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tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-40858818707176892182017-08-17T17:38:28.455+02:00 BlitiriSoft matter physics, with an occasional side of literature, philosophy and unrelated firstname.lastname@example.com://feedburner.google.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4085881870717689218.post-80138343173894765582017-05-23T10:17:00.004+02:002017-05-23T10:17:56.522+02:00Ionic Liquids: evidence of the viscosity scale-dependenceOur paper just appeared in Scientific Reports!

Doru Constantinhttp://firstname.lastname@example.com://blitiri.blogspot.com/2017/05/ionic-liquids-evidence-of-viscosity.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4085881870717689218.post-28464673179602723782017-01-07T16:28:00.002+01:002017-02-21T22:13:29.743+01:00Liberalism vs. Conservatism
I have always found the liberal/conservative distinction difficult to draw, largely due to the several meanings of each term (e.g. the concept of "liberal" in political science and its casual use in the United States, on the one hand, and in Europe on the other.) Motivated by my recent reading of David Gress' From Plato to Nato, I tried to define each side by a set of principles, as small and as general as possible. This is my first attempt (work very much in progress):

Liberal

(L1) Individuals are equal.

(L2) The individual precedes the community (ontologically).

Conservative

(C1) The community takes precedence over the individual.

(C2) The "essence" of the community defines a set of values (religious, national etc.) that limits individual freedom.

Below the fold I discuss some consequences of these definitions.

(L1) can be interpreted in various ways, but personal freedom and political rights are fairly clear consequences, see e.g. Locke. Property rights, to the extent that they lead to inequality, are not as easy to derive so a liberal (in the sense above) position is compatible with a large range of wealth redistribution.

(L2) may be why many liberal philosophers use the "state of nature" line of reasoning, while no conservatives do. However, it does not mean that individuals appear fully formed with no social input and only then participate in the social contract (although some liberal philosophers do adopt strong individualist positions [Bentham, Rawls?])

The community values are transmitted, upheld and enforced by a certain category of individuals; this often leads to a social hierarchy, but as a consequence of (C1) and (C2), rather than as a fundamental feature of conservatism. Still, this hierarchy is incompatible with the adoption of (L1) alongside the basic conservative principles.

In the terms above, Burke is clearly a conservative.

Conservatives point to the totalitarian regimes of the 20th century as proof for the dangers of a liberal and "Godless" society. What I see, however, is that those regimes share postulates (C1) and (C2), although they may have been paying lip service to (L1). To me, they illustrate the dangers of Conservatism, not of Liberalism.

This does not mean that Liberalism is completely innocuous: pushing equality to its limit can also lead to disastrous consequences [give examples; Robespierre?].
Doru Constantinhttp://email@example.com://blitiri.blogspot.com/2017/01/liberalism-vs-conservatism.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4085881870717689218.post-60827047547572162152017-01-04T19:52:00.001+01:002017-01-04T19:52:24.383+01:00From Plato to NATO - review

I have spent some time reading through David Gress' From Plato to Nato. I was not very impressed by the book, but the exercise helped me reflect on the definition of liberalism and on the difference with respect to conservatism, so I took the opportunity to write a reaction (more than a review).

Gress presents his whole interpretation as opposed to a "Grand Narrative" (GN) that has supposedly been very popular and that hides the true origins of Western civilization. His Introduction starts by:

Liberty grew because it served the interests of power. [...] The key historical insight underlying this book is that liberty, and Western identity in general, are not primarily to be understood in the abstract, but as a set of practices and institutions that evolved, not from Greece, but from the synthesis of classical, Christian, and Germanic culture that took shape from the fifth to the eighth centuries A.D.

This phrase summarizes not only the author's conclusions, but also his strategy of discourse: he switches before the history of ideas and that of events, favoring the latter but also resorting to the former when needed.

The book does make a few interesting points (such as the role of Christianity in the development of Western civilization) but I was ultimately disappointed on several accounts, summarized below:

The work is more concerned with assigning praise or blame than with understanding the work of a certain author on its own terms and assessing its historical influence. The result is a completely lopsided presentation (see below).

In particular, Gress defends a certain conception of liberty, which he labels "classical liberalism", but is in fact closer to what is currently termed "conservative liberalism", heavily relying on Burke (whom he would not call a conservative p.304) and on Tocqueville. He does not discuss other interpretations of liberalism and relevant concepts.

For instance, Gress insists on the idea of liberty, but has no feeling for that of equality. This may be why, in a 600-page text, he manages to ignore (almost) completely authors or events where equality plays a crucial role:

There is no substantial discussion of Locke.

He deals with the French Revolution in less than ten pages.

There is no mention of Saint-Simon or Comte, although he defends epistemological positivism as a source of objective knowledge (pp. 509-510).

Labels J. S. Mill as "founder of modern liberalism", but only refers to him once (p. 83), to discuss his allegiance to the Greek model (part of the GN).

Condemns John Rawls as illiberal, for his "egalitarian obsession" (p. 459). I am also uncomfortable with some of Rawls' artifices (in particular the veil of ignorance), but I wouldn't deny his importance as a political philosopher.

 I was also bothered by a few other points:

Gress often inserts citations in the text, without setting them in context (and sometimes without properly sourcing them: the "carnivorous sheep" retort to Rousseau cited on page 302 belongs to Joseph de Maistre, but the reference is to a biography of Edmund Burke.) This makes some chapters look like patchwork, and some of the patches are very questionable.

His peremptory dismissal of man-made global warming did not age well.

Gress constantly relies on the GN and often refers back to it for correction (and sometimes for moral condemnation), which becomes cumbersome after a few hundred pages. Even the title is a catchy summary of the account he is trying to undermine, chosen for no particular reason (although it does rhyme.)

Doru Constantinhttp://firstname.lastname@example.com://blitiri.blogspot.com/2017/01/from-plato-to-nato-review.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4085881870717689218.post-55764314916471129132017-01-03T11:09:00.003+01:002017-01-23T11:25:10.297+01:00Nanostructuration of Ionic Liquids : impact on the cation mobility. A multi-scale study.Our paper appeared in Nanoscale. Also, Happy New Year 2017!

Doru Constantinhttp://firstname.lastname@example.com://blitiri.blogspot.com/2017/01/nanostructuration-of-ionic-liquids.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4085881870717689218.post-20764755519154204012016-12-18T20:23:00.003+01:002016-12-18T20:23:47.111+01:00Business as usual at the White House
After the generalized commotion surrounding the US elections died down, the feeling of surprise lingered in the press, combined with predictions of imminent disaster. Against this alarmist tendency, I'm putting forward three obvious points:

Although Trump's victory was unexpected (i.e. went against poll predictions), it follows a long-term pattern of Republican and Democratic presidents alternating every eight years. This has been the case since Eisenhower, with the exception of Reagan's first mandate.

Speaking of Reagan, there are some striking similarities with Trump: both are (were) charismatic showmen, but not very intellectual and with a penchant for made-up stories. Time will tell how deep this resemblance goes.

In contrast with his populist campaign speeches, Trump's post-election declarations and his cabinet choices signal that he will probably follow very closely the Republican platform: pro-big business, anti-abortion, pro-Israel, anti-environment control, for increased military spending, tax cuts for the rich, free trade and reductions in welfare programs. How many of these points were also on Clinton's agenda is left as an exercise for the reader.

Finally, what alarms me is not how far Trump is from mainstream Republicans, but rather how close the Republican party is to Trump.

Doru Constantinhttp://firstname.lastname@example.com://blitiri.blogspot.com/2016/12/business-as-usual-at-white-house.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4085881870717689218.post-51181681786353592432016-12-01T19:05:00.004+01:002016-12-01T19:05:43.926+01:00CNRS positions - the 2017 campaign
The detail of the 2017 campaign for permanent research positions at the CNRS (Centre national de la recherche scientifique) has been published in the Journal Officiel (see links below) and the submission site is open. The submission deadline is January 6th 2017. There are 211 open positions at the CR2 level (4 less than in 2016), 75 CR1 (2 less), 256 DR2 (+3) and 2 DR1 (+2). The total number has been stable over the last five years, as shown in the graph below:

The official texts: CR2, CR1, DR2, DR1.

Doru Constantinhttp://firstname.lastname@example.com://blitiri.blogspot.com/2016/12/cnrs-positions-2017-campaign.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4085881870717689218.post-59894867018769333442016-11-21T10:19:00.002+01:002016-11-21T10:19:43.708+01:00Internship proposalsI have two internship openings at the M2 level for 2017. Contact me for more information.

Optical and structural properties of polymer - nanoparticles composites
Supervisors: Emmanuel Beaudoin and Doru Constantin

Viral nanocages assembled around gold nanoparticles
Supervisors: Doru Constantin and Guillaume Tresset
Doru Constantinhttp://firstname.lastname@example.com://blitiri.blogspot.com/2016/11/internship-proposals.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4085881870717689218.post-42037323120051301412016-11-20T22:06:00.003+01:002016-11-20T22:06:42.840+01:00The Ewald sphere
The Ewald sphere is a widely used concept, but one that is quite difficult to grasp in the beginning (at least it was for me, as well as for some of my colleagues.) It can be seen as a way of converting vectors between the "real" space, in which the experiment is performed, and "reciprocal" space.

In the Figure below, the incident beam is given by \(\mathbf{k}_i\) (making an angle \(\alpha_i\) with the horizontal), and the elastically scattered signal is described by \(\mathbf{k}_f\), which is equal in length to \(\mathbf{k}_i\) but can assume all orientations, parameterized by the in-plane angle \(\alpha_f\) and an out-of-plane angle \(\beta\) (not represented.)

Figure: reciprocal space diagram for a lamellar phase on a substrate. Note that the Ewald sphere (shown in red) crosses the z axis in two points: the origin (position of the primary beam) and the specular position. From an older paper of mine (the preprint is also available).

