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iPad Accessories
iAdapter 6 Protective Amplified Case
$315.00In StockiAdapter case provides durable protection. Amplification turns iPad into a viable augmentative and alternative communication device. Learn More
Attainment GoNow Cases for iPad 2/3/4
$10.00 - $119.00In StockCarry, protect, and enhance the sound of your iPad! This case does NOT fit the 10.2 inch iPad introduced in September 2019. Learn More
ArmorBox Kido Cases for iPad 2/3/4
$27.90In StockProtects your tablet from bumps and scratches and makes it easier to carry thanks to the attached handle. Made of lightweight, hazard-free material, it keeps your device safe. Learn More
ChesterKeys & Case for iPad 2/3/4Clearance!$59.00In StockThe ChesterKeys & Case combines an attractive case with an adjustable Bluetooth keyboard. Learn More
iPad Accessories
The first generation of iPads was introduced in 2010. Since then, these portable tablet computers have been utilized in academic settings and therapeutic environments to provide accessible technology that is also relatively easy to use. As the worldwide leader in assistive technology, EnableMart's mission is to break down barriers and allow students to perform at the best of their abilities. Create an enriched learning experience by exploring our selection of iPad accessories today! We offer single or dual switches, portable speaker systems, joysticks, touch screen stylus pens, and pencils, tablet stands, carrying cases, keyboards, charging accessories, and so much more.
Students with fine motor limitations may find gripping and wrist movement to be frustrating challenges when trying to use an iPad device. Our selection of iPad accessories includes multiple types of switches to help alleviate the burden of wrist movement, clicking, entering commands. Many of the assistive switches in our collection support both single and dual switch access using built-in switches or ports so the user can configure the switch accessibility settings within the selected app or software. We also offer low-profile switches that feature fast wireless connection ability and light-touch activation.
Joysticks are excellent alternatives to traditional computer mice. The intuitive joysticks we offer provide comprehensive switch access to all iPad functions, including applications, music, media, and much more. Stylus pens help users with limited dexterity use touch-screen devices quickly and accurately. Some of the stylus pens we offer include adjustable Velcro straps to keep the pen secure and positioned between fingers. Looking for iPad accessories? We are here to help. We supply fun and colorful carrying cases, tablet stands that are resistant to oils, chemicals, stains, and germs, as well as charging stations for all your Apple input devices. Support overall health and find everything you need for your students to succeed by browsing our extensive selection of iPad accessories and devices. We are committed to enhancing lives by providing innovative products at prices that won't break the bank. If you have any questions about our inventory, please contact us today for further assistance.


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CEDAR RAPIDS - An eastern Iowa tax preparer has been released from custody while he awaits trial on charges he helped taxpayers falsely claim business income.
Keith Rath of Shellsburg was arrested last week by IRS agents after a grand jury indicted him on eight counts of aiding in the preparation and presentation of a false tax return.
The indictment said on eight occasions over the years 2008, 2009 and 2010, Rath helped clients falsely claim thousands of dollars in business income he knew they did not earn.
Rath has pleaded not guilty, and a trial has been scheduled for May 20. A judge has ordered Rath not to have any contact with the taxpayers mentioned in the indictment.

subset: commoncrawl


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Long strange musical ambiance sound. A bad dream or nightmare. MORE IN THIS PACK. Of several pitches created on a piano by user RutgerMuller. Thanks for that Rutger. It sounds like playing a pipe-organ.
From original sound.
When you use this sound it would be nice if you spent a voluntarily donation to freesound.
YOU ALWAYS HAVE TO CREDIT/ATTRIBUTE RutgerMuller, klankbeeld and freesound.org in your work if you use this sound. Do it like this: sound from http://www.freesound.org/people/klankbeeld/
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text: Liberty made its last eight three-point attempts of the first half, Saturday evening against Winthrop, turning an 11-point deficit into a 10-point halftime advantage. The Lady Flames never looked back, completing a regular-season sweep of the Big South-leading Eagles with an 80-69 triumph during the 2013-14 home finale at the Vines Center. Liberty improved to 17-10 overall and 13-5 in Big South play with its third straight win overall and its fifth victory in the last six outings. All nine players who saw action scored points for the Lady Flames, helping the home team enjoy a 31-2 advantage in bench points. As a result, Liberty notched its 22nd consecutive home win in the head-to-head series with the Eagles. The Lady Flames are now in third place in the Big South standings, one game behind co-leaders Winthrop (20-7, 14-4 Big South) and High Point with one week remaining in the regular season. The Eagles saw their season-long seven-game winning streak halted despite Erica Williams' 22 points and Samiya Wright's season-best 20 points. Winthrop made five of its first seven field goal attempts, jumping out to a 12-1 lead just 3:21 into the contest. Liberty still trailed by 11 (16-5) at the 12:00 mark of the opening half, before using three-point shooting to swing the momentum in its favor. The Lady Flames made each of their last eight attempts from beyond the arc to close out the period. During the half's final 30 seconds, Jaymee Fisher-Davis converted a four-point play and Emily Frazier nailed a deep trifecta, giving the Lady Flames a 38-28 halftime edge. Fisher-Davis and Frazier each went 3-of-3 from three-point range during the first 20 minutes, pacing Liberty with 10 and nine points, respectively. For the half, the Lady Flames shot 80 percent (8-of-10) from behind the line and 51.9 percent (14-of-27) overall. After its torrid start, Winthrop ended up at 32.3 percent (10-of-31) from the field during the first half. Fisher-Davis contributed to Liberty's 22-0 advantage in bench points prior to the intermission. Williams' 12 first-half points for Winthrop paced all players. The Eagles gradually chipped away at their deficit during the second half, pulling to within seven points on two occasions. A Dequesha McClanahan jumper made it a 54-47 game with 8:42 to play. Liberty countered with a 10-2 surge, featuring four points apiece by Katelyn Adams and Ashley Rininger. Adams' pair of free throws at the 6:22 mark bolstered the Lady Flames' edge to 64-49, and Liberty led by double digits the rest of the way. The Lady Flames' cushion eventually reached 19 points during their 10th home win of the season. Liberty has now won 10 or more contests at the Vines Center for 12 straight seasons. Winthrop entered the contest ranked No. 5 nationally for field goal percentage defense, but the Lady Flames shot extremely well from the field (51 percent on 26-of-51), three-point range (56.3 percent on 9-of-16) and the foul line (82.6 percent on 19-of-23). The Eagles made 51.6 percent (16-of-31) of their second-half field goal attempts, finishing the game at 41.9 percent (26-of-62). However, Winthrop could not close the gap due to 23 second-half points by the tandem of Adams and Rininger and the Lady Flames' 85 percent (17-of-20) free throw shooting after the break. Liberty doubled up Winthrop in rebounding in the second half (22-11), finishing with a 40-27 advantage on the glass. However, the Eagles tallied 30 points in the paint to the Lady Flames' 24 and converted Liberty's 20 turnovers into 24 points. Adams led Liberty with a career-high 17 points, to go along with a career-high four steals and three assists. Rininger scored all 13 of her points after halftime and pulled down a game-high 11 rebounds for her second double-double in a row and her 15th of the season. Fisher-Davis connected on four of her five three-point tries during a 13-point evening, while Mickayla Sanders' 10 points included two made triples. Frazier accounted for Liberty's other three trifectas, totaling nine points. Simone Brown chased down eight rebounds, while Sadalia Ellis distributed a game-high seven assists on her 20th birthday. McClanahan was limited to 7-of-23 field goal shooting, but ended up with 16 points. The senior guard is now just 10 points away from breaking Liberty alum Elena Kisseleva's Big South career scoring record of 2,154 points. McClanahan added six assists, five rebounds and five steals, while playing all 40 minutes. Liberty will close out the regular season with a pair of road contests within the Commonwealth, beginning Thursday evening at Radford (7-20, 5-13 Big South). The Lady Flames will attempt to complete a season sweep of the Highlanders, after recording a 70-49 home win on Dec. 7. Tipoff is slated for 7 p.m. inside the Dedmon Center.


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How Do You Bring Bibles to North Korea? (VIDEO)
A Christian North Korean missionary group dropped 50,000 balloons carrying Bibles and religious tracts into the heavily persecuted North Korea last year.
"Every time we fill up one of these balloons, we hold it and we pray together in English, North Korean and South Korean," Eric Foley, the co-founder and CEO of Seoul USA told Fox News. "We pray loudly and always with tears."
The sophisticated handmade balloons, created from "farm plastic," pumped with hydrogen, filled with New Testaments and stories of faith from North Korean believers, are guided by timers and GPS technology that determine when and where the balloons are dropped.
Foley and his wife, Hyun Sook, a South Korean immigrant, who started the organization together, see their work as assisting and equipping "the most persecuted believers on earth."
In the heavily impoverished North Korea, Christianity is banned and the country's only official religion, or ideology, is "Juche," or "Kim Il-Sung-ism," "the cult of the deceased leader."
According to Voice of the Martyrs (VOM), a Christian persecution activist group, roughly 100,000 Christians are believed to be in North Korea, though hundreds of thousands of Christians have allegedly been killed off by the government for their faith. Of those 100,000, VOM states 35,000 live in the country's work camps where they are subject to hunger, violence and abuse.
Yet the persecution has not turned off all North Koreans from Christianity. Eric said that demand for owning a Bible — a deed that will send the offender and three generations of his or her family to prison — still persists. Seoul USA also reaches North Koreans through a short-wave radio program where listeners can hear the Bible read. Although radios are also banned in North Korea, Eric believes that up to 20 percent of citizens in the country own one.
Seoul USA is not the only group that relies on balloons to send messages to North Korea. Indeed, balloon drops from South Korea into North Korea are not uncommon, though they have been a contentious issue between the two countries, and at times banned by South Korea after threats that North Korea might retaliate violently.
According to Eric, Seoul USA has been given the legal right to fly their ballons, though their work has at times been complicated by struggles to find places to find hydrogen to purchase.
For Park Sang-hak, a "founding father of the balloon propaganda movement," that would be a minor inconvenience. Park sends roughly 5 million propaganda pamphlets across the border annually, raising North Korea's ire and making him the target of a assassination attempt.
In the beginning of July, a North Korean defector hoping to launch 5,000 balloons with DVDs, radios and leaflets was arrested by South Korean security, after North Korea issued a statement making death threats towards the activist. Three days later, in an unannounced launch, North Korean human rights activist Lee Man-bok successfullly launched 22 balloons filled with DVDs attempting to convince residents that their country had lied to them about its military strength.


