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Tolkien Gateway:Updates
From Tolkien Gateway
Tolkien Gateway:Updates features updates and news specific to Tolkien Gateway.
Site Updates[edit]
- 2-9-22 - Tolkien Gateway surpasses 100,000 visitors in a single day.
- 27-8-22 - Upgraded to MediaWiki version 1.35, introduced a new logo and a new skin designed to make articles easier to read on mobile devices.
- 18-8-22 - tolkien.wiki can now be used for shorter website addresses, an example is https://tolkien.wiki/Gandalf
- 12-12-12 - Doubled performance of server to accommodate increase in traffic. (over 20,000 unique visitors per day!).
- 07-08-11 - With the installation of ConfirmEdit extension, anonymous users can now edit the wiki.
- 07-08-11 - The Forum and Inputbox (now CreateBox) extensions have been fixed; new extensions BreadCrumbs (for easier navigation) and CategoryTree have been added.
- 07-08-11 - We have successfully upgraded to the new version of MediaWiki. New features include Special:ComparePages and search suggestions.
- 06-08-11 - "Ithilien"/"Gateway to Ithilien" has been re-made to fix many bugs whilst running more smoothly with the new version of MediaWiki. The skin is now called "Mithilien" and is default.
- 05-06-11 - The email functions have been fixed meaning users are able to email one another and new users will receive confirmation emails.
- 02-06-11 - Now only autoconfirmed users (those who have a certain number of edits and have been registered for a certain amount of time) are able to create pages, upload images and move articles.
- 14-04-11 - The vast majority of downtime issues are resolved.
- 18-03-11 - Footer of Cavendish skin has been tweaked to consume much less space. Ithilien skin: categories now fit in the niche at the bottom; shading around the bottom has been removed (as it got in the way); page title has been moved up to be flush with the top of the navigation bar; page toolbar moved to fit properly in its niche.
- 16-03-11 - Tolkien Gateway reaches 9,000 articles! Well done, everyone!
- 04-02-11 - EmbedVideo, Editcount, ImageMap and Stringfunctions extensions have all been installed. Glitch in the user creation log has been fixed. Edit tools have been expanded with more buttons.
- 03-02-11 - Mith has started working on Technical To-do: re-enabling site-wide and user css and js (including highlighting references); restoring the edit buttons and CharInsert; removing the superfluous box around categories; fixing the navigation in the Ithilien skin; and providing a link to "My sandbox" in the Personal Toolbar.
- 16-07-10 - I was wondering why there hadn't been many updates lately...fixed a bug in an extension.
- 05-07-10 - Migrating to our new server could not have gone smoother. Uploads and editing have been enabled again. Hopefully you won't see errors as frequently as before and pages will load a little bit faster.
- 03-07-10 - Uploads have been temporarily disabled while we setup a beta site on our shiny new server in preparation for the migration.
- 22-04-10 - I would like to apologize profusely for the extended downtime TG experienced earlier today. Apparently we overloaded our host with too much traffic! We are working diligently to prevent this from happening again. Thank you for your patience.
- 02-09-09 - Well, that could have gone much smoother, but then again I guess it could have been worse. We're now on our new server. I'm working out a few minor tweaks and then we can focus on upgrading MediaWiki and finally adding some extensions. If you encounter any problems please let me know.
- 30-12-08 - The MySQL service was feeling lonely and wanted some attention so it decided to crash on us :( Thanks for hanging in there!
- 09-10-08 - One of our database tables crashed on us earlier today however the issue has been resolved. Sorry for any inconvenience.
- 15-09-08 - Unfortunately we had some major hardware problems earlier today however they have been resolved and no information was lost.
- 26-08-08 - The Ithilien skin is now the default for FireFox, Opera, and IE 7.0 browsers. You can change your skin at Special:Preferences.
- 21-08-08 - The upgrade is complete and we are now working on fixing some bugs as well as installing some new features, if you notice anything odd feel free to report it on Hyarion's talk page.
- 21-08-08 - We will be upgrading the software which powers the wiki shortly, this will allow us to incorporate many new features into the website. There will be some downtime, anywhere from 10-30 minutes, and there may be some bugs after the upgrade is complete, hang tight. Feel free to join the chatroom in the mean time.
- 20-08-08 - Unfortunately MySQL had some issues earlier today however the issue has been resolved.
- 17-08-08 - A reminder, our first of our weekly meetings will take place today on IRC at 3pm Eastern. For more information see Tolkien_Gateway:Meetings.
- 12-07-08 - Tolkien Gateway passed the threshold of 7000 articles!
- 01-07-08 - Unfortunately we were having some power problems with the server at the data center early this morning, sorry about that folks.
- 30-04-08 - We have publicly launched our latest project, a map of Earth with markers for any location which relates to J.R.R. Tolkien and his works. We'll be continuing to add more points and features to the map. Stay Tuned! View the map
- 14-04-08 - We've been having some technical issues with our server over the last couple days, thanks for hanging in there, we think we've resolved it.
- 02-02-08 - Wow. Whatever could go wrong, did go wrong. We are extremely sorry about the downtime the last few days, shame on us for thinking everything would go smoothly. Thanks for hanging in there, now let's move onto the good news. No data was lost and we are now running on a brand new server with PHP5 and we'll begin upgrading the MediaWiki software and adding some fun new extensions in the coming weeks.
- 29-01-08 - Due to the rapid growth of Tolkien Gateway we will be migrating to a new quad-core server with 8 gigs of RAM. For data synchronization reasons, we will be locking the database tomorrow during the migration process which means editing may be disabled. We should be at our new home and fully operational by Wednesday.
- 04-10-07 - Interwiki links now added for Ardapedia (German) and Kontu (Finnish).
- 01-10-07 - Unfortunately we had some MySQL issues today and yesterday, but they have been resolved, sorry for the inconvenience.
- 18-09-07 - All anonymous users must now answer a simple math problem before their edit is saved.
- 14-04-07 - New main page launched!
- 11-03-07 - Who is Online feature is now much more accurate as it grabs visits from all the pages and not just the Main Page, it also displays the registered users that are online.
- 24-02-07 - Max width for the layout has been removed. Users with larger monitors should now see a lot less whitespace on the sides.
- 15-01-07 - Support for OpenSearch has been added and Firefox users can now add Tolkien Gateway search to their browser by clicking the down arrow next to the Google search box and clicking "Add Tolkien Gateway".
- 01-12-06 - Just in case you guys prefer Google Video to YouTube I've added a Google Video extension as well. Again, it's pretty simple, just insert something like <googlevideo>8119893978710705002</googlevideo> where that long number is the ID found in the Google Video URL.
- 29-11-06 - I've gone ahead and added a YouTube extension until I can perfect our own video embedding scheme. To embed a video from YouTube just use the follow code <youtube width="200" height="200">pISzxdEgDCU</youtube> Where the jumble of letters is the video code on YouTube (found in the URL). We definitely don't want to abuse this and have tons of videos jammed on every page but I think it will help on some articles.
- 21-10-06 - Dang, just noticed we passed 1 million page views a while ago, congratulations!
- 20-10-06 - Had a bit of downtime this morning and quite a bit this evening but we think we've resolved the issue, sorry about that folks.
- 17-10-06 - Looks like the site had a small hiccup while I was sleeping and a few database tables were corrupted. The problem has been resolved and luckily the specific tables didn't hold all the content for the site. I'm going to switch from weekly to daily backups just in case it happens again.
- 16-10-06 - We've had the cavendish skin installed for a while now and I think it is overall better than the old Monobook skin so I've gone ahead and made it the default. You can of course always change your skin by clicking the Preferences link when you're logged in. This new skin will still undergo some changes as we definitely need to add more of a Tolkien-theme to it.
- 27-09-06 - We will be migrating to a new server on Sunday, no downtime is expected and the server will feature PHP5 which will allow us to get back to upgrading to the latest versions of MediaWiki, something we have been unable to do for the last few months due to only having PHP4. I'm hoping with the new server will also come TeTex/LaTeX/WikiTeX/TengTex which will allow us to dynamically generate the Tengwar like I promised.
- 27-09-06 - Moving the Community Portal to Tolkien Gateway:Updates as this seems a more proper place. The community portal definitely has its place but for now I think I'll just remove it.
- The Poem extension has now been added. To utilize the new extension simply encase your poem between <poem> and </poem>. No more line breaks required after every line or using the pre tag.
- I'm proud to announce Tolkien Gateway has just passed 3,000 unique visitors in one day. We have all of the dedicated contributors to thank and at this point I think it's just a matter of time before people realize the potential of the site.
- Small skin changes. I've been playing around with the skin a lot of today so I'm sorry if anyone saw anything odd. I've added the A-Z links to the top center and removed them from the left where they were taking up way too much room. When we finalize some "Portal" pages such as the Gallery and maybe a Characters portal or something I'll throw those links on the left. Let me know what you guys think.
- thrasher7 has provided us with a new extension, the Special:Editcount/TopEditors extension which lists the top editors. Hopefully this will give us an extra incentive to keep editing. You can include your total edits in your user page by using {{Special:Editcount/Hyarion}} for example. Let the race to #1 begin!
- Kristine Kastle has written a critique of Tolkien Gateway for her class. We received 1.5 out of 4 rings.
- The left navigational A-Z links have been fixed. Prior to the update they used Special:Allpages/A which would show a couple hundred pages starting with A but it might continue on through B and C. Now when you click A you will only see articlces starting with A.
- The upgrade to 1.6.3 is now complete! New Features. Please let me know if you see any bugs that I might have missed.
- We have planned to upgrade from MediaWiki 1.5.4 to 1.6.3 today. This includes an added feature which forces people who edit anonymously and have a link in their edit, to type a random word. This should prevent pretty much all the vandalisms. If you find anything wrong after the upgrade, please let us know.
- If you haven't noticed we have converted our Community Portal discussion to a forum-like atmosphere over on the Council forums (a link is also present on the left navigation).
- It seems we have surpassed over 200,000 page views as well as over 200 registered users. Congratulations everyone.
- Over 500 articles and a day later I've now completed the redirect pages. Searching or even making a Numenor link will redirect to the correct accented article.
- I'm still debating switching the main page to be simply a Search Page. I like the idea of having a simplistic Google-like look, but I think the lack of news/information on the main page might not be liked. What do you guys think?
- I think I've decided to go through every article that has an accent and create a non-accented redirect to it. Search results do not display the correct results for something like "Numenor" since there are technically accents on the word. Creating the redirects will allow someone to search for "Numenor" and simply be redirected to the correct page. I've whined to the MediaWiki staff about creating an extension but it's just going to be too much work to do it like Google and even Wikipedia uses the redirect idea.
- Congratulations everyone, we have now surpassed 10,000 edits!
- I've altered the left navigation menu to display only alphabetical links. The old links were not fully completed even though the articles were written. I think this way people will be able to see how large our database is more efficiently. What do you guys think? Feel free to post on the discussion page.
- Unfortunately the last couple days we've had some MySQL issues which has caused some downtime. This is not viewed lightly and we've done everyting possible to prevent anymore downtime in the future. Sorry for the inconvenience.
- Congratulations to everyone who has worked on the Encyclopedia, we have now surpassed over 100,000 views.
- We have founded our own Tolkien News website.
- A new skin has been added. To switch to that skin permanently just go into your preferences once you are logged in.
- I've added a page for editors to discuss Tolkien Gateway.
- Tolkien Gateway is now offering free website hosting and IRC chat services to selected Tolkien websites, please email hyarion [at] hyarion [dot] net for more details.
- After a bit of downtime we now have successfully relocated to the new server.
- You can now View recently uploaded images. If you have an account, feel free to Upload your own images.


