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A few months ago, I started noticing something in my local grocery store in Colorado, called NuVal. The store is a King Super chain owned by Kroger. Being the foodie that I am, I was very curious about NuVal, which is a newly contrived system for relaying nutritional information about food to consumers. The NuVal system rates foods from 1-100, with 100 being the highest nutritional value. I guess they decided it was too confusing for consumers to read labels and that the NuVal system would assist consumers to know the nutritional value of the food they buy. I have a couple of big concerns about this system. My first concern is who are “they” and how do “they” come up with their scores? Do they take into consideration genetically engineered ingredients and organics? Why do they think consumers are not smart enough to read labels?
“The NuVal® Nutritional Scoring System was developed as a direct response to America’s troubling health trends: rapidly rising rates of obesity and diabetes in both the adult and child populations. A team of recognized medical and nutrition experts — led by Dr. David Katz of the Yale Prevention Research Center — advocated the development of an independent and simplified nutritional scoring system as a vehicle to improve public health.”
While I appreciate that this system was developed by a group of doctors and nutritionists, I can’t help wonder if they are taking into account the fact that 80-90% of our food in the grocery stores are genetically engineered and not labeled as such.
My next concern is that there is no consideration given for foods that contain genetically engineered ingredients (“GMOs”). There is considerable scientific research regarding the use of GMOs. To see the full report and the latest science, go to the nongmoproject.org. Here is a small list of some of their findings:
• GMOs can be toxic, allergenic or less nutritious than their natural counterparts
• GMOs can disrupt the ecosystem, damage vulnerable wild plant and animal populations and harm biodiversity
• GMOs increase chemical inputs (pesticides, herbicides) over the long term
• GMOs deliver yields that are no better, and often worse, than conventional crops
• GMOs cause or exacerbate a range of social and economic problems
• GMOs are laboratory-made and, once released, harmful GMOs cannot be recalled from the environment
Also, when they rate the vegetables, do they take into consideration “organics”? Produce that is not organic can be sprayed with many pesticides that get into the foods and get into our bodies. Do these doctors and nutritionist take this into consideration in their scoring? I don’t think so!
I noticed that both iceburg lettuce and spinach both got a NuVal rating of 82. Iceburg lettuce has virtually no nutritional value and is mostly water and cellulose. However, spinach is rich in iron, vitamins A and C and also contains good amounts of potassium, manganese, magnesium, copper and zinc. How can they both score an 82? Further, the nutritional value of organic produce would be higher than conventionally grown produce which has been sprayed with pesticides.
The NuVal rating system for meats seems very biased to me. Red meat and eggs get low ratings because it factors in cholesterol and saturated fat as bad things. Even though Ancel Keys himself acknowledged that dietary cholesterol has no connection to cholesterol in the blood. And any correlations between saturated fat and heart disease have been soundly refuted over and over.
“There’s no connection whatsoever between cholesterol in food and cholesterol in blood. And we’ve known that all along. Cholesterol in the diet doesn’t matter at all unless you happen to be a chicken or a rabbit.” Ancel Keys, Ph.D., professor emeritus at the University of Minnesota 1997.”
Lastly, what concerns me the most about the NuVal system is that it seems to be just another step in the dumbing down of America. We as consumers have a responsibility to ourselves to know what foods we put in our bodies. If we rely on corporations to make our choices for us, we give our power away to these corporations. I feel it is time we take back our power of choice and say no to those who want us to settle for foods that cause cancer and other diseases. Henry Kissinger said “when you control the food, you control the people.” It’s all about choice! I choose to know what is in my food and to make choices that support my health, not corporations who do not have my best interest in mind.
Have you seen this NuVal rating? What do you think about it? |
Instead of spending full days in high school classrooms, college students spend significantly less time in the classroom, but more time studying. College students experience more independence, which means more academic responsibility and accountability.
As a college student, you’ll choose the courses you take with the help of an academic adviser. Classes may or may not meet every day, and attendance policies will vary widely from school to school and professor to professor. You’re responsible for arriving on time, completing assigned readings, and turning in homework when it’s due. Your job is to pay attention during lectures and note important points to remember for passing the exam or writing a term paper.
Students are also required to buy their own textbooks, which can be costly. Research any e-textbooks to save money, and download the NOOK Study app as a study tool for organization, reading, highlighting, note taking, and researching.
For every hour you spend in class per week (or for each semester hour of your total course load), you should be prepared to study for at least 2 to 3 hours per week. If you’re taking a full course load of 15 semester hours, studying at least 30 to 45 hours a week is a good objective.
Check the syllabus lists for specific reading material on a given day. The expectation is that you will have read it before coming to class, which means devise your own system for keeping track of assignments.
If you use your laptop, tablet or Netbook during class, Evernote can help you take notes and organize information. As another study buddy, check out Simplenote for effective note taking, list making and sharing capabilities for study groups. It uses Pinterest-like pins and Facebook-like tags.
Tests & Grading
As you walk into a lecture hall, expect occasional quizzes that may or may not be announced. Tests are comprehensive and have significance impact on your final course grade. Professors may conduct review sessions outside of class hours and provide study guides. Exams won’t follow the same formats, which may be a combination of multiple choice, short answer and essay. If you miss a test, it’s your responsibility to contact the professor and discuss how and if you can make it up.
Online education is a practical and affordable academic alternative for students who work full-time or need flexibility. On-campus college students can even enroll in a single online class if the desired course doesn’t fit into their schedule or if it’s full. Full-time students enrolled in an online institution can still earn a credible certification or degree. For example, Penn Foster offers certificate, associates and bachelors degree programs as well as online student communities and active social networking pages that support student interaction within the virtual universe.
Google Drive also provides online students with spreadsheet and word processing capabilities that can be shared among multiple users. Students who want to share notes, ideas, or other information with their fellow students, or with professors, can do so easily with Google’s free apps. |
Originally published on September 17, 2015 9:41 am
Colorado's ban on collecting rain from residential rooftops has been a contentious topic at the statehouse, and a proposed bill for 2016 means it will likely be debated once again.
"Colorado is the only western state where rain barrels are illegal," said Drew Beckwith, a water policy manager with the nonprofit Western Resource Advocates.
"Every other western state that has our water laws has them legal, and it has not caused the Earth to come crashing to a halt."
So why is there so much controversy over collecting rainwater? The sticking point is whether doing so impacts downstream water users.
"If you have a rain barrel, that's less that's going to run into the street," said Senator Jerry Sonnenberg (R-Sterling).
And he believes, less water for farmers and ranchers – which is why Sonneberg opposed the rain barrel bill when it last came up and made sure it was defeated. He's now floating a new measure that would allow rain barrels, if people register them. Then it would be up to water providers to determine how to replace the lost water.
"We're going to bring a bill that does it right and honors the prior appropriation system and Colorado water law," said Sonnenberg. "We need a simple and fair process on how that water should be replaced."
But during a recent hearing at the state capitol, academic water experts from Colorado State University testified that there would be no need for a bill like Sonnenberg's.
"This water doesn't run off any way, and we capture a little of it and we put it on our gardens or we put it on our roses or something," said Dr. Larry Roesner, a civil and environmental engineering professor at CSU.
"It would take a lot of water before it made a significant impact," said Roesner.
Two other CSU experts, along with Roesner, testified before the Water Resources Review committee, which is meeting in the interim to discuss water policy.
"When you have scientists come in and give you the facts I think it's important to incorporate that into your thought process," said Senator Ellen Roberts (R-Durango).
As the chair of the committee, Roberts was frustrated when the previous rain barrel bill didn't pass. She wanted to come back to the topic in between sessions – especially since next session will be during an election year.
"I'm struggling myself to explain to people on the street why this is so controversial. In my district in southwest Colorado, those who want to use rain barrels, use rain barrels today, and a lot of people across party lines were appalled that the legislature was struggling so much with this," said Roberts.
For Drew Beckwith with Western Resource Advocates the measure is mostly about educating the public about water. He said too many people fail to understand where their water comes from, and he said water providers in other states where it is legal say rain barrels help connect people to water policy.
"They find their customers that have rain barrels are the best customers," said Beckwith. "They understand why rates go up, they think positively about their water providers, they participate in conservation programs and are well-rounded citizens. That's something I would like to see in Colorado."
Beckwith would not back Sonnenberg's bill because it creates unnecessary regulation and creates this presumption that there's actually an impact downstream.
Making rain barrels legal has touched off a nerve on the larger issue of water rights, and the competition for every last bit of water. Whether or not some of the science behind rain barrels will help quell the debate next session remains to be seen, but so far opponents do not appear to be changing their minds.
Copyright 2016 KUNC-FM. To see more, visit KUNC-FM.
You are one of the KRCC readers who wants to know what is really going on in Southern Colorado these days. We have got just the thing for people like you: the KRCC Weekly Digest. Sign up here and we will see you in your email inbox soon! |
George Vanier School Report
The grades 4/5s would like to thank SaskOutdoors for their generous support. This fall we went to Wanuskewin and the Forestry Farm & Zoo. The students learned about First Nations heritage and Indigenous ways of knowing as well as the introduction of settlers to Saskatchewan. The students learned about First Nations traditions, culture and their connection to the land through their Spirituality. Students learned of the impact settlers had on the land as well as the people who lived here prior to colonization. We are grateful to have had this hands-on learning opportunity. Thank You SaskOutdoors! |
The term ama comes from the proa. The vaka is the main hull, the ama is the outrigger, and the aka or iako (Hawaiian) is the support connecting the two (not three) hulls. The term ama and aka have been widely applied to modern trimarans.
On a proa, the ama may provide lift or ballast, depending on whether it is designed to be used to leeward or windward; on a trimaran it is designed primarily to provide lift. There are many shapes of amas; those used in proas are generally laterally symmetric, as the proa is designed to sail with either end forwards, while trimaran amas are one-directional and may have no axis of symmetry.
The most advanced amas are composed of highly curved surfaces which generate lift when driven forward through the water, much like an airplane wing. This lift may be directed to the windward, used to counter slipping to leeward, or may be oriented vertically to counter heeling forces from the sailing rig. These highly-curved structures are much more difficult to manufacture than traditional amas, and are therefore more expensive. The Bruce foil is an example of a type of leeboard often attached to an ama to assist in producing lift.
Origin and use of the term
The term vaka, like the related terms aka and ama, come from the Malay and Micronesian language group terms for parts of the outrigger canoe, and vaka can be roughly translated as canoe. A proa consists of a vaka, the main canoe-like hull; an ama, the outrigger; and akas, the poles connecting the ama to the vaka. The trimaran uses the same terminology, with a center vaka and amas and akas on each side.
- "A primer on proas". http://proafile.com/view/weblog/comments/a_primer_on_proas/. Retrieved 2007-10-30.
- "The Tridarka Raider". http://www.tridarkaraider.com/. Retrieved 2007-10-30. |
In the Beginning Was the Word - Now is the Copyright
University of Eastern Piedmont - A. Avogadro - Department of Public Policy and Public Choice
Giovanni Battista Ramello
University of Piemonte Orientale - A. Avogadro - Department of Public Policy and Public Choice; International Centre for Economic Research (ICER)
October 10, 2012
Review of Law & Economics, 7, 271-289
Since 2005, all the teachings of the Pope have been copyrighted. Given that it is a tenet of the church to spread the faith and teach all people, this would seem at odds with any restrictions on access. Yet the Catholic Church is by no means an exception, and other religions have likewise resorted to copyright. This paper presents a simple model to attempt to rationalize the exercise of copyright by a religious organization. The analysis also provides more general insights concerning the workings of copyright, which appears to function more like a right to levy a tax than like a right to set a monopoly price, as currently believed.
Number of Pages in PDF File: 19
Keywords: Copyright, Religion, Royalties, Taxation
JEL Classification: K11, D23, D43, D45Accepted Paper Series
Date posted: January 30, 2010 ; Last revised: October 11, 2012
© 2015 Social Science Electronic Publishing, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
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God sustains and reigns over all his created order. Everything that happens occurs because God wills it according to his purposes, plan, way, and time, and he sometimes calls ordinary people to accomplish extraordinary tasks. The book of Esther gives us a fascinating historical narrative of God's providential activity amongst a failed attempt to annihilate exiled Jews in the Persian Empire. Jane Roach uses insightful commentary, application questions, testimonies, and hymns to walk readers through the compelling story, introduce characters, and identify God's providence. As you study the book of Esther, you will be prepared to see God's hand in your own circumstances, to lean on him with wholehearted trust and worship, and to experience a new life of gratitude, peace, and joy.
- 255 pages |
Substandard dam assessment opens way to fisheries destruction on Mekong
The WWF commissioned review – coordinated by the WorldFish Centre with participation from the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) found that the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) for the proposed Xayaburi dam in Laos and assessment were woefully inadequate and fell well below international standards for such studies.
Xayaburi is the first of 11 dams proposed for the lower Mekong mainstem. Lower Mekong countries are scheduled to decide on whether the dam project can move ahead on April 22.
Ignored published studies
The review found that the EIA ignored published studies and relied heavily on “a very light field sampling” that captured “less than a third” of the biodiversity in the impact area.
Just five migratory species from a list compiled in 1994 were mentioned and just three of more than 28 studies of Mekong fish migration were referenced. In contrast, current studies show that 229 fish species exploit habitats upstream of the dam site for spawning or dry season refuges, with 70 classified as migratory.
The review finds the proposed fish passes for the dam ignore design guidelines, lack critical detail including any specification of target species and have a slope and steps which would be challenging even for salmon – not a Mekong species.
Among the species threatened is the Mekong’s famed giant catfish with only known spawning areas in the upper Mekong between Chiang Rai province (Thailand) and Bokeo (Laos). While the Mekong Giant Catfish is symbolic and culturally important, smaller fish like the Pa Soi are important food sources for villagers in the Mekong River.
"How can you devise mitigation measures for fish passage without addressing the biology and the needs of target species, which in this case range from a small Siamese Mud Carp or Pa Soi to a 3 metre long giant catfish," said Dr Jian-hua Meng, WWF International Sustainable Hydropower Specialist.
“Fish ladders of the design proposed have had some success in Europe and North America, but this
is where only a handful of species are migratory, and many of those are of the salmon family, that are much stronger swimmers and jumpers than most Mekong migratory species.”
Repeating mistakes of Pak Mun Dam
The review noted other studies that concluded that fish passes are not a realistic mitigation option for Mekong mainstream dams, and “that the Mekong should never be used as a test case” for proving or improving fish passages technologies.
WWF fears a much larger scale repeat of the environmental damage of the dam on the Mun River in Thailand, a key Mekong tributary. After similar bland assurances of only low level impacts on fisheries prior to construction, the first d ecade of the dam’s operation saw damaging impacts on 85 per cent of fish species present before the dam’s construction, with 56 species disappearing entirely and reduced catches for a further 169 species, according to a World Commission on Dams study.
Consultations on the Xayaburi dam have so far had to proceed in the absence of much detail on the project, with the abbreviated Feasibility Study dated 2008 but made available only in February this year which was prepared by Thai group TEAM Consulting and Swiss company AF-Colenco and the final EIA by TEAM completed in August 2010 but made available only in March 2011.
WWF was unsuccessful in attempts to brief the consultants on the risks posed by the project.
WWF supports a 10-year delay in the approval of lower Mekong mainstream dams, including the Xayaburi hydropower dam, to ensure a comprehensive understanding of all the impacts of their construction and operation, while immediate needs are met with less challenging projects applying state of the art sustainable hydropower solutions are fast tracked on selected tributaries.
Vu Ngoc Tram, [email protected] |
The ongoing opioid epidemic in California and around the country is having a profound effect on road safety according to a study published in the online journal JAMA Network Open. After analyzing National Highway Traffic Safety Administration reports on 18,321 fatal two-vehicle accidents that took place over a period of more than 20 years, a pair of Columbia University researchers concluded that getting behind the wheel after taking drugs like fentanyl or hydrocodone doubles the chances of being involved in a deadly crash.
When the issue of opioid impairment among drivers was studied in the 1990s, researchers found that only about 1% of the motorists killed each year in motor vehicle accidents were under the influence of these addictive drugs. The latest study suggests that this figure has since risen dramatically. Lawmakers and road safety advocates do not expect the situation to improve in the near future as more than 200 million opioid prescriptions are written every year by doctors in the United States.
The study reveals that a worrying number of drivers are ignoring opioid label warnings to not operate heavy machinery or get behind the wheel. Motorists under the influence of the drugs have difficulty focusing on the task of driving and react to emergency situations more slowly. According to the Columbia University researchers, the leading cause of death for opioid-impaired drivers is straying into adjacent traffic lanes or the path of oncoming vehicles.
When their clients may have suffered injuries at the hands of a driver impaired by drugs or alcohol, experienced personal injury attorneys may turn to police reports for toxicology evidence. If the allegedly negligent driver was not tested at the accident scene or shortly afterward, attorneys could seek to obtain prescription drug records from medical files. While federal law protects medical information, it may be obtained during the course of civil litigation through the use of court orders or subpoenas. |
Through the “Not In Our Town: Working Together for Safe, Inclusive Communities” initiative, the COPS Office and Not In Our Town are creating new tools to help law enforcement and community partners work together to prevent hate crimes, improve hate crime reporting, and address underlying tensions that can lead to violence.
Cook County (Illinois) Assistant State's Attorney Joy Repella serves as supervisor for the county's four Community Justice Centers. She was recognized for her work on hate crimes in 2001 with the U.S. Department of Justice Award for Public Service and in 2003 with Chicago Crime Commission's Award for Excellence in Law Enforcement. This past September, she was honored by the Association of Prosecuting Attorneys, along with Philadelphia elected District Attorney Seth Williams, with the Innovations in Community Engagement Award.
Now in her 21st year with Chicago (Illinois) Police Department (CPD), Sergeant Lori Cooper is the commanding officer for CPD's Special Activities Section, which oversees hate crime investigations. She became Chicago's LGBT police liaison in 1998 and is nationally recognized as an educator and advocate for strong, positive relations between law enforcement and the LGBT community.
When a prosecutor and a police officer joined forces for a statewide hate crimes training, they successfully shifted officers' mentality from “soldier” to “empathetic educator” and laid the groundwork for community partnerships engaging youth and diverse populations.
In 1999, Illinois Governor George Ryan established a Commission on Discrimination and Hate Crimes to help ease tensions between different groups, reduce hate-related violence, and empower people to respond to discrimination and hate. Recruited to participate, Cook County (Illinois) Assistant State's Attorney Joy Repella and Chicago Police Officer—now Sergeant—Lori Cooper went on the road one year later to launch a series of trainings for prosecutors and law enforcement officers throughout the state. The curriculum they developed with a working group not only spread vital information, it planted seeds for partnerships and activities that continue to evolve and make an impact today. A brief review of their five-year collaborative training series reveals powerful, cost-effective strategies that can be replicated by agencies nationwide.
Designing for Impact
ASA Repella and Sgt. Cooper usually conducted trainings for groups composed of front-line law enforcement officers, state's attorneys, and community prosecutors, focusing on strategies for prevention of, and how to effectively investigate and prosecute hate crimes. They developed an approach that acknowledged existing challenges and was adaptable for different audiences.
The first key challenge they faced was tension between police officers and prosecutors: operating under different standards and pressures, the two groups are ultimately responsible for establishing a different burden of proof. Backed by strong expertise and deep experience, Cooper highlighted the frontline investigator's need to look for and gather the right information and evidence, ask the right questions, and show empathy and respect for the victim; meanwhile, Repella emphasized the prosecutor's need to prove guilt beyond a reasonable doubt. A third trainer—generally from a victim's advocacy unit or other community partner organization—focused on the need to support victims, and the terrorizing affect hate crimes have on an entire community—not just the targeted individual or group. Together, they presented best practices to help everyone:
Another challenge the trainers faced was the burden of coming from Chicago, a city that might dominate, but does not reflect all other regions in the state. The trainers were careful to adjust the agenda to focus on the most pressing issues facing each audience. For example, while a Chicago group would be more familiar with hate crimes targeting an immigrant population or the transgender community; smaller towns might need less attention to these cases, and more discussion about leading a community that was rapidly becoming more diverse. As part of the trainings, Cooper presented relevant cultural diversity videos from the Chicago Police Department's (CPD) collection of 27 training videos, sharing basic cultural information and helpful guidelines for engaging with different groups.
Depending on the audience, trainings might be planned for half a day or a full day—but the first task was always the same: humanize the topic by shifting the police officer mind-set from “soldier” to “empathetic educator.” Understanding that most officers came to the training thinking they would never be the victim of a hate crime, Cooper led a powerful exercise to help create the feeling of being a “victim community.” She asked participants to imagine they had just come into roll-call and learned that a fellow officer had been killed the night before—targeted solely because s/he was a police officer. Though police officers are not a protected class under hate crime laws, through the exercise she effectively demonstrated the importance of expressing empathy for hate crime victims. If they started out facing a room of officers with newspapers out and cell phones in-hand, by the end of the exercise, the trainers found they had complete buy-in from their audience.
Maximizing Resources, Expanding Reach
This training model provides many opportunities to increase impact while conserving resources. To start with, in each session Repella and Cooper distributed their business cards to attendees so they would have experts to reach out to if they had questions or faced their first hate crime in the future. Additionally, since the diverse community partners recruited for the trainings were drawn directly from the local communities participants immediately gained a valuable local partner.
Though these sessions were originally funded by the state, the collaborative nature of the training dictates that multiple agencies and community partners must participate—and by extension, could then each contribute to the cost of developing and facilitating the training. By pooling partners, the model reduces the financial burden and human resources obligation for any individual agency.
Finally, a very efficient adaptation of this model is the “trainer-of-trainers” strategy. As part of a regular (quarterly or yearly) gathering or event, one representative from each designated region participates in a hate crimes training. When representatives return to their regions, they conduct the same training for local agency leaders, who in turn conduct the training for their local agencies.
Ongoing Dividends: A Network of Partners and Innovative Activities
Though Repella and Cooper conducted their last collaborative training in 2005, their work resulted in a dynamic network of partners and innovative activities that continue to evolve and make an impact today. The CPD and Cook County State's Attorney's Office Community Justice Centers have independently continued to conduct similar hate crimes trainings locally, partnering with groups like the Commission on Human Relations, Chinese Mutual Aid Association, and the Center on Halstead (Chicago's LGBT community center), among many others. An exciting collaboration between CPD and the Greater Chicago/Upper Midwest Region of the Anti-Defamation League last year resulted in a new online hate crimes training curriculum for police officers—the first in the country.
One Cook County State's Attorney's Office Community Justice Center implemented a wildly popular program with local middle schools, organizing mock trial sessions where students prosecute a hate crime. Using a set of facts drawn from many different cases, the center challenges students to serve as judge and jury for a complex case—then leads a candid discussion with the group about their personal reactions. In response to the center's outreach, 35 schools participated in one year!
In addition to new community partners, Cooper points to a closer working relationship with the FBI and their Civil Rights Unit, and wide use of CPD's cultural diversity training videos. For example, before the Jewish High Holidays or Gay Pride month, officers watch related videos, as well as the hate crimes video, during roll-call; after the 2012 shooting at the Sikh Temple of Wisconsin, they watched a video about the Sikh community.
The essential message in each of these collaborations: “Don't wait for a hate crime to occur to increase knowledge and build partnerships within your community!”
For ideas and resources to create or expand a hate crimes training in your community, please visit the “Working Together for Safe, Inclusive Communities” online hub at NIOT.org/COPS or contact [email protected].
Director of Strategic Partnerships and Campaign Development
Not In Our Town |
A major goal of synthetic biology is to design and build digital genetic circuits inside cells, effectively programming cellular functions. Achieved this could allow living cells to be engineered to perform decision-making tasks, similar to computers, but composed of genetic elements rather than electronic components. This technology could be applied to medical therapeutics, molecular detection, diagnostics, tissue engineering, bio-electronic interfaces, and many other science-fictionesque uses. However, genetic elements tend to be less predictable and more “leaky” than electronic components, and this has limited progress.
In a brand-new study from the University of Washington, Gander et al. overcame these obstacles by using CRISPR/Cas9 linked to the transcriptional repressor Mxi1 to make genetic circuits in yeast. The group designed and built a library of single-gene NOR gates (which give an output signal only when there are no input signals). Each gate consists of a gRNA-expressing promoter that can be fully silenced by either of two gRNA-dCas9-Mxi1 complexes. This system has three key features that make it ideal for engineering genetic circuits. First, NOR gates are what is known in logic and engineering fields as “functionally complete”, meaning that multiple NOR gates can be combined to create any other logical function. So, in principal, ANY digital circuit can be made by connecting NOR gates in the right arrangement. Second, the dCas9-Mxi1-based NOR gates have a very strong OFF state, making the output binary, so the system behaves like a true digital circuit. Third, the input and output signals are both gRNAs, so large numbers of gates can be “wired” together, like an electronic circuit. Gander et al. successfully constructed logic circuits with as many as seven gRNA layers.