The locus described by the extremity of \(\mathbf{k}_f\) as its orientation varies is a sphere, that we can materialize in real space by a two dimensional detector, as shown by the image on the right in the Figure (contrary to the scattering diagram, the image is seen from the point of view of the incoming beam.) A pixel placed at angles \((\alpha_f,\beta)\) records the scattering with a \(\mathbf{k}_f\) described by the same angles.

The most important quantity in scattering experiments is the scattering vector \(\mathbf{q} = \mathbf{k}_f - \mathbf{k}_i\). As \(\mathbf{k}_f\) describes a sphere, so does \(\mathbf{q}\). There are however two important differences:

\(\mathbf{q}\) lives in "reciprocal space", where it probes the reciprocal lattice of the sample (if it is crystalline).

The modulus of \(\mathbf{q}\) is no longer constant: when \(\mathbf{k}_f\) aproaches \(\mathbf{k}_i\) (close to the primary beam) \(|\mathbf{q} |\) vanishes.

I suspect the Ewald sphere is hard to grasp intuitively for three reasons. I have already mentioned two of them above: the ambiguity of the construction between real and reciprocal space (which is in fact its most useful feature) and the fact that, although \(\mathbf{q}\) describes a sphere, its modulus is not constant, as the sphere is not centered at the origin of reciprocal space.

The third reason is that, while both the sphere and the reciprocal lattice of the crystal reside in the same "reciprocal space", they are attached to the scattering setup and to the sample, respectively. Thus, they do not behave in the same way under rotation.

Doru Constantinhttp://firstname.lastname@example.com://blitiri.blogspot.com/2016/11/the-ewald-sphere.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4085881870717689218.post-75230061436766077252016-11-18T14:59:00.000+01:002016-11-18T14:59:27.688+01:00Solution Self-Assembly of Plasmonic Janus NanoparticlesOur paper appeared in Soft Matter.

Congratulations to Nicolò Castro for his first paper as first author!
Doru Constantinhttp://firstname.lastname@example.com://blitiri.blogspot.com/2016/11/solution-self-assembly-of-plasmonic.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4085881870717689218.post-54750971867421781692016-10-21T17:27:00.000+02:002016-10-21T17:28:24.553+02:00WorkI will be working this week-end: proof.Doru Constantinhttp://firstname.lastname@example.com://blitiri.blogspot.com/2016/10/work.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4085881870717689218.post-34739701207559414992016-10-10T13:25:00.001+02:002016-10-10T13:25:17.823+02:00Curvature of a planar curve
I have done this calculation several times over the years, so I might as well write it down in detail, in case it may be of use to someone else.

We are interested in the curvature \(C = 1/R\) of a planar curve \(y=f(x)\) at a given point A, where \(R\) is the curvature radius at that particular point, defined with respect to the curvature center \(O\) (intersection of the normals raised to the curve in A and its infinitesimal neighbor B.)

The angle subtending AB is: \(\displaystyle \mathrm{d}\alpha = \mathrm{d}s/R \Rightarrow C = \frac{\mathrm{d}\alpha}{\mathrm{d}s}\)

The length of the curve element AB is: \(\displaystyle \mathrm{d}s = \sqrt{\mathrm{d}x^2 + \mathrm{d}y^2} \Rightarrow \frac{\mathrm{d}s}{\mathrm{d}x } = \sqrt{1+ f'(x)^2}\)

The derivative of \(f\) is directly related to the angle \(\alpha\): \(\displaystyle f'(x) = \frac{\mathrm{d}y}{\mathrm{d}x} = \tan \alpha \Rightarrow \alpha = \arctan \frac{\mathrm{d}y}{\mathrm{d}x} = \arctan [f'(x)] \Rightarrow \frac{\mathrm{d}\alpha}{\mathrm{d}x} = \frac{1}{1+f'(x)^2} f''(x)\)

Putting together the three relations above yields:
\[C = \frac{\mathrm{d}\alpha}{\mathrm{d}s} = \frac{f''(x)}{\left [ 1 + f'(x)^2\right ]^{3/2}}\]Doru Constantinhttp://firstname.lastname@example.com://blitiri.blogspot.com/2016/10/curvature-of-planar-curve.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4085881870717689218.post-1667938742307082992016-08-12T21:44:00.002+02:002016-08-12T21:44:21.986+02:00 Identification of a major intermediate along the self-assembly pathway of an icosahedral viral capsidOur paper appeared in Soft Matter!

The modelling and fitting of the SAXS data required lengthy analysis and intensive calculations. In particular, we used the analytical model for scattering from spherical patches that I had published last year.

Doru Constantinhttp://email@example.com://blitiri.blogspot.com/2016/08/identification-of-major-intermediate.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4085881870717689218.post-1382105427832308502016-08-02T19:57:00.000+02:002016-08-02T19:57:34.438+02:00Titles
I learned today that the title of the fourth book in Proust's Search of Lost Time (Sodome et Gomorrhe) was translated in English as Cities of the Plain, same as Cormac McCarthy's novel, and that the expression comes from King James Version of the Bible. Looks like most novels in the English language borrow their title from the KJV (Yeats's poems are a close second, though).

I also found out that the title to Wittgenstein's Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus was inspired by Spinoza's Tractatus Theologico-Politicus. Also, 60 years before Spinoza Robert Fludd wrote his Tractatus Theologo-Philosophicus, which is closer in title (although probably not in content).
Doru Constantinhttp://email@example.com://blitiri.blogspot.com/2016/08/titles.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4085881870717689218.post-91475534437034061792016-07-02T13:40:00.000+02:002016-07-02T13:40:23.758+02:00AristocratieHiggs ! En voilà, un nom à particule !Doru Constantinhttp://email@example.com://blitiri.blogspot.com/2016/07/aristocratie.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4085881870717689218.post-48822633801736210832016-06-28T20:40:00.003+02:002016-06-28T20:40:57.369+02:00Climate and Geography
Is aggression correlated to the climate? Researchers from the Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam and Ohio State University seem to think so (read the press release and the preprint of the paper).

They put forward a supposedly new model titled CLimate, Aggression, and Self control in Humans (CLASH). I can't comment on the merits and novelty of this approach, but it reminds me of Montesquieu's remarks in The Spirit of the Laws (book XIV, chapter II):

In northern countries we meet with a people who have few vices, many virtues, a great share of frankness and sincerity. If we draw near the south we fancy ourselves removed from all morality; the strongest passions multiply all manner of crimes, every one endeavouring to take what advantage he can over his neighbour, in order to encourage those passions.

Doru Constantinhttp://email@example.com://blitiri.blogspot.com/2016/06/climate-and-geography.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4085881870717689218.post-42138529008902549152016-06-27T19:32:00.002+02:002016-06-28T16:29:05.832+02:00Alternative positions in the two-party system
I've always been intrigued by the American two-party system and its difference with respect to Continental politics. I think the comparison is very instructive and can shed light on recent political developments. Case in point: in the current issue of The Atlantic, Jonathan Rauch deplores the state of Americal politics, in particular the lack of discipline in both the Democratic and the Republican parties, whose "politicians, activists, and voters" are less and less likely to line up behind the party leaders. Terms and phrases in quotes are Rauch's.

Rauch explains this by the reform of the political system over the last few decades, which rendered the "middlemen" less powerful, and thus unable to defend against such "symptoms" as "insurgence" and "radicalization". The author really likes the allegory of the immune system fighing the "pathogens".

These "symptoms" are also common in Europe, where they gave rise to powerful political movements and parties. This has not happened in the United States, probably for the simple reason that, in a two-party system, it can be easier for new political orientations to work from within the existing parties, rather than create new ones, as in Europe. The religious conservatives and the libertarians have to go through the Republican party and the socialists through the Democratic one. As long as they were in the minority, this was not a problem for the establishment, but when the "outsiders and insurgents" start getting the upper hand, the "body politic" (which for Rauch seems to mean the political status quo) may not recover.

The comparison with Europe also casts doubt on Rauch's diagnostic: the radicals gained prominence at about the same time in the US and all over Europe, although the political systems are quite diverse. A much simpler explanation is that the sluggish economy and the resulting social problems caused the discontent and the anti-establishment feeling on both sides of the Atlantic.

To summarize: as in Europe, in the United States alternative positions became politically relevant in the last 10-15 years, probably for reasons unrelated to political reform; unlike (Continental) Europe, however, they had to go through one of the two major parties due to their stability, itself due to the first-past-the-post electoral system.
Doru Constantinhttp://firstname.lastname@example.com://blitiri.blogspot.com/2016/06/alternative-positions-in-two-party.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4085881870717689218.post-70396972175819368702016-06-26T11:18:00.001+02:002016-06-26T11:18:59.660+02:00Hierarchy and inequality
In Left and Right: The Significance of a Political Distinction, Norberto Bobbio mentions an interesting variation in defining what is called generically in politics "the right". For Bobbio, this side of the spectrum is defined by a defense of inequality, and he dismisses the use of the term "hierarchy" by Elisabetta Galeotti as unrelated to the left/right polarity. This may well be so (at least in Bobbio's system of definitions) but I think that the hierarchy/inequality distinction is quite useful in separating different right-wing positions.

To wit, traditional conservative movements tried to preserve a hierarchy, while liberalism excludes such a hierarchy but accepts economical inequality resulting from the exercise of different abilities in an otherwise even playing field.

Since nowadays mainstream parties no longer defend (explicit and political) hierarchy, subscribing at least formally to the principle of equal political influence of all citizens —what I'll call "one man, one vote" (OMOV)— a most important question is whether and how inequality can undermine this principle and introduce a hidden hierarchy.

Inequality (of the financial variety, at least) can easily mutate into economical and social hierarchy merely by inheritance. Can this hierarchy become political? Census suffrage would be an obvious example of such a transition, but once again, it is no longer acceptable discourse. "Softer" means (such as lobbying) are however still accepted.