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Did everyone hear that? That was the sound of one giant sigh of relief. If your school runs on semesters, you are very likely finished or close to finished with your semester. Congratulations! Now is the time we should all relax and spend time with our neglected friends and family. Right? If you're anything like me, you have a hard time winding down after a long semester. I find it hard to sleep without deadlines and to-do lists to lull me. I spend my days wandering around my apartment annoying my dog because I just don't know what to do with myself. So, let me help you! Here is a list of some ideas for how to spend your winter vacation. Go on, you deserve it.
- Pick up those hobbies you've been putting off. Sewing, gardening, roller derby skating, whatever. The world is your oyster! (Until January, at least.)
- Start on your reading/movie/crafting/video game list. As a way to procrastinate during the semester, I create a long and detailed list of books to read and movies to watch and projects to complete. Come the new semester, that list will be down to zero.
- Take a vacation. Seriously! It doesn't have to be far away or very long, but visit some out of town relatives, see some nearby sights, spend a night in a bed and breakfast. It'll feel absolutely luxurious.
- Do something nice for yourself and loved ones. I love cooking and hosting dinner parties. Now that time is on my side, I hope to indulge myself a bit. Plus, I'm lucky enough to have a partner who picks up a lot of the household slack during the semester and I'm happy to pay it forward when I can.
- Volunteer. It might feel like work, but isn't! I have wanted to volunteer at my local Humane Society since I moved to Austin, but haven't been able to fit it in. What better time to start a good habit?
- Job search. You didn't think I'd be able to get through a whole list of fun things to do without throwing something work-related in, did you? I know its a bummer, but now is a low-pressure time to get started on a high-stress activity. Just one application a day will save me a big headache next semester.
What are your favorite ways to celebrate your hard work?
This post was originally published on December 13, 2011.
Cover photo by Ihor Malytskyi on Unsplash
Categories: Honesty

subset: commoncrawl


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NEW YORK (AP) – Investors sent the Standard & Poor's 500 index to its lowest close in a month Monday as few signs emerged of a deal to end the U.S. government shutdown and raise the nation's borrowing limit.
Senate Democrats moved to introduce legislation to raise the nation's debt limit without the unrelated conditions Republicans have said they are seeking. The White House signaled that it would accept even a brief extension in borrowing authority to prevent an unprecedented default by the United States.
On Sunday, speaker John Boehner had ruled out a vote in the House of Representatives on a straightforward bill to increase the government's borrowing without concessions from President Barack Obama.
Lawmakers have until Oct. 17 to reach a deal on increasing the nation's debt ceiling. Failure to strike a deal could cause the United States to miss payments on its debt. The Treasury warned last week that a default could push the economy into a downturn even worse than the Great Recession.
"Everything now is predicated on Washington," said Quincy Krosby, market strategist for Prudential. "That is what the market is focused on completely, getting a deal done to avoid a default."
The Standard & Poor's 500 index dropped 14.38 points, or 0.9 percent, to 1,676.12. The Dow Jones industrial average dropped 136.34 points, or 0.9 percent, to 14,936.24. The Nasdaq composite fell 37.38 points, or 1 percent, to 3,770.38.
The losses were broad. Nine of the 10 industry groups in the S&P 500 dropped. Phone companies were the only sector to advance.
Until now, the stock market has mostly moved sideways since the shutdown began at the start of the month, indicating that investors still expect lawmakers to come up with a deal. The S&P 500 is down 0.3 percent in October.
In government bond trading, the yield on the 10-year Treasury note fell to 2.63 percent from 2.65 percent. The yield has fallen close to its lowest in two months. Investors have bought Treasurys on concern that U.S. economic growth will slow as the budget impasse drags on.
There were also other signs that investors are getting gradually more nervous about the debt ceiling deadline.
The VIX index, which rises when investors are getting more concerned about stock fluctuations, rose to its highest in more than three months.
The dollar fell against the euro and the Japanese yen. The dollar index, which measures the strength of the dollar against other currencies, fell for the seventh day in nine. The gauge is close to its lowest since February.
One of the reasons stocks haven't fallen more is that some investors see the current stall as a blip rather than a change in the long-term trend. The Federal Reserve continues to keep up its unprecedented stimulus of the economy, a strategy that has helped support a four-year surge in stocks.
The stock market climbed to record levels in September after the Fed said it would keep buying $85 billion of bonds a month to support the U.S. economy. Many investors had expected the central bank to start reducing its stimulus.
Minutes from the September meeting will be published Wednesday, giving investors insight into the central bank's thinking.
"We would encourage investors with a long-time horizon to think of this as a buying opportunity," said Kristina Hooper, U.S. head of investment and client strategies at Allianz Global Investors. Many investors, who bought bonds after the financial crisis and the Great Recession, still hold too many bonds in their investment portfolios, she said.
Investors will also be keeping an eye on earnings reports. Companies start releasing financial results for the third quarter this week. S&P 500 companies are projected to report slowing earnings growth for the fourth straight quarter, according to data from S&P Capital IQ.
The data provider predicts that earnings in the July-through-September period rose 3.1 percent, compared with growth of 4.9 percent in the previous quarter.
Among stocks making big moves:
• Cooper Tire & Rubber fell $3.79, or 12.8 percent, to $25.72 after the company filed a complaint in a Delaware court on Friday asking that the Indian company buying it quickly close on the deal. Investors took the news as a sign that the deal is in jeopardy.
• Mattel slipped $1.40, or 3.3 percent, to $41.15 after a Goldman Sachs analyst cut his earnings estimates for the toy maker. The investment bank also cut its estimates for Hasbro, which fell 80 cents, or 1.7 percent, to $46.53. Goldman is predicting a tough holiday season for the toy makers as children favor video games.
• Apple rose $4.72, or 1 percent, to $487.75 after a Jefferies analyst raised his rating and price target on the stock, saying improving margins should help the business until the launch of the iPhone 6.


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If you are the farm or event owner and you want to make one or two minor corrections to any listing, here's the form! The form is designed to make it fast and easy for you to help me update the information, so I can promptly correct it! If you want to offer comments or feedback about a farm, please use the Feedback form.
Farm owners: if you have more than a couple corrections or want to rewrite your listing, use this form instead.
Customers/visitors to farms: Check the "customer/visitor"
or "friend/neighbor" box below. And If you want to recommend a farm to add; use
Suggest a farm
Farm owner/operators: use the add or update-my-farm form! )
Please don't type in ALL CAPITALS! It's really hard to read and must be manually retyped!
Above is the
most recent version of
the Ball Blue Book


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WASHINGTON – U.S. companies increased their stockpiles a steady pace in November from October, responding to a solid increase in sales.
The Commerce Department said Tuesday that business inventories grew 0.3 per cent in November, matching the October gain.
Sales rose 1 per cent in November, the best showing since a 1.2 per cent rise in September. In October, sales had fallen 0.3 per cent, reflecting in part disruptions caused by Superstorm Sandy.
More restocking leads to more factory production, which boosts economic growth. Faster restocking helped the economy grow at a 3.1 per cent annual rate from July through September.
Most economists say inventory growth has slowed from this summer, a key reason many are predicting economic growth weakened to a rate below 2 per cent in the October-December quarter.
The inventory to sales ratio has held steady since August, a sign that businesses were not expecting much growth in sales. In November, the ratio was 1.28 months. That means it would take about five weeks to exhaust stockpiles at the November sales pace.
The sales gain in November was led by a 2.3 per cent surge in demand at the wholesale level. A separate report Tuesday showed that retail sales increased again in December, rising 0.5 per cent, the best showing since September.
Total inventories rose to a seasonally adjusted $1.62 trillion in November, up 23.9 per cent from the recession low hit in September 2009.
Retail inventories rose 0.6 per cent in November, leading all categories. Wholesale stockpiles grew 0.3 per cent, while manufacturing inventories were flat.
Income growth remains weak, constraining the amount that consumers can devote to increased spending. Consumer spending drives roughly 70 per cent of economic activity.
Job growth has been steady, although unemployment is still high at 7.8 per cent. In December, employers added 155,000 jobs, roughly matching the monthly average in 2011 and 2012.
The economy has shown some signs of improvement. The once-battered housing market is recovering, which should lead to more construction jobs in the coming months. Autos sales in 2012 were the best in five years. And a gauge of U.S. service firms' business activity expanded in December by the most in nearly a year.


