spread. The course is open to anyone from beginner to expert. Different dishes are taught each day so you could attend for a week and always learn something new. Visit them at 233 South Sathorn Road, just below BTS Surasak station, or call tel. 02673-9353 (www.blueelephant.com). One-day courses cost 2,800B ($68); group-rates available.
The Oriental Cooking School — In a quaint campus across the river from the famed hotel, multiple-day courses are held from Monday to Sunday from 9am, with lunch after at a cost of 6,150B ($150) per person. Very expensive, but their chef is tops and you'll learn, through demonstration and hands-on practice, every aspect of Thai cooking. Call them at tel. 02437-6211 for booking and information. The hotel also offers combined cooking study and accommodation packages.
Thai massage
A traditional Thai massage is a must-do for visitors in Thailand and is quite unique. You don't just lie back and passively receive a Thai massage; instead, you are an active participant as masseurs manipulate your limbs to stretch each muscle, then apply acupressure techniques to loosen up tense muscles and get energy flowing. It's been described as having yoga "done" to you and your body will be twisted, pulled, and sometimes pounded in the process. Talk to any hotel concierge as most hotels have in-house services or can otherwise make arrangements.
The home of Thai massage, Wat Po is school to almost every masseuse in Bangkok, and has cheap massages in an open-air pavilion within the temple complex -- a very interesting, but not necessarily relaxing, experience (tel. 02221-2974; 200B/$4.55 per hr.). Here, you can arrange day courses if you are interested in learning Thai massage.
Bangkok, like most tourist destinations in Thailand, supports some fine spas, most in the larger hotels. Le Banyan Tree Spa (tel. 02679-1054; www.banyantree.com) and The Oriental's spa tel. 02439-7613; www.orientalbangkok.com) are two of the finest places going if price is less of an issue. These are just two of the many fine spas in town (in hotels and out). For a more budget spa experience, stop by the newly opened Chivit Chiva (16/1-2 Sukhumvit Soi 19; tel. 02253-0607; near the Asok BTS station), a fancy little getaway with services starting at just 600B ($14.50).
There are countless massage places around Bangkok, and many offer fine services at very reasonable rates (where else can you get an hour of massage for 205B/$5). Be aware that certain massage parlors cater to gentlemen, with services beyond the standard massage: aim for places offering "traditional massage" and open storefront areas instead of backrooms. Many places have "no sex" or other blatant signs indicating the place is hanky-panky free (and if you're looking for hanky-panky, those signs are just as blatant). Try Po Thong Thai Massage, in the basement of the Fortuna Hotel, Sukhumvit Soi 5 (tel. 02255-1045; 300B/$7.30 per hr.), or Arima Onsen (37/10-11 Soi Surawong Plaza near Sala Daeng BTS station; tel. 02235-2142; 220B/$5.40 per hr.). According to the experts, 2 hours is the minimum to experience the full benefits of Thai massage, but 1 hour treatments are the norm. These places, and the many like them, also offer foot massage, but honestly, this bone-grinding process can be pretty painful (ask for a gentle foot massage unless you can handle the pain; I couldn't).
Thai boxing
Muaythai, or Thai Boxing, is Thailand's national sport and a visit to the two venues in Bangkok, or the many fight-nights in towns all over Thailand (as much festival as sport), is a fun window into Thai culture. The pageant of the fighters' elegant pre-bout rituals, live musical performances, and the frenetic gambling activity are a real spectacle. In Bangkok, catch up to 15 bouts nightly at either of two stadiums. The Ratchadamnoen Stadium (Ratchadamnoen Nok Ave.; tel. 02281-4205) hosts fights on Monday, Wednesday, Thursday, and Sunday, while the Lumphini Staduim on Rama IV Road (tel. 02251-4303) has bouts on Tuesdays, Fridays, and Saturdays. Tickets are 1,500B ($23) for ringside seats, 800B ($20) for second class and all the way down to 500B ($12.50) for nose-bleed seats behind a cage. Ringside is not worth it. It is best to go second class or cheaper where you still have a good view of the action in the ring and are close-up to the gambling action: guys with multiple cellphones scream, shout and often overshadow the action in the ring as they swap wagers. A memorable night, though a bit much for the squeamish.
Wat Mahathat, or the Temple of the Great Relic, serves one of Thailand's largest Buddhist Universities and has become a popular center for meditation lessons and practice, with English-speaking monks overseeing students of Vipassana, also called Insight Meditation. Meditation instruction is held daily and call ahead to get the schedule and to make an appointment: tel. 02222-6011. It's a good introduction to basic technique.
If you're traveling through Bangkok during February through April you can't beat the fantastic sights of the kite-fighting competitions held at Lumphini Park in the center of the city and at Sanam Luang near The Grand Palace. Elaborate creations in vivid colors vie for prizes, and "fighting," a team spectator sport complete with sponsors, thrills onlookers. The TAT will have all the information you need about exact dates, or you can check the local papers or travel publications.
OK, so it's not exactly culture per se, but you'll have a hard time getting out of Thailand without encountering some kind of snake show. Bangkok's biggest venue is at the Red Cross Snake Farm, 1871 Rama IV Rd. (tel. 02252-0161). Located in the heart of Bangkok opposite the Montien Hotel, this institute for the study of venomous snakes, established in 1923, was the second facility of its type in the world (the first was in Brazil). There are slide shows and snake-handling demonstrations weekdays at 10:30am and 2pm; on weekends and holidays at 10:30am. You can also watch the handlers work with deadly cobras and equally poisonous banded kraits and green pit vipers, with demonstrations of venom milking. The venom is later gradually injected into horses, which produce antivenom for the treatment of snakebites. The Thai Red Cross sells medical guides and will also inoculate you against such maladies as typhoid, cholera, and smallpox in their clinic. The farm is open daily Monday to Friday 8:30am to 3pm, Saturday and Sunday 8:30am to noon; admission is 70B ($1.70). It's at the corner of Rama IV Road and Henri Dunant.
For a complete listing of what to see and do in Bangkok, visit the online attractions index at Frommers.com.
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State moves away from death penalty
Published: Sunday, December 2, 2012 at 08:51 PM.
In 2012, juries in North Carolina refused to sentence a single defendant to death, according to a report that recently appeared in the Raleigh News & Observer.
The report indicated that not only has no one been sentenced to death in the state during the year, but that no cases that could result in a death penalty are pending trial. That’s the first time the public has set something of a voluntary moratorium on the harshest of sentences in decades.
In 1977, North Carolina reinstated the death penalty after the then-current statute was declared unconstitutional. As a result, the prisoners on death row found their sentences commuted to life in prison, while members of the state legislature were sent back to the drawing board in order to reconfigure the statute in question. The law they settled upon remains the one that is used today when trying capital cases.
And, although North Carolina’s present death penalty statute has since been upheld by higher courts as constitutional, fewer and fewer juries find it to be the right solution, preferring instead the sentence of life imprisonment.
That doesn’t mean that the state didn’t try any capital cases this year: There were several cases that went to court as capital trials; however, in none of them did the jury choose death over life in prison without parole.
The N&O article says in 2000, there were 57 capital trials and 18 death-penalty verdicts in North Carolina. It noted that the number of death penalty cases have declined each year since that time.
Most of the attorneys interviewed by the newspaper article did not believe that the low incidence of death penalty cases would necessarily translate to a cessation entirely. In other words, the only way the death penalty will formally be vanquished in this state is if it is abolished.
We are in favor of that happening now, rather than later.
The killing of a human being to avenge the death of another human being is a crude, irreversible form of justice. No matter how terrible the crime, authorizing the state to kill another person does not set things in balance. Instead, the perpetrator recompenses longer and more fully by being locked away for the remainder of his or her life.