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- You Are Here:
- Home
- City Services
- Recreation
- Aquatics at the Plunge
Aquatics at the Plunge
Pre-Summer Session:
Just like last year, an extra swim lesson session has been added, June 3-14! All levels of classes will be available starting at 4 p.m. Online registration only at BreaRec.com, on April 29 for Brea residents, Open Registration begins May 6. View the flyer for more details.
Swim Lessons:
For summer 2019, swim lessons will be held June 17- August 23. They are conducted in five, 2-week sessions, each consisting of ten, 30-minute classes held Monday through Friday. Each session costs $70for Brea residents (non-Brea residents add $5). Session 2 costs $65 (non-Brea residents add $5), due to no lessons on July 4. View details on the flyer.
Brea Resident Pre-Registration:
Saturday, June 1, 9 a.m. - 12 p.m., at The Plunge. Proof of Brea residency required. Line placement numbers distributed at 8 a.m. Only one registration form accepted per number. One registration form per household.
Open Registration:
Begins Monday, June 10 at 9 a.m. Open registration for all sessions, for residents from all cities, until classes fill. Online, at BreaRec.com, or at the Brea Community Center.
Other Classes:The Plunge also offers classes and activities for the entire family, such as Private Swim Lessons, Aqua Aerobics, Adult Swim Lessons and a Jr. Lifeguard program.
View the flyer for more information.
Pool Parties & Rental Information:
Looking to add some splash to your next party? Have your own personal pool party and the professional supervision to go with it. Rental includes certified lifeguards, use of both pools, and a barbecue. Pricing is based on number of patrons and event arrangements requested. Call to discuss details. Reservations are available starting in the spring.
For more information call 714-990-7103.


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PIC: World's Strongest Man champion shows off new look after 5-stone weight loss
Eddie Hall has revealed incredible before and after pictures since shedding five-stone in a dramatic weight loss transformation. The Beast, crowned the winner of the World's Strongest Man in 2017, went on a strict diet after claiming the title, saying he "wanted to live a healthier life". Eddie tipped the scales at 30.9stone (433lbs) after… Read More »


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Anypoint Platform Operations: CloudHub on Jun 11 Australian Eastern Time
Anypoint Platform Operations: CloudHub
Thu, Jun 11
AEST — Australian Eastern Time
To register for this class please click "Register" below. If you are registering for someone else please check "This is for someone else". Registrations will close on: Wednesday, June 10, 2020 6:00 PM AEST.
The training is priced from $ 1500.00 USD per participant
Not a date that works for you? View the complete schedule.
When is this training taking place?
This class is confirmed to run over the following day(s):
Thursday, June 11, 2020 9:00 AM - 3:00 PM
Friday, June 12, 2020 9:00 AM - 3:00 PM
All times are based on the following time-zone: Australian Eastern Standard Time (New South Wales)
Is this class confirmed to run?
Yes! If it is not full, we encourage you to register now and reserve your seat.
Frequently asked questions
Where is this training taking place?
This training is taking place in Australian Eastern Time.
Sydney, NSW
This training location offers the following features:
- Use Your Own Computer
- Live Online Remote Attendance
What is the maximum class size?
This class allows up to 12 participants.
In general, we strive to have an optimal class size, such that:
- Instructor(s) can provide adequate attention to participants' questions and concerns as well as assist with the lab-work.
- There are enough participants in the class to create an engaging group-dynamic, which facilitates learning.


text: 80-g-53876 By Charles McCain| 2016-10-02T11:46:36-04:00 October 2nd, 2016|0 Comments Share This Story, Choose Your Platform! FacebookTwitterLinkedinRedditTumblrGoogle+PinterestVkEmail About the Author: Charles McCain Charles McCain is a Washington DC based freelance journalist and novelist. He is the author of "An Honorable German," a World War Two naval epic. You can read more of his work on his website: http://charlesmccain.com/ Leave A Comment Cancel replyYou must be logged in to post a comment.


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Can You Predict a Monkey's Social Status by Looking at Its Genes? – "Does one's social stature change how one's genes are expressed. Yes, concludes a new study that used differences in gene expression to identify a monkey's social status with around 80 percent accuracy."
Disliking races may be a personality trait – "[I]f a person dislikes one group, he tends to have comparatively cool feelings for all groups, even his own." – from the inductivist.
More thoughts on genetic load – from greg cochran.
Listen up, parents: For toddlers (and chimps), the majority rules – "2-year-olds and chimpanzees are more likely to copy actions when they see them repeated by three of their peers than if they see the same action done by one peer three times."
Dark coloration and male aggressiveness: Is there a link? – from peter frost.
A gaping hole in the Master's evolutionary theory – chuck @the occidentalist presents evidence that he says suggests that "there are, at most, small genetic differences, with respect to intelligence, between Black and White adults born, respectively, in Africa and in Europe."
The Downside of Higher IQ – from dennis mangan, esq.
Genetic Variant Influences Brain Size, Intelligence – from parapundit.
What's in a surname? New study explores what the evolution of names reveals about China – "'When it comes to surnames the Chinese people are unique. 1.28 billion people share 7,327surnames. In fact the 100 most common names account for 85% of the population,' said Dr Chen. 'This means Chinese surnames include more cultural and genetic information than in most other countries….' The team found the highest levels of surname diversity at the Yangtze River basin, particularly around the middle and lower reaches of the river. The team believes this is due to multiple large migrations throughout Chinese history."
Fire-free land use in pre-1492 Amazonian savannas – "Our combined pollen, phytolith, and charcoal analyses reveal unexpectedly low levels of biomass burning associated with pre-A.D. 1492 savanna raised-field agriculture and a sharp increase in fires following the arrival of Europeans."
More than 20% of Irish children 'hear voices' – "More than one in five Irish children between 11 and 13 have reported hearing voices, a sign some experts believe is a risk factor in mental illness."
Study Finds Significant Skull Differences Between Closely Linked Groups – "The researchers looked at the skulls of 27 women and 28 men who died in Lisbon, Portugal, between 1880 and 1975. They also evaluated the skulls of 40 women and 39 men who died between 1895 and 1903 in the rural area of Coimbra, just over 120 miles north of Lisbon. The researchers found significant variation between female skulls from Lisbon and those from Coimbra."
bonus: "Race-Baiting" … and Its Discontents – good one from richard spencer.
bonus bonus: On Dinosaur Time – "Less time separates us from Tyrannosaurus rex than separated T. rex from Stegosaurus." – cool!
bonus bonus bonus: Water, water everywhere – but is it essential to life? – "New research by scientists at the University of Bristol has challenged one of the key beliefs in chemistry: that proteins are dependent on water to survive and function."
(note: comments do not require an email. xkcd's lakes and oceans.)