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It's incredible simple to make (much easier than saying "canned clams" as you'll hear in this clips running gag). It takes about 15 minutes start to finish. It's bursting with flavor, yet only uses a few ingredients and except for crushing a couple cloves of garlic, requires no prep. This sauce is great on any pasta, but I enjoy it best on angle hair or spaghetti. And, yes, I DO put some Parmesan on my clam pasta, thank you very much. Never say never when it comes to food. Some Chefs (fascists) say you can never put cheese on seafood pasta, never, ever, never. Well, while I agree that Parmesan would not be a great choice on some seafood pastas using very light, delicate varieties of fish and sauce. On this red clam sauce and its strong, bold flavors and meaty clams, the Parmesan tastes wonderful, and no one can prove me otherwise.
Please note while watching the video recipe the secret to what I think makes a great pasta dish. Under-cook the pasta by a minute, drain it, add it back to the pot (off the heat of course) and pour over the hot sauce, cover and let everything meld together for a few minutes. The hot sauce and steaming pasta will finish cooking and the pasta will absorb all those amazing flavors. I can't believe it when I see a plate of plain pasta with the sauce just ladled over! Anyway, give this a try and maybe it will become one of your "go to" recipes. Enjoy!
1 pound pasta
2 cans (6.5 oz) chopped clams in juice
3 cups tomato sauce (plus 1/4 cup water to rinse jar)
1 cup good white wine
1 tbl anchovy paste or 2 fillets
3 cloves garlic
1 tsp red pepper flakes
2 tbl capers
2 tbl olive oil
Parmesan to taste
salt and pepper to taste
fresh herb to taste, basil or Italian parsley


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January 23rd, 2012
Magic mushrooms may be therapeutic
Rave-goers and visitors to Amsterdam before December 2008 may be intimately familiar with magic mushrooms, but there's little scientific knowledge on what happens to the brain while tripping.
Now it appears that more research is warranted. A growing number of studies suggested that perhaps the mushrooms' key ingredient could work magic for certain mental disorders.
New research in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences sheds light on why one of the mushrooms' hallucinogenic chemical compounds, psilocybin, may hold promise for the treatment of depression. Scientists explored the effect of psilocybin on the brain, documenting the neural basis behind the altered state of consciousness that people have reported after using magic mushrooms.
"We have found that these drugs turn off the parts of the brain that integrate sensations – seeing, hearing, feeling – with thinking," said David Nutt, co-author of the study and researcher at Imperial College London in the United Kingdom.
Nutt is also Britain's former chief drug adviser, who has published controversial papers about the relative harms of various drugs. He was asked to leave his government position in 2009 because "he cannot be both a government adviser and a campaigner against government policy," according to a letter in the Guardian from a member of the British Parliament.
Psilocybin is illegal in the United States and considered a Schedule 1 drug, along with heroin and LSD. Schedule 1 drugs "have a high potential for abuse and serve no legitimate medical purpose in the United States," according to the Department of Justice.
But in the early stages of research on psilocybin, there's been a bunch of good news for its medicinal potential: psilocybin has shown to be helpful for terminally ill cancer patients dealing with anxiety, and preliminary studies on depression are also promising.
Nutt's study is also preliminary and small, with only 30 participants. His group used magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) to look at how the brain responds to psilocybin, from normal waking consciousness to a psychedelic state.
The study found that the more psilocybin shuts off the brain, the greater the feeling of being in an altered state of consciousness, he said. It's not the same as dreaming, because you're fully conscious and aware, he said.
The medial prefrontal cortex, the front part of the brain in the middle, appears to be crucial - it determines how you think, feel and behave. Damage to it produces profound changes in personality, and so if you switch it off, your sense of self becomes fragmented, Nutt said. That's what happens when psilocybin decreases activity in it.
"Some people say they become one with the universe," he said. "It's that sort of transcendental experience."
Another brain region that psilocybin affects is the anterior cingulate cortex, which is over-active in depression, Nutt said. Some patients with severe depression that cannot be treated with pharmaceuticals receive deep brain stimulation, a technique of surgically implanting a device that delivers electrical impulses directed at decreasing activity in that brain region. Psilocybin could be a cheaper option, Nutt said.
It's counterintuitive that a hallucinogenic drug would de-activate rather than stimulate key brain regions, although other studies have shown a mix of results regarding psilocybin turning brain areas on and off, said Roland Griffiths, a professor of psychiatry and neuroscience at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. Griffiths was not involved in Nutt's study, but has also researched the effects of psilocybin.
Even if this drug gets approved some day, don't expect to be able to pick up a prescription for psilocybin at your local pharmacy, Griffiths cautioned. There's too much potential for abuse, he said.
Although scientists have found many positive effects of psilocybin in experimental trials, there are of course potential dangers. Some people have frightening experiences while on psilocybin. The fear and anxiety responses of magic mushrooms can be so great that, when taken casually in a non-medical setting, people can cause harm to themselves or others. They may jump out a window or run into traffic because of a panic reaction.
The drug would have to be administered in a controlled setting in a hospital, if found in further research to be an effective and safe therapy for certain mental illnesses, Griffiths said. It would not be appropriate for people who already have psychotic disorders such as schizophrenia, since psilocybin can exacerbate those symptoms.
But among healthy volunteers, Griffiths and others have found that people may have long-lasting positive effects from the vivid memories of being on psilocybin (in a controlled, experimental setting). People report mystical experiences of feeling the "interconnectedness of all things," which can be life-changing.
"People claim to have an enhanced sense of self, more emotional balance, they're more compassionate, they're more sensitive to the needs of others," he said. "They have more well-being and less depression, but they're not 'high' in any conventional sense. They feel like their perceptual set has shifted."
The memories of the psilocybin experience, and positive outcomes that users attribute toward them, can last as much as 25 years, research has shown.
Still, there's just not enough known yet about the long-term safety of psilocybin to say whether it could also do damage to the brain, Griffiths said.
"There'd have to be changes in the brain for these long-lasting memories and attributions to occur," Griffiths said. "We don't know how those changes occur, and why."
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About this blog
Get a behind-the-scenes look at the latest stories from CNN Chief Medical Correspondent, Dr. Sanjay Gupta, Senior Medical Correspondent Elizabeth Cohen and the CNN Medical Unit producers. They'll share news and views on health and medical trends - info that will help you take better care of yourself and the people you love.


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Sanders, Knights top Minutemen
Brady Sanders carried Fieldcrest to a 55-51 Heart of Illinois Conference boys' basketball victory over visiting Lexington Tuesday night.
The Knights, ranked 10th in the early season Class 2A poll, held a 39-34 lead at the start of the fourth quarter. Sanders scored 10 points in the period, including hitting six free throws.
Two of the charity tosses came after a technical foul against Lexington's bench with 3:55 to go in the game.
Donavan Laible outscored Sanders in the final quarter as well as the game, but it wasn't enough for the Minutemen. Laible poured in 25 points, including 11 in the last stanza, to go with his 6 rebounds. Chris Collins-Terry had 16 points and 12 boards and Jonny Meints collected 7 points and 6 caroms.
Sanders finished with 21 points as three Knights reached double figures. Kyle Crowley added 13 points and Nick Panzica hit for 10. Jackson Puetz threw in 6 markers.
Lexington won the battle of the boards 28-16.