Our laws should be inflexible when it comes to individuals sentenced to life without parole. If the wiggle room is completely removed from that sentence, then death penalty proponents can rest assured that individuals who have committed heinous, unthinkable crimes cannot again walk free among us.
While killing the perpetrator resolves the immediate problem, it leaves a moral blight on the culture that orders and condones such a killing. It is much more honorable to remove from society forever such a person, but not compound his or her crime by emulating it.
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Credits & Info
May 30, 2004 | 6:39 AM EDT
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Author Comments
This is a flash action script tutorial.
Based entierly on things you can do with action scripting.. This Tutorial Includes:
How to make an object movable with arrow keys
How to make a dress up game
How to make a custom cursor
And how to make a 3D rotating cube using **ONLY** action script
P.S. when the black screen come up move your cursor around the screen and towards the center of the black screen
Rated 2.5 / 5 stars
I don't think you get the concept of actually "teaching" something. These are not "how to make..." tutorials, these are just "how I made...".
Using this guide, I got quite good at pressing F8 and F9, but you should at least explain the code you want us to copy & paste. Yes, somebody who knows at least a bit of programming can partially understand it, but since you call it "tutorial" and not "try this", it should be explained to some level.
And btw, the third lesson's code is quite strangely displayed.
Rated 2.5 / 5 stars
it was good, but the only thing you can improve on is that instead of just giving the actionscript, explain how to write the action script, take us through it, expalin what each section of the action script means and then give us an example if we are still confused. Other than that good work!
Rated 2.5 / 5 stars
not bad....
very helpful but it doesnt work in flash player 7 or 8
Rated 2.5 / 5 stars
it don't work
when i tryed to do the arrow key thing it said **Error** Symbol=circle, layer=Layer 1, frame=1:Line 1: Clip events are permitted only for movie clip instances
onClipEvent (enterFrame) {
Total ActionScript Errors: 1 Reported Errors: 1
andi don't know what to do . i don't think it works. *sob*
Vance responds:
You probably have your script in a frame, make sure the script is in the MOVIE CLIP, and make it it -is- a movie clip.
Rated 2.5 / 5 stars
This worked when i had flash 8 but not CS3. PLEASE EDIT IT SO IT WORKS WITH BOTH!
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Chess is not friendly to prose. Chess is, after all, a sport, but there is almost no way to convey what’s exciting about it to people who are not themselves deep students of the game. “Then, on move 21, came Black’s crusher: a6!”—totally opaque, as are references to the Najdorf Variation of the Sicilian Defense, the Giuoco Piano, and the Queen’s Gambit Declined. You can ignore the technical stuff and write about powerful queenside attacks, hammering rook assaults, intense positional struggle, and so on; but the truth is that the game is the technical stuff. A move that counts as dramatic is a move disclosed after an exhaustive analysis of all other possible moves, and the analysis can take forty minutes or more. Then someone reaches out and pushes a little piece of wood two inches. To readers who have not pondered the alternatives themselves, and who already think that the huddles in football take too long, it’s hard to communicate the thrill.
There is also the artificial-intelligence problem, and it’s not trivial. If the “best” move is simply the result of multiple calculations, why isn’t the best chess player the one whose brain is most like a computer? Why isn’t rooting for a chess player like rooting for a microchip? Commentators talk about a player’s daring or originality; but a daring or original move is worthless if it’s not also, from a strictly computational point of view, the optimal move—in which case, a computer could have made it. Since there is so little to look at otherwise, the players’ styles and personalities come to seem important to describe. But what does style or personality have to do with it, really?
An activity this resistant to the usual blandishments of sports journalism attracts public attention only when something besides chess seems to be at stake. No other chess match has ever come close to attracting the kind of attention that the 1972 world-championship match, between Boris Spassky and Bobby Fischer, did. It was advertised as “the Match of the Century.” It inspired a pop song, “The Ballad of Bobby Fischer,” performed by Joe Glazer and his Fianchettoed Bishops. Fischer’s face was on the cover of Life, the Times Magazine, Newsweek, Time, and Der Spiegel. Life reported on the match. Arthur Koestler wrote about it. So did George Steiner, for The New Yorker. Books were published about Fischer’s most famous games. People who knew nothing about chess history started referring casually to Fischer’s queen sacrifice on the seventeenth move of his Grünfeld Defense against Donald Byrne in the Lessing J. Rosenwald Tournament in 1956, when Fischer was thirteen. The three American networks sent a correspondent each to Iceland to cover the match. The Prime Minister of Bangladesh allowed to journalists that he was a chess enthusiast. In Belgrade, the positions were shown on a screen in the public square. The games were covered as news in Italy, Great Britain, Argentina.
Many books were published about the match. A new account, “Bobby Fischer Goes to War: How the Soviets Lost the Most Extraordinary Chess Match of All Time” (Ecco; $24.95), has been written by David Edmonds and John Eidinow, whose book about a quarrel between Ludwig Wittgenstein and Karl Popper, “Wittgenstein’s Poker,” was popular when it came out, a couple of years ago. The authors seem to have started off in the belief that since chess, a game they give no indication of knowing a great deal about, is normally an esoteric pastime, the frenzy surrounding the Fischer-Spassky match must have been due to something besides the chess.
Both Fischer and Spassky had been on the international chess scene for some time when they met, in Reykjavík, to play for the world title. Spassky had won the crown in 1969, by beating his fellow-Soviet Tigran Petrosian. Petrosian had been the world champion since 1963, the successor to a line of Soviet champions going back to 1948, when Mikhail Botvinnik took the title that had been held by Alexander Alekhine (a Russian, but an anti-Soviet exile). Fischer had qualified for the match by winning six games in a row, with no draws, against Mark Taimanov, a Soviet player, and six games in a row against Bent Larsen, a Danish grand master regarded as the best non-Soviet player after Fischer, and then beating Petrosian by winning five of the nine games they played (three were draws). Fischer had lost one game in three matches against the strongest players, apart from one, in the world. It was said to have been the greatest run in the history of the sport. President Nixon sent a congratulatory letter.
Fischer had never beaten Spassky head to head. Plus, he had a distinctly borderline personality. From an early age, he had been the chess-world equivalent of a hotel-room-destroying rock star. At nearly every tournament, he complained about the accommodations, he complained about the lighting, he complained about the audience. Most of all, he complained about the money. He was apparently of the view that, since he behaved like a rock star, he ought to be paid like one. We are not talking about vast sums. When Spassky won five thousand dollars in a tournament in Santa Monica, the rest of the Soviet chess establishment was sick with resentment. Fischer’s financial demands set off a bidding war for the honor of hosting the world-championship match. Iceland, to its subsequent regret, emerged the winner, after Belgrade, concerned that Fischer wouldn’t show up, pulled out—and, even then, a British tycoon named James Slater had to double the prize money, to a quarter of a million dollars, before Fischer could be induced to play. (The winner got roughly two-thirds.) Fischer stalled: about to board a plane for Iceland, he fled Kennedy Airport and hid out in a friend’s house in Queens. The start of the match had to be postponed. Henry Kissinger phoned Fischer to talk him into going. At some point during all this, the rest of the planet got hooked on the story.
One possible reason for the world’s interest was the Cold War, and for most of their book Edmonds and Eidinow play up the Cold War aspects of the match. This makes it a little surprising when, at the end, they discount the whole idea. They’re perfectly right to do so. American officials, on their side, regarded Fischer mainly with fear and loathing. Kissinger’s intervention seems to have been motivated by personal interest in the game, rather than by grand strategy. The State Department informed the American chargé d’affaires in Reykjavík to spend no government resources on Fischer’s behalf, and the chargé’s own deepest desire was to get Fischer off the island as quickly as possible. Publicly, sentiment in the United States was divided on Fischer, but more or less the way it was divided, during the same period, on Muhammad Ali or, an even better comparison, Evel Knievel. He was definitely a rude fellow, but maybe there was something cool about him. He was tall (six-three); he was physical at the board, snatching pieces off it when he captured them; he wore glitter-green suits with padded shoulders. He was plausibly a certain type of American antihero: rebel, exact cause to be determined.