A related question is whether there is an inequality threshold above which OMOV becomes unstable, i.e. the formally defined democratic institutions no longer operate effectively.

to be continued...Doru Constantinhttp://firstname.lastname@example.com://blitiri.blogspot.com/2016/06/hierarchy-and-inequality.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4085881870717689218.post-51144991903878071192016-05-14T15:43:00.002+02:002016-10-13T20:22:02.914+02:00Impresii despre Soldaţii de Adrian Schiop

Soldaţii. Poveste din Ferentari de Adrian Schiop. Editura Polirom, 2013

În 250 de pagini, Schiop ne prezintã o relaţie sentimentalã, de la începutul timid pânã la previzibilul sfârşit lamentabil. Mai important însã, el reuşeşte performanţa de a schimba treptat perspectiva, astfel cã la sfârşit nu mai este atât de clar cine pe cine exploateazã, iar implozia relaţiei nu decurge aşa cum am fi bãnuit la început.

Soldaţii este o poveste de dragoste, înainte de a fi o poveste din Ferentari sau una despre homosexuali. Aceste douã elemente, ca şi tensiunea dintre ele, sunt indispensabile acţiunii, dar — dacã e sã judec dupã multe recenzii şi reacţii — cred cã mare parte din succesul cãrţii se va datora lecturii în cheie socialã (ca o meditaţie pe tema homosexualitãţii în România sau pe cea a Ferentarilor ca vestigiu al unei perioade trecute).

Stilul este destul de brut, fãrã fraze şlefuite, cam prea în genul "Flori de mucigai", pe care nu îl apreciez foarte tare, dar care se potriveşte într-adevãr cu subiectul. Mai ales în capitolul No more parties, analiza socialã e desfãşuratã în fraze tãioase şi categorice, combinînd termeni tehnici sau erudiţi şi expresii de argou (à la Houellebecq). Partea aceasta mi s-a pãrut cel mai puţin convingãtoare.

Pe scurt, o carte care meritã din plin cititã, în ciuda unei realizãri destul de inegale (narativ şi stilistic).
Doru Constantinhttp://firstname.lastname@example.com://blitiri.blogspot.com/2016/05/impresii-despre-soldatii-de-adrian.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4085881870717689218.post-4901731836654033502016-03-16T17:38:00.001+01:002016-03-16T17:38:33.073+01:00Chartres cathedral (again)

This was my second time in Chartres (I have already taken the same photo three years ago), but now I was more interested in the juxtaposition of the various textures (hence the B&W rendition).
Doru Constantinhttp://firstname.lastname@example.com://blitiri.blogspot.com/2016/03/chartres-cathedral-again.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4085881870717689218.post-60258554368562599052016-03-10T21:24:00.001+01:002016-03-10T21:24:27.891+01:00Social reform as arbitrage
Changes in laws and regulations (including for instance tax rates) are presented by their proponents as improvements to society in general, but it is generally obvious (and accepted) that they favor one group to the expense of another: for instance, changes in labor law can be to the advantage of the employer or the employee.

Sometimes, however, these measures are advertised as benefitting all involved, with no negative effects. Instead of altering the balance between the various players, the new laws are expected to eliminate inefficiencies in the social and economical system, as the practice of arbitrage levels price differences between markets.

This is counterintuitive, and so are the arguments used by the advocates of change, who forecast an outcome exactly opposite to the one expected in normal settings, because the situation is supposedly very unbalanced, even untenable (hence the urgency of the changes.) The problem is that the system to be changed has often existed for decades: the claims that some extreme imbalance has persisted (or has gradually evolved) and that something needs to be done right now (before the next election cycle, preferably) are difficult to take seriously.

A recent example are the proposed ammendments to French labor law: they are supposed to reduce unemployment by relaxing conditions on layoffs and overtime. I guess this could only work if the labor market were completely unbalanced in France.

This is similar to Reagan's proposal of increasing tax revenue by reducing tax rates, which would only have been possible in very specific circumstances (on the decreasing side of the Laffer curve.)

Doru Constantinhttp://firstname.lastname@example.com://blitiri.blogspot.com/2016/03/social-reform-as-arbitrage.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4085881870717689218.post-39943151340468444082016-02-13T22:28:00.000+01:002016-02-13T22:28:03.236+01:00Water is HO2 (for at least one philosopher)
This evening I've been listening to some podcasts of talks given at the Nietzsche on Mind and Nature conference (Oxford, 2009).

There are some interesting points to be made, so I'll probably write a couple more posts on this, but what I found striking is Günter Abel's affirmation (about 08:55 into his talk; see the video) "[...] saying for example (famous example) 'water is HO2'..." Now, everyone can misspeak, but he did not correct himself and there were no reactions from the audience (then again, this was a philosophy conference held in Oxford, so maybe all attendants were being exceptionnally polite). Is this the general level of scientific education in the population of philosophy professors?!

The topic of Abel's talk is not directly related to science, although he does address the tension between consciousness and neurobiology (and how one should not identify conscious states and physical processes etc.)
Doru Constantinhttp://firstname.lastname@example.com://blitiri.blogspot.com/2016/02/water-is-ho-2-for-at-least-one.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4085881870717689218.post-58066712464144434532016-02-11T18:15:00.004+01:002016-02-11T18:15:52.930+01:00Detection of gravitational wavesLIGO detected gravitational waves originating in the merger of a binary black hole (and made history in the process).

https://twitter.com/LIGO/status/697827514266202112
http://journals.aps.org/prl/abstract/10.1103/PhysRevLett.116.061102
Doru Constantinhttp://email@example.com://blitiri.blogspot.com/2016/02/detection-of-gravitational-waves.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4085881870717689218.post-18858557148480224422016-01-24T11:10:00.004+01:002016-01-24T11:29:33.242+01:00Sample median for a Lorentz (Cauchy) distribution - part 2
In a previous post I derived the distribution function for the median of a sample of size \(n = 2k +1\) (with \(k \geq 0\) integer) drawn from a Lorentz (or Cauchy) distribution:
\begin{equation}
\label{eq:result}
g(x) = \frac{n!}{(k!)^2 \, \pi ^{n} \, \gamma} \left [ \frac{\pi ^2}{4} - \arctan ^2 \left (\frac{x - x_0}{\gamma} \right )\right ]^k \frac{1}{1+ \left (\frac{x - x_0}{\gamma} \right )^2 }
\end{equation}
I will now consider some of its properties.

The Figure below shows \(g(x)\) with \(x_0 = 0\) and \(\gamma = 1\) for a few values of \(n\):

As the sample size increases, the distribution is more and more localized, as its tails decay faster. The Lorentzian already behaves as \(x^{-2}\) at infinity, and the parenthesis in front of it adds a factor \(x^{-k}\). For \(k \geq 1\) the distribution has a first moment: \( \left \langle x \right \rangle = x_0\), so the median is an unbiased estimator of the position parameter \(x_0\). For \(k \geq 2\) it also has a variance \( V = \left \langle (x - x_0)^2 \right \rangle \), which quantifies the tightness of the estimation [1]. Following Rider, I'll use the substitution \(\phi = \text{arccot}\left ( \frac{x - x_0}{\gamma}\right)\), yielding:

\begin{eqnarray}
\label{eq:integ}
V &= \frac{n!}{(k!)^2 \, \pi ^{n} \gamma} \int _{0}^{\pi} \, \mathrm{d} \phi \, \gamma \, (1+ \cot ^2 \phi) \left [ \frac{\pi}{2} - \arctan \left (\frac{x - x_0}{\gamma} \right )\right ]^k \nonumber \\
& \left [ \frac{\pi}{2} + \arctan \left (\frac{x - x_0}{\gamma} \right )\right ]^k \frac{\gamma ^2 \cot ^2 \phi}{1+ \cot ^2 \phi} \nonumber \\
&= \gamma ^2 \frac{2 n!}{(k!)^2 \, \pi ^{n}} \int _{0}^{\pi /2} \, \mathrm{d} \phi \, \phi ^k (\pi - \phi)^k \cot ^2 \phi = \gamma ^2 I_k
\end{eqnarray}

where \(I_k \sim \frac{8}{3 n}\) can be obtained by numerical integration and the standard deviation of the median \(\sqrt{V}\) decreases as \(1/\sqrt{n}\), as per the central limit theorem.
TO DO: I found the behaviour of \(I_k\) by inspecting the list of numerical values; try to get a more rigorous result. Compare with the large-\(n\) limit \(\frac{\pi^2}{4 n}\).

[1] P. R. Rider, Variance of the Median of Samples from a Cauchy Distribution. Journal of the American Statistical Association 55, 322–323 (1960).↩Doru Constantinhttp://email@example.com://blitiri.blogspot.com/2016/01/sample-median-for-lorentz-cauchy_24.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4085881870717689218.post-32053689565479957992016-01-23T16:31:00.002+01:002016-01-23T19:57:17.234+01:00Sample median for a Lorentz (Cauchy) distribution
The Lorentz (or Cauchy) distribution
\begin{equation}
\label{eq:def}
f(x) = \frac{1}{\pi \gamma}\frac{1}{1+ \left (\frac{x - x_0}{\gamma} \right )^2 }
\end{equation}is pathological, in that it has no finite moments apart from the zero-order one (which ensures proper normalization of the density function.) Many results we usually take for granted (e.g. the central limit theorem) do not apply and, when sampled, the sample mean and sample variance are not good predictors for the position parameters \(x_0\) and \(\gamma\). This should not come as a surprise, since the distribution mean and variance do not even exist. How can we then estimate the position parameters?