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The Creation Of The Universe
The Miracles of Smell and Taste
Mechanisms within the System
Chemical substances are often imagined to be perceived only through the senses of smell and taste. Yet this is not the case, because there are also at least two known systems: pain receptor nerves and the vomeronasal organ.
Throughout the nasal cavity, including the olfactory region, are dispersed the ends of pain-receptor nerves that react to stimuli that lead to feelings of pressure, pain, heat and cold. For example, these nerves transmit to the brain signals that cause the sharp, burning sensation of ammonia. Were it not for the pain receptors in your nose, you could not detect various gasses that are harmful to your health. Thanks to the design in question, however, unfortunate consequences that might result in injury, or even death, are avoided.
In comparison with scent receptors, these nerves are less sensitive and are thought to play an important complementary role in scent perception.46 Menthol is known to produce a cooling sensation in normal concentrations, but a hot one at high concentrations. The special design at the ends of the pain-receptor cells allows us to perceive this difference.
Some scent particles produce no effect in the olfactory region. These special chemical signals are known as pheromones. A special organ in the nose has been created to detect pheromones. Known as the vomeronasal organ (VNO), this structure is of a tube- shaped, about 1 millimeter (0.04 inch) in length, and located in the inner part of the nose, just above the cartilage dividing the two nostrils. (Figure 17) It is a different sensory organ whose chief function is to receive the messages carried by pheromones, convert them into a form the brain can understand, and then forward them by means of special nerves directly to the relevant brain regions. (Figure 18) This organ's functions are not yet fully understood, and are the subject of debate among scientists.47
But it has already emerged that the VNO is of vital importance to some insects and animals. For example, the social, reproductive and hunting of snakes with damaged VNOs becomes impaired. Rats with no sexual experience and whose VNOs were surgically removed were unable to mate, although their other organs functioned perfectly.48
We know for certain that there are unknown mechanisms in the olfactory region in our noses. For example, consider the relationship between color and odor sensitivity. This region is light yellow in human beings but brown in dogs. The color element is thought to influence scent detection capacity, although the link between them is not understood.49
Every new piece of scientific research lets us become better acquainted with the marvels of creation. Maybe as-yet-unknown perfect systems in our noses will be brought to light. These will be a new means of giving thanks in the manner that we should to God, the Lord of boundless affection and compassion Who created them.
Adaptation Mechanisms
As you sit reading these lines, you have practically no awareness of the presence of the clothes you wear, despite their close contact with your skin.
You feel clothes when you first put them on, but that feeling soon disappears, because receptors in your skin stop sending messages to the brain. Were it not for this marvelous system, everyday actions such as wearing clothes would become intolerable. You would also be unable to perceive other signals because your clothes distracted you, and your life would become very difficult indeed.
A similar process applies with the sense of smell. When you enter a restaurant, you immediately perceive the cooking aromas. A short while later, however, you become unaware of them. Yet there has been no reduction in the level of those heavy smells. You have simply grown accustomed to them. A special mechanism known as adaptation causes this change in sensitivity, although the aroma itself does not change in the least.
To grasp the importance of this mechanism, consider the cooks who work in a restaurant kitchen full of dense odors. If their sensitivity to the ambient smells did not decrease, their situation would be exceedingly uncomfortable. And their scent receptors, kept constantly busy, might be unable to detect any dangers—a gas leak, for example.
Frank Zufall, known for his research in this field, states that scent adaptation contains mechanisms50 that are so complex that the processes at the molecular level are still not fully understood. There are thought to be at least three different scent-adaptation mechanisms in the scent receptor cells. In addition, there must also be centers in the brain to monitor the sense organs that either transmit or halt this information.
In that case, how did the scent-receptor and brain cells, themselves consisting of atoms like carbon, nitrogen and oxygen, come to develop an adaptation system, whose details are still unknown? How do they know when, and when not, to go into action? How do they act in the very best manner on your behalf, without your becoming involved in any way?
The answers are clear: This adaptation system in scent perception is one of the innumerable examples of the superior design flawless planning and perfect order to be seen everywhere in the universe. There is absolutely no doubt that such a marvelous order leaves no room for chance. Every component of these flawless systems in our bodies is far too perfect to be accounted for in terms of coincidence. As it is revealed in the Qur'an, "He directs the whole affair from heaven to Earth..." (Surat as-Sajda: 5)
Scent Memory
The sense of smell is closely bound up with memory. The reason you recognize most smells around you with no feelings of unfamiliarity is that every kind of smell is archived with a special code in your scent memory. The moment you encounter an aroma smell, it is identified by application to that archive. A smell you encounter for the first time, which you have never experienced, is interpreted by being compared to other scents. If we did not possess such a memory, smells would be impossible to describe.
Smells also remind us of various events that we experienced in the past. A familiar perfume scented as we walk along the street reminds us of another woman who wears it. The smell of something cooking can evoke a memory of a meal that took place years before. The same aroma can awaken pleasant feelings in one person, but unpleasant emotions in another.
Where, then, are the memories of various scents—and the emotions they evoke perceived anew—preserved over the years? Where is the data bank stored, with its very large capacity for information on thousands of different aromas? The answers are not yet known for certain. But information regarding smells is believed to be collected in the brain's hippocampus and amygdala.51 (Figure 19)
Results of research on this subject are clear: Your memory serves as a data bank of aromas throughout your life, so long as you suffer no serious illness or accident. Furthermore, it has an active structure rather than a stable one, and renews itself constantly in the light of new experiences.52
Information about a substance you smell for the first time is recorded in memory, making it easy for you to recognize it when you next come across it. Note that cells made up of proteins constitute your olfactory memory, establishing an extensive archive and expanding it as new smells are encountered. As a small comparison, your computer cannot spontaneously update itself. It will remain as it is until you load new programs onto it. Neither did the archival property of the scent memory cells come into being spontaneously. God created them, and their superior design is one of the countless proofs of His mercy and the way that His knowledge enfolds all things. (Surah Ghafir: 7)
One important feature distinguishes olfactory memory from visual and audio memory: Information about smell has a much greater permanence. 53 That is why so many memories are evoked when you perceive a smell originating from a flower, a herb or even from a person. Research has shown that every individual's own scent is unique, just like a fingerprint.54 (The only exception is with identical twins.) When specially trained dogs follow a suspect, they track the traces of odor of that person's skin , and can distinguish that suspect by means of his unique scent.
Indeed, the report in the Qur'an describing how the father of the Prophet Joseph (peace be unto him) recognized his son's scent years later may be pointing to that very fact. His father recognized the smell as being the same scent that the Prophet Joseph (pbuh) had in his childhood, even after the passage of a great many years:
And when the caravan went on its way, their father said, "I can smell Joseph's scent! You probably think I have become senile." (Surah Yusuf: 94)
The Role of the Sense of Smell in Taste Perception
The smell of freshly baked bread, the aroma of pies from a cafeteria, or the smell of freshly ground coffee is all delightful. So attractive are these aromas that they encourage one to taste those foodstuffs. Indeed, in some circumstances, the saliva glands go into action and secrete the saliva necessary to be able to taste. Since your perception of scents is a thousand times sharper than your ability to taste, odors play an important role in the "taste" of foods.55 Yet the relationship between our senses of smell and taste goes even further.
How do you tell blackcurrant jam from strawberry?
If you think the answer is obvious, and that you just have to taste them, you are mistaken, because tasting alone is not enough to tell the difference between the two. If you had no sense of smell, you would describe the taste of both as "sweet," but not be able to describe their different features.56
The reason is that we need our sense of smell to be able to perceive the taste of anything we eat, and cannot fully appreciate the flavor of anything without smelling it. What makes something pleasant to eat is the combination of both its taste and aroma. Researchers emphasize this by saying that taste is 75% smell.57
As we know, appetizing smells encourage people to eat and drink. Indeed, people who lose their sense of smell have no great desire for food.58 Remember times when you had a cold or the flu? Your meals had no flavor at such times because scent molecules failed to reach the scent preceptors—for which reason your sense of smell was temporarily lost.
To make this easier to understand, blindfold friends and block up their nostrils, and then ask them to place first, a slice of potato and next, a slice of apple on their tongues. Your friends will be unable to tell which is which, because both cause a mild sweet sensation. It is possible for your friends to give the right answer only if they start chewing, because that will release scent particles that float up through the back of the mouth to reach the scent region in the nose. Potato and apple will then become apparent.
Noteworthy too is that the mouth and nose are ideally positioned in the human body, in very close proximity to one another. An air passage connects the scent perception zone in the nose to the oral cavity. Were it not for that connection and that proximity, or if the scent receptors were located in another part of the body, what would happen?
Any alteration to the current state of affairs would mean a major loss of taste perception, because the mouth, nose and scent perceptors have been created in exactly the right form and locations.
Indeed, it is revealed in the Qur'an that God created human beings within a particular order:
O man! What has deluded you in respect of your Noble Lord? He Who created you and formed you and proportioned you and assembled you in whatever way He willed. (Surat al-Infitar: 6-8)
To summarize, the concept we define as "flavor" is a combination of taste and smell. Therefore, if we had no sense of smell, our sense of taste would have little purpose. In order to perceive flavors, we need the scent receptors in the nose just as much as taste preceptors on the tongue.
No doubt the cooperation between the organs and senses for taste and smell results from a special design. It is perfectly commonplace for conscious humans to agree to work towards some common objective. But similar cooperation among billions of cells devoid of any intelligence of consciousness can be explained in only one way: it is God, the Lord of the worlds, Who placed them at the service of humans and Who keeps them under His control at all moments.
46. G. Ohloff, Scent and Fragrances, Berlin, Heidelberg: Springer-Verlag, , 1994, p.6.: http://www.leffingwell.com/olfaction.htm
47. A.I. Spielman, J.G. Brand, andW. Yan, "Chemosensory Systems," Encyclopedia of Life Sciences, June 2000.
48. Michael Meredith, The Vomeronasal Organ, Florida State University, 2001,: http://www.neuro.fsu.edu/research/vomer.htm.
49. Tim Jacob, "Olfaction," 2001, http://www.cf.ac.uk/biosi/staff/jacob/teaching/sensory/olfact1.html.
50. Frank Zufall and Trese Leinders-Zufall, "The Cellular and Molecular Basis of Odor Adaptation," Chemical Senses 25, Oxford University Press, 2000, pp.473-481.
51. R.S. Herz, T. Engen, "Odor memory: review and analysis," Psychonomic Bulletin and Review 3, 1996, no. 3, pp.300-313. http://www.macalester.edu/~psych/whatap/UBNRP/Smell/memory.html
52. Tim Jacob, "Olfaction," 2001, http://www.cf.ac.uk/biosi/staff/jacob/teaching/sensory/olfact1.html.
53. R.S. Herz and T. Engen, "Odor memory: review and analysis," Psychonomic Bulletin and Review 3, 1996, no. 3, pp.300-313.
54. Tim Jacob, "Olfaction," 2001, http://www.cf.ac.uk/biosi/staff/jacob/teaching/sensory/olfact1.html
55. Selçuk Alsan, "Yemeklerin Tad›, Kokusu," Bilim ve Teknik (The Smell and Taste of Foods, Science and Technique)February 1999, pp.98-99.
56. Disorders of Smell, Macalester College, 2001, http://www.macalester.edu/~psych/whathap/UBNRP/Smell/disorders.html.
57. Tim Jacob, "Olfaction," 2001, http://www.cf.ac.uk/biosi/staff/jacob/teaching/sensory/olfact1.html.
58. "Nutrition and Appetite," Monell Chemical Senses Center, 1998, http://www.monell.org/