And, on the other side, Spassky was far from a typical Soviet-era athlete. He was a patriot, but a Russian patriot. He hated the Bolsheviks and had little respect for the Soviet system (though he was careful to extract the rewards to which he believed his accomplishments as a sportsman entitled him). It gave him pleasure to ignore advice offered by Soviet officials, and in Iceland he made his seconds and other handlers miserable with frustration by his insistence on doing things his own way. He later married, for the third time, and moved to Paris. Fischer hated the Soviets—“Commie cheaters,” as he called them—but his understanding of the philosophical differences between the two sides was not great. He thought that Soviet players cheated in tournaments by agreeing to easy draws when they played against each other in order to preserve their energy for games against foreigners, and he wanted to use Iceland to take his revenge. He was not thinking like a diplomat. He was thinking like a high-school student.
The incentive to write another book on the Fischer-Spassky match seems to have been the opportunity to see government documents from the period—F.B.I. files on Fischer and Soviet files on Spassky and on the match itself. There are a lot of files, but they don’t tell us much. The F.B.I. was interested, for many years, in Fischer’s parents, whom it suspected of being Communists, but this interest does not seem to have had any effect on Fischer himself or on the championship. The K.G.B. took more interest in the match than the F.B.I. did, though we have to remember that K.G.B. agents were playing for Spassky mainly the role that the cadre of lawyers and other advisers surrounding Fischer played for the American. They were protecting their client. This involved nutty chores like taking the fruit juice Spassky was being served in Iceland to Moscow for chemical analysis, to see whether he was being doped, and x-raying Fischer’s chair, looking for transmission devices. Edmonds and Eidinow speculate vigorously, but they can’t find any proof that the K.G.B., or anyone on Fischer’s team, did anything underhanded. They also conclude, somewhat reluctantly, that official Soviet involvement in the match was not unusually intense, and that the press coverage was entirely non-ideological. This was, they properly note, a period of superpower détente. In spite of a good deal of analogy-hunting (“as the match ground on, Nixon became engaged in his own desperate game of chess making move after move to save his presidential skin,” they observe, to no particular purpose), the authors do not come up with a novel explanation for why the match was the worldwide sensation it was.
Since Edmonds and Eidinow essentially finesse the games themselves, avoiding technical analyses and relying mostly on the characterizations of various experts, there is not much left to the story but tears and rage. In every respect but one, the match was a fiasco—“a world-shatteringly silly event,” as one participant, a lawyer for Fischer, later put it. Fischer arrived late for the first game and lost it when he took a poisoned pawn, one of the most elementary mistakes in chess. (He took an exposed pawn with his bishop, which was trapped after his opponent’s next move.) Fischer didn’t show up at all for the second game, and forfeited it. He insisted that the third game be played not in the exhibition hall, which the Icelandic Chess Federation had arranged expressly for the match, hoping to recover some of its costs by charging admission, but in a small room at the back of the building. Spassky, claiming indifference to location, agreed, and Fischer promptly destroyed him. Spassky never really recovered. The match was returned to the main hall, but by the tenth game Fischer had come back from 0-2 to take a 61/2- 31/2 lead. (Draws counted for half a point.) He coasted from there, winning the match by four points and filing abusive protests almost up until the last game. Spassky had played as though he were in a fog for the better part of the match, and phoned in his resignation. Fischer was late to the closing ceremonies; when he was handed his check, he opened it and examined it on the spot. During the speeches, which he ignored, he pulled out a pocket set and showed Spassky where he had gone wrong in the final game.
Though a percentage of television revenues had been one of Fischer’s demands before the match started, the presence of television cameras in the hall became one of his most persistent causes of complaint. (It was on this ground that the third game was played in a back room.) An independent producer named Chester Fox had managed to get exclusive rights to film the proceedings. He was, on Edmonds and Eidinow’s account, a persistent character, but he was no match for Fischer, and he ended up with nothing. The members of Fischer’s entourage, possibly anticipating a windfall if their man won and went on to sign major book and appearance contracts, received nothing for their service. These included an Icelandic policeman, who signed on as Fischer’s bodyguard, and even worked for him, in the United States, after the match. When he left to go back to Iceland, the American Chess Federation gave him five hundred dollars, which Edmonds and Eidinow say works out to three dollars a day for the time he had spent with Fischer. Back in Moscow, Spassky and his team were subjected to a humiliating postmortem, and Spassky’s travel privileges were suspended (a standard Soviet response to failure in international competition). Spassky had apparently believed that he was capable of intuiting a way to beat Fischer during the match. What he realized after the third game, he later said, was that Fischer was “an animal.” He hadn’t calculated that variation.
After Reykjavík, and a few grudging public appearances, Fischer went off the radar screen. He refused to sign any of the contracts offered by publishers and others, and he declined to defend his championship against the next challenger, Anatoly Karpov. He was deposed in absentia in 1974. In 1992, he turned up in Yugoslavia for a rematch with Spassky; the competitors proved to be well past their primes. Fischer’s presence in Yugoslavia at a time of civil war there violated an executive order; he spat publicly on the letter warning him not to play, and a warrant was issued for his arrest. Edmonds and Eidinow say it is still outstanding. Fischer gave an interview on a Philippine radio station on September 11, 2001, in which he said that “America got what it deserved.” He has become a vociferous anti-Semite. In the end, he revealed himself to be not a rebel or a mad genius but—what was fairly obvious all along—a delusional paranoid. His behavior in Iceland was not psychological warfare (though it may have had the effect of psychological warfare). It was simply his way of dealing with reality. “I don’t believe in psychology,” he told a reporter when he was holed up in Queens while Spassky waited in Iceland. “I believe in good moves.” So, evidently, did Spassky, who never blamed the chaos that seemed to accompany his opponent for his own meltdown at the board. Edmonds and Eidinow quote a chess-playing psychologist, William Hartston: “Chess is not something that drives people mad; chess is something that keeps mad people sane.”
The one happy effect of the 1972 championship match was the interest it excited in chess. This was due partly to Fischer’s antic behavior, but mostly to television coverage of the games themselves. The BBC devoted a weekly program to the match which attracted a million viewers; in the United States, PBS covered every play of every game, and the program made a star out of an ex-sociology lecturer named Shelby Lyman, an improbable but charismatic television personality. Still, after the truth about Fischer became accepted, American enthusiasm for international chess faded. How many of the people who followed the Fischer-Spassky match as though it were one of the great soap operas of all time even know who the current world champion is? His name, for the record, is Vladimir Kramnik.