Note that \(x_0\) is the median of the distribution and \(\gamma\) is its HWHM (and half the interquartile range); we can then hope that they are well described by the corresponding properties of the sample. This is indeed the case, and one can show that, for a sample of size \(n = 2k +1\) (with \(k \geq 0\) integer) the probability density function (pdf) of the sample median \(m\) is:
\begin{equation}
\label{eq:result}
g(x) = \frac{n!}{(k!)^2 \, \pi ^{n} \, \gamma} \left [ \frac{\pi ^2}{4} - \arctan ^2 \left (\frac{x - x_0}{\gamma} \right )\right ]^k \frac{1}{1+ \left (\frac{x - x_0}{\gamma} \right )^2 }
\end{equation}

The proof of this result cannot be found e.g. in Rider [1] who refers to Fisher [2], whose only justification is the annoying comment "It is easy to see that...".

We start by noting that the median is the \((k+1)\)-th order statistic \(m = x_{(k+1)}\) , i.e. the \((k+1)\)-th element in the ordered sequence of observations. Rather than try to estimate the density function \(g(x)\), it is easier to work with the cumulative distribution function (cdf) \(G(x) = P(x_{(k+1)} \leq x)\), because \(x_{(k+1)} \leq x\) implies that at least \(k+1\) among the (unordered) observations \(x_j\) are below \(x\) [3, (2.1.3)]:
\begin{equation}
\label{eq:Gk}
G(x) = \sum_{p=k+1}^{n} C_n^p\, F^p(x) \left [ 1 - F(x)\right ]^{n-p}
\end{equation}
where
\begin{equation}
\label{eq:Fdef}
F(x) = \frac{1}{2}+\frac{1}{\pi}\arctan \left ( \frac{x-x_0}{\gamma} \right )
\end{equation}

is the cdf of the Lorentz distribution \eqref{eq:def} and \(C_n^p = \left ( n \atop p \right )\) is the binomial coefficient, giving the number of ways one can choose \(p\) observations out of the total of \(n\). Thus, each term in \eqref{eq:Gk} gives the probability of having exactly \(p\) elements below \(x\), while \(n-p\) are above \(x\).

The pdf \(g(x)\) is simply the derivative of \(G(x)\). Let us derivate term by term the rhs of \eqref{eq:Gk}:
\begin{equation}
\label{eq:Gderiv}
g(x) = G'(x) = f(x) \sum_{p=k+1}^{n} C_n^p\, \left \lbrace p F^{p-1}(x) \left [ 1 - F(x)\right ]^{n-p} - (n-p) F^p(x) \left [ 1 - F(x)\right ]^{n-p-1} \,\right \rbrace
\end{equation}

and every negative term \(p\) on the rhs of \eqref{eq:Gderiv} cancels the \(p+1\) positive term. We are then left with the first positive term (with \(p = k+1\)), since the last negative term vanishes.
\begin{equation}
\label{eq:Gderivfin}
g(x) = f(x) \frac{n!}{(k!)^2} F^{k}(x) \left [ 1 - F(x)\right ]^{k}
\end{equation}

Plugging \eqref{eq:def} and \eqref{eq:Fdef} in \eqref{eq:Gderivfin} yields \eqref{eq:result}. For \(n=1\) (and hence \(k=0\)), \(g(x) = f(x)\), because the median of a sample of one is the unique observation. As \(n\) increases, \(g(x)\) becomes more and more narrow (and \(m\) better and better localized), as seen in the Figure below for \(x_0 = 0\) and \(\gamma = 1\):

We'll look at the behaviour of \(g(x)\) in future post.

[1] P. R. Rider, Variance of the Median of Samples from a Cauchy Distribution. Journal of the American Statistical Association 55, 322–323 (1960).↩
[2] R. A. Fisher, Theory of Statistical Estimation. Mathematical Proceedings of the Cambridge Philosophical Society 22, 700-725 (1925).↩
[3] H. A. David and H. N. Nagaraja, Order Statistics (3rd edition), John Wiley & Sons (2003).↩

Doru Constantinhttp://email@example.com://blitiri.blogspot.com/2016/01/sample-median-for-lorentz-cauchy.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4085881870717689218.post-78401792961021703762016-01-19T17:27:00.000+01:002016-01-19T17:27:03.668+01:00Scattering from a bunch of parallel wires
I got interested in this problem by trying to understand a result in [1], and also because it may be useful for some stuff I'm currently working on. Consider a collection of \(N\) very (infinitely) long objects, parallel to the \(z\)-axis and whose centers have positions \(\mathbf{R}_{j}\) in the \((x,y)\) plane. We are interested in the orientationally averaged scattering signal.

Left: diagram of the system showing the wires parallel to the \(z\)-axis. Right: In the \((x,y)\) plane, object \(j\) is centered in \(\mathbf{R}_{j}\).

The density function \(\rho (\mathbf{r})\) is:
\begin{equation}
\label{eq:rhor}
\rho (\mathbf{r}) = C(z) \left\lbrace \left[ \sum_{j=1}^{N} \delta (\mathbf{r}_{\bot} - \mathbf{R}_{j}) \right] * F(\mathbf{r}_{\bot})\right\rbrace
\end{equation}

where \(\mathbf{r} = (x,y,z) = (\mathbf{r}_{\bot}, z) \) and \(F(\mathbf{r}_{\bot}) = F(\left| \mathbf{r}_{\bot} \right|) \) is the (isotropic) in-plane density profile of the objects. \(*\) is the convolution operator. \(C(z)\) is the \(z\) modulation of the density; for infinitely long objects it should be a constant, but for now we describe it by a gate function of length \(L\): \(C(z) = \Pi_L(z)\) and we'll take the \(L \to \infty \) limit later.
The Fourier transform of \(\rho (\mathbf{r})\) is given by:
\begin{equation}
\label{eq:rhoq}
\rho (\mathbf{q}) = \int \mathrm{d}^3 \mathbf{r} \, \mathrm{e}^{-i \mathbf{q} \mathbf{r}} \rho (\mathbf{r}) = C(q_z) \left\lbrace \left[ \sum_{j=1}^{N} \mathrm{e}^{-i \mathbf{q}_{\bot} \mathbf{R}_{j}} \right] \cdot F(\mathbf{q}_{\bot})\right\rbrace
\end{equation}
and the intensity \(I (\mathbf{q}) \sim \rho^* (\mathbf{q}) \rho (\mathbf{q}) \) (with \(^*\) the complex conjugation) writes:
\begin{equation}
\label{eq:Iq}
I (\mathbf{q}) = \left| C(q_z)\right|^2 \left| F(q_{\bot})\right|^2 \left\lbrace \left[ \sum_{j,k=1}^{N} \mathrm{e}^{-i \mathbf{q}_{\bot} (\mathbf{R}_{j} - \mathbf{R}_{k})} \right]\right\rbrace = \left| C(q_z)\right|^2 \left| F(q_{\bot})\right|^2 S(\mathbf{q}_{\bot})
\end{equation}

In polar coordinates, \(\mathbf{q}_{\bot} = (q_{\bot}, \phi)= q_{\bot}(\cos(\phi), \sin(\phi))\) and the form factor only depends on its modulus because it is isotropic, like its real-space counterpart. The distance between objects \(j\) and \(k\) is \(\mathbf{R}_{jk} = \mathbf{R}_{j} - \mathbf{R}_{k}\) and it makes an angle \(\phi_{jk}\) with the \(x\) axis. The last factor in \eqref{eq:Iq} is the in-plane structure factor \(S(\mathbf{q}_{\bot})\).

We denote the polar angle (between \(\mathbf{q}\) and the \(z\) axis) by \(\theta\), so that \(q_z = q \cos (\theta)\) and \(q_{\bot} = q \sin (\theta)\). We are interested in the orientationally averaged intensity \(I(q)\):
\begin{equation}
\label{eq:Iqavg}
I(q) = \left\langle I (\mathbf{q}) \right\rangle _{\theta, \phi}= \frac{1}{4 \pi} \int_{0}^{\pi} \sin (\theta) \mathrm{d} \theta \int_{0}^{2 \pi} \mathrm{d} \phi \, I (\mathbf{q})
\end{equation}
It is convenient to begin by evaluating the integral over \(\phi\), since the first two factors in \eqref{eq:Iq} do not depend on this angle.
Two cases appear:

 In-plane liquid structure
\(S(\mathbf{q}_{\bot})\) is isotropic (due to an additional ensemble average). We then have simply:
\begin{equation}
\label{eq:avgiso}
I(q,\theta) = \left\langle I (\mathbf{q}) \right\rangle _{\phi}= \left| C(q_z)\right|^2 \left| F(q_{\bot})\right|^2 S(q_{\bot})
\end{equation}

Solid structure
\(S(\mathbf{q}_{\bot})\) is not isotropic. The \(\phi\) average consists in \(N(N+1)/2\) terms (grouping together the \(jk\) and \(kj\) contributions) of the form:
\[\frac{1}{2 \pi} \int_{0}^{2 \pi} \mathrm{d} \phi \cos \left[ q_{\bot} R_{jk} \cos(\phi - \phi_{jk}))\right] = J_0 (q_{\bot} R_{jk})\]
yielding:
\begin{equation}
\label{eq:avgphi}
I(q,\theta) = \left\langle I (\mathbf{q}) \right\rangle _{\phi}= \left| C(q_z)\right|^2 \left| F(q_{\bot})\right|^2 \overbrace{\left[ \sum_{j , k=1}^{N} J_0 (q_{\bot} R_{jk}) \right]}^{S(q_{\bot})}
\end{equation}

where, in the third factor, we retrieve once again an isotropic \(S(q_{\bot})\).