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- Marussia news
Bianchi replaces Razia at Marussia
- Drivers:
- Jules Bianchi
- |
- Luiz Razia
- Teams:
- Manor
Jules Bianchi has been handed a race seat at Marussia after the team terminated Luiz Razia's contract.
Razia was only named one of Marussia's drivers at the opening pre-season test at Jerez, but after completing two days of running he didn't appear for the team at the second test in Barcelona last week amid rumours of issues with his funding. It appears those issues have not been resolved and the team has now turned to Bianchi, who this week lost out on a drive with Force India.
"We're pleased to announce that we've appointed Jules Bianchi to a race seat," the team announced on Twitter. "This follows the termination of our contract with Luiz Razia."
Bianchi will drive for Marussia on Saturday in Barcelona and said he was "thrilled" to be given the opportunity.
"I am thrilled to have secured a race seat with the Marussia F1 Team," Bianchi said. "Racing in Formula 1 this season has been my goal over the winter and after evaluating a number of options I am very excited to have this opportunity to demonstrate that I am ready for this next step in my racing career.
"I am also very grateful to the Ferrari Driver Academy that has always supported me and has given me the possibility to mature as a racing driver enabling me to be fully prepared for this new exciting challenge. The next two weeks of preparation for the season will be incredibly busy but I am ready to get started tomorrow with my first day in the MR02."
Marussia team principal John Booth said the decision to replace Razia was taken in order for the team to secure its long-term future.
"We are very pleased to welcome Jules Bianchi to the Marussia F1 Team," he said. "Jules is a proven talent who is highly regarded within the Paddock. He has been on a clear trajectory towards Formula 1 and has achieved some impressive performances through the various feeder formulae, notably his 2012 season in Formula Renault 3.5 when he was also Reserve Driver for Force India. He is part of the Ferrari Driver Academy and his obvious pedigree put him on the radar for a number of teams over the winter as a driver ready to step up to Formula 1.
"We have found ourselves in a situation where we have had to terminate our contract with Luiz Razia. Having made clear the basis on which we must operate in 2013, and given the steps we had taken to put that new structure in place, we had no alternative but to remain true to the principles which we had identified as being key to securing our long-term future.
"We can now focus on the remainder of the testing programme and preparing for what looks to be a promising season for our Team. Jules can now look forward to a very swift initiation into the Team over the course of the next two days here in Barcelona, when he is expected to run for one and a half days to afford both our drivers some dry running with the latest aero specification."


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Pornchai Mittongtare
Repeated salting and rinsing give this shrimp a firm texture that's said to be crystal-like. Serve with steamed rice.
- Yield
- Makes 4 servings
- 1 pound uncooked medium shrimp, peeled, deveined
- 2 1/4 teaspoons salt, divided
- 1 large egg white
- 1 tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon cornstarch
- 1/4 cup low-salt chicken broth
- 2 tablespoons Shaoxing wine (Chinese rice wine) or dry Sherry
- 1 teaspoon Asian sesame oil
- 1/4 teaspoon ground white pepper
- 4 cups peanut oil or vegetable oil
- 1/2 cup (1-inch-long pieces) green onions
- 4 quarter-size slices peeled fresh ginger, crushed with side of heavy large knife
- 3/4 cup frozen green peas, thawed
- Place shrimp in colander; rinse under cold running water. Drain. Sprinkle 1 teaspoon salt over shrimp; stir 1 minute. Rinse under cold running water again; drain. Repeat with shrimp and 1 teaspoon salt. Rinse and drain well. Transfer shrimp to several layers of paper towels and pat dry. Whisk egg white, 1 tablespoon cornstarch, and remaining 1/4 teaspoon salt in medium bowl; stir until shrimp are coated with batter. Cover and chill at least 1 hour and up to 3 hours.
- Whisk broth, rice wine, sesame oil, white pepper, and remaining 1 teaspoon cornstarch in small bowl; set aside.
- Attach deep-fry thermometer to side of 14-inch-diameter flat-bottomed wok or heavy large deep saucepan. Pour 4 cups oil into wok or saucepan and heat over medium-high heat until thermometer registers 375°F. Using slotted spoon, add shrimp (with batter clinging to surface) in batches of 5 or 6; cook just until shrimp turn pink, stirring and separating any that stick together, about 30 seconds. Using slotted spoon, transfer shrimp to plate. Transfer 1 tablespoon oil from wok to small bowl and reserve. Carefully pour remaining oil from wok into metal bowl (reserve for another use). Wash and dry wok.
- Heat same wok or heavy large skillet over high heat until drop of water evaporates on contact. Add reserved 1 tablespoon oil and swirl. Add green onions and ginger; stir 10 seconds. Add shrimp and peas. Stir in broth mixture; stir-fry until shrimp are just opaque in center and sauce coats shrimp, about 30 seconds. Transfer to bowl and serve.
Related Video
Nutritional Info
- Calories2056
- Carbohydrates10 g(3%)
- Fat219 g(336%)
- Protein18 g(37%)
- Saturated Fat37 g(185%)
- Sodium944 mg(39%)
- Polyunsaturated Fat70 g
- Fiber2 g(7%)
- Monounsaturated Fat101 g
- Cholesterol143 mg(48%)


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cbaker_admin wrote:It appears that that GUID belongs to something called "myBabylon english toolbar". Is this something you purposely installed? If not, see this page for removal instructions.
BTW, you posted this in the "FEBE 6 Themes compatibility" topic. It really belongs elsewhere and I will move it when resolved.
Yes it is something I installed, and a handy thing, if I leave it in does it impede the backup of anything else? If it doesn't then I won't worry about it.
I wasn't sure where the post belonged to, for one thing because I wasn't sure if it was a theme that was causing that error.


text:
Desperate Dad Offers $120 Million for Man to Marry His Lesbian Daughter [VIDEO]
This is the most ridiculous arranged marriage ever.
And there isn't even a groom involved yet.
Cecil Chao Sze-tsung, a property magnate in Hong Kong, has doubled a dowry for the lucky man who marries his lesbian daughter to a whopping $120 million.
Chao claims he only has good intentions:
I don't want to interfere with my daughter's private life. I only hope for her to have a good marriage and children as well as inherit my business."
The previous price of $60 million in 2012 roped in 20,000 eager men, but none of them fit the rather large bill being offered.
Chao's daughter, Gigi, 33, is an activist in the LGBT community, founding a gay rights group. She's been with her partner for nine years. Both women have reportedly begged her father to stop putting a price on her hand in marriage.
Gigi has gone on record criticizing the payout:
I don't think my dad's offering of any amount of money would be able to attract a man I would find attractive. Alternatively, I would be happy to befriend any man willing to donate huge amounts of money to my charity... provided they don't mind that I already have a wife.
Amazingly, Gigi and her dad work together for his company:
I understand that he loves me, it's just he's from another time and it's difficult for him to understand the plight of the LGBT [community]. At the office it's business as usual. At family gatherings we hug and dance. And we just agree to disagree on what marriage is and family is."
There's no word on whether Chao is willing to up the ante again, but at the rate he's going he's going to shell out the most money for someone from an Asian country not named Masahiro Tanaka.