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Auction is first step in region’s energy future
New England’s quasi-public regional power grid held a three-day auction earlier this month among hundreds of power plants competing for shares of a lucrative subsidy that pays them to be ready to go online when needed. The incentive, called a forward capacity payment, also was open to energy conservation projects. The six-state ISO New England electricity power market, based in Holyoke, Mass., held eight rounds of bidding between Feb. 6 and Feb. 8 to make sure it can meet a projected peak demand for 32,305 megawatts of power in the summer of 2010. Future auctions will increase the supply of electricity by the addition 4,500 megawatts that are expected to be needed in 2015. That’s the equivalent of four Seabrook nuclear plants going on line or any combination of smaller power plants and new conservation projects. Managers of the grid had announced they would set a price floor of $4.50 per kilowatt-month of capacity, and that figure was where the auction ended. The result translates to $54,000 per megawatt per year. The artificial floor resulted in 34,353 megawatts of capacity that ISO New England has committed to pay for, an excess of 2,047 megawatts. The six-state price tag works out to about $1.7 billion, to be borne in the end by ratepayers in the form of higher costs for electricity. That figure is in addition to the daily and hourly price of power the plants actually deliver and get paid for. The subsidy dilemma Gordon van Welie, ISO New England’s president, said the electricity wholesale market is entering a new era. “We are pleased with the participation and smooth execution of this first auction,” he said. “This launch creates the market stability needed to encourage the long-term development of New England’s bulk electric power system in the most efficient manner possible,” he said. As hoped, the event stimulated 1,188 megawatts of new energy conservation projects across New England, including 10 megawatts in New Hampshire. Existing New Hampshire power plants qualified 4,083 megawatts for the forward capacity payments. Proposed power plants won an additional 54 megawatts worth. Together, the New Hampshire power plants and energy-saving projects will receive $227 million in 2010. The 720-megawatt Granite Ridge plant in Londonderry can expect about $39 million that year from the auction. Today it gets $27 million. The 1,200-megawatt Seabrook nuclear plant will get about $65 million, compared with a current $45 million. Public Service of New Hampshire will receive $62 million, compared with $43 million now. The 525-megawatt Newington Energy plant can bank on $28 million, an increase of $9 million. But are such subsidies like that a good thing for New Hampshire? The answers are complex and require some history. The New Hampshire Legislature five years ago stopped halfway into the massive economic gamble of forcing PSNH to sell off all its power plants. The utility unloaded Seabrook, but kept the rest of its generating capacity, totaling 1,150 megawatts in hydro, oil- and coal-fired plants. Every other New England state made its big utilities divest all of their generating capacity, leaving just their regulated networks of wires and poles. Those freed-up power plants now operate as independent merchants selling into the daily spot market for electricity run out of Holyoke. Nobody still guarantees them a fixed return on their investments. If they fail, their investors take the hit. But the prevailing price of power from Holyoke is almost always higher than what it costs PSNH to produce its own electricity. Natural gas power plants largely determine the minute-by-minute price on the six-state grid. Their fuel price has gone up threefold since the start of the century. PSNH officials estimate they save ratepayers a combined $180 million a year on their electric bills by serving most customers outside the economics of the grid. PSNH earns a regulated profit of 9.6 percent on its investment and by law passes any extra margin along to ratepayers in the form of lower monthly electricity bills. The utility buys about 40 percent of its power through Holyoke or through long-term contracts with individual power plants. When it buys from Holyoke, it is paying for a piece of the forward capacity market. So do its customers. Growing demand The unfettered regional spot market for power saw dramatic price swings and low-power emergencies in the first several years of the decade. The situation was far worse in California, where some of the large players in the industry had learned to game the system by manipulating the supplies of natural gas and power to create blackouts and rolling brownouts, forcing the price of electricity off the charts. So to avoid California-style chaos, ISO New England saw no option but to limit the maximum price of electricity and order unwilling suppliers to go online. It wasn’t a popular move among power plants. A complex litigation ensued against ISO New England and the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission. The result was a 2006 settlement involving more than 100 parties. Under the agreement, ISO New England would pay generators to keep operating and be ready to power up. Now power plants across New England are getting $37,000 per megawatt in forward capacity payments until May 31, 2008. New Hampshire plants are receiving $151 million today. For the following 12 months, they will get $45,000 per megawatt, for a combined $184 million. The price rises to $49,000 per megawatt for the 12 months ending May 31, 2010, for a combined $200 million. That’s when the auction begins setting the size of subsidy. Power plant stockholders in every company but PSNH will see that money as dividends, appreciated stock value or both. PSNH has to pass its windfall along to customers. The incentive seems to meet the narrow goal of assuring the region receives enough power to meet growing demands. ISO New England officials said potential developers of 15,800 megawatts of new capacity are interested in bidding during the next several years of auctions. With so much anticipated demand, the floor price might be a bit lower next time, if there is a floor.
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'Pesticide Drift' Eluding Efforts To Combat It
Nancy Lara, 10, and her brother Brian, 8, were drenched by pesticides last spring as they stood at their bus stop, a patch of dirt on the edge of a vineyard in central California.
The Lara children noticed white clouds billowing out behind a tractor just across the road. Nancy says they tried to hide inside a cluster of vines at the bus stop.
"We thought the tractor wouldn't get us, but it did," Nancy says.
The approaching bus driver saw the pesticide clouds and pulled over to prevent the 50 other students from breathing in the fumes. She eventually picked up Brian and Nancy.
"And then I told the bus driver that I wasn't feeling good, like I was feeling sick. My head heart, I wanted to throw up and everything," Nancy says.
School officials called an ambulance, and the kids were sent to the hospital where they were treated for pesticide exposure. They eventually recovered, but nine months later, the Fresno County Agricultural Commission hasn't issued the fines to the vineyard owner and is still investigating the case.
That incident is one of seven "pesticide drift" cases involving school buses in the farm-rich San Joaquin Valley over the last year.
"Any incident involving pesticide drift is problematic," says Mary Ann Warmerdam, a former lobbyist for the California Farm Bureau who now heads the state's Department of Pesticide Regulation.
"It's illegal, and we have to do better. Having said that, we do have the human condition to contend with, and mistakes do happen," Warmerdam says.
She says California has the toughest pesticide rules in the nation, and there are very few accidents.
"If you take into account the thousands of applications that occur in California every year, we still have a remarkably compliant agricultural sector," Warmerdam says.
Over the last few years, an average of 37 pesticide drift incidents a year have made people sick in California.
But Teresa de Anda of Californians for Pesticide Reform says most incidents aren't even reported.
"Everywhere I go to all the little rural communities, everybody has a story to tell about being drifted on by pesticides — that they were outside barbecuing or they were having a birthday party," de Anda says. "It just happens so commonplace, people don't report it."
Ten years ago, de Anda was one of about 180 residents exposed to a soil fumigant that drifted into homes in the town of Earlimart. The fire department took those who were vomiting or ill to the middle school football field, asked them to strip down and blasted them with fire hoses.
"When I think back to that night, it was just horrible," de Anda says.
These kinds of high-profile incidents pushed California lawmakers to pass new pesticide drift legislation in 2004. Among other things, the law says growers must pay medical bills for pesticide drift victims who don't have health insurance or workers comp. So far, due to lengthy appeals and an unclear enforcement process, no grower has paid under that law.
And since it took effect, the number of pesticide drift incidents statewide doesn't seem to have changed much. Efforts to introduce new legislation to address the issue haven't been successful.
Spray Safe
Growers admit mistakes happen, but say they're making every effort to prevent pesticide drift. Some California farmers have launched a new initiative called "Spray Safe."
About 300 farmers gathered recently to learn about a voluntary checklist of things growers can do to prevent pesticide drift, like putting flags up to let neighbors know when spray rigs are in the fields. San Joaquin County Farm Bureau President Phil Brumley told the crowd if a drift affects a neighbor's crop, you can come up with some kind of compensation.
"But in the case where it's people, we need to think about human health and safety first, and that's what this is about," Brumley said.
Growers aren't interested in more regulation though. They say improving communication with neighboring communities is the best solution.
Meanwhile, environmental advocates are hoping the EPA will restrict spraying of certain pesticides near areas where children congregate. The agency is also considering new labeling guidelines for chemicals to warn against the dangers of pesticide drift. It's accepting public comment on both proposals this month.
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How Does EI Work?
Through EI, NRCS uses various conservation programs to provide technical and financial support to help farmers, ranchers, and landowners put conservation on the ground in the Everglades region.
The Wetlands Reserve Program (WRP) plays a critical role in Everglades conservation. WRP is a voluntary easement program in which landowners sell their development rights and place their land in a conservation easement that permanently maintains that land as agriculture and open space.
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Research report
Nasogastric tube feeding – which syringe size produces lower pressure and is safest to use?