For either \eqref{eq:avgiso} or \eqref{eq:avgphi}, we still need to average over \(\theta\). Now is a good moment to introduce the simplifying assumption of infinite extent along \(z\), yielding \(\lim\limits_{L \to \infty} \frac{\left| C(q_z)\right|^2}{L} = 2 \pi \delta (q_z)\) (see below for the details). The integrated intensity diverges linearly with \(L\) (while the intensity at the origin \(I(q_z = 0)\) diverges quadratically with \(L\)), so we'll stop the limiting process when this parameter reaches \(H\), the actual length of the objects (or beam size, whichever is shorter), but we'll assume that \(H\) is much larger than all other length scales involved and use the Dirac delta anyway:

\begin{equation}
\label{eq:avgtheta}
I(q) = \left\langle I (q,\theta) \right\rangle _{\theta} = \frac{H}{2} \int_{0}^{\pi} \sin (\theta) \mathrm{d} \theta \, 2 \pi \delta (q \cos(\theta)) \left| F(q \sin(\theta))\right|^2 S(q \sin(\theta)).
\end{equation}

Using \( \displaystyle \delta \left[ q \cos (\theta) \right] = \frac{1}{\left| q \sin (\theta) \right| } \delta (\theta - \pi/2) \) ([2], Theorem 7.45), we finally get:
\begin{equation}
\label{eq:avgtheta2}
I(q) = \frac{2 \pi H}{2 q} \left| F(q)\right|^2 S(q)
\end{equation}

where, to be perfectly clear, \(I\) is a function of \(q = \left| \mathbf{q} \right| \) and \(F\) and \(S\) are functions of the in-plane scattering vector \(q_{\bot}\), to be evaluated in \(q_{\bot} = q\), since \(q_{z} = 0\). The \(q\) in the denominator appears formally from the derivative of the Dirac delta, but it can be understood intuitively as a result of the scattering signal, initially confined to the equator of a sphere (with circumference \(2 \pi q\)) being spread by the averaging over the entire surface (of area \(4 \pi q ^2\)), resulting in "dilution" by a factor of \(2q\).

Inserting in \eqref{eq:avgtheta2} the \(S(q_{\bot})\) obtained in \eqref{eq:avgphi} yields Equation (7) in reference [1].

Bringing in the \(\delta\) function
Let us prove the \(\left| C(q_z)\right|^2 =2 \pi L \delta (q_z)\) relation used in \eqref{eq:avgtheta}. We have
\[C(z) = \Pi_L(z) = \left\lbrace \begin{array}{ll}
1 & \left| z\right| \leq L/2 \\
0 & \text{otherwise}
\end{array} \right. \]

and \(C(q_z) = L \, \mathrm{sinc} \left( q_z \frac{L}{2}\right) \). It can then be shown ([2], Example 8.19) that \(\displaystyle \frac{\left|C(q_z)_L \right| ^2}{L} = L \, \mathrm{sinc} ^2 \left( q_z \frac{L}{2}\right) \) is a Dirac sequence and it converges towards \(2 \pi \delta (q_z)\). I will not prove it here, but it is easy to see that \( \left|C(q_z)_L \right| ^2 \) becomes narrower as \(L\) increases. As to the prefactor, note that, with our particular convention for the Fourier transform used in \eqref{eq:rhoq}, the one-dimensional Parseval-Plancherel relation is written ([2], p. 612, line 3):
\[\int \mathrm{d}q_z f^*(q_z) g(q_z) = 2 \pi \int \mathrm{d}z f^*(z) g(z) \]

Thus, the trivial integral \(\displaystyle \int \mathrm{d}z \left| C(z) \right| ^2 = L\) yields \(\displaystyle \int \mathrm{d}q_z \left| C(q_z) \right| ^2 = 2 \pi L \), a result more difficult to obtain by direct integration.

[1] S. Rols, R. Almairac, L. Henrard, E. Anglaret and J.-L. Sauvajol, Diffraction by finite-size crystalline bundles of single wall nanotubes, Eur. Phys. J. B 10, 263-270 (1999).↩
[2] Walter Appel, Mathematics for Physics and Physicists, Princeton University Press,
2007.↩Doru Constantinhttp://email@example.com://blitiri.blogspot.com/2016/01/scattering-from-bunch-of-parallel-wires.html


text:
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Alaska lawmakers to weigh how much to saveHow much to save? That's the question facing Alaska lawmakers as they return to Juneau
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Related Keywords:Alaska Savings, State legislature, Government and politics, Constitutional amendments, State governments, Legislature, Legislation, Government finance, Government business and finance, Business, Constitutions, Energy, Industries
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text: "We've all got a pail of heels that are way more comfortable with a pair of socks under them but then you run the risk of seeing the sock or the sock falling down. Not anymore! Meet, Keysocks. They're knee high no show socks, they cover the bottom of your foot, your toes, heels, and calves - throw on a pair of jeans and no one knows you're wearing them! Keysocks are a simple fix to an annoying style problem, plus they come in a variety of colors."


text:
As an Aussie reader with noir my genre of choice, I've long been craving an outback noir full of dusty murderous open spaces and locals who could shake your hand as easily as they could take your life. In ORIGIN, the first of the Wolf Creek prequel novels by authors Sterns and McLean I get just that, and then some.
Jackaroo Mick Taylor, who later appears on the big screen in the feature film as a more seasoned killer in WOLF CREEK, one of the best Australian horror movies made, gets his taste for blood through an all too easy penchant for murder while on a remote Western Australia sheep station. Its here he also assumes a vigilante role, hunting down his peers and inadvertently helping the police in the process.
This could've easily conformed to the stereotypical horror and followed the blood stained trail blazed by the movie, yet the authors took Mick down a deep and darker path than his older big screen counter part and set him loose amongst others of his ilk and drunken big city traveling business men.
Despite there being a high degree of violence and explicit sex, (Mick's love interest is a pretty well written and complex character in her own right), ORIGIN provides a surprising amount of depth to the core character, documenting the events that slowly turned his heart black and honed his skill for hunt into what they ultimately become.
There are some nice head nods to Wolf Creek too which, as a fan of the feature film, was a nice easter egg.
I couldn't read this fast enough and will delve deep into the second of the prequel novels in the not too distant future.
Australia, this is the penultimate outback noir novel.


text:
Long Goodbyes by Scott Hunter
English | Horror, Suspense | ePUB, MOBI, AZW3 | 823 KB
1916. Shell-shocked soldier Jack MacLennan and his new wife seek to rebuild their lives in rural Ireland, but although the cottage and its environs seem idyllic, the shadow of Sir William Kenton's dilapidated mansion hangs over the village like a cloud. Why will no one speak of it? And why does it exert such a haunting influence upon Jack? The boundaries between past and present rapidly blur as the young couple find themselves caught up in a series of inexplicable events which lead eventually to heartbreak and murder…
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The Trail of Tears (1838-1839)
Social Studies Research Project: By Esha Sharma
Research Question: How were the conditions on the Trail of Tears?
After a young boy of the Cherokee Tribe had sold a nugget of gold to an American settler, news spread quickly amongst greedy men, and everyone was fighting to force the Cherokee Nation out of Georgia- many lives of the Cherokee were at stake. Years after standing their ground, a minor faction of political members finally negotiated a treaty with the US Government known as the Treaty of New Echota. Although actual elected political members of the Nation or Head Chief John Ross did not agree with the conditions of the Treaty, the document was already ratified and amended by the US Government in March 1836. The only reason the Cherokee actually agreed to the treaty was because they thought that they would be generously escorted to a comfortable Indian Camp after they ceded their land to the US- but what they didn't know was that they were believing a lie, many lives were about to go down the deep end, and all of their lives were going to take a turn for the worse.
- "Treaty of New Echota." Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation. Web. 4 June 2015.
Research Question:
I chose this research question to study on because the Trail of Tears carries the stories of many Native American forgotten lives, survivors, and trekkers that lost much both emotionally and physically. This was a tragic time period in the history of US shaping- and many primary and secondary resources could have been useful in getting to the approximate answer of the research question.
The First time they got the Hint
After the signing of the New Echota, the Cherokee Natives waited for the US Government officials to escort them towards the Indian camps. But instead, gruff soldiers pounded on their doors, broke them down, and arrested them or kicked them out of their homes- only to be squeezed into a cramped carriage, wagon, or horse. Alarmed, the Cherokees tried to resist against the soldiers' grips to collect precious items, but only to be hurt even more by the person who held them captive. On one website, I found out that right after all the Natives were evacuated, American farmers looted houses, many held lotteries on farmland, traded priceless native heirlooms for cheap rates, and many leftover soldiers burned down houses containing many loved items.
- "Life on the Trail." Trail of Tears. Web. 4 June 2015.
- "Trail of Tears." ***. Web. 4 June 2015.
Hopeless life on the Trail
Cherokees were trudging the Trail of Tears for days, and days turned to months. Many women, such as Mary Tustenuggee Tiger, leader of the Seminole tribe, were abused by soldiers who considered themselves superior to the Natives in every way possible. Many elderly natives were too old to walk because of their weak heart rates. If they stopped walking, they would be commanded to get up and walk again- and if they did not heed the soldiers' orders, they would either be whipped, or kicked and beaten to death. Blood would be splattered on trees, and bodies would lying in every angle of sight. The stench of blood would spin through the still, humid air; and the sounds of pitiful sobbing and moaning would float on the wind to a better place. Food portions were small, the only food they would get was a two glasses of warm water, a stale piece of bread, and a miniature turnip. Many died of starvation in the winter of 1838. Soldiers were lazy, and took up the horse-drawn carriages mostly all to themselves- leaving the Indians no choice but to walk, or ride a horse. Soldiers would only go out once or twice in the thick summer air to hunt for a buffalo or two, and then drag it back to camp. Babies would cry in the day, and through the night. If babies cried even when the soldiers told the mother to make it quiet, the soldiers would either drown it in a river, or smash it against a tree until it was dead. Mourning wasn't allowed because it took too much time according to the soldiers. Life went on for a year like this, with barely any stops. Forests were dense, and people could barely move through them. Many Indians made landmarks, such as pieces of clothing tied to a branch. Soldiers mostly fed saltwater to the Natives, but if they found a freshwater site, they would make a quick stop. Many freshwater places did not come so quickly, so many died of thirst. After reaching the main site, 4,000 of the 15,000 Cherokee Indians died. This forced march later became known as the Trail of Tears.
- McNamara, Robert. "Indian Removal and the Trail of Tears." AboutEducation. Robert McNamara. Web. 4 June 2015.
- "10.8 A Soldier Recalls the Trail of Tears." A Soldier Recalls the Trail of Tears. Web. 4 June 2015.
- http://www.history.com/topics/native-american-hist...
- http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/aia/part4/4h1567.html
- http://www.nps.gov/trte/learn/historyculture/stori...
Climate During the FOrced march
All the while, the Cherokee Indians were mourning the losses of their lost ancestors and family. But what made it even worse were the harsh climates that accompanied them. There were three major Cherokee groups that traveled to their designated camp. There were two major land groups, and one major water group. The water group faced much bad weather, being on the water. Heavy winds and thunderstorms shook the boat, and often they would have people swim in the water to keep the boat stable. Although they were on the water, the most people died of dehydration because all they had in store after a few weeks was salt water. The land groups faced almost the same conditions in harshness. Forests were dense, and the winters were harsh with heavy snowfall. In the summers, some would perish of heat and dehydration.