Because this technology is so simple and easy to produce, it should be relatively easy to construct almost any arbitrary logic circuit. Complex arrangements of gRNA-dCas9-Mxi1 NOR gates could be placed in various cell types to carry out computational tasks inside cells. The idea of an engineered biological computer may not be very far-fetched.
- Gander, M. W. et al. Digital logic circuits in yeast with CRISPR-dCas9 NOR gates. Nat. Commun. 8, 15459 doi: 10.1038/ncomms15459 (2017). |
The summer of 2011 has been hard on lawns. If you need to plant, or in many cases replant your fescue lawn, mid- September through October is excellent. With cooler nights, milder days and rain, fescue seeds will germinate quickly.
For many years the best known fescue has been Kentucky 31. It is durable and still used as a pasture grass. As a lawn grass Kentucky 31 tends to be coarse and clumpy unless seeded thickly and well-tended.
However, Kentucky 31 takes wear well and is not highly subject to disease or pest damage.
For lawn use in recent years many people have begun to replace Kentucky 31 with a multitude of varieties generally known as turf type fescue.
These are less coarse and clumpy than Kentucky 31, but still have good disease and pest resistance. The turf type fescue has a fine leaf which gives the lawn a more dense appearance.
There are many different types of turf type fescues on the market and I will not attempt to recommend one over another.
Many people feel that the best approach to seeding a fescue lawn is to blend three or more different varieties. Blends are sometimes more readily available than individual varieties. Remember 80 percent of the success of a lawn is not the variety but the management before and after planting.
The planting rate of fescue lawns is 6 to 8 pounds per 1,000 square feet. If possible, the soil should be tilled or at least aerated in order to ensure the seed has good contact with the seed bed.
The amount of lime and fertilizer needed can be determined by a soil test. Taking a soil sample is simple, and your local extension office will mail it to the lab for testing. A pint container of soil is needed for testing. Without a soil sample for fescue lawns a general rule of planting is 50 pounds of lime per 1,000 square feet. (This rate is only if lime has not been applied in recent years.)
The fertilizer 10-10-10 at a rate of 10 pounds per 1,000 square feet will promote root growth.
My best recommendation, however, is to let the university conduct a soil test. By having the test results, it can recommend what your lawn needs.
Clark Beusse is the Dawson County extension agent. For more information, call (706)265-2442. |
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Wax currant is a compact but erect, many-branched, fragrant shrub that grows about four feet tall. The waxy, gray-green leaves are fan-shaped, generally in three to five less-defined lobes with gently scalloped edges.
Bitterbrush is an extensively-branched, deciduous shrub that grows up to six feet tall. It produces many small three-lobed leaves, similar to those of sagebrush but lacking the gray, woolly hair, and brighter and more of an olive-green in color. The leaves are so tiny that the outline of the shrub’s limbs is distinctive.
Gray rabbitbrush is very common in the Sage Hills. It rivals sagebrush in its wide distribution, but has a more limited range, requiring somewhat moister conditions and sandier soils. It is a deciduous shrub, with long narrow leaves and a height of two to four feet.
Three-tip sagebrush is a rounded, freely branching, evergreen shrub. Its leaves are gray-green, long, and deeply cleft into three lobes. The stems are a smooth pale gray. Three-tip sagebrush carries the distinctive sage fragrance, especially when wet. The flowers are green and inconspicuous.
Big sagebrush is a strongly scented, woody evergreen shrub. It is the most abundant shrub in the shrub-steppe because it has adapted to a wide range of environmental conditions. It usually grows about four feet tall, but can grow taller than ten feet in areas with deep soil and more moisture.
Western serviceberry derives its common name not from “serving” but from Sorbus, the Latin name for mountain-ash, because its leaves look much like mountain-ash. It is a large, variable-sized, common shrub in the Sage Hills. In spring, it bears many attractive and fragrant white flowers. |
Neutrality in Education and the Necessity of Diversity and Multiple Voices
In this essay, I attempt to point out the dangers inherent in seeking exclusion based on rationales claiming to justify a drive for what has been called at different times "educational effectiveness," "educational choice," or "excellence in education." I stress that the several approaches proposed to eliminate or minimize so-called contentious elements in the curriculum raise serious questions since they rely on dichotomous positivist or modernist concepts of idea and learning, founding their arguments on a discourse which clings to rigid binary oppositions. Pointing out the necessity of otherness and multiple voices, I argue that in order for learning to actually take place, students must develop what has been called a serious "metalinguistic competence," and in order to do so, they must be exposed to analysis and discussion of controversial materials, to otherness, to multiple voices, and to complex multi-level discourses.
As educators in an increasingly diverse and complex world, is it not our responsibility, then, not to simplify, to neutralize, or to translate curricular materials into a transparent medium? Isn't it not to eliminate or exclude complex or controversial elements of the curriculum, but on the contrary to make sure that they are part and parcel of education, and that students develop the necessary skills to understand and analyze such material? Is it not to engage our students in a quest for knowledge which should take them far beyond the boundaries of their immediate socio-cultural contexts, in space and time? Is it not to encourage them to take risks in learning and discovering the other, the unknown, while building up a greater sense of responsibility toward self-directed learning, and truly unique identity building?
Keywords: Neutrality, Exclusions, Responsibility, Learning
Prof. Denise Egéa-Kuehne
Professor, Department of Educational Theory, Policy and Practice |
Filter elements should only be changed when differential pressure is high.
You install compressed air filtration to improve air quality. DP gauges / indicators are blockage indicators not air quality indicators. To ensure your compressed air quality, filter elements should be changed annually in line with manufacturer's instructions.
Coalescing filters are ONLY for oil removal.
Coalescing filters have a even higher rate of capture with solid contaminants than with liquids.
Oil contamination is not present in atmospheric air.
Atmospheric air typically contains between 0.05mg / m3 and 0.5mg / m3 of oil vapor from sources such as exhausts and industrial processes. As oil free compressors are used in the compressed air systems, the use of oil free compressors does not guarantee oil free air.
Liquid oil and oil aerosol are the only contaminants present in a compressed air system.
Generally, there are parts of a compressed air system that need to be removed or reduced for the system to run efficiently.
The ten contaminants are:
Rust Atmospheric Dirt
Only two of these contaminants, liquid and oil aerosol are introduced by a lubricating compressor. The purification equipment required to reduce or remove the remaining contaminants by virtue of their operation. Therefore, regardless of the type of compressor installed, the purification equipment is required.
Compressed air contamination is a compressor issue.
In a typical compressed air system, compressed vacuum comes from four different sources, these being:
Source 1 - Atmospheric Air
Air compressors draw in huge amounts of atmospheric air, which continuously fills the system with contaminants such as water vapor, micro-organisms, atmospheric dirt & oil vapor.
Source 2 - The Air Compressor
In addition to the contaminants drawn in through the compressor intake, the compressor also adds additional wear particulates from its operation. Additionally, oil lubricated compressors carry liquid oil, oil aerosol and oil vapor from the compression process. So after the compression stage, the after-cooler wants to condense water vapor, introducing it into the compressed air in both a liquid and aerosol form.
Source 3 - Compressed air storage devices
Source 4 - Compressed air distribution piping
The air receiver (storage device) and the piping that distributes the compressed air around the facility both store large amounts of contamination. Additionally, they are cool and hot, which causes condensation, pipescale and microbiological growth.
Static Oil Water Separators are not suitable for synthetic lubricants / PAG's. This is evident with cloudy outlet water.
Oil water separators are designed to reduce oil to water levels to acceptable limits. Some lubricants such as synthetics / PAG's contain detergents and additives to extend the life of the compressor. Oil water separators are not designed to remove detergents and additives. Oil in water content should not be used. Lab analysis on cloudy outlet water is the only way to assess oil in water content and it is within acceptable limits.
Any dryer (refrigerated or desiccant) can be installed outdoors.
All standard dryers are designed for internal installation. However, many are often installed outside (with a lean-to-roof in some cases and without a lean-to-roof in some cases). It is lean-to-roof with freeze / snow protection, blowing rain protection, and a roof. Outside installation of standard dryers with no roof is not recommended.
UV protection in paint, fastners and electronics, and Nema 4 components throughout. A Nema 4 is not sufficient for outdoor without roof installation.
Most dryers do not provide dryness levels quoted in sales literature.
Dryer installations are often plagued with a variety of oranges which impact the level of compressed air dryness. Classic installation mistakes are: insufficient space above or in front of condenser air discharge which causes recirculation and high pressure faults |
Chester County Dental Arts Tips & Tricks
A Busy Mom's Guide for Simplifying Dental Health
Can your child tie their own shoes? Your little ones can start brushing their teeth by themselves if they can lace up their own sneakers, usually around age 6. However, just like they might need help getting their laces untangled, you should still keep a watchful eye to make sure they’re brushing like a big boy or girl. Make brushing fun by playing music or adding incentives to get them excited about oral healthcare!
It’s brushing time! For the healthiest pearly whites, your children should brush twice a day, for 2 minutes each session. But what kind of toothbrush should they be using? The truth is, whatever brush will make them want to clean their teeth more. Electric brushes are easy to use and have built in timers, but your son or daughter may like the Cinderella or Superman themed manual brushes found at your local grocery store.
Getting your child to brush their teeth can be hard, right? Well, it gets easier if they find a toothpaste that they like. The best toothpastes for your kids contain fluoride, a classic cavity-fighter and tooth protector. Thankfully, there’s products now that are made with fun flavors geared towards children like strawberry or chocolate. The key is finding a toothpaste that’s fun and tastes good, but also contains fluoride to protect their teeth.
Are your kids flossing once a day? It’s usually the most difficult part of oral healthcare for children because of the tangled strings and maneuvering around each tooth. Show them how grownups do it, using a new section of floss for each tooth for a thorough cleaning. If your child struggles to use floss correctly, give them convenient pre-strung floss picks to teach them how flossing can remove annoying bits of previous snacks.
Nutrition tips to keep your loved ones healthy and happy:
- Skip the sodas and sports drinks for water. Most water contains fluoride, a natural chemical that magically protects teeth from cavities.
- Does your child love sugary snacks? Limit them to eating candy or sugar once a day, after meals. Saliva created from chewing food will help wash away sugar naturally. You can also give them different colored fruits instead of candy for a healthy snack.
- For an easy, fun, and healthy dessert, skewer up different fruits to make a kabab. Cover it with dark chocolate for a fun and healthy dessert. You can cut strawberries, pineapples, melons and more into bite-sized chunks to create a rainbow effect. Then, drizzle some melted dark chocolate over the top to make sure your kids know its dessert time!
Has the tooth fairy visited your kids yet? Most children lose their teeth around the ages 5 or 6, but there’s some wiggle room—just like with their teeth! The first part of their smile to go is the bottom front teeth. That means you’ll have all the photo opportunities you could ever ask for with your cute, gapped tooth children. You’re probably just as excited for the tooth fairy to come as your little ones!
So, your child just lost their first tooth, or it’s hanging on by a thread. What’s next? Do you have your story straight? The tooth fairy is a magical creature that needs teeth to build her castle, duh! Explain to your children that losing their teeth can be messy and sometimes uncomfortable, but it’s worth it in the end when they wake up to a well-earned reward under their pillow from the tooth fairy herself.
Wisdom teeth: they don’t actually make you wiser. They got their name because wisdom teeth typically grow in as you get older (and hopefully wiser). They are usually removed between ages 16 to 20, but in some cases, children may have them removed around 12 or 13. Wisdom teeth can cause damage to the smile, inflame gums, and cause other oral health issues. That’s why dentists take X-Rays to keep an eye out for these extra teeth. |
Autism Rate Rising Faster Among Some Children, Study Finds
New research suggests that the prevalence of autism is on the rise and it’s growing at a significantly faster clip among certain groups of kids.
Between 2007 and 2013, autism rates increased 73 percent among Hispanics and 44 percent among black children ages 3 to 5. At the same time, prevalence rose 25 percent for whites in that age bracket.
The findings come from a study published this month in the Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders.
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Researchers looked at data collected nationwide under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act and information available from the Center for Disease Control and Prevention’s Autism and Developmental Disabilities Monitoring Network, which regularly tracks prevalence in 8-year-olds in 11 communities.
“We found that rates among blacks and Hispanics are not only catching up to those of whites — which have historically been higher — but surpassing them,” said Cynthia Nevison of the University of Colorado Boulder who led the study.
Traditionally, autism rates among minority groups have lagged, a factor often attributed to a lack of awareness and resources in such communities. However, the new study found that prevalence among black children surpassed whites in 30 states by 2012.
“These results suggest that additional factors beyond just catch-up may be involved,” Nevison said.
The most recent figures from the CDC, which were released last year, indicate that 1 in 59 children have autism. The estimate is based on data collected on 8-year-olds in 2014 through the Autism and Developmental Disabilities Monitoring Network.
Since the start of the century, the government’s official estimate of autism prevalence has increased 150 percent.
“There is no doubt that autism prevalence has increased significantly over the past 10 to 20 years, and based on what we have seen from this larger, more recent dataset it will continue to increase among all race and ethnicity groups in the coming years,” said Walter Zahorodny, an autism researcher at Rutgers New Jersey Medical School who worked on the study. |
Diabetes is a condition that is connected to your eye health and vision and can affect them in a variety of ways. Those with diabetes may experience blurry vision when trying to read or see from a distance, floating spots in their line of vision, blindness, or poor night vision.
Importance of Annual Eye Exams for Diabetic Patients
At your annual eye exam, your doctor will be able to detect signs inside of your eye that your diabetes is affecting your vision. These signs include:
These signs may be discovered at your eye exam before you are even diagnosed with diabetes, making your annual eye exam a crucial part of maintaining your health and your vision. When caught early, these symptoms can be treated, but once your vision is lost, it can not be reversed. This is why we focus on proactive eye exams and prevention to ensure you maintain your vision and eye health.
Types of Diabetic Eye Disease
There are three types of diabetic eye diseases that you can be affected by with a mild to severe case, including:
Diabetic Macular Edema– This is localized swelling of the macula that affects the central vision. Those affected by this will notice visual distortion or changes in their usual prescription. For some, there may not be any immediate symptoms. If this is left untreated, long-term damage to the macula can occur.
Proliferative Diabetic Retinopathy– This condition is where bleeding and leaking, along with the growth of fragile blood vessels, occur along the inside surface of the retina. When left untreated, the vessels will create scar tissue, which can lead to retinal detachment and possible permanent vision loss.
Non- Proliferative Diabetic Retinopathy-This disease causes localized bleeding and leaking due to damage to the small blood vessels in your retina.
Schedule Your Annual Eye Exam Today!
At Dittman Eyecare, we provide our patients with comprehensive eye exams, focusing on catching symptoms early in order to preserve your vision and eye health. Contact us today to schedule your next eye exam! |
Transporting firewood outside the area where you burn could spread devastating non-native invasive species according to the Nature Conservancy and the National Forest Service.
When firewood is moved pests that go along with it may include the European gypsy moth, the Asian long-horned beetle, the Emerald Ash Borer, and pathogens such as beech bark disease, sudden oak death pathogen, and several others.
Campers and travelers are urged to purchase or cut their firewood locally and to leave any excess wood at the site to avoid the spread of these infestations.
Some states and counties don’t allow you to transport firewood across their borders.
The Emerald Ash Borer is a very small insect that originated in China and was transported in solid wood packing material used in cargo shipment. The larvae feed under the bark of Ash trees, leaving S shaped marks. They can wipe out an entire neighborhood within a few years. |
About Foundations of Wave Phenomena
This text provides an introduction to some of the foundations of wave phenomena. Wave phenomena appear in a wide variety of physical settings, for example, electrodynamics, quantum mechanics, fluids, plasmas, atmospheric physics, seismology, and so forth. Of course, there are already a number of fine texts on the general subject of "waves" and related physical phenomena, and some of these texts are very comprehensive. So it is natural to ask why you might want to work through this rather short, condensed treatment which is largely devoid of detailed applications. The answer is that this course has a slightly different — and perhaps more general — aim than found in the more conventional courses on waves. Indeed, an alternative title for this course might be something like "Introduction to Mathematical Physics with Applications to Wave Phenomena". So, while one of the principal goals here is to introduce you to many of the features of waves, an equally — if not more — important goal is to get you up to speed with the plethora of mathematical techniques that you will encounter as you continue your studies in the physical sciences.
It is often said that "mathematics is the language of physics". Unfortunately for you — the student — you are expected to learn the language as you learn the concepts. In physics courses any new mathematical tools are introduced only as needed and usually in the context of the current application. Compare this to the traditional progression of a course in mathematics (which you have surely encountered by now), where a branch of the subject is given its theoretical development from scratch, mostly in the abstract, with applications used to illustrate the key mathematical points. Both ways of introducing the mathematics have their advantages. The mathematical approach has the virtue of rigor and completeness. The physics approach – while usually less complete and less rigorous – is very efficient and helps to keep clear precisely why/how this or that mathematical idea is being developed. Moreover, the physics approach implements a style of instruction that many students in science and engineering find accessible: abstract concepts are taught in the context of concrete examples. Still, there are definite drawbacks to the usual physics approach to the introduction of mathematical ideas. The student cannot be taught all the math that is needed in a physics course. This is exacerbated by the fact that (prerequisites notwithstanding) the students in a given class will naturally have some variability in their mathematics background. Moreover, if mathematics tools are taught only as needed, the student is never fully armed with the needed arsenal of mathematical tools until very late in his/her studies, i.e., until enough courses have been taken to introduce and gain experience with the majority of the mathematical material that is needed. Of course, a curriculum in science and/or engineering includes prerequisite mathematical courses which serve to mitigate these difficulties. But you may have noticed already that these mathematics courses, which are designed not just for scientists and engineers but also for mathematicians, often involve a lot of material that simply is not needed by the typical scientist and the engineer. For example, the scientist may be interested in what the theorems are and how to apply them but not so interested in the details of the proofs of the theorems, which are of course the bread and butter of the mathematician. And, there is always the well-known but somewhat mysterious difficulty that science/engineering students almost always seem to have when translating what they have learned in a pure mathematics course into the context of the desired application.
The traditional answer to this dilemma is to o↵er some kind of course in "Mathematical Physics", designed for those who are interested more in applications and less in the underlying theory. The course you are about to take is, in effect, a Mathematical Physics course for undergraduates – but with a twist. Rather than just presenting a litany of important mathematical techniques, selected for their utility in the sciences, as is often done in the traditional Mathematical Physics course, this course tries to present a (slightly shorter) litany of techniques, always framed in the context of a single underlying theme: wave phenomena. This topic was chosen for its intrinsic importance in science and engineering, but also because it allows for a treatment of a wide variety of mathematical concepts. The hope is that this way of doing things combines some of the advantages of both the mathematician’s and the physicist’s ways of learning the language of physics. In addition, unlike many mathematical physics texts which try to give a more comprehensive "last word" on the subject, this text only aspires to give you an introduction to the key mathematical ideas. The hope is that when you encounter these ideas again at a more sophisticated level you will find them much more palatable and easy to work with, having already played with them in the context of wave phenomena.
This text is designed to accommodate a range of student backgrounds and needs. But, at the very least, it is necessary that a student has had an introductory (calculus-based) physics course, and hopefully a modern physics course. Mathematics prerequisites include: multivariable calculus and linear algebra. Typically, one can expect to cover most (if not all) of the material presented here in one semester. |
It is commonly said that if you ask ten riders a question, you will get ten different answers. But there is one thing we should all agree on - you should never ride a horse without a helmet. Horses are inherently dangerous due to their natural flight instinct. Even the quietest lesson horse is capable of spooking at an unusual object, and even the most experienced riders have falls.
There are many excuses for not wearing a helmet – perhaps it is not traditional for your riding discipline, you are just hopping on the horse for a minute, or maybe you just don’t want to ruin your hairstyle. Whatever the justification, it just doesn’t hold up when compared to the risk of a traumatic brain injury. When it comes to your brain, why take a chance?
Still not convinced? Studies have shown that…
Riding Helmet Safety Helmet Facts - Here's Why You Need Your ASTM/SEI Approved Helmet for Every Ride...
An injured brain does not heal like a broken bone. Even seemingly insignificant head injuries can have serious long-term effects.
The ASTM (American Society for Testing and Materials) is an organization comprised of thousands of skilled volunteers including doctors, engineers and physicists. It is the job of the ASTM to set standards for many types of safety equipment. The ASTM has created criteria for horseback riding helmets to adhere to. These standards are summarized in ASTM F 1163. The SEI (Safety Equipment Institute) is an independent laboratory that tests helmets to be sure they meet the ASTM standard.
Why Do We Need a Standard?
In 1980 the United States Pony Club began tracking accidents reported among its members. Three years later, the Pony Club developed its own standard for riding helmets and required that all members wear their USPC standard helmets which had been tested at independent laboratories. In 1986 the USPC asked ASTM, an organization that had developed helmets for other sports to develop one for horseback riding helmets as well. ASTM F 1163 was first published in 1990 and is reviewed every five years.
The study the Pony Club began in 1980 continued for 12 years and provided arresting evidence in favor of the standard. The USPC found a 26% decrease in head injuries with the onset of the USPC standard helmet in 1983. Although there have been no official studies completed for the ASTM standard, the American Medical Equestrian Association estimates that ASTM/SEI approved helmets have decreased riding-related head injuries by 50%.
How to Distinguish Between Approved and Unapproved Helmets
The easiest thing to look for is the ASTM/SEI seal inside the helmet. If you are skeptical however, approved helmets have a thicker shell. Look at the helmets from below and you should be able to see the difference in thickness. Approved helmets cannot have a simple snap to secure the harness. Snaps are not used because they are prone to popping open upon impact. You can also look at the harness. There is no such thing as an approved helmet with a completely clear harness.
Companies Manufacturing Approved Helmets
Bicycle helmets may seem sufficient for protecting your head and you may find them lighter, cooler and more comfortable. However, bike crashes and falls from horses are not at all similar and therefore the helmet design is drastically different. The results? Bike helmets are not designed to protect your head when you're horseback riding! The height of a fall from a horse is far greater than the height of a fall from a bicycle. Bicycle helmets are not designed to withstand impact from the height of a horse. Also, bike helmets are designed to Protect the top of the head since most falls from bicycles are forward. Falls from horses occur in all directions and therefore the back and sides of the head are just as vulnerable. These parts of the head are not protected by a bike helmet.
Think bike helmets are more comfortable? Helmet companies are now coming out with all kinds of new styles to meet the demand for cooler, lighter, more comfortable helmets for horseback riding, similar to bike helmets, while still offering the same protection of a horseback riding helmet.Breed Association Helmet RegulationsAmerican Quarter Horse Association
Helmets are mandatory for all youth under 18 in fence classes and when schooling over fences. The AQHA does not require they be ASTM/SEI approved. Helmets are optional in all other classes at AQHA approved shows.
Requires ASTM/SEI approved helmets at all times.
American Morgan Horse Association
Follows rules set by USA Equestrian. All juniors riding in hunter, jumper, and hunterseat equitation cannot ride anywhere on show grounds without wearing an ASTM/SEI approved helmet. The harness must be secured. If headgear has a brim, it must be flexible or semi-flexible. Any rider found in violation of this rule at any time will be prohibited from further riding until proper headgear is in place.
United States Pony Club
ASTM/SEI helmets are required for all riders at all USPC functions.
American Paint Horse Association
A helmet with a harness properly fastened under the chin is required for all youth in warm up, schooling or classes over fences. ASTM/SEI certification is not required. |
Just a few decades ago this region was virtually untouched by human exploitation. Today, it is under sustained attack from land, sea and air, putting many species at risk.
The threatsUnsustainable fishing is pushing fish stocks to the brink of collapse, and leaving seabirds and mammals without enough food to survive.
The Southern Ocean has also become a dumping ground for rubbish. Each year thousands of animals ingest or get ensnared on discarded plastic, fishing nets and hooks, causing significant deaths.
But the greatest long-term threat to the region is climate change.
With the ice-shelf melting and glaciers shrinking, the nesting and feeding grounds of the Emperor and Adélie penguins as well as other species are under threat.
Krill, the foundation of the Antarctic food chain, is also facing a huge reduction in numbers, putting the entire marine ecosystem at risk.
- a network of marine protected areas is established across 2,000,000km2, or 10% of the Southern Ocean
- the impacts of climate change on Antarctica and in the Southern Ocean are understood and effective adaptation measures are taken
- fishing is sustainably managed, ensuring that fish stocks and ecosystems are not over-exploited
- a moratorium on mineral exploitation in the region remains in place under the Antarctic treaty system
Where is the Southern Ocean region?