An investigation into the most appropriate syringe size for use with nasogastric feeding tubes, and whether or not larger syringes produce lower pressure.
Knox, T., Davie, J. (2009) Nasogastric tube feeding - which syringe size produces lower pressure and is safest to use? Nursing Times; 105: 27early online publication.
Background For this research, we worked on the hypothesis that larger syringe sizes would not generate greater pressures (negative or positive) than smaller ones. This contradicts current practice and theory, which states that larger syringes produce lower pressures and are safer.
Aim To establish the most appropriate syringe size in a laboratory experiment.
Results The findings suggest that smaller syringes generate lower pressures; further research is needed to confirm this.
Conclusion If we are correct there is a patient safety issue, which must be addressed urgently. Also, smaller syringes may lead to significant cost savings.
Keywords: Nasogastric tube, Feeding, Syringe size
• This article has been double-blind peer reviewed
Tony Knox, MA, PGCE, Cert Prof Practice, RSCN, RNT, RGN, ENB 920, is practice educator - paediatrics, Paediatric Unit; John Davie, HNC Electronics Engineering, is clinical technologist, Medical Engineering Department; both at Royal Berkshire NHS Foundation Trust.
The impetus for this study was a combination of curiosity about the safety issues relating to feeding via different syringe sizes and the rising cost of syringes for nasogastric (NG) feeding. The costs to the trust in which we work are:
• 50ml - £0.45;
• 10ml - £0.21;
• 5ml - £0.18;
• 2ml - £0.12.
The accepted wisdom is that the greater the syringe size, the lower the pressure generated (Fearon, 2000), although this goes against an earlier belief that small syringes should be used in babies to avoid injuring them.
Indeed, a circular on implementing National Patient Safety Agency advice in Northern Ireland stated: ‘Smaller (less than 50ml) oral/enteral syringes exert a higher pressure, which can split the feeding tube’ (Northern Ireland Medicines Governance Team, 2007).
This circular followed the NPSA’s (2007) alert on safer measurement and administration of liquid medicines via oral and other enteral routes. It also built on the recommendations made by the NPSA (2005) in the guidelines for checking safe positioning of NG tubes.
The NPSA recommended using 50ml syringes in adults for aspiration and feeding, and 20ml or 50ml syringes for children. This seemed illogical, as the use of smaller syringes ought surely to be safer in larger patients. These recommendations remain unchanged.
The vacuum pressure created by larger syringes could cause trauma to the stomach if the lining were in contact with the tube tip. Potentially, positive pressure could erode the lining if fluid were to ‘jet’ on to delicate tissues.
While there has been a huge impetus to ensure safety in this area of nursing, there is a lack of credible research. It is worrying that nursing still relies on what may well not be ‘best practice’ (Reising and Neal, 2005).
We aimed to provide evidence to support the use of appropriate syringes. This would mean care could be provided from an evidence base, rather than by following custom and practices.
Literature review
We carried out a literature search on CINAHL, Medline and Google, covering the last 20 years, using the following terms: nasogastric tube; problems; paediatric; pediatric; children; syringe sizes. We found no research to support the ideas above. However, some articles clearly expressed that view (Reising and Neal, 2005; Cannaby et al, 2002).
Reising and Neal (2005) said: ‘Both Guenter and Lord, two experts in the field who associate tube rupture with syringe size, say a syringe of 30ml or greater is needed to prevent rupture; other experts come to the same conclusion. Two textbooks also support this premise. Although Lilly and Aucker recommend a 10-20ml syringe for flushing small-bore tubes, these smaller syringe sizes are believed to cause tube rupture because they generate considerable pressure.
We found no research on appropriate syringe size for flushing; the only recommendations we found were from sources that weren’t research-based.’
However, having stated this, Reising and Neal then recommended a minimum syringe size of 30ml.
We were surprised to read the literature positing this, as it contradicts earlier teaching and is generally unsupported by credible data. We believe many articles make statements that are not supported by factual information. This suggests nursing is being practised without a reliable (or indeed any) evidence base.
It is important to question tenets that cannot be proven to advance care and safety, and we felt it was appropriate to investigate whether syringe size was a significant factor in pressure generation. We noted when emptying syringes that larger ones could be expelled far more forcefully so the pressure generated might be higher. This study aims to provide evidence to prompt an informed debate and to enhance patient safety.
The method used was simple. The same testers consistently applied the method for all types of syringes using the same equipment:
• Druck DPI 705 manometer (digital electronic);
• Penta female luer enteral feeding syringe (50ml);
• Medicina female luer enteral feeding syringes (10ml, 5ml, 2.5ml);
• Size 8ch feeding tube (Unomedical);
• Size 8ch Corflo (Merck Serono);
• Medicina enteral male adapter to allow connection of female luer syringes to the feeding tubes.
The manometer was calibrated to zero and set up with a connection to the syringes via the adapter. Measurements were recorded in mmHg for negative and positive pressures.
The setup was then modified by inserting an NG tube into the circuit - we wanted to ascertain the effect of a 40cm fine (8ch) bore tube or a 60cm fine (8ch) bore Corflo tube in diminishing or exacerbating pressures.
The experiment was repeated with the NG tube in place to allow for measurement of a number of pressures. Those recorded were:
• Aspiration to full volume of syringe (from zero) both with and without an NG tube;
• Aspiration to 2ml (from zero) both with and without an NG tube;
• Injection of 2ml of water by hand over 30 seconds
To ensure reliability, we used the same syringe for tests on both tubes - and used only one tube of each type. Both researchers observed the test. The most extreme of three readings of each test are reported, since it is the extremes that might cause problems.
In 2005, we undertook similar work using Terumo syringes and syringe pumps. In 2007, the NPSA stipulated that IV syringes were to be replaced by enteral syringes. The earlier research will be used to indicate safety issues in long-line drug administration and we do not suggest we can use it as proof of enteral syringe safety. We did note, however, that the IV syringe findings were very similar to those for enteral syringes and we feel this indicates that researcher bias was not a factor as there were close correlations in each study.
We replicated the original work in 2008 using enteral feeding syringes to ensure the experiment was NPSA compliant. All feeding tubes and syringes used in this study complied with the NPSA’s (2007) alert.
Table 1 outlines the results. Interestingly, the largest syringe created the highest negative pressures in nearly all situations - and, where it did not, there was a negligible difference. The pressure was greatest when aspirating syringes to their full volume - although clinically there is no indication for doing so.
Table 1. Pressures in syringes
Syringe size
in ml
With NGT
8ch total length 40cm
With NGT
(standard) [make?]
8ch total length 40cm
No NGT2ml H2O injection via 8ch x 40cm (standard) NGT
Aspirate to capacityAspirate to capacityAspirate 0-2Aspirate 0-2
With NGT
(Corflo Merck Serono)
8ch x 60 cm
With NGT
(Corflo Merck Serono)
8ch x 60 cm
2ml H2O injection via Corflo (Merck Serono)
8ch x 60cm NGT
Aspirate to capacityAspirate to capacityAspirate 0-2Aspirate 0-2
Note: The figures for negative pressures generated with no NGT are simply illustrative as there will always be a tube involved. All readings are in mmHg.
The crucial test was comparing the aspiration of 2ml as this is the sort of aspiration needed to draw fluid for pH testing. Here, the largest syringe still gave a higher negative pressure via an NG tube of either type - although it was not considered to be significantly different. When the NG tube was used, there was a significant drop in negative pressure in all syringes, and they were all remarkably similar.
We considered that this mediating effect was due to Poiseuille’s law (resistance to flow rises through increasing the length and decreasing the radius of a tube) so if a longer and finer tube were used, the effect would be even greater. This is borne out by the results for the longer Corflo (Merck Serono) NG tube.