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Getting Around
Info - Missionary PrayerGuard
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Get Your Own PrayerGuard
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Stuff to Do...
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Praying for:
Turi (Hindu traditions) of India
Topic: 3 of 3
Individuals: dreams that reveal Jesus
Dreams are accepted in many cultures as a source of revelation. God has often revealed Himself through dreams and visions. This is especially important among Unreached Peoples where there is little or no witness.
Joel 2:28-32 "And it will come about after this That I will pour out My Spirit on all mankind; And your sons and daughters will prophesy, Your old men will dream dreams, Your young men will see visions."
Lord, You have the name that is above all names. You are Lord forever and there is no one who can challenge Your authority and power. You rule for ever and ever, and there is no end to Your Kingdom.
Lord, You have promised in Your Word that You would pour out Your Spirit in the last days. So I'm asking for an outpouring of revelation for the
Turi (Hindu traditions) of India
. They were made in Your image, and You know them each by name, but they don't know You, the lover of their soul. I'm asking God that You would reveal yourself tonight through dreams and visitations. Visit the leaders of households, and villages, and the spiritual leaders with Your truth. Speak to the
Turi (Hindu traditions) of India
in a way they can understand, and reveal to them that Jesus is the one they are looking for.
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Book sanitized & disinfected car rental in the city with a driver for safe travel locally IN-THE-CITY or on outstation trips India wide with Gozocabs.
Gozo Cabs is taking precautionary measures during the pandemic to ensure you have the safest journey by disinfecting and sanitizing the cars before and after every ride.
Book Local Hourly car rental for IN-THE-CITY ride and outstation cab service for intercity travel at an affordable price with Gozocabs.
Check our hourly rental cab and outstation cab fares below. Our fares update dynamically in response to market demand and supply conditions so booking in advance is always best.
Gozo is known for its always on-time, guaranteed cab service across India. After the Corona Virus pandemic of 2020, We have instituted a process to ensure clean and sanitized conditions in our cabs. Starting April 2020, Gozo drivers are now disinfecting and sanitizing the Gozo cabs after arriving at your place for pickup. Our goal is to give you peace of mind and have you be sure that the cab has been cleaned to your satisfaction. Safety of our drivers & customers is of utmost importance to us. Our driver will practice safety measures and we request and require that our passengers do so too!
Exchanging currency notes is not a good idea during the pandemic. So we require that you plan on paying for your cab fare in full online. You can make a part payment before your trip starts and the remainder of the payment will also need to be paid by you online
Hey Chhetrai! Now You can now request for GozoCabs at unbelievably attractive prices for local rentals and outstation cab services. With cab fares starting from ₹1204 (includes 4 hr & 40 kms) for local day rentals.
By booking Gozocabs for local rentals you have a cab & driver for a fixed number of hours and take as many stops as we drive you around the city as you like during the time of your booking Whether you want to go for shopping, for back to back meetings, weddings or sightseeing, GozoCabs is at your disposal, waiting for you, just like your own car.
And the best part – you have the option to choose the package that you like. Our local rental prices are
|Package Details
|4 Hrs & 40 Kms local rental
|₹ 1204 + tax
|₹ 1314 + tax
|₹ 1642 + tax
|8 Hrs & 80 Kms local rental
|₹ 1642 + tax
|₹ 1752 + tax
|₹ 2080 + tax
|12 Hrs & 120 Kms local rental
|₹ 2080 + tax
|₹ 2189 + tax
|₹ 2846 + tax
|Route (Starting at)
|Tempo traveler
(9 seater)
|Tempo traveler
(12 seater)
|Tempo traveler
(15 seater)
|Chhetrai to Agartala Travel
|Call us
|Call us
|Call us
On the Gozo platform you can also create a multi-day tour package by customizing your itinerary. These are created a round trip bookings between 2 or more cities
Rent a Gozo cab with driver for local and outstation travel in Chhetrai. Gozo provides taxis with driver on rent in Chhetrai, including one way outstation taxi drops, outstation roundtrips and outstation shared taxi to nearby cities or day-based hourly rentals in or around Chhetrai. You can also book cabs for your vacation or business trips for single or multiple days within or around Chhetrai or to nearby cities and towns. Car rental services in Chhetrai are also available for flexible outstation packages that are billed by custom package tour itinerary or by day
Gozo is India's leader in outstation car rental. We provide economy, premium and luxury cab rental services for outstation and local travel over 3000 towns & cities and on over 50,000 routes all around India. If you prefer to hire specific brands of cars like Innova or Swift Dzire then book our Assured Sedan or Assured SUV cab categories. You are guaranteed a Toyota Innova when you book an Assured SUV or guaranteed a Swift Dzire when you book an Assured Sedan. With Gozo you can book a one way cab with driver from Chhetrai to gurgaon,jaipur,chandigarh,dehradun,mumbai and many more. Gozo provides well maintained air-conditioned (AC) cars, courteous drivers and our services are available 24x7x365. Gozo partners with regional taxi operators in Chhetrai who maintain highest level of service quality and have a very good knowledge of the local roads and highway driving. We also provide local sightseeing trips and tours in or around the city. Our customers include domestic & international tourists, large event groups and business travellers who take rent cars for outstation trips and also for local taxi requirements in the Chhetrai area.
In September of 2018, Gozo has introduced the facility to hire a AC shared taxi by seat. We call this service Gozo SHARED. There are two types of services available. Gozo runs regular SHARED TAXI shuttle services on popular routes. Book a seat in our a shared taxi shuttle at our book a Shared taxi Shuttle page. Or you can book a seat in our Gozo FLEXXI AC outstation shared services.
With Gozo FLEXXI you are going to carpool with a person who has booked a full taxi and is willing to share his seats. Gozo FLEXXI is available in all major cities and on all popular outstation taxi routes across India. Gozo FLEXXI is much cheaper than traveling by an AC bus
If you have firm plans and prefer to rent your own taxi, you can simply book a FLEXXI option and choose to sell your unused seats. Gozo cabs will help promote your unused seats to riders who are willing to travel in a shared taxi.
If You are Foodie, Then this is where you need to go:
Chhetrai enjoys a maritime climate throughout the year and to be very realistic you can visit the city in any time of the year. However, the months between September and February see the highest tourist inflow to the city because the weather becomes even more pleasant during the Winter season. The winter months in Chhetrai are the best time to visit the city.
Q: Why book a day rental with GozoCabs?
Q: Can I get cabs at my Disposal?
Q: What are the Packages available?
Q: What are the payment options?
Q: Do I need to pay surge fee or waiting charges?


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What's up everyone. We are doing a contest with T.I. and we are giving away $1200 a day for the next 10 days. Just wanted to give you all a heads up.
The Biosphere
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This article was originally published in the May/June 1999 issue of Home Energy Magazine. Some formatting inconsistencies may be evident in older archive content.
| Back to Contents Page | Home Energy Index | About Home Energy |
Home Energy Magazine Online May/June 1999
in energy
Leaking Electricity OverseasStandby power in appliances (also known as leaking electricity) was the topic at a recent workshop sponsored by the International Energy Agency in Paris, France. Representatives from more than 15 governments, many firms, and other experts gathered to learn more about standby power and the opportunities to reduce it. This was the first meeting convened specifically to address the subject.
The strongest conclusion reached at the meeting was that standby power is truly an international problem. The United States is often criticized in such meetings for being a disproportionately large consumer of electricity, but European homes have standby power use nearly as high as ours, and use in Japanese homes might even be higher. Appliances with standby power range from the ordinary--such as TVs, VCRs, and cordless phones--to the unique, such as the French minitel system (the predecessor to the Internet), the Japanese rice cooker, and the Swedish TV cable splitter. Put together, leaking electricity may be responsible for as much as 1% of global CO2 emissions.Good Ideas and Gadgets At the workshop, several companies demonstrated new technologies to reduce standby losses. More efficient power supplies are a sure winner (millions of them are already being shipped). These new power supplies, such as those designed by Power Integrations, can cut no-load losses from 1 to 5 watts to about 0.25 watt.
Motorola described a combined hardware/software solution to the problem. A German company, DIK, presented a clever device that will completely switch off existing TVs, VCRs, and fax machines. Even though DIK's little gadgets are cheap, they are really cost-effective only when applied to a device with high standby losses (because the present value of a 1W savings in electricity bills over its lifetime is only about $4). Still, such a presentation shows that people are beginning to think about how to reduce standby losses in both new and existing equipment.Finding a Definition Everybody at the workshop agreed to disagree on the definition of standby power. The problem is that many new appliances have four, five, or as many as ten separate power modes--all of which could be considered standby power. Some participants wanted the concept to be defined in terms of function; that is, the power consumed by an appliance while it is not performing its primary purpose.
Others wanted standby power defined in terms of the mode that consumes the least amount of power while the appliance is still plugged in. Both approaches have advantages and drawbacks. In the end, there appeared to be convergence toward a two-tier definition. Standby power for simple devices could be defined by minimum power consumption, while power for complicated appliances would be defined by function. In any event, everybody agreed that internationally consistent definitions and test procedures were vital and should be pursued.
The workshop also demonstrated the importance and popularity of voluntary government/manufacturer partnerships to reduce energy use. Energy Star--a concept pioneered by the EPA in 1993--was constantly cited as a model strategy to reduce standby power in major appliances. Indeed, Energy Star has become an international trendsetter and is now being copied by several other countries.
--Alan Meier
| Back to Contents Page | Home Energy Index | About Home Energy |
Home Energy can be reached at: firstname.lastname@example.com
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Greek pasta salad
Makes 4 servings
This salad will keep for up to 1 day before serving. Because the pasta absorbs the dressing, it's best to toss the salad with just half of the dressing; refrigerate the remainder separately and add to the salad just before serving. This salad makes great picnic fare. And for dessert: juicy orange slices sprinkled with shelled, salted pistachios.
For the pasta
6 ounces corkscrew pasta (rotini)
For the dressing
¼ cup extra-virgin olive oil
¼ cup fresh lemon juice
1 tablespoon finely chopped fresh oregano or 1 teaspoon dried oregano
¼ teaspoon pepper, or to taste
1/8 teaspoon salt, or to taste
To complete the recipe
1 (6-ounce) can solid white tuna packed in olive oil or water, drained and broken into large chunks
1 cup grape tomatoes
½ medium cucumber, quartered lengthwise, seeded, and cut into ¼-inch slices
1/3 cup coarsely chopped red onion
1 (6-ounce) jar marinated quartered artichoke hearts, drained and coarsely chopped
1 (2-ounce) can sliced pitted ripe olives, drained
1 cup coarsely crumbled feta cheese with peppercorn
Freshly ground pepper for garnish
Cook the pasta according to package instructions.
Meanwhile, whisk together the dressing ingredients in a large bowl. Stir in the tuna, tomatoes, cucumber, onion, artichokes, and olives.
When the pasta is done, drain well. Rinse with cool water; drain again. Add to the salad mixture and toss.
Garnish the servings with feta cheese and pepper.


