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PanGaia #38
Ancient Paganism
#38 - Ancient Paganism
History is, by nature, an inexact field of study. It consists less of facts than of theories, interpretations,even innuendo. Even the recent past can prove surprisingly murky. The farther back you go, the more obscure the picture becomes.
In this issue of PanGaia, we begin far back in time to describe the world of our ancestors, and some of the possible roots of contemporary Pagan culture.
In a time when the "peaceful Goddess culture" theories are going out of fashion, there are still voices arguing for them. In "A Millennia Without War," Jeri Studebaker challenges the premise that humanity is inherently violent. She carefully lays out evidence, arguments, and interpretations to illustrate the different pictures that people paint of Minoan culture. Did they really create a thousand years of peace? Read and decide for yourself. Katherine Reimer explores "Ancient Archetypes of the Jomon." Her study of Neolithic Japan draws some fascinating conclusions from the most recent archeological discoveries there."Remember the Mother: Matrilineal Societies Past, Present and Future," by Joan Robinson-Blumi, explores the effect of family identity on cultural and spiritual expression. She suggests that female-oriented kinship patterns incline a society to more peaceful and equitable living.
Not all of history concerns war and politics. In "Sacred Herstory of Clay," Christine Davis lays out the story of this substance from prehistory to modern times. Whether sacred or practical or both, ceramic objects come from a unique union of Earth, Air, Fire, and Water that must have awed our ancestors. In Elizabeth Barrette's article, "In Praise of the Mammoth" we examine these fascinating beasts that appear in ancient artifacts and mythology, as well as contemporary culture. Consider the possibility that they might walk the Earth again!
Sometimes we get so excited by what we want to find in history that we lose sight of what is really there. Archer dissects a popular Pagan motif in her article, "Dilemma of the Dying God." Come find out how well you know this famous archetype.The "Point of View" department features "Holding My Spirit Guide," a touching interaction with nature on the most personal level. We continue our popular "Pagan Bookshelf" series with "Part Two: The Best of Contemporary Pagan Writing." Survey the outstanding titles from the 1980's and 1990's. These are all worth spending your lunch money on.
Day job getting you down? Need a chance to relax? Jeff Rasley to the rescue with "Letting Go in French Polynesia," a vicarious vacation in tropical paradise. We also bring you a sampling of poetry in this issue. "Ancient Echoes" by Cristina Eisenberg and "This Language" by Kathryn Koromilas both speak of how the past whispers to us through the present. Elizabeth Barrette's poem ""Who Is She?" considers the mysterious aspects of history.
Our regular columnists bring us a fresh array of topics. In "Words and Wheels: Creating Pagan Liturgy," Cecylyna and Dagonet Dewr continue their rites of passage series with a set of articles on Pagan funerals. Christina Eisenberg writes of renewal in "Trail of Beauty: An Earth Almanac." In "Underworld Perspective," R.J. Stewart delves into concepts of ancestral consciousness and deep time. Laura LaVoie wraps up her final installment of "Finding the Goddess in America" with musings on the Hearth Goddess Brigid. S. Tifulcrum is also finishing her column "Connecting the Dots: A Pagan Perspective on Public Affairs" with a look at Pagan businesses and their relationship to communities. Sylvia Stevens concludes this issue with a hilarious look at moving – through the eyes of the First People. Moving from one pueblo to another probably wasn't any easier than moving to a new apartment or house. The more things, change, the more they stay the same!
Enjoy this look into the past with this classic issue. 80 paged, originally published in spring of 2004.
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Rockingham County Information Technology Services
The Information Services Department serves as a critical support function for all Rockingham County Government organizations, committee's, partners, departments and employees. The department provides many vital technology related services that are critical to the county on many levels but at the core is customer service through maintaining, planning, implementing and advising on all matters of information technology.
The department is responsible for all information technology maintenance, planning, initiatives, service and support for internal and external customers of Rockingham County Government. A brief overview is as follows:
Ph: (336) 342.8100
Email: firstname.lastname@example.com
Help Desk Line: (336) 394.9999
Normal Operating Hours
8:00 am - 5:00 pm EST
Monday - Friday
After Hours - Emergency Hours
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Derek Southern
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Two Colorado Rapids alumni players were named to the historic team: defender Marcelo Balboa and midfield maestro Carlos Valderrama. For Balboa it's the second major announcement he has received in 2005 following his induction into the US Soccer Hall of Fame earlier this year.
MLS All-Time Best XI Players:
GOALKEEPER: Tony Meola (MET KC)
DEFENDERS: Eddie Pope (DC MET RSL) Jeff Agoos (DC SJ MET) Marcelo Balboa (COL MET)
MIDFIELDERS: Marco Etcheverry (DC) Landon Donovan (SJ LA) Carlos Valderrama (TB MIA COL) Preki (KC MIA) Peter Nowak (CHI)
FORWARDS: Jaime Moreno (DC MET) Brian McBride (CLB)
The following are select highlights of the MLS Best XI:
• KEEP GOING AND GOING: Five players have played in all ten MLS seasons: Moreno Pope Agoos Meola and Preki
• WEARING THE BLING!: The players have collected 21 combined MLS Cup championship rings: Agoos (5) Moreno (4) Pope (3) Etcheverry (3) Donovan (2) Meola (1) Preki (1) and Nowak (2 – one as a coach).
• HIGHLIGHT REEL: Four MLS Goals of the Year: Etcheverry (1997 1999) McBride (1998) and Balboa (2000).
• TROPHY CASE: Five League Most Valuable Player awards: Valderrama (1996) Preki (1997 2003) Etcheverry (1998) and Meola (2000).
• MORE HARDWARE: Five MLS Cup MVP awards: Etcheverry (1996) Moreno (1997) Nowak (1998) Meola (2000) and Donovan (2003).
• GOALS ASSISTS AND GAMES: Players have combined to score 373 goals and recorded 549 assists in 1926 regular season games played.
• ALL-STAR SELECTIONS: 73 combined selections to the midsummer classic the MLS All-Star Game.
The winners of the MLS All-Time Best XI were selected by a combination of voting that included online voting on the League's official website www.MLSnet.com (50 percent) media votes (25 percent) and current MLS coaches and general managers (25 percent). The RadioShack MLS All-Time Best XI team was chosen from a pool of 78 player comprised of players who were previous Best XI selections or were named to at least three All-Star Games since the 1996 Inaugural Season.
RadioShack All-Time Best XI Bio's:
GOALKEEPER – TONY MEOLA (MetroStars Kansas City Wizards) Tony Meola has been a giant among goalkeepers in MLS playing the most games (230) and registering the most shutouts (57) in League history among 'keepers. In 2000 Meola came back from injury to not only help Kansas City win the MLS Cup but he also filled his trophy case by capturing the Comeback Player of the Year the MLS Goalkeeper of the Year the MLS Cup Most Valuable Player and the League's Most Valuable Player awards.
Best XI – 2000
All-Star – 1996 1997 1998 2000 2002
DEFENDER – EDDIE POPE (D.C. United MetroStars Real Salt Lake) Often called the best American defender of his generation the smooth and talented Eddie Pope burst onto the MLS scene in season one when his overtime goal delivered D.C. United its first MLS Cup in 1996. A regular for club and country Pope has been named an MLS All-Star nine times (a record he shares with Jeff Agoos) and has been a member of the MLS Best XI on four occasions.
Best XI – 1997 1998 2003 2004
All-Star – 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004
DEFENDER – JEFF AGOOS (D.C. United San Jose Earthquakes MetroStars) Decorated stalwart defender Jeff Agoos is a man of many records. Chief among them are his record five MLS Cup championships the most of any MLS player in history. Agoos anchored D.C. United's backline for five seasons and three MLS Cups before making the jump to San Jose where he earned two more titles in 2001 and 2003. Comfortable on either the outside or center of the defense and blessed with a powerful and accurate foot Agoos has earned 134 U.S. national team appearances and has been named to nine All-Star games.
Best XI – 1997 1999 2001
All-Star – 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004
DEFENDER – MARCELO BALBOA (Colorado Rapids MetroStars) Marcelo Balboa marshaled Colorado's backline for six years from 1996-2001 before injuries ended his career with the MetroStars in the 2002 season. The long-time U.S. national team player and Rapids team captain was the bedrock of the Rapids' defense and was an occasional contributor on offense with his flamboyant bicycle kicks including the 2000 MLS Goal of the Year. Balboa became the first MLS defender to score 20 goals and 20 assists in his career.
All-Star – 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002
MIDFIELDER – MARCO ETCHEVERRY (D.C. United) Few players in MLS history have been able to match the dazzling showmanship of D.C. United's Marco Etcheverry. The Bolivian international in the shiny white shoes ran United's attack for eight seasons using his deadly left foot to create chances seemingly at will. Not known as a goal-scorer Etcheverry still twice earned the MLS Goal of the Year Award (1997 1999).
Best XI – 1996 1997 1998 1999
All-Star – 1997 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 (Honorary)
MIDFIELDER – LANDON DONOVAN (San Jose Earthquakes Los Angeles Galaxy) Regarded by many as America's best player Landon Donovan is a true MLS success story. Loaned from Bayer Leverkusen at the precocious age of 19 Donovan blossomed into a talismanic presence in attack for the San Jose Earthquakes in 2001 en route to their first MLS Cup championship. Two years later he led the Earthquakes to their second title with a two-goal MLS Cup MVP performance. After scoring twice in the 2002 World Cup Donovan is a marked man and considered by many to be the nation's top soccer player.
Best XI – 2003
All-Star – 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005
MIDFIELDER – CARLOS VALDERRAMA (Tampa Bay Mutiny Miami Fusion Colorado Rapids) Carlos Valderrama is arguably the greatest passer in Major League Soccer history. Playing beneath his trademark mop of hair "El Pibe" worked his midfield magic in MLS for seven seasons and left as the league's all-time assist leader with 114 when he retired as a Colorado Rapids player. Named to three MLS Best XI's and six All-Star rosters he won the league's first MVP award in 1996. Valderrama famous for creating opportunities for his teammates seemingly out of nothing also captained his native Colombia to three World Cups from 1990 to 1998.