View WWF Critical Regions of the World in a larger map |
Macbeth: Witches Influence on Macbeth's Decisions
In the Shakespearean play, "Macbeth," the witches influence on how Macbeth made
his decisions played a crucial part in contributing to his eventual destruction.
The witches were trying to create chaos by prophesying to Macbeth in order to
get him to act. They planted the seed of evil in Macbeth
's head that grew to
dominate his mind. But it was Macbeth who made the choices that determined his
fate. He was not forced to kill Duncan nor any of his other victims. But after
he murdered Duncan, Macbeth lost his sanity. The witches
were easily able to
control his mind. They made him believe that he was invincible, and then he
willingly continued to fight when he knew that it would mean his doom. Macbeth's
downfall was planned by the weird sisters, but it was Macbeth's own free will
that lead him to it.
The three witches called the weird sisters are the root of the problem that is
the subject for this story. The weird sisters are creators of chaos by nature.
They associate with evil spirits and obey them, and they are followers of the
evil goddess, Hecate. In the play the witches, with their spells, plan the
downfall of Macbeth. They cannot directly harm him themselves, so they tell
Macbeth predictions for his possible future, in order to make him act on them.
The witches tell Macbeth that he will become the thane of Cawdor and then king
of Scotland. They poison his mind with these prophesies, making him greedy and
bringing out the evil qualities in his soul. When the first of the promises is
proven authentic, Macbeth then considers the idea of murdering Duncan for the
first time. This is his first step on the journey to his demise, as the witches
The three witches' plan succeeded, they had aroused the greed in Macbeth,
allowing him to make the most important choice of the play - to kill Duncan.
Macbeth does not easily make this decision. In fact, at first he decides against
it, but, with the knowledge that he could be king, he could not help himself
from considering it. After constant persuasion from Lady Macbeth, she and
Macbeth finally made their decision. Lady Macbeth would load Duncan's attendants
with liquor, and then, on Lady Macbeth's signal, Macbeth would creep into
Duncan's chamber and slay him with his servant's weapons. This act surges
Macbeth forward on the direct path to his destruction. Afterwards, when Duncan
is discovered dead, Macbeth kills again when he murders the servants who were
guarding Duncan. Claiming he acted in rage Macbeth kills the servants so that
they cannot bear witness against him. Macbeth's greed had taken control of him
and he could not turn back. It only took the one idea embedded into Macbeth's
head to lead him toward corruption.
After Macbeth grows more sinful and overpowered with greed he does not make any
real attempt to change, and his conscious is bothered by this. Slowly Macbeth
loses grasp of his sanity and self-control. Being consumed with power, Macbeth
lets nothing stand in the way of his reign, because his reign is all that he has
left now. Macbeth's malevolence and deceptiveness are shown further when he
becomes so obsessed with the witches prophesies to his friend, Banquo, that he
decides to hire two men to kill him and his son. It is not long before Macbeth's
own ruthlessness begins to disturb him, greatly. He suffers from troubled sleep,
nightmares and loss of appetite, and he is going insane. At a banquet in his
castle Macbeth envisions Banquo's ghost and gives a terrified reaction in front
of his guests. Also because Macduff does not attend the banquet and flees to
England, Macbeth, in anger, decides to have his family murdered. Later in the
play Macbeth says to Lady Macbeth, "I am in blood / Stepp'd in so far, that,
should I wade no more, / Returning were as tedious as go o'er." This remark
paints the image of Macbeth swimming in a sea of blood, having proceeded so far
that it is easier to continue than to go back. Macbeth has lost hope. With
regret, he feels that he is past the point of no return, he has sinned so
brutally and severely that he is unable to atone for it.
Now that the witches have succeeded in bringing out Macbeth's evil qualities,
they are ready to finish their plot and make sure that Macbeth follows his
destiny to his downfall. With Hecate's guidance, the witches plan to lead
Macbeth to his death by making him feel overconfident. Macbeth goes to seek the
witches in a dark cave. When he finds them, they present him with three
apparitions. The first apparition appears as an armed head that says, "Macbeth!
Macbeth! Macbeth! beware Macduff; / Beware the thane of Fife." The second
apparition is a bloody child that tells Macbeth, "Be bloody, bold, and resolute;
laugh to scorn / The power of man, for none born of woman / Shall harm Macbeth."
Finally the third apparition, in the form of a child with a crown on his head,
holding a tree, tells Macbeth that he "Shall never vanquished be until Great
Birnam wood to high Dunsinane Hill / Shall come against him." Macbeth now feels
assured that he cannot be killed because he assumes that all people are born of
a woman, and it is impossible for a forest to move. He could never have guessed
that the apparitions meant that Macduff did not have a natural birth and that
the English would use trees as camouflage. This false confidence Macbeth was
given was extremely important to allow him to make his final decisions
resulted in his defeat.
The apparitions made an effect on Macbeth and he acts foolishly because of them.
When he is told that Macduff has fled to England, Macbeth, in fury, orders his
family murdered. This only strengthens Macduff's desire to confront and kill
Macbeth. When Macbeth finally realizes that he has been deceived by the witches
his overconfidence turns into arrogance. A messenger reports to Macbeth that it
appears that Birnam Wood is moving toward Dunsinane, as the apparitions had
warned Macbeth it would. But Macbeth now is too determined to fight than to
retreat, so he orders his soldiers to attack. On the battlefield he feels
trapped. But at the same time however, he clings to the prophesy that he cannot
by killed by anyone born of a woman. When Macbeth is finally confronted by
Macduff, Macduff explains that he was delivered by caesarian section and thus,
technically, not born. Now Macbeth fully understands the deception of the
witches and realizes that he destined to die here. But when he is given the
chance to live he does not take it, he would rather die than live in shame. By
free will, despite knowing that he would probably die, Macbeth fights Macduff,
and is slain.
It was Macbeth's free will, with the influence of the witches prophesies that
determined his destiny. Macbeth chose to kill Duncan, chose to kill his servants,
Banquo, and Macduff's family, and chose to fight to his death. And he was not
forced to do so, he took each step on the path to his destruction by choice.
Even though Macbeth seemed to have a predetermined fate, I don't think that he
was bound to it. I think he could have chosen to break away from the direction
he was heading at anytime, but just simply did not have the willpower. |
FOOD BEHAVIOR EMOTIONS AND HEALTH
FOOD BEHAVIOR EMOTIONS AND HEALTH
WHAT POSITIVE PARENTING TEACHES
HEALTHY NUTRITION POSITIVE PARENTING TECHNIQUES
- [_]# 3 Realistic expectations
- [_]# 5 Managing feelings
- [_]# 7 Teaching how to solve problems
- [_]#10 Praise good behavior
- [_]#12 Set good healthy habits
- [_]#27 Planned activities
VIDEOS ON POOR NUTRITION & CHILDREN'S CHALLENGES:
- 5 YEARS OLD:
- JAYLEN'S SLEEP APNEA & WEIGHT
- 12 YEARS OLD:
- BRIANA BULLIED BECAUSE OF WEIGHT
As a result of poor nutrition health challenges may include:
- [_] ADD
- [_] headaches
- [_] fidget
- [_] illness
- [_] low tolerance
- [_] easy agitated
- [_] over-active
- [_] restlessness
PROBLEMS AT DAYCARE AND SCHOOL
- [_] eat the same healthy foods you are serving your children
- [_] don't reduce the natural sweetness of vegetables by over-cooking
- [_] add vegetables to pizzas
- [_] add vegetables to pastas
- [_] offer vegetables with hummus
- [_] offer vegetables with salsa
- [_] offer the new food 15-20 times, it may take that long, so be patient
- [_] don't make the favorite meal after they refuse to eat what you have prepared
- [_] don't bribe with offering desserts
- [_] maintain a consistent routine with meal times
- [_] maintain a consisten routine with snack times
- [_] cut back on snacking between meals & snack times and only offer water
SHOPPING AS AN EDUCATIONAL EXPERIENCE
- [_] help your child enjoy their food by allowing them to help you with the grocery shopping
- [_] teach your child how to read food labels with the fooducate scanner
- [_] pick the right types of stores to take your child shopping with you.
- [_] avoid stores that have a lot of aisles of colorful processed foods like the ones seen on commercials.
- [_] plan a trip with them to go with you to the farmer's market where there's plenty of fruits and vegetables to choose from
- [_] make sure your child has had their nap before leaving so that they are well rested
- [_] eat at home first, so that you and your child are not hungry
A child is happier about food when they are involved in meal planning and preparation. This also gives them a sense of personal power over their bodies which allows for parent-child cooperation during meal time.
- [_] look at recipes on websites
- [_] pick out pictures in recipe books or magazines
- [_] read recipe books
- [_] picking out recipes
- [_] picking out veggies and fruit at the market
- [_] rinsing the fresh produce
- [_] tearing up greens for a salad
- [_] mixing the ingredients for the salad in a big bowl
DOWNLOAD THE FOODCATE APP TO YOUR CELL PHONE TO SCAN PRODUCT LABELS
The www.fooducate.com application helps to educate parents and youth on foods to avoid by grading its nutritional contents as well as determine if the product is vegetarian, vegan, and/or contains soy, GMO products, hormones, artificial flavors, or dyes, etc.. By using your cell phone camera as a "Health Tracker" scanning the barcodes on the food labels while shopping, increases ones healthy nutritional awareness. Fooducate is a tool to make better decisions regarding food choices.
CHECK YOUR CABINETS: FOODUCATE GRADING SYSTEM: NUTRITION AND INGREDIENTS
Food labels in your cabinets can be scanned with your cell phone to check how healthy your everyday products are. Using this app is a good way to determine if your child's behavior is associated with the artificial or highly processed foods they are receiving. Some children may have to be off of products for 3 weeks for a difference in behavior to be noticed. Keep a behavior chart daily that includes a space to write a food diary.
- Food Additives mimic human hormones
- VIDEO: Soy Products & Health Risks
- The Dangers Of Soy
- Fruits And Vegetables
- Meat And Fish
- Fast Foods
On Site Event Consultations $10 per 5 minutes
*(workshop students who signed attendance sheet: $10 per 10 minutes at time of event)
SOCIALIZING OUR YOUTH BUILDING FAMILY HEALTH & EDUCATION
CHARTING: CHILD & ADULT BEHAVIORS
Double click on image for clarity and to enlarge
- [_] prepackaged foods
- [_] caring about nutrition is judgmental
- [_] using nostalgia to sell you junk food
FOOD, ADDITIVES, CHEMICALS, DYES AND BEHAVIOR KNOWLEDGE BREAKS THE SPELL OF IGNORANCE: THE ENDOCRINE SYSTEM
Use media programs saved on youtube, on demand, and commercials as a resource for teaching your children lessons about products being sold as food. The conversations become very open as parents view the T.V. families as lessons and not just entertainment, but edutainment. Parents begin to relax and reflect on whats going on in their own homes, without feeling ashamed to ask questions or make a statement.
- [_] talk about diseases that are related to food with your child
- [_] obesity
- [_] diabetes
- [_] high blood pressure
EARLY SEXUAL BEHAVIOR: FOOD PRODUCTS AND CATEGORIES
BPA: It’s widely known that bisphenol-A (BPA), an endocrine-disrupting chemical... Lesser known is the fact that BPA is also used to make BPA resins, which keep metal from corroding and breaking. It coats about 75 percent of cans in North America, which means if you eat canned foods, it’s likely a major source of BPA exposure for you. In one study, eating canned soup for five days increased study participants' urinary concentrations of BPA by more than 1,000% compared to eating freshly made soup!
Atrazine, a pesticide that is applied to more than half the corn crops in the United States, atrazine causes sexual abnormalities in frogs, and could cause the same problems for humans. Tyrone Hayes, Scientist, of the University of California, Berkeley, discovered a widely used herbicide may have harmful effects on the endocrine system THE
ENDOCRINE SYSTEM & REPRODUCTIVE GLANDS:
Reproductive Glands The gonads are the main source of sex hormones. Most people don't realize it, but both guys and girls have gonads.
In guys the male gonads, or testes (pronounced: TES-teez), are located in the scrotum. They secrete hormones called androgens (pronounced: AN-druh-junz), the most important of which is testosterone (pronounced: tess-TOSS-tuh-rone). These hormones tell a guy's body when it's time to make the changes associated with puberty, like penis and height growth, deepening voice, and growth in facial and pubic hair. Working with hormones from the pituitary gland, testosterone also tells a guy's body when it's time to produce sperm in the testes.
A girl's gonads, the ovaries (pronounced: OH-vuh-reez), are located in her pelvis. They produce eggs and secrete the female hormones estrogen (pronounced: ESS-truh-jen) and progesterone (pronounced: pro-JESS-tuh-rone). Estrogen is involved when a girl begins to go through puberty. During puberty, a girl will experience breast growth, will begin to accumulate body fat around the hips and thighs, and will have a growth spurt. Estrogen and progesterone are also involved in the regulation of a girl's menstrual cycle.
EARLY SEXUAL MATURITY AND MILK: IS EARLY SEXUAL MATURITY A BAD THING HEALTHWISE?
By Robert Cohen Executive Director
...These girls of the twenty-first century are maturing earlier than last generation's children, and something is very different about their womanly physical attributes and behavior. Could there be a food link to this mystery?
Concentrated milk in the form of increased cheese consumption means that concentrated hormones are being consumed. Every sip of cow's milk contains 59 different bioactive hormones, according to endocrinologist Clark Grosvenor in the Journal of Endocrine Reviews in 1992. Milk has always been a hormonal delivery system, providing nursing infants with nature's perfect food for the young of each species.
Thousands of studies published in respected peer-reviewed scientific journals report that lactoferrins, immunoglobulins, and hormones in human breast milk provide enormous benefit for nursing humans. In other words, hormones in milk work to exert powerful effects. Each species of mammal has a different formula.
Cow's milk contains hormones, and nursing on cow's milk will deliver these hormones to the human body. As a little girl becomes a big girl, then a mature woman, she will naturally produce in her lifetime the equivalent of only one tablespoon of estrogen. Hormones work on a nanomolecular lever, which means that it takes only a billionth of a gram to produce a powerful biological effect. Should little girls be encouraged to pop estrogen, progesterone, and prolactin pills each day? If they drink cow's milk, that is just what they are doing. If they eat cheese and ice cream, they ingest concentrated forms of these hormones. |
Atoms and Elements
Matter is everything in the universe that occupies space and has mass. Think of matter as a category, or a convenient way of grouping things, rather than a thing itself. Just as the category “plants” is just an easier way of representing all plants than listing them individually, so too is “matter” just an easier way of representing the things that fall under that category, which is everything. Matter is the ultimate category because all things belong to it, from the greatest string of galaxies to the tiniest part of an atom.
The atom is the basic unit of any substance. An atom consists of a nucleus, which contains the proton(s) and neutron(s), and the electron cloud, which is really just a representation of where the electron(s) might be at any given time. Protons have positive charge, electrons have negative charge, and neutrons have no charge. It is the number of protons that determines what element an atom belongs to.
Each individual element is different substance with unique chemical properties. Elements are grouped together for easier study and classification on the Periodic Table. This makes it much easier to keep track of all of the different elements, their chemical properties, and how they interact with each other.
The Atom and Matter Script
1. Zoom: Whole image
Hot Spot: elephant = element; Adam(fig leaf) = atom; apple = subatomic particle
Learning: The atom is the smallest unit a substance, or element, can be broken into without ceasing to be that same substance. In this CoursePic, we see an elephant, which represents the element, wearing Adam's fig leaf to remind us that the basic unit of an element is an atom. Atoms are made up of varying combinations of three subatomic particles, shown here as apples.
Story: Adam may be the smallest of all the elephants, but he and his apples play a big role in keeping the whole world running.
2. Zoom: purple apple
Hot Spot: purple, plus, positive = proton
Learning: The first of the three subatomic particles is the proton. It carries a charge of +1 and has a mass of almost one atomic mass unit. Since a proton is positive, this smiling proton apple is purple and has a plus for a leaf.
Story: The smiling purple proton apple's positive outlook on life is a definite plus.
3. Zoom: gray apple
Hot Spot: gray, expressionless = neutral; leafless = chargeless
Learning: The next subatomic particle is the neutron. Neutrons have no charge, so the neutron apple is leafless. To further show it's neutrality, it is colored a neutral gray and has a blank facial expression. Neutrons have a mass of one atomic mass unit.
Story: The gray neutron apple just doesn't have the energy to care. To it, the world is leafless and dull.
4. Zoom: red apple
Hot Spot: red, angry(enraged) = electron; minus = negative charge
Learning: The third subatomic particle, the electron, has a charge of -1 and a nearly negligible atomic mass. To show the negative charge, the electron apple is red and enraged and has a minus as a leaf.
Story: The red faced electron apple is enraged at having a minus for a leaf. No matter the situation, it always sees the negative side of things.
5. Zoom: elephant
Hot Spot: Adam-the-elephant = elemental atom
Learning: Adam-the-elephant, who represents the elemental atom, has a proton apple and a neutron apple in his belly. This shows the relative location of actual protons and neutrons in the atomic nucleus. Just as the electrons orbit the nucleus of an atom, Adam-the-elephant's enraged electron apple flies around him.
Story: The positive proton apple is always happy to be the center of attention, but his partner, the gray neutron apple doesn't care one way or the other. The always negative electron apple longs for the companionship that the other two can have, and is red with rage at neutron for not valuing it. Adam-the-elephant doesn't mind the electron apple's furious buzzing about, so long as balance is maintained.
6. Zoom: tomato
Hot Spot: tomato = matter
Learning: Atoms, whether alone or bonded together in groups, make up all of the physical things in the universe, which we call matter. Everything that has mass, whether gas, liquid, or solid, is matter. We are matter, our houses are matter, and our food-like this tomato-are all matter.
Story: Adam and all of the other elephants just want to matter, to be a part of something greater than themselves. Without the teamwork of all these elephants, this delicious tomato would never have been. |
Basic 9-1-1 Systems
As of 2006, approximately 7 percent of 9-1-1 service is still basic 9-1-1. Here's what this type of call looks like:
- You dial 9-1-1.
- Your phone company recognizes the number and routes the call to a dedicated 9-1-1 switch that sends the call to the designated PSAP for your area.
- The PSAP call-taker (also called an operator or dispatcher) asks what the emergency is, what the location is and for a call-back phone number. The call-taker does not have your number or location information on the screen. He or she actually needs you to provide it. (The PSAP can trace the call and get the information, but that takes longer than you'd think -- in the area of 10 minutes, in some cases -- because it's not built into the basic 9-1-1 system.)
- Depending on the emergency, the call-taker uses radio dispatch to alert police, fire and/or EMS to go to the scene.
In most basic 9-1-1 systems, you're looking at several pieces of equipment (besides the PSTN) that play a crucial role in the process. Some common 9-1-1 equipment includes:
- Computer-controlled Radio Interface To more quickly dispatch emergency personnel, a PSAP might use a computer-controlled radio system to automatically activate electronic pagers.
- Computer-aided Dispatch (CAD) A computer mapping program automatically provides directions to the caller's location and identifies any particular hazards or special information the responders might need to know (like road-work detours, flooded streets, that the caller is handicapped, etc.).
- Recording Equipment PSAPs record everything, including phone calls and all radio communications into and out of the center. In most cases, the recorded data is stored for a minimum of 30 days in the event that police, prosecutors, PSAP managers or call-takers need to review the information. The CAD system can also serve as a full recording setup.
- Back-up Power PSAPs have back-up generators and uninterruptible power supplies (UPS) in case of a power surges or outages. In most cases, PSAPs can stay online and operational even if the surrounding area has no power.
Next, we'll take a look at how E911 is different. |
In a grid-down scenario, some medical issues involve conditions that aren’t life-threatening by themselves but can affect work efficiency, thus decreasing your chances of survival in the long run. One of these is the plantar wart.
What Are Warts?
Warts are rough, round skin lesions found most commonly on the hands or soles of the feet; the word “plantar” simply refers to the sole of the foot. They are caused, not by toads, but by the human papillomavirus. This virus comes in various subtypes that affect different areas. Some subtypes are responsible for genital warts and even cervical cancer.
Warts found on the soles of the feet are most likely to cause symptoms due to the weight placed on them as you stand and walk. The usual sensation is that of a pebble in your shoe. Normally brownish-gray or yellow in color, the visible part of a plantar wart is often just the top of a larger wart hiding under the skin.
How Can You Tell It’s a Viral Wart?
A viral wart can be distinguished from corns or other foot lesions in that they interrupt the lines on the sole of your feet (yes, you have a unique footprint just like you have fingerprints). Also, they have little black dots that represent tiny blood vessels affected by the virus. Squeezing a plantar wart usually elicits pain.
Plantar warts are contagious; they can be caught by contact with infected skin scales on shower or locker room floors. The virus enters through small openings in the surface of the skin. Moistness allows the virus more time to enter. The tendency to develop warts seems to differ from person to person, however, even with similar exposure to the virus. Those who spend a lot of time barefoot develop calluses that seem to protect them from warts (good for you, Cody Lundin).
Not sharing socks, shoes, towels, or other items with others.
Not re-using socks without washing them in hot, soapy water first.
Wear sandals (your own) in locker rooms, gyms, and around swimming pools and shower rooms.
Disinfect your bathroom floors on a regular basis.
Don’t touch warts on others, and wash your hands after touching your own.
Once it has been determined that you have plantar warts, there are various ways to deal with them. It’s important to treat as early as possible; later on, the wart will get bigger, tougher, and harder to eliminate. Having said that, many plantar warts will go away by themselves over a period of time (sometimes, years). You don’t have to treat it unless you are experiencing discomfort, identify a spreading pattern, or believe the wart is unsightly.
You might want to apply a special foot pad (commonly available at any pharmacy) over the wart that cushions the foot as you walk. This would be useful to decrease discomfort while you are treating the wart.
One treatment technique is to obtain a cheap emery board specifically for the purpose of filing down the wart. Do this when your foot is wet and the wart has softened a little. NEVER use this emery board on your nails: It is possible to develop warts under your fingernails that may be uncomfortable and difficult to get rid of.
Then, use one of various medications, like Salicylic Acid, that will wear down the plantar wart with daily use. Don’t use these treatments on genital warts, as they will burn. Cover the wart afterwards with a small round band-aid to prevent spread of the virus. Another technique recommended by some involves occluding the wart by continually covering it with duct tape.
Physicians can cauterize warts by freezing (“cryocautery”) or burning (“electrocautery”). In the worst cases, surgical removal is performed. You should be aware that scarring can occur in some cases, so don’t try to do this yourself if modern medical care is available to you.
If you have warts now, you may get new ones in the future. To be ready for this possibility, a prepared individual will add some of the above items to their medical supplies. |
A new survey called MaNGA (Mapping Nearby Galaxies at Apache Point Observatory) has been launched that will greatly expand our understanding of galaxies, including the Milky Way, by charting the internal structure and composition of an unprecedented sample of 10,000 galaxies.
MaNGA is a part of the fourth generation Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS-IV) and will make maps of stars and gas in galaxies to determine how they have grown and changed over billions of years, using a novel optical fiber bundle technology that can take spectra of all parts of a galaxy at the same time.
The new survey represents a collaboration of more than 200 astronomers at more than 40 institutions on four continents. With the new technology, astronomers will gain a perspective on the building blocks of the universe with a statistical precision that has never been achieved before.
"Because the life story of a galaxy is encoded in its internal structure—a bit like the way the life story of a tree is encoded in its rings—MaNGA would, for the first time, enable us to map the evolutionary histories of galaxies of all types and sizes, living in all kinds of environments," said Kevin Bundy, MaNGA's Principal Investigator from the Kavli Institute of the Physics and Mathematics of the Universe, the University of Tokyo.
This new survey will provide a vast public database of observations that will significantly expand astronomer's understanding of how tiny differences in the density of the early universe evolved over billions of years into the rich structure of galaxies today. This cosmic story includes the journey of our own Milky Way galaxy from its origins to the birth of our sun and solar system, and eventually the necessary conditions that gave rise to life on Earth.
"MaNGA will not only teach us about what shapes the appearance of normal galaxies," said SDSS Project Scientist, Matthew Bershady from the University of Wisconsin, Madison. "It will also almost surely surprise us with new discoveries about the origin of dark matter, super-massive black holes, and perhaps even the nature of gravity itself." This potential comes from MaNGA's ability to paint a complete picture of each galaxy using an unprecedented amount of spectral information on the chemical composition and motions of stars and gas.
To realize this potential, the MaNGA team has developed new technologies for bundling sets of fiber-optic cables into tightly-packed arrays that dramatically enhance the capabilities of existing instrumentation on the 2.5-meter Sloan Foundation Telescope in New Mexico. Unlike nearly all previous surveys, which combine all portions of a galaxy into a single spectrum, MaNGA will obtain as many as 127 different measurements across the full extent of every galaxy. Its new instrumentation enables a survey of more than 10,000 nearby galaxies at twenty times the rate of previous efforts, which did one galaxy at a time.