These figures appear to contradict the modern ethos that one should ‘attach a 50ml syringe to the end of the tube (the bigger the syringe, the lower the suction pressure), unless contraindicated by manufacturer’s instructions’ (Fearon, 2000, cited in NHS Quality Improvement Scotland, 2007).
Here, we analyse the findings scientifically and apply them to clinical practice.
For aspiration, the concept of vacuum is considered. This is based around the theorem of expansion.
Pressure is almost always measured relative to atmospheric pressure (1 atm = 1 bar = 14.5psi = 760mmHg) - this point is defined as zero.
Vacuums can be measured with the starting point as being true zero, so everything from zero to 760mmHg is a total or partial vacuum compared with atmospheric pressure, or as a negative value starting at a hypothetical atmospheric pressure of 0mmHg going to an absolute vacuum of -760mmHg. The following example uses absolute values.
Each syringe has some air or fluid in the luer connection at the tip but nowhere else if the plunger is fully home. The volume of this is identical for any size of syringe of the same brand.
By aspirating the plunger to its full marked volume from a fully depressed position, a vacuum is formed by pulling this dead space into either 20ml or 2.5ml. Using Boyle’s Law (P1V1 = P2V2) with P1 being atmospheric pressure (760mmHg), V1 the volume of the luer (0.05ml) and V2 the final volume of the syringe (20ml), P2 is calculated as 1.9mmHg. By performing the same calculation with the 2.5ml syringe, P2 is found to be 15.2mmHg.
Using figures of absolute pressure below 760mmHg, the lower the P2 number, the greater the vacuum; the 20ml syringe generates a vacuum eight times greater than the 2.5ml.
The inescapable conclusion is that a smaller syringe will minimise vacuum trauma and reduce the risk of gastric suction biopsy.
The corollary is that if one is feeding the opposite will be true and that the best syringe to use is of a larger size. However, we explain why the science is flawed and does not account for real-life variability.
The general rule is to use the largest syringe possible for administration, as it is less likely to result in a harmful high pressure. This is almost entirely related to the diameter of the plunger; the larger the diameter, the more the pressure is spread over a bigger surface area.
There is a difference in plunger diameters of 2.5ml and 20ml Penta syringes. The 2.5ml plunger has a diameter of 8.8mm and the 20ml plunger 19mm. Converting this to area (πr2], the 2.5ml plunger has an area of 60.8mm2 and the 20ml of 283.6mm2. If a weight equivalent to 1kg was placed on each plunger, the 2.5ml syringe would generate a force of 1.63 bar (1,225mmHg or 23.7psi) but the 20ml would generate only 0.35 bar (258mmHg or 5psi).
However, applying this blunt fact to practice is misleading and causes trusts to waste money on expensive and oversized syringes.
First, the application of 1kg of pressure will lead to a much swifter expulsion of fluid from the smaller syringe. For patient comfort, it is best to feed a child no faster than they might feed orally (for example, 30 minutes for a full maintenance feed to a six-month-old), so the force generated will be much less than in the example. Indeed, if gravity is used to drain the fluid, there is no problem linked to force.
Second, the theory does not allow for the fact that NG tube length and diameter - to a great extent - dissipate the effects of the force applied.
Third, we are looking at the rate of administration in clinical practice, not the force applied. Using this more patient-focused basis, the evidence was unequivocal. Injecting 2ml of water slowly over 30 seconds generated the following pressures:
• 50ml syringe = 15.6mmHg (40cm tube) or 5.7mmHg (60cm Corflo tube);
• 10ml syringe = 11.3mmHg (40cm tube) or 2.6mmHg (60cm Corflo tube);
• 5ml syringe = 11.6mmHg (40cm tube) or 3.4mmHg (60cm Corflo tube);
• 2.5ml syringe = 4.1mmHg (40cm tube) or 2.9mmHg (60cm Corflo tube).
Given this, there seems to be no benefit to trusts, nurses or patients from using a larger syringe. The only beneficiary will be the syringe manufacturer.
Granted that gravity feeding is by far the safest form as it prevents pressure rises, there can be no real reason to continue to follow the guidelines, which might be considered flawed.
Another reason cited for using large syringes is that tubes may rupture (the manufacturer says Corflo tubes burst at 80psi). Given that car tyre pressure is generally less than 40psi, this rationale may be dubious. Can a 2ml syringe really generate twice the pressure of an inflated tyre? The pressure generated by injection was (at its zenith) 15.6mmHg or 3.1psi.
There are variables in people for which a laboratory experiment cannot account. These include:
• Patient activity;
• Gastric distensibility;
• Associated pathology such as ileus;
• Different sizes of tubes will cause altered findings (as shown);
• Water was used to avoid damaging the manometer but different fluids have different viscosities. When other fluids are used, the back pressure (that at the plunger end) may still rise, although pressure at the tip may fall;
• Further study might show pressures vary depending on tube length and bore.
There is no substance to support current practice - the opposite is true. Current practice is unsafe as it gives the opposite effect to that claimed by its supporters.
There is an urgent need to replicate this research using different types of NG tube with a wider variety of lengths and bores. Once this has been done, safety agencies might wish to revise their guidance on ‘best practice’.
As the pressures exerted by different syringe sizes when aspirating or giving feeds showed very small differences between syringes, we suggest that cost may be the overriding factor once an appropriate size has been selected - subject to ratification of this work.
• Ensure feeding times are relaxed - the faster the feed, the greater the pressure generated (apart from the comfort of avoiding a pseudo ‘dumping syndrome’).
• Further research using a wider range of feeding tubes would be useful to ensure findings are replicable across a wider spectrum.
• Costings need to be analysed to establish whether there is a significant saving to be made by using smaller syringes, although safety will be the paramount concern.
• Subject to approval by a local standards and safety committee, consider using a 2.5ml syringe for aspiration and smaller than current sizes to inject in both adults and children. Use the smallest practicable syringe for feeding if reducing baro-related risks by gravity feeding, subject to approval as above.
• Similar research might be beneficial into the appropriate size of syringe that should be used for aspirating from/injecting into IV lines.
Readers' comments (2)
• I am actively involved in 'enteral feeding' at my place of work - I'm not sure if I am alone in this, but I have a feeling that this article is telling me something very important, but after 3 or 4 reads, I am having great difficulty in following the logic, and simplifiying the concepts/findings to impart to my colleagues. I am in the fortunate position of having 3 degrees from the U. of Edinburgh as well!
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• In 2005 I challenged guidance given to use 20mls syringes for aspirationg of neonatal naso-gastric tubes. I involved Vygon in my struggle and corresponded with the NPSA on the subject. The consequence was the NPSA re investigated the question of syringe sizes. Since then we have continued to use 2.5 enteral syringes for aspiration and the the smallest size of syringe possible to give whole feed by gravity. This in effect means if the feed is less than 10mls then a 10ml syringe is used, if more than 10mls then usually a 20mls syringe is used as it does not have to be 'topped' up then. It is a very complicated subject but I believe that in general when using tiny catheters such as long lines it is best practice to use a smaller syringe for aspirating and a larger one for flushing or giving medication by bolus.
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Lightning Safety Program
Survivor Story: Dave
Working Outside on Dock
Almost 2 years ago, I was working on a dock on the east coast of Florida. I remember several events immediately after being struck, but can't remember the order in which they happened.
At one point, I recall my brain racing trying to figure out what happened to me. One minute I was walking along fine and the next I wasn't sure which way was up or down and I seemed to be spinning. I also recall what seemed to be a period of time when all I could see was a white or grey color. It seemed to me as though I was almost flying.
Then I saw a bright flash at which point I suspect I landed on the dock. I could not move at all but my eyes were open and my head was tilted at an angle. I was told afterwards it started raining very hard but I could not feel anything. I could see blood dripping down across my eyes but could not close them.