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Can Some Body Give Me Opinion Please?
Decorating By Frankyola Updated 21 Jan 2009 , 9:42pm by Tita9499
Hi I just finish this flowers for my mom's cake, can somebody give me your opinion? do they need something else? thank you so much.
sorry frankyola....can't give an opinion if there is no photo to see!
Hard to see photo, it is so small but I think they are very nice looking. I would make the Calla Lilies a bit longer but other than that they are great.
if they are the ones on your photos, they are very nice...
They really look nice! I'm no expert but maybe the stamen could be a little smaller? Yes, Edna has great video tutorials!
The roses are beautiful and very realistic. I think the stamens in the calla lilies could be a bit skinnier and shorter. Great job though!


text:
Motorola Moto X press render leaks
0. phoneArena posted on 20 Jul 2013, 04:36
For those of you waiting for the Motorola Moto X, here is a nice way to start the weekend; a press render of the eagerly awaited handset was leaked and shows that the phone is ready for its expected August 1st introduction. As we told you previously, this is not a Times Square scream it from the sky type of announcement. Motorola will hold five separate sessions with the press and the embargo will expire at 3pm EDT...
This is a discussion for a news. To read the whole news, click here
1. someones4 (Posts: 625; Member since: 16 Sep 2012)
I'd still prefer a 5-inch screen. It's still the year 2013 after all.
11. proto (Posts: 59; Member since: 12 Sep 2012)
not everyone have hands that big to operate 5 inch screen with one hand...i do (i personally own GS4) but google thinks 4.7" with soft keys is right size of screen and I aprove. If bezel is really small it will be really easy to use it with 1 hand for anyone
16. alila2 (Posts: 158; Member since: 01 Nov 2011)
it's a 4.5" inch screen not 4.7", still not bad , about 4.2" inch of usable screen, the semi transparent navigation keys make it look bigger and when it come to games and videos , you can also use the (FullScreen) App found in google play that will hide the soft keys and notification bar and have full screen usability . 4.5" is pretty good.just barely bigger than iphone 5 its the perfect overall phone size. the most important question that haven't been answered yet is : battery and storage size?
18. alila2 (Posts: 158; Member since: 01 Nov 2011)
it's actually full!screen not fullscreen, sorry.
23. Plexicle (Posts: 15; Member since: 12 Nov 2012)
It's 4.7".
26. alila2 (Posts: 158; Member since: 01 Nov 2011)
that's very fine with me, but the latest reports say it is a 4.5". and in the Vietnamese video that's on the web in you pause it at 1:24 and compare it to the iphone 5 next to it , it do look more like a 4.5".
28. Plexicle (Posts: 15; Member since: 12 Nov 2012)
The latest reports say 4.7". They also say it was measured and confirmed with someone who had the device in hand.
See.. AndroidPolice.. GSMArena.. etc.
32. alila2 (Posts: 158; Member since: 01 Nov 2011)
thank you i will, for the overall size of the phone, 4.7" sound even sweeter .
50. NexusPhan (Posts: 632; Member since: 11 Jul 2013)
That Vietnamese video states that they meaured it between 4.65" and 4.7" so ya.
21. PhoneArenaUser (Posts: 5498; Member since: 05 Aug 2011)
Yes, if you want to operate +0.3" bigger display (than 4.7"), your hands should be VERY BIG. (sarcasm)
29. Plexicle (Posts: 15; Member since: 12 Nov 2012)
Yeah, the big hand argument is ridiculous. I get if you don't like a big screen for whatever reason, but it's not because it's too big to handle.
My wife has a S4 and she has very small hands. She does just fine.
36. HouTexan (Posts: 446; Member since: 08 Jan 2012)
Agreed. My gf has the S4 and has tiny hands.
53. Taters (banned) (Posts: 6474; Member since: 28 Jan 2013)
GS4 is a very different 5 inch beast. Companies like HTC and so have no regards for the size. Samsung is the only one that uses the thinnest plastics possible to keep the phone small yet durable.
Unfortunately, people knock them for it but that is the main reason why women can handle the GS4 easily, because of the "cheap" plastic.
24. Secondhead (Posts: 18; Member since: 30 Jan 2013)
4,5 / 4,7 is the best i think. Let's see who will win android user this year, honami or moto x or htc, and sorry samsung. I feel enough for note 1 and S3, it's time for change.
51. akki20892 (Posts: 3902; Member since: 04 Feb 2013)
Nice curve, round shapes, and looks iconic. By the way good looking phone though.
2. fistigons (Posts: 354; Member since: 11 Feb 2012)
Looks pretty sexy.
3. fistigons (Posts: 354; Member since: 11 Feb 2012)
I wonder if the little divot with the Motorola symbol will do anything.
4. PapaSmurf (Posts: 10457; Member since: 14 May 2012)
This is a nice looking phone honestly. Price it under $350, and you just may get my money.
25. reten (Posts: 43; Member since: 03 Apr 2013)
I will take 2
5. Sniggly (Posts: 7305; Member since: 05 Dec 2009)
Well, looks like I'll have to make a decision. Do I get this on an employee plan and sacrifice customization? Do I buy it unlocked after saving 300 bucks? Do I forgo this and get the new Maxx, after saving 200 bucks (or more), sacrificing customization and likely speed of updates?
For anyone's information, I won't be able to root the Maxx, as simply getting caught with a rooted phone by the wrong carrier reps could get me in huge trouble. I've run the risk with my Atrix for the last several months. I wouldn't like to keep doing so. Main reasons to get the Maxx would be for the durability and battery life.
6. Sniggly (Posts: 7305; Member since: 05 Dec 2009)
Oh, and for the love of God I hope that they finally have a good camera this time.
7. wendygarett (unregistered)
Can I say moto x?
8. WHoyton1 (Posts: 1635; Member since: 21 Feb 2013)
Grrr looking fine girl...
9. looniaz (Posts: 5; Member since: 19 Jul 2013)
(Price + performance + pocketable size) > any flagship
Can't wait to see the full review :)
10. xperiaDROID (banned) (Posts: 5629; Member since: 08 Mar 2013)
It looks nice, but the problem is that some countries don't have Motorola anymore, including mine.
So, I hope Motorola will return since they're calling themselves the "New Moto".
12. pyradark (Posts: 882; Member since: 10 Jun 2012)
this is cool moto!!! its doesnt look nexus phone on front, the back is laso something new (unlike HTC One copy of xperia P) thanks to the top corner thing.
13. mahekm (Posts: 7; Member since: 09 Jul 2013)
Plz.. Moto don't forget to release in INDIA
14. ilia1986 (unregistered)
I don't see anything revolutionary. Do you?
15. google-apple (Posts: 34; Member since: 19 Jul 2013)
Release in India n I'll be the first one buyin' it... :)
17. ashwin.arena (Posts: 4; Member since: 20 Jul 2013)
Hello Moto: -please come to India-


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The Saudis said the women could compete only if they were allowed to wear appropriate Muslim clothing.
On Thursday night the International Judo Federation president Marius Vizer said Wujdan Shahrkhani could not fight with a headscarf.
He said the decision was a result of safety concerns and also "according to the principles and spirit of judo".