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£50+ Barrage Fireworks
In this category, you will find the larger fireworks with a powder weight of over 500g up to the maximum of 1000g. These larger barrages can have mixed tubes of 20mm, 25mm, and 30 mm. You will also find fireworks that fire over 100 shots and these are typically a 20mm tube size. You will find... Read More
- Safety Distance
- Shots Fired
- Noise Level
- Hazard Class
- Brand
- Clear All
View as Grid List
4 Items
- VIV50Z-002 by Vivid Pyrotechnics£64.99Out of stock


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NSF Certified to Reduce the Most Contaminants
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Replace filter every 6 months or 200 gallons to maximize contaminant reduction.


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For many of us, anxiety about math performance isn't so much a question of whether it will happen, but at what level of math it kicks in (in my case, Calculus III, sophomore year in college). But, as the authors of a new paper on math anxiety point out, most forms of higher math didn't even exist until a few centuries ago. It's very unlikely that this sort of anxiety has evolved a specialized brain structure dedicated to it. So, the researchers used a combination of math quizzes and functional MRI scans to identify the areas of the brain associated with the fear of math.
It turned out to be one that was previously associated with the experience of physical pain. And it doesn't appear to be the first time that area has been borrowed for other purposes by evolution: it also helps register the discomfort of social rejection.
The test the authors devised was pretty ingenious. First, they took their subjects (28 total) and divided them based on their level of distaste for math, using a series of questions termed the Short Math Anxiety Rating-Scale, or SMARS. Then, they put them in the MRI tubes and exposed them to a series of quizzes, some math focused, others targeting verbal skills. To trigger anxiety, a small warning indicator changed color based on the nature of the next test: a yellow circle indicated math was on its way, while a blue square indicated verbal questions would follow.
This gave them several ways to eliminate extraneous signals. For one, they could detect the difference between people experiencing discomfort while performing math and when those same people were simply dreading the need to do so. And they could also separate it from a general performance anxiety, since this should also be present for the verbal tests. Finally, they could zero in on those subjects whose SMARS scores indicated they had anxiety about math performance.
This left them focusing on a limited number of brain regions, with the signals being strongest in the bilateral dorso-posterior insula, an area deep in the core of the brain. This was one of the key regions that was active ahead of any actual attempts to perform math, and didn't seem to be triggered by test-taking in general. Or, as the authors put it, "the neural responses in the current study aren't merely an artifact of anticipating having to do a harder task; rather, this response appears to be specific to anticipating doing a math task."
In fact, getting signaled that a word test was coming actually dropped activity in the insula by a significant margin. The authors speculate this could reflect a "visceral relief" about being spared the need to do further math. "Anticipating the word task may have served as a kind of refuge," they suggest, "in that, for the moment at least, it meant one didn't have to do math.
This region of the insula has been associated with the experience of pain in a variety of studies. So, the authors consider a number of other ideas about the activities that normally go on in this chunk of the brain. Some have suggested that it's actually involved in the recognition of events that threaten to cause bodily harm and the pain associated with it, while others have indicated it can be triggered by indirect forms of pain, such as social rejection. But the authors note the majority of published studies associate it with pain, and that it's possible to induce the experience of pain simply by stimulating the insula.
So, their conclusion is that we are actually dealing with a pain response, and one that's not triggered by doing math. "It is not that math itself hurts; rather, the anticipation of math is painful," they suggest. However, that pain may be enough to keep people from engaging with math during their school years. The authors point out the study also gave them a chance to confirm that the anxiety correlated with poor performance on the test questions.
PLoS one, 2012. DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0048076 (About DOIs).


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Discrete Lagrangian mechanics and geometrically exact Cosserat rods
- Inspired by Kirchhoff's kinetic analogy, the special Cosserat theory of rods is formulatedin the language of Lagrangian mechanics. A static rod corresponds to an abstract Lagrangian system where the energy density takes the role of the Lagrangian function. The equilibrium equations are derived from a variational principle. Noether's theorem relates their first integrals to frame-indifference, isotropy and uniformity. These properties can be formulated in terms of Lie group symmetries. The rotational degrees of freedom, present in the geometrically exact beam theory, are represented in terms of orthonormal director triads. To reduce the number of unknowns, Lagrange multipliers associated with the orthonormality constraints are eliminated using null-space matrices. This is done both in the continuous and in the discrete setting. The discrete equilibrium equations are used to compute discrete rod configurations, where different types of boundary conditions can be handled.
|P. Jung, S. Leyendecker, J. Linn, M. Ortiz
|Serie (Series number):
|Berichte des Fraunhofer-Instituts für Techno- und Wirtschaftsmathematik (ITWM Report) (160)
|Document Type:
|Language of publication:
|Year of Completion:
|Year of Publication:
|Publishing Institute:
|Fraunhofer-Institut für Techno- und Wirtschaftsmathematik
|Creating Corporation:
|Fraunhofer ITWM
|Date of the Publication (Server):
|Special Cosserat rods; Lagrangian mechanics; Noether's theorem; discrete mechanics
|Faculties / Organisational entities:
|Fraunhofer (ITWM)
|5 Naturwissenschaften und Mathematik / 510 Mathematik
|Licence (German):
|Standard gemäß KLUEDO-Leitlinien vor dem 27.05.2011


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Home » 60's, 70's, 80's landmarks » BLEY,CARLA / HAYNES,PAUL and the JAZZ COMPOSERS ORCHESTRA OF AMERICA: Escalator over the Hill (3 LP
BLEY,CARLA / HAYNES,PAUL and the JAZZ COMPOSERS ORCHESTRA OF AMERICA: Escalator over the Hill (3 LP
We have a limited number of mint un-played copies of the original 3 LP in-a-box �chronotransduction� jazz opera, recorded over three years and released on the JCOA label in 1971. A summation of the energies and hybrid musical styles of the late 1960s and a work of near genius. The cast and orchestra listed below simply defies the imagination: Gato Barbieri - tenor saxophone Souren Baronian - clarinet Karl Berger - vibraphone Carla Bley - organ, celeste, chimes, calliope, piano Sam Brown - guitar Jack Bruce - bass, vocal John Buckingham - tuba Sam Burtis - trombone Bob Carlisle - French horn Don Cherry - trumpet Roger Dawson - congas, xylophone Sharon Freeman - French horn Charlie Haden - bass Peggy Imig - clarinet Jack Jeffers - bass trombone Leroy Jenkins - violin Howard Johnson - tuba Sheila Jordan - vocal Jimmy Knepper - trombone Jeanne Lee - vocal Jimmy Lyons - alto saxophone Michael Mantler - prepared piano, trumpet, valve trombone Ron McClure - bass John McLaughlin - guitar Bill Morimando - orchestra bells, celeste Paul Motian - drums, dumbec Nancy Newton - viola Don Preston - Moog synthesizer Enrico Rava - trumpet Perry Robinson - clarinet Linda Ronstadt - vocal Roswell Rudd - trombone Calo Scott - cello Michael Snow - trumpet Chris Woods - baritone saxophone Richard Youngstein � bass. With, of course, the original booklet of lyrics, photos and musician profiles.
Code: ESCALATOR
Price: £70.00