But local galaxy studies are far from the only astronomical topic the new SDSS will explore. Another core program called APOGEE-2 will chart the compositions and motions of stars across the entire Milky Way in unprecedented detail, using a telescope in Chile along with the existing Sloan Foundation Telescope.
And the new SDSS will continue to improve our understanding of the Universe as a whole. The third core program, eBOSS, will precisely measure the expansion history of the Universe through 80% of cosmic history, back to when the Universe was less than three billion years old. These new detailed measurements will help to improve constraints on the nature of dark energy, the most mysterious experimental result in modern physics.
"SDSS has a proud history of fostering a breadth of cosmic discoveries that connect a deep understanding of the origins of the universe with key insights on the nature of galaxies and the makeup of our own Milky Way," said Hitoshi Murayama, Director of the Kavli IPMU. "We are delighted to be a part of this endeavor to understand the Universe in the broadest sense, and particularly happy to see our Kevin Bundy playing such a crucial role to make it all happen."
With new technology and surveys like MaNGA and the continuing generous support of the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation and participating institutions, the SDSS will remain one of the world's most productive astronomical facilities. Science results from the SDSS will continue to reshape our view of the fundamental constituents of the cosmos, the universe of galaxies, and our home in the Milky Way.
Explore further: The Sloan Digital Sky Survey expands its reach |
A Road Scholar Program by Janet D. Cornelius
Jane Addams believed that two of her greatest inspirations were her father and Abraham Lincoln. Her father taught his children that Lincoln’s compassion for all people, including his enemies, was the highest virtue of civilization. Likewise, her own broad definition of democracy closely resembled Lincoln’s philosophy. And, after many strongly criticized her for her support of the Pullman strike Addams sought out Lincoln’s statue for comfort in granting ‘charity for all.’
This event is Free and Open to the public. For more information, please contact Eve G. Kirk, 815.332.5161 ext. 27. |
Devon’s Landscape Underpins Our Economy
The South Hams landscape supports our health and wellbeing by encouraging physical outdoor activity and is an antidote to stress. Landscapes can offer aesthetic enjoyment, escapism, tranquillity, and a sense of belonging to an area with a distinct natural and cultural identity. Many landscapes in Devon inspire artists, writers and photographers whose work is enjoyed by all ages.
Landscape is more than just scenery: it is the interaction between people and place; the bedrock upon which our society is built. The European Landscape Convention defines landscape as ‘an area, as perceived by people, whose character is the result of the action and interaction of natural and/or human factors.’
Devon’s landscape underpins our economy, offering a superb natural and cultural environment that sustains agriculture, attracts inward investment, and supports one of the most vibrant tourism industries in the UK.
New development needs to take full account of its relationship with the landscape. Understanding the landscape context of development is an essential first step of the design process. Devon’s landscape character assessment (DLCA) helps developers to understand the characteristics of different areas of landscape and of the impacts of potential development. This helps in the identification of sites that are suitable for different types of development. When a development site has been identified, the key characteristics of the landscape can inform the design and layout of new development.
The DLCA provides the background information and a spatial framework for landscape sensitivity studies. The characteristics of the landscape as identified in the DLCA allow the assessment of inherent landscape sensitivity, which can then inform an assessment of the sensitivity of the landscape to particular types of change. Combining this with an assessment of the visibility of particular types of change leads to an understanding of overall landscape sensitivity. Sensitivity studies can be developed for a wide range of different change scenarios, including built development, energy infrastructure and forestry.
There are a number of ways that trees are protected by law within the UK. These include Tree Preservation Orders (TPOs), Conservation Areas, the Felling Licence system, Restrictive Covenants, and planning conditions within the planning system.
Trees, hedges and woodland are an integral part of Devon’s countryside and towns, and they provide multiple benefits to society, including filtering air pollution, reducing surface water runoff /contributing to sustainable drainage, providing wildlife habitats, improving water quality and the stabilising of soils and slopes.
Devon’s hedges are particularly special. They are of great historical importance, define the county’s beautiful farmed landscapes, and support an immense amount of wildlife. Devon Hedge Group provides information on Devon’s hedges are why they are so important for biodiversity and landscape.
Also of special value are Devon’s orchards, ancient woodland, veteran trees & ancient pasture as they form part of its historic landscapes, including many historic parkland estates and designed landscapes. Download the Woodland Trust Ancient Tree Guide which explains what ancient & veteran trees are and why they are important. Also visit the Ancient Tree Inventory, which allows users to search, submit and update records for ancient/veteran trees. |
This devotional was written by Dan Johnson Then Jesus said to them, "Do not be afraid…" —Matthew 28:10
Human beings are born with two fears: fear of falling and fear of loud noises. Hundreds of other fears and phobias that haunt us are picked up along the way. We each have the ability to fear, and we should be thankful; our survival depends on it. Epinephrine (adrenaline) and norepinephrine spur the heart to pump more blood to the muscles and prepare the body to either confront or run from a threat. Fear of fire, of being hit by an SUV traveling at 70 miles per hour, and fear of being eaten motivates us in some very positive ways. The problem is when we get a memory of the fear stored in the amygdala, a grape-size structure at the base of the brain. We can also have a generalized feeling of anxiety quietly invade our life like a malignancy. This makes us lurk at the edges of life hoping merely to survive.
Over and over again, Jesus told his followers to "fear not." On our own, this is impossible. Fear is inborn, so daily life in Christ requires replacing old fears with new. The Bible teaches us to fear God, which means nothing less than caring more about what God thinks than what people think. It teaches us that fear of God is the beginning of wisdom. Unhealthy fear will not disappear magically, though. With daily focus on the higher, inspirational agenda of God, human fears take their rightful place. Being like Christ means transcending our biology and living as children of our great God.
How many enjoyable, noble and significant journeys have you avoided because of fear? How many life-changing plans never materialized because of fear of failure, human opinion or harm? In Matthew 28:10, Jesus gave one last "fear not" to his followers. Less than ten verses later he sent them out to make disciples of every person on the earth; and they went. What is fear keeping you from today?
- What are your top three fears and how would the fear of God chase those fears away?
- How much bigger would your life be if your human fears were smaller?
Joshua 1:9-10; Isaiah 41:10 |
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Even David Bothman’s mother thought he should jump into the homemade face-shield industry. Home in Bothman’s case, however, is a lab and a workshop at the California NanoSystems Institute (CNSI) on the UC Santa Barbara campus.
When Cottage Health officials began to run low on protective gear, Bothman and his cohort began cranking them out, using the nanosystems’ shops’ 3D printers. They’ve been spitting out plastic frames and are gearing up for more projects and volunteers. The Independent contacted him to learn more.
This is such a great idea. Who hatched it?
People all over the world who have access to tools are making personal protective equipment (PPE) for hospitals. Early this week, several faculty who are familiar with the tools in the Innovation Workshop at the California NanoSystems Institute (CNSI) at UCSB sent me information about several different products. My mother even sent an article from England about home-made protective face shields. That’s the design that we’re producing — it’s best suited to our 3D printers.
I think that everyone would like to help. We can all lend a hand in our neighborhood, but we don’t have the specialized knowledge needed to help at the hospital. Making stuff for the hospital is what I can do. I’m impressed with all of the ideas being shared.
How many people are involved, and how many are you all making a day?
The group is expanding, though we’re all working independently. Right now there are four of us on campus working on face shields, and several people in town who have 3D printers at home have volunteered to make parts.
Our lab can make about 24 protective shields each day. These provide an additional layer of protection for health-care providers, in addition to goggles and the N95 masks that they wear around infected patients.
Who do you give them to?
Most of the masks are destined for Cottage hospital. Professor Eric McFarland in the Chemical Engineering Department here is the liaison with the hospital. He’s also an emergency-room physician, so he’s been an invaluable resource for connecting local industry, the UCSB community, and the hospital to keep everyone focused on making the items that Cottage needs. We’re also making masks for use around the campus.
What kind of masks do they need the most?
I really don’t have the big picture of what Cottage needs. Making face shields is what we can do now. We may help make holders for HEPA filters [for very fine particles] in the future.
How expensive are they to make?
Our face shields cost about $10 in materials each. The labor is all volunteered.
When you’re not dragooned into volunteer labor for medical supplies, what do you do at the university during less drastic times?
The main focus of my job is running a couple of labs at CNSI — the Innovation Workshop and the Microfluidics Lab — where campus users build scientific instruments and prototypes of their own inventions. I used to teach mechanical engineering design and manufacturing, and have always liked building things. Every day I get to collaborate with students, staff, and faculty to bring their ideas to fruition. I love it.
At the Santa Barbara Independent, our staff is working around the clock to cover every aspect of this crisis — sorting truth from rumor. Our reporters and editors are asking the tough questions of our public health officials and spreading the word about how we can all help one another. The community needs us — now more than ever — and we need you in order to keep doing the important work we do. Support the Independent by making a direct contribution or with a subscription to Indy+. |
Sandy's wake leaves shore birds in dire straitsFebruary 2nd, 2013 by Mary Esch in Biology / Ecology
In this May 13, 2011 file photo, red knots rest at Slaughter Beach in Delaware during their annual migration. Superstorm Sandy damaged beaches along the Delaware Bay where horseshoe crabs lay their eggs every year. As do other migrating shore birds, the red knot depends on those eggs for survival during long seasonal migrations. (AP Photo/The News Journal, Gary Emeigh) NO SALES
Beach and habitat losses attributable to Superstorm Sandy have wildlife groups scrambling to repair the damage by the time spring birds arrive.
The storm washed away sand and vegetation that many species spawn in or call home, or polluted habitats with oil and sewage.
Particularly troublesome is damage to the beaches of the Delaware Bay in southern New Jersey. The area is known for birds including the red knot. The shorebird stops there to feed on crab eggs on the way from South America to the Arctic.
But Sandy washed away sand that the crabs need to spawn. And repair work will cost millions of dollars.
The money for it and other repairs to help habitats will come from federal and state governments and nonprofit organizations.
Copyright 2013 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
"Sandy's wake leaves shore birds in dire straits." February 2nd, 2013. http://phys.org/news/2013-02-sandy-shore-birds-dire-straits.html |
Look at the following rectangle drawn on x and y-coordinate axes.
When we translate a shape, we follow the set instruction and move each corner in turn.
In this example, this is done by shifting each point 5 squares to the left.
The result looks like this:
Rectangle ABCD has been translated 5 squares to the left to form Rectangle A'B'C'D'. |
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An Investigation of Quantization Noise
Because a digital system contains a fixed number of discrete levels, there will be a difference between the digital representation and the analog signal. The subjective consequences of this quantization error is a function of the program. For complex high-level program it is white noise; for complex low-level program, it is a kind of distortion. With sine waves an extraneous set of beat tones will be generated. For example, a 9.33-kHz input signal with a 30-kHz sampling system will generate a 2-kHz beat tone.
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Vasant Panchami is a spring festival celebrated in North India. It falls on the 5th day of Phalguna. The day is especially dedicated to Saraswati
, the Goddess of learning, wisdom, fine arts and refinement. Vasant Panchami is a ceremonial welcome to the spring season.
People, dressed in fast colors (especially in bright shades of yellow), dance, sing and make merry. A grand
puja is conducted for Saraswati, the Goddess of creativity and the wife of Brahma, the God of creation.
At the beginning of the puja the youngest girl of the house applies teeka on everyone’s forehead and then sprinkles holy water. Teeka is also applied to the deity, at least thrice with liquid. Rice and flowers are picked up by the fingers and thumb and showered onto the idols. The prasad offered to the goddess varies from community to community. Some offer ber, a kind of plume which grows in abundance in North India, while others present sangari, a kind of bean that grows in the radish plant. These two items are placed on a large metal plate, along with some yellow colored sweets. Paan (betel leaf) along with coconut is given to everyone present. |
Most people have heard about or seen organic foods. It’s important to know which products are organic and which are not. They are usually more expensive and have different kinds of packaging. Use the tips offered here to learn more about organic gardening.
Trying to shovel through clay soil can be extremely difficult and tiresome. To make your digging project easier, apply a coat of automobile wax to your shovel first and then buff it lightly. This will make your task easier because the clay won’t stick to the shovel. It will also keep your garden tool from rusting.
Bulbs planted in the spring can flower all the way into summer. These are hearty choices, choices that will reward you for years despite the little effort that is involved in their care. Specific types of bulbs usually bloom at specific times of the season, so if you make appropriate selections, you can be rewarded with blooms from the early part of spring to the later part of summer.
If your soil has high alkaline amounts, mix some coffee grounds into it. This is an easy and inexpensive method to increase the acidity of your soil. This solution will make the vegetables you grow healthier and more flavorful.
Before you start planting your garden, plan it! This will assist you in recognizing your tiny plants when they start to pop up. A good plan can also help you to place each plant in the area that is most beneficial to them.
If you have many low-growing plants in your garden, get yourself a pair of gardening knee pads. The amount of time that you spend gardening on your knees can make your knees hurt by the time you are done. Buy yourself a pair of knee pads to use in the garden to cushion and protect your knees.
You can keep pests away from your garden by using other plants or natural materials. For example, if you plant onions or marigolds along the edges of your vegetable garden, you can ward off slugs. Using wood ash as mulch around the base of trees and shrub seedlings will also help keep away insect pests. With these natural methods, there is no need to purchase expensive, harsh pesticides.
If you decide to grow peas, think about planting them indoors when you first start them off, as opposed to planting them outdoors. The seeds will have a better germination rate if you start them indoors. This method also results in hardier seedlings that can better resist insects and disease. When these pea plants are sturdy, you can place them outside in your garden.
Spray old aftershave, perfume, or scented products around the grass of your garden to prevent your dog from entering it. This will help to cover the scents that are attracting the dog, and make it less of an appealing place for your dog to be.
Growing your garden at home might not be the most convenient thing for you, but you will save a lot of money and always have the confidence that what you’re eating and feeding your family is as fresh and as healthy as possible. Use the tips you’ve learned here and get started on your garden today. |
Blessed with one of the best quality and quantity of sun, India offers a huge potential to develop solar photovoltaic (PV) power both for domestic consumption and export. With several new companies from India and abroad starting their solar operations in India, and existing companies committing to expanding their capacity, solar PV power is bang in the middle of a take-off in India right now. The government too has been very supportive to boost the growth of solar industry. In January last year, the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE) and Ministry of Power launched the Jawaharlal Nehru National Solar Mission (JNNSM) with an aim to set up an enabling environment for solar energy penetration in the country. The ambitious project aims to establish India as a global leader in solar energy, not just in terms of solar power generation but also in solar panels manufacturing and further development of this technology.
The JNNSM targets 22 GW of installed solar generation capacity by 2022, 100 GW by 2030 and 200 GW by 2050. It aims to achieve grid parity by 2022 and parity with thermal-based generation by 2030. It also aims to install 4-5 GW of solar manufacturing capacity in India by 2017. In the near term, the solar industry is looking to reach the total installed base of about 1 GW. Over the next two to three years, it may achieve 1-1.5 GW of annual installations year-on-year. Providing further impetus to the solar industry, states like Gujarat and Rajasthan have announced their own solar policies.
Here’s why you should think about making a career in this exciting field.
According to a recent KPMG report, solar power can meet 5-7 per cent of India’s total power requirements by 2021-22, up from a negligible portion today. “Solar power can help our country move closer to the targeted 20-25 per cent reduction in carbon emission intensity of the total GDP by 2020, by contributing as much as one-tenth of this target, besides playing an increasingly important role in securing India’s energy future,” says Arvind Mahajan, head of energy and natural resources, KPMG.
Based on KPMG estimates, an average of 43,000 new jobs would be created annually in the period 201722 from the rooftop segment itself. Furthermore, around 42,000 jobs can potentially be created annually in the period 2017-22 from utility-scale solar power installations. The agriculture potential could create more than 38,000 jobs annually in the solar industry from 2017-18. KPMG further estimates that more than 600,000 jobs will be created during 2017-22 from rooftop, solar-powered agriculture pumpsets and utility-scale solar installations alone. Solar water heaters could also create more than 420,000 jobs in this period.
“Hence the solar industry would create close to a million jobs in the period 2017-22, carving a new industry segment like what IT has succeeded to create in the last decade in India,” quips K. Subramanya, CEO, Tata BP Solar.
Solar industry, at the global level in general and national level in particular, is in a nascent stage hovering around 20GW per annum. “It is expected to grow manifold in years to come mainly due to two reasons: increasing concern for climate change necessitating switching to renewable energy from fossil fuels and also concern about the depleting oil reserves,” adds Dr P. Jayakumar, CEO, Arbutus Consultants.
The solar industry offers exciting career opportunities in various disciplines of engineering like chemical engineering, mechanical engineering, electrical engineering, electronics and communications and civil engineering.
“If you check five years back, job opportunities were not even 10 per cent of what they are today. I personally see 30 per cent growth in this industry in the years to come,” quips Hitesh C. Doshi, chairman, Waaree Group.
“With the launch of the NSM and the huge target which has been set by the government, different companies are trying to engage themselves through either installation of power plants or design and manufacture of solar components, various devices and individual sub-systems required for the power plant. As far as the knowledge base is concerned, one is the engineering aspect of the power plant design and another is the physics of how this power gets generated. So the job opportunities exist in each of these sectors,” opines P.K.Ghosh, management consultant, Agni Power & Electronics.
[stextbox id=”info” caption=”Solar Technical Workshop”]Gujarat Energy Research and Management Institute (GERMI) is organising a ‘Comprehensive Course in Solar Photovoltaic Design, Technology and Application’ for techno-management professionals who are actively involved in engineering, procurement and construction of solar photovoltaic power plants.
Course date: August 8-11, 2011
Course venue: Pandit Deendayal Petroleum University, Raisan Village, Gandhinagar, Gujarat
Key takeaways: The cer tification workshop will provide in-depth knowledge of fundamental PV principles, selection of components and designing of various types of PV systems, PV design and analysis software, hands-on building of PV systems, visit and study of 1 megawatt PV power plant.[/stextbox] |
Fire Prevention Day takes place on October 09, 2019. It commemorates the Great Chicago Fire. The Great Chicago Fire was a conflagration that burned from October 8, to early October 10, 1871, killing hundreds and destroying about 3.3 square miles (9 km²) in Chicago, Illinois.
The traditional account of the origin of the fire is that it was started by a cow kicking over a lantern in the barn owned by Patrick and Catherine O'Leary. In 1893, Michael Ahern, the Chicago Republican reporter who wrote the O'Leary account, admitted he had made it up as colorful copy. The barn was the first building to be consumed by the fire, but the official report could not determine the exact cause.
On the 40th anniversary (1911) of the Great Chicago Fire, the Fire Marshals Association of North America (FMANA); the oldest membership section of the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA), sponsored the first National Fire Prevention Day, deciding to observe the anniversary as a way to keep the public informed about the importance of fire prevention.
In May 1919, when the NFPA held its 23rd annual meeting in Ottawa at the invitation of the Dominion Fire Prevention Association (DFPA), the NFPA and DFPA both passed resolutions urging governments in the United States and Canada to support the campaign for a common Fire Prevention Day. (With material from: Wikipedia) |
Black was only three years old when his family set up home in England and all his education took place in that country. This meant that despite his Jewish-Russian background he grew up assimilating English culture, something which showed through in his later philosophical writings. He was extremely talented as a child and showed great abilities in both mathematics and music. In particular he played the violin to a very high standard and during his time at school he contemplated a career in music, thinking that he would be a professional pianist. Another of his talents was for chess which, like the violin, he played to a high standard. It was a game he enjoyed throughout his life.
By the time he had completed his schooling Black had decided on a career in mathematics rather than music. He entered Queen's College Cambridge and found that there were many there interested in the philosophy of mathematics. Russell, Wittgenstein, G E Moore, and Ramsey were all teaching at Cambridge during Black's time as an undergraduate and the influence that these people had on Black was very major indeed for they turned his interests towards philosophy. He graduated with his B.A. in 1930 and was awarded a fellowship to enable him to study at Göttingen for a year.
At Göttingen Black worked on his first book The nature of mathematics. He had two principal aims in mind when he wrote this work. The first was to present a considered critical exposition of Principia mathematica and the second was to give supplementary accounts of the formalist and intuitionist doctrines in sufficient detail to make it easy for those wished to proceed further to read the original papers. His presentation of Brouwer's intuitionism was particularly fine. The nature of mathematics was first published in 1933 and a photographic reprint was published over a quarter of a century later in 1959.
Black married Michal Landsberg around this time; they had two children. He returned from Göttingen after his year there and studied for his doctorate at the University of London. His doctoral dissertation was Theories of logical positivism and he was awarded the degree in 1939. Two years earlier he had published a work Vagueness: An exercise in logical analysis in the Philosophical Society. In this work he looked at two main ideas, one being the nature of and the observability of vagueness and the other one being the relevance vagueness might have for logic. The "vague sets" which Black wrote about in this paper are now called "fuzzy sets" and, had his paper made more impact at the time, then our terminology today might be different. It was the first attempt to give a precise mathematical theory for sets where there is a membership curve. In this work Black wrote:-
The vagueness of the word chair is typical of all terms whose application involves the use of the senses. In all such cases "borderline cases" and "doubtful objects" are easily found to which we are unable to say either that the class name does or does not apply.Black lectured on mathematics at the Institution of Education in London from 1936 until 1940 when he accepted an appointment to the Philosophy Department at the University of Illinois at Urbana. After six years at Urbana, Black accepted a professorship in philosophy at Cornell University in New York.
The year 1948 saw Black take US nationality. He continued to work at Cornell University becoming Susan Lin-sage Professor of Philosophy and Humane Letters there in 1954. He retired in 1977 but continued lecturing at many universities world-wide. He was President of the International Institute of Philosophy from 1981 until 1984, being only the second American ever to hold this position.
Black was famed for his contributions to the philosophy of language, the philosophy of mathematics and science, the philosophy of art, conceptual analysis, and his studies of the work of philosophers such as Frege (publishing a major work in 1952) and Wittgenstein (publishing A companion to Wittgenstein's Tractatus in 1964). Black was a prolific author and lists of his publications contain over 200 items.
One of Black's early books on philosophy was Language and Philosophy which he published in 1949. His earlier work on vagueness from ten year before was produced again in this work and he applied the same ideas to language arguing that the rules of discourse could not be followed precisely.
In 1954 Black published Problems of Analysis which examined the problems associated with induction, namely making generalisations and predictions based on a few cases. As in many of his arguments Black insists that in the end one can trust inductive arguments if they are seen to work and he argues that common sense must always be used. In Models and Metaphors (1962) argued that:-
... the conception of language as a mirror of reality is radically mistaken ...and that language should attempt to:-
... conform to the discovered regularities of experience.Mathematics was never far from Black's approach to topics, as for example one of his latter works Making intelligent choices, how useful is decision theory? published in 1985. This provided a survey of Bayesian decision theory and contains data to illustrate his point that actual choosers often do not behave like good Bayesians. P L Quinn, surveying this paper writes:-
The author argues that rational choosers will not always treat their options as given but will instead often actively structure them by a kind of "preselection" which involves tacit choice among various intentional descriptions of the salient features of the choice situation. He also argues that violations of transitivity in the chooser's preference ordering need not be symptoms of irrationality. [Black suggests] that intelligent choice might well be thought of as the exercise of an informal, practical art, rather than the application of a mathematical calculus.Black described himself as a (see for example ):-
... lapsed mathematician, addicted reasoner, and devotee of metaphor and chess.Wilson-Quayle summed up Black's contributions to philosophy as follows:-
As a philosopher, he was known for offering a commonsense, pragmatic approach to those theoretical issues that he knew required clarity. Highly sceptical of those who offered facile classifications, Black sought to confirm what can be known about the world and yet was ever mindful of the tentative nature that characterised most philosophical investigations.
Article by: J J O'Connor and E F Robertson |
Olympia Greece hosted the ancient Greece Olympics every four years ("olympiad" is the Greek word meaning a period of four years) beginning in 776 B.C. and lasting for more than 900 years. During this time, the ancient Greece Olympics were as important as the Pythian Games, which were held in Delphi and preceded the Olympic. The games were not held again until 1896, and they returned to Greece for the 2004 summer games held in Athens. The men's and women's shot put competition was held in Olympia for those games.
The ancient city of Olympia Greece is located on the Peloponnesian Peninsula in a valley surrounded by mountainous forested countryside. The Archaeological Museum here is one of the finest in the country, and contains an impressive collection of statuary, friezes, bronzes, terracotta pottery, and other artifacts. One of the things to do in the region of Olympia Greece is hiking. You can also visit nearby Lake Kaifa, which is famous for its spas and thermal hot springs.