Best XI – 1996 1997 2000
All-Star – 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2002
MIDFIELDER – PREKI (Kansas City Wizards Miami Fusion) Predrag Radosavljevic—or simply Preki—is the only player in the history of MLS to win two league MVP awards which he did in 1997 and 2003. The prolific scorer carried Kansas City's offense for nine of his 10 years in Major League Soccer before retiring in 2005 at the remarkable age of 42. Preki's stunning resurgence in 2003 when it looked like injuries and age might end his career saw him lead the Wizards with 12 goals and 17 assists at the age of 40. Along with his MVPs Preki garnered seven All-Star game spots and four Best XI Awards.
Best XI – 1996 1997 2001 2003
All-Star – 1996 1997 1998 2000 2001 2002 2003
MIDFIELDER – PETER NOWAK (Chicago Fire) A domineering presence in the center of Soldier Field from 1998 to 2002 Polish midfield general Peter Nowak was the driving force behind the Fire's MLS Cup championship in their inaugural season in 1998. Adept at both offense and defense the tireless two-way midfielder scored 28 goals in 114 games and was named to the MLS Best XI and the MLS All-Star team three times. In 2004 Nowak became head coach of D.C. United and won another MLS Cup in his first season.
Best XI – 1998 2000 2001
All-Star – 1998 1999 2000
FORWARD – JAIME MORENO (D.C. United MetroStars) Jaime Moreno is the fourth member of D.C. United's championship dynasty to be named to the MLS All-Time Best XI. The talented Bolivian striker has been the spearhead of United's attack in each of its four MLS Cup titles and is second all-time in MLS goals scored with 94. His skillful passing and shooting and his decisive penalty taking have seen him named to three Best XIs and six All-Star rosters in his career.
Best XI – 1997 1999 2004
All-Star – 1997 1998 1999 2000 2004 2005
FORWARD – BRIAN MCBRIDE (Columbus Crew) A true power forward Brian McBride led Columbus with his head and his feet for eight seasons and now plays at English Premier League club Fulham FC. The first pick in the 1996 inaugural draft McBride quickly set about demonstrating his aerial prowess and goal scoring ability. Fearless in the box and tireless in his play he's the Crew's all-time leading scorer with 62 goals and was named an All-Star in all eight of his seasons in the league. A veteran of three World Cup teams McBride became the first true soccer star to be born in Major League Soccer.
All-Star – 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003
With the online voting category representing 50 percent of the total votes and the MLS coaches / general managers and media each counting for 25 percent the formula used for determining the award winners involved assigning 100 total points to each category for a possible total of 100 points. Therefore if a player received 50 percent of the votes in the online voting categories he would earn 50 points and if a player earned 50 percent of the votes in the other two categories he would earn 12.50 points for those categories. The voting totals were as follows:
Fans C/GM Media Total
Tony Meola 9.57 9.21 8.15 26.92
Brad Friedel 9.98 6.58 3.09 19.65
Kevin Hartman 4.58 2.63 6.18 13.39
Tim Howard 8.30 2.63 1.97 12.89
Fans C/GM Media Total
Eddie Pope 25.92 17.11 17.70 60.72
Jeff Agoos 15.04 10.53 12.36 37.93
Marcelo Balboa 14.25 5.26 8.71 28.22
Ryan Nelsen 8.16 9.21 3.65 21.03
Carlos Bocanegra 12.33 3.95 4.49 20.78
Lubos Kubik 4.66 11.84 3.93 20.43
Alexi Lalas 12.16 2.63 4.21 19.00
Robin Fraser 5.27 5.26 6.74 17.28
Fans C/GM Media Total
Marco Etcheverry 23.80 19.74 19.94 63.48
Landon Donovan 26.30 17.11 17.70 61.10
Carlos Valderrama 20.68 18.42 14.04 53.15
Preki 16.70 15.79 15.73 48.22
Peter Nowak 11.54 18.42 7.87 37.83
DaMarcus Beasley 17.49 6.58 5.62 29.69
Mauricio Cienfuegos 9.77 3.95 10.11 23.83
Cobi Jones 14.66 1.32 7.02 23.00
Chris Armas 6.71 10.53 4.21 21.45
Fans C/GM Media Total
Jaime Moreno 15.25 25.00 13.20 53.46
Brian McBride 16.80 5.26 7.58 29.65
Jason Kreis 10.37 6.58 10.96 27.91
Carlos Ruiz 7.87 3.95 7.02 18.84
Taylor Twellman 6.26 1.32 2.53 10.10


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Swiping on dating apps may bring you closer to a potential partner, but they may also be harming your mental health.
According to Dr. Natasha Sharma, a Toronto-based relationship expert and author of The Kindness Journal, dating apps can negatively impact your well-being if you don't have realistic expectations or put too much stock in meeting people online.
"Our brains have the potential to be primed in more harmful ways when they constantly receive an influx of likes — or dislikes — to one's online profile all day long," she said.
Dating apps can hurt self-esteem
According to researchers at the University of North Texas who conducted a study about Tinder, those who use the dating app reported lower levels of satisfaction when it comes to their faces and bodies compared to non-Tinder users.
This is something Meaghan Wray, 27, has experienced. The Toronto-based writer says that dating apps have affected the way she thinks about portraying herself to strangers online. She's currently taking a break from dating apps, but has used Tinder, Bumble, Hinge and Coffee Meets Bagel on and off since 2012.
WATCH BELOW: 'Living In Colour' explores preference over discrimination in online dating
"The most obvious reason they've impacted my mental health is the emphasis that's placed on looks," she told Global News. "I feel like I have to be so vigilant about 'accurately' representing myself through the images I choose. … I have to show that I'm curvy."
"I've heard horror stories from my bigger female friends that they've shown up to dates and been told they 'weren't expecting someone so fat.'"
Because dating apps are largely photo-based, Wray says she thinks they can cause people's body insecurities to surface.
"When I meet someone on an app I think I'd actually like in person, I find myself going over and over all of my perceived flaws that they'd see, and typically I end up psyching myself out of following through with a date at all," she said. "It's a really anxiety-inducing cycle of self-sabotage."
Dating apps are addictive
Phones are known to be addictive, and so is finding potential matches on dating apps — especially when it feels like there are endless options.
Recently, Bumble unveiled a "snooze" function which allows users to take a break from the dating app.
Bumble founder Whitney Wolfe told The Telegraph that the company plays a role in society's "social media obsession" and introduced the function to encourage users "to focus on themselves and mental health and not trapped in this warp of a never ending stream of connection."
READ MORE: Depression and romantic relationships — how to support someone you love
Like with social media, dating-app dependency can also have a negative impact on your well-being, Sharma says.
"I think the more we use technology, period, the more we experience increased tendencies toward feeling anxious and/or depressed," she said. "There is a lot of research now in support of this strong correlation. Dating apps are no exception."
Plus, if you have the mindset that "the grass is always greener" and seek out more and more matches, you may be setting yourself up for disappointment.
READ MORE: Dating someone with social anxiety isn't easy — here's how to make it work
"The digital age has provided a forum which can titillate and temp the mind, … if you let it," Sharma said. "Endless options, content, information, photos, profiles … are available online, 24/7."
In order to prevent yourself from constantly wanting more, Sharma said you need to be honest with yourself and what you're looking for — whether that's a hook-up or long-lasting love. "This is a process that requires self-awareness, emotional intelligence, and behaving in a way which stems from both."
Dating apps can help you connect to others
Dating apps aren't all bad. They can lead to meaningful relationships, and even start lasting friendships. Plus, if you live in a big city, they can help you meet people.
READ MORE: Think twice before 'ghosting' someone, says Winnipeg relationship expert
Corinne Przybyslawski, 24, said that living in Toronto, one of North America's most populous cities, can be isolating. She uses apps Bumble and Hinge to meet potential partners.
"I don't really come in with any expectations," she told Global News. "I'm open to whatever. That's why meeting people this way works for me."
"I don't think you can expect to meet people any other way anymore."
Keep your expectations realistic
The key to positive dating app experiences, Sharma said, is being up-front with the people you date about what you're looking for.
"If you are looking for a deeper, more meaningful relationship in life, online options are certainly viable, but stick with sites or apps that have a reputation for providing those types of relationship experiences," she said.
And, if a long-term relationship is what you're looking for, it's important to find ways to be happy in the meantime. "People don't need relationships in order to be happy in life, but most of us have a strong innate desire for them," she said.
"And that's a different kind of feeling."
© 2018 Global News, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc.


text:
By Rhishja Larson
Although few features in the animal kingdom are as magnificent as the horn of the rhino, such magnificence comes at a deadly price: The illegal rhino horn trade is responsible for decimating the world's rhino population by more than 90 percent over the past 40 years.
Greater one-horned rhino (Rhinoceros unicornis), Chitwan National Park, Nepal.
Photo courtesy of Suman Bhattarai
And a recent upsurge in rhino poaching has conservationists extremely concerned.
2006: A spike in illegal rhino horn trade
The 2009 report African and Asian Rhinoceroses–Status, Conservation and Trade (IUCN/TRAFFIC) revealed that illegal trade in rhino horn, particularly in southern Africa, had become progressively worse since 2006.
"The combined loss of horns from poaching, thefts from natural mortalities, government stocks and other private collections, abuse of legal trophy hunting and illegal private sector sales suggests that a minimum of 1,521 rhino horns were destined for illegal trade in this time period. Compared to the six-year period 2000-2005 when a minimum of 664 horns were acquired for illicit trade purposes, this figure represents a two-fold increase in the annual illegal rhino horn trade in less than four years," the report states.
Illegal rhino horn trade shifts from Yemen to China and Vietnam
In addition to the increase in trade, the 2009 study found that the majority of African rhino horns were now headed for traditional medicine markets in China and Vietnam. This indicated a shift from the previous destination of Yemen, for the purpose of crafting dagger handles known as jambiyas.