According to conversations I had with witnesses afterwards, I was able to speak and explained that I thought I was struck by lightning.
I may have vomited because something was filling my mouth and causing me to choke. I tried to roll over and at that point I realized I could not feel or move my legs at all. The witnesses told me they thought my legs were broken. I was taken by ambulance to the nearest hospital and an attempt was made to take me by helicopter to a trauma center, however the thunder storm had become too severe for flight.
During my ambulance ride, the paramedics were in communication with the hospital. The focus of attention seemed to concern the lack of pulse and sensation in my legs. I asked the paramedic if he thought my legs would need amputation and he told me probably not. I thought about life without legs for a moment, and then I suddenly became very calm. I'd never been hurt in my life and was too lucky. I was sure I would not lose my legs.
When I was being removed from the ambulance, I was certain I felt something brush against my foot and I told the paramedic. He said there was nothing touching my foot but I was sure I felt something. By the time I was placed in a bed in the emergency room the grotesque swelling in my legs had almost completely subsided and I could once again feel them. The paramedics were amazed. One of them examined my legs then walked over to me and looked me in the eyes and said, "Mister, you are one lucky man".
It was at that point that I began experiencing pain unlike any other I'd had in my life. It started at my waist and would slowly rise to my head. I was given morphine by IV which dulled the pain for approximately 30 minutes after which I required more.
Due to an irregular heart beat, I was kept overnight and released the following afternoon. Throughout that night I went through periods when I felt very warm and other times when I shivered violently feeling very cold.
That was almost two years ago. I've been on many medications since then for chronic pain, heightened startle response, near total inability to sleep, heart palpitations, headaches, nausea, dizziness, fatigue, memory problems, inability to concentrate, loud ringing in my ears, etc.
Not a day goes by when I am not asked what it feels like to be struck by lightning. I can't explain it to myself and therefore can't explain it to others. I truly believe that I had died at least for a short period of time. Several months later I visited the dock where this happened. The dock was damaged quite heavily from the lightning and still hadn't been repaired. It was a very eerie feeling.
Like another survivor had described on this page, I can now "feel" lightning before it strikes. I am certain of this.
While it is very difficult to remember exactly what happened that day, it is even more difficult to forget.
I am here to tell you there is nothing good that comes from being struck by lightning and I strongly urge everyone to take every precaution possible to avoid it.
If you are unfortunate enough to experience lightning first-hand, you very likely will regret it every single day for the rest of your life.
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Gardening: Dealing with wet conditions
By Justin Newcombe
Justin Newcombe gives some top tips to keep your garden well drained.
Canna lilies do well in wet conditions. Photo / Thinkstock
Canna lilies do well in wet conditions. Photo / Thinkstock
If there's one thing I've learnt in 20 years of landscaping it is that New Zealand is a wet place. I've actually learnt to quite enjoy working in the wet. Besides making my own disposition contented, the other outcome of working outdoors in a comparatively wet country is you get to know the soil conditions and how different soils perform under different circumstances.
Establishing plants in very wet heavy soils can prove very difficult, so a two-pronged approach may be required. The first prong is colonisation - plants to help get the water moving and oxidise the soil. A colonising species planted in a wet area drinks up the water, provides shelter and breaks up heavy soils. The improved soil conditions then create a healthy habitat for the desirable plants we would prefer. In wet soils, natives such as cordyline australis, and pseudopanax arboreus work wonders or for some lively colour, canna lily and ornamental bananas make good colonisers.
But in really extreme situations, drainage may be the only option. Creating effective drainage to control water is actually quite a skill because balance is required.
A nice dry winter lawn can become a liability in summer when it will need constant watering to stop it drying off too much.
The first step is to find out where excessive water is flowing from. As water flows down it should be fairly easy to see where "upstream" the water is starting. The best thing is to control the water before it becomes a problem. Any retaining above a lawn area provides the perfect opportunity to do this. Ideally you want to redistribute the water around your section rather than running it off-site, which creates environmental issues in our streams, estuaries and harbours.
I don't recommend running a drain directly through a lawn if at all possible. It is best to slope the lawn to create some run-off, place any drainage at the highest point to divert excess moisture and concentrate on improving the friability of the soil conditions.
For drainage to be effective it must be constructed properly. The critical steps are to use the right aggregate and make sure the pipe being used to get the water away is sloping down and has somewhere for the water to clear at the bottom (obvious, I know, but believe me I've seen the results when that doesn't happen). From then on you need to make every effort to keep the drain clear of silt. For a standard garden drain, I use S A P 20 as the aggregate, which is a scoria with aggregate sizes of 20mm. Scoria is ideal because it will never actually bind together (unlike builders' mix for instance) which means water will always be able to travel through it. Once the drain has started collecting water there needs to be a means for it to escape which is where the pipe comes in. Using perforated flexible pipe like Novaflo coil allows the water to travel away from the drain. Silt build-up can very quickly render a drain ineffective so to prevent this before it happens the whole drain is wrapped in filter fabric. I always cover the pipe in filter sock which is like a stocking that stops silt building up in the pipe. This is a cloth (now often sold as weed mat) which is placed directly into the drain on the bare soil.
Install the coil on a bed of scoria around 100mm deep, sloping downward so water runs off. Place more scoria over the coil, then fold the ends of the filter cloth over the top of the scoria.
Finally I usually use river boulders on top of the scoria as they look good in most gardening situations and keep the drain clear of litter.
Once you've controlled the water you are able to divert it around the lawn and away into a less-frequented part of the garden. You can dig a shallow sunken garden bed and plant plants that do well in water, like swamp iris. In a vege garden, raising the beds and taking a no-dig gardening approach will take care of heavy soil. Good landscape design is the best place to start; you'll be amazed how much water you can get rid of just through clever plant selection.
- NZ Herald
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Eric Thompson: It's enough to turn you right off
Indicators are just a flash in the pan for some motorists. Photo / Supplied
I've come up with the next great breakthrough for car manufacturers in their continuing cost-saving efforts.
I don't know if it's going to be up there with the Ford worker who had the idea of having only three spokes, not four, on the steering wheel, saving the company millions of dollars.
Are you ready for it? Don't fit indicators because no one uses them.
The art of reaching out, grasping a small stalk-like lever protruding from the steering column, and raising it or lowering it, to indicate which direction you will be heading in, is dying.
Think how much a manufacturer could save by not fitting a stalk inside the cabin, no flashing light on the dashboard, no little speaker making that tick-tock noise, no front and rear, and sometimes side lenses and fewer lightbulbs.
They could, I suppose, for some people who realise that indicating before moving a couple a tonne or so metal across lanes is a good idea, or letting other drivers know if they're turning left or right, make indicators an optional extra.
Even then I'm not too sure they would be used correctly. You see, using your indicators can be a good thing If you signal well before changing direction - save your vehicle from being thundered into by someone else. Note two things. First, there is no point turning on your indicator halfway through the turn as an afterthought, because by then it's too late.
Those who don't know their left from their right should not be driving at all. For drivers who haven't quite worked it out yet, if you indicate to turn left there is no point turning your right indicator on.
When you have indicated and then pulled out into, say, the middle lane of the motorway, please turn the bloody thing off again.
Other drivers are too scared to pass you with your winking tail-light because they think you may suddenly decide to pop across another lane.
Just because you engage your indicator doesn't mean you can just pop out into the next lane, which happens to have another car right there.
This happened to me a while ago. I was driving up State Highway 1, north of Auckland, in the outside lane.
As I drew alongside a large 4x4 the driver looked directly at me, flicked on his indicator to pass the car in front of him and started to move into my lane. I had cars in front of me, and behind so was boxed in.
He didn't care and just kept on coming.
Luckily, my hanging off the horn convinced him to pull back.