The modern town of Olympia Greece does not have an airport. If you are flying, you can land in Kalamata (about 85 miles away). Most tourists visit the site as part of vacation packages that arrive here from Athens via motorcoach. If you have a rental car as transportation, you can drive from Athens as well as from the northern part of the country. Greek ferries arrive in the ports of Patra (about 60 miles away) and Kalamata. They come from ports in Italy as well as from some of the Greek islands, including the port city of Chania on the island of Crete. There are trains from Athens that arrive at the station in Pyrgos (about ten miles away).
Like Delphi, the ancient city of Olympia Greece was a sanctuary and center of religious activity with great temples, altars, shrines, and magnificent statues. The Temple of Olympian Zeus was the most celebrated temple at the site. It contained a glorious statue of the father of the gods, made of gold and ivory by the great Athenian sculptor Pheidias and named one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World. The sculptor's studio was excavated in the 1950s, and revealed many of the ancient sculpting tools used during construction. The other of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World that was located in Greece was the Colossus of Rhodes; only the great Pyramids at Giza in Egypt still stand today.
The modern history of Olympia began with the rediscovery of the ancient city in 1766. But it was not until 1829 that the first scientific excavations were begun in the vast field of majestic ruins that dot the landscape where the ancient city of Olympia Greece once thrived. Today, it is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Archaeologists from Germany became responsible for excavation and preservation in the 1970s, and it is still the German Archaeological Institute at Athens that oversees the site. Forests of marble columns mark each spot where buildings and temples once stood. There are gymnasiums where athletes were required to train for the ancient Greece Olympics for a minimum of a month prior to competing. There is a running track and a stadium, as well as an amphitheater. |
Dahlia Growing Guide
Crop Rotation Group
Rich, fertile soil with excellent drainage.
None. Dahlia foliage is killed by frost, and roots are hardy only to about -9C (15F).
Topdress with rich compost in early summer, after new growth appears. Fertilise with a liquid fertiliser in midsummer to support strong re-blooming.
Mint, Thyme, Coriander, Rosemary, Gladiolus and Echinacea. The bushy plants will crowd any close neighbors. Tall varieties that require staking should be grown behind smaller plants. Dwarf dahlias can be mixed with Asiatic lilies or repeat flowering roses.
Single Plants: 60cm (1' 11") each way (minimum)
Rows: 50cm (1' 7") with 60cm (1' 11") row gap (minimum)
Sow and Plant
Dahlias are often sold as dormant crowns consisting of several connected tubers. Prepare a wide planting hole dug to at least 30cm(12 inches) deep, and generously enrich the holes with rich compost and a balanced organic fertiliser. Spread out the tubers and plant them 8cm(3 inches) deep. A few weeks later after the first stems emerge, hill up a little soil around the base of the plant and begin summer mulching. Allow 60cm (24in) between tall dahlias. Small dwarf varieties can be planted 30cm(12in) apart.
Our Garden Planner can produce a personalised calendar of when to sow, plant and harvest for your area.
Dahlias will bloom all summer when provided with regular water and fertiliser. The colour range is endless, and flower size can be large or small, depending on variety.
Dahlias make excellent cut flowers, so they should be easily accessible. Cut dahlias for arrangements as soon as the blossoms open, preferably in early morning. Immediately plunge the stems into warm water. As the flowers fade in the garden, trim them off with scissors or secateurs.
Numerous insects and diseases can plague dahlias. Promptly trim off badly damaged branches, and use insecticidal soap to manage thrips and whiteflies if necessary.
Planting and Harvesting Calendar
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They survived for centuries before eventually succumbing to Roman might, because they adopted a number of Indo-European innovations. This allowed them to persist while other communities of their ancestral culture were conquered and culturally and linguistically extinguished by later waves of peoples much earlier.
The Historical Context Of The Etruscans And Rhaetic Peoples
No one doubts the unanimous Roman historical account that the Etuscans were present in Tuscany before the Romans arrived in Italy in the early Iron Age (according to tradition, Rome was founded in the 8th century CE).
The Romans quickly and forcefully assimilated other Italic, but non-Roman, people, such as the nieghboring Sabines who had preceded them in the area. The Indo-European Italic peoples who started to arrive in Italy sometime after Bronze Age collapse ca. 1200 BCE, probably assimilated other non-Indo-European populations of Italy as well, although this is not well documented historically. The Etruscans, however, resisted Roman assimilation until around the 1st century CE, after more than half of a millenium in which they maintains a linguistically non-Indo-European and culturally distinct society from that of the Romans.
Pliny the Younger in his Natural History (79 CE) provides a key piece of evidence regarding their origins. He wrote that:
adjoining these (the [Alpine] Noricans) are the Raeti and Vindelici. All are divided into a number of states. The Raeti are believed to be people of Tuscan race driven out by the Gauls; their leader was named Raetus.The Etruscans, of course, were predominantly associated with the Tuscan region in Pliny's time, so the "Tuscan race" would have referred to the Etuscans, in contrast to the Italic peoples like the Romans who had migrated to Italy more recently.
Pliny's link of the Alpine Raeti and the Etruscans is confirmed linguistically by Helmut Rix (ca. 1998), and also archaeologically. Villanovan material culture migrated from the Alpine area to Tuscany around the time of Bronze Age collapse. (N.B. modern Swiss Rhaetic derived from Latin, and Iron Age Swiss Rhaetic languages, are completely different languages that happen to share the same geographically derived name.)
Both the Rhaetic retreat to the mountains and the secondary Etruscan migration to Tuscany were probably driven by the "push" of early proto-Italic and Celtic populations around the time of the Bronze Age collapse. They were a pilot wave arriving ahead of the Indo-European populations that were expanding into Italy ahead of them.
Indeed, one of the likely reasons that the Etruscans survived as a distinct culture longer than any other the other non-Indo-European cultures of Southern Europe (except the Basque) is that they adopted culturally many of the innovations of the Indo-European Urnfield culture at their heels, and thus could compete with it. If historical accounts and written examples of the Etruscan language had not survived, archaeologists would probably have assumed based upon cultural signs like the practice of cremating the dead that the Etruscans shared with contemporaneous Indo-Europeans that they were just a somewhat distinctive and now extinct variety of Indo-Europeans.
The theory of Herodotus that the Etruscans had Bronze Age origins in Western Anatolian was rejected by his contemporary Greek Historian Dionysius of Halicarnassus for a variety of solid linguistic and religious culture grounds even at the time it was offered. A Bronze Age migration from Western Anatolian also suffers from the fact that Western Anatolia would have been a linguistically Indo-European area (not consistent with the non-Indo-European Etruscan language) for most of the Bronze Age. Genetic evidence, including the latest mtDNA evidence discussed below, also disfavors the hypothesis offered by Herodotus.
The DNA Evidence
The new mtDNA study confirms once again that the Etruscans were surely not derived substantially from Upper Paleolithic indigeneous hunter-gatherer populations of Europe, whose mtDNA was dominated by mtDNA haplogroup U4 and U5.
The new mtDNA study puts common origins between the Etruscans and Western Anatolian populations no earlier than the early Neolithic era.
The ancient DNA evidence also suggest that Etruscans were intrusive to Italy, probably in the archaeologically supported early Iron Age period when Etruscan culture appears in Tuscany. As an earlier ancient DNA study of Etruscans indicates:
Genetic distances and sequence comparisons show closer evolutionary relationships with the eastern Mediterranean shores for the Etruscans than for modern Italian populations. All mitochondrial lineages observed among the Etruscans appear typically European or West Asian, but only a few haplotypes were found to have an exact match in a modern mitochondrial database, raising new questions about the Etruscans’ fate after their assimilation into the Roman state.If the Etuscans were truly autochronous in Tuscany and in Italy more generally, one would expect Etuscan mtDNA haplogroups to be present at low levels throughout Italy. But, this is not the case.
Areas of historical Etruscan occupation also have a relatively high concentration of y-haplogroup G, which is characteristic of first wave Neolithic populations.
The Etruscans Were A Relict Cardium Pottery Migration Wave Population
Etuscans are thus derived from people who arrived as part of a folk migration in the first wave Southern European Neolithic Cardium Pottery culture that included Southern France, Sardinia and all of the territory attributed to the hypothetical Tyrsenian language family to which the Etruscan and Rhaetic languages belong. By the time that their society was documented by Roman historians they had already become a relict population of that culture.
The Lemnian language of the Aegean Sea spoken on that island until the 6th century BCE, which was not within the range of the Cardium Pottery culture, is also proposed (convicingly) to be part of that language family. One plausible hypothesis is that it may represent an eastern colony of the Tyrsenian, aka Cardium Pottery Neolitic descended, culture. It might even have been founded in response to the migration pushes that caused the Etruscans to migrate from the Alps to Tuscanny. Archaeological evidence suggests that Tysenian language family speakers may have arrived around the 9th century BCE. The island is also associated with the center of the cult of Hephaestus, the god of metallurgy, whose secret mystery rituals may have been conducted in a non-Greek language. It could be that this cult arrived with the Tyrsenian colonists and that their metalworking trade is what secured their acceptance in this community.
The Cardium Pottery culture, in turn, was derived from Fertile Crescent Neolithic cultures in what is now Syria and Southern Central Anatolia (rather than Western Anatolia as Herodotus had supposed), although both the donor and receiving regions have seen massive demographic upheaval in the intervening 7500 years (a time frame consistent with the mtDNA analysis in the new study).
The Cardium Pottery culture was distinct from but parallel to the Linear Pottery Neolithic peoples (aka LBK) who were a first wave Neolithic people who expanded demically into a territory including the Danube river basin. The ancient DNA of LBK Neolithic peoples show strong genetic similarities to the Cardium Pottery peoples in terms of haplogroup distributions, particularly on the Y-DNA side. But, the LBK people appear to have had geographically distinct origins from the roughly contemporaneous first wave Neolitic Cardium Pottery peoples. The earliest LBK origins were in Southern Hungary and the Ukraine, perhaps in turn with roots in the Vinča and Karanovo cultures (in turn derived from the Starčevo culture of Southeastern Europe).
Both the LBK and Cardium Pottery cultures, which were first wave farming cultures in much of Europe, were derived, in general, from the greater Fertile Crescent Neolithic cultures in Southwest Asia and Anatolia that had emerged prior to 6200 BCE and starting around 8000 BCE.
The Etruscans Relationship To Other Distinctive Modern European Populations
Of course, all modern populations contain some contributions from later folk migrations and many Cardium Pottery populatioons would have integrated earlier indigeneous Paleolithic Europeans present in the places they migrated to were incorporated to some extent in the Cardium Pottery communities when they arrived.
There is no place in Europe were zero or near zero gene flow between populations is very plausible as a hypothesis other than possibly in the Basques, where RH blood types created a natural genetic barrier to admixture. But, some populations do show fairly strong traces of the early eras of European prehistory in their genes or culture, relative to the majority of Europeans. The main examples are discussed below.
In addition to the (now-extinct) Etuscan and Rhaetic populations of modern Europe (the Rhaetic language died in the 3rd century CE), another population with significant Cardium Ware ancestry that wasn't modified much later on probably include the Sardinians who show great genetic continuity even today with early Neolithic ancient DNA.
The Galicians of Northwest Spain
The Galician people of Northwest Spain in Europe also show signs of being particularly genetically ancient, with disproportionate shares of DNA haplogroups which pre-date the Bell Beaker folk migration (e.g. relatively low levels of Y-DNA haplogroup R1b and some of the lowest low levels of lactose tolerance for the region). The absence of lactose persistance (LP) characteristic of the Galician people is common to both Upper Paleolithic and first wave Neolithic ancient DNA. The Cardium Pottery culture never reached Northwest Spain (in Iberia they were pretty much limited to the eastern coastal areas) and it also isn't clear how fully the population ancestral to them was assimilated into the Bell Beaker culture. My guess would be that their antecedents are really pre-Bell Beaker megalithic peoples who adopted farming from cultures derived from the Cardium Pottery culture later on with greater degrees of incorporation of pre-Neolithic populations than in many other places where farming arrived via folk migrations. Their assimilation to Indo-European Celtic culture was also on the late side within Europe although they were eventually thoroughly assimilated into the Celtic culture and are now Indo-European lingusitically.
The Basque Peoples
In contrast, the Basque have a cultural and genetic distinctiveness that probably has roots in a second wave of folk migration by Bell Beaker peoples in the Copper and early Bronze Ages (tracing just where to the East the Bell Beaker migrants had their origins is a not yet completed puzzle). The Bell Beaker peoples expanding into France from what are now non-Basque parts of Iberia (where the Bell Beaker culture first appears in Europe). In France, the Artenacian culture evolved from and was in continuity with the Bell Beaker culture and held off Indo-European penetration into Western Europe for about a thousand years. The Basque and Aquitani cultures in turn derived from southern migration of members of the Arrtenacian culture.
The Basque seen as having their cultural origins and ethnogenesis in a Copper Age folk migration to Iberia, and from there elsewhere in Western and Northern Europe, persisted when other pre-Copper Age first wave Neolithic and Paleolithic cultures of Europe (many of whom they wiped out) do not, because their technology is on a part with the new Indo-European wave, rather than being clearly inferior. In my view, Bell Beaker derived cultures and migrations fairly described as Vasconic in character, account for the predominance of Y-DNA R1b in Europe, and the distribution of R1b in Europe today roughly corresponds with the distribution of the Bell Beaker culture at its peak. The substrate culture of most of Western and Northern Europe when the transition to Indo-European languages took place in those regions would have almost entirely been part of a Vasconic language family.
The Uralic Peoples Such As Finnish Speaking Finns
The linguistically Uralic peoples of Europe such as the Finnish speaking Finns (other than the Hungarians who acquired their language via language shift from a demically thin elite in the historic era), meanwhile, probably trace their cultural origins to the late Upper Paleolithic indigeneous hunter-gatherer populations of Northern Eurasia associated with the archaeolgical Pitted Ware culture. They were able to persist in their language mostly because their far Northern environment was the least favorable in Europe to the food production methods that the Indo-Europeans and prior waves of Neolithic expansion relied upon for economic dominance. |
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The droplet shaped floral motif that adorns so many saris in India is known as Buta (also called ‘Paisley’ in English). It evolved from a stylized motif depicting a floral spray and a cypress tree that has distinctly Persian roots. In fact, some historians believe it to be a Zoroastrian symbol of life and eternity that first originated in Azerbaijan. It is believed to have been introduced in India in the 17th century, and has grown to acquire different meanings in the various indigenous cultures of India, over time.
This pattern, known by different names across India- from amba in Punjab to kalka in West Bengal- is usually woven onto saris using gold or silver zari, or resham threads spun from the finest silk. Saris bearing buta work are worn differently in different parts of India. Most interestingly, they are embellished with matching set of earrings and necklace in the shape of mangoes in the state of Tamil Nadu. |
King Jesus, Our Leader
And when they were come to the place, which is called Calvary, there they crucified him … and a superscription also was written over him … THIS IS THE KING OF THE JEWS. Luke 23:33,38 (KJV)
When the chief priests and scribes took Jesus to Pilate, their accusation was “we have found this man subverting our nation. He . . . claims to be Christ, a King” (Luke 23:20). The Jewish leaders were clever enough to realize that a charge of blasphemy would mean nothing to Pilate. Insurrection against Rome, however, could rouse the Roman governor’s anger. Therefore, throughout Jesus’ trial the Jews emphasized that Jesus claimed to be a king.
Pilate insisted that Jesus had done nothing worthy of death; he did not detect an insurrectionist in the quiet man who stood before him (Luke 23:15, 22). However, he succumbed to the pressure of the Jewish leaders and the crowd. He sentenced Jesus to death. Still Pilate managed to publicize his belief that Jesus was innocent: he arranged for the inscription fastened to the top of the cross to read, “Jesus of Nazareth, The King of the Jews.” And when the Jewish leaders objected, Pilate refused to change it (John 19:19-22).
Our modern English word king comes from an Old English word, cyning, which meant “leader of the people.” No one has ever been more worthy of that title than Jesus. And one day, every human being on earth will realize that Jesus is not just “King of the Jews,” but that He is also the “King of kings and Lord of lords” (Revelation 19:16).
American poet Jennie Hussey wrote the lyrics to “Lead Me to Calvary.” She reminds us of what our response to Jesus, our royal leader, should be:
King of my life I crown thee now, Thine shall the glory be
Lest I forget Thy thorn-crowned brow, Lead me to Calvary.
Lest I forget Gethsamene, Lest I forget thy agony
Lest I forget thy love for me, Lead me to Calvary.
If I crown Jesus “King of My Life,” I’ll give Him glory no matter what obstacles I encounter and follow Him no matter what path He takes. I’ll also remember that His agony and His love have provided all that I truly need—redemption. That realization should prompt all of us to pray:
May I be willing, Lord, to bear, Daily my cross for Thee;
Even Thy cup of grief to share, Thou hast borne all for me.
Read Matthew 27:54 and Luke 23:47. Pilate was not the only Roman who believed that Jesus was innocent. According to these verses, who else believed? What did they understand that Pilate did not?
What does King Jesus lead us toward? Consider what the psalmists say in the following passages: Psalm 5:8, 25:5, 139:24, and 143:10.
To learn more about Pilate, read Pilate in the Dig into Easter section.
To read the lyrics of “Lead Me to Calvary” go to http://www.cyberhymnal.org/htm/l/e/leadmetc.htm
Denise K. Loock |
Houston's Aviation History Timeline
The year is 1940. Houston's two airlines, Eastern and Braniff, both now serve the City with the sleek new Douglas DC-3. The DC-3 is the first airplane to allow its owners to make a profit flying passengers. The City of Houston opens a grand art moderne air terminal, to welcome the wealthy and powerful who can afford to travel by this very exclusive means of transportation. Passengers on Eastern's Douglas Sleeper Transport flight to New York board at the Terminal in the early evening.
They are served dinner in route and then retire to Pullman-style berths for the evening. The next morning, still in flight, the passengers awake and are treated to breakfast over the Nation's Capitol. A few hours later, they arrive at Newark Airport. Major companies in Houston use fast ships like the Spartan Executive, the Northrop Delta and the Fairchild 45, along with surplus airliners like the Lockheed 12 and the Boeing 247 to speed executives throughout the oil fields of Texas and Oklahoma.
Local flight schools, like the Cliff Hyde Flying Service, are training an ever-increasing number of new pilots under the Government-sponsored Civilian Pilot Training (CPT) program. Houston fixed base operators like the Cliff Hyde Flying Service and Aviation Enterprises, recently formed by former Houston Transportation Company corporate pilot Earl McKaughn and former Republic Oil Company corporate pilot Henry Erdman, sell and service new Stinsons, Fairchilds and Spartans to local oil industry companies. The Southern Aircraft Company plans to open a Houston plant to build training planes for the military.
February 3, 1940:
Braniff Airways adds Douglas DC-3 "Super B-Liners" to its routes.
Eastern Airlines inaugurates Douglas Sleeper Transport (DST) sleeper flights from Houston to New York.
Tony McKay becomes Houston's first air traffic controller.
September 28, 1940:
The 1940 Air Terminal is dedicated, along with a new hangar. A public ceremony features an Eastern Airlines Douglas DC-2, along with a Braniff Airways DC-3 and Douglas DC-2, along with private and corporate aircraft based at Houston Municipal Airport. The public tours the gleaming airliners on the ground and some win chances to take a local flight.
Designed by architect Joseph Finger, the Terminal serves as the administration building for the airport and supports airlines operations and air traffic control functions. The airline tenants are Eastern Airlines and Braniff Airways. The hangar is leased to Aviation Enterprises, a fixed base operator run by Earl McKaughn and Henry Erdman.
Ellington Field is reopened as an Army Air Field.
Chicago & Southern inaugurates service to Houston using Douglas DC-3s.
Houston's Aviation Enterprises FBO successfully bids to organize the Women Airforce Service Pilots (WASPs) for the US Government. The first three classes of women aviators are trained at Aviation Enterprises' hangar at Houston Municipal.
Paul Koonce becomes the manager of Houston Municipal Airport.
Essair wins the Civil Aeronautics Board appeal filed by Braniff Airways in 1939.
Howard Hughes' 1938 Sikorsky S-43 flying boat is sent to the Hughes Tool Company hangar at Houston Municipal Airport. It has just been rebuilt after it was crashed in Nevada's Lake Mead, and Hughes orders it kept ready for flight at a moment's notice. The flying boat does not fly again until after Hughes dies in 1976.
7,335 airline flights to and from Houston carry 85,167 passengers.
August 1, 1945:
Essair resumes service from Houston to Amarillo with stops at San Angelo, Abilene, and Lubbock using Lockheed L-10A Electras.
12,977 airline flights to and from Houston carry 136,059 passengers.
Eastern Airlines inaugurates Douglas DC-4 service on its routes.
May 15, 1946:
Essair changes its name to Pioneer Airlines.
Eastern Airlines inaugurates Lockheed L649 Constellation service on its routes.
June 15, 1946:
Braniff Airways inaugurates Douglas DC-4 service to Houston from Chicago.
June 18, 1946:
Chicago & Southern Airlines attempts Houston to Chicago speed record with Douglas DC-4 flown by Jimmy Doolittle.
October 24, 1946:
Mercury Airlines is founded in Houston by Temple Bowen's successful Trailways Bus Company using Douglas DC-3s. Bowen, who has twice before lost money in the airline industry, sees mercury as a means of absorbing Trailways' profits which would otherwise be subject to the wartime Federal Excess Profits Tax. Mercury caters to newly discharged servicemen returning home after the war. When the Excess Profits Tax is abolished in 1947, Bowen immediately dissolves Mercury, which had been ironically profitable.
Chicago & Southern Airlines inaugurates service from Houston to Havana and San Juan using Douglas DC-4s.
December 15, 1946:
Pan American World Airways inaugurates international service from Houston to Mexico City, Mexico using Douglas DC-4s.
22,353 airline flights to and from Houston carry 246,456 passengers.
February 1, 1947:
Mid-Continent Airlines inaugurates service to Houston from Tyler, Texas as an extension of Air Mail Route 80 using Douglas DC-3s and Lockheed L-18 Lodestars.
Pioneer Airlines inaugurates DC-3 service on its routes with an airplane named David Crockett.
October 11, 1947:
Houston FBO Aviation Enterprises starts Trans-Texas Airways using Douglas DC-3s.
November 5, 1947:
Braniff International Airways inaugurates Douglas DC-6 service to Houston from Chicago and Dallas.
Ellington Army Air Field becomes Ellington Air Force Base. 7,086 airline flights to and from Houston carry 382,667 passengers.
June 4, 1948:
Braniff International Airways inaugurates service from Houston to Habana (Havana), Cuba and Balboa, Canal Zone, and Guayaquil, Ecuador on Foreign Air Mail Route 34 with the Douglas DC-6.
June 18, 1948:
Braniff International Airways extends service from Houston to Lima, Peru along Foreign Air Mail Route 34.
Chicago & Southern Airlines extends service from Houston to Caracas, Venezuela through Havana and San Juan using Douglas DC-4s.
Chicago & Southern Airlines inaugurates Lockheed L649 Constellation service on its routes.
The new Instrument landing System is commissioned in Houston, which provides pilots with both vertical and horizontal precision guidance towards the runway in instrument conditions. 34,518 airline flights to and from Houston carry 417,344 passengers.
Houston oilman Glenn McCarthy buys Howard Hughes' Boeing 307 Stratoliner corporate airplane and uses it to fly celebrities from Hollywood to Houston Municipal Airport for the opening of McCarthy's new luxury hotel, the Shamrock. The $1 million grand opening party became the inspiration for the novel and movie Giant.
June 3, 1949:
Pan American World Airways inaugurates Boeing 377 Stratocruiser service.
Pioneer Airlines moves its headquarters from Houston to Dallas after losing the use of the National Guard hangar. Houston adds an international wing to the 1940 Air Terminal, along with a new fourth floor, containing air traffic control offices and a new, larger control tower cab, which are designed by architect Roy W. Leibsle. The 1940 Air Terminal is retrofitted with air conditioning. 41,989 airline flights to and from Houston carry 464,719 passengers. |
by Dani Veracity
In popular thought, disputing sodium’s link to high blood pressure is equivalent to questioning whether the earth is round. However, some experts now believe that salt will not raise blood pressure in everyone, just in people who are “salt sensitive.” Only 10 percent of the population is salt sensitive, according to BioMarkers by Professor William Evans and Dr. Irwin H. Rosenberg.
Of course, far more than 10 percent of us suffer from hypertension, meaning that if these experts are correct, salt intake cannot be the only factor contributing to America’s high blood pressure epidemic. In fact, according to Gayle Reichler’s book, Active Wellness, only half the people with hypertension have high blood pressure because of their salt intake, making cutting down on the amount of salt you eat a good step toward lower blood pressure, but not a cure-all.