"Currently, most rhino horns leaving southern Africa are destined for end-use markets in southeast and east Asia, especially Vietnam and China; available evidence does not (at this time) implicate Yemen, another traditional end-use market in this trade," says the IUCN/TRAFFIC report.
There had been a similar increase in illegal rhino horn movement from Nepal and India during the same time period.
"The major trade route for horns is from Assam to Kathmandu in Nepal, via Siliguri, and then on to Tibet. The ultimate destination for this horn is believed to be other markets in China."
Rhino horn is a time-honored component of traditional Chinese medicine (TCM). For thousands of years, TCM has credited rhino horn with the potency to cure an unusually wide array of maladies, from headaches to pus-filled boils–and even devil possession.
Today, decades of conservation efforts are at risk of being undermined by what appears to be a reinvigorated TCM market in China and Vietnam.
But does rhino horn really have any useful medicinal properties?
Rhino horn 'prescribed for nearly everything'
Rhino horn has been an essential ingredient in traditional chinese medicine for centuries. An unfortunate proximity to China explains why the combined total of the three Asian rhino species (Javan, Sumatran, and greater one-horned rhino) is still smaller than Africa's critically endangered black rhino population.
Despite China being a signatory to the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) and banning trade in rhinoceros horn and its derivatives in 1993, current rhino poaching levels suggest that the use of rhino horn continues unabated in traditional medicine markets.
According to Bernard Read's 1931 translation of Li Shih-chen's 1597 materia medica Pen Ts' ao Kang Mu, rhino horn was prescribed for nearly everything: "To cure devil possession and keep away all evil spirits and miasmas. For gelsemium poisoning. To remove hallucinations and bewitching nightmares. Continuous administration lightens the body and makes one very robust. For typhoid, headache and feverish colds. For carbuncles and boils full of pus. For intermittent fevers with delirium. To expel fear and anxiety, to calm the liver and clear the vision. It is a sedative to the viscera, a tonic, antipyretic. It dissolves phlegm. It is an antidote to the evil miasma of hill streams. For infantile convulsions and dysentery. Ashed and taken with water to treat violent vomiting, food poisoning, and overdosage of poisonous drugs. For arthritis, melancholia, loss of the voice."
Ironically, it seems the only condition rhino horn is not prescribed for is a lagging libido.
Putting rhino horn to the test
In an effort to educate the public about the alleged curative properties of rhino horn, several scientific studies have been commissioned.
Testing was carried out in 1983 by researchers at Hoffmann-LaRoche, and followed up 25 years later with a study at the Zoological Society of London. Both studies arrived at the same conclusion: Rhino horn contains no medical properties.
Additionally, research conducted in 1990 at the Chinese University of Hong Kong was unable to produce evidence to support the wild claims of rhino horn's curative power.
Rhino horn 'is of no use to anyone except the original owner'
In1983 the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) and International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) published the results of a pharmacological study conducted by researchers at Hoffmann-LaRoche in The Environmentalist.
The study "found no evidence that rhino horn has any medicinal effect as an antipyretic and would be ineffective in reducing fever, a common usage in much of Asia."
"Rhino horn, like fingernails, is made of agglutinated hair."
Testing also confirmed that "rhino horn, like fingernails, is made of agglutinated hair" and "has no analgesic, anti-inflammatory, anti-spasmolytic nor diuretic properties" and "no bactericidal effect could be found against suppuration and intestinal bacteria."
Dr. Arne Schiotz of WWF summed it up: "This proves that rhino horn is of no use to anyone except the original owner. You would get the same effect from chewing your own fingernails."
Rhino horn the same as 'chewing your own nails'
Rhino horn was recently analyzed extensively by Dr. Raj Amin at the Zoological Society of London. The tests confirmed what had been found by Hoffmann-LaRoche researchers: Rhino horn contains no medical properties.
"There is no evidence at all that any constituent of rhino horn has any medical property. Medically, it's the same as if you were chewing your own nails," says Dr. Amin.
His analysis further revealed that rhino horn contains identifying elements–similar to fingerprints–which provide information about where the horns originated. This helps authorities determine which rhino populations are being targeted by poachers.
Watch Dr. Amin explain this in the video here:
By analyzing the chemical "fingerprint" of rhino horns, scientists help in the fight against poaching.
Video courtesy of Nature via YouTube
Rhino horn reduces fever in rats–but only at 100 times the prescribed dosage
Scientists at the Chinese University of Hong Kong also failed to confirm the alleged efficacy of rhino horn as a useful medicine (Ethnopharmacology of Rhinoceros Horn. I: Antipyretic Effects of Rhinoceros Horn and Other Animal Horns).
After inducing fever in rats with turpentine oil, the rats were injected with a dosage of rhino horn extract equal to 100 times the prescribed amount for human patients.
The rats' rectal temperatures lowered after the injection, and the effect lasted for an hour and a half. Additional injections of rhino horn at decreasing dosage levels were administered to the rats at 30 minute intervals for three hours. The dosage levels comparable to what would be prescribed to a human patient had no antipyretic effect.
The conclusion? "Apparently, based on the results of this study, rhinoceros horn can reduce fever, but only at rather high dosage levels when prescribed as a single drug."
Myth vs. medicine
Scientific analysis has confirmed that the notion of rhino horn as a "medicine" is nothing more than a myth–yet millions of people still persist in believing that rhino horn is a remedy.
Is this simply because rhino horn consumers do not have access to accurate information? Or has the rhino horn "business" become so profitable that belief in the curative properties of rhino horn is actually encouraged?
One thing is clear: If we hope to protect rhinos from being plundered to extinction, then we must educate consumers of rhino horn that it has no medicinal value or curative properties–before it's too late.
Rhishja Larson is the founder and Program Director of Saving Rhinos LLC, a public awareness program focusing on the illegal trade in rhino horn. She shares news, opinion, and commentary on her blog Rhino Conservation: Rhino Horn is Not Medicine.
The views expressed here are those of Rhishja Larson or Saving Rhinos and not necessarily those of the National Geographic Society.


text: I first played bike polo on grass about 20 years ago in the track centre at Herne Hill after a Saturday morning session. This was back when the club-house and changing rooms were still open, and there was never any worry that the sessions might be over-subscribed. I didn't know his name, but the guy who organised the knock-about on the grass polo bikes was Garry Beckett, son of the great Ron Beckett. The Becketts, for those who don't know, are pillars upon which the south London cycling scene is built. Stalwarts of the Bec Cycling Club (whose rollers we borrowed for the first couple of Rollapaluzas), organisers of the Good Friday track meet… And stars of the bike polo scene! Garry used to be captain of the England team, and father Ron was a regular player too. Garry posted this picture to his twitter account.


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text:
Charles Whitman's killing rampage from the Tower at the University of Texas on August 1, 1966 led to the creation of S.W.A.T. teams in every major city across the United States. During the 90-minute siege, the former Marine sharpshooter gunned down almost 50 innocent people – 17 of whom, including an 8-month old fetus, would die from their wounds.
by Mark Pulham
In the 1950's, American television seemed to embrace the idea of the perfect family, in one form or another. There was "Father Knows Best" with a wise father and his common sense wife raising their three children, two girls and a boy "; there was "Leave It To Beaver" and "The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet," both similar, but with two boys; "The Donna Reed Show" with a girl and a boy as children; and even "My Three Sons," where the father is widowed.
But no matter what the configuration, they all had one thing in common: all portrayed the popular image of what a typical "all-American" family should be like, a template for everyone watching. The Whitman family would have fit right in.
The Whitman's were a typical upper-middle-class American family. C. A. Whitman was a self made man, a plumber who through hard work and a determination to succeed built his own successful sewage plumbing business. He was also an upstanding citizen in the community, a prominent civic leader, and at one time, he was chairman of the Chamber of Commerce.
He had a perfect family, with a loving wife, Margaret, whom he married in their home town of Savannah, Georgia, and they had three sons, Charles Jr., Patrick, and John. They all lived happily on South L Street in Lake Worth, Florida.
The eldest son was Charles Joseph Whitman. He was born on June 24, 1941, and was precisely what an all-American boy should be. He was blond, good looking, and highly intelligent, scoring 138 on his I.Q. test when he was just 6 years old. He was a good student at St. Ann's High School in West Palm Beach, an altar boy, as were his brothers, at Sacred Heart Roman Catholic Church, and a pitcher with his parochial school baseball team.
At the age of 7, he began learning how to play the piano, and just five years later, at the age of 12, he not only had mastered the piano, but also became one of the youngest to achieve the rank of Eagle Scout. Charles and his father would frequently go on hunting trips, and he had been taught how to handle guns from a young age, how to maintain and clean them, and how to respects them. Like his father, Charles had a fascination with firearms; his father had some 60 in the house. Charles was an expert marksman, able to "take the eye out of a squirrel at fifty yards."
The family lived in comfort, in a house that was one of the nicest in the neighbourhood. It even had a swimming pool. Margaret's cars were always the latest models, and the boys were given gifts such as guns, motorcycles, and others that C. A. thought appropriate. They were an ideal family, and Charles was a young man that any father would be happy to see his daughter married to.
Living a Lie
But behind the bright façade, there was darkness. C. A. Whitman ruled the house with an iron fist, an overbearing dictator and uncompromising authoritarian who saw nothing wrong or unusual with using emotional or physical abuse if any members of his family did not abide by the Draconian rules that he laid down. As the breadwinner of the family, the demanding father asked for perfection from all the family, including his wife, Margaret, and when his set of laws were not followed, his punishments would be harsh, with beatings with fists and belts. "I did on many occasions beat my wife," C. A. would later say, "but I loved her."
Charles succeeded in achievements because not to do so would result in a severe beating. As he practiced his piano, Charles was fully aware of the strap that C. A. had placed within sight on the piano just around eye level. No doubt the push to become one of the youngest Eagle Scouts was coerced in a similar fashion. C. A.'s "tough love" worked. "I don't think I spanked enough, if you want to know the truth about it," he once said.