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text:
There once was someone I admired
Who stood by my side
In times of all, with no hesitation
There never was doubt
To take which road, despite
The many crisscrosses encountered.
Gone are those days
Of assurance and confidence
As I look in the mirror to see none.
Little by little she left my side
Her departure was never sudden
Only I failed to realize the transition
From the cheerful girl to the distressed woman
Changes someone else not aware of
But glaring at me, grueling my soul,
Questioning my integrity,
Faded into the oblivion,
A mystery of sorts,
Tearing my being,
Leaving behind a body,
a cloak, or a mere shadow.
I want to go back to who I was
Staring into the nothingness I long
A nostalgia hence born!
Linking with Day 2 of Write Tribe Pro Blogger Challenge prompt – Nostalgia and Friday Reflections.


text:
That's right.
The GS3 has returned - for a limited engagement.
I'm writing an article for Barista Magazine, and needed a very flexible and very solid test-bed machine for the article. Given the requirements, there were few (very few) options. When I told Kent and Bill about what I was doing - they offered the machine.
Very cool.
Actually... the GS3 has not only returned - it has returned in an improved manner. There are some changes to steaming that are pretty profound. I can now choose a wand tip, there is no syphoning, steaming is far faster and smoother... it's all good stuff. In addition, there are some changes to temp control that seem to be providing even better (!) stability.
I'm loving the machine - all over again.
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text:
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Revista geológica de Chile
versión impresa ISSN 0716-0208
Rev. geol. Chile v.35 n.1 Santiago ene. 2008
Revista Geológica de Chile 35 (1): 163-173. January, 2008
A Late Pleistocene macrobenthic assemblage in Caleta Patillos, northern Chile: paleoecological and paleobiogeographical interpretations
Un ensamble macrobéntico del Pleistoceno Tardío en Caleta Patillos, norte de Chile: interpretaciones paleoecológicas y paleobiogeográflcas
Marcelo M. Rivadeneira1, Erico R. Carmona2
1 Centro de Estudios Avanzados en Zonas Áridas (CEAZA) y Facultad de Ciencias del Mar, Departamento de Biología Marina, Universidad Católica del Norte, Larrondo 1281, P.O. Box 117, Coquimbo, Chile. mrivadeneira@ucn. cl .
2 Departament de Genética i de Microbiología, Facultat de Biociéncies, Universitat Autónoma de Barcelona, Campus Bellaterra 08193 Cerdanyola del Valles, Barcelona, Spain. Erico. firstname.lastname@example.com .
In the present study, we describe and analyze the structure of a Late Pleistocene (likely last interglacial) marine macrobenthic assemblage in Caleta Patillos (20°45'S, 70°12'W), northern Chile. A taphonomic analysis suggests the existence of a shallow subtidal paleonvironment, mainly soft-bottom, of high energy and intense mixing from several benthic habitats. The total number of 38 taxa recorded, mainly gastropods and bivalves, was not different than the ones reported in other Late Pleistocene assemblages in northern Chile. At a biogeographic scale, the composition of mo Husk species showed remarkable similarities with present-day fauna, and no extralimital species were recorded. At local scale, however, a comparison with the living assemblage in the same area of study showed a dramatic shift in the species' composition, a result that cannot be explained by sampling bias. A deep and perhaps very recent (i.e., at historical times) alteration of the structure of local macrobenthic assemblages is hypothesized.
Keywords: Late Pleistocene, Fossil assemblage, Caleta Patillos, Mollusks, Northern Chile.
En este trabajo se describe y analiza la estructura de un ensamble fósil marino macrobentónico del Pleistoceno Tardío (posiblemente último interglacial) en Caleta Patillos, norte de Chile (20°45'S, 70°12'O). Un análisis tafonómico sugiere la existencia de un ambiente de depositación submareal somero, primariamente de fondo blando, de alta energía, e intensa mezcla de especies desde varios tipos de habitats bentónicos. El total de 38 taxa identificados, correspondientes en su mayoría a especies de moluscos, gastrópodos y bivalvos, no fue distinto de lo registrado en otros ensambles pleistocénicos tardíos en el norte de Chile. A una escala biogeográfica, la composición del ensamble de moluscos mostró notables similitudes con la fauna actual, y no se registraron especies extralimitales. A una escala local, sin embargo, una comparación con el ensamble viviente en el mismo sitio de estudio mostró una dramática alteración en la composición de especies, un resultado que no puede ser explicado por sesgos de muestreo. Se plantea una profunda y quizás muy reciente (i.e., en tiempos históricos) alteración en la estructura de los ensambles macrobentónicos locales.
Palabras claves: Pleistoceno Tardío, Ensamble fósil, Caleta Patillos, Moluscos, Norte de Chile.
1. Introduction
Although the first studies of macrofossil assemblages in northern Chile can be dated to Charles Darwin (1846) and Rodulfo Philippi (1887), the bases of the modern knowledge of marine Quaternary fauna in the region can be attributed to Dietrich Herm and his seminal monograph (Herm, 1969). A plethora of studies done by Luc Ortlieb and colleagues (Ortlieb et al, 1990, 1994, 1995, 1997a, 1997b; Paskoff et al, 1995; Guzman et al., 2000) in the last decade have provided a much more complete picture of the structure of Quaternary mollusk faunas represented in the last four interglacial periods.
The mollusk assemblages described for the last interglacial period, -85-125 Kyr BP, reveal large similarities in the species' composition with the modern counterparts in the region (Ortlieb et al., 1994, 1995; Guzman et al, 2000). However, those studies have been geographically concentrated between 22° and 30°S in Chile, and ca. ~17°S in Perú (Ortlieb et al, 1990, 1994, 1995; Guzman et al, 2000), leaving a large gap of -500 km between Ilo, Perú and Mejillones, in northern Chile, completely unstudied. The structure of the local assemblages in the gap region might not be the same that the one found in known sites, due to the relatively uniform topography of the coast, with very few and only small embayments, and a predominance of wave-exposed environments (Brattstrom and Johanssen, 1983; Camus, 2001). Therefore, filling this gap might be crucial to fully understand the spatial-temporal patterns exhibited by past benthic assemblages. Indeed, it has been hypothesized, but not yet tested, that there was a past biogeographic break ~18°S (Ortlieb et al, 1994) within the gap area. Radtke (1989) and Rivadeneira (2005) confirmed the presence of late Pleistocene and Holocene marine terraces in the region of Iquique, but to date no single study has described the existing macro-faunal assemblages.
The studies of the Quaternary mollusk assemblages in the region have used species inventories to infer paleoceanographic conditions (Ortlieb et al, 1994, 1995, 1996). However, the description of other key attributes of the local assemblage, as species relative abundances, and detailed accounts of paleoenvironmental conditions, have been less explored (e.g., Herm, 1969). Indeed, taphonomic studies offer a great potential to reconstruct past environments (Kidwell and Bosence, 1991) and to analyze patterns of species relative abundances in the fossil record (Kidwell, 1998, 2001). The great preservation potential of the Quaternary fossil assemblages of northern Chile represents an excellent opportunity to apply these ideas and increase our understanding of the structure and dynamics of local assemblages through evolutionary timescales. In the present study we describe a Late Pleistocene marine macrobenthic assemblage in Caleta Patillos, in the previously unstudied region of Iquique. Our goals are: a. to describe the composition of the macrobenthic assemblage, b. to characterize the main taphonomic features of the assemblage and c. to evaluate the paleoecological and paleobio-geographic implications of our findings. We show that the combination of the traditional generation of species inventories combined with estimations of species relative abundances lead to more robust interpretations about the structure and dynamics of the past assemblages.
1.1. Methods
1.1.1. Data collection
The sampling was carried out in July 2004 in a marine terrace located at Caleta Patillos (20°45'S, 70°12'W, 12 m a.s.l., Fig. 1). Atotal of 20 samples of ca. 11 were taken. Bulk samples were obtained from the upper 25 cm of the sediment, and sieved in situ using a 2 mm standard sieve. Each sample was individually analyzed in laboratory. Fossil individuals were identified to the lowest taxonomic level possible, based on authorities: Ramorino (1968), Herm (1969), Keen (1971), Marincovich (1973), Larrain (1975), Ramirez (1993), Guzman et al. (1998), Reid and Osorio (2000), Espoz et al. (2004), and all individuals present in the sample were counted. In the case of bivalves, we assumed that individual valves corresponded to different individuals (e.g., Todd et al, 2001). In the case of highly fragmented remains, when it was not possible to count individuals, we recorded the presence of species/taxa in the sample.
Since the quality of preservation of some taxa was low, and only fragments were recovered, their individual abundance could not be estimated directly. In order to circumvent this problem, we used their relative occurrence as a proxy of the total number of individuals. Considering that the relationship between species abundance and occupancy is a very widespread phenomena in both ecological and fossil assemblages (Gastón and Blackburn, 2000; Buzas and Culver, 2001), the use of sampling occurrence data as a proxy of total species abundance is very advisable. In fact, for a subset of 31 species, the occurrence across samples is a very good predictor of the total number of individuals recorded (number of individuals=0.9173*numberof samplesL411S, r2=0.93, pO.001, n=31). Therefore, the occurrence of species across samples can be considered as a reliable estimator of their abundance. Since recent advances in the study of taphonomic processes indicate that relative abundance of fossil remains might be atrae reflection of the original living assemblage (Kidwell, 2001), the observed patterns of dominance are likely to be true.
1.1.2. Age of the assemblage
Although we do not have a direct age estimation of the site, several lines of evidence suggest a Late Pleistocene, probably last interglacial age. For instance, Th/U and ESR radiometric dating done by Radtke (1989) in a marine terrace at Playa Blanca, located only ~45 km north of the study site, revealed ages of 96.400-118.000 BPforasameheight(12mas.l.). Local tectonic events were not evident. Similarly, several terraces in the zones of Antofagasta and Mejillones have yielded last interglacial ages for similar heights (Radtke, 1987, 1989; Ortlieb et al, 1995). Thus, a preliminary last interglacial assignation for the site seems well supported.
1.1.3. Taphonomic analysis
We analyzed the main taphonomic features of the fossil assemblage in order to reconstruct pa-leoenvironment conditions, and the post-mortem processes affecting macrofossils. On the one hand, species were classified according to their known modernbathymetric distribution (intertidal, subtidal, both) and type of substrate (hard, soft bottom, both), based on literature information (Ramorino, 1968; Marinco-vich, 1973; Keen, 1971; Ramirez, 1993; Guzman et al., 1998; Reid and Osorio, 2000). On the other hand, we estimated the proportion of left/ right valves of Mulinia edulis (King and Broderip), the dominant species in the assemblage (see Table 1) as an indic-ator of the energy or transport in the post-mortem paleoenvironment (Feige and Fursich 1991). Departures from a null expectation (using a Chi-square test) caribe used to infer high energy postmortem environments (Feige and Fürsich, 1991).
1.1.4. Diversity of the assemblage
The quality of species inventory was assessed using a rarefaction analysis (Estimates, Colwell, 2005), based on occurrence data. The same data was used to estimate the 'true' richness, using the Chao 2 extrapolation index (Colwell, 2005). The richness and composition of gastropod and bivalve species were compared with other Late Pleistocene assemblages of southern Perú and northern Chile using previously reported studies (Ortlieb et al, 1990, 1994, 1995). This restriction was made since these two taxa are the best studied, and hence, the most comparable.
The mollusk species composition was also compared with present-day assemblages, at two different spatial scales: i) regional and ii) local. First, to evaluate regional-scale (biogeographic) changes in the composition we used the modern latitudinal distribution reported for each species in the literature (see references in Data collection). In particular we evaluated the presence of species with present-day latitudinal ranges not overlying the study area, the so-called 'extralimitáis' (sensu Roy et al, 1995). A large presence of extralimitáis in the fossil assemblage could be used as an indication of biogeographic, large-scale changes in the composition of assemblages. Second, we compared the species composition of the fossil mollusk assemblage with the mollusk species recorded presently in the same study area. The species list was obtained by a recent monitoring (Universidad Arturo Prat1) that covered different shallow benthic habitats (rocky intertidal, rocky subtidal, soft subtidal), so the inventory canbe considered as an exhaustive account of the present-day mollusk diversity in the study site. The similarity in species composition was assessed with the widely used Jaccard index. In order to control for possible preservation bias, we performed the analysis only with those present-day species that have been recorded in the Quaternary fossil record of the Southeastern Pacific (obtained from an exhaustive literature review). Since differences in the total number of species recorded in both assemblages (derived by an incomplete sampling) may also bias the analysis, we performed a simply numerical experiment in order to get a species number-corrected Jaccard estimation. This was done by randomly taking 29 species (the number of mollusk species in the fossil assemblage) from the present-day inventory which was compared with the fossil assemblage, obtaining a new estimationof the Jaccard index. The procedure was repeated 1,000 times. The resulting distribution of simulated values was used to construct a 95% confidence interval of Jaccard values.