Scientists are still unsure why some people’s bodies respond to salt more drastically than others; however, most theories focus on sodium’s in vivo interaction with potassium, magnesium and calcium. In fact, some experts believe that these nutrients play more of a role in these individuals’ salt sensitivity than sodium itself. Deficiencies in these complementary minerals may actually be the larger culprit in hypertension.
“The problem is just as likely to be too little potassium, calcium and magnesium,” emphasizes Alice Feinstein in Healing with Vitamins. Most experts agree that you would do well to consume sodium in balance with potassium in order to maintain healthy blood pressure, but they are still unsure about how this potassium mechanism works. Some experts believe that potassium lowers blood pressure by relaxing small blood vessels, while others think that it works by helping the body expel excess sodium and water.
Another interesting theory asserts that these people actually have hypertension because of calcium deficiency, rather than an excess of sodium. However, as Jean Carper explains in Food: Your Miracle Medicine, proponents of this theory have multiple theories about how it might operate:
“One theory is that such individuals retain water when they eat too much sodium, and that calcium acts like a natural diuretic to help kidneys release sodium and water, thus reducing blood pressure. Another, more complex explanation is that calcium works by preventing release of the parathyroid hormone that can raise blood pressure.”
As is often the case with uncharted health territory, when it comes to the salt sensitivity explanation for hypertension, theories often pile upon theories. This isn’t a bad thing; rather, it makes the intellectual environment ripe for new discoveries. On the other hand, it’s important to remember that not all experts agree with the salt-sensitivity theory.
“There’s no question about it: A great number of comparative studies of people who use no salt and those who use great quantities have proved that high salt equals high blood pressure,” writes Gary Null in his Complete Guide to Health and Nutrition.
Dr. William Castelli, director of the famous Framingham Heart Study, also cites demographic studies as support for the mainstream medical viewpoint that consuming excess sodium leads to hypertension, a perspective that some naturopaths also share. Furthermore, in Food Politics, Marion Nestle questions the ethical roots of some of the salt-sensitivity theory’s proponents, pointing out some objectionable financial backing:
“‘There is reason to be concerned that lowering NaCl [salt] intake may have long-term metabolic risks that have not been fully identified . . . we do not have solid evidence that lower NaCl intake prospectively will prevent or control high blood pressure.”
However, the review in which this appears was funded in part by The Salt Institute, a trade association for the salt industry. This isn’t to say that all experts who believe in salt sensitivity are funded by the salt industry. Like any theory, the salt sensitivity explanation for why some people have high blood pressure and others don’t has both its proponents and opponents.
A simple test to determine if you are low in the enzyme renin will show you whether you are salt sensitive, according to Reichler. Of course, an even simpler way is to cut down on your sodium intake for a few months – under the care of a doctor, or preferably a naturopath – and see if your blood pressure goes down. If your numbers go down, then you are salt sensitive; if not, you and your naturopath must then take extra steps to learn the cause of your hypertension.
The point is, as Dr. Bernard Lamport emphasizes in Food: Your Miracle Medicine, “Everyone cannot count on sodium restriction to be a panacea for high blood pressure.” In other words, as we all know, obtaining good health requires taking a holistic approach to your body, not just making one change and hoping that it will be a cure-all.
The experts speak on salt and high blood pressure:
Not everyone is “salt sensitive” Now salt doesn’t raise blood pressure in everyone, only in those whom doctors describe as “salt-sensitive.” But if you have high blood pressure, chances are that you are salt-sensitive. Even if you’re not, reducing your salt intake is a good idea.
Anti-Aging Prescriptions by James Duke PhD, page 402 Conversely, if an individual is salt sensitive, sodium restriction will have a profound effect upon modulating blood pressure. This is an example of matching an appropriate dietary program with the right genotype. Disease Prevention And Treatment by Life Extension Foundation, page 473
Also, if you have high blood pressure, restricting salt may help curb it especially if you are one of the one-third to one-half of those who are particularly sensitive to blood pressure boosts from sodium. Such “salt responders” are most apt to benefit from sodium cutbacks, say most experts. But you usually only know if you try it. There’s even evidence that restricting sodium can depress normal blood pressure. Food Miracle Medicine by Jean Carper, page 93
Use salt judiciously. In most people, eating salt does not increase the risk of high blood pressure, says Dr. Katz. But for some reason, it may affect a few. So if you have high blood pressure, it doesn’t hurt to use salt judiciously — don’t add it to foods at the table, and limit super-salty foods like chips to a once-in-a-while indulgence. The Doctors Book of Home Remedies for Women, page 609
Too much salt is even more problematic for overweight people, says Dr. Kenney. “If you eat a lot of sugar and fat and you gain weight, your insulin levels go up, and it’s hard for the body to get rid of salt when insulin levels are high,” he explains. “That’s probably one reason that overweight people are more likely to have high blood pressure: They may eat the same amount of salt as anyone else, but they have more trouble getting rid of it.” The Complete Book Of Alternative Nutrition by Selene Y Craig, page 151
Lowering sodium is important because this mineral can raise blood pressure in those who are sensitive to it. Unlike many physicians, though, Dr. Whitaker doesn’t tell patients to go on low-sodium diets. Alternative Cures by Bill Gottlieb, page 353
“Some people can tolerate more salt than others, but everybody is sensitive to too much in the diet,” he says. “Populations like the Eskimos and Masai, who eat a high-fat diet but have no access to salt, just don’t get high blood pressure. Their pressures are virtually the same at age 60 as they were at age 20.” Populations like the New Guinea Highlanders and Yanomamo Indians of South America eat a low-fat, high-carbohydrate diet — and no salt. In these groups, too, there’s no sign of essential hypertension, notes Dr. Kenney. The Complete Book Of Alternative Nutrition by Selene Y Craig, page 151
Part of the answer is that putting people on low-salt diets has not had the extensive impact on reducing the health consequences of high blood pressure that scientists had expected. Healing With Vitamins by Alice Feinstein, page 299
That doesn’t mean you should immediately suck on a salt shaker or pig out on pretzels, pickles, and potato chips. Many people with mild high blood pressure can indeed control their hypertension by restricting sodium intake. But if you don’t suffer from high blood pressure, or if you are not salt sensitive, there is little reason to deprive yourself of some of life’s little pleasures — like a delicious cup of chicken soup and a saltine cracker. Graedons Best Medicine by Joe Graedon & Dr Terasa Graedon, page 57
For most people who are on the Reversal Diet, moderate salt won’t raise blood pressure, according to Dr. Ornish. He says it’s acceptable to use a small amount of salt when you’re cooking dishes that could use a little lift. This can even help some people stick to a very low fat diet, Dr. Ornish notes, since a little salt can make a lean entree a lot more palatable. That’s why many of the recipes in Dr. Ornish’s books call for a small amount of salt. The Complete Book Of Alternative Nutrition by Selene Y Craig, page 131
Too much sodium can cause high blood pressure in salt-sensitive individuals. (Most people excrete excess salt in urine, however some people may retain salt and excess fluid. The body must work harder to pump excess fluid, resulting in a rise in blood pressure.) sodium is found in table salt and occurs naturally in food, and is often added to processed foods. The American Heart Association recommends that you limit your sodium intake to 2,400 milligrams daily. Earl Mindells Soy Miracle Earl Mindel RPH PHD, page 123
In the West, the connection between salt and hypertension has been convincing enough that many patients with high blood pressure have been forbidden to eat any but the smallest amounts of salt. This implied that salt was somehow an enemy. Now it is known that such restrictions were too severe — normal person can eat all the salt he wants without harm to his blood pressure. Perfect Health by Deepak Chopra MD, page 238
Cutting sodium intake by half will lead to a drop of 5 points (or more) in blood pressure in about half the people with high blood pressure, according to Dr. Kaplan. New Foods For Healing by Selene Yeager, page 84
Salt is basically safe when used in modest amounts. Some people with salt-sensitive, high blood pressure must avoid it. As a factor in causing high blood pressure, it is implicated in heart disease, as well as in kidney disease. Though salt is safe, it is unwise to consume high-salt-content foods. Staying Healthy With Nutrition by Elson M Haas MD, page 80
Theories on salt sensitivity
You’ve probably heard that consuming too much sodium can raise your blood pressure. But you may not realize that consuming too little vitamin C, potassium, magnesium, or calcium can have the same effect. Blended Medicine by Michael Castleman, page 10
“Blood pressure control is no longer a single-nutrient issue,” says David McCarron, M.D., director of the National Institute of Diabetes, Digestive and Kidney Disease clinical nutrition research unit at Oregon Health Sciences University in Portland. “For some people, salt may not be the real issue at all.” The Complete Book of Alternative Nutrition by Selene Y Craig, page 376
Just as too much salt can raise blood pressure in some people, too little of certain minerals seems to be associated with an increase in blood pressure. Home Remedies What Works by Gale Maleskey and Brian Kaufman, page 271
Because they provide potassium and calcium, experts recommend figs for people with high blood pressure. Both minerals, in combination with eating less sodium, keep your blood pressure under control. Eat and Heal by the Editors of FC&A Medical Publishing, page 159
How do these nutrients regulate blood pressure? The exact mechanisms continue to evade researchers. But scientists suspect that they help the body slough off excess sodium and assist in controlling the workings of the vascular system. Everyday Health Tips by Prevention Magazine, page 70
No one really knows exactly how potassium lowers blood pressure, reports Frederick L. Brancati, M.D., assistant professor of medicine and epidemiology at Johns Hopkins, who led the study. One theory suggests that potassium relaxes small blood vessels, while another holds that it helps the body eliminate water and salt. Healing With Vitamins by Alice Feinstein, page 302
Like sodium and potassium, calcium and magnesium are bodily partners in the battle against high blood pressure. Some researchers even contend that calcium and magnesium are more important than sodium and potassium in controlling blood pressure. Calcium plays an important role in regulating heartbeat; magnesium helps to control how blood vessels dilate. Off The Shelf Natural Health How to Use Herbs and Nutrients to Stay Well by Mark Mayell, page 209
Potassium does a balancing act with sodium, which is one reason that it’s so vital in maintaining proper blood pressure, Dr. Tobian explains. It works with sodium but also helps to keep it in check. During nerve transmission and muscle contraction, potassium and sodium briefly trade places across the cell membrane. Then they swap again, returning to their original positions ready for action. Natures Medicines by Gale Maleskey, page 277
The sodium-to-Potassium Ratio Just as important as the total potassium content of food, sodium and potassium should be consumed in the proper balance. Too much sodium in the diet can lead to disruption of this balance. Numerous studies have demonstrated that a low-potassium, high-sodium diet plays a major role in the development of cancer and cardiovascular disease (heart disease, high blood pressure, strokes, etc.) Conversely, a diet high in potassium and low in sodium is protective against these diseases and, in the case of high blood pressure, it can be therapeutic. Encyclopedia of Natural Medicine by Michael T Murray MD Joseph L Pizzorno ND, page 529
The body uses potassium to help eliminate excess sodium, which in large amounts can cause blood pressure to rise, says Dr. Webb. The more potassium you eat, the more sodium you lose — and the lower your blood pressure is likely to be. This is particularly true in people who are sensitive to salt, he says. New Foods For Healing by Selene Yeager, page 56 Unfortunately, most people get too much sodium and barely enough potassium. This can raise your blood pressure and your potential for fluid retention, Dr. Young says. Natures Medicines by Gale Maleskey, page 659
Ideally, potassium intake should be greater than sodium intake and, considering that people in North America may consume as much as 18,000 mg. of sodium daily and as little as 1,500 mg. of potassium, it is easy to see that the great amount of sodium compared to potassium could have an adverse effect on blood pressure. Earl Mindell’s Secret Remedies by Earl Mindell RPh PhD, page 160
Today, we’ve reversed the ratio, consuming much more sodium and a lot less potassium. We average 2,300 to 6,900 milligrams of sodium daily, and some people nibble on enough salty processed foods to boost sodium intake above 20,000 milligrams a day. We are the only nonmarine animal to eat diets so high in salt. Primitive cultures today, where people consume diets similar to our ancient ancestors’ with ten times the potassium to sodium, have low blood pressure rates, almost no incidence of hypertension, and their blood pressures don’t rise with age as ours do. The Origin Diet by Elizabeth Somer, page 51
Unbalanced sodium and potassium consumption. Those who can reduce their intake of sodium compounds, including table salt, while increasing their consumption of potassium are likely to reduce their high blood pressure. Off The Shelf Natural Health How to Use Herbs and Nutrients to Stay Well by Mark Mayell, page 190
The balance of potassium and sodium is extremely important to human health. Numerous studies have demonstrated that a diet low in potassium and high in sodium plays a major role in the development of cardiovascular disease (heart disease, high blood pressure, strokes) and cancer. Conversely, a diet high in potassium and low in sodium can help prevent these diseases; and in the case of high blood pressure, it can be therapeutic. Natural Alternatives To Drugs by Michael T Murray ND, page 112
In order to reduce blood pressure, sodium intake must be restricted while potassium intake is increased. Individuals with high blood pressure should be aware of “hidden” salt in processed foods. Although their salt intake is comparable, vegetarians generally have less hypertension and cardiovascular disease than non-vegetarians because their diet contains more potassium, complex carbohydrates, polyunsaturated fat, fiber, calcium, magnesium, and vitamins A and C. According to Dr. Cowden, regular consumption of potassium-rich fruits such as avocados, bananas, cantaloupe, honeydew melon, grapefruit, nectarines, oranges, and vegetables such as asparagus, broccoli, cabbage, cauliflower, green peas, potatoes, and squash can lower high blood pressure. Steaming rather than boiling vegetables helps prevent vital nutrient loss. Alternative Medicine by Burton Goldberg, page 777
Most blood pressure pills deplete body potassium, thus exacerbating the problem they are designed to solve. By eating three servings of potatoes, oranges, or bananas per day, you can lower sodium intake about ten percent and elevate potassium levels. Ancient Healing Secrets by Dian Dincin Buchman PHD, page 107
Excessive salt (sodium chloride) consumption, coupled with diminished dietary potassium, greatly stresses the kidney’s ability to maintain proper fluid volume. As a result some people are “salt-sensitive”, in that high salt intake increases blood pressure and/or water retention. Patients who experience more water retention during the mid-luteal phase may be especially sensitive to salt intake. However, it is simply not a matter of reducing salt intake, as potassium intake must be simultaneously increased. This is easily done by increasing the intake of high-potassium foods (i.e. fruits and vegetables) and decreasing high-sodium foods (most processed foods). Total daily sodium intake should be below 1,800 mg. Textbook of Natural Medicine Volumes 1-2 by Joseph E Pizzorno and Michael T Murray, page 1507
Potassium, especially in conjunction with a low sodium intake, helps keep your blood pressure under control. It also lessens your chances of having a stroke. Add all that fiber, which lowers your cholesterol and reduces your risk of heart disease and stroke, and you have a tiny but potent heart helper. Eat and Heal by the Editors of FC&A Medical Publishing, page 141
Magnesium helps maintain the potassium in the cells, but the sodium and potassium balance is as finely tuned as those of calcium and phosphorus or calcium and magnesium. Research has found that a high-sodium diet with low potassium intake influences vascular volume and tends to elevate the blood pressure. Then doctors may prescribe diuretics that can cause even more potassium loss, aggravating the underlying problems. The appropriate course is to shift to natural, potassium foods and away from high-salt foods, lose weight if needed, and follow an exercise program to improve cardiovascular tone and physical stamina. The natural diet high in fruits, vegetables, and whole grains is rich in potassium and low in sodium, helping to maintain normal blood pressure and sometimes lowering elevated blood pressure. Staying Healthy With Nutrition by Elson M Haas MD, page 176
One of the most powerful methods of producing less stress and more energy in the body is diaphragm breathing. A recent study has shed some light on the effect of breathing in hypertension.Volunteers with normal blood pressure were taught how to breath very shallow. Measurement of the amount of sodium and potassium excreted in the urine indicated that shallow breathing led to the retention of sodium in the body. It was suggested that this breathing pattern may play a causative role in some cases of hypertension due to the retention of sodium. Textbook of Natural Medicine Volumes 1-2 by Joseph E Pizzorno and Michael T Murray, page 1307
Opponents of the salt-sensitivity theory / Proponents of traditional view that excessive sodium intake leads to hypertension The first cure most people think of for high blood pressure is to cut down on salt. It may or may not work, depending on your individual biological makeup. Scientists have been arguing for years over the impact of salt on high blood pressure and the debate goes on. It’s unlikely that salt is a major cause of high blood pressure, concluded a recent Harvard report. Still, Dr. William Castelli, director of the famed Framingham Heart Study, notes that in the few areas of the world where salt intake is low, high blood pressure is rare and does not rise with age as it does among Americans. Food Miracle Medicine by Jean Carper, page 92
If you have high blood pressure, the best way to reduce or eliminate your need for medication is by improving your diet, losing weight, exercising, and decreasing your salt and alcohol intake. Mild hypertension can be controlled by proper nutrition and exercise. If these measures do not lower your blood pressure enough and you need medication, hydrochlorothiazide, a water pill (see thi-azide diuretics, p. 100), is the drug of choice starting with a low dose of 12.5 milligrams daily. It also costs less than other blood pressure drugs. Worst Pills Best Pills by Sidney M Wolfe MD and Larry D Sasich PharmD MPH, page 144
Excess salt is known to be a cause of high blood pressure, ulcers and cancer of the stomach, edema, fear, cravings, kidney damage, diminished absorption of nutrients, and calcium deficiency, resulting in weakened bones, nerves, muscles, and heart. Early signs of excess salt intake are unusual thirst, dark urine and complexion, clenched teeth, and bloodshot eyes. Healing With Whole Foods by Paul Pitchford, page 164
No matter what its size, the “tank” of your circulatory system can become “overfilled.” This can occur when a high-salt diet causes the body to retain excess water, so that the blood volume exceeds the amount the vessels can safely hold. The resulting “too full” tank can create excess pressure on the entire circulatory system. When the “tank” becomes too full or too small or both, the blood pressure rises. If the imbalance between the size of the tank and the volume that fills it becomes too extreme, hypertension results, and the life-giving pulsation of blood pressure turns into a relentless pummeling of blood vessels everywhere in the body. Healing Moves by Carol Krucoff and Mitchell Krucoff MD, page 210
Most processed foods contain sugar or salt. Although moderate amounts of either of these substances are not particularly harmful for most people, the amounts of sugar and salt in your everyday diet can add up quickly if your diet is composed primarily of packaged foods. People with high blood pressure need to be particularly cautious about their intake of salt, and may find that a diet of processed foods goes beyond the level of salt intake recommended by their doctors. Home Safe Home by Debra Lynn Dadd, page 226
If you have high blood pressure, the best way to reduce or eliminate your need for medication is by improving your diet, losing weight, exercising, and decreasing your salt and alcohol intake. Worst Pills Best Pills by Sidney M Wolfe MD and Larry D Sasich PharmD MPH, page 57
If you have high blood pressure, cut down on your sodium intake by reading the labels on the foods you buy. Look for salt, sodium, or the chemical symbol Na. Vitamin Bible by Earl Mindell, page 92
Not all experts agree on the exact role of sodium, particularly sodium chloride. Some believe that only a quarter of those with high blood pressure are sensitive to sodium. But others, including Dr. Kenney, think that too much sodium is dangerous for everybody, especially when it’s in combination with chloride, as in salt. The Complete Book Of Alternative Nutrition by Selene Y Craig, page 151
Cut way back on salt. It’s well known that sodium — found in table salt and many processed foods — can damage the heart by raising blood pressure. Yet the average American still consumes 6,000 mg a day — far more than the recommended 2,400 mg. Bottom Line Yearbook 2002 by Bottom Line Personnel, page 10
The resulting epidemic of high blood pressure should be no surprise. All this extra sodium can damage the kidneys. Your kidneys filter waste materials from your blood and control blood pressure. They need the right level of sodium to function well. Complete Guide Health Nutrition by Gary Null, page 13
Yes, we all need sodium, but most of us get too much. Too much sodium results in potassium deficiency and even more serious problems, such as stress, hypertension, muscular weakness and fatigue, liver damage, and pancreas disease. Of these, hypertension is the most dangerous and is in fact one of the leading killer diseases in our country today. One out of every ten Americans may be predisposed to high blood pressure, which is rearing its ugly head even in the lives of our children. Complete Guide Health Nutrition by Gary Null, page 497
Unless your blood pressure is very high, you may be able to control it with a low-salt diet, exercise, weight loss and other lifestyle factors. Try this approach before considering drug therapy. Bottom Line Yearbook 2004 by Bottom Line Personnel, page 25
Most people are aware that lowering sodium intake can help reduce blood pressure. It is by no means all that you can do, but it is nonetheless important. Sodium draws water into the blood vessels, and too much water in the artery can lead to too much pressure. Reducing salt intake is really quite easy, and we will go into that in more detail in chapter 9. Eat Right Live Longer by Neal Barnard MD, page 142
Too much salt at the expense of potassium results in high blood pressure. It also leads to edema and water retention, especially in women during the last half of their menstrual cycle. Excessive salt intake causes kidney stress, once again deregulating the body’s natural alkaline-to-acid balance. Salt also disturbs digestion, and has been linked to stomach cancer. Food Swings by Barnet Meltzer MD, page 56
We know that anyone with hypertension (high blood pressure) should avoid salt. They should also avoid refined sugar. Animal studies suggest that high blood pressure may even lead to blood-sugar disorders. Get Healthy Now by Gary Null, page 31
Because sodium usually is in excess, potassium has a curative role. For example, if blood pressure is high because of excessive salt intake, one of the first remedies in Western allopathic medicine is to use potassium supplements while restricting salt. Healing With Whole Foods by Paul Pitchford, page 162
If you’re sodium-savvy and watching your blood pressure, you already know to say no thanks to foods such as chips and salty pickles. Yet sodium appears in many foods in which you might not expect it. Baking soda and baking powder, for instance are both sodium bicarbonate. Dried fruit contains sodium sulfite, and ice cream often has sodium caseinate and sodium alginate. New Foods For Healing by Selene Yeager, page 83
Innumerable scientific studies have connected fat intake to heart disease and cancer, and sodium intake to high blood pressure. Nearly 3 million children between ages six and seventeen suffer from high blood pressure. Many children of the new millennium are overweight, hyperactive, and deficient in the nutrients they need to grow into healthy adults. Prescription For Dietary Wellness by Phyllis A Balch, page 247
The usual symptoms of high blood pressure are dizziness, headaches, and noises or ringing in the ears. Along with any remedy used for hypertension, the following regime is generally recommended: sufficient rest; regular exercise; abstinence from tobacco, coffee, and alcoholic beverages; a low-salt diet; minimization or, if possible, avoidance of stress-provoking situations; and control of the cholesterol count by correct diet or other means. Secrets of the Chinese Herbalists by Richard Lucas, page 196
High blood pressure is not an inevitable part of aging as often thought. There are some populations in which older people have the same blood pressure as the younger ones. Diet appears to be a big factor. Diets of these non-acculturated societies differ from acculturated societies — containing less sodium, simple sugars and saturated fats (meat, butter, whole milk) and containing more complex carbohydrates, fibers and potassium. Exercise also plays an essential role since indigenous cultures tend to live a more rigorous and active lifestyle. Syndrome X and SX-Fraction by Mark Kaylor PhD and Ken Babal C.N., page 12
Determining whether or not you are salt sensitive Have your pressure taken again. You can do the opposite if you’ve been avoiding salt: Try two weeks of a diet that does include salt and see what effect, if any, it has on your blood pressure reading. Natural Prescriptions by Dr Robert M Giller, page 199
Sodium restriction “not a panacea” The researchers stated that “the higher the oats intake, the lower the blood pressure,” regardless of other factors such as age and weight, or alcohol, sodium, or potassium intake, which are known to affect blood pressure. According to chief researcher Michael Klag, M.D., it is oatmeal’s high content of water-soluble fiber (beta glu-can) that produces the heart benefits. A six-year study involving 22,000 middle-aged Finnish males showed that consuming as little as 3 g daily of soluble fiber (from the beta glucan fiber component of oats, barley, or rye) reduced the risk of death from heart disease by 27%. Alternative Medicine by Burton Goldberg, page 777
Not every one, therefore, should follow the recommendation of the American Heart Association and reduce their intake of salt. Everyone needs to have some salt in their diet, especially those with low blood pressure. When salt is restricted or eliminated from the diet, people tend to have more infections and bone disorders. Feed Your Body Right by Lendon H Smith MD, page 163
Originally published December 14 2005 |
By Scott Cumbie
The discussions this week over the constitutionality of the presidential “recess” appointments have revolved around whether the Senate was in recess or not. In actuality, the “recess” issue is irrelevant to the question of constitutionality. For the purposes of this discussion, let us take the President’s position and assume that the Senate was in recess. Then, let us look at the text of the Constitution to determine if the President’s actions were lawful.