Yes, they lived in relative luxury, but the price to pay was high, and the underlying trouble in the family was becoming too much for the oldest Whitman child. In early 1959, Charles had been out with friends, and he was drunk. When he staggered home, his father was waiting up for him. His enraged father beat him mercilessly, and then pushed him into the swimming pool. Charles, badly beaten and drunk, almost drowned. For Charles, it was the end. He needed to get out, he had to escape.
Be All You Can Be
Two weeks before his 18th birthday, he got away. On July 6, 1959, Charles, encouraged by his mother, joined the United States Marine Corps, against his fathers' wishes. While Charles was aboard the train that would take him to the Marine Corps Recruit Depot Parris Island in South Carolina, his father was making some phone calls to some "branch of the Federal Government" to try and get his son's enlistment cancelled. He didn't succeed.
Used to discipline at home, Charles made a good Marine, earning a Good Conduct medal, a Marine Corps Expeditionary Medal, and not surprisingly, a Sharpshooters Badge. His score record on his shooting test showed 215 out of 250 possible points. It also stated that he excelled at rapid fire from long distances, and that he was apparently even more accurate when the target was moving. "He was a good Marine," recalled Captain Joseph Stanton, executive officer of the 2nd Marine Division. "I was impressed with him. I was certain he'd make a good citizen."
The Naval Enlisted Science Education Program seemed ideal for Charles. His upbringing had made him determined to be the best Marine he could possibly be, and this scholarship program would help in that goal. It allowed Marines to attend university, and later become officers. Charles took the test and passed. He got a scholarship to study mechanical engineering.
He selected the University of Texas in Austin, with its 232-acre campus, green mall, and red tile roofs, overlooked by Austin's tallest edifice, the 307 foot clock tower of the Beaux-Arts Building. Its panoramic view, taking in the campus and the downtown area of Austin, drew 20,000 visitors a year.
|Kathy Frances Leissner
Charles was admitted to the University on September 15, 1961, and in a very short while, met a young woman named Kathy Frances Leissner, a bright and pretty undergraduate two years younger than him. She was outgoing, fun to be with, and Charles fell in love with her.
After spending most of his life following rules and regulations, his father's or the Marines', Charles now experienced relative freedom, and almost immediately began to get into trouble. In one incident, he and some friends went hunting, and poached a deer at night. The animal was dragged back to the dormitory, leaving a trail of blood, and Charles gutted and skinned it in the shower.
|Charles and Kathy on their wedding day
On August 17, 1962, Charles and Kathy married, and for a while, Charles's behavior began to improve, but not for long. His grades were slipping, and a few other incidents, resulted in the Marines withdrawing his scholarship and returning him to active duty in early 1963.
He was stationed at Camp Lejeune, a Marine Base in North Carolina. Although he got promoted to lance corporal, he was no longer a good Marine. The year and a half of freedom that he'd enjoyed had left him unable to cope with the structure and discipline that the Marines demanded. He was also lonely, and missed Kathy, who was still in Texas finishing her degree. He began to resent the Marine Corp.
He was getting into fights, gambling more and more, and threatened a fellow Marine who owed him money. Caught with an illegal firearm, Charles was court-martialled, and his promotion to lance corporal was stripped, busting him back down to a private. In December, 1964, he was honorably discharged.
Charles returned to Austin, determined to redeem himself. He reapplied to the University of Texas, this time to study architectural engineering. Kathy was the major breadwinner in the family, with her teaching job at Lanier High School providing the health insurance and the salary. Charles also worked, as a bill collector for the Standard Finance Company, followed by a teller's job at the Austin National Bank. He was also a volunteer scoutmaster for the Austin Scout Troop 5.
His Father's Son
As much as he hated his father for the rigid discipline and the violence he perpetrated on his family, Charles found himself falling into the same pattern, and had become violent toward Kathy. Charles was horrified by what he did, and vowed not to be the same as his father. He had begun keeping a journal, and wrote in it a reminder of how a husband should act.
But he was becoming increasingly frustrated and experienced bouts of anger that damaged his self-respect, already eroded at his failure as a Marine and as a student. To all outward appearances, Charles was a hard-working, loving and devoted husband, all of which was true. But inside, he was hiding a personality that was churning with self-hatred.
In the spring of 1966, Margaret Whitman had finally had enough of her husband's physical abuse, and she phoned Charles to come down to Lake Worth and help her move to Austin. His brother John also moved as well, leaving C. A. with just Patrick, who was working for the family business. It seemed to Charles that the dysfunctional family that he had left to start fresh had followed him. It didn't help when Charles's father phoned several times a week asking him to persuade Margaret to move back to Lake Worth. Charles, already plagued with anxiety and depression, began to worsen.
Seeing how her husband's bleak outlook was deepening, Kathy urged him to seek help. He saw Dr. Jan D. Cochrun, who prescribed Valium for Charles, and also referred him to a University Health Centre Staff psychiatrist, Dr. Maurice Heatly. On March 29, 1966, Heatly began seeing Charles, and his patient told of his hatred of his father, and how, like his father, he had beaten Kathy a few times. Heatly felt that Charles was "oozing with hostility." Charles himself was worried that he would explode, and was making "intense efforts" to control his growing temper. Charles told Heatly that he was "thinking about going up on the tower with a deer rifle and start shooting people." Heatly was not particularly concerned. Many patients expressed the same desire and it was a common fantasy. Heatly urged Charles to come back the following week and they would talk some more. Charles never returned.
For the next few months, Charles attended classes and his job, helped by the amphetamine, Dexedrine. He was trying his best to excel, but couldn't accomplish his goal. He spent sleepless nights studying, but the drugs had made him inefficient, and it led to his own self-esteem suffering even more. Charles was under enormous stress, suffering headaches, and trying ever harder to better himself. He was also still getting phone calls from his hated father, trying to get him to convince his mother to go back to Lake Worth. To make matters worse, the amphetamines he was taking were making his mood swings increasingly more volatile.
A Boiling Rage
Outwardly, Charles was much the same, but inside, and unnoticed, he was silently boiling with a rage that was about to explode.
July 31, 1966 was the hottest day of the year, with temperatures reaching the upper 90s. That morning, Charles had gone out shopping while his wife was at her summer job as a telephone operator. He visited Davis's Hardware store and bought a Bowie knife and a pair of binoculars, then went to a 7-Eleven store and got some canned meat. He picked Kathy up from work and they drove down to the Wyatt cafeteria where his mother, Margaret, worked. They had a late lunch with her, and then visited their friends, John and Fran Morgan, who lived in the neighborhood. Later, he dropped Kathy back at work at Southwestern Bell for her 6-10 p.m. shift. He went shopping again, buying weapons and ammunition.
At home, 906 Jewell Street, Charles sat down at his typewriter and began typing a letter to explain everything and to say goodbye. Dated Sunday, July 31, 1966, 6:45 p.m., it begins, "I do not quite understand what it is that compels me to type this letter. Perhaps it is to leave some vague reason for the actions I have recently performed. I don't really understand myself these days. I am supposed to be an average reasonable and intelligent young man. However, lately (I cannot recall when it started) I have been a victim of many unusual and irrational thoughts." He later goes on, "After my death I wish that an autopsy would be performed on me to see if there is any visible physical disorder."
He talks about his headaches and the stress of his parent's separation, then goes on to some of his immediate plans. "It was after much thought that I decided to kill my wife, Kathy, tonight after I pick her up from work at the telephone company. I love her dearly, and she has been as fine a wife to me as any man could ever hope to have. The prominent reason in my mind is that I truly do not consider this world worth living in, and am prepared to die, and I do not want to leave her to suffer alone in it. I intend to kill her as painlessly as possible." Further down, he continued, "Similar reasons provoked me to take my mother's life also. I don't think the poor woman has ever enjoyed life as she in entitled to. She was a simple young woman who married a very possessive and dominating man."
At one point, two friends of his and Kathy's, Larry and Elaine Fuess, dropped by for a short while. They found him to be "particularly relieved about something—you know, as if he had solved a problem." The couple left around 8:30, and Charles left shortly after to pick up Kathy from work.
Kathy was tired when they got home, and she went to bed after chatting on the phone for a while. For some reason, Charles decided not to kill her just then. Instead, he drove across to The Penthouse apartment block in Guadalupe Street, where his mother lived in apartment 505. Margaret Whitman met her son in the lobby and they both went up to the fifth floor. As soon as they were in the apartment, Charles attacked his mother. It's unclear exactly what happened, but it is likely that he choked her into unconsciousness and then stabbed her through the heart with a hunting knife. There was also massive trauma to the back of her head, but no autopsy was performed, and so it is not known whether she was shot in the back of the head, or hit with a heavy object. However, no neighbors reported hearing a gunshot or anything like it.
|Margaret Whitman dead
He carried his mother's body into the bedroom and laid it on the bed, then pulled up the bedclothes to make it appear as though she was sleeping. He then wrote a letter, which he left beside her body. It read:
Monday 8-1-66, 12:30AM.
I have just taken my mothers life. I am very upset over having done it. However, I feel that if there is a heaven she is definitely there now. And if there is no life after, I have relieved her of her suffering here on earth. The intense hatred I feel for my father is beyond description. My mother gave that man the 25 best years of her life and because she finally took enough of his beatings, humiliation and degradation and tribulations that I am sure no one but she and he will ever know – to leave him. He has chosen to treat her like a slut that you would bed down with, accept her favors and then throw a pittance in return.
I am truly sorry that this is the only way I could see to relieve her sufferings but I think it was best.
Let there be no doubt in your mind I loved that woman with all my heart. If there exists A God let him understand my actions and judge me accordingly.
Charles J. Whitman.
Charles left a note on the door of the apartment for the building houseman. "Roy, I don't have to be to work today and I was up late last night. I would like to get some rest. Please do not disturb me. Thank you. Mrs. Whitman."