What's the use of indicators if they're used just as an afterthought?
- NZ Herald
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Helicopter Long Line Training
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The courses include a Trial Lesson, the Weekend Course, and the Pro Course. Visit the VR Heli Academy site for more information on the external load and longline courses. After successful completion of the Pro Course you will be issued a Part 133 external load endorsement.
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We also utilize Barry barrel clamps and a Barry cargo net to give you a feel for how a variety of different loads react in flight. Practicing with this real world equipment and trying your hand at lots of realistic scenarios will prove invaluable when you start working as a long line helicopter pilot. | <urn:uuid:5c8a48df-f016-44bd-853e-3501c033bc83> | 2 | 1.757813 | 0.050679 | en | 0.885753 | http://www.oceanhelicopters.com/helicopter-long-line-training/ |
latinski jezik prevod, srpsko - engleski rečnik
Prevod reči: latinski jezik
Smer prevoda: srpski > engleski
latinski jezik [ muški rod ]
Jezik kojim su govorili Latini.
Latin [ imenica ]
Generiši izgovor
Any dialect of the language of ancient Rome.
Indo-European language of ancient Italy. Latin has passed through four influential phases: as the language of (republican Rome, (the Roman Empire, (the Roman Catholic Church, and (W European culture, science, philosophy, and law during the Middle Ages and the Renaissance. During the third and fourth phases, much Latin vocabulary entered the English language. It is the parent form of the Romance languages, noted for its highly inflected grammar and conciseness of expression.
The direct influence of Latin in Europe has decreased since Renaissance times but is still considerable, and indirectly both the language and its classical literature still affect many modern languages and literatures. The insistence of Renaissance scholars upon an exact classical purity, together with the rise of the European nation-states, contributed to the decline of Latin as an international cultural medium.
Latin vocabulary has entered English in two major waves: as religious vocabulary from Anglo-Saxon times until the Reformation, and as the vocabulary of science, scholarship, and the law from the Middle Ages onward. In the 17th century the makers of English dictionaries deliberately converted Latin words into English, enlarging the already powerful French component of English vocabulary into the language of education and refinement, placing “fraternity” alongside “brotherhood”, “comprehend” beside “understand”, “feline” beside “catlike”, and so on. Many “Latin tags” are in regular use in English: “habeas corpus” (“you may have the body”), “ipse dixit” (“he said it himself”), “non sequitur” (“it does not follow”), and so on. English that consists of many Latin elements is “Latinate” and often has a grandiose and even pompous quality.
Today, with fewer students studying Latin in schools and universities, there is a tendency to make Latin words more conventionally English; for example, “cactuses” rather than “cacti” as the plural of “cactus”. This tendency is accompanied by some uncertainty about usage, for example whether words like “data” and “media” are singular or plural. They are technically plural and are so treated by scholars, writers, and editors.
Šta se prevodi ...
Moji prevodi
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Nonfiction review: 'Fortune's Fool' by Fred Goodman
fortunesfool_cr.jpgView full size
One of the many solutions kicked around to solve the crisis in the music industry was the idea of "value added." Since most music in the post-Napster era is available online for free, the idea was to give consumers something more that they couldn't get elsewhere. Better artwork, T-shirts, access to tickets ... whatever it might be, it had to be something more than a CD, or why buy it?
Value added hasn't worked -- yet. It still has potential, as Fred Goodman points out in "Fortune's Fool: Edgar Bronfman Jr., Warner Music, and an Industry in Crisis." To demonstrate, Goodman provides a value-added epilogue, an opinionated perspective on the complicated story he's just told.
The first 275 pages of "Fortune's Fool" follow Bronfman, the silver-spoon heir to the Seagram's liquor fortune, on a twisting, unpredictable journey through 25 years as an entertainment mogul. Goodman starts with a great lead:
"Edgar Bronfman Jr. is famous for two things; one annoying and the other unforgivable. The annoying thing is that though he was born rich as Croesus, he has opted to work hard every day. The unforgivable thing is that he managed to lose $3 billion while doing so."
Who wouldn't want to read on? Goodman, the author of the award-winning book, "The Mansion on the Hill: Dylan, Young, Geffen, Springsteen, and the Head-on Collision of Rock and Commerce," puts his readers on Bronfman's shoulder and gives them a great view of what happened when the bottom fell out of the music world. Bronfman's business history is fascinating: He took Seagram's out of the lucrative, predictable booze business -- selling a massive stake in DuPont along the way -- and made it into a music company before effectively killing it in a disastrous merger with French company Vivendi. He and some partners took over the Warner Music Group in 2004 and have run a tight, profitable ship, increasing market share as the industry implodes. (Goodman's penultimate chapter is called "Ruling the Wasteland.")
That the music business is a wasteland, at least for the companies that once ruled it, is beyond dispute. Revenue from music and licensing in the U.S. dropped by more than half in the last 10 years, from more than $14 billion to just over $6 billion. Album and CD sales hit an all-time low in 2009, about 378 million units sold, compared to 785 million in 2000. Billboard just reported that year-to-date sales through the first six months of 2010 were down 11 percent. The CD market has been pretty much left to the dinosaurs and the kids: Michael Jackson, Taylor Swift and the Beatles were the biggest sellers of 2009. None had a new release that year. Only five artists have sold more than 1 million copies of an album so far this year: Swift, Justin Bieber, Sade, Lady Antebellum and Eminem.
The reason for the free-fall is not hard to find. Since Napster debuted in 1999, sharing music files for free has become a common practice. Napster and other file-sharing sites operated without regard to copyright protection and were eventually shut down, but by then the cow was out of the barn, and to use another cow metaphor, why should music fans buy the cow when they can get the milk for free?
It's a question Bronfman and his company have been struggling to answer. They've tried selling their music on iTunes, licensing it on YouTube and other sites, selling it as ringtones and on phones and other mobile devices -- anything they can think of that might work. The problem (one of the many problems) is none of those outlets is nearly as profitable as a CD, and none is as important in building a musician's career and sustaining a business. The record companies have resorted to onerous "360 deals," taking a percentage of their artists' concert and merchandising earnings in exchange for marketing and career support.
Typical rapacious record company behavior, say the free-music advocates. They point out that Bronfman was a leading proponent of the disastrous lawsuits filed against college students who used music-sharing sites and believe musicians are better off without record companies. They're freer, and the money they lose from CD sales can be made up in concert and merchandise revenue. Everyone can make and market their own music on a laptop and listen to whatever they want. It's all so simple.
Not if you want to make a living, and not if you don't like stealing. Goodman points out in the epilogue that it's extremely difficult for nonestablished musicians to build and maintain any sort of following without record company support. Musicians are artists, not marketers, and the amount of work they have to do to sell themselves is ridiculous. As for those who use the Internet to share and enjoy music without paying a fair price for it, from Google to fans that download a few tracks for free, they're ripping off the musicians they love.
"I've met a lot of today's heroes of Silicon Valley," U2 manager Paul McGuinness said in a 2008 speech. "Most of them don't really think of themselves as makers of burglary kits."
Once the price for something has been defined as zero, it's almost impossible to get people to pay for it. (Newspapers know all about this.) Goodman astutely points out that one reason people abandoned CDs so quickly is they had no great affection for them as a physical product and didn't feel they were getting something that was special to them, unlike albums, which are making a small comeback in part because people love the art, the feel, and the sound. They'll probably never be more than a niche market, but they're much more fun than listening to a computer file through an earbud.
-- Jeff Baker
Fred Goodman
Simon & Schuster
$28, 307 pages | <urn:uuid:de0450e8-22ca-4327-a25f-e9d02e941249> | 2 | 1.632813 | 0.190282 | en | 0.975052 | http://www.oregonlive.com/books/index.ssf/2010/07/nonfiction_review_fortunes_foo.html |
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