2. Results and Discussion
The assemblage corresponds to a mixture of species inhabiting several bathymetric levels (inter and subtidal) and substrates (hard and soft-bottoms) (Table 1). The in situ observations showed that individuals were not in living position. Furthermore, no single articulated bivalve individual was found. Most of species (62%) correspond to species in-habiting both inter and subtidal stands, representing a mixture of soft and hard-bottom environments. The proportion of left/right valves biased, with a predominance of right valves (ratio L/R=0.67), which is marginally different from the random expectation (X2=3.74,g.l=l,p=0.053).
The ecological features of the described macro-fauna suggest the existence of a shallow subtidal paleonvironment. However, the presence of several taxa inhabiting hard-bottom intertidal and subtidal stands indicates an important degree of horizontal and vertical transportation of shells, suggesting a 'mixed assemblage' (auto/allochthonous) (Kidwell andBosence, 1991; Kidwell, 1998). In addition, the absence of articulated bivalves, and the lack of individuals in living position indicate a time-averaged assemblage (Kidwell and Bosence, 1991; Kidwell, 1998). This has important implications for both paleoecological and paleobiogeographical interpretations. First, this implies that comparison with present-day assemblages should be done with caution, since species from several habitats (and therefore, several assemblages) are being pooled in a single assemblage. Second, although some habitat-specific signatures might be lost in these mixed assemblages, the among-habitat pooling provides a very good picture of the overall coastal benthic biodiversity patterns, encompassing temporal scales of 100's or 1,000's of years (as suggested by the time-averaging, Kidwell, 1998), highly desirable by synoptic biogeo-graphical and macroecological analyses.
The taphonomic analysis also indicates the existence of a high energy paleoenvironment (i.e., wave exposed) based on: i) the great fragmentation of fossil material; ii) bias in the proportion of left/ right valves of M. edulis (e.g., Feige and Fürsich. 1991) and iii) the presence of several taxa inhabiting in wave exposed rocky intertidal habitats. The inner matrix is rich in cobbles and irregular stones, which also suggest paleoenvironments with a high potential of shell fragmentation. Further support to our paleonvironmental interpretation is given by the high occurrence (i.e., in 80% of samples) of remains of the large barnacle Austromegabalanus psittacus (Molina) and of the sea urchin cf Tetrapygus ni-ger (Molina), two species typically associated to wave exposed areas in shallow hard bottom stands.
The species accumulation curve showed evidence of an incomplete saturation (Fig. 2). Thus, the total 38 taxa recorded (Table 2) should be considered as a non-exhaustive list. Indeed, a non-parametric extrapolation indicates that further sampling would increase the species inventory inca. 44% (Chao 2=55 species, SD=7). Most of the recorded species belong to gastropods (55%, 21 outof 38) andbivalves (29%, 11 out of 38). Othertaxa, including 2 chitons, 1 crustacean and 1 echinoid, were also recorded, but they comprised less than 13% of total richness and 15% of relative abundance. For the best represented taxa, gastropod and bivalves, the total 32 putative species recorded are not different from the mean 37 species (SD=13) recorded across 11 Late Pleistocene sites (likely of similar age to Patillos, Ortlieb et al., 1994) in the area of Antofagasta (t test, t=1.366, d.f.=10, P=0.20). The richness is even higher than the repor-tedforthe site of Michilla (Ortlieb etal, 1995), only ca. 200 km south Caleta Patillos. Furthermore, the extrapolated mollusk richness (Chao 2=44, SD=9) is quite similar to the modern richness recorded in the same site (42 species), contrary to the idea that the richness was higher during last interglacial (Ortlieb et al., 1994). However, these comparisons shouldbe interpreted with caution since differences in sampling effort are not being considered.
From a total of 29 gastropod and bivalve taxa recognized up to species level, 27 (93%) have been previously recorded in other Pleistocene terraces in northern Chile and southern Perú (Table 1). This fact is not surprising given the large amount of pa-leontological information collected during the last ~35 yr in northern Chile (Herm, 1969; Ortlieb et al., 1994,1995,1996,1997a, 1997b; Guzman et al, 2000). Although estimations of the completeness of mollusk inventories are not yet available (e.g., Valentine, 1989; Cooper et al, 2006), preliminary results for bivalves in northern Chile show that -46% of modern species described for the coastal shelf (<200 m depth) are present in the fossil record. This value is rather low compared to other well-studied regions (e.g., California, -80%, Valentine, 1989), suggesting that further paleontológica! surveys, particularly oriented to find small-sized forms (Valentine, 1989; Coopere et al, 2006) may expand the mollusk species inventories in the region.
The composition of mollusk species in the fossil assemblage showed similarities and differences with its modern counterpart, depending on the scale of analysis. On the one hand, no major change was evident at a biogeographic scale: from the total species recorded, none can be considered as extralimital (Fig. 3). Perhaps the only species that deserve a more detailed consideration are Scu-rria scurra (Lesson), M. edulis, and Choromytilus chorus (Molina). The modern northern limit of distribution of S. scurra has been placed at -24° S (Espoz et al, 2004), -300 km south of the study site. However, this limit was set only recently, after the colossal ENSO 1982/83, when the populations of the brown algae Lessonia nigrescens Bory (the exclusive habitat of S. scurra) were devastated (Espoz et al, 2004). Previous to the ENSO 1982/83, the northern limit of the species was placed at ~10°S, in the center Peruvian coast (Espoz et al, 2004). The extinction of S. scurra seems to be part of a transient dynamic operating at an ecological timescale, and it does not likely imply a real range contraction at an evolutionary timescale. Indeed, there are indications of recovery of the northern range of distribution (M.M. Rivadeneira, personal observations). M. edulis and C. chorus have been considered as extinct in northern Chile by previous studies carried out in the last decade (Ortlieb et al, 1994, 1995). Indeed, neitherM. edulis nor C. chorus have been recorded in benthic surveys in northern Chile (Zúñiga et al, 1983; Quiroga et al, 1999; Palma et al, 2005). However, recent findings question the validity of the supposed extinction of these species at the northern region of Chile and southern Peru. C. chorus in currently exploited by local fishermen in Caleta Chipana, southern Iquique2 and its identity has been confirmed by DNA analysis (Galaz, 2005). Furthermore, several persistent populations of M. edulis have been identified in central and southern Perú (Cornejo et al, 2005; O. Cornejo, personal communication 2007). It is uncertain whether these populations are part of a re-colonization process or if they are relicts of past populations, but again, the apparent extinction of both species may be only part of a transient dynamic. Therefore, none of these species can be considered as an extralimital form, and hence a complete similarity in species composition with present-day faunas is concluded.
Our findings are in agreement with the overall paucity of extralimital species in mollusk assemblages of northern Chile during the last interglacial (Ortlieb et al, 1994, 1995; Guzman et al, 2000). This result is not unexpected given the fact that recent paleoceanographic reconstructions in the region suggest only slightly warmer conditions during the last interglacial (Calvo et al, 2001; Molina-Cruz and Herguera, 2002; but see Teusch et al, 2002). However, the absence of extralimital species in the zone is not surprising given the fact that the study area, as well as all other Pleistocene sites previously studied, are far from the known biogeographic breakpoints of the southeastern Pacific mollusk fauna (i.e., ~5°S, and ~42°S, Fig. 3; Brattstrom and Johanssen, 1983; Camus, 2001). Therefore, possible migration events at scales of 100's and even 1,000's km associated to changes in paleoceanographic and or paleoecological conditions simply might not have been appreciated in northern Chile (e.g., Roy, 2001). The corollary is that simple regional-level species inventories can not be used to assess the stability of local assemblages during Pleistocene in the region, and moreover its use as paleoceanographic proxies should be treated with more caution.
In contrast to the biogeographic analysis, the local-scale analysis revealed a quite different picture about the stability of the mollusk assemblage (Tables 1 and 2). Only 14 species were recorded in both fossil and modern assemblages. 52% of species in the fossil assemblage (15 out of 29) were not detected in its modern counterpart. In parallel, 67% of present-day species (28 out of 42) were not detected in the fossil assemblage (Table 2), although this value may be somewhat inflated by the incompleteness of the record (see Fig. 1). Low values for the Jaccard index (J=0.25) suggest a major change in the composition of the local assemblage. Even if we remove the apparent colonizers (species present in the modernbutnot in the fossil assemblage) from the analysis, Jaccard values are low (J=0.48). The numerical experiment, indeed, revealed that even after corrected by differences in species richness, the estimated values of similarity remained very low (95% CI bootstrapped Jaccard values, 0.24-0.41). All these lines of evidence strongly suggest that sampling incompleteness cannot explain the large difference in species composition. This faunal change is consistent with a large change in the species relative abundance noticed in other areas of northern Chile (Ortlieb et al, 1994). Therefore, even though the species composition may have remained relatively stable at a regional-scale, a much deeper variation in the structure and organization of local assemblages is hypothesized.
The lack of inertia in the species composition/ species relative abundance is often reported at evolutionary timescales in different taxa and systems (see DiMichele et al., 2004 for a review), but the underlying processes are much less known (DiMichele et al, 2004; McGill et al., 2005). Given the fact that we are comparing two single points in time, and we do not know the exact time when such changes occurred, a certain identification of possible causes driving the faunal turnover is quite difficult. A number of paleoceanographic conditions showed dramatic variations since the last interglacial in the region, including sea surface temperature (Calvo et al, 2001; Molina-Cruz and Herguera, 2002; Kim et al, 2002), primary productivity (Dezileau et al, 2004; Mohtadi and Hebbeln, 2004; Mohtadi et al, 2004), ENSO intensity (Sandweiss, 2003; Sandweiss etal, 1996, 2001; Carre et al, 2005), and ancient human harvesting (Llagostera, 1979; Jerardino et al, 1992). However, some indications suggest that the faunal turnover may have occurred, atleastinpart, very recently, only afew thousands or even hundreds years ago. A statistical analysis of the faunal composition of Late Pleistocene (MIS 5) and Holocene (7 ka) assemblages at the Michilla site (see table 2.2.1 in Ortlieb et al, 1995) revealed a remarkable similarity (J=0.88), suggesting that in spite of all environmental chances experienced during last glacial-interglacial cycle, local assemblages remained qualitatively invariant. In addition, archeological analyses show the presence of M edulis and C. chorus in shell middens in different cultural complexes of southern Peru and northern Chile during the first centuries B.C. (Silverman, 1988; Uribe, 2006). Therefore, the loss of these 'core' species, and for extension the structure of the entire assemblage, may have occurred only in very recent times (e.g., a few decades or centuries ago), perhaps similar to that observed in other marine ecosystems (Jackson, 2001; Jackson et al, 2001; Pandolfi et al, 2003; Worm et al, 2006). The exact timing of these events remains, however, unsolved. Larger dataseis, encompassing broader geographic and temporal scales are needed to really uncover the patterns and process regulating the structure and dynamics of Quaternary macrobenthic assemblages at the Southeastern Pacific coast.
1 Universidad Arturo Prat, 2003. Comunidades bentónicas de Punta Patillos. In Evaluación de impacto ambiental Terminal 2, Puerto Patillos, I Región, Chile. Available and published at: http://www.e-seia.cl. p. 40-69.
2 Vargas, A.; Cortés, G.; Hudson, C.;Tapia, J.; Robles, R. 2004. Informe de Seguimiento 1, Área de Manejo Chipana, sector A, Iquique, Primera Región (unpublished report). SUBPESCA, 20 p.+ anexos.
We deeply thank M. Pinto (Compañía Minera Punta de Lobos S.A.), P. Duran (Arcadis-Geotecnia Consultores), PA. Marquet (Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile) for their logistical support. LP. Bruna (Monasterio & Bello Consultores), J. A. Prieto (Universitat Autónoma de Barcelona), M. J. Rivadeneira (UniversitatPompeuFabra), M.N. Duk (Universitat Autónoma de Barcelona), and S.M. Duk (Universitat Autónoma de Barcelona) provided constant encouragement. Valuable information was kindly provided by A. Vargas (Promar Pacifico Ltda.), O. Cornejo (Universidad Nacional Mayor de San Marcos, Perú), M. Uribe (Universidad de Chile) and J. Valenzuela (Universidad de Chile). The cogent comments and suggestions provided by L. Ortlieb (Instituí de Recherche pour le Développement, France), D. Frassinetti (Museo Nacional de Historia Natural, Chile) and E. Pérez (Servicio Nacional de Geología y Minería, Chile) contributed greatly to improve the manuscript. This work was partially funded by a doctoral grant of CONICYTAT-24040005 to MMR.
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Manuscript received: September 21, 2006; accepted: June 6, 2007.