Charles returned home to 906 Jewell Street. Kathy was sleeping when Charles came into the bedroom. In his hand was a bayonet. He crossed to his wife's sleeping form, and plunged the bayonet into her chest five times, then went back and finished the letter he had begun typing, this time by hand. In it, he wrote: "I imagine it appears that I brutally killed both of my loved ones. I was only trying to do a quick thorough job...If my life insurance policy is valid please pay off my debts...donate the rest anonymously to a mental health foundation. Maybe research can prevent further tragedies of this type." In the margin on the left of the letter, Charles had written "8-1-66 Mon 3:00AM. BOTH dead."
Charles then began preparations for his final act. He took his old Marine footlocker and began to load it. He packed enough food for a couple of weeks, canned meat, three gallons of water, gasoline, knives, a transistor radio, flashlight and batteries - and guns. There was a 9mm Luger pistol, a Galesi-Brescia pistol, and a Smith and Wesson .357 Magnum revolver. He also added a .30 calibre Remington rifle and a 6mm Remington 700 bolt-action hunting rifle with a four power Luepold telescopic scope, with which even a non-expert could hit, consistently, a six inch target from 300 yards. And Charles was an expert sharpshooter.
At 5:45a.m., Charles called the supervisor at Southwestern Bell and told her that Kathy was feeling unwell and that she would not be in to work that day. An hour and a half later, Charles went to Austin Rental Company and rented a two wheeled movers dolly to help him move the loaded footlocker around. Then he decided the firepower he had was not enough, and from Davis's Hardware, he purchased a .30 calibre M-1 carbine, telling the salesman that he was going hunting for pigs. He then went to Sears, where he bought a 12 gauge shotgun, and visited Chuck's Gun Shop, where he bought some 30 shot magazines for the new carbine. He now had around 700 rounds.
By the time he arrived back home, it was 10:30 a.m., and he called the Wyatt Cafeteria and told his mother's employers that she would not be in for work as she was ill. Then, out in the garage, he took the new shotgun and began to saw off the barrel and the stock. While he was doing this, the postman, Chester Arrington, stopped and chatted with Whitman for about 25 minutes. Years later, Arrington would say, "I saw him sawing off the shotgun. I knew it was illegal. All I had to do was pick up the telephone and report him. It could have stopped him. I've always blamed myself." Charles placed both new guns with the collection already in the footlocker.
The Texas Tower Massacre
|Clock Tower at the University of Texas at Austin
Around 11 a.m., Charles started to get ready for his day. He put of a pair of khaki coveralls over his clothes, then loaded the footlocker on the dolly and wheeled it to the car. A half hour later, Charles arrived at the University of Texas campus. Charles showed security guard Jack Rodman his Carrier Identification card, which he had obtained as a research assistant. Telling Rodman that he had some equipment to unload, he got a loading zone permit. Charles entered the main building, where the power to the elevator had to be turned on by Vera Palmer before Charles could go up.
He exited at the 27th floor, one floor below the observation deck, and then dragged the dolly and the footlocker up the remaining three short flights of steps to the next floor.
It was Edna Townsley's day off that Monday, August 1, but the 51-year-old woman was filling in on the Observation Deck reception desk. Her shift was to finish at noon, less than an hour away. When Charles appeared, dragging along the dolly with his footlocker, Edna asked if he had his University work identification.
Charles immediately attacked the woman, smashing her across the head, most likely with a rifle butt, with such force that part of her skull was ripped off. Charles dragged Edna behind the couch and hid her there. She would die a few hours later.
Moments later, a young couple, Cheryl Botts and Don Walden, appeared from the observation deck where they had been taking in the view. Whitman stood there, a rifle in each hand. For some reason, Charles did not kill them, but just let them go. They exchanged a greeting with each other, and the couple walked over to the elevator. Cheryl would later say that she thought he was up there to shoot the pigeons.
Once the couple had gone, Charles pulled the desk over to block the entrance to the deck, and then took his footlocker up the short stairway that led out onto the observation deck. There, he opened the footlocker and began unloading his arsenal, placing guns and ammunition in all directions along the deck so that he could run to almost any position and fire from there.
|Marguerite Lamport
As Charles is doing this, M. J. Gabour, a service station owner from Texarkana, and his wife Mary, are heading up the stairs, along with their two sons, 16-year-old Mark, and 18-year-old Mike. Also with them is M. J.'s sister, Marguerite Lamport and her husband William.
The six came across the makeshift barricade, and began to push the desk out of the way. The two boys leaned through the door to see what was happening. Charles aimed the sawn off shotgun and fired.
Mark Gabour and his aunt, Marguerite Lamport were killed instantly.
Charles fired at least three more times. Mike Gabour was hit in the neck and shoulder, and toppled over the railing into other members of the family. He was partially disabled by the blast. His mother Mary had also been hit, leaving her permanently disabled. M. J. and William moved the wounded down the stairs, and then ran for help.
Charles wedged the door to the observation deck closed with the dolly, then, with a white sweatband around his head, turned his attention to the people milling below. On this blazingly hot day, there were plenty of people around. He picked up his most accurate weapon, the scoped rifle, and sighted down the South Mall. At around 11:48 a.m., his finger began to tighten on the trigger.
|Claire Wilson
Claire Wilson was 18-years-old and very happy. As she walked along outside Benedict Hall with her boyfriend, Thomas Eckman, also 18, they talked about the proper nutrition that she should be getting for her unborn baby. She had just entered her eighth month of pregnancy.
Charles looked through the powerful scope at her as she walked along the path. He aimed carefully, not at Claire's head, but at her stomach. He squeezed the trigger.
The high powered bullet jolted her as it passed through her abdomen and through the skull of her unborn child.
Claire cried out and fell. Thomas, horrified, turned to help and said, "Baby!", then said nothing more as another bullet tore through his chest.
At first, no-one seemed to know what was happening. They could hear the rifle fire, but dismissed them, not knowing what it was. Many people stopped, and became stable targets for Charles up on the tower. Once they started to notice people crumbling to the ground, realization set in, and panic began to spread.
People fell. Dr. Robert Hamilton Boyer was a visiting mathematics professor. The 33-year-old had just finished a month-long teaching job in Mexico, and was going to be moving to England to work at Liverpool University. His pregnant wife Lyndsay and their two children, Matthew and Laura, were already there and waiting for his arrival. He had just stepped out onto the mall to head off for lunch when a bullet hit his lower back. He died quickly.
|Charlotte Darehshori
Some people ran out to help the injured, and became targets themselves. Charlotte Darehshori, secretary in the Graduate Studies Department, was one of these, but she was lucky. She realized that she was being fired upon, and took refuge behind the concrete base of a flagpole, where she stayed for the whole hour and a half of the shooting. She was uninjured.
Charles turned his attention toward the east of the tower.
Thomas Ashton was 22-years-old, a Peace Corps trainee from Redlands, California. On September 14, he was due to be shipped out to Iran, and was attending the University of Texas for his Peace Corps orientation. The recent graduate from the University of Southern California walked along the top of the Computation Center when a bullet tore through his chest. He died at Brackenridge Hospital later.
Within four minutes of the first shot, the Austin police began to receive reports of someone shooting from the top of the clock tower at the University. An alarm went out on the radio. All units in the vicinity sped toward the campus. Around 100 Austin City hundred policemen converged on the university, along with over 30 highway patrolmen, Texas Rangers, and even some U. S. Secret Service agents from Lyndon Johnson's Austin office.
|Charles shoots from the Clock Tower
At this time, there was some confusion as to just how many shooters there actually were on the tower. With Charles running from point to point, picking up a weapon, and shooting from there, the impression the police were getting was that there were more than one person up there, maybe even as many as four.
Police Outgunned
The police were also at a disadvantage when it came to firepower. They had their .38's and their shotguns, but neither had the range to bother the sniper. In addition, Charles was behind the 18-inch thick walls of the parapet. He was virtually impregnable.
Charles turned his attention west, and aimed down Guadalupe Street, a busy thoroughfare known as "The Drag." Lined with businesses and shops, restaurants and cafes, it was a perfect killing ground. Seventeen- year-old Aleck Hernandez, a newsboy, was hit while cycling along, injured, but not killed. Seventeen-year old Karen Griffith was not so lucky. The student from Lanier High School, the same school where Kathy Whitman was a teacher, dropped to the ground, badly wounded with a bullet through her lung. Thomas Karr had just left Batts Hall where he had taken a Spanish test and was walking along by Karen Griffith. Probably as he tried to help Karen, he also fell to the ground after a bullet tore through his spine. The 24-year-old former Army Security Agency Specialist died an hour later. Karen Griffith survived a week before she too died from her wounds.
|Billy Speed
Among the first officers on the scene were Jerry Day and Billy Speed. Speed was 23-years-old, and was considering giving up his police career and going back to school. Houston McCoy, another Austin police officer, arrived at around the same time. Billy Speed took cover behind the Jefferson Davis statue on Inner Campus Drive. A six-inch gap between the balustrade of the rail around the statue allowed Speed to see the tower. It was enough for Charles Whitman. He placed a bullet through the gap that hit Speed in the shoulder. Although it looked like a superficial wound, the bullet had actually travelled down into Speed's chest. Billy Speed was fatally injured.
The bloodshed continued, with Charles listening to everything that was going on through news reports on his radio.
Harry Walchuk had gone to Guadalupe Street to buy a magazine. The 39-year-old teacher at Michigan's Alpena Community College, and father of six, had just left the newsstand when a bullet slammed through his chest, killing him.
High School students Paul Bolton Sonntag, Claudia Rutt, and Carla Sue Wheeler had taken cover behind a construction barricade in front of Snyder-Chenards, a dress shop. Paul and Claudia were engaged, and they were downtown so Claudia could get a polio vaccination that she needed before entering Texas Christian University. Paul, a recent graduate of Stephen F. Austin High school, had been accepted at the University of Colorado, and was working as a lifeguard at a local swimming pool.
Paul moved to get a better look, and said, "I can see him. This is for real!" A moment later, a bullet hit him in the mouth and he died instantly. Claudia made a move to help her fiancé, exposing herself. A bullet caught her in the chest and she, too, lay alongside Paul. She would die later at Brackenridge Hospital. Both were just 18 years old.