Article 2 Section 2 Paragraph 2 says that the President “shall nominate, and by and with the Advice and Consent of the Senate, shall appoint Ambassadors, other public Ministers and Consuls, … which shall be established by Law.” Since the departments in question were established by law, the Constitution very clearly states that the President nominates and the Senate approves. The arguments revolve around the next paragraph.
“The President shall have Power to fill up all Vacancies that may happen during the Recess of the Senate, by granting Commissions which shall expire at the End of their next Session.”
There are 2 very important items stated in this paragraph:
First, when can a President fill a vacancy? Answer: when the vacancy occurs during the recess of the Senate. The vacancies for all four of the positions that were filled by the President existedbefore the recess. None of these vacancies happened or occurred during the recess. A clear reading of the text tells us that these appointments were unlawful.
Secondly, any recess appointment expires at the end of the next session of the Senate. Once the Senate assembles after a recess appointment is made, if the Senate takes no action then the appointment expires immediately upon the next recess. In the current case, the Senate could have opened after this latest recess and immediately gone into recess again which would have caused these four appointments to expire. The Senate would not have had to even discuss the recess appointments.
Why would the framers of the Constitution allow a President to make recess appointments and why only if the vacancy occurs during a recess of the Senate? Why, also, would they want these recess appointments to expire in the manner stated above?
At the time the Constitution was written, the framers were only expecting Congress to be in the capital for part of the year. In fact, they were more concerned that Congress would not meet often enough, so in Article 1, Section 4 they state that “The Congress shall assemble at least once in every Year.” The framers were expecting that there would be long periods of time when the Congress would not be in the capital and would not be available to approve a nomination for a vacancy. These recess appointment were intended to allow the President to be able to conduct the business of the government until the Senate could return to the capital and take action on the nomination / appointment.
If a vacancy occurred while Congress was in session, and the President did not nominate and the Senate did not approve the nomination before a recess, then the President was not given the power to make a recess appointment. By the Senate not acting on a nomination before the recess, the Senate effectively states its will by not giving consent. In this case, the President cannot act until the Senate reconvenes.
This is exactly the same reason that the Constitution states that a recess appointment will expire at the end of the next session. If the Senate comes out of recess and decides not to provide consent on a recess appointment before their next recess, then they have stated their will by not giving consent. The Constitution does not allow a President to act independently of Congress or to circumvent the will of Congress.
Joseph Story, who was appointed to the Supreme Court 200 years ago by President James Madison, wrote a series of commentaries on the Constitution. In discussing recess appointments, Story states that “The propriety of this grant is so obvious, that it can require no elucidation. There was but one of two courses to be adopted; either, that the senate should be perpetually in session, in order to provide for the appointment of officers; or, that the president should be authorized to make temporary appointments during the recess, which should expire, when the senate should have had an opportunity to act on the subject. The former course would have been at once burthensome to the senate, and expensive to the public. The latter combines convenience, promptitude of action, and general security.”
In other words, the reason for recess appointments was obvious and required no explanation. This grant allows the President “temporary appointments” in order to conduct the business of the government until “the senate should have had an opportunity to act.”
Story continues by stating that “The appointments so made, by the very language of the constitution, expire at the next session of the senate; and the commissions given by him have the same duration.” Again, if the Senate does not act on the appointment, then the appointment expires at the next recess. Clearly, if the Senate does not give consent, the President does not have Power to appoint.
Concerning the requirement that a vacancy occurs during a recess, Story states, “The language of the clause is, that the president shall have power to fill up vacancies, that may happen during the recess of the senate… By “vacancies” they understood to be meant vacancies occurring from death, resignation, promotion, or removal. The word ‘happen’ had relation to some casualty, not provided for by law. If the senate are in session, when offices are created by law, which have not as yet been filled, and nominations are not then made to them by the president, he cannot appoint to such offices during the recess of the senate, because the vacancy does not happen during the recess of the senate.”
This last sentence discusses the exact situation we have with the President’s recent appointment of Richard Cordray to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB). The other 3 appointments were for vacancies in existing offices that occurred before this latest recess (and not during this recess).
Based on the clear text of the Constitution and the intent of the framers, the four recent recess appointments by the President are clearly unlawful. When the President stated that, “I’ve got an obligation to act on behalf of the American people, and I’m not going to stand by while a minority in the Senate puts party ideology ahead of the people that we were elected to serve,” it is clear that his intent is to circumvent the Constitutional requirement that he obtain the advice and consent of the Senate. This is acting outside the power granted to him in the Constitution.
republished with permission of the author |
Nearly 40 years ago, Marc Van Montagu of Ghent University in Belgium, along with fellow researcher Jeff Schell, discovered that Agrobacterium tumefaciens, the plant tumour-inducing soil microbe, carries a rather large circular molecule of DNA, which they named “Ti plasmid”. This led to their development of the first technology to transfer foreign genes into plants in a stable manner, laying the foundation for the nascent molecular biology sector to develop tools that could genetically engineer plants. In 2013, Montagu was awarded the World Food Prize (WFP) in a belated recognition of his pioneering discovery. Montagu, professor emeritus at Ghent and founder-chairperson of the university’s Institute of Plant Biotechnology Outreach, is a firm proponent of genetically modified (GM) crops, which he believes are the only way to feed the world’s burgeoning population. He was recently in India at the invitation of the agrobiotech industry lobby group, ABLE-Ag, to push for the introduction of GM crops in India. He addressed several meetings organised by the leading public agriculture research institutes in the country, with the repeated message that only GM crops could feed the world—a view contested by many leading scientists, including the 1995 WFP winner Hans Herren (see ‘Agroecology is the only way’, Down To Earth, December 31, 2012). In an interview to Latha Jishnu of Down To Earth, Montagu, now 80, dilates on the need for scientists to speak up about the benefits of GM technology to counter what he famously terms “the irrational fear of GM food”. Excerpts
Your piece on the irrational fear of GM food after you won the WFP seems dismissive of the opinion of scientists who find GM feed problematic.
It was not meant to be dismissive. I am a neophyte in this debate, just like so many other scientists who are not in the habit of talking to society. I am actually talking to scientists, the rationalist ones, to tell them that people have irrational fears. They should understand that people are irrational. Everybody, even those who claim to be the most rational of people, even the atheists, live by their emotion. Is it rationality? No.
The economy cannot be rational; politicians cannot be rational because of the people. For GMOs (genetically modified organisms), it is the same story. Some people took advantage by spreading fear that GMOs are bad. Scientists thought that was ridiculous and didn’t react. And suddenly we are in this situation of irrational fear.
There is no argument against GMOs. The society argument, the fact that people don’t like GM crops, is a serious issue. From science there is no problem.
What about the numerous scientific papers and research that have shown problems with GM crops?
Well, I am looking for scientific papers that are correct and that are acceptable and that really show there are problems. You can say there are problems with herbicide resistant wheat. Sure, I will not deny that there are problems. But saying, like (Eric Giles) Seralini says, that GMOs cause tumours and createÔÇêcancer is nonsense. No scientist will agree.
Seralini’s research is not the only one. There are dozens of other studies showing that GM crops have unintended consequences.
The European Union (EU)—it is well documented—spent € 300 million to find out if something can go wrong with GMOs. That’s an enormous budget, but they never did find anything. Most of these studies are never published—no journal wants to publish anything like this—but you can see all this in the files.
Let’s talk about why GM does not find acceptability. It’s because the primary claims made for GM crops—that they increase yield, reduce pesticide use and do not impact the environment—have not been validated.
On yield, the argument holds. The story is that the green movement, which wants to block the GM crops because they get an income from it, has made the price tag for bringing a product to the market extremely high. The six (major agrobiotech) companies can only make products on which they can get immediate returns.
For yield increase you need an enormous amount of knowledge, you need to know all the plant pathways, these have to be adapted and changed. Look at the number of specialists who work on medical research. For each tissue, for each organ, for each condition there are tens of thousands of researchers working on a problem. But in plant genetics the number is so limited. This plant science is so new. When we started genetic engineering 40 years ago we had no plant genes. The only thing we could use was bacterial genes. We have a long way to go.
Are you saying that the biotech industry hasn’t been able to work on this aspect and that all the yield increases are way into the future?
Absolutely. All the funding agencies in Europe say people will not use it, so why should you get funding? We have to learn about small RNAs, peptides and the like. It costs about $150 million to bring a GM product to the market because of all the regulatory requirements, all the paperwork.
How do you explain the increase in pesticide use for GM crops?
You can say the sale of glyphosate has gone up but the consumption of other herbicides has gone down. We need different genes, many other genes to fight the pests. Use of pesticides will never be zero. You will still have to use it because when one pest goes down another comes.
If it’s a never ending cycle what’s the benefit of this expensive technology?
Oh, the benefit is enormous. Otherwise everybody would be starving if we didn’t use chemicals. Why can’t we have just organic agriculture? Because there would be no yield. We could at some time learn to survive without the chemicals but we would need to have a lot of variety of GMOs. Once there is less population increase and there are less poor, then humans can have better agriculture. Then slowly we can pay better attention to the environment.
Are you saying that because of the large population you have to accept damage to the environment?
At the moment, yes. If the green activists say they can work a miracle by going back to traditional methods of agriculture, they are lying. And they know it because we do not have the kind of plants to provide for all the people. We can’t do this with conventional plant breeding.
But GM technology has simply not been able to beat the pesticide or pest problem. Companies are developing products that are resistant to more powerful and highly toxic pesticides such as 2,4-D which was the lethal defoliant used in the Vietnam war.
You cannot look at the absolute figure of pesticide usage but have to compare its use per yield. And 2,4-d will not be used the same way as in Vietnam. If it were not safeÔÇêno company would release such a product in the market.
You keep saying that over-regulation, unnecessary tests are what make GM crops more expensive than they need be. On the contrary, a number of reputed scientists, including MS Swaminathan who chaired the committee that gave you the 2013 WFP, have been calling for more regulation. He also was against the introduction of Bt brinjal. What are ordinary people to make of these contradictory views?
It’s very interesting that you raised this story. Swaminathan has a responsibility not only as a scientist; he also has a lot of political responsibility. He’s not 100 per cent a scientist. He helps the government and he advises decision-makers in the country. What politicians have to do is completely different.
In France five-six years ago, President (Nicolas) Sarkozy called a meeting of the green lobby and said, “You’re against nuclear energy, you’re against GMOs. But we cannot be. So let’s make a deal. You shut up about nuclear energy and the reactors and you can say what you want about GMOs and I will not interfere.” Now, you can say this is not honest, but politicians have to make compromises.
But Swaminathan is not a politician.
He is in a certain way. There were so many people who were against GM brinjal. Society has to make decisions when groups of people are threatening all kinds of things. Temporarily, it’s better to calm the situation so that science can progress. Swaminathan has helped science to progress. The issue of 500,000 hectares of GM brinjal, it’s a question of priority.
Objectively, he is wrong. But if he can save the situation, he can get political support for other projects. We do not know. Swaminathan is so high ranking in the academy and he has a vision of society that we don’t have. So I wouldn’t really blame him.
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Fanny Howe’s poetry collection, The Lyrics, includes poems that thrive on the lyric poem’s conventions; the poems include both the personal world of the speaker, as well as the universal world. Each poem is also a lyric by itself; each lyric comprises The Lyrics spoken about in the title. It is not uncommon for Howe to include first person plurals; the result is a collection that addresses the emotional journey of not just its speakers, but the people around the speakers.
If ever there was a poem serving as an atlas or guide for this collection’s reader, it is the poem “28.” from the first section of the book, “The Days.” This poem represents the journey that the reader, speaker(s) and poet are taking. Howe writes:
*A day is a freely given poem; it can be short or long. Contradiction, coincidence.
An emotional experience. Perseverance through hell.
A series of events you must not forget. Twelve sunsets, twenty nine dawns, all in one.
An epiphany. How long your hopes last
Until the next poem.*
This poem explains both the terrain of the poem’s conception and focus, as well as the terrain of human experience. The poems in this collection deal with “contradiction” and “coincidence” and how each “epiphany” leads to another “series of events.” The poems are short, but together they make one large poem. These “lyrics” are subtitled with numbers, as each forms the bulk of a larger poem. As the aforementioned poem is contained under “The Days,” it is both its own poem, as well as a piece of a larger poem. The lyrical poem’s “emotional experience” is what drives the collection’s pieces, but, oftentimes, the poems circle around subject matter just as humans see the world.
Gender has a prominent place in Howe’s book. If this collection is about the journeys we take and the accompanying emotions, then gender is a logical issue to include; afterall, Howe is not only a poet, but also a female poet. In poems such as “5.” - in the section titled, “Home” - power and equality are spoken about in the situation Howe presents. She writes about “the long pause” when “men and women/struggle with equal strength” and how, eventually, the man will “drag me through the streets” and how he “dropped me and the children at a station/Like statues he had cut, baked and broken.” Here, gender is spoken about explicitly. The male figure uses and abuses, and the female speaks as if beyond the grave of how “I must have been insane.” Here, Howe demonstrates the ways in which men and women have interacted, and how violent a traditional space, such as “home,” can be.
Patriarchal culture is also discussed in terms of war. In her poem, “6.” - in the section titled “School” - she writes how “humans and horses together” are “one thing.” Here, the culture is brought to an animalistic level; horses and humans, “pricks/in their pants…/draw up plans/for the continuing slaughter.” Here, the patriarchial violence is highlighted to draw attention to the culture’s violence. For this poem to exist in the "School" section insinuates the way in which violence and patriarchal culture are things that are learned.
The poems in Howe’s collection explore the world in which people live and the elements that affect each collective and individual experience. The poems contain inversions, repetition and an elliptical take on subjects such as religion, education, nature and gender. The world is broken into pieces, but the whole is created through each “lyric.” |
Please note that Mommsen uses the AUC chronology (Ab Urbe Condita), i.e. from the founding of the City of Rome. You can use this reference table to have the B.C. dates
From: The History of Rome, by Theodor Mommsen
Translated with the sanction of the author by William Purdie Dickson
The Provinces - Occupation of Cilicia
The provinces suffered still more in comparison. We shall have an idea of the condition of Sicily and Asia, if we endeavour to realize what would be the aspect of matters in the East Indies provided the English aristocracy were similar to the Roman aristocracy of that day. The legislation, which entrusted the mercantile class with control over the magistrates, compelled the latter to make common cause to a certain extent with the former, and to purchase for themselves unlimited liberty of plundering and protection from impeachment by unconditional indulgence towards the capitalists in the provinces. In addition to these official and semi-official robbers, freebooters and pirates pillaged all the countries of the Mediterranean.
In the Asiatic waters more especially the buccaneers carried their outrages so far that even the Roman government found itself under the necessity in 652 of despatching to Cilicia a fleet, mainly composed of the vessels of the dependent mercantile cities, under the praetor Marcus Antonius, who was invested with proconsular powers. This fleet captured a number of corsair-vessels and destroyed some rock-strongholds and not only so, but the Romans even settled themselves permanently there, and in order to the suppression of piracy in its chief seat, the Rugged or western Cilicia occupied strong military positions--the first step towards the establishment of the province of Cilicia, which thenceforth appears among the Roman magistracies.(7)
7. It is assumed in many quarters that the establishment of the province of Cilicia only took place after the Cilician expedition of Publius Servilius in 676 et seq., but erroneously; for as early as 662 we find Sulla (Appian, Mithr. 57; B. C. i. 77; Victor, 75), and in 674, 675, Gnaeus Dolabella (Cic. Verr. i. 1, 16, 44) as governors of Cilicia--which leaves no alternative but to place the establishment of the province in 652.
This view is further supported by the fact that at this time the expeditions of the Romans against the corsairs--e. g. the Balearic, Ligurian, and Dalmatian expeditions--appear to have been regularly directed to the occupation of the points of the coast whence piracy issued; and this was natural, for, as the Romans had no standing fleet, the only means of effectually checking piracy was the occupation of the coasts. It is to be remembered, moreover, that the idea of a -provincia- did not absolutely involve possession of the country, but in itself implied no more than an independent military command; it is very possible, that the Romans in the first instance occupied nothing in this rugged country save stations for their vessels and troops.
The plain of eastern Cilicia remained down to the war against Tigranes attached to the Syrian empire (Appian, Syr. 48); the districts to the north of the Taurus formerly reckoned as belonging to Cilicia-- Cappadocian Cilicia, as it was called, and Cataonia--belonged to Cappadocia, the former from the time of the breaking up of the kingdom of Attalus (Justin, xxxvii. 1; see above, IV. I. War against Aristonicus), the latter probably even from the time of the peace with Antiochus.
The design was commendable, and the scheme in itself was suitable for its purpose; only, the continuance and the increase of the evil of piracy in the Asiatic waters, and especiallyin Cilicia, unhappily showed with how inadequate means the pirates were combated from the newly-acquired position.
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Reference address : https://www.ellopos.net/elpenor/rome/4-04-rule-restoration.asp?pg=17 |
A dental crown, also commonly known as a cap, is a type of dental restoration that is often used to cover heavily damaged or decayed teeth. Sometimes they are also used for dental implants as well as on teeth that act as an anchor for a bridge.
Typically, crowns are cemented over the top of the damaged or decayed tooth to protect it or provide much needed structural support.
While there are many different types of materials used to create dental crowns, you will often find people going for the most eccentric option. A typical dental crown will be made out of:
- Ceramic material
- Porcelain fused to gold
Tooth-colored options make the most aesthetic sense. However, the fact that the material used in making the crown determines just how durable, affordable and structurally sound the crown is, you will find that people go for options such as gold crown teeth because they can afford them, and they last much longer than most other options.
The History of Gold Crown Teeth
Research shows that gold crown date back as far as 4,000 years ago somewhere in Southeast Asia (Luzon). In that day and age, the idea of modifying teeth in any way, be it filing, blackening or using gold, was considered a form of beautification.
Luzon, an island that makes up part of the Philippines, is considered to be the birthplace of gold crowns. This form of “beautification” can be traced back to somewhere around the fourteenth or fifteenth century. When the Spaniards colonized the Philippines in 1571, they discovered that gold teeth were already a deeply rooted part of the culture (they did not approve).
The same research shows that the gold crowns were used as a symbol of wealth and power in the community. They were reserved for the likes of chiefs as well as the political ruling class. Today, they are still used as a symbol of wealth, status and power (that is probably why you can often find them in the mouths of musicians and athletes today).
That, however, does not mean that gold crowns are specially reserved for the rich and famous. If you can afford it and would like the look, then you can simply discuss the option with your dentist and get a gold crown tooth. But before you go down that road, here are some FAQs about gold crowns that you should read through.
Gold Crown Tooth FAQs
Q: How are gold crowns installed?
A: Like every other crown, gold crowns are placed over the entire surface of the offending tooth so that it provides a strong chewing surface. If done properly, a gold crown can restore the integrity of the misshapen tooth.
Q: Why are gold crowns necessary?
A: Dental crowns, in general, protect the teeth that have either undergone root canal or teeth with fractures or large fillings. In short, a crown lowers the risk of further breakage or fracture and allows you to keep your decayed or fractured tooth as opposed to having it extracted.
Q: What is the lifespan of a gold crown?
A: With the right kind of care and dentists, your gold crown could offer you years of service (anywhere from 15 to 20 years). Apart from the kind of care you give your crown, other factors come into play. Factors such as the integrity and health of the natural tooth being covered by the crown. It also depends on the health of the gum.
Should the crowned tooth decay, foster gum disease or experience further fracturing then additional treatment will be warranted; treatment that may require the replacement of the gold crown.
Q: What can expect when getting a gold crown?
A: The answer to this question really depends on the clinic you visit. For the most part, a typical gold crown placement requires two office visits. However, some clinics might be able to get it done within the same day. During the procedure, the area around the tooth to be crowned is numbed. This allows the dentist to painlessly shape the surface of the decaying or fractured tooth so that it can adequately accommodate the new crown. How much work is involved in this “shaping” will depend on how badly decayed or fractured the tooth being worked on is and what it takes for it to securely hold a crown.
Your doctor will take impressions to ensure that the crown has the proper fit and bite. Once your new crown has been perfectly molded by the laboratory, your dentist will then cement it into place over the decayed or fractured tooth. Your dentist will then evaluate and adjust it as needed.
Q: Will I need to undergo a root canal?
A: It is safe to say that no one in the world likes root canals. Thankfully, a root canal is not necessary when getting a gold crown. However, all your teeth that have already undergone root canals should be crowned.
Q: What kind of questions should I ask my dentist before getting a gold crown?
A: Before getting a gold crown you should first confer with your dentist about all the other available options. While gold crowns might be a wonderful idea for musicians and athletes, they may bring more attention that is comfortable for a regular Jane or Joe. If you have your mind made up and are going for the gold crown, then here are some additional questions you might want to ask your dentist:
- How much will the procedure cost in total?
- Will my insurance cover the procedure?
- Are there any special care instructions for gold crowns?
- Will my gold crown be made out of pure gold?
While it is called a “gold crown,” the truth is that these crowns are made out of a combination of gold, copper and a host of other metals. Not only are they a wonderful conversation starter as they will definitely draw attention to your smile, but gold crowns do also really offer your teeth the necessary protection and structural integrity that they need.
Relate Posts to Read:
Broken Crown? What to Do If You Have a Cracked Dental Crown |
Part of the issue is that skilled professionals are in short supply. Demand for data scientists has boomed by an astonishing 256% in the US since December 2013, while over in the EU it’s estimated there will be around 769,000 unfilled data science positions by 2020. Given the amount of work involved in the sector, it’s clear that something needs to change.
The answer could be surprisingly simple: automate. Data science isn’t the only field experimenting with automation, but it’s perhaps the sector that could see the biggest impact from embracing it. The technology has the potential to revolutionize big data as it currently exists, and there’s plenty of evidence showing how it could be a game-changer.
Speeding up data science
While data science projects can be illuminating, interesting and exciting, there’s one thing they definitely aren’t: fast. It’s thought that the average project takes around two to three months to complete, and the longer they take, the more they cost. This in turn makes them more likely to be considered as failures if they don't provide a clear and immediate return on investment.
So, how could we speed this up? One of the big issues with data science is the amount of time it takes to collect, clean and organize the information needed for the project. One survey estimated that this accounts for around 80% of the work of data scientists, and is the aspect that around 75% enjoy the least about the job.
Automating this could significantly speed up projects. Collecting and sorting data is something a computer is much better at than a person, yet it’s something data scientists spend most of their time doing.
Of course, not everything about this can be entrusted to a machine. Nevertheless, it’s estimated that 40% of data science tasks could be automated by 2020, drastically cutting down on the workload of the professionals involved and enabling projects to be completed much quicker, making them more cost-effective.
More fields than expected can be automated
It’s probably clear that the most basic, manual tasks in data science can be automated with few issues. However, could automation really change the field that drastically? The more complex elements are always going to have to be undertaken by humans, right? Well, not exactly. In fact, more aspects of data science can be automated than you might think.
For example, Vice President of AI at IBM Research, Alexander Gray, pointed out that the element of data science most suited to automation is actually the modeling stage at the very end of the pipeline. This is often the main focus of data science training, so it’s understandable if it seems like an important task that should only be entrusted to humans. However, it’s actually best suited to artificial intelligence.
If you want proof, look no further than the most recent KaggleDays SF Hackathon, an 8.5 hour data science challenge. Google entered its modelling algorithm, AutoML, against the various Kaggle Masters and GrandMasters competing and ended up in second place. Therefore, it’s clear that automated modelling can be as effective as the best human efforts.
Other areas of data science can also be automated. Microsoft has debuted software that can automate machine learning, for example, while various elements of coding can also be entrusted to AIs. Software exists to do everything from spot errors in code to write programs from scratch, so automation can be applied to more than you might think.
Data scientists won’t die out (but might have to adapt)
Given all the different areas of data science that can be automated, you might be wondering about the future of the career. If everything can be automated, where will talented data scientists fit in? There’s no need to change jobs yet, as there are plenty of areas of the career that still require a human touch.
As some have pointed out, some of the most important aspects of data science include thought leadership and communication. Data scientists must kick off projects with client communication, then document and resend the results. They will also need to guide the projects from start to finish.
Then there’s the fact that the field is still growing rapidly. Jeremy Achin, CEO of DataRobot, said:
So while there’s no shortage of work for talented data scientists to undertake, the more manual aspects of the role might be made quicker and easier by automation. This might well change the focus of the role, but doesn’t look likely to make it obsolete any time soon.