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Tourists flocking to discover a place lost in time: Burma
BAGAN, Myanmar – The rising sun streaked a light blanket of fog with pink and yellow. Suddenly, pagodas popped out from the mist, some grand and intricate, others squat and modest, some crumbling, others glinting with gold — a carousel of Buddhist temples amid fields of sesame, tamarind and scrub.
If not for a monolithic red brick silo in the middle of this scene, you could almost imagine yourself in the 11th century, when the ancient city of Bagan was home to the first kingdom of Burma.
But the silo, with an exclusive restaurant and viewing platform, towers above the temples in Burma (also called Myanmar). The structure was built in 2003 by a crony of the generals who have run Burma for decades. The modern building is a major reason the ancient temples were denied world heritage status by the United Nations.
This is the magic and folly of Burma. Closed off for years by a repressive, corrupt military reign, much of the country seems lost in time and truly untouched by signs of globalization like fast food chains. Women here still chalk their faces with thanaka, a paste made from tree bark. Men wear longyi, wraparound skirts gracefully knotted at the waist. Monks carry begging bowls through town in the early morning ritual of seeking food.
But now that the government is opening Burma to the outside world, tourists are rushing to experience the country before it changes. While numbers remain small, they are increasing: About 260,000 arrivals from January to October 2012 compared to 175,000 in the same period in 2011. Tours frequently sell out and start-up airlines are sprouting up. Foreign cell phones won't work here and credit cards are rarely accepted (though tourists can use Visa and MasterCard to change local currency at private banks), but Western attire is now seen in cities and "O'Burma" T-shirts showed up after President Obama's recent visit.
There's also a palpable sense of possibility and change, making it an exciting time to visit. The Governor's Residence hotel in Yangon recently set up a screen on the lawn for guests to watch Luc Besson's "The Lady," a film about Aung San Suu Kyi, the Nobel Peace Prize winner and liberation heroine whom the government released in 2010 after 15 years of house arrest. The film screening would have been unheard of two years ago.
Barbed wire still tops the wall around Suu Kyi's home, a must drive-by in Rangoon (also called Yangon) which was Burma's capital until the military built an entirely new capital two hours away.
Yangon is also home to Burma's most sacred temple: the 320-foot tall (97 meters) Shwedagon Pagoda, whose golden dome is visible throughout much of the city. Its tiers are plated in gold, studded with diamonds, and capped by an orb bearing 4,500 diamonds, with a single 76-carat diamond on top.
Families and pilgrims spend the day at the pagoda spreading out rugs and meals they've packed, alternately worshipping and chatting — the social equivalent of parks and malls in the United States. The temple's origins are said to date back some 2,500 years, but it has been rebuilt over the centuries, and is encircled by hundreds of smaller temples, shrines and pavilions. Halos on many Buddhas in smaller shrines bear flashing electric lights, which are disliked by traditionalists but appeal to the young.
While the Shwedagon is the star attraction in Yangon, Bagan and Inle Lake are the two most entrancing areas to visit elsewhere in the country. But Burma's colonial architecture is also notable. Crumbling and neglected, the buildings nonetheless recall an era when Rangoon was a bustling port. They also represent one of the largest remaining examples of original British colonial architecture. Advocates are pushing for their restoration but critics fear they'll be replaced by high-rises.
Downtown Yangon is home to sidewalk stalls selling tasty street food, fresh-rolled leaves of betel nut to chew (which stains teeth and sidewalks red), books and phone service (not mobile phones, but land lines you can rent to make calls). Pick up local handicrafts, a longyi, or well-priced lacquerware and antiques at the sprawling British-era Scott Market. Ubiquitous teahouses offer multiple choices of strength, sweetness and milkiness. During the most heinous periods of military rule, the teahouses served as a pipeline of communication for activists, journalists and dissidents.
Not many Western tourists venture to Mandalay: It's flat, dusty and traffic-congested, despite the romance attached to its name. Even Rudyard Kipling, who wrote the poem "On the Road to Mandalay," never went there. But it's a vibrant commercial and internal transportation hub. (Suu Kyi was recently spotted at the airport and wildly cheered.)
Mandalay also teems with monasteries and ancient culture, including the Mahamyatmuni pagoda, which shelters the country's second-most sacred Buddha image, an enormous seated Buddha. Here, you can watch pilgrims applying wisp-thin sheets of gold to the Buddha (something only men are allowed to do). So much is applied that statues at some temples become unrecognizable blobs of gold. As at the most-visited temples, colorful craft and knick-knack stands line the entry halls, their owners calling out "ming-ga-la-ba" (welcome and hello) as you pass by.
At monasteries like Mahagandayone, you can witness the morning meal procession. Access to the monasteries is so wide open throughout the country that visitors can stroll through and see close up how the monks live, from meal preparation to laundry. For shoppers, Mandalay is a center for traditional crafts, including wood carving, silverware, gold-leafing and tapestries.
Southeast of Mandalay is Inle Lake, where members of the Intha ethnic group use boats to tend their crops on floating gardens. Others fish in small dugout boats, casting nets while using one leg to steer in a Kabuki-like ballet. White egrets and birdsong are a constant, with the occasional kingfisher, flamboyant in green and blue. Intha women, their hair twined in scarves balanced atop their heads, sell produce in roving markets that move among the villages. Hotels, shops and restaurants on stilts dot the lakesides. Getting around requires a launghle, a long motorized canoe.
How the opening up of Myanmar will affect its rich unique culture and traditions is an issue of much discussion, and a major reason for the current tourist stampede. "I had to come see the real Burma before it gets spoiled," one Australian visitor said over breakfast as his fellow travelers nodded.
Yet experts and local tour guides point out that what little has been done to preserve and restore the ancient temples and sites has been at best amateurish and at worst destructive. Even Suu Kyi has spoken out about the faulty restorations, saying last year: "One cannot just go about restoring the temples using modern material and without adhering to the original styles."
A case in point: Hundreds of centuries-old, crumbling cone-shape temples called zedi at Inndein, near Inle Lake, lean haphazardly, trees sprouting from some. Local villagers speed their ruin by removing stones for use elsewhere, including building new zedi.
"Every time I come here, there are fewer of them," said San San Myint, a tour guide with a deep love of her country's history and traditions. "It makes me so sad. I worry that one day they will be gone."
If You Go...
Many travel companies offer guided tours and can make hotel, visa, flight and other arrangements, which are difficult to manage from outside the country. Options include Destination Asia, http://www.destination-asia.com/myanmar/tours/ and Overseas Adventure Travel, http://www.destination-asia.com/myanmar/tours/ , which is also launching a small cruise tour. Backroads is starting biking and hiking tours, http://www.backroads.com .
— Learn about the military's role in siphoning off the country's wealth. Ask tour companies which hotels and airlines are owned by the government or by cronies of the military. Two noteworthy hotels not owned by the government are The Governor's Residence, in Yangon, a colonial teak masterpiece in the lush embassy area, and the Villa Inle Resort, beautifully furnished lakeside bungalows with a good restaurant. A small chain of restaurants called The Green Elephant serves good Burmese cuisine.
— Dress code for temple visits: No bare arms or shoulders, no shorts or short skirts. Signs warn: "No spaghetti dresses." You must remove your shoes, so bring sandals or slip-ons.
— Magical dusk and dawn balloon rides over Bagan are worth the $300 cost but usually sell out, so sign up in advance.
— Few places accept credit cards. Those that do charge hefty transaction fees. Best exchange rates are at the airport; for changing U.S. dollars, bring crisp $100 bills. You can often pay locally in dollars instead of kyat (pronounced chaat).
— Foreign cell phones don't work in Myanmar but you can rent local phones at the airport. Larger hotels have intermittent Internet service.
— Take mosquito repellent.
— Look for indigenous handicrafts such as lacquerware, made from bamboo or from horsehair, in Bagan. At Inle Lake, you can buy scarves made from the silk of lotus blossoms.


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In July, The Economist had a nice article on the burgeoning field of neuroeconomics, titled "Do Economists Need Brains." We've excerpted a few chunks from that article below.
* * *
In the late 1990s a generation of academic economists had their eyes opened by Mr LeDoux's and other accounts of how studies of the brain using recently developed techniques such as magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) showed that different bits of the old grey matter are associated with different sorts of emotional and decision-making activity. The amygdalas are an example. Neuroscientists have shown that these almond-shaped clusters of neurons deep inside the medial temporal lobes play a key role in the formation of emotional responses such as fear.
These new neuroeconomists saw that it might be possible to move economics away from its simplified model of rational, self-interested, utility-maximising decision-making. Instead of hypothesising about Homo economicus, they could base their research on what actually goes on inside the head of Homo sapiens.
The dismal science had already been edging in that direction thanks to behavioural economics. Since the 1980s researchers in this branch of the discipline had used insights from psychology to develop more "realistic" models of individual decision-making, in which people often did things that were not in their best interests. But neuroeconomics had the potential, some believed, to go further and to embed economics in the chemical processes taking place in the brain.
Early successes for neuroeconomists came from using neuroscience to shed light on some of the apparent flaws in H. economicus noted by the behaviouralists. One much-cited example is the "ultimatum game", in which one player proposes a division of a sum of money between himself and a second player. The other player must either accept or reject the offer. If he rejects it, neither gets a penny.
According to standard economic theory, as long as the first player offers the second any money at all, his proposal will be accepted, because the second player prefers something to nothing. In experiments, however, behavioural economists found that the second player often turned down low offers—perhaps, they suggested, to punish the first player for proposing an unfair split.
Neuroeconomists have tried to explain this seemingly irrational behaviour by using an "active MRI". In MRIs used in medicine the patient simply lies still during the procedure; in active MRIs, participants are expected to answer economic questions while blood flows in the brain are scrutinised to see where activity is going on while decisions are made. They found that rejecting a low offer in the ultimatum game tended to be associated with high levels of activity in the dorsal stratium, a part of the brain that neuroscience suggests is involved in reward and punishment decisions, providing some support to the behavioural theories.
As well as the ultimatum game, neuroeconomists have focused on such issues as people's reasons for trusting one another, apparently irrational risk-taking, the relative valuation of short- and long-term costs and benefits, altruistic or charitable behaviour, and addiction. Releases of dopamine, the brain's pleasure chemical, may indicate economic utility or value, they say. There is also growing interest in new evidence from neuroscience that tentatively suggests that two conditions of the brain compete in decision-making: a cold, objective state and a hot, emotional state in which the ability to make sensible trade-offs disappears. The potential interactions between these two brain states are ideal subjects for economic modelling.
Already, neuroeconomics is giving many economists a dopamine rush. For example, Colin Camerer of the California Institute of Technology, a leading centre of research in neuroeconomics, believes that incorporating insights from neuroscience could transform economics, by providing a much better understanding of everything from people's reactions to advertising to decisions to go on strike.
At the same time, Mr Camerer thinks economics has the potential to improve neuroscience, for instance by introducing neuroscientists to sophisticated game theory. "The neuroscientist's idea of a game is rock, paper, scissors, which is zero-sum, whereas economists have focused on strategic games that produce gains through collaboration." Herbert Gintis of the Sante Fe Institute has even higher hopes that breakthroughs in neuroscience will help bring about the integration of all the behavioural sciences—economics, psychology, anthropology, sociology, political science and biology relating to human and animal behaviour—around a common, brain-based model of how people take decisions
* * *
However, not everyone is convinced. The fiercest attack on neuroeconomics, and indeed behavioural economics, has come from two economists at Princeton University, Faruk Gul and Wolfgang Pesendorfer. In an article in 2005, "The Case for Mindless Economics", they argued that neuroscience could not transform economics because what goes on inside the brain is irrelevant to the discipline. What matters are the decisions people take—in the jargon, their "revealed preferences"—not the process by which they reach them. For the purposes of understanding how society copes with the consequences of those decisions, the assumption of rational utility-maximisation works just fine.
* * *
The big question now is whether the tools of neuroscience will allow economics to fulfill Edgeworth's vision—or, if that is too much to ask, at least to be grounded in the physical reality of the brain. Studies in the first decade of neuroeconomics relied heavily on active MRI scans. Economists' initial excitement at being able to enliven their seminars with pictures of parts of the brain lighting up in response to different experiments (so much more interesting than the usual equations) has led to a recognition of the limits of MRIs. "Curiosity about neuroscience among economists has outstripped what we have to say, for now," admits Mr Camerer.
* * *
Still, Mr Camerer is confident that neuroeconomics will deliver its first big breakthroughs within five years. Likewise, Mr McCabe sees growing sophistication in neuroeconomic research. For the past four years, a group of leading neuroeconomists and neuroscientists has met to refine questions about the brain and economic behaviour. Researchers trained in both neuroscience and economics are entering the field. They are asking more sophisticated questions than the first generation "spots on brains" experiments, says Mr McCabe, such as "how these spots would change with different economic variables." He expects that within a few years neuroeconomics will have uncovered enough about the interactions between what goes on in people's brains and the outside world to start to shape the public-policy agenda—though it is too early to say how.
* * *
To access the whole article, click here. For a collection of related Situationist posts click here and here.