According to reports, Paul's grandfather, Paul Bolton, and anchor at KTBC, learned of his grandson's death only when he read the list of victims over the air.
By now, police officers and civilians, realizing that the police issue firearms were ineffective, had rushed home and returned with their personal weapons, rifles which were more powerful. They aimed up at the clock tower and as the bullets hit the parapet, Charles found himself pinned down. Finding targets was now more difficult, and he began to use the waterspouts as gun ports. This protected him from the shooters below, but limited his choice of targets. Austin police officer Ramiro Martinez, who had been off duty, but put on his uniform and rushed to the scene, credited the civilians and their high powered weapons saying that if it was not for their fire making it hard for the shooter, there would have been more deaths and injuries.
Over 500 yards away south of the tower, two city electricians, Roy Dell Schmidt and Solon McCown, had parked their truck and had joined some reporters and spectators. Clustered behind their vehicles, they felt they were safe from being hit, they were far enough away. Roy, 29, stood, probably to see a little better. But Charles was an expert marksman, and despite the enormous distance, he put a bullet through Roy's stomach. Roy died 10 minutes later.
A police airplane had been sent up with a marksman, Police Lt. Marion Lee. But turbulence made it hard for Lee to get a steady shot. Charles, on the other hand, was able to brace himself, and was able to hit the plane. The pilot, Jim Boutwell, took the plane out of range and from that safe distance, continued to circle the tower. Lee reported that he could only see one gunman.
Charles marksmanship was almost unbelievable. Robert Heard, a 36-year-old reporter for the Associated Press, was running as fast as he could when a bullet tore into his shoulder. Although in great pain, Robert remarked, "What a shot!"
Taking Whitman Out
|Houston McCoy
As this was before the widespread use of walkie-talkies; communications between officers on the ground was virtually non-existent. Once they left their cars, they were on their own. It was clear that something drastic had to be done. Houston McCoy, Jerry Day, and Ramiro Martinez had each, independently, come to the same conclusion and plan of action. This was not going to end until someone goes up there and ends it. They all decided to storm the tower.
Each man made his way to the tower, either by taking a chance and zigzagging to avoid getting shot, or by the use of maintenance tunnels. Eventually, all three, along with a civilian named Allen Crum, a 40-year- old retired Air Force tail gunner, arrived on the 27th floor. None of the police officers had ever been in a gunfight, and Crum had never fired a shot in combat.
|Ramiro Martinez
All four men carefully removed the furniture barricade, and then made their way up to the reception area. They managed to kick the door to the observation deck until the dolly that wedged it shut fell away. The four men stepped out onto the observation deck. It was around 1:20 p.m.
They split into two teams. The shots seemed to be coming from the northwest corner of the observation deck, so Martinez and McCoy headed north along the east deck, while Day and Crum headed west along the south deck. Day and Crum were several feet away from the southwest corner when Crum accidentally fired his rifle.
Charles, who was about to move position, heard the shot and went back to the northwest corner. There, he sat with his back against the north wall and aimed his carbine down the length of the west walkway to the southwest corner where the shot had come from. With his focus concentrated on the southwest, he didn't see Martinez jump around the corner.
Seeing Whitman 50 feet away, Martinez immediately opened fire with his .38, emptying all six shots into Whitman. At the same time, McCoy jumped to the right of Martinez and fired two shots from his 12 gauge shotgun, hitting Whitman in the neck, head, and left side. Whitman began to slump down. Martinez saw that the sniper's gun was still moving, grabbed McCoy's shotgun and ran up to Whitman. Martinez fired point blank into Whitman.
|Charles dead
The time was 1:24 p.m. The worst shooting in the history of Texas was over.
Kathy Whitman's father was listening to the radio reports that were coming in, and he heard the name of his son in law. Concerned, he contacted the police in Austin. They sent a car around to Jewell Street to make sure Kathy was okay. Officers Donald Kidd and Bolton Gregory looked through the window. There they saw Kathy's body lying in bed. Once inside, they found that she had been dead for several hours. Seeing Charles's notes and reading that he had killed his mother, another car was sent to the Penthouse, and around 3 p.m., they found the body of Margaret Whitman.
Dr. Maurice Heatly came under close scrutiny when it was found he treated Charles, and had been told of his fantasy about shooting people from the tower. But he was never found to be responsible, he'd done the best he could with what little information he'd got from Charles.
C. A. Whitman was later interviewed by the press and said, "I am a fanatic about guns. My boy's knew all about them. I believe in that." He would also say that Charles "always was a crack shot." He seemed quite proud.
The Austin shootings demonstrated what one single-minded individual could do, and how helpless the police were when it came to a situation that was outside of normal procedures. It was clear that the police were unprepared for events of this type, and so there was a decision to train a new squad to handle this type of situation.
Shortly after the events at the University of Texas, the Los Angeles Police Department formed the first of these teams, which were originally to be called the Special Weapons Assault Team. However, it was pointed out that this name sounded too military. Keeping the same initials, it was renamed Special Weapons and Tactics, and the acronym S.W.A.T. entered our language.
The Autopsy
|Whitman at Cook Funeral Home
Whitman had requested an autopsy, and it was carried out the following day. They found a brain tumor, a glioblastoma, in the hypothalamus region that was possibly pressing against the amygdala. It has been speculated that this may have been a contributing factor to his actions, along with his personal life, and that it is not uncommon for people suffering from this tumor to have rage issues.
No one knows exactly what caused Charles Whitman to do what he did. Was it the tumor? Was it the drug abuse? Some have pointed to his psychological disintegration and the emotional strain put upon him by his abusive father, and the need to become a better person, only to fail. Others have blamed, at least in part, his Marine training, where recruits are instructed on how to take life without consequence or regard. More than likely, it is a combination of all the above.
To say he was insane would be untrue. He was certainly troubled, but on August 1, 1966, Charles Whitman knew exactly what he was doing. This was no spur of the moment killing, a sudden explosion of violence. This was a meticulously planned assault. In between killing his mother and wife, he interacted with several people, and didn't kill them. His plan was to kill from the clock tower, and it's difficult to believe that someone insane would ignore the others he met up with during the day.
In the 90 or so minutes that Charles Whitman was on the observation deck, he had managed to shoot almost 50 people. Some had died instantly; some had clung on to life for hours, or in Karen Griffith's case, a week. A memorial garden was dedicated in 2006 to the victims of that day, but for many, when they remember the event, it is the tower that they look to.
Those who survived were changed forever. Claire Wilson, Charles' first victim, survived, but she would never be able to have another child.
David Gumby was a 23-year-old student, studying electrical engineering. As he had walked toward the library, a bullet caught him in the lower back. Gumby had been born with only one functioning kidney, and in the hospital, as doctors tried to reconnect his small intestine which had been severed by the bullet, they noticed that Gumby's sole kidney had also been destroyed by that shot. Gumby needed a kidney transplant, and spent the rest of his life on dialysis.
After more than 35 years of suffering, and being informed that the treatment may now also cost him his eyesight, Gumby had enough, and refused any more medical treatment. On November 12, 2001, David Gumby died peacefully. Under cause of death, the Tarrant County Coroner wrote "Homicide." Three and a half decades later, Whitman killed his final victim, the 17th to die from his shooting rampage.


text:
THEMED YARD SALE: If you've ever swung by a garage or sidewalk sale hosted by one family or a few, you know that the items on offer truly run a wide-ranging gamut. Old bar stools sit next to '80s VHS tapes which are nestled against some long-unused barbells. But finding a yard sale that truly focuses on a single period? And a stylish and swanky period at that? They're pretty rare, but one of the big ones unfurls in Palm Springs in the autumn. The location is a giveaway as to what kind of goods'll be for sale -- think mid-century -- and the fact that some excellent for-the-home buys shall be found. But the Retro Yard Sale isn't the only October highlight to land in the desert resort. It's just one component of Modernism Week's Fall Preview, the long holiday weekend devoted to design and sleek lines and shift dresses and cocktail glassware and everything vintage and '60s-era cool (and '50s, too, of course). That holiday weekend is Columbus Day Weekend and the bigger-than-last-year schedule was announced on Monday, July 28.
MODERNISM GALORE: The mid-century sale isn't the only treat to circle on the calendar. A poolside bash with a nod to The King'll roll out at the Hacienda Cantina & Beach Club, while the double-decker bus architectural tour makes its return. Look for tours of Frey House II, the always bustling Modernism Show & Sale, and a cocktail reception themed to photos of the nearby Salton Sea. Tickets for the Modernism Week Fall Preview go on sale at noon on Friday, Aug. 1.
WANT TO... hang tight for the mega February Modernism Week? Well, the Columbus Weekend to-do keeps on growing, so you'll get your fashion-y, domestic-cool fill. But the full-on wintertime extravaganza is scheduled for Feb. 12-22, 2015.


text:
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text:
"Squid Plus One" is a SpongeBob SquarePants episode from season nine. In this episode, Squidward receives an invitation to a gallery opening and scrambles to find a friend to take with him.