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If you're living alone, what do you think would be the best pet to own? Cats? Dogs? Others?
Most Helpful Girl
Dogs aren't really great if you're the only person in the house and you're out a lot because dogs aren't really that happy without constant companionship. They're better off in a home where they won't be left alone for more than a couple of hours at a time because dogs are pretty social animals. So if you're the only person and there's big gaps between you coming and going, it might not be a great idea to get a dog.
Cats are definitely less social than dogs, though they also do require companionship. You'd probably be fine being on your own with a cat. There are other animals like birds and reptiles and fish that you could get, and pets like hamsters are pretty solitary and easy to look after.10|10|0
Most Helpful Guy
Each of the different pets one could choose bring both advantages as well as disadvantages. I'm a cat person myself so my answer might be biased.. but I'd say that an outdoor cat probably requires the least from you.10|10|0


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ChemDesign offers several avenues for career opportunities. We actively seek people to come work with us in Marinette, Wisconsin as operators, technicians, quality control, chemical engineers and maintenance personnel.
Marinette is a beautiful community, located in the economic development region known as the New North. To get familiar with everything life in The New North has to offer, take a look a the following video.
ChemDesign participates in annual career fairs at technical schools and universities, including Michigan Technological University, Northern Michigan University, Northeast Wisconsin Technical College and the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
We hire for positions to serve our network of Blue Chip chemical clients, enhance our efficiencies and expand our business. We seek people who like diverse projects and interacting with technical clients who love when we make chemistry work for them!
Our employment packages include a competitive salary, two weeks paid vacation, 401k, profit sharing, life and disability insurance, paid health club membership, and available medical, dental, and vision packages. We are an Equal Opportunity/Affirmative Action employer who remains active with State of Wisconsin and Michigan Workforce Development departments.
If you are a proven leader and want a career that provides opportunities to problem solve in an entrepreneurial environment, submit your resume and three letters of reference to: [email protected].
We recommend candidates review Dave Mielke's presentation on working in the specialty chemicals industry before applying for a position.
Currently, we are actively recruiting for a chemical operator, quality control technician and an analytical chemist.
Chemical Operator
Our team is looking for a fulltime, skilled and motivated Operator to join a team in producing a variety of chemicals for global customers. Chemical Operators understand productivity expectations, including yield and cycle time. As a team, they recognize and troubleshoot variations in equipment and take the necessary corrective action to stay within the process parameters. Our operators strive to learn and understand the concepts of successful chemical manufacture and safety protocol.
Quality Assurance (QA) Analyst
Our team is looking for a quality assurance analyst, experienced in GC, HPLC, and wet chemical techniques. This position involves working with chemists to ensure proper testing is implemented in their efforts to scale up production. The technicians we hire are excellent communicators and able to work independently with minimal supervision. This position requires working shift rotations and experience in laboratory science. An Associate or Bachelor of Science Degree is preferred, as well as expertise in GC & HPLC equipment and writing test methods.
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Our team is looking for an experienced analytical chemist responsible for developing new methods and in-process controls for emerging business. Candidates should have experience in HPLC, UPLC, GC and IR, as well as knowledge and operation of AA, DSC, Malvern, auto titrations and KF. Knowledge of NMR is desirable. Preferred qualifications include: 3-5 years of experience in industry, strong instrumentation knowledge and mechanical aptitude. Travel may be required for technical transfers from customer laboratories. Excellent communication skills are necessary to communicate results internally and externally. A bachelor's of science degree is required; a master's degree is considered a plus.
Employee Benefits
A complete compensation package includes salary with full medical, dental, 401(k) benefits and a yearly fitness club membership. When you become part of our team, training and continuing education become important aspects of your career development experience.
We look forward to reviewing your application describing how you would help contribute to the daily growth and development of ChemDesign.
Human Resources and Employee Development Manager
Brian Bourgeois
Visit Brian Bourgeois on LinkedIn
[email protected]


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Foundation embodies hotelier's admiration for Religious, says grandson
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Steve Hilton, grandson of hotelier Conrad N. Hilton, talks with Sister Anisia Kitaka, a member of the Little Sisters of St. Francis of Assisi, during a 2012 visit to St. Francis Rehabilitation Center for Street Children in Nairobi, Kenya. Steve Hilton wi ll soon retire as president and CEO of the foundation his grandfather established 70 years ago to support Catholic sisters all over the world.
WASHINGTON — One of hotelier Conrad Hilton's wishes in his will was to support Catholic sisters all over the world, and in its 70 years, his foundation has helped accomplish this.
"Conrad had this lifelong respect and admiration for the sisters," Steve Hilton, the foundation's current president and CEO, told Catholic News Service in a phone interview from California.
Steve Hilton, Conrad's grandson, announced March 25 that he will retire next year, and whoever his successor will be, he expects the Hilton Foundation to keep pursuing its mission to help Catholic sisters.
"Everything we do is based on (Conrad's) wishes," said Steve Hilton, who is 64. "I hope the next leader will embrace that same mission."
Supporting the work of Catholic sisters is one of six primary focuses for the Hilton Foundation. The others include providing safe water, ending chronic homelessness, preventing substance abuse, helping children affected by HIV or AIDS and supporting older youth in foster care.
Conrad Hilton stressed the importance of helping sisters, the "protectors and defenders" of children, in his last will. Excerpts are posted on the foundation's website.
"Give aid to ... the sisters, who devote their love and life's work for the good of mankind," Conrad Hilton wrote. "They appeal especially to me of being deserving of help from the foundation."
He requested that the largest part of the foundation's benefactions goes to helping sisters everywhere.
This admiration for the Catholic sisters began in Conrad's childhood, Steve Hilton said.
Conrad Hilton grew up in a Catholic home in Socorro, N.M. His mother sent him to a Catholic school in a nearby town where he studied catechism. This was his first experience of the sisters and their ministry.
"He was just impressed by their selflessness and the good work they were doing," Steve said. "He carried that (admiration) through his entire life."
A specific initiative jump-started by the Hilton Foundation is the Sisters Leadership Development Initiative, a program by the African Sisters Education Collaborative that strives to educate sisters of various African ministries on basic technology, leadership and financial management skills.
Sister Jane Wakahiu, a member of the Little Sisters of St. Francis who is project coordinator of the initiative, told CNS that Hilton approached the collaborative asking for such a program to be started. The foundation awarded a grant to help create it in 2007.
The program is now in its third phase, which began last year, and teaches web development to 274 sisters in eight African countries. Faculty members from partnering U.S. and African colleges teach these courses.
"I am forever grateful to the Conrad Hilton Foundation for living out the legacy of Mr. Hilton and (its) willingness to continue championing in the support of the education of Catholic sisters in Africa," Sister Jane wrote on the African Sisters Education Collaborative website.
In February 2013, the Hilton Foundation also launched the Catholic Sisters Initiative to broaden the sisters' impact by strengthening their congregations.
As a part of this initiative, the foundation gave the National Religious Retirement Office a grant of $2.5 million in January. It will be distributed over the course of three years.
The office is the coordinating body that oversees the annual Retirement Fund for Religious collection, the largest such national collection in the U.S. Catholic Church since its inception in 1988. It is jointly sponsored by the Conference of Major Superiors of Men, the Leadership Conference of Women Religious, the Council of Major Superiors of Women Religious and the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops.
Sister Janice Bader, a member of the Sisters of the Most Precious Blood who is executive director of the religious retirement office, said the majority of the money will go to help religious communities struggling with the upkeep and operation of underutilized buildings. One million will go to their annual distribution of grants to other religious communities.
"We're very grateful for the money," she said. "It really will help us to expand our services."
In the search for a new president of the foundation, Steve Hilton said a critical point is to make sure his successor continues following Conrad's wishes.
"One of the most important responsibilities is to be true to Conrad Hilton's last will," he said. "I take that very seriously."
Originally, Steve Hilton had not considered joining the family's foundation. But when the oyster farm in Hawaii where he had worked shut down, he moved back to California. The then-president of the foundation asked Steve if he would be interested in working there.
Steve became a program assistant in 1983 and president in 1998. He also became chairman and CEO of the foundation.
"I'm incredibly fortunate to have found my niche," Steve Hilton said. "That doesn't always happen all the time (with other people)."
Members of the Hilton family have not always presided over the foundation, Steve said, and so far, no family members have asked to be considered for the next position.
Steve's retirement will take effect in fall 2015. He said he hopes to continue his position as chairman.
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I am so impressed by the article about Conrad Hilton and his dedication to Catholic Sisters. I am a Sister of the Presentation and a teacher/director of a center servicing immigrant people in the Mission District of San Francisco. We offer English Classes, Computer classes and Citizenship classes and a great deal of Hospitality. It is wonderful to know that there are people in this world who support our missions to those in need. Thanks for providing this article.
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Maire Sullivan
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What is JotForm?
JotForm is a free online form builder which helps you create online forms without writing a single line of code. No sign-up required.
At JotForm, we want to make sure that you're getting the online form builder help that you need. Our friendly customer support team is available 24/7.
We believe that if one user has a question, there could be more users who may have the same question. This is why many of our support forum threads are public and available to be searched and viewed. If you'd like help immediately, feel free to search for a similar question, or submit your question or concern.
Export form responses to Excel to be able to manually add follow-up notesAsked by rachelconnors on March 08, 2017 at 04:58 PM
I would like to be able to send submission data as a new row in an excel spreadsheet. (I've been using this app to do this: https://apps.jotform.com/app/reports_to_cloud and it works well).
The problem I'm running into is that I also want to be able to add follow-up data - for instance, if a customer submits a return request, I want to be able to add a column that says "Return Label Sent?" and tick it off when that task is completed. As it stands, this doesn't work with the Reports to Cloud app - that refreshes the document on a regular basis and any changes are lost.
I guess I could manually paste the row into a new spreadsheet and make updates from there, but that seems less than ideal.
Any smart Jotform solutions I could use instead?
JotForm Support
You might consider trying a Google Spreadsheet integration.
How to Integrate Form with Google Spreadsheet
It is possible to add custom columns after the form fields columns within integrated spreadsheet.
If you need any further assistance, please let us know.