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Memorial set Friday for 59 homeless who died
ROCKFORD - Homeless Person's Memorial Day, which will remember 59 area people who died in the last year, will be at 10 a.m. Friday at Carpenter's Place, 1149 Railroad Ave.
The names of the dead will be read at the annual service held on the day nearest to the first day of winter, which is the longest night of the year. This year's roll call includes people from age 22 to 69 who at some point in their lives were homeless.
"Many homeless persons die alone, silently and without public recognition," said Shelton Kay, chair of Boone and Winnebago Counties Continuum of Care for the Homeless. "This is a special way to formally remember our homeless friends and neighbors who died in 2013."
A National Health Care for the Homeless Council study said people experiencing homelessness are three to four times more likely to die young than those who have shelter.


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DAMASCUS, Syria – Iran and Syria condemned a U.S. plan to assist rebels fighting to topple President Bashar Assad on Saturday and signaled the Syrian leader intends to stay in power at least until 2014 presidential elections.
The remarks came against the backdrop of a strategic victory for the regime as the military regained control over a string of villages along a key highway to open a potential supply route in Syria's heavily contested north.
The army command boasted of the achievement in a statement, saying it had eradicated the remnants of 'terrorist agents and mercenaries' in the area that links the government-controlled central city of Hama with Aleppo's international airport.
The reversal of gains, confirmed by Syrian activists, has the potential to change the outcome of the battle in Aleppo, Syria's largest city where government troops and rebels have been locked in a stalemate for months.
Syrian rebels have long complained that they are hampered by the world's failure to provide heavier arms to help them battle Assad's better-equipped military. The international community is reluctant to send weapons partly because of fears they may fall into the hands of extremists who have been gaining influence among the rebels.
But U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry announced on Thursday that the Obama administration was giving an additional $60 million in assistance to Syria's political opposition and would, for the first time, provide non-lethal aid directly to the rebels.
Assad told the Sunday Times, in an interview timed to coincide with Kerry's first foreign trip as the top U.S. diplomat, that 'the intelligence, communication and financial assistance being provided is very lethal.'
In their first official statements on the U.S. decision, the Syrian and Iranian foreign ministers accused Washington of having double standards and warned it will only delay an end to the civil war.
Iran is a staunch ally of the Syrian regime and has stood by the embattled Assad throughout the conflict.
Syrian Foreign Minister Walid al-Moallem and his Iranian counterpart, Ali Akbar Salehi, also set clear parameters for any future talks with the opposition, saying that whether Assad stays or goes will be decided in presidential elections scheduled for next year. Salehi went further to say Assad may run for another term.
'Assad is Syria's legal president until the next elections. Individuals have the freedom to run as candidates. Until that time, Assad is Syria's president,' Salehi said at a joint news conference in Tehran. Al-Moallem said the Syrian people have the right to choose their leaders through the ballot box.
The remarks are likely to complicate already faltering diplomatic efforts to start a dialogue between the government and the opposition, which has offered to join talks with regime elements but insists that Assad must step down.
Assad was quoted by the Sunday Times as saying that he had no intention of going into exile. He said during the interview in Damascus last week that 'no patriotic person will think about living outside his country.'
He accused Kerry of wasting time by trying to ease him out of power, according to the newspaper, saying it was an internal issue 'so I'm not going to discuss it with anyone from abroad.'
The U.N. estimates that 70,000 people have died since the uprising against Assad began in March 2011.
Syria's opposition chief has offered to sit down for talks with regime elements, but insists that Assad must step down.
Al-Moallem said it was inconceivable that Washington would allocate $60 million in assistance to Syrian opposition groups while it continues to 'kill the Syrian people' through economic sanctions imposed against the country.
'If they truly wanted a political settlement, they wouldn't punish the Syrian people and finance (opposition) groups with so-called non-lethal aid,' he said. 'Who are they kidding?'
The Damascus official called Syria's sovereignty a 'red line.'
He directly accused Turkey and Qatar and other countries he did not name of supporting and funding 'armed terrorist groups' operating in Syria, using the regime's terminology for the rebels. Both countries are strong rebel backers and have offered logistical and other assistance to Syrian opposition groups.
His Iranian host, Salehi, said 'double standards were being applied by certain countries that serve to prolong and deepen the Syrian crisis' and lead to more bloodshed.
Syrian rebels control large swaths of land in the country's northeast, including several neighborhoods of Aleppo.
For weeks they have been trying to storm the Aleppo airport, a major prize in the battle for Syria's commercial capital. The rebels ousted troops from several bases protecting the facility and cut off a major highway the army used to supply its troops inside the airport complex.
Syrian army officials said troops had secured the facility and regained control of several villages along the highway leading to the airport after days of fighting.
An opposition spokesman, Rami Abdul-Rahman, director the Britain-based anti-regime activist group the Observatory for Human Rights, confirmed the army's victory Saturday, calling it a 'significant achievement.'
'Securing these villages, assuming the regime can hang on to them, has the potential to turn around the direction of the conflict in Aleppo,' Abdul-Rahman said.
In other violence Saturday, clashes broke out in the northeastern Raqqa province, and activists said dozens of people on both sides were reported dead or wounded.
Ahrar al-Sham Movement, a militant Islamic brigade fighting with the rebels, announced in an online video posted Saturday that it was starting a wide scale operation against military and infrastructure targets in the area along with other extremists including Jabhat al-Nusra, the al-Qaida-affiliated group designated by the U.S. as a terrorist group.
Sporadic clashes also continued near Syria's Rabiya border crossing with Iraq. Syrian fighter jets fired at least two missiles and rebels on the ground fired at the jets, according to a witness on the Iraqi side of the border.
The fighting comes a day after Iraqi officials said a Russian-made rocket fired from Syria slammed into Iraqi territory, intensifying concerns that violence from Syria's civil war could spill across the border. No one was injured in the strike.
A police officer at the Iraqi Rabiya border crossing said five Syrian soldiers and one officer fled the clashes into Iraqi territory. Three of the soldiers were wounded and evacuated to a hospital in the northern Iraqi city of Mosul, he said. A doctor confirmed the figure.
Both spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to release information to the media. They didn't say what happened to the other three who fled.
The chief of Syrian rebel forces, Salim Idris, accused Iraqi soldiers of firing at rebel positions inside Syrian territory and claimed Iraq's government was backing Assad's regime.
Iraq's Defense Ministry denied that Iraqi forces were backing the Syrian army during clashes with rebels. A statement said Iraqi forces are deployed in the border regions only for routine duties and one Iraqi soldier was wounded during the exchange of fire.
— Karam reported from Beirut. Associated Press writers Barbara Surk in Beirut, Ali Akbar Dareini in Tehran and Qassim Abdul-Zahra and Sinan Salaheddin in Baghdad contributed to this report.


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What to do after a tornado
The EF4 tornado that devastated Moore, Okla., on Monday has caused untold damage and claimed at least 24 lives. If you want to help or if you need help, check out the information below.
What to do after a tornado
This government website - http://www.ready.gov/tornadoes - has information on what to do before, during and after a tornado. Among the after tips are:
- Continue to monitor your battery-powered radio or television for emergency information.
- Be careful when entering any structure that has been damaged.
- Wear sturdy shoes or boots, long sleeves and gloves when handling or walking on or near debris.
- Be aware of hazards from exposed nails and broken glass.
- Do not touch downed power lines or objects in contact with downed lines. Report electrical hazards to the police and the utility company.
- Use battery-powered lanterns, if possible, rather than candles to light homes without electrical power. If you use candles, make sure they are in safe holders away from curtains, paper, wood or other flammable items. Never leave a candle burning when you are out of the room.
- Never use generators, pressure washers, grills, camp stoves or other gasoline, propane, natural gas or charcoal-burning devices inside your home, basement, garage or camper - or even outside near an open window, door or vent. Carbon monoxide (CO) - an odorless, colorless gas that can cause sudden illness and death if you breathe it - from these sources can build up in your home, garage or camper and poison the people and animals inside. Seek prompt medical attention if you suspect CO poisoning and are feeling dizzy, light-headed or nauseated.
- Hang up displaced telephone receivers that may have been knocked off by the tornado, but stay off the telephone, except to report an emergency.
- Cooperate fully with public safety officials.
- Respond to requests for volunteer assistance by police, fire fighters, emergency management and relief organizations, but do not go into damaged areas unless assistance has been requested. Your presence could hamper relief efforts and you could endanger yourself.
How to connect with those in Moore
The Red Cross has a website devoted to helping connect you to your friends and family affected by the tornado. Go to https://safeandwell.communityos.org/cms/index.php.
If you or someone you know needs emotional support after a tornado, contact the Disaster Stress Helpline, a government website devoted to helping people cope with tragedies. Go to http://disasterdistress.samhsa.gov/ or call 800-985-5990.
More resources
FEMA has more resources and information listed on their website, http://www.fema.gov/.
How to help
Only donate to charities that you know are reputable. The American Red Cross is one of the best to donate to, as they're goverment-approved and have a presence in Oklahoma. Go to http://www.redcross.org/ for more information.
Other places you might consider donating to include the Salvation Army - donate.salvationarmyusa.org/uss/eds/aok - and Oklahoma Baptist Disaster Relief - www.bgco.org/donate.
Below watch the latest video coverage of the disaster.