- Squidward Tentacles
- Scallops
- SpongeBob SquarePants
- Alternate-Universe Squidward
- Norton (name revealed)
- Norton's supervisor (mentioned)
- Bugs
- Widow Duncan (debut)
- Frankie Billy (cameo)
- Tom (cameo)
- Incidental 60 (cameo)
- Taylor Fishbowl (cameo)
- Harold Bill Reginald Scott
- Evelyn (cameo)
- Jennifer Millie (cameo)
- Nazz-Mimi (cameo)
- Mevis (cameo)
- Popeye fish (cameo)
- Frank (muscular goldfish) (cameo)
- Jim (wrestler) (cameo)
- Big fish (cameo)
- Larry the Lobster
- Purple weightlifter (debut)
- Paco (cameo)
- Incidental 67 (cameo)
- Abigail (light blue fish) (cameo)
- Dave (cameo)
- Frank (lifeguard) (cameo)
- Sandals (cameo)
- John (cameo)
- Jimmy Gus (cameo)
- Medley Fishbowl (cameo)
- Vera Fishbowl (cameo)
- Clay (cameo)
- Tina Fran (cameo)
- Joe (cameo)
- Nancy Suzy Fish (cameo)
- Harry (fish) (cameo)
- Nat Peterson (cameo)
- Thaddeus (cameo)
- Incidental 68 (cameo)
- Martha Smith (cameo)
- Sea snake (mentioned)
- Debbie Rechid (cameo)
- Perch Perkins
One afternoon at Squidward's house, Squidward is seen preparing for his day until he hears his doorbell ring. When Squidward answers the door he finds SpongeBob there, who asks what he is doing. Squidward replies that he is busy but SpongeBob wonders why he is busy. Squidward says he's going to spend quality time with someone important and slams the door on SpongeBob before continuing to enjoy his afternoon. However, his door rings again and, thinking it's SpongeBob, accidentally yells at a mailman. Squidward then takes the mail and it's revealed as an invitation to the Galleria Diphteria. However, Squidward notices some words at the bottom and the mailman says he can bring someone to go along. SpongeBob is eager to go but Squidward declines the offer and slams the door on SpongeBob yet again.
A little later, Squidward is trying to find some friends to take to the Galleria Diphteria but is having some trouble. Squidward gets an idea after seeing SpongeBob run outside with a jump rope and runs outside to ask him. SpongeBob believes Squidward was going to ask him to go to the art gallery opening, but Squidward just asks him where the mailman went. SpongeBob tells him he went over to Widow Duncan's house and Squidward runs off toward the house. Squidward finds the mailman who is in the middle of delivering a package. The two of them figure out they have most things in common and they say what they hate most in unison. Squidward tells the mailman that it is SpongeBob, but the mailman tells Squidward that it is clarinets, leaving him shocked. As the mailman continues talking about why he hates clarinets, Squidward is already gone. The mailman (revealing himself as Norton) hits himself thinking he is too opinionated.
Later, Squidward is seen walking in town and picks up a can belonging to SpongeBob. Squidward wants to tell SpongeBob something important but it turns out he just wants to talk to Larry. At the beach, Squidward tries to ask Larry to go to the art gallery with him but Larry manages to convince Squidward to go riding on a jet ski instead. Squidward and Larry go riding around into the carnival and eventually do other activities such as playing pool, going to the movies, and playing instruments together. Squidward replies to Larry that he met someone earlier that didn't like clarinet music and Larry agrees with him. Squidward asks Larry if he would go to the gallery opening later and Larry agrees but he only wants to make a protein shake first.
However, Squidward calls the protein "glop" and starts to mock people that drink them. An enraged Larry smashes Squidward into the ground and walks off. Squidward is saddened but SpongeBob appears and helps him out of the hole. Squidward thanks SpongeBob and SpongeBob says he'll do anything for a friend. Upon hearing that, Squidward asks SpongeBob to go with him to the gallery show and SpongeBob gasps in excitement. However, at Galleria Diphteria, it turns out Squidward ends up going with a reflection of himself in the mirror (With SpongeBob in a black suit carrying the mirror around) with Perch Perkins remarking it is "sad." Squidward then tells his reflection that he will always be his "plus one."
Vincent Waller confirmed the episode on Twitter on August 10, 2015.[1]
|( ‣ ) Associated production music
|( • ) Original music
|( ◦ ) SpongeBob music
‣ Squidward's Tiki Land - Aaron Springer, Nicolas Carr, Sage Guyton, Jeremy Wakefield [opening]
‣ Skipping to School - Sage Guyton, Jeremy Wakefield [SpongeBob at door]
‣ Squidward's Tiki Land - Aaron Springer, Nicolas Carr, Sage Guyton, and Jeremy Wakefield [Squidward sits down/"You have a great vocabulary."]
‣ Hawaiian Solo Steel - Jeremy Wakefield [Norton cries]
‣ The Donut Dilemma - Nicolas Carr [Squidward gets his mail]
‣ Parting of the Clouds - Nicolas Carr ["Why, it's beautiful!"]
‣ Box Office [#80] - Harry Bluestone, Emil Cadkin [Squidward reads invitation.]
‣ Box Office [#77] - Harry Bluestone, Emil Cadkin ["Oh, I've heard of that!"]
‣ Lite Conversation - Nicolas Carr, Barry Anthony ["What are you still doing here?"]
‣ Hot Steel and Slide Licks - Jeremy Wakefield [Norton leaves]
• Hot Steel and Slide Licks (j) - Jeremy Wakefield ["I like openings"]
‣ A Fishy Conversation - Barry Anthony [Squidward flips through Rolodex]
‣ Nude Sting - Nicolas Carr ["Tonight?!"]
‣ A Fishy Conversation - Barry Anthony ["Let's see, there must be someone."]
‣ Gator - Steve Belfer [SpongeBob running with jump rope]
• Hot Steel and Slide Licks (r) - Jeremy Wakefield [Squidward runs off]
‣ The Fruitcake Vendor - Nicolas Carr, Barry Anthony ["What? What are you..."]
‣ Unknown Track 37 - Nicolas Carr ["I'm an introvert!"]
‣ Tentically Speaking - Sage Guyton, Jeremy Wakefield [Squidward makes conversation with Norton]
‣ Who Said That - Nicolas Carr, Barry Anthony [Norton explains why he hates clarinets]
‣ Solo Steel - Jeremy Wakefield ["Stupid, stupid, stupid!"]
‣ Bumbling (b) - Bernd Gesell ["I've always taken a shine to you."]
• Hot Steel and Slide Licks (v) - Jeremy Wakefield [Norton runs off]
• Hot Steel and Slide Licks (t) - Jeremy Wakefield ["Oh, who are you kidding?"]
‣ Harp Ding - Nicolas Carr [Squidward gets an idea]
‣ City Bustle - Larry Hochman ["You don't have to ask me three times!"]
• Hot Steel and Slide Licks (s) - Jeremy Wakefield ["Oh, okeydoke."]
‣ Surfing Sponge - Nicolas Carr, Barry Anthony [Larry lifting weights]
‣ Unknown Track 5 - Squidward and Larry jet skiing
‣ ? - Nicolas Carr, Barry Anthony [Squidward playing clarinet]
‣ The Fruitcake Vendor - Nicolas Carr, Barry Anthony [Squidward asks Larry to come to the opening]
‣ Tension Bits - Nicolas Carr, Sage Guyton, Jeremy Wakefield [Larry's ticked!]
• Hot Steel and Slide Licks (p) - Jeremy Wakefield ["I guess it's just you and me again."]
‣ You're Nice - Sage Guyton, Jeremy Wakefield [SpongeBob appears behind Squidward]
‣ Harp Ding - Nicolas Carr ["Friend?"]
‣ Climb to Altitude - Trevor Duncan ["Would you be my plus one?"]
‣ Big Show Theme - Robert Sharples [ending]
- This episode is available on the SpongeBob LongPants, Complete Ninth Season, and Next 100 Episodes DVDs.
- This episode's title card is meant to represent an admission ticket.
- This episode reveals that Squidward uses incorrect grammar when he speaks, even though he claims he has good grammar.
- This episode may take place in spring because there are more flowers grown on the sides of SpongeBob's house.
- This is the first episode to use "You're Nice" as the title card music since "The Krusty Plate" from season 5.
- This is the third episode where Squidward's last name is mispronounced. The first is "The Great Snail Race" and the second is "Are You Happy Now?"
- This episode premiered 14 years after "The Secret Box" and "Band Geeks" and three years after "License to Milkshake."
- This episode premiered in Canada 13 years after Tales from the Deep, Bikini Bottom Bash!, and Deep Sea Sillies were releases, 11 years after The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie was released in theaters in Spain, 5 years after "Sponge-Cano!," "The Main Drain," "The Monster Who Came to Bikini Bottom," and "Welcome to the Bikini Bottom Triangle" premiered, and one year after The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge Out of Water was released in Belgium and the Netherlands.
- This episode premiered in Japan sixteen years after The Good, the Bad, and the Krabby and A Christmas Coral were published, eleven years after the SpongeBob DetectivePants: The Case of the Missing Spatula book and The Art Contest: No Cheating Allowed! were published, four years after "Don't Look Now" and "Séance Shméance" premiered in Greece, and a year after "Mall Girl Pearl" and "Two Thumbs Down" premiered in Canada and "Patrick! The Game" and "The Sewers of Bikini Bottom" premiered in Israel.
- Starting with this episode, Perch returns to being purple.
- When Larry towers over Squidward threateningly, Squidward's clarinet is gold. After Larry smashes Squidward into the ground, the clarinet is black again.
Running gags
- SpongeBob happily blinking his eyes at Squidward.


text:
It's essentially Simon for the mash-up generation and one of the best sounding games out there. There's a lot of hype centered around Activision's 'DJ Hero,' but it certainly lives up to it.
Meanwhile, fit avatars are contorting themselves to get you in shape.
The Wii has gone well beyond fit -- you've got former MTV veejays doing pilates, and now Jillian Michaels in the jungle for a fitness boot camp, because she wants you to feel like the Biggest Loser in what's actually some fairly strenuous exercise. One of the most draconian features of 'Jillian Michaels Fitness Ultimatum 2010' is where she takes off running around her workout island and you're supposed to keep up with her.
If the game seems a lot like 'Daisy Fuentes Pilates,' it's because the same developers were involved, but again, the kind of exercise in this second edition of the Fitness Ultimatum is quicker to work up a sweat.
FYI… NBC has another show with Michaels in the works, "Losing It with Jillian Michaels," but before it airs you can join her on the Wii.
Meanwhile, another game has music fans nodding their heads while navigating the turntable to keep the beat going.
DJ Hero perhaps makes the most sense in this era of play-along, music themed games because much like the DJ scene, timing and dexterity are crucial and button mashing in time is part of the real life process.
93 unique genre blending mixes merging hip-hop, rock and electronica come to life as you scratch, crossfade and sample your way to hero status. This is easily one of the most exciting releases of the year worthy of going multi-platinum.