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Today: Reports aplenty about Apple's upcoming changes, Tesla Motors is banned from New Jersey, and a trio of big hires in Silicon Valley.
The Lead: Apple reported to be planning changes to Maps app, iTunes and iPhone
Apple keeps its plans for the future tightly under wraps, but that has never stopped the media and analysts from reporting on future changes to its core services and products, including a trio of Tuesday reports that suggested changes ahead for Cupertino company's mobile operating system, iTunes entertainment service and the iPhone.
While Apple just released the first major update to its refreshed iOS 7 mobile operating system on Monday, Mark Gurman of 9to5Mac reported Tuesday that the company is looking toward iOS 8 to add new information to its widely derided Maps application. The report suggests that Apple will include directions for traveling by public transit, a feature that many urban dwellers rely on with Google Maps.
"Using data acquired via acquisitions and various partnerships, transit will be deeply integrated into the new maps application," Gurman wrote.
Apple Maps has suffered a rough beginning since replacing Google Maps as the default mapping application on the iPhone, with complaints of shoddy directions leading to an apology from CEO Tim Cook and loud applause from users when Google Maps reappeared in Apple's App store.
Apple's maps may be more visible when the new iPhone is released later this year, as a variety of reports has suggested that the iPhone 6 will have a larger screen to match popular Android "phablets" that have stolen market share from Apple. Pacific Crest Securities analyst Andy Hargreaves joined in the chorus predicting such a move Tuesday, and said that the move would help Apple lure back some customers it has lost to smartphones using Google's mobile operating system.
"We believe Apple can sell a 4.7″ iPhone at a subsidized price of $299, which should generate incremental gross profit on replacement sales and attract new customers that had previously purchased Android phones specifically for a larger screen," Hargreaves wrote, predicting that it could add $4 per share to Apple's annual profits.
Emboldened by his prediction of higher profits, Hargreaves upgraded Apple to the equivalent of a "Buy" rating, and boosted his price target to $635; Apple gained 1 percent Tuesday despite overall Wall Street struggles, closing at $536.09.
One of Apple's largest and most profitable businesses is software and services, namely its iTunes and App Store offerings, a $16 billion business in the company's 2013 fiscal year that Hargreaves predicts will produce the second highest chunk of Apple's 2014 profits, after the iPhone. Apple sees a weakness in the music-sales business of iTunes, however, according to the Los Angeles Times, which reported Monday evening that the company will seek to negotiate an exclusive window for album sales before they launch on streaming services.
The Times reported that Apple's sales of new music dipped 12 percent year-over-year in the first 8 weeks of 2014, in line with a 13 percent decline in digital album sales tracked by Nielsen SoundScan. In response, Apple is talking with labels about an exclusive window, similar to movies, which release on DVD months before they become available on HBO, Netflix and comparable offerings.
That move would present a challenge to Apple's streaming competition, namely Oakland-based Pandora Media and Spotify. Apple's iTunes Radio streaming-music service is able to find and play music purchased through its store, which could allow it to bypass such a rule. Pandora, which has struggled since detailing a stall in the growth of its service last week, dropped another 4.7 percent to $34.21 Tuesday.
SV150 market report: Tesla booted from N.J., trio of new Silicon Valley hires
Apple's gain was out of the ordinary Tuesday, as Wall Street indexes dropped after a record-breaking week, and Silicon Valley companies followed suit while Tesla Motors was losing a fight to stay open in New Jersey.
Palo Alto electric car maker Tesla has been fighting campaigns from entrenched car dealerships in a variety of states, but it lost in New Jersey on Tuesday after the New Jersey Motor Vehicle Commission approved a rule that outlaws Tesla's direct-sales model. "Tesla has been allowed to operate for a year and a half, when they shouldn't have been operating at all," Jim Appleton, president of the New Jersey Coalition of Automotive Retailers, told Mercury News reporter Dana Hull on Tuesday. Tesla took to Twitter to rant about the process and New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, and released a blog post that accused Christie's administration of going "outside the legislative process by expediting a rule proposal that would completely change the law in New Jersey." Tesla has two stores in New Jersey and owners have registered 642 Model S sedans in the state; direct sales will have to stop March 31. Tesla stock dropped 1.9 percent to $234.41, its lowest closing price since a huge surge last month.
Silicon Valley's most prominent companies seem to be in a hiring mood, with three new hires announced or reported. Yahoo, which has been caught up in the NSA spying story, hired a vocal critic of U.S. surveillance as its new chief security officer; Twitter hired a former YouTube executive to lead its video efforts; and Hewlett-Packard poached an Alcatel-Lucent executive to lead enterprise sales in the Americas. Yahoo dropped 1.3 percent to $37.56 as eMarketer reported that its display advertising business will grow 2 percent this year, while that lucrative business will expand 24 percent overall. Twitter gained 0.3 percent to $54.02 despite suffering its longest and possibly largest outing since the San Francisco company's IPO, and HP gained a penny to $29.91.
Facebook reached a new intraday record for a second consecutive session, but ended up with a 2.7 percent decline to $70.10 as analysts wonder whether to boost price targets above the Menlo Park company's soaring price. Electronic Arts surged to multiyear highs after the launch of a highly anticipated game, "Titanfall"; shares gained 2 percent to $29.80 despite a rocky start to the online portion of the game. Gilead Sciences fell 0.5 percent to $29.84 after a California panel of medical experts said that the Foster City company's breakthrough hepatitis C treatment is too expensive. Google fell 1 percent to $1,199.99 while facing a lawsuit claiming that its mobile apps make it too easy for children to charge large amounts within a game, an issue that cost Apple millions. Palo Alto-based Jive Software shot up more than 7 percent after Re/Code reported that the collaborative enterprise software company was for sale, but settled down to record a 2.5 percent gain at $8.52.
Up: Zynga, Salesforce, EA, Advanced Micro Devices, Nvidia, Apple, VMware, SanDisk, Twitter, Oracle, HP
Down: Ruckus, Pandora, Juniper, SolarCity, Yelp, Facebook, SunPower, Tesla, Applied Materials, Yahoo, eBay, NetApp, Google, Adobe
The SV150 index of Silicon Valley's largest tech companies: Down 6.51, or 0.42 percent, to 1,562.12
The tech-heavy Nasdaq composite index: Down 27.26, or 0.63 percent, to 4,307.19
The blue chip Dow Jones industrial average: Down 67.43, or 0.41 percent, to 16,351.25
And the widely watched Standard & Poor's 500 index: Down 9.54, or 0.51 percent, to 1,867.63
Check in weekday afternoons for the 60-Second Business Break, a summary of news from Mercury News staff writers, The Associated Press, Bloomberg News and other wire services. Contact Jeremy C. Owens at 408-920-5876; follow him at Twitter.com/jowens510.