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The Western Australian oat industry generates about $200 million for the state economy each year through the production of milled (rolled) oats for human consumption and feed oats and oaten hay for livestock production.
The major markets for Australian milling oats are Mexico, North Asia, South-East Asia and South Africa.
Western Australian feed oats are well received by international markets, particularly the growing Middle Eastern and Japanese race horse industries.
WA produces about 50% of Australia's export hay – most of which is sent to the Japanese dairy industry.
The Department of Primary Industries and Regional Development is a partner within the National Oat Breeding Program, which is responsible for breeding and developing new oat grain and hay varieties with superior quality.
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A widely used cryptographic algorithm used to secure sensitive websites, software, and corporate servers is weak enough that well-financed criminals could crack it in the next six years, a cryptographer said.
The prediction about the SHA1 algorithm, posted recently to a hash function mailing list sponsored by the National Institute of Standards and Technology, is based on calculations its author and fellow cryptographers admit are rough. The back-of-the-envelope math also incorporates several assumptions that are by no means certain. At the same time, the ability to carry out a reliable "collision attack" on SHA1 would have catastrophic effects on the security of the Internet.
Similar collision attacks on the weaker MD5 algorithm provide an example of how dire and widespread the resulting harm could be. The Flame espionage malware, which the US and Israel are believed to have unleashed to spy on sensitive Iranian networks, wielded such an exploit to hijack Microsoft's Windows Update mechanism so the malicious program could spread from computer to computer inside an infected network. Separately, in 2008, a team of computer scientists and security researchers used the technique to forge a master secure sockets layer certificate that could authenticate virtually any website of their choosing.
SHA1 is considerably more resistant than MD5 to collision attacks, in which two different plaintext sources generate the same ciphertext, or digital signature. As a result, SSL certificate authorities, software companies, and most other security-minded organizations have discontinued use of MD5 in favor of SHA1, or better yet SHA2, which is believed to be stronger still. (Just this week, NIST designated an algorithm known as Keccak to be SHA3.) Cryptographers have long presumed these more advanced algorithms will suffer the same fate as MD5, as computers' processing speeds become ever faster. With SHA1 a staple in digital certificates that certify the authenticity of websites, commercial software, and credentials used to administer corporate servers, a practical attack on it anytime soon would come with dire consequences.
"When it does happen, it's going to be a disaster, because SHA1 is everywhere," said Matthew Green, a professor specializing in cryptography at Johns Hopkins University. "You could be Microsoft, you could be Google, if you were able to get an attack on SHA1."
Some provisions mandated by the Federal Information Processing Standard currently require the use of SHA1.
SHA1 and other hash algorithms generate a digital fingerprint that in theory is unique for each different file or text input they sign. When the underlying plaintext is altered in even miniscule ways, the signature changes. The algorithms are used cryptographically to prove that no unauthorized changes have been made to websites or software code. Collision attacks undermine this assurance by allowing attackers to forge the cryptographic signatures provided by the algorithm.
Based on the rough calculations of Jesse Walker, an Intel employee and a designer of a SHA3 runner-up algorithm known as Skein, SHA1 may fall sooner than many expected. He reached that conclusion based on the continuing growth of computing speed and the advent of cloud services such as Amazon's EC2, which allow people to rent commodity servers for as little as 4 cents per hour.
"A collision attack is therefore well within the range of what an organized crime syndicate can practically budget by 2018, and a university research project by 2021," Walker wrote, according to a transcript included in a blog post by fellow cryptographer Bruce Schneier. Walker went on to say his assumptions didn't take into consideration the use of graphical processing units and other optimized hardware, so "the need to transition from SHA-1 for collision resistance functions is probably more urgent than this back-of-the-envelope analysis suggests."
Walker's estimate is also based on the assumption a collision attack exploiting SHA1 would be based on a technique laid out earlier this year by Marc Stevens, a cryptographer from the Centrum Wiskunde & Informatica in Amsterdam. If attackers came up with a more efficient method for bringing about a collision attack—as the world-class cryptographers behind Flame did—that might also be a factor that would accelerate the downfall of SHA1. The estimate also assumes that Moore's Law, the observation that computing
speed capacity doubles roughly every 18 months, will continue for the foreseeable future.
"The point is," Schneier concluded, "that we in the community need to start the migration away from SHA-1 and to SHA-2/SHA-3 now."
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This article was originally published in the January/February 1997 issue of Home Energy Magazine. Some formatting inconsistencies may be evident in older archive content.
| Back to Contents Page | Home Energy Index | About Home Energy |
Home Energy Magazine Online January/February 1997
Flue Season Friends of mine have a remote-controlled gas log insert in their new home's fireplace. The remote allows them to turn the gas fire on and off from across the room.
One day they came home to their empty house and found the fire was on, but the flue, which had to be manually controlled, was closed. Since the flue was closed, the hot gases had been going into the house and the wall near the fireplace was starting to burn. My friends were lucky--just some localized fire and smoke damage--but if the fire had burned much longer, their home would be ashes.
The store says there have been similar incidents in the area. Apparently, some remote-controlled toys operate on the same frequency.
Jeffrey Mattox
Editor's reply: Remote-controlled gas fireplaces are increasingly common all over the United States. Heat & Glo, the company that pioneered the devices, now produces five types of remotes with various amenities, including thermostats, thermometers, and variable controls for the blower and gas. As you note, there is a potential problem: toys, garage door openers, and lightning can all turn the fireplaces on by accident. The Consumer Products Safety Commission has one other complaint on file: a lightning storm turned on the fireplace, and the remote was unable to turn it back off. According to Rob Sloan, an engineer at Heat & Glo, it is technically possible, but rare, for remote controls to malfunction.
In your friends' case, there is an additional complication. Why, or rather how, was the flue closed? Most mechanical codes require gas fireplaces to have the flue dampers permanently fixed open (see Letters, Damperless Fireplaces, HE May/June '96, p. 4, and Opening up to Fireplace Dampers, HE July/Aug '96, p. 4). Leaving the flue open all the time won't help the house's airtightness, but then, neither will a big charred hole in the ceiling.Structural Tyvek? Really, It Works! In recent issues, Home Energy outlined unsuccessful installations of DuPont Tyvek to support blown-in cellulose insulation under the floor (see Retrofits We'd Rather Forget, HE Jan/Feb '96, p. 39, and Letters, Befuddled over Use of Tyvek, HE May/June '96, p. 4). According to contractors who use this technique, and the technical representatives at DuPont, it is possible to use Tyvek to hold up loose-fill insulation.
Housewrap is made to repel bulk water while allowing water vapor to pass through. No housewrap is waterproof. Therefore, it is best to make sure that moisture problems are under control prior to installation. Make sure that exterior drainage around the building carries water away from structure. In some regions, a ground cover is required. Make sure the installation is not exposed to runoff, ponding, leaky plumbing, or sweating HVAC ducts. If the installation is a retrofit installed flush with exterior wall sheathing, as may be the case in mobile homes, be sure to appropriately flash the edges.
For fastening, DuPont suggests 1-inch crown staples at most 12 inches apart along each supporting member. The large staples minimize the chance of rupture in woven materials. Some contractors have successfully used much smaller staples at very tight spacing (5/16-inch staples at 3 inches OC along the joists). You could also mechanically attach the housewrap with strapping (1x furring strips at 16 inches OC) laid perpendicular across the framing. This method is more wasteful and difficult than the others, but it should work well for skeptics. If you're using staples in challenging crawlspace conditions, make sure they are guaranteed for at least 15 years.
The edges of the housewrap fastened to the joists should overlap the prior layer by at least one bay to minimize insulation gapping, loss, and rupture at the seams. An alternative method would be to create a French seam where the edges are rolled together into a seam (like metal roofing) that may be turned flat and mechanically fastened to the joist. Both techniques are reasonably acceptable and airtight.
Securely install the housewrap along the entire bay (or bays) to be insulated. Then cut holes for hoses, insulate to the proper density, and carefully close up the holes. To seal the holes, use either tape approved for use with the housewrap, or 18-inch x 30-inch patches of housewrap secured to the joists.
In addition to Tyvek, there are several other brands of housewrap available that may provide satisfactory performance when properly installed. There are also specialized plastic sheetings designed to support insulation in exposed locations common in metal buildings. Tightly woven fish netting, butterfly netting, or insect screening will also work to prevent blow-back of the cellulose, but be sure to check the product for strength, longevity, and price before opting to use one of these.
Cameron Duncan
Chris Delikatny
Editor's response: Yup--you caught an odd situation. The filament lives of high-voltage lamps are indeed longer--rated lives of 8,000 hours aren't unheard of. And that can reduce the energy it takes to produce, transport, install, and dispose of the lamps. But using 130V lamps on 120V circuits causes them to lose about 15% of their rated efficacy.
According to Francis Rubenstein, staff scientist at the Lighting Research Group at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, the U.S. Energy Policy Act outlawed several types of reflector lamps and tube fluorescents. However, it was silent on A lamps of any voltage. 130V lamps are useful in areas with consistently high voltage, such as some rural areas.
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Home Energy can be reached at: email@example.com
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