Laurence Scott gets the party started on the game console each week with his reviews seen on NBC stations around the country.


text: Dave's ESL Cafe's Student Discussion Forums :: View topic - Out of Afica Dave's ESL Cafe's Student Discussion Forums"The Internet's Meeting Place for ESL/EFL Students and Teachers from Around the World!" FAQ Search Memberlist Usergroups Register Profile Log in to check your private messages Log in Out of Afica Dave's ESL Cafe's Student Discussion Forums Forum Index -> Film and Cinema View previous topic :: View next topic Author Message Limbo QJoined: 15 Nov 2004Posts: 5 Posted: Thu Nov 18, 2004 5:17 pm Post subject: Out of Afica Anybody who likes this movie? The first time I watched this movie I felt it was so long and TEDIOUS! But, the second time, I just liked it. The woman is very brave and strong. And it makes me admire her a lot. Another movie I very much recommend is A RIVER RUNS THROUGH IT. Brad Pitt starring in the movie. His eyes are so dreaming. And the background scene's so beautiful. It's a nice place where the story happend in Monntana. I wanna hear from all of you soon who'd like to share their views with me. Back to top Display posts from previous: All Posts1 Day7 Days2 Weeks1 Month3 Months6 Months1 Year Oldest FirstNewest First Dave's ESL Cafe's Student Discussion Forums Forum Index -> Film and Cinema All times are GMT - 8 Hours Page 1 of 1 Jump to: Select a forum Student Forums----------------ComputersCurrent NewsCultureEnglish SchoolsFamilyFilm and CinemaFoodHealth and FitnessHelp CenterHobbiesHolidaysLearning EnglishLiteratureMaking FriendsMusicOpinionsPetsScienceSportsThe Strange and MysteriousTOEFL and Other English ExamsTravel You cannot post new topics in this forumYou cannot reply to topics in this forumYou cannot edit your posts in this forumYou cannot delete your posts in this forumYou cannot vote in polls in this forum Dave's ESL Cafe is maintained by the one and only Dave Sperling. Banner Advertising | Bookstore / Alta Books | FAQs | Articles | Interview with Dave Copyright © 2018 Dave's ESL Cafe | All Rights Reserved | Contact Dave's ESL Cafe | Site Map Teachers College, Columbia University: Train to Teach English Here or Abroad Powered by phpBB © 2001, 2002 phpBB Group


text:
Haven't found anything yet?
Solace – Graham & Brown
Inspired by only the most natural of formations, solace explores texture and technique across an easy-living fresh neutral palette.
This stunning collection combines organic geos, soft natural textures and flashes of metallic and mother of pearl with luxuriously simple finesse.
The best of mother nature is encapsulated across the range with inspirations drawn from bark, concrete, fossil and foliage.
The fresh new palette sits on a neutral base with pastel accents adding a contemporary fashion influence.
[source: Superfresco, Graham & Brown]


text:
Authorities suspect that someone deliberately set fire to a large pile of flood debris near the entrance to the Alexander Dawson School campus, according to the Boulder County Sheriff's Office.
Sheriff's deputies and Mountain View Fire Rescue personnel were dispatched to North 107th Street and Dawson Drive at 1:55 a.m. Friday on a report of a fire there.
Upon arrival, they found a fire in large pile of wood and branches, a collection of debris from last September's flood that the sheriff's office had been taken to the site as part of a post-flood cleanup effort.
After Mountain View Fire Rescue extinguished the fire, deputies found a one-gallon jug with an odor of gasoline on the debris pile.
Mountain View Fire Rescue spokeswoman Amy Tallent said no structures were threatened but there was a small skid loader about 20 feet away from the fire. She said Mountain View sent an engine, a brush truck and a command car to the scene.
Mountain View and the Boulder County Sheriff's Office are investigating the fire. The sheriff's office has asked that anyone in the area between midnight and 1:55 a.m. Friday who saw any vehicles or people in the area call 303-441-4444.


text:
Qt Localization
Translating Qt Into Other Languages
Qt aims at being fully internationalized by use of its own i18n framework.
Localization to languages for which The Qt Company has no internal resources needs to be provided by other parts of the community. Here is how you can help:
Translation efforts are coordinated over the email@example.com mailing list. If you are starting an entirely new translation, please cross-post to firstname.lastname@example.com or firstname.lastname@example.com respectively, to possibly find other interested people.
If you really do not wish to communicate in the open, you may contact email@example.com. Real-time communication is possible in the #qt-labs and #qt-creator channels on irc.freenode.net. Ask ossi|tt. (For a full list of IRC channels of interest to Qt developers, see OnlineCommunities.)
Please talk with us before you start - otherwise you may end up duplicating work, translating a dead or highly unstable branch, etc. We've seen it before.
You should probably check whether KDE already has a translation of Qt to your language and whether they would be willing (and legally able) to contribute it to Qt upstream. Even if not, somebody from the community may be willing to help you.
Generally, it makes little sense to start translating until a particular release cycle enters the string freeze, somewhere between the last beta and the first release candidate. Approximate release dates will be announced on the mailing list, usually leaving around two weeks for completing the translation. When you are starting somewhere in the middle of a release cycle, the only sensible option is translating the latest stable release.
The actual act of submitting a translation is the same as for source code (see Qt Contribution Guidelines).
In case you really cannot find your way through git/Gerrit and cannot find someone to help you, you may contribute via email after accepting the CLA on Gerrit.
Instructions for Qt
First, you need translation templates to work with. Qt uses its own TS (translation source) XML file format for that. There are several ways to get them:
- You may download daily updated translation files. This page also lists the current release state of each branch, so you should visit it in either case. Note that many Qt 5 files show zero percent completion status - this is because the imported Qt 4 translations were all downgraded to "unfinished", not because the files are empty.
- Alternatively, if you are tech-savvy enough, you may build the files yourself:
- If you are starting a translation of Qt 5 to a language for which a Qt 4 translation exists, you should re-use the existing translation files:
- Make sure your $PATH starts with $qt5/qtbase/bin
- Change to $qt5/qttranslations/translations
- Run
perl split-qt-ts.pl <lang>
- Otherwise, to update the templates:
- Run in the $qt5/qttranslations/translations subdirectory, where <lang> is the language (and optionally country) code.
make ts-<lang>
- You may also use to update only a specific file.
make ts-<part>-<lang>
- If a particular file (or all of them) for your language is missing, run (or
make ts-<part>-untranslatedto get all) and rename the file(s) accordingly. Do not qualify the language with a country unless it is reasonable to expect country-specific variants. Then run
make ts-untranslatedto cause the files being found by the build system.
make qmake
- Run
- You can mix the two sources of templates, but you'll need to play with git to get what you want. It's really easier to just download the templates …
- If you are starting a translation of Qt 5 to a language for which a Qt 4 translation exists, you should re-use the existing translation files:
The next step is doing the actual translation. :-)
The "native" tool for translating TS files is Qt Linguist. It is pretty self-explanatory and comes with documentation. If you prefer to use another tool (most probably because of better support for translation memory), you might need to convert the TS files to and from some other format:
$ lconvert <file>.ts -o <file>.po
$ <your-tool> <file>.po
$ lconvert -locations relative <file>.po -o <file>.ts
XLIFF might also work for your tool.
Note: Always use the latest stable linguist tools available. Also, 3rd party tools like ts2po were known to cause trouble.
When you translate legal text like copyright notices or licenses, include a verbatim copy of the original below, and note that it is the authoritative version in case of doubt.
If you find that particular messages need additional context to be translatable, you should report that as bugs and ideally add //: comments to the code yourself if you can figure it out.
Don't hesitate to report mistakes in the original strings, though we can't merge these fixes during string freeze, obviously.
To test the translations live, just run make in the translations subdirectory and run whatever application that uses the strings in question. You will need to copy the QM file(s) to the installation directory of the Qt you are actually using if the Qt sources you are translating are not your current Qt installation.
It is essential that you mark finished translations as such - otherwise the script used for assessing the completeness will not see them and will exclude them from compilation in the release.Next, if you are re-using a Qt 4 translation for Qt 5, run
lconvert -no-obsolete -i <file> -o <file>
git add -N <files>
make commit-ts
Finally, you need to post a change on Gerrit for review.
Instructions for Qt Creator
The instructions are almost identical to the ones for Qt, except that - the translations and various ts- targets live in share/qtcreator/translations and - new files need to be explicitly added to translations.pro.
Qt Creator will not use the translation unless it finds one for the Qt library as well. Qt Designer, Qt Assistant and the Qt Help library should be translated as well, though failure to do so will go unnoticed at first.
Translating Qt Documentation Into Other Languages
The infrastructure for that is somewhat lacking. Still, there is for example the simplified Chinese doc translation.
- English documentation is in doc/src. That structure can be mirrored into doc/src/zh_CN one to one, for all .qdoc files.
- Build your zh_CN documentation files:
- configure
- make
- make docs
- make docs_zh_CN
- The viewable documentation files should appear in doc-build/html-qt_zh_CN.
- Remaining issue: can't translate the in-source documentation of Qt classes. The infrastructure is in development; availability will be announced on the mailing list.


text:
The real estate market of India has undeniably shown a tremendous growth in the past few years. Simultaneously, luxury homes have surpassed the expectations of the buyers by offering an international living standard.
When it comes to defining luxury homes, gone are the days when their standard was judged on the basis of integrated facilities. The time has come when apart from modern amenities, the buyers are looking forward for a branded address and much more. The primary reason of such preferences is that the residents of India are getting influenced by international lifestyle. However, on the basis of preferences, the real estate builders are defining luxury in various categories.
These are as follows:
Branded Homes:- Indian real estate developers are getting associated with the reputed brands to offer a premium property. For example, Home & Soul collaborated with Fashion TV and launched branded residence in the name of F Premier in Greater Noida. Similarly, there are many more reputed builders that are emerging with the branded residences to offer a quality living standard. [Read more…]