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The 4th Edition of MicroMUTEK.ES Closes on a High Note
New venues and formats, sold-out performances and workshops, and a steady rise in attendance point to a successful edition
February 14, 2013
Registering some 5,000 attendees and 90 national and international accredited journalists this year, the festival notably ventured into new venue Estación de Francia, which served as a perfect venue for the festival's audiovisual performance series. Considered by many to be the performance highlight of this edition, Laurel Halo's memorable psychedelic presentation conceived especially for MUTEK.ES started off a week of audiovisual performances in the Estación de Francia's Station Barcelona room, including electrifying presentations by Raime and Kuedo, as well as artists Alba G Corral and Le Révélateur, who performed in a double-bill that highlighted the festival's mandate to reinforce ties between Quebec and Catalunya.
A captive audience was treated to nighttime programming that was entirely sold-out, with highlights from Jon Hopkins, who presented stunning material from his new album, a long-awaited live appearance by The Mole, who's extended 2-hour set rang-in carnival weekend, as well as the 5.1 surround sound of Monolake, which resonated through the well-known halls of the Sala Apollo. Local Marc Piñol stood out with a slow, slick, dark set that set the stage perfectly for the obscure and abstract sounds of Vessel, who brought the Nitsa to a boil. And of course, Jeff Mills brought the festival to a climatic close through nearly 5 hours of continuous, solo performance, presenting his new album Jungle Planet as a world premiere at the Sala Apolo. Over on the RBMA stage in the 2nd room, Clip!, Nautiluss, and Cardopusher provided an alternative sound to Mills' journey, ending up in a back-to-back improv set between the latter two performers.
Headquartered this year at the Convent de Sant Augusti, the festival bolstered its professional activities through talks and workshops that were all well attended. The Sound Design and Sampling workshop presented by RBMA and Microfusa and hosted by Deadbeat and Monolake in particular broke all previous daytime attendance records, taking the packed room on over 3 hours of discussion and exchange on music production. An increased number of visitors from out of town, as well as a captive local audience enjoyed the stunning ambiance of the Convent de Sant Augusti, a historical building who's unique architecture created a vibrant festival meeting ground and also housed the first installations ever to be presented at the festival. Presented over 4 days, this series of interactive installations by mostly local artists assembled works such as Alvaro Muñozledo and Saulo Pisa's "The Pendulum", Boris Chimp 504's "Non Human Device #01", and the "Gengen Visual & Musical Generative Instrument" by Daniel González Franco, Rocio Marquez, Javier Guajardo. The installations drew steady visits from festivalgoers and families alike, and, along with the well-attended Experience workshop program and marketplace event on the festival Saturday ensured a real vitality for the festival's daytime events.
The festival organizers are extremely satisfied with the results of this 4th edition, which consolidated the event's reputation as an incubator and international platform for local creativity. A heartfelt thank you is extended to all participating artists, partners and sponsors, festivalgoers, and especially to the team of 8 dedicated volunteers that made the event possible.
Stay tuned as MUTEK.ES announces a special event at the ElectroSnow festival in Andorra this Easter, its next round of one-off Soirée MUTEK.ES events at the Nitsa Club, as well as a renewed collaboration with Piknic Electronik Barcelona this summer. And see you at the 5th edition of MicroMUTEK.ES in February 2014!


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The night at the LA Zoo, for their Sunset Safari adventure, began with guest lining up to get their name tags. While we waited David "Vito" Gregoli was there to provide entertainment. Also there was a snack table, and drinks to help keep guest patient as we waited for the next tram. Once we boarded the tram we were taken into the zoo through the back entrance. The tram let us off at the Tiger Plaza in the zoo, where we began our after-hours journey.
We watched as the hippo was fed her dinner. The Los Angeles de Tango Ensemble was in the Tiger Plaza. Their music worked perfectly as the young hippo swam through the water trying to reach the apple tossed in. The Tiger's enjoyed their meal of meat as the sun began to set. Even the monkeys were enjoying their meal as we watched them behind the glass window.
The colorful Macaw was on display with his handler. As his handler fed him sunflowers, she answered guests questions. As we walked to the next area of the zoo a tiny African Hedgehog was on display. We learned their white bellies were the only place safe to touch a hedgehog. Their needled back would be like stinging nettle if you were to try to touch it. Seeing the hedgehog reminded me of a children's book, "How do you hug a Hedgehog," and it made me smile.
Before we reached the Elephants we also saw the cutest Hawaiian Owl on display with her handler. She stowed away on a vessel from Hawaii. Also, almost four times the size was the California Condor, Dolly. She was a bit shy but spread her wings for us every now and then.
As we made our way to the carousel where a buffet dinner was waiting us, we also saw turtles eating their dinner. We heard rather than saw, because night was mostly upon us, the noisy giant otters splashing and playing in their water holes. A few times their keepers said, "Come and get your food before its too dark for you to see it." It was like she was scolding naughty children. The Orange South American wolves were just settling down before we reached the Carousel, as we heard the music of the Roger Espinoza Duo.
At the carousel a delightful array of food was before us. We dinned on gourmet hamburgers, hotdogs, veggieburgers, and grilled chicken, with all the toppings you could want. There was mashed potatoes, pasta salad and green salad ready to be enjoyed. For desert there was chocolate or vanilla ice cream with whip cream, strawberries, pineapple, chocolate syrup, sprinkles and nuts to choose from.
If the amazing display of animals, delicious food, and carousel rides weren't enough for the youngsters, Paint on your Face was there to add pictures to their faces. Over all, the night was a peaceful enjoyable time. We learned that the 99 cent store has become a sponsor at the LA Zoo, and donors have donated over $700,000 so far this year. My self along with the many guest enjoyed the after-hours wildlife fest at the L.A. Zoo. Become part of the Safari Club today and start enjoying the benefits it has to offer!
To learn more visit the LA Zoo and Botanical Gardens online.