- A Quick Introduction to the Modern Analytics Journey
- The Convergence of Analytics, Data Science and Process Automation
- The 4 Principles of Analytic Process Automation
- The Top 10 Things to Look for in an Analytic Process Automation Platform
The thrill of solving
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British-born pilot and environmentalist Jeremy Rowsell has made history this week by flying a light aircraft across Australia using a conventional fuel blended with fuel derived from plastic waste. EURACTIV’s partner edie.net reports.
The pioneering ‘On Wings of Waste’ flight, which travelled 500 miles from Sydney to Melbourne and landed on Thursday (12 January), is the culmination of a four-year project to fly a plane on a unique fuel blend made up from 10% end-of-life plastic normally found in the ocean and landfill sites which has been reprocessed by London-based Plastic Energy.
Use of the fuel – dubbed “the 10% solution” – in Rowsell’s Vans RV9a aircraft essentially proves that end-of-life plastic waste can be transformed from a pollutant into a viable alternative jet fuel and can also be used for any diesel engine.
“After years of preparation and many ups and downs, we’ve finally shown that the eight million tonnes of plastic dumped into the oceans each year can be put to good use,” said Rowsell, who was inspired to embark on the project after witnessing the devastating effects of plastic pollution from the air.
“We blended 10% of fuel manufactured by Plastic Energy with conventional fuel and the flight was a dream.”
— Zero Risk (@Zero_Risk) January 11, 2017
To produce the fuel, On Wings of Waste partner Plastic Energy use a ‘thermal anaerobic conversion’ process, which sees plastics heated in an oxygen-free environment to prevent them from burning, and then broken into their component hydrocarbons to create the equivalent of a petroleum distillate, which can then be separated into different fuels. As there is no ‘burning’ of the plastics, there are no toxic emissions released into the environment throughout the process.
If scaled up, the On Wings of Waste project could have a profound effect on the aviation industry. A 747 aircraft on a 10,000 mile flight burns 36,000 gallons of fuel and 33% of airlines’ operating costs are spent on fuel. If 3,600 gallons of that fuel was sourced from plastic waste it would be the equivalent of 18 tonnes of waste plastic that might otherwise be dumped in the ocean. Based on the 1,200 flights that are made from Heathrow every day, approximately 21,600 tonnes of plastic waste would be transformed from pollutant to fuel every 24 hours from that airport alone.
The groundbreaking On Wings of Waste flight was originally scheduled for take-off last year, with Rowsell leading an ambitious plan to fly more than 3,000 miles from San Francisco to Alaska using the plastic-to-oil technology. But a campaign spokesperson told edie that the inaugural flight was not able to go ahead due to “various complications”.
The eventual success of the On Wings of Waste project in Australia this week is seen as a significant opportunity to showcase how plastic waste can be put to productive use as a transportation fuel.
The flight has even gained the support of legendary broadcaster and naturalist Sir David Attenborough as a “sign of hope in a very depressing world”. Attenborough said: “The Wings of Waste flight, I hope, will bring the attention of the world to this great solution that is there waiting to be taken if only we can get the support of people to do so.”
Rowsell and his On Wings of Waste team are now looking for support from investors to build a recycling plant in Australia which they hope would lead to a change in culture and attitude about how we dispose of single-use plastic.
Jo Ruxton, part of the On Wings of Waste team, said: “Plastic breaks up into small particles, mixing with the plankton at the ocean surface. Plankton is at the heart of the food chain and provides us with more than half the oxygen we breathe – our oceans keep us alive.
“We can’t yet safely remove plastic particles from plankton that lives in the ocean, so we must stop dumping plastic waste in the ocean. There are estimated to be 5.25 trillion particles of plastic floating – mainly at the bottom – of the world’s seas.”
Ruxton is among the producers of ‘A Plastic Ocean’, a film highlighting plastic pollution set to be released on 20 January. |
Actually, that first statement is not correct. The universe isn't expanding due to dark energy. It's accelerating due to dark energy. The normal expansion, called metric expansion, is an effect of general relativity. When you get a homogeneous distribution of matter or radiation(a perfect fluid, a uniform gas, radiation, a homogeneous distribution of galaxies in the case of the universe today), you can solve the Einstein field equations for general relativity for an expanding universe, called the FRW metric. In this metric, the distance in between bound objects (i.e. galaxies today) increases over time. This doesn't require dark energy, just a universe filled with matter or radiation.
A simple article about some misconceptions about the expanding universe is here, I recommend reading it:
So, prior to the discovery of dark energy, the expanding universe was understood perfectly well. However, we assumed that this expansion was slowing down. However, a discovery in the later nineties that was awarded the 2011 Nobel Prize in physics showed that not only is the universe expanding, it's accelerating. So, this is the role of dark energy.
Many different candidates for dark energy have been proposed, but one is heavily favored, the cosmological constant. In Einstein's equations for general relativity, you can throw in an extra term, $\Lambda$, the would play the role of a negative pressure vacuum energy. This has the effect of accelerating the expansion of the universe.
Why are we confident dark energy is just a cosmological constant? One of the defining features of a cosmological constant is its equation of state. The equation of state, $w$, is given by $p \over \rho$, where $p$ is the pressure it contributes, and $\rho$ is the energy density. A cosmological constant has $w=-1$. The WMAP seven year report recorded the value as $w=-1.1 ± 0.14$. Within the error margins, the cosmological constant fits very well.
Quantum field theory also predicts the existence of a vacuum energy, so it was hoped that this would match the value of the cosmological constant. However, the value calculated by QFT was enormously higher. Using the upper limit of the cosmological constant, the vacuum energy in a cubic meter of free space has been estimated to be 10^-9 Joules. However, the QFT prediction is a whopping 10^113 Joules per cubic meter. This is the 'vacuum catastrophe'.
For a simple page from the Usenet FAQ about the cosmological constant, see here:
For a very thorough description, see here:
So, because the cosmological constant works so well as a description of dark energy, and is supported by the evidence, we prefer that over a description such as quintessence, or something similar to the explanation you proposed.
Addition - Regarding the quantum fluctuations:
The very early universe was filled with an obscenely hot and dense plasma and a bath of radiation. The metric expansion of space cooled and redshifted the radiation, and broke up the plasma into a much less dense gas of hydrogen. This is the essential nature of the big bang model, which you should note has nothing to do with a 'bang'. The model was been confirmed by observations, which you can read about here.
However, there are a few problems - first is the flatness problem. We observe that the universe is very, very close to being spatially flat. Since expansion would cause the universe to deviate away from flatness, it must have been even flatter at the time of the big bang. Ridiculously flat. How did it get this way? Second is the horizon problem. We observe that the universe is homogeneous on large scales, that is, it's pretty much the same everywhere. This means that primordial plasma must also have been perfectly homogeneous, which is confirmed by observations of the cosmic microwave background. However, if the expansion of the universe was extremely rapid from time zero onward, how did this plasma come to equilibrium? It certainly wouldn't have the time to do this. And third is the monopole problem. Grand Unified Theories, or GUTs, are theories that unify the electroweak interaction with the strong nuclear force. They have the unfortunate feature of predicting that hot temperatures of the early universe should have produced an abundance of heavy magnetic monopoles, which we certainly don't observe. Fourth is the homogeneity problem - why are there no inhomogeneities besides galaxies? What made the early plasma so 'smooth'?
A model called inflation fixes all of these problems. Inflation proposes that the very early universe underwent an enormous expansion, growing the universe by at least 60 $e$-folds. This expansion would be driven by the inflaton field. This field would reach an undesirable energy value, called a false vacuum. When it's in this false vacuum, it has the property that it exerts an enormous negative pressure (somewhat similar to dark energy). This drives inflation. After a very short period of time, the inflaton field reaches it's true vacuum (through normal quantum effects such as tunneling). When this happens, it decays into a bath of radiation, heating the universe so that the big bang model can go from there.
So, how does this solve the problems of the big bang model? Well, the enormous expansion would eliminate any curvature, making the universe extremely flat. This solves the flatness problem. Second, it would allow the universe to expand very slowly before inflation, allowing it to come to equilibrium. This solves the horizon problem. Any monopoles produced in the early universe would have been spread out so that we would only see about one in the entire observable universe, so the monopole problem is solved. And finally, inflation would 'iron out' any large scale inhomogeneities with the rapid expansion.
So, this is where those quantum fluctuations come in - prior to inflation some regions of the primordial plasma would have become very slightly denser due to quantum fluctuations - when the universe inflates, the random changes in density that come from quantum mechanics will get magnified, and you end up with what's called a "scale free power spectrum."
It's like drawing a small line on a flat balloon. Blow the balloon up, and the line will become very large. Similarly, small density perturbations become primordial 'seeds'. Since these are due to random fluctuations, we would expect this to produce a universe that has an even distribution of galaxies, such as ours. From there, dark matter clumps around these seeds, which then draws in the rest of the matter to form proto-galaxies. From there, full galaxies develop. |
The integrated RAMAC 305 system was about two refrigerators in width and not quite as tall, and it literally weighed a ton. Its hard drive, the RAMAC 350, had 50 24-inch platters in a stack inside the unit, in an assembly that spun at 1200 revolutions per minute. The unit used two magnetic recording heads. The RAMAC 350 could hold 5MB--about the storage that today is needed for one 5-minute MP3 encoded at 128 kilobits per second.Even that first hard drive had several features in common with today's high capacity drives. Again quoting from The Hard Drive Turns 50:
Although the RAMAC shares only some characteristics with today's hard drives, they are important ones, says Hoagland. "The characteristics of all disk drives that still use ideas initiated on the RAMAC include: closely spaced disks or platters with magnetic film surfaces; positioning of read/write heads to service a large number of tracks; and and the use of head assemblies that create a small but finite separation between head and disk to avoid wear or damage to either one."Switching into high gear, a recent article from Cisco Systems announced the Cisco CRS-3 Carrier Routing System. This new system for transmitting data across the Internet claims speeds up to "322 Terabits per second, which enables the entire printed collection of the Library of Congress to be downloaded in just over one second; every man, woman and child in China to make a video call, simultaneously; and every motion picture ever created to be streamed in less than four minutes." Pricing for the new system starts at $90,000.
With all of this fantastic speed, what about the venerable hard drive? Where are we today in the way of cost and storage capacity? This is a relatively difficult question to answer. The reason is that new drives are introduced regularly with larger capacities and lower prices. Only recently, 1 TB (1000 GB) drives were being introduced. Now (July, 2011), within the past six months, 4 TB drives are now common. The price for a 4 TB drive has dropped to just over $200. You will recall that that the first hard drive cost about $10,000 per megabyte, at $250 for 4 TBs the cost per megabyte is about $250 divided by 4,000,000 or .0000625 cents per megabyte!
However, despite all this advancement in storage, I still talk to genealogists regularly who do not have any backup storage method at all. That is zero bytes of external storage. In fact in the past couple of weeks, I have been working on retrieving data from floppy disks that date back to the 1980s and hold from about 1 MB to 2.88 MB of data. (There were some higher density Laser Servo disks that held up to 200 MB of data but I have never seen a drive mechanism for them). See Wikipedia:Floppy Disk.
Why, with the amazing advances in technology do we have a significant number of genealogists that still rely on floppy disks? One thing I find regularly is that they just have no idea of the cost of either new computers or new hard disk drives. They have absolutely no interest in hardware or software and have never bothered to upgrade their computer systems. In fact, a very high percentage of the genealogists I work with and help almost every day, still compress their genealogy data files! They do this because several of the commonly used and popular programs still have "backup" options to compress the files.
So how much data storage space does a large genealogy file take? I have a file with over 18,000 names and a lot of sources etc. My largest file is about 33 MB is size. That is megabytes not gigabytes. Remember, a 4 TB drive is 4,000,000 megabytes. My file would take up less than 1/1000 of a percent of the space on the drive. I could have 100,000 files of that size on one hard drive and still have room left over.
So if the large drives are inexpensive, how cheap is an adequate storage device for my largest file? I would need about 33 MBs. Well, I can't buy a drive that small. A common 8 GB (not megabyte) flash drive costs about $7.00. That is 8,000 MBs. 2 GB flash drives are under $5.00 which is sort of the minimal price anything can be packaged and sold.
So why don't the genealogists spend $5 and back up their genealogy files? Simple. They don't have computers with USB ports. Maybe next time I'll do a little comparison shopping for computers.
(Note: If any of you have been reading my blog for a while, you know I am number challenged. So, if you find my math is wrong, just drop me a comment and make the correction). |
What is Lean Management
Lean management consists of 3 key elements:
1) Lean tools, system and structure:
Many organisations will start their Lean journey through the application of specific Lean tools or a part of the Lean system. Manufacturing often starts with value stream mapping whereas the office may start with specific process or problem solving. The important factor to recognise is that these are only the initiation steps, and a comprehensive plan covering competency building, training, deployment and culture change needs to be created.
2) Front line involvement and engagement:
The involvement of the people actually doing the work is key to all Lean activities. Sometimes management or IT decides it knows what happens in the process, leaving gaps, questions or irrelevant steps in the new process. Engagement needs to be created through ownership and a new structured way of working that empowers the front line.
3) Leadership actions and behaviours:
Lean is often sponsored by the top of the organisation and left for the front line to deliver. But if it’s left there without senior/middle management knowledge and support, a void will develop – “the middle management gap” – which will jeopardise successful deployment. Managers at all levels need to know what Lean involves and also what their role is as a leader to ensure it sustains and grows within the organisation. |
Spinach is an important leaf vegetable, now grown throughout the temperate regions of the world. It is most productive in cool seasons and climates, since heat will cause the spinach to bolt.
Spinach (Spinacia oleracea) is a flowering plant in the family Amaranthaceae, native to central and southwestern Asia. It is an annual plant (rarely biennial plant|biennial), which grows to a height of up to one metre. The leaves are alternate, simple, ovate to triangular-based, very variable in size from about 3-30 cm long and 1-15 cm broad, with larger leaves at the base of the plant and small leaves higher on the flowering stem. The flowers are inconspicuous, yellow-green, 3-4 mm diameter, maturing into a small hard dry lumpy fruit cluster 5-10 mm across containing several seeds.
Spinach is a cool-season crop, and so should be planted either in early spring (just as the soil warms) or in fall. Fall plantings will overwinter into spring for an early crop, and is also well-suited to winter greenhouses and frames.
Planting can be done in situ, in cellpack, or in containers. It is well-suited for growing in flats only for baby greens production.
A distinction can be made between older varieties of spinach and more modern varieties. Older varieties tend to run up to seed too quickly in warm conditions. Newer varieties tend to grow more rapidly but have less of an inclination to run up to seed. The older varieties have narrower leaves and tend to have a stronger (although more bitter) taste. Most newer varieties have broader leaves and round seeds.
There are 3 basic types of spinach:
- Savoy has dark green, crinkly and curly leaves. It is the type sold in fresh bunches in most supermarkets. One heirloom variety of savoy is Bloomsdale. Bloomsdale is also somewhat bolt resistant.
- Flat/smooth leaf spinach has broad smooth leaves that are easier to clean than savoy. This type is often grown for canned and frozen spinach, as well as soups, baby foods, and processed foods.
- Semi-savoy is a hybrid variety. It has slightly crinkled leaves. It has the same texture as savoy, but it is not as difficult to clean. It is grown for both fresh market and processing. Five Star is a widely grown variety and has good resistance to running up to seed.
Rosemary Stanton, in her Complete Book of Food and Nutrition, notes that silverbeet (or chard), is commonly referred to as spinach, particularly in Australia and New Zealand. Hence, there may be some popular confusion between the two vegetables.
Other species called spinach
The name "spinach" has been applied to a number of leaf vegetables, both related and unrelated to spinach:
- Chard (Beta vulgaris - also known as spinach beet or perpetual spinach.
- Atriplex (Orache) - also called "French spinach" or "mountain spinach".
- Chenopodium bonus-henricus (Good King Henry) - also called "Lincolnshire spinach".
In Indonesia, the word bayam is applied both to certain species of amaranth commonly eaten as a leafy vegetable, and to spinach, which is rarely seen, only in certain supermarkets but well known from Popeye cartoons.
- Tetragonia (New Zealand spinach)
- Ipomoea aquatica (Water spinach)
- Basellaceae (Malabar spinach)
- The greens of various nightshade, legume and cucurbit species are also known as spinach, wild spinach, African spinach or morogo (in Southern Africa).
Spinach is often harvested as a baby green or a cut-and-come-again crop. Baby greens can be harvested in as little as 2 weeks after germination.
Spinach loses much of its nutritional value with storage of more than a few days. While refrigeration slows this effect to about eight days, spinach will lose most of its folate and carotenoid content. This is worth considering when purchasing spinach out of season. If the product has been "in transit" (picked, cleaned, shipped and shelved) for more than one or two days it will need to be used almost immediately to have much nutritional benefit. This is in spite of the taste and appearance of the plant which may still seem fine.
Fresh spinach should be cleaned thoroughly and then can be stored loosely in an unsealed bag in the crisper tray of the refrigerator for a few days. Even at 4°C, spinach loses much of its nutritional value by eight days so for longer storage it should be fresh frozen, cooked and frozen or canned. Storage in the freezer can be for up to eight months.
Pests and Diseases
- D. Maue, S. Walia, S. Shore, M. Parkash, S. K. Walia, S. K. Walia (2005). "Prevalence of Multiple Antibiotic Resistant Bacteria in Ready-to-Eat Bagged Salads". American Society for Microbiology meeting. June 5-9. pp. Atlanta. Abstract
- Overview of Spinach from Innvista
- Rogers, Jo. What Food is That?: and how healthy is it?. The Rocks, Sydney, NSW: Lansdowne Publishing Pty Ltd, 1990. ISBN 1-86302-823-4.
- Cardwell, Glenn. Spinach is a Good Source of What?. The Skeptic. Volume 25, No 2, Winter 2005. Pp 31-33. ISSN 0726-9897
- Blazey, Clive. The Australian Vegetable Garden: What's new is old. Sydney, NSW: New Holland Publishers, 1999. ISBN 1-86436-538-2
- Stanton, Rosemary. Complete Book of Food and Nutrition. Australia, Simon & Schuster, Revised Edition, 1995. ISBN 0-7318-0538-0
- Health Benefits of Spinach
- Williams, S.R. (1993) Nutrition and Diet Therapy 7th ed. Mosby: St. Loius, MO
- The nutritional benefits of spinach were discussed in detail in the Skeptic magazine, (Winter 2005).
- Powell, D. and Chapman "Fresh and Risky" Food Safety Network, September 15, 2006 |
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Every year the governor of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts issues a proclamation for Thanksgiving Day. Prior to 1863, when Abraham Lincoln set a permanent day for Thanksgiving, each state set its own date; some years there was none at all. The language of this 1848 declaration by Gov. Briggs of Massachusetts is typical, save for some very topical references. 1848 was the year the Mexican War ended with the Treaty of Guadeloupe that ceded almost half of Mexico to the United States. New England had been opposed to the war which many saw as an effort to extend territory for slavery. Briggs calls for an end to "the further extension of slavery," an institution he declares is "repugnant to the rights of humanity." The debates over the status of the land taken from Mexico would eventually lead to a decade of political crises that would end in the Civil War. |
Winter blues? Bummer summer? When your mood swings with the seasons, you may be more than sad and actually have a disorder called SAD.
by Featured Provider Huda Jarmakani on Thursday, December 3, 2020
Along with bone-chilling temps and piles of snow, winters in Des Moines bring a storm of emotions. Hatred of the cold. Fear of the weather. Anxiety about traveling in dangerous conditions.
Those emotions end with the cold snap. But sometimes depression, moodiness and exhaustion are in the wintry mix. And that’s a forecast for seasonal affective disorder.
Seasonal affective disorder — is that like seasonal depression?
One and the same. Seasonal affective disorder, or SAD, is a type of depression that relates to changes in the seasons. The symptoms are similar to depression, but they fade with the next solstice or equinox.
“Seasonal depression most commonly hits during the winter months, with symptoms appearing in the late fall and going away once the sunnier, warmer weather returns in spring,” says Huda Jarmakani, DO, a family medicine physician at The Iowa Clinic’s Ankeny campus. “However, some people have the opposite problem — their symptoms begin in the sunnier months of spring and summer, then go away in the fall and winter."
No matter which type of SAD you have, symptoms start mild but become more severe as the season progresses.
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What SAD symptoms should I look for?
Because seasonal affective disorder is a type of depression, many symptoms can be mistaken for depression. The major difference is that with SAD, symptoms only plague you during a particular season every year. But depending on which season it hits, your symptoms may vary.
Symptoms of Winter Seasonal Affective Disorder
Winter SAD is the most common, affecting half a million people every year. Although up to 20 percent of people might experience a mild form of “winter blues” or “winter depression.” These symptoms occur between September and April, peaking in the winter months — December, January and February:
- Tension or inability to tolerate stress
- Lethargy or inability to carry out a normal routine
- Irritability and difficulty concentrating
- Tiredness and low energy
- Problems getting along with other people or no desire to be around others
- Hypersensitivity to rejection
- Extreme mood changes
- Heavy, “leaden” feeling in the arms or legs
- Appetite changes
- Weight gain or overeating
Symptoms of Summer Seasonal Affective Disorder
While this type of seasonal affective disorder is much less common, it can happen. If you struggle with summer-onset SAD, you may have these symptoms:
- Trouble sleeping or insomnia
- Weight loss
- Poor appetite
- Agitation or anxiety
If you’re a young woman, you’re most at risk of having the symptoms of seasonal affective disorder. Three out of four SAD sufferers are women, and the main age of onset for this disorder is between 18 and 30 years of age.
What causes SAD?
We don’t know for sure. While a specific cause of seasonal affective disorder is unknown, these factors almost always play a part:
- Biological internal clock – Reduced levels of sunlight in fall and winter disrupt your circadian rhythm, which can cause winter-onset SAD.
- Serotonin levels – A drop in serotonin, a brain chemical that affects your mood, might play a role in SAD. Reduced sunlight can cause a drop in serotonin that may trigger depression.
- Melatonin levels – The change in seasons can disrupt the balance of the body’s level of melatonin, which plays a role in sleep patterns and mood.
How do you know when it’s SAD, and not just the winter blues?
It’s all about the duration and severity of your symptoms. It’s easy to shrug off the symptoms of the seasonal affective disorder and attribute them to just having a bad day or week. But it’s important that you don’t ignore these feelings if they persist.
While it’s normal to have days where you feel down, a number of down days in a row is cause for concern. If you aren’t motivated to do the things you normally enjoy, your sleep patterns and appetite change, you feel hopeless to the point of suicide or you turn to alcohol for comfort or relaxation, it’s time to contact your provider.
Are there any treatments for seasonal depression?
There are a number of easy, everyday things that may help with your seasonal affective disorder:
“Try to get as much natural sunlight as possible. As it gets cold outside, bundle up and take a brief walk over lunch, when the sun’s at its highest,” Dr. Jarmakani advises. “Indoors, make your work and home environments as light and airy as possible.”
Light therapy is actually one of the most effective treatments for SAD. If you can’t get outside in the daylight, you can try a SAD lamp, which uses bright, fluorescent light tubes in a special light therapy box to mimic natural outdoor light. SAD light therapy appears to activate brain chemicals linked to mood.
Sometimes there’s nothing you can do that will get you out of your seasonal slump. That’s when it’s time to make an appointment with your physician. Prior to your appointment, make a list of your symptoms — be as detailed as you can, with examples. This will help your provider determine the severity of your situation for diagnosis and treatment. In some cases, antidepressants or other medication may be prescribed or used in combination with light therapy.
“Antidepressants that are often prescribed to treat depression are also used to treat severe cases of seasonal affective disorder,” Dr. Jarmakani says. “They can be most effective at the start of winter before symptoms appear and when continued until spring.”
Selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) are preferred, she says. They increase the level of the hormone serotonin in your brain which can help lift your mood. Your primary care provider can help figure out which options are best for you.
As the days get short, dark, gray and gloomy, pay special attention to symptoms of seasonal affective disorder. Take note of your overall mental health. Monitor any mood changes, exhaustion, feelings of depression and other symptoms — especially as fall fades and the darker, colder days come. Then, tell people how you’re feeling.
“It can be helpful to talk to your family and friends so they understand how your mood changes during the winter. This can help them support you more effectively,” Dr. Jarmakani says.
When your SAD feelings won’t go away or only get worse no matter what at-home tricks you try, talk to your primary care provider to find a cure for your winter blues and depression. |
Plagiarism in the simplest terms means passing off someone else’s words as your own. This also includes not giving credit to very author of the words you have just used. However, the scope of plagiarism will include a wide variety of activities. It will include the essential characteristics of cheating, theft, copying, or any other form of intellectual theft. Sometimes plagiarism is intentional while sometimes it is just pure coincidence that you write down exactly what someone else