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Last week was Rome. This week it's Oslo. Wherever she is and however fast she has run on that particular day, it is just before Priscilla Lopes-Schliep beds down for the night that her day is magically put in context through the magic that is Skype. And thanks to the magic that is Nataliya.
"The best is probably in my room at night, just before I go to sleep, when her dad puts on the computer and I can just watch here crawl up to it, smile, crawl away to go play with a toy and then come back again," Lopes-Schliep said in an interview from Rome, where she finished fifth in the 100-metre hurdles at a Diamond League meet as part of her preparation for London 2012. "You can hear her making her little sounds, and she knows my voice …"
"I mean, it does get tricky at times, like when daddy got her first toothbrush and you can just imagine her brushing her two little teeth and gums," Lopes-Schliep added, "but it does have a way of removing tension."
Less than nine months after the birth of her first child, the 29-year-old Whitby, Ont., native and bronze medalist from Beijing 2008 is on course to emerge from a deep pack of Canadian hopefuls for next month's Olympics in London.
Lopes-Schliep's time in Rome of 12.81 seconds was well off the winning 12.66 seconds of U.S. hurdler and defending gold medalist Dawn Harper. But it was 14 one-hundredths faster than her third-place time at a meet in Guadeloupe on May 3. That was her first competition since becoming a mother and it, too, was won by Harper in 12.71 seconds, ahead of fellow U.S. runner Ginnie Crawford (12.87 seconds.). One week later, Lopes-Schliep finished second in 12.64 seconds at the Jamaica Invitational.
Lopes-Schliep's return to competition also saw her finish second at the Golden Spike meet in Ostrava, Czech Republic (12.80 seconds) and fifth in 12.95 seconds at the Doha Grand Prix Diamond League event in Qatar.
"The goal is to finish in the top three in nationals," Lopes-Schliep said, referring to the Canadian Olympic qualifying meet in Calgary at the end of June. "And for me, each race has been about slowly getting the pieces back together."
Lopes-Schliep, who has a personal best of 12.49 seconds, admits she is lucky to have a support team that includes her coach, Anthony McCleary, Canadian team physician Julia Alleyne, and, of course, her family: mother Sharon, who quit her job to help look after Nataliya, husband Bronsen, an orthodontist she met while at the University of Nebraska, and other family members and friends who, Lopes-Schliep said, make sure she has plenty of up-to-date photographs of Nataliya to look at on plane and bus rides. The support group is particularly important now that Lopes-Schliep's "rest and recovery periods" after training or a meet have acquired a greater sense of urgency with London calling.
Lopes-Schliep resists the urge to laugh at people who assumed she was going to retire after becoming pregnant. ("I'd hear: 'So that's it for you?' and I'd always respond 'Uh, nope. Pretty sure I want to go to London,' " she said.) She has also said that knowing what she now knows, she would tell any other athlete in her position to "not sell themselves short," that the worst thing that can happen is "it doesn't work out."
"But I've always felt like I'm pretty grounded, anyhow," Lopes-Schliep explained. "The truth is, I really can't speak for every athlete. For me, I'm finding it doable.
"The whole key is listening to your body. Now, that means watching portions, taking everything in moderation, like proteins. When I was pregnant, it was little workouts – not huge ones. Those little workouts are all adding up to London."
Lopes-Schliep had a cystic ovary removed in 2007, and admits there were times when her biological clock was as much of a concern as any electronic timer at any meet. Not only was her pregnancy unexpected, but she also developed gestational diabetes. "Everything was kind of put in there, you know?" she asks, chuckling. "But I just faced it. Again, a lot of it is listening to your body."
Lopes-Schliep realizes now what people meant when they kept telling her that the older a person gets, the more in tune they can become with their body.
She is now also aware of the importance of "little gifts," and of "keeping your eyes open." She tells a story of a particularly sluggish day during her pregnancy, when she was in full couch-potato mode. "Probably watching Baby Story," she laughed. It was easy to run and do things in the first few months of pregnancy, but as her belly became larger, it was exercises in a swimming pool that became a staple. The pool beckoned this particular day, but Lopes-Schliep wasn't certain she wanted to heed its call. Finally, she did – and no sooner did she get in the water then she felt a kick in her belly, followed by a tap. She tapped her belly. Nataliya tapped back. "One of those moments," she said, eyes wide open – no hurdle too great.Report Typo/Error
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NEW YORK -- There is an ongoing debate among global policymakers about when and how fast to exit from the strong monetary and fiscal stimulus that prevented the Great Recession of 2008-2009 from turning into a new Great Depression. Germany and the European Central Bank are pushing aggressively for early fiscal austerity; the United States is worried about the risks of excessively early fiscal consolidation.
In fact, policymakers are damned if they do and damned if they don't. If they take away the monetary and fiscal stimulus too soon – when private demand remains shaky – there is a risk of falling back into recession and deflation. While fiscal austerity may be necessary in countries with large deficits and debt, raising taxes and cutting government spending may make the recession and deflation worse.
On the other hand, if policymakers maintain the stimulus for too long, runaway fiscal deficits may lead to a sovereign debt crisis (markets are already punishing fiscally undisciplined countries with larger sovereign spreads). Or, if these deficits are monetized, high inflation may force up long-term interest rates and again choke off economic recovery.
The problem is compounded by the fact that, for the last decade, the US and other deficit countries – including the United Kingdom, Spain, Greece, Portugal, Ireland, Iceland, Dubai, and Australia – have been consumers of first and last resort, spending more than their income and running current-account deficits. Meanwhile, emerging Asian economies – particularly China – together with Japan, Germany, and a few other countries have been the producers of first and last resort, spending less than their income and running current-account surpluses.


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Fantastic Beasts Logo Mens Black T-Shirt
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was £14.99
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(248) 548-4100
Royal Oak Ford Sales, Inc.
12 years in business27550 Woodward Avenue
Royal Oak, MI 48067
Fax Numbers
- (248) 544-6508
Additional Email Addresses
- firstname.lastname@example.com
- firstname.lastname@example.com
Find a Location
BBB File Opened: 11/13/1984
Business Started: 05/01/2005
Business Started Locally: 05/01/2005
Business Incorporated: 05/01/2005 in MI
Type of EntityCorporation
Business Management
- Mr. Eddie Hall, Owner
Business Category
- Auto Dealers - New Cars
Alternate Business Names
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Licensing, Bonding or RegistrationThis business is in an industry that may require professional licensing, bonding or registration. BBB encourages you to check with the appropriate agency to be certain any requirements are currently being met.
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What is JotForm?
JotForm is a free online form builder which helps you create online forms without writing a single line of code. No sign-up required.
At JotForm, we want to make sure that you're getting the online form builder help that you need. Our friendly customer support team is available 24/7.
We believe that if one user has a question, there could be more users who may have the same question. This is why many of our support forum threads are public and available to be searched and viewed. If you'd like help immediately, feel free to search for a similar question, or submit your question or concern.
How to display a custom Results Page when a form is submittedAsked by patriot7461 on February 06, 2016 at 10:15 AM
Is it possible to have a custom results page that include the questions and answers along with custom text that only appears on the results page?
Yes, you can set up a custom thank you page to be presented to your users when they submit your form. Please take a look at our guide on Setting Up the Thank You Page.
You can have any custom text you want as your thank you message. You can also include questions and answers that your submitters entered on the form, by selecting the field when setting up your thank you message:
Please let us know if you need further clarifications or assistance, and we will be happy to help.


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101 4th Level Spells (5E)
101 4th Level Spells (5E)
Never Cast the Same Spell Twice!
101 4th Level Spells (5e) gives you – yes, you guessed it – 101 4th level spells for the 5th Edition of the world's most popular roleplaying game, that will help you realize the vision you've had for your spellcaster.
From spells that are cast as bonus and ritual actions to a spell that lets curse your opponets special ability so he cannot use it, or have your spirit dragon use its breath weapon on your opponent, 101 4th Level Spells brings a host of new options to your character's spellbook.
Wholly compatible with 5th Edition, 101 4th Level Spells adds new agonizing choices to the creation of your character's spell list and their advancement without breaking the game.Authors: Steven D. Russell, Ed Kabara; Cover Artist: Sara Contreras; Pages 28


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Walk Planning Committee in San Diego
Cause Areas
WhenIt's flexible! We'll work with your schedule.
WhereThe San Diego areaSan Diego, CA 92106
Join the movement to make Alzheimer's disease history by helping to plan our annual Walk to End Alzheimer's in San Diego! Walk to End Alzheimer's is the largest fundraising and public awareness event around Alzheimer's disease of anywhere in the world, and our volunteers are critical in making the event a success.
For more information or to get involved, please contact Carla Ruiz-Velasco at email@example.com or at 619.678.8322
- Event Planning / Management
- Group Facilitation
- CSR / Volunteer Coordination
- Professional Development
- Community Outreach
Good Match For
Kids Teens People 55+ Group
Requirements & Commitment


text: Wright, Craig, MUSI 112 Listening to Music, Fall 2008. Yale Open Course Ware: Music, Accessed 5/10/14, http://oyc.yale.edu/music/musi-112/lecture-4 License: Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 Professor Wright begins this lecture with a brief introduction to musical acoustics, discussing the way multiple partials combine to make up every tone. He reviews fundamental rhythmic terms, such as "beat," "tempo," and "meter," and then demonstrates in more depth some of the more complex concepts, such as "syncopation" and the "triplet." Professor Wright then moves on to discuss the basics of musical texture, giving detailed examples of three primary types: monophonic, homophonic, and polyphonic. The class is then taught the basics of rhythmic dictation -- skill that entails notating the rhythm of a piece after listening to it.


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We've got a section over in our forum completely dedicated to our blog, and from time to time people will drop off some tips for things they would like to see us write about. Max posted a few days ago saying that he would like to see us write more about Greasemonkey scripts, and I thought it was a great idea. So keep an eye out for more posts in the "Best Greasemonkey Scripts" series.
The script that we are going to highlight today is called Element Resizer. With it you can resize things like text boxes so that you have more room to work with. I'm sure you have all seen extensions and scripts that offer a feature similar to this, heck even Safari and Netscape both have it built-in. So why is Element Resizer special? For one the interface is way better. When you hover over a corner on a text box it highlights the hotspots in red. Oh, and the keyboard shortcuts. Yeah, you won't find an element resizer with keyboard shortcuts like this one.
Imagine this, you're writing a comment and you're coming to the end of the text box. You don't want it to scroll, so with a script like this you would naturally grab your mouse and head for the corners. Why bother? Just hold down the Control key and hit the Up on your keyboard a few times. The text box will expand without you even needing to grab your mouse!
And there is a reason it's generically called an element resizer, and not just a textbox resizer. That's because it works on more than just text boxes. Try resizing an embedded frame (a.k.a. iframe) in Safari or Netscape. Yeah, I don't think it will work out too well for ya, but this script can do it! ;)
Note: This script does not work in Opera.