text:
This afternoon, I had a consultation with Dr. Runkkari Paskanaama, Special Attaché for Political Affairs at the Embassy of Finland here in Washington. He brought a bottle of Lakka, the Finnish Lapponia Cloudberry liqueur, which isn't easy to find in DC.
"From the embassy's own stock," he confided as he placed it on the coffee table by the couch. For a moment, he turned to gaze past the couch, out the picture window behind it, which overlooks the White House. A visible shudder ran through him, after which he shook his head and took a seat in the chair immediately in front of my desk.
"Mr. Collins," he began, leaning close toward me, "Ambassador Kauppi asks that I convey our sincere gratitude for the advice you have provided over the last several years that the Embassy of Finland has been your client. And we realize that, compared to many of your other clients, the problems upon which we have required your consultation have been relatively mundane – butter and vodka international export issues; intellectual property, particularly that behind-the-scenes business concerning Angry Birds and mobile phones; reindeer conservation in Lapland; foreign exchange and import duties matters with respect to the EU versus the Schengen Area and the EFTA; Sami culture preservation; trade restrictions with NATO members, that sort of thing. Today, however, I must warn you. We have something… special… to discuss."
I considered Dr. Paskanaama's remarks – and his reaction to a glimpse of the White House a few moments earlier – and hazarded a guess. "The recent summit meeting, perhaps?"
At that, he leaned back, rolled his eyes up to the ceiling and heaved an extensive sigh. "Yes. How perceptive of you, as usual, I might add. Believe me," he continued as he leaned in close once again, "holding the US – Russia summit in Helsinki was definitely not the bright idea of anyone in Finland. But once Trump and Putin started talking about it, what could we do? Sure, Uncle Sam and Kremlin Bear, go right ahead – have your damned summit in our capital and by the way, cost us a mint worth of money for security and police overtime while you are at it! We're Finland, after all – always the nice, civilized, polite, accommodating Scandinavians, aren't we?"
"Gee, Doc," I joshed, "tell me how you really feel."
"Ha!" he exclaimed. "Doing that would not be very diplomatic, I don't think."
"Probably," I agreed with grin. "So, the United States and the Russian Federation took advantage of your good nature and barged into Helsinki for a hastily convened, chaotic, absurd and essentially asinine summit meeting between their two highly loathsome leaders, which you cordially hosted, as everyone expected. Kudos for Finland, I say. You once again demonstrated your moral, intellectual and cultural superiority to both the boorish cowboys and the barbaric cossacks by facilitating their relations with your customary élan and panache."
"Thank you," he pointed remarked. "I only wish more people here in Washington and over in Moscow appreciated what we go through during this sort of thing. However, this time, I am afraid we made a serious mistake."
"What kind of mistake?" I asked.
"Well," he began, pausing once more for a gargantuan sigh of regret, "This time, some ambitious fools at Supo, our national secret security service, got permission from the Interior Ministry to conduct surveillance of the summit meeting."
"And they managed to accomplish that without detection by either the Americans or the Russians?" I inquired.
"Apparently," he shrugged. "In such matters as these, who ever really knows for sure one way or the other? As far as Supo can determine, anyway, we got an audio recording device and a pinhole camera into the room where Trump and Putin had their famous two-hour-and-ten-minute one-on-one meeting without being detected by any third parties."
"So Supo has a record of the meeting, then?" I sought to confirm.
"As do the Russians," he shot back.
"But not," I pressed, "the Americans?"
"Again, we can't be absolutely certain," he warned, "but we have reason to believe that the Americans had some – ah, difficulties – with their equipment at the last minute and weren't able to restore function until after the meeting had concluded."
"How confident are you about that?" I wondered.
"Pretty much," he affirmed. "Because the Americans have been bugging us – pardon the pun – since Tuesday for our copy. Which, naturally, we deny having."
"At this point," I suggested, "I would recommend that we adjourn to my secure TS/Q cube and continue our conversation there."
The TS/Q Cube, accessible from the corridor behind the exit door to the left behind my desk, is furnished rather sparely with a rectangular teak conference table having a central pillar, surrounded by four Aeron chairs. The floor is raised – two steps up bring you to the gate of the internal Faraday cage, which is constructed from a perforated metal grill material similar to that found in the windows of microwave ovens. No electromagnetic radiation outside of a narrow range of visible frequencies can escape the Faraday cage. And no visible light can escape the Cube, of course, since the cage itself is encased inside four walls, a ceiling and a raised floor behind a mechanically locking outer door leading to the corridor. The walls, the ceiling and the raised floor outside the Faraday cage are covered with anechoic, sound absorbing material capable of reducing a 140 decibel gun blast to five micro-pascals. Not even the wiring for the lights inside the Cube goes outside the Faraday cage – there's a pack of rechargeable batteries built into the conference table pillar. They're good for eight hours of continuous operation, after which I have to switch them with another pack from a recharger located outside the Cube. In short, it's the perfect place for complete paranoids to have a nice, private conversation.
"Impressive," Dr. Paskanaama murmured as he took a seat at the table. "Now, I am getting some idea of the overhead your astronomical hourly fees must support."
"As my critics in that matter are regularly told," I commented, "you get what you pay for. Now – what's on that audio record? What does the video show?"
"Mostly," he replied, "it's just President Trump giving away the store, as you Americans say. He bows down to Putin on Crimea, NATO, Syria, the whole ball of wax, as you Americans say. Putin keeps asking for favors and Trump keeps agreeing to provide them, one after the other. But that's pretty much what everybody expected, right? In some sense, no surprise there, correct?"
"Unfortunately, yes," I concurred. "And if that's all Supo has a record of, we might as well go back out into my office. But your tone of voice seemed to indicate there's… more than that. Am I wrong?"
"No," he admitted, "you're not. You are, in fact, eerily perceptive, again as usual. You see, there's an eighteen-minute interval in the audio and video recordings where Putin kicks the translators out of the room."
"And Trump doesn't object?" I queried, somewhat taken aback – if not by much.
"No," my guest assured me, "not a peep out of him, as you Americans say."
"And then what happens?" I beseeched, quite curious at this point, I must confess.
"Um, well, the video view is blocked for the entire eighteen minutes by a notebook Putin's translator abandons lying on a table when he leaves the room," he continued, "but we still got the audio."
"And?" I blurted, growing somewhat impatient at what by now had become his rather slow rendition of events. "What?"
"Forgive me for struggling to tell this," he apologized, apparently noticing my irritation. "It becomes… increasingly difficult, you see, because first of all, you know that Putin speaks English, don't you?"
"Quite well, it is said," I acknowledged.
"But he has an accent," Dr. Paskanaama noted, "which is to say, we could tell on the audio recording whether it was he or Trump speaking, and each of the translators, for that matter, when they were translating, for example."
"Makes sense," I agreed. "Besides, I'm sure Supo can take a voice print as well as any security agency. Of course they know who was saying what."
"So they do," he nodded. "And everything said during that eighteen minutes is spoken by Putin, in English. Otherwise, there are only some… suggestive sounds."
"Suggestive of what?" I exclaimed.
Dr. Paskanaama's pale Nordic face turned bright red. "What we in Finland call, um… 'ime munaa,' which in English, I believe is… ah, how do you say it… a 'humbler' or something like that?"
"Trump?" I gasped, "Giving Putin a blow…"
"Yes, yes," he interrupted, clearly embarrassed, "the audio is sounds of what your President Clinton did to the Lewinsky girl in the Oval Office – not with the cigar, but… the other thing. Meanwhile, Putin says things like 'faster,' 'deeper,' and 'more tongue.' Then he says, 'And tell them I am coming to Washington during your next election for another summit!' After that, there is a… guttural… sound, made by Putin, after which he says, 'that's it, swallow every drop!'"
"Christ Almighty," I observed, "I've heard plenty of comments about Putin and Trump having a bromance, but this is ridiculous! So – I suppose you want some advice on the best way to reveal the truth?"
"Quite the opposite," he declared, shaking his head emphatically. "In fact, the Finnish government has decided to keep an absolute security lid on this information."
"Under no circumstances," I told him, "would that be my recommendation. It is essential that the American people in particular, and the world in general be made aware of the situation!"
"Perhaps," he allowed, holding is hands out, palms up in a gesture of helplessness, "but in that case, let the Russians or the Americans reveal it, not Finland."
"But neither the Russians nor the Americans would ever do so!" I protested. "Finland is the neutral one in this imbroglio! It's up to you!"
"That's easy for you to say," my guest insisted. "Look at the facts. Trump is insane. Putin is insane. Together they control eighty percent of the military might and ninety percent of the nuclear weapons on the planet! And you want little Finland to tell the world that the Russian lunatic is dressed up in black leather and chains, walking the American lunatic around on a leash with a dog collar around his neck, making that fat, orange, blithering moron do obscene tricks like some idiootti huora?"
"Doctor," I cautioned, "you may very well owe the idiootti huoras an apology for comparing them to Donald J. Trump. All right then, for the record, Finland is chicken to let the cat out of the bag."
"Chicken?" Dr. Paskanaama bridled. "I know that figure of speech, and the hell you say! We stood up to Stalin when Russia invaded us in World War II! Did America help us then? No – because the Soviet Union was your ally against the Axis. We had to fight off the Red Army all by ourselves! You call that chicken? No, we Finns are by no means chicken, but also, we are not suicidal. And we realize that if it is we who break this unfortunate news, then we will be the ones who pay the price for doing so."
"But you have to," I argued. "It's your moral responsibility!"
Oh, turku!" he wailed, burying his face in his hands, exuding abject despair. "If only those cretins at Supo had kept Finland out of that room! Ignorance, Mr. Collins! Ignorance would be such bliss! And this!" He raised his head to stare at me. "This is why I am here today! Please, tell me if you can, what can Finland do now that we have this terrible knowledge and it is only a matter of time before some other cretin – present company excepted, of course, you know what I mean – before some other person decides it's a good idea to reveal the contents of the Supo summit surveillance to the world and the two most dangerous sociopaths on the entire planet are totally [expletive] off at Finland?"
"Oh, really?" I calmly responded. "I thought I was going to have to struggle with some tough questions and gnarly puzzles to earn my fee on this one, but if that's all you need, as the song says, 'don't worry, be happy.' It's what we consultants call a 'no-brainer' – glaringly obvious."
"Okay," he huffed, "now you're making me feel stupid. What is it?"
"Just say," I advised, "that it's all a plot by the Democrats to discredit Trump, and defy anyone to prove otherwise. Then have your ambassador complain to the DNC and congressional Democrats about this craven attempt to use poor little Finland as the fall guy in their heartless, vicious scheme, and issue a press release calling for the United States and Russia to leave Finland out of their internal political brawls and disruptive, irresponsible, self-serving bilateral squabbling."
Dr. Paskanaama sat quietly for a few minutes, pondering. After a while, he spoke.
"You know," he opined, "In this box of yours, I can hear my own heartbeat."
"Listen harder," I proposed, "and you will be able to hear both of us."
"So I can," he whispered. "And now that I have, it's making me nervous. Can we get the hell out of here now?"
"Sure," I replied as I unlocked the door.
"Wait just a minute," he requested. "I concede that your plan sounds like it will work successfully, but won't it be an extremely cynical, callous and cruel thing to do to the Democrats?"
"Yes," I admitted as I began to open the door, "it will. But Democrats have become accustomed to being treated like that. So no problem, they'll…"
"One more thing," he interjected. "I have this… terrible image… you know what I'm talking about, don't you? I have this horrible, disgusting, disturbing, nightmare image in my brain. How can I make it go away?"
"Well," I suggested, "it's five-thirty, so for starters, we can go polish off that bottle of Lakka you left on the coffee table."


text:
United Kingdom: The National Media Museum in Bradford will play host to an 'invasion' of Daleks during the October half-term (26 Oct - 3 Nov). Doctor Who Family Fun will give visitors the chance to learn about the Doctor's foe in the Science of the Daleks event, and will also be able to participate in making a light-up TARDIS, a moving Dalek or even create their own monster to take home. Other events include behind-the-scenes on the making of the show, plus a screening of this year's Nightmare in Silver. Learning programme coordinator Elaine Richmond said: "We hope families will join us this half term to help keep the Museum from the clutches of the dreaded Daleks. We're very excited about this event and promise a lot of Doctor Who-themed fun and activities in anticipation of the 50th anniversary episode next month."
UK: The University of Central Lancashire are planning a special event on the 16th November: Doctor Who: The Science Behind The Scenes will be a day of presentations about the show and the science it uses, including topics like Science Fact or Science Fiction?, The Psychology of Doctor Who and Is Time Travel Possible? There will also be workshops, make-up, costumes and mask-making, and a area to have memorabilia assessed and valued! [EventBrite]
UK: The popularity of Doctor Who Experience at Cardiff Bay has led to the town council to consider additional parking space in order to ensure that the perceived lack of space is leading to a drop-off in number of visitors to the area. A BBC Worldwide spokesperson commented: "An improvement in parking in Cardiff Bay will support increased visitor numbers but there is no suggestion that visitor numbers at the Doctor Who Experience are falling. We do receive comments from potential visitors and visitors post-event about the lack of parking in the Bay and we welcome the move to improve the situation." [Wales Online, 19 Sep 2013]
UK: Special Events Group Limited are arranging for a mass Doctor Who themed wedding which is expected to take place at the Bloomsbury Ballroom in London on 24th November. [Doctor Who Wedding]
UK: As part of the BBC's plans to simulcast The Day of the Doctor across cinemas in 3D, Cineworld in Crawley Leisure Park aim to host a special day to celebrate, including an appearance by Simon Fisher Becker, who played Dorium in the series. Money raised from the day will be donated to the charity Autism All Stars. [Crawley Observer, 2 Oct 2013]
UK: Doctor Who features as a session at next weekend's Film and TV Conference in Norwich; Doctor Who and Beyond: Science Fiction & Fantasy TV takes place on the 12th October at 11:15am and is expected to feature writer Phil Ford amonst panel speakers. [Norfolk Eastern Daily Press, 27 Sep 2013]
UK: Three fans have set off on a round-trip from Pontllanfraith in Wales to Munich in Germany - each dressed as the Doctor - in order to raise money for Parkinson's research. Richard Shelton said: "Three years ago I took part in a similar rally across Europe to Croatia. We want to raise between £1,000 and £2,000 for Parkinson's UK and have £800 so far." [South Wales Argus, 20 Sep 2013]
UK: A Dalek ended up "chasing" a pensioner in Southampton as fan Chris Baker was in the process of moving home. Tony Holland had in fact offered to pull the prop along; as Baker observed: "This dalek is worth quite a few thousand pounds and I wasn't sure it would survive being pulled along by a mobility scooter! But Tony was very keen to assist and I saw no harm in giving it a go. He did a great job. We kept having to stop as people wanted to have their picture taken with the dalek." [Daily Star, 25 Sep 2013]
UK: Chester Zoo have released a video featuring their penguins - all with Doctor Who related names! [YouTube, 25 Sep 2013]
United States: The Norman Public Library in Tulsa is to hold a Doctor Who event on the 4th October to celebrate the show's 50th anniversary. The library website states: "The event is open to all ages and features games, crafts, Doctor Who-themed snacks and a chance to look at and check out the library's collection of Doctor Who books." [Pioneer Library System, 1 Oct 2013]
US: Fans are attempting to have the Empire State Building in New York lit for the 50th Anniversary; an online petition states: "We are asking the Empire State Building to light up "TARDIS Blue" on November 23rd to celebrate 50 great years of Doctor Who. The Empire State Building regularly uses their spectacular light show to celebrate special moments in pop culture, such as sports events, the 15th anniversary of The Lion King, and Wrestlemania, as well as all the holidays and occasions it's more known for being lit up for. As far as we know, however, they've never lit up to celebrate a SciFi show. What better place to start than the iconic series Doctor Who?" [Change Petitions]
US: Fans from the Tech Valley Center of Gravity in Troy, New York, have built a "TARDIS photo booth" for use at community events; creator Mick Cipollo said: "There was a concept for Troy night out first for a video booth for 30 second clips of 'why you enjoy Troy.' Then Laban Coblentz, founder and chairman of Tech Valley Center of Gravity, thought it should be in a TARDIS. I thought is was a good idea also." [All Over Albany, 27 Sep 2013]
Canada: A candidate in the Edmonton council elections has turned to Gallifrey for inspiration; Jim Gibbon used the Doctor's language to make up his campaign signs, Vote Gibbon Ward 5. Gibbon said: "You need to take your time and see what the person (a candidate) is all about". [Canoe, 2 Oct 2013]
Australia: The Thuringowa Library in Townsville, North Queensland has had an exhibition of Doctor Who memorabilia courtesy of fan Robyn Gandini, who will also be making a presentation about her collection on the 5th October. [ABC, 30 Sep 2013]
AU: Actor and fan Santa Strohfeldt has been building his own TARDIS, and aims to have it completed in time for Peter Capaldi's debut at Christmas. His creation can be found in Southport on the Gold Coast. [ABC, 25 Sep 2013]
New Zealand: Another TARDIS builder, Michael Fenton from Inglewood, Taranaki, explains how his prop now helps him to teach school children: "What started as a gimmick for the careers expo became really cool for kids when I was teaching science and mathematics at high school. The whole idea is to show that stuff you're learning at primary and high school can be useful in the real world. I was trying to show students that you don't have to wait until you're older, you can actually do this stuff now." [Stuff, 19 Sep 2013]

subset: commoncrawl


text:
Start-ups Ballooner, AddTag and Cactomain have been awarded cash prizes for the further development of their business ideas, under the auspices of the first "mts start-up accelerator" programme to support entrepreneurial teams with a total cash amount of €20,000.
The three-member panel of judges assessed that the solution of the team at Ballooner – for cheaper balloon flights into space and exploration of the stratosphere – the Cactomain service team – for simplified registration and management of internet domains – and the solution of team AddTag – for eased communication between brands and visitors of festivals and other events – have the greatest prospects of developing sustainable products for the global market in the coming period.
"Telekom Srbija today supported the development of technological entrepreneurship with the first grant investment in the products of these three talented teams, at a juncture when they most in need of support. Apart from that, we are ready to provide them with mentoring advise in areas where they estimate that they require that," said Milan Simić, executive director of Telekom Srbija for IT and ICT services.


text:
Self Catering Holiday Cottages Aberdovey
Aberdovey is well known as an unparalleled seaside resort, with fantastic views of far off into the ocean, amazing places to dine and drink, and plenty of fantastic self catering holiday cottages accommodation. It is this that Aberdovey Hillside Village specialises in, it has 4 miles of sandy beaches, protected waters, surf, championship golf course and much more. It's a holiday destination comparable with those to be found in the likes of Cornwall, or Devon, it has the added benefit of being located within Snowdonia National park, and so self catering Aberdovey is located in close proximity to some amazing landmarks and mountains, perfect for outdoor lovers.
The Dyfi biosphere is a UNESCO Biosphere Reserve, home to many migrating birds, osprey, redshanks, white-fronted geese and wood warblers, those who enjoy the stunning natural wildlife of the United Kingdom would do well to visit this brilliant corner of planet earth, with so many great self catering Aberdovey options to enjoy.
Aberdovey enjoys a micro climate, with a chance to enjoy a blue sky and sunshine over the estuary when you'd least expect it. Clouds stay sitting over the hills and mountains all around. When the daylight hours grow shorter, the sunlight reflected from the estuary enhances the direct sunlight, making for a brilliant and stunning sunset.
Properties to help foster a relaxed and enjoyable stay, with many of Aberdovey hillside villages apartments, houses and grounds ensuring that the staff take pride in how the village is looked after and cared for. This is particularly true for the care and attention to detail that Is paid to the tidiness and hygiene of the properties, the very best is only enough.
Aberdovey has something for everyone, whether it's spectacular scenery, beaches to enjoy, museums and galleries, festivals and family fun. The coastline is internationally renowned for its breath-taking shoreline, the mountains tumble all the way down to the sea, so you'll find some wonderfully scenic walks, with majestic and commanding views over the bays and the valleys. Whether it's relaxation or adventure, the trip really does have something for everyone.
At Aberdyfi hillside village we have so many fantastic facilities available including a friendly reception with a 24-hour lounge, a wonderfully landscaped seating area and courtyard, Wi-Fi available throughout the resort, a games room perfect for the whole family to enjoy, an indoor soft play area, interactive play area with Xbox and Kinect, children's play area, picnic area, a terrace and guest lounge. The park is dog-friendly with just a small additional charge for cleaning, parking, Aberdovey beach and town, a laundrette, housekeeping services which are subject to availability and collection from railway station available.
Acres of clan breaches, places to eat and drink, activities to indulge in like golf, live music and theatre and stunning entertainment.
Just a few miles away is the town of Machynlleth with its classic and beautiful church spire and original market, it was also the seat of Owain Glyndwr's welsh parliament in 1487. It is a fantastic area to visit.
(office hours 9.30am – 5.30pm, with 24-hour messaging service outside these hours)
Email: email@example.com
Aberdovey Hillside Village


text:
9 cocktails you should try at the new year party
Chuck the regular drinks and gulp up in a few cocktails
It's new year's eve, drink up, have good vibes,and chill out. This time at the new year party don't order the usual rounds. Jazz up the drink and add a pinch of fancy to it. After all it's new year's eve and at most parties, alcohol is on the house. Here are 9 cocktails that could give you a memorable night, if you know what I mean 😉
White Russian
You guessed right, it's Vodka. This drink is sweet and contains all the essentials that can give you a good buzz. Vodka is mixed with coffee and milk, sometimes at some places, milk is replaced by cream to add that extra buzz!
This drink is famous for its power. It contains vodka, lime, sugar syrup, and caster sugar. Have a good one.
It is believed that since the 1970s this drink has been prepared independently by different bartenders. Hence, the difference in tastes. This cocktail is another vodka container. This also includes cranberry juice, triple sec, and lime juice.
Long Island Iced Tea
Famously known as LIIT, this cocktail can be considered as the father of all cocktails as it contains tequila, vodka, light rum, triple sec, and gin. For explosive results, you could also add a bit of absinthe to make it the killer drink.
Whiskey Sour
Yes, it is gonna be sour. But the foam on the beer is that it tastes absolutely good and you just can't stop with one. this consists whiskey (generally bourbon) , lemon juice, sugar and sometimes a dash of egg whites can be good too in it.
Tequila, vodka, light rum, triple sec, and gin soaked in red wine, sugar syrup, and brandy. This is the perfect drink that could give you the fruit and nut experience.
Blood and sand
If you are a lover of scotch, then this is your cup of tea my friend. It contains scotch, cherry herring, sweetener. This cocktail gained its popularity when it appeared in the Blood and Sand.
Tequila Sunrise
The drink resembles sunrise and now we all know why it has that name. It's a blend of tequila, orange juice, grenadine syrup, and soda water.
This cocktail has its origins in Singapore. It was originally blended with two measures of gin with one of cherry brandy and one of orange, pineapple, and lime juice.


text:
New York Teacher Fined $10,000 For Allowing Student To Fight Bully In Class
Via NYPost
A Brooklyn teacher got so fed up with a notorious 8-year-old class bully that she taught him a lesson in street justice — having him stand in front of the class while his latest bullying victim "hit him back" for all the abuse.
The kid clocked his tormenter — and the bully cried like a baby.
"Well, that's what you get," the teacher told the wild child, according to Department of Education documents.
DOE officials sought to can veteran PS 191 teacher Tamu Francis last year following the incident involving the bully.
The aggressor was on top of his victim throwing punches when Francis pulled him off.
After Francis got the two kids off the ground, that's when she encouraged the victim to "hit him back," say students at the Brownsville school.
In addition to making the serves-you-right comment, Francis also was heard telling the boy, "When you act like a dog, you get treated like a dog," according to the arbitrator who presided over her termination hearing.
Francis denied the whole scenario other than the fight itself, saying that she tried to teach the whole class a lesson by asking the bully, "How would you like it if [he] was to hit you back?"
She says the victim misunderstood her point and got in a quick jab to the gut before she could protect the boy — but arbitrator Lisa Brogan did not find her story credible.
It didn't help that Francis failed to report the incident to her superiors.
"The behavior is extremely disturbing . . . At best, it was a horribly misguided attempt to teach a lesson about bullying," wrote Brogan. "She exhibited extremely poor judgment and made an enormous blunder by trying to mete out a certain brand of justice for the class bully."
But because of the third- grade teacher's 13 years with an unblemished record, she was hit with a $10,000 fine rather than booted last fall.
We never knew teachers could be fined. Interesting.
Image via Facebook
Bossip Comment Policy
Please read our Comment Policy before commenting.


text:
Contact: Judith Kohler, National Wildlife Federation, 303-441-5163; firstname.lastname@example.com
WALDEN, Colo. – Hunters, anglers and other wildlife advocates have teamed up to ask federal officials considering energy development to maintain the long-term integrity of North Park, one of the region's premier landscapes.
The 8,000-foot-high valley carved by glaciers and ringed by mountains boasts world-class hunting and fishing, wildlife watching opportunities and recreation. The site in north-central Colorado is also in the crosshairs of energy development as more companies begin tapping the huge Niobrara oil formation.
Members of Colorado, Wyoming and national conservation groups, spearheaded by Sportsmen for Responsible Energy Development, sent letters Friday urging the Bureau of Land Management to consider wildlife as it updates the management plan for "one of the West's last lonely landscapes that still retain much of their native habitat and hunting and fishing traditions.''
The groups support use of a master leasing plan, one of Interior Secretary Ken Salazar's energy leasing reforms intended to head off conflicts between development and environmental and wildlife concerns. Absent a master leasing plan, Alternative C in the draft resource management plan offers "serious consideration of habitat protection,'' said National Wildlife Federation attorney Michael Saul.
Different options in the draft plan by the BLM's Kremmling office would open from 382,400 to 642,900 acres of federal minerals to potential development. The BLM is taking public comments on the proposal until Jan. 17.
"North Park is a unique, high-mountain valley with less than one person per square mile,'' said Barbara Vasquez, a Walden-area resident working with Trout Unlimited, the Colorado Wildlife Federation and National Wildlife Federation on conservation issues in the area.
North Park is the headwaters of the North Platte River, which flows north into Wyoming and helps maintain habitat critical for endangered species in Nebraska, Vasquez added. The North Platte and its tributaries feed gold-medal fishing waters in Colorado and Wyoming.
North Park also encompasses key habitat for greater sage-grouse and the Arapaho National Wildlife Refuge, a major nesting spot for waterfowl and habitat for moose and river otters.
Photo by Jack Dempsey. Bob Meulengracht of Trout Unlimited and Sportsmen for Responsible Energy Development talks with Barbara Vasquez, a Walden-area resident. In the background is an oil well located near the Michigan River, one of the North Platte's tributaries.
A description of North Park as the American Serengeti is apt, said Bob Meulengracht of Trout Unlimited and the Colorado coordinator for Sportsmen for Responsible Energy Development. He fished with his father in North Park in the 1960s and '70s, has spent time with his family exploring the Rawah Wilderness and bagged a moose on a hunt with a college buddy.
"The moose hunt was a very unique experience and a great hunt,'' Meulengracht recalled. "North Park offers the some of the best opportunities for hunters and anglers. North Park has some of the best fishing in Colorado for all types of anglers. Hunters have the opportunity to hunt great deer, elk and pronghorn herds and, if lucky enough to draw a license, moose. Moose offer the hunt of a lifetime."
In their letters to the Colorado BLM, the conservation groups wrote "we understand that energy development should and will occur.'' It is important to include area landowners, businesses and stakeholders as well as state and federal wildlife and land managers in the planning and to analyze potential impacts across a broad landscape before leases are approved, the groups said.
Wildlife-based recreation contributes more than $14 million annually to Jackson County's economy, according to a 2007 study for the Colorado Division of Wildlife. Besides hunting and angling, many wildlife watchers visit North Park to look for moose or visit sage grouse leks in the spring to observe the birds' mating rituals.
A key concern of conservationists is the location of wells, said Suzanne O'Neill, executive director of the Colorado Wildlife Federation.
"An example of why planning is needed is an existing well pad site nestled on the edge of a willows basin, which is important moose habitat,'' O'Neill said. "There also are numerous streams prized as fisheries. Current oil and gas rules do not prevent development too close to these riparian areas and in fact one drilling pad on state land is a stone's throw from the high water mark of a well known tributary."
# # #
Sportsmen for Responsible Energy Development is a coalition of more than 500 businesses, organizations and individuals dedicated to conserving irreplaceable habitats so future generations can hunt and fish on public lands. The coalition is led by Trout Unlimited, the Theodore Roosevelt Conservation Partnership and the National Wildlife Federation.
This article originally posted at: http://www.ourpubliclands.org/conservationists-rally-protect-wildlife-fishing-haven
Aspen, Colorado 81611


text:
In case you're wondering where the Rutgers women's team stands in its quest to earn a fourth seed (and the double-bye that comes with it) for the upcoming Big East Tournament, here's what you need to know:
For now, the Scarlet Knights (16-11, 9-5) stand in a four-way tie with Georgetown, Louisville and Marquette. Each team has two regular-season games remaining, starting Saturday and concluding Monday night.
In an event of a four-way tie, the Big East tiebreaker formula breaks down to a mini-conference. That would be good for the Scarlet Knights, considering they're 2-1 this season against the aforementioned teams.
Unfortunately for Rutgers — which closes with a home meeting against West Virginia and a road affair with Seton Hall — it appears that the chances of a four-way tie are slim considering Georgetown faces top-ranked UConn and Marquette greets No. 10 DePaul on Saturday. Louisville, meanwhile, appears to have the softest schedule of the quartet, playing host to Seton Hall before closing at Providence.
The bottom line for the Scarlet Knights in their quest to earn a much-needed reprieve for the Big East tournament? Any hopes of earning the fourth seed probably rest on winning their final two and for Louisville to slip up once.
That's because the Cardinals beat Rutgers this season, meaning they hold the advantage in a two-way (head-to-head) tiebreaker.


text:
The chilled oysters may be contaminated with norovirus.
Ministry for Primary Industries is warning people not to eat some brands of chilled oysters harvested from the Mahurangi Harbour north of Auckland as they may be contaminated with norovirus. The brands below are affected:
The following chilled oyster products from each brand have been recalled as the products may be affected:
The products were sold on or after 17 January 2017 from Seafood Harbour (5 Kent Street, New Market, Auckland), restaurants and food service distributors in Auckland, Hamilton and New Plymouth.
For more information, contact Seafood Harbour on 09 529 0222.
The products were sold on or after 14 January 2017 from Matakana Oysters Ltd (The Green Shed, 1217 Leigh Rd, Laly Haddon Place, Matakana).
For more information, contact Matakana Oysters on 09 422 6313.
The products were sold on or after 14 January 2017 in the Matakana Village Farms market (every Saturday between 8am - 1pm) and the following retail outlets in the Auckland region:
For more information, contact Orata Marine Ltd on 027 477 9690.
The products were sold on or after 14 January 2017 in Seamart (1/955 New North Road, Mt Albert) and Real Fresh Seafood Birkenhead (80 Mokoia Road, Birkenhead) in Auckland.
For more information, contact Hutchings & Addison Ltd on 09 425 4625.
The products were sold on or after 14 January 2017 from Hunter Fish Otahuhu (402 Great South Road, Otahuhu) in Auckland.
For more information, contact Hunter Fish Otahuhu on 020 496 6185.
Affected products should not be consumed. There have been associated reports of norovirus illness in New Zealand. Norovirus generally presents with vomiting followed by diarrhoea. If you think you have eaten any affected oysters, see your doctor if symptoms are severe, persistent or if you are unable to keep hydrated.
Return the products to your retailer for a full refund.
Information is also available through the Ministry of Health's Healthline 0800 611 116.
Get access to comment


text:
Translated by G. R. T. Ross
We must now treat of youth and old age and life and death. We must probably also at the same time state the causes of respiration as well, since in some cases living and the reverse depend on this.
We have elsewhere given a precise account of the soul, and while it is clear that its essential reality cannot be corporeal, yet manifestly it must exist in some bodily part which must be one of those possessing control over the members. Let us for the present set aside the other divisions or faculties of the soul (whichever of the two be the correct name). But as to being what is called an animal and a living thing, we find that in all beings endowed with both characteristics (viz. being an animal and being alive) there must be a single identical part in virtue of which they live and are called animals; for an animal qua animal cannot avoid being alive. But a thing need not, though alive, be animal, for plants live without having sensation, and it is by sensation that we distinguish animal from what is not animal.
This organ, then, must be numerically one and the same and yet possess multiple and disparate aspects, for being animal and living are not identical. Since then the organs of special sensation have one common organ in which the senses when functioning must meet, and this must be situated midway between what is called before and behind (we call 'before' the direction from which sensation comes, 'behind' the opposite), further, since in all living things the body is divided into upper and lower (they all have upper and lower parts, so that this is true of plants as well), clearly the nutritive principle must be situated midway between these regions. That part where food enters we call upper, considering it by itself and not relatively to the surrounding universe, while downward is that part by which the primary excrement is discharged.
Plants are the reverse of animals in this respect. To man in particular among the animals, on account of his erect stature, belongs the characteristic of having his upper parts pointing upwards in the sense in which that applies to the universe, while in the others these are in an intermediate position. But in plants, owing to their being stationary and drawing their sustenance from the ground, the upper part must always be down; for there is a correspondence between the roots in a plant and what is called the mouth in animals, by means of which they take in their food, whether the source of supply be the earth or each other's bodies.
All perfectly formed animals are to be divided into three parts, one that by which food is taken in, one that by which excrement is discharged, and the third the region intermediate between them. In the largest animals this latter is called the chest and in the others something corresponding; in some also it is more distinctly marked off than in others. All those also that are capable of progression have additional members subservient to this purpose, by means of which they bear the whole trunk, to wit legs and feet and whatever parts are possessed of the same powers. Now it is evident both by observation and by inference that the source of the nutritive soul is in the midst of the three parts. For many animals, when either part-the head or the receptacle of the food-is cut off, retain life in that member to which the middle remains attached. This can be seen to occur in many insects, e.g. wasps and bees, and many animals also besides insects can, though divided, continue to live by means of the part connected with nutrition.
While this member is indeed in actuality single, yet potentially it is multiple, for these animals have a constitution similar to that of Plants; plants when cut into sections continue to live, and a number of trees can be derived from one single source. A separate account will be given of the reason why some plants cannot live when divided, while others can be propagated by the taking of slips. In this respect, however, plants and insects are alike.
It is true that the nutritive soul, in beings possessing it, while actually single must be potentially plural. And it is too with the principle of sensation, for evidently the divided segments of these animals have sensation. They are unable, however, to preserve their constitution, as plants can, not possessing the organs on which the continuance of life depends, for some lack the means for seizing, others for receiving their food; or again they may be destitute of other organs as well.
Divisible animals are like a number of animals grown together, but animals of superior construction behave differently because their constitution is a unity of the highest possible kind. Hence some of the organs on division display slight sensitiveness because they retain some psychical susceptibility; the animals continue to move after the vitals have been abstracted: tortoises, for example, do so even after the heart has been removed.
The same phenomenon is evident both in plants and in animals, and in plants we note it both in their propagation by seed and in grafts and cuttings. Genesis from seeds always starts from the middle. All seeds are bivalvular, and the place of junction is situated at the point of attachment (to the plant), an intermediate part belonging to both halves. It is from this part that both root and stem of growing things emerge; the starting-point is in a central position between them. In the case of grafts and cuttings this is particularly true of the buds; for the bud is in a way the starting-point of the branch, but at the same time it is in a central position. Hence it is either this that is cut off, or into this that the new shoot is inserted, when we wish either a new branch or a new root to spring from it; which proves that the point of origin in growth is intermediate between stem and root.
Likewise in sanguineous animals the heart is the first organ developed; this is evident from what has been observed in those cases where observation of their growth is possible. Hence in bloodless animals also what corresponds to the heart must develop first. We have already asserted in our treatise on The Parts of Animals that it is from the heart that the veins issue, and that in sanguineous animals the blood is the final nutriment from which the members are formed. Hence it is clear that there is one function in nutrition which the mouth has the faculty of performing, and a different one appertaining to the stomach. But it is the heart that has supreme control, exercising an additional and completing function. Hence in sanguineous animals the source both of the sensitive and of the nutritive soul must be in the heart, for the functions relative to nutrition exercised by the other parts are ancillary to the activity of the heart. It is the part of the dominating organ to achieve the final result, as of the physician's efforts to be directed towards health, and not to be occupied with subordinate offices.
Certainly, however, all saguineous animals have the supreme organ of the sensefaculties in the heart, for it is here that we must look for the common sensorium belonging to all the sense-organs. These in two cases, taste and touch, can be clearly seen to extend to the heart, and hence the others also must lead to it, for in it the other organs may possibly initiate changes, whereas with the upper region of the body taste and touch have no connexion. Apart from these considerations, if the life is always located in this part, evidently the principle of sensation must be situated there too, for it is qua animal that an animal is said to be a living thing, and it is called animal because endowed with sensation. Elsewhere in other works we have stated the reasons why some of the sense-organs are, as is evident, connected with the heart, while others are situated in the head. (It is this fact that causes some people to think that it is in virtue of the brain that the function of perception belongs to animals.)
Thus if, on the one hand, we look to the observed facts, what we have said makes it clear that the source of the sensitive soul, together with that connected with growth and nutrition, is situated in this organ and in the central one of the three divisions of the body. But it follows by deduction also; for we see that in every case, when several results are open to her, Nature always brings to pass the best. Now if both principles are located in the midst of the substance, the two parts of the body, viz. that which elaborates and that which receives the nutriment in its final form will best perform their appropriate function; for the soul will then be close to each, and the central situation which it will, as such, occupy is the position of a dominating power.
Further, that which employs an instrument and the instrument it employs must be distinct (and must be spatially diverse too, if possible, as in capacity), just as the flute and that which plays it-the hand-are diverse. Thus if animal is defined by the possession of sensitive soul, this soul must in the sanguineous animals be in the heart, and, in the bloodless ones, in the corresponding part of their body. But in animals all the members and the whole body possess some connate warmth of constitution, and hence when alive they are observed to be warm, but when dead and deprived of life they are the opposite. Indeed, the source of this warmth must be in the heart in sanguineous animals, and in the case of bloodless animals in the corresponding organ, for, though all parts of the body by means of their natural heat elaborate and concoct the nutriment, the governing organ takes the chief share in this process. Hence, though the other members become cold, life remains; but when the warmth here is quenched, death always ensues, because the source of heat in all the other members depends on this, and the soul is, as it were, set aglow with fire in this part, which in sanguineous animals is the heart and in the bloodless order the analogous member. Hence, of necessity, life must be coincident with the maintenance of heat, and what we call death is its destruction.
However, it is to be noticed that there are two ways in which fire ceases to exist; it may go out either by exhaustion or by extinction. That which is self-caused we call exhaustion, that due to its opposites extinction. [The former is that due to old age, the latter to violence.] But either of these ways in which fire ceases to be may be brought about by the same cause, for, when there is a deficiency of nutriment and the warmth can obtain no maintenance, the fire fails; and the reason is that the opposite, checking digestion, prevents the fire from being fed. But in other cases the result is exhaustion,-when the heat accumulates excessively owing to lack of respiration and of refrigeration. For in this case what happens is that the heat, accumulating in great quantity, quickly uses up its nutriment and consumes it all before more is sent up by evaporation. Hence not only is a smaller fire readily put out by a large one, but of itself the candle flame is consumed when inserted in a large blaze just as is the case with any other combustible. The reason is that the nutriment in the flame is seized by the larger one before fresh fuel can be added, for fire is ever coming into being and rushing just like a river, but so speedily as to elude observation.
Clearly therefore, if the bodily heat must be conserved (as is necessary if life is to continue), there must be some way of cooling the heat resident in the source of warmth. Take as an illustration what occurs when coals are confined in a brazier. If they are kept covered up continuously by the so-called 'choker', they are quickly extinguished, but, if the lid is in rapid alternation lifted up and put on again they remain glowing for a long time. Banking up a fire also keeps it in, for the ashes, being porous, do not prevent the passage of air, and again they enable it to resist extinction by the surrounding air by means of the supply of heat which it possesses. However, we have stated in The Problems the reasons why these operations, namely banking up and covering up a fire, have the opposite effects (in the one case the fire goes out, in the other it continues alive for a considerable time).
Everything living has soul, and it, as we have said, cannot exist without the presence of heat in the constitution. In plants the natural heat is sufficiently well kept alive by the aid which their nutriment and the surrounding air supply. For the food has a cooling effect [as it enters, just as it has in man] when first it is taken in, whereas abstinence from food produces heat and thirst. The air, if it be motionless, becomes hot, but by the entry of food a motion is set up which lasts until digestion is completed and so cools it. If the surrounding air is excessively cold owing to the time of year, there being severe frost, plants shrivel, or if, in the extreme heats of summer the moisture drawn from the ground cannot produce its cooling effect, the heat comes to an end by exhaustion. Trees suffering at such seasons are said to be blighted or star-stricken. Hence the practice of laying beneath the roots stones of certain species or water in pots, for the purpose of cooling the roots of the plants.
Some animals pass their life in the water, others in the air, and therefore these media furnish the source and means of refrigeration, water in the one case, air in the other. We must proceed-and it will require further application on our part-to give an account of the way and manner in which this refrigeration occurs.
A few of the previous physical philosophers have spoken of respiration. The reason, however, why it exists in animals they have either not declared or, when they have, their statements are not correct and show a comparative lack of acquaintance with the facts. Moreover they assert that all animals respire-which is untrue. Hence these points must first claim our attention, in order that we may not be thought to make unsubstantiated charges against authors no longer alive.
First then, it is evident that all animals with lungs breathe, but in some cases breathing animals have a bloodless and spongy lung, and then there is less need for respiration. These animals can remain under water for a time, which relatively to their bodily strength, is considerable. All oviparous animals, e.g. the frog-tribe, have a spongy lung. Also hemydes and tortoises can remain for a long time immersed in water; for their lung, containing little blood, has not much heat. Hence, when once it is inflated, it itself, by means of its motion, produces a cooling effect and enables the animal to remain immersed for a long time. Suffocation, however, always ensues if the animal is forced to hold its breath for too long a time, for none of this class take in water in the way fishes do. On the other hand, animals which have the lung charged with blood have greater need of respiration on account of the amount of their heat, while none at all of the others which do not possess lungs breathe.
Democritus of Abdera and certain others who have treated of respiration, while saying nothing definite about the lungless animals, nevertheless seem to speak as if all breathed. But Anaxagoras and Diogenes both maintain that all breathe, and state the manner in which fishes and oysters respire. Anaxagoras says that when fishes discharge water through their gills, air is formed in the mouth, for there can be no vacuum, and that it is by drawing in this that they respire. Diogenes' statement is that, when they discharge water through their gills, they suck the air out of the water surrounding the mouth by means of the vacuum formed in the mouth, for he believes there is air in the water.
But these theories are untenable. Firstly, they state only what is the common element in both operations and so leave out the half of the matter. For what goes by the name of respiration consists, on the one hand, of inhalation, and, on the other, of the exhalation of breath; but, about the latter they say nothing, nor do they describe how such animals emit their breath. Indeed, explanation is for them impossible for, when the creatures respire, they must discharge their breath by the same passage as that by which they draw it in, and this must happen in alternation. Hence, as a result, they must take the water into their mouth at the same time as they breathe out. But the air and the water must meet and obstruct each other. Further, when they discharge the water they must emit their breath by the mouth or the gills, and the result will be that they will breathe in and breathe out at the same time, for it is at that moment that respiration is said to occur. But it is impossible that they should do both at the same time. Hence, if respiring creatures must both exhale and inhale the air, and if none of these animals can breathe out, evidently none can respire at all.
Further, the assertion that they draw in air out of the mouth or out of the water by means of the mouth is an impossibility, for, not having a lung, they have no windpipe; rather the stomach is closely juxtaposed to the mouth, so that they must do the sucking with the stomach. But in that case the other animals would do so also, which is not the truth; and the water-animals also would be seen to do it when out of the water, whereas quite evidently they do not. Further, in all animals that respire and draw breath there is to be observed a certain motion in the part of the body which draws in the air, but in the fishes this does not occur. Fishes do not appear to move any of the parts in the region of the stomach, except the gills alone, and these move both when they are in the water and when they are thrown on to dry land and gasp. Moreover, always when respiring animals are killed by being suffocated in water, bubbles are formed of the air which is forcibly discharged, as happens, e.g. when one forces a tortoise or a frog or any other animal of a similar class to stay beneath water. But with fishes this result never occurs, in whatsoever way we try to obtain it, since they do not contain air drawn from an external source. Again, the manner of respiration said to exist in them might occur in the case of men also when they are under water. For if fishes draw in air out of the surrounding water by means of their mouth why should not men too and other animals do so also; they should also, in the same way as fishes, draw in air out of the mouth. If in the former case it were possible, so also should it be in the latter. But, since in the one it is not so, neither does it occur in the other. Furthermore, why do fishes, if they respire, die in the air and gasp (as can be seen) as in suffocation? It is not want of food that produces this effect upon them, and the reason given by Diogenes is foolish, for he says that in air they take in too much air and hence die, but in the water they take in a moderate amount. But that should be a possible occurrence with land animals also; as facts are, however, no land animal seems to be suffocated by excessive respiration. Again, if all animals breathe, insects must do so also. many of them seem to live though divided not merely into two, but into several parts, e.g. the class called Scolopendra. But how can they, when thus divided, breathe, and what is the organ they employ? The main reason why these writers have not given a good account of these facts is that they have no acquaintance with the internal organs, and that they did not accept the doctrine that there is a final cause for whatever Nature does. If they had asked for what purpose respiration exists in animals, and had considered this with reference to the organs, e.g. the gills and the lungs, they would have discovered the reason more speedily.
Democritus, however, does teach that in the breathing animals there is a certain result produced by respiration; he asserts that it prevents the soul from being extruded from the body. Nevertheless, he by no means asserts that it is for this purpose that Nature so contrives it, for he, like the other physical philosophers, altogether fails to attain to any such explanation. His statement is that the soul and the hot element are identical, being the primary forms among the spherical particles. Hence, when these are being crushed together by the surrounding atmosphere thrusting them out, respiration, according to his account, comes in to succour them. For in the air there are many of those particles which he calls mind and soul. Hence, when we breathe and the air enters, these enter along with it, and by their action cancel the pressure, thus preventing the expulsion of the soul which resides in the animal.
This explains why life and death are bound up with the taking in and letting out of the breath; for death occurs when the compression by the surrounding air gains the upper hand, and, the animal being unable to respire, the air from outside can no longer enter and counteract the compression. Death is the departure of those forms owing to the expulsive pressure exerted by the surrounding air. Death, however, occurs not by haphazard but, when natural, owing to old age, and, when unnatural, to violence.
But the reason for this and why all must die Democritus has by no means made clear. And yet, since evidently death occurs at one time of life and not at another, he should have said whether the cause is external or internal. Neither does he assign the cause of the beginning of respiration, nor say whether it is internal or external. Indeed, it is not the case that the external mind superintends the reinforcement; rather the origin of breathing and of the respiratory motion must be within: it is not due to pressure from around. It is absurd also that what surrounds should compress and at the same time by entering dilate. This then is practically his theory, and how he puts it.
But if we must consider that our previous account is true, and that respiration does not occur in every animal, we must deem that this explains death not universally, but only in respiring animals. Yet neither is it a good account of these even, as may clearly be seen from the facts and phenomena of which we all have experience. For in hot weather we grow warmer, and, having more need of respiration, we always breathe faster. But, when the air around is cold and contracts and solidifies the body, retardation of the breathing results. Yet this was just the time when the external air should enter and annul the expulsive movement, whereas it is the opposite that occurs. For when the breath is not let out and the heat accumulates too much then we need to respire, and to respire we must draw in the breath. When hot, people breathe rapidly, because they must do so in order to cool themselves, just when the theory of Democritus would make them add fire to fire.
The theory found in the Timaeus, of the passing round of the breath by pushing, by no means determines how, in the case of the animals other than land-animals, their heat is preserved, and whether it is due to the same or a different cause. For if respiration occurs only in land-animals we should be told what is the reason of that. Likewise, if it is found in others also, but in a different form, this form of respiration, if they all can breathe, must also be described.
Further, the method of explaining involves a fiction. It is said that when the hot air issues from the mouth it pushes the surrounding air, which being carried on enters the very place whence the internal warmth issued, through the interstices of the porous flesh; and this reciprocal replacement is due to the fact that a vacuum cannot exist. But when it has become hot the air passes out again by the same route, and pushes back inwards through the mouth the air that had been discharged in a warm condition. It is said that it is this action which goes on continuously when the breath is taken in and let out.
But according to this way of thinking it will follow that we breathe out before we breathe in. But the opposite is the case, as evidence shows, for though these two functions go on in alternation, yet the last act when life comes to a close is the letting out of the breath, and hence its admission must have been the beginning of the process.
Once more, those who give this kind of explanation by no means state the final cause of the presence in animals of this function (to wit the admission and emission of the breath), but treat it as though it were a contingent accompaniment of life. Yet it evidently has control over life and death, for it results synchronously that when respiring animals are unable to breathe they perish. Again, it is absurd that the passage of the hot air out through the mouth and back again should be quite perceptible, while we were not able to detect the thoracic influx and the return outwards once more of the heated breath. It is also nonsense that respiration should consist in the entrance of heat, for the evidence is to the contrary effect; what is breathed out is hot, and what is breathed in is cold. When it is hot we pant in breathing, for, because what enters does not adequately perform its cooling function, we have as a consequence to draw the breath frequently.
It is certain, however, that we must not entertain the notion that it is for purposes of nutrition that respiration is designed, and believe that the internal fire is fed by the breath; respiration, as it were, adding fuel to the fire, while the feeding of the flame results in the outward passage of the breath. To combat this doctrine I shall repeat what I said in opposition to the previous theories. This, or something analogous to it, should occur in the other animals also (on this theory), for all possess vital heat. Further, how are we to describe this fictitious process of the generation of heat from the breath? Observation shows rather that it is a product of the food. A consequence also of this theory is that the nutriment would enter and the refuse be discharged by the same channel, but this does not appear to occur in the other instances.
Empedocles also gives an account of respiration without, however, making clear what its purpose is, or whether or not it is universal in animals. Also when dealing with respiration by means of the nostrils he imagines he is dealing with what is the primary kind of respiration. Even the breath which passes through the nostrils passes through the windpipe out of the chest as well, and without the latter the nostrils cannot act. Again, when animals are bereft of respiration through the nostrils, no detrimental result ensues, but, when prevented from breathing through the windpipe, they die. Nature employs respiration through the nostrils as a secondary function in certain animals in order to enable them to smell. But the reason why it exists in some only is that though almost all animals are endowed with the sense of smell, the sense-organ is not the same in all.
A more precise account has been given about this elsewhere. Empedocles, however, explains the passage inwards and outwards of the breath, by the theory that there are certain blood-vessels, which, while containing blood, are not filled by it, but have passages leading to the outer air, the calibre of which is fine in contrast to the size of the solid particles, but large relatively to those in the air. Hence, since it is the nature of the blood to move upwards and downwards, when it moves down the air rushes in and inspiration occurs; when the blood rises, the air is forced out and the outward motion of the breath results. He compares this process to what occurs in a clepsydra.
Thus all things outwards breathe and in;—their flesh has tubes
Bloodless, that stretch towards the body's outmost edge,
Which, at their mouths, full many frequent channels pierce,
Cleaving the extreme nostrils through; thus, while the gore
Lies hid, for air is cut a thoroughfare most plain.
And thence, whenever shrinks away the tender blood,
Enters the blustering wind with swelling billow wild.
But when the blood leaps up, backward it breathes. As when
With water-clock of polished bronze a maiden sporting,
Sets on her comely hand the narrow of the tube
And dips it in the frail-formed water's silvery sheen;
Not then the flood the vessel enters, but the air,
Until she frees the crowded stream. But then indeed
Upon the escape runs in the water meet.
So also when within the vessel's deeps the water
Remains, the opening by the hand of flesh being closed,
The outer air that entrance craves restrains the flood
At the gates of the sounding narrow,
upon the surface pressing,
Until the maid withdraws her hand. But then in contrariwise
Once more the air comes in and water meet flows out.
Thus to the to the subtle blood, surging throughout the limbs,
Whene'er it shrinks away into the far recesses
Admits a stream of air rushing with swelling wave,
But, when it backward leaps, in like bulk air flows out.
This then is what he says of respiration. But, as we said, all animals that evidently respire do so by means of the windpipe, when they breathe either through the mouth or through the nostrils. Hence, if it is of this kind of respiration that he is talking, we must ask how it tallies with the explanation given. But the facts seem to be quite opposed. The chest is raised in the manner of a forge-bellows when the breath is drawn in-it is quite reasonable that it should be heat which raises up and that the blood should occupy the hot region-but it collapses and sinks down, like the bellows once more, when the breath is let out. The difference is that in a bellows it is not by the same channel that the air is taken in and let out, but in breathing it is.
But, if Empedocles is accounting only for respiration through the nostrils, he is much in error, for that does not involve the nostrils alone, but passes by the channel beside the uvula where the extremity of the roof of the mouth is, some of the air going this way through the apertures of the nostrils and some through the mouth, both when it enters and when it passes out. Such then is the nature and magnitude of the difficulties besetting the theories of other writers concerning respiration.
We have already stated that life and the presence of soul involve a certain heat. Not even the digesting process to which is due the nutrition of animals occurs apart from soul and warmth, for it is to fire that in all cases elaboration is due. It is for this reason, precisely, that the primary nutritive soul also must be located in that part of the body and in that division of this region which is the immediate vehicle of this principle. The region in question is intermediate between that where food enters and that where excrement is discharged. In bloodless animals it has no name, but in the sanguineous class this organ is called the heart. The blood constitutes the nutriment from which the organs of the animal are directly formed. Likewise the bloodvessels must have the same originating source, since the one exists for the other's behoof-as a vessel or receptacle for it. In sanguineous animals the heart is the starting-point of the veins; they do not traverse it, but are found to stretch out from it, as dissections enable us to see.
Now the other psychical faculties cannot exist apart from the power of nutrition (the reason has already been stated in the treatise On the Soul), and this depends on the natural fire, by the union with which Nature has set it aglow. But fire, as we have already stated, is destroyed in two ways, either by extinction or by exhaustion. It suffers extinction from its opposites. Hence it can be extinguished by the surrounding cold both when in mass and (though more speedily) when scattered. Now this way of perishing is due to violence equally in living and in lifeless objects, for the division of an animal by instruments and consequent congelation by excess of cold cause death. But exhaustion is due to excess of heat; if there is too much heat close at hand and the thing burning does not have a fresh supply of fuel added to it, it goes out by exhaustion, not by the action of cold. Hence, if it is going to continue it must be cooled, for cold is a preventive against this form of extinction.
Some animals occupy the water, others live on land, and, that being so, in the case of those which are very small and bloodless the refrigeration due to the surrounding water or air is sufficient to prevent destruction from this cause. Having little heat, they require little cold to combat it. Hence too such animals are almost all short-lived, for, being small, they have less scope for deflection towards either extreme. But some insects are longer-lived though bloodless, like all the others), and these have a deep indentation beneath the waist, in order to secure cooling through the membrane, which there is thinner. They are warmer animals and hence require more refrigeration, and such are bees (some of which live as long as seven years) and all that make a humming noise, like wasps, cockchafers, and crickets. They make a sound as if of panting by means of air, for, in the middle section itself, the air which exists internally and is involved in their construction, causing a rising and falling movement, produces friction against the membrane. The way in which they move this region is like the motion due to the lungs in animals that breathe the outer air, or to the gills in fishes. What occurs is comparable to the suffocation of a respiring animal by holding its mouth, for then the lung causes a heaving motion of this kind. In the case of these animals this internal motion is not sufficient for refrigeration, but in insects it is. It is by friction against the membrane that they produce the humming sound, as we said, in the way that children do by blowing through the holes of a reed covered by a fine membrane. It is thus that the singing crickets too produce their song; they possess greater warmth and are indented at the waist, but the songless variety have no fissure there.
Animals also which are sanguineous and possess a lung, though that contains little blood and is spongy, can in some cases, owing to the latter fact, live a long time without breathing; for the lung, containing little blood or fluid, can rise a long way: its own motion can for a long time produce sufficient refrigeration. But at last it ceases to suffice, and the animal dies of suffocation if it does not respire-as we have already said. For of exhaustion that kind which is destruction due to lack of refrigeration is called suffocation, and whatsoever is thus destroyed is said to be suffocated.
We have already stated that among animals insects do not respire, and the fact is open to observation in the case of even small creatures like flies and bees, for they can swim about in a fluid for a long time if it is not too hot or too cold. Yet animals with little strength tend to breathe more frequently. These, however, die of what is called suffocation when the stomach becomes filled and the heat in the central segment is destroyed. This explains also why they revive after being among ashes for a time.
Again among water-animals those that are bloodless remain alive longer in air than those that have blood and admit the sea-water, as, for example, fishes. Since it is a small quantity of heat they possess, the air is for a long time adequate for the purposes of refrigeration in such animals as the crustacea and the polyps. It does not however suffice, owing to their want of heat, to keep them finally in life, for most fishes also live though among earth, yet in a motionless state, and are to be found by digging. For all animals that have no lung at all or have a bloodless one require less refrigeration.
Concerning the bloodless animals we have declared that in some cases it is the surrounding air, in others fluid, that aids the maintenance of life. But in the case of animals possessing blood and heart, all which have a lung admit the air and produce the cooling effect by breathing in and out. All animals have a lung that are viviparous and are so internally, not externally merely (the Selachia are viviparous, but not internally), and of the oviparous class those that have wings, e.g. birds, and those with scales, e.g. tortoises, lizards, and snakes. The former class have a lung charged with blood, but in the most part of the latter it is spongy. Hence they employ respiration more sparingly as already said. The function is found also in all that frequent and pass their life in the water, e.g. the class of water-snakes and frogs and crocodiles and hemydes, both sea—and land-tortoises, and seals.
All these and similar animals both bring forth on land and sleep on shore or, when they do so in the water, keep the head above the surface in order to respire. But all with gills produce refrigeration by taking in water; the Selachia and all other footless animals have gills. Fish are footless, and the limbs they have get their name (pterugion) from their similarity to wings (pterux). But of those with feet one only, so far as observed, has gills. It is called the tadpole.
No animal yet has been seen to possess both lungs and gills, and the reason for this is that the lung is designed for the purpose of refrigeration by means of the air (it seems to have derived its name (pneumon) from its function as a receptacle of the breath (pneuma)), while gills are relevant to refrigeration by water. Now for one purpose one organ is adapted and one single means of refrigeration is sufficient in every case. Hence, since we see that Nature does nothing in vain, and if there were two organs one would be purposeless, this is the reason why some animals have gills, others lungs, but none possess both.
Every animal in order to exist requires nutriment, in order to prevent itself from dying, refrigeration; and so Nature employs the same organ for both purposes. For, as in some cases the tongue serves both for discerning tastes and for speech, so in animals with lungs the mouth is employed both in working up the food and in the passage of the breath outwards and inwards. In lungless and non-respiring animals it is employed in working up the food, while in those of them that require refrigeration it is the gills that are created for this purpose.
We shall state further on how it is that these organs have the faculty of producing refrigeration. But to prevent their food from impeding these operations there is a similar contrivance in the respiring animals and in those that admit water. At the moment of respiration they do not take in food, for otherwise suffocation results owing to the food, whether liquid or dry, slipping in through the windpipe and lying on the lung. The windpipe is situated before the oesophagus, through which food passes into what is called the stomach, but in quadrupeds which are sanguineous there is, as it were, a lid over the windpipe-the epiglottis. In birds and oviparous quadrupeds this covering is absent, but its office is discharged by a contraction of the windpipe. The latter class contract the windpipe when swallowing their food; the former close down the epiglottis. When the food has passed, the epiglottis is in the one case raised, and in the other the windpipe is expanded, and the air enters to effect refrigeration. In animals with gills the water is first discharged through them and then the food passes in through the mouth; they have no windpipe and hence can take no harm from liquid lodging in this organ, only from its entering the stomach. For these reasons the expulsion of water and the seizing of their food is rapid, and their teeth are sharp and in almost all cases arranged in a saw-like fashion, for they are debarred from chewing their food.
Among water-animals the cetaceans may give rise to some perplexity, though they too can be rationally explained.
Examples of such animals are dolphins and whales, and all others that have a blowhole. They have no feet, yet possess a lung though admitting the sea-water. The reason for possessing a lung is that which we have now stated [refrigeration]; the admission of water is not for the purpose of refrigeration. That is effected by respiration, for they have a lung. Hence they sleep with their head out of the water, and dolphins, at any rate, snore. Further, if they are entangled in nets they soon die of suffocation owing to lack of respiration, and hence they can be seen to come to the surface owing to the necessity of breathing. But, since they have to feed in the water, they must admit it, and it is in order to discharge this that they all have a blow-hole; after admitting the water they expel it through the blow-hole as the fishes do through the gills. The position of the blow-hole is an indication of this, for it leads to none of the organs which are charged with blood; but it lies before the brain and thence discharges water.
It is for the very same reason that molluscs and crustaceans admit water-I mean such animals as Carabi and Carcini. For none of these is refrigeration a necessity, for in every case they have little heat and are bloodless, and hence are sufficiently cooled by the surrounding water. But in feeding they admit water, and hence must expel it in order to prevent its being swallowed simultaneously with the food. Thus crustaceans, like the Carcini and Carabi, discharge water through the folds beside their shaggy parts, while cuttlefish and the polyps employ for this purpose the hollow above the head. There is, however, a more precise account of these in the History of Animals.
Thus it has been explained that the cause of the admission of the water is refrigeration, and the fact that animals constituted for a life in water must feed in it.
An account must next be given of refrigeration and the manner in which it occurs in respiring animals and those possessed of gills. We have already said that all animals with lungs respire. The reason why some creatures have this organ, and why those having it need respiration, is that the higher animals have a greater proportion of heat, for at the same time they must have been assigned a higher soul and they have a higher nature than plants. Hence too those with most blood and most warmth in the lung are of greater size, and animal in which the blood in the lung is purest and most plentiful is the most erect, namely man; and the reason why he alone has his upper part directed to the upper part of the universe is that he possesses such a lung. Hence this organ as much as any other must be assigned to the essence of the animal both in man and in other cases.
This then is the purpose of refrigeration. As for the constraining and efficient cause, we must believe that it created animals like this, just as it created many others also not of this constitution. For some have a greater proportion of earth in their composition, like plants, and others, e.g. aquatic animals, contain a larger amount of water; while winged and terrestrial animals have an excess of air and fire respectively. It is always in the region proper to the element preponderating in the scheme of their constitution that things exist.
Empedocles is then in error when he says that those animals which have the most warmth and fire live in the water to counterbalance the excess of heat in their constitution, in order that, since they are deficient in cold and fluid, they may be kept in life by the contrary character of the region they occupy; for water has less heat than air. But it is wholly absurd that the water-animals should in every case originate on dry land, and afterwards change their place of abode to the water; for they are almost all footless. He, however, when describing their original structure says that, though originating on dry land, they have abandoned it and migrated to the water. But again it is evident that they are not warmer than land-animals, for in some cases they have no blood at all, in others little.
The question, however, as to what sorts of animals should be called warm and what cold, has in each special case received consideration. Though in one respect there is reason in the explanation which Empedocles aims at establishing, yet his account is not correct. Excess in a bodily state is cured by a situation or season of opposite character, but the constitution is best maintained by an environment akin to it. There is a difference between the material of which any animal is constituted and the states and dispositions of that material. For example, if nature were to constitute a thing of wax or of ice, she would not preserve it by putting it in a hot place, for the opposing quality would quickly destroy it, seeing that heat dissolves that which cold congeals. Again, a thing composed of salt or nitre would not be taken and placed in water, for fluid dissolves that of which the consistency is due to the hot and the dry.
Hence if the fluid and the dry supply the material for all bodies, it is reasonable that things the composition of which is due to the fluid and the cold should have liquid for their medium [and, if they are cold, they will exist in the cold], while that which is due to the dry will be found in the dry. Thus trees grow not in water but on dry land. But the same theory would relegate them to the water, on account of their excess of dryness, just as it does the things that are excessively fiery. They would migrate thither not on account of its cold but owing to its fluidity.
Thus the natural character of the material of objects is of the same nature as the region in which they exist; the liquid is found in liquid, the dry on land, the warm in air. With regard, however, to states of body, a cold situation has, on the other hand, a beneficial effect on excess of heat, and a warm environment on excess of cold, for the region reduces to a mean the excess in the bodily condition. The regions appropriate to each material and the revolutions of the seasons which all experience supply the means which must be sought in order to correct such excesses; but, while states of the body can be opposed in character to the environment, the material of which it is composed can never be so. This, then, is a sufficient explanation of why it is not owing to the heat in their constitution that some animals are aquatic, others terrestrial, as Empedocles maintains, and of why some possess lungs and others do not.
The explanation of the admission of air and respiration in those animals in which a lung is found, and especially in those in which it is full of blood, is to be found in the fact that it is of a spongy nature and full of tubes, and that it is the most fully charged with blood of all the visceral organs. All animals with a full-blooded lung require rapid refrigeration because there is little scope for deviation from the normal amount of their vital fire; the air also must penetrate all through it on account of the large quantity of blood and heat it contains. But both these operations can be easily performed by air, for, being of a subtle nature, it penetrates everywhere and that rapidly, and so performs its cooling function; but water has the opposite characteristics.
The reason why animals with a full-blooded lung respire most is hence manifest; the more heat there is, the greater is the need for refrigeration, and at the same time breath can easily pass to the source of heat in the heart.
In order to understand the way in which the heart is connected with the lung by means of passages, we must consult both dissections and the account in the History of Animals. The universal cause of the need which the animal has for refrigeration, is the union of the soul with fire that takes place in the heart. Respiration is the means of effecting refrigeration, of which those animals make use that possess a lung as well as a heart. But when they, as for example the fishes, which on account of their aquatic nature have no lung, possess the latter organ without the former, the cooling is effected through the gills by means of water. For ocular evidence as to how the heart is situated relatively to the gills we must employ dissections, and for precise details we must refer to Natural History. As a summarizing statement, however, and for present purposes, the following is the account of the matter.
It might appear that the heart has not the same position in terrestrial animals and fishes, but the position really is identical, for the apex of the heart is in the direction in which they incline their heads. But it is towards the mouth in fishes that the apex of the heart points, seeing that they do not incline their heads in the same direction as land-animals do. Now from the extremity of the heart a tube of a sinewy, arterial character runs to the centre where the gills all join. This then is the largest of those ducts, but on either side of the heart others also issue and run to the extremity of each gill, and by means of the ceaseless flow of water through the gills, effect the cooling which passes to the heart.
In similar fashion as the fish move their gills, respiring animals with rapid action raise and let fall the chest according as the breath is admitted or expelled. If air is limited in amount and unchanged they are suffocated, for either medium, owing to contact with the blood, rapidly becomes hot. The heat of the blood counteracts the refrigeration and, when respiring animals can no longer move the lung aquatic animals their gills, whether owing to discase or old age, their death ensues.
To be born and to die are common to all animals, but there are specifically diverse ways in which these phenomena occur; of destruction there are different types, though yet something is common to them all. There is violent death and again natural death, and the former occurs when the cause of death is external, the latter when it is internal, and involved from the beginning in the constitution of the organ, and not an affection derived from a foreign source. In the case of plants the name given to this is withering, in animals senility. Death and decay pertain to all things that are not imperfectly developed; to the imperfect also they may be ascribed in nearly the same but not an identical sense. Under the imperfect I class eggs and seeds of plants as they are before the root appears.
It is always to some lack of heat that death is due, and in perfect creatures the cause is its failure in the organ containing the source of the creature's essential nature. This member is situate, as has been said, at the junction of the upper and lower parts; in plants it is intermediate between the root and the stem, in sanguineous animals it is the heart, and in those that are bloodless the corresponding part of their body. But some of these animals have potentially many sources of life, though in actuality they possess only one. This is why some insects live when divided, and why, even among sanguineous animals, all whose vitality is not intense live for a long time after the heart has been removed. Tortoises, for example, do so and make movements with their feet, so long as the shell is left, a fact to be explained by the natural inferiority of their constitution, as it is in insects also.
The source of life is lost to its possessors when the heat with which it is bound up is no longer tempered by cooling, for, as I have often remarked, it is consumed by itself. Hence when, owing to lapse of time, the lung in the one class and the gills in the other get dried up, these organs become hard and earthy and incapable of movement, and cannot be expanded or contracted. Finally things come to a climax, and the fire goes out from exhaustion.
Hence a small disturbance will speedily cause death in old age. Little heat remains, for the most of it has been breathed away in the long period of life preceding, and hence any increase of strain on the organ quickly causes extinction. It is just as though the heart contained a tiny feeble flame which the slightest movement puts out. Hence in old age death is painless, for no violent disturbance is required to cause death, and there is an entire absence of feeling when the soul's connexion is severed. All diseases which harden the lung by forming tumours or waste residues, or by excess of morbid heat, as happens in fevers, accelerate the breathing owing to the inability of the lung to move far either upwards or downwards. Finally, when motion is no longer possible, the breath is given out and death ensues.
Generation is the initial participation, mediated by warm substance, in the nutritive soul, and life is the maintenance of this participation. Youth is the period of the growth of the primary organ of refrigeration, old age of its decay, while the intervening time is the prime of life.
A violent death or dissolution consists in the extinction or exhaustion of the vital heat (for either of these may cause dissolution), while natural death is the exhaustion of the heat owing to lapse of time, and occurring at the end of life. In plants this is to wither, in animals to die. Death, in old age, is the exhaustion due to inability on the part of the organ, owing to old age, to produce refrigeration. This then is our account of generation and life and death, and the reason for their occurrence in animals.
It is hence also clear why respiring animals are suffocated in water and fishes in air. For it is by water in the latter class, by air in the former that refrigeration is effected, and either of these means of performing the function is removed by a change of environment.
There is also to be explained in either case the cause of the cause of the motion of the gills and of the lungs, the rise and fall of which effects the admission and expulsion of the breath or of water. The following, moreover, is the manner of the constitution of the organ.
In connexion with the heart there are three phenomena, which, though apparently of the same nature, are really not so, namely palpitation, pulsation, and respiration.
Palpitation is the rushing together of the hot substance in the heart owing to the chilling influence of residual or waste products. It occurs, for example, in the ailment known as 'spasms' and in other diseases. It occurs also in fear, for when one is afraid the upper parts become cold, and the hot substance, fleeing away, by its concentration in the heart produces palpitation. It is crushed into so small a space that sometimes life is extinguished, and the animals die of the fright and morbid disturbance.
The beating of the heart, which, as can be seen, goes on continuously, is similar to the throbbing of an abscess. That, however, is accompanied by pain, because the change produced in the blood is unnatural, and it goes on until the matter formed by concoction is discharged. There is a similarity between this phenomenon and that of boiling; for boiling is due to the volatilization of fluid by heat and the expansion consequent on increase of bulk. But in an abscess, if there is no evaporation through the walls, the process terminates in suppuration due to the thickening of the liquid, while in boiling it ends in the escape of the fluid out of the containing vessel.
In the heart the beating is produced by the heat expanding the fluid, of which the food furnishes a constant supply. It occurs when the fluid rises to the outer wall of the heart, and it goes on continuously; for there is a constant flow of the fluid that goes to constitute the blood, it being in the heart that the blood receives its primary elaboration. That this is so we can perceive in the initial stages of generation, for the heart can be seen to contain blood before the veins become distinct. This explains why pulsation in youth exceeds that in older people, for in the young the formation of vapour is more abundant.
All the veins pulse, and do so simultaneously with each other, owing to their connexion with the heart. The heart always beats, and hence they also beat continuously and simultaneously with each other and with it.
Palpitation, then, is the recoil of the heart against the compression due to cold; and pulsation is the volatilization of the heated fluid.
Respiration takes place when the hot substance which is the seat of the nutritive principle increases. For it, like the rest of the body, requires nutrition, and more so than the members, for it is through it that they are nourished. But when it increases it necessarily causes the organ to rise. This organ we must to be constructed like the bellows in a smithy, for both heart and lungs conform pretty well to this shape. Such a structure must be double, for the nutritive principle must be situated in the centre of the natural force.
Thus on increase of bulk expansion results, which necessarily causes the surrounding parts to rise. Now this can be seen to occur when people respire; they raise their chest because the motive principle of the organ described resident within the chest causes an identical expansion of this organ. When it dilates the outer air must rush in as into a bellows, and, being cold, by its chilling influence reduces by extinction the excess of the fire. But, as the increase of bulk causes the organ to dilate, so diminution causes contraction, and when it collapses the air which entered must pass out again. When it enters the air is cold, but on issuing it is warm owing to its contact with the heat resident in this organ, and this is specially the case in those animals that possess a full-blooded lung. The numerous canal-like ducts in the lung, into which it passes, have each a blood-vessel lying alongside, so that the whole lung is thought to be full of blood. The inward passage of the air is called respiration, the outward expiration, and this double movement goes on continuously just so long as the animal lives and keeps this organ in continuous motion; it is for this reason that life is bound up with the passage of the breath outwards and inwards.
It is in the same way that the motion of the gills in fishes takes place. When the hot substance in the blood throughout the members rises, the gills rise too, and let the water pass through, but when it is chilled and retreats through its channels to the heart, they contract and eject the water. Continually as the heat in the heart rises, continually on being chilled it returns thither again. Hence, as in respiring animals life and death are bound up with respiration, so in the other animals class they depend on the admission of water.
Our discussion of life and death and kindred topics is now practically complete. But health and discase also claim the attention of the scientist, and not mercly of the physician, in so far as an account of their causes is concerned. The extent to which these two differ and investigate diverse provinces must not escape us, since facts show that their inquiries are, to a certain extent, at least conterminous. For physicians of culture and refinement make some mention of natural science, and claim to derive their principles from it, while the most accomplished investigators into nature generally push their studies so far as to conclude with an account of medical principles.
Ancient Greece
Medieval Greece / Byzantine Empire
Modern Greece
Science, Technology , Medicine , Warfare, , Biographies , Life , Cities/Places/Maps , Arts , Literature , Philosophy ,Olympics, Mythology , History , Images
Science, Technology, Arts, , Warfare , Literature, Biographies, Icons, History
Cities, Islands, Regions, Fauna/Flora ,Biographies , History , Warfare, Science/Technology, Literature, Music , Arts , Film/Actors , Sport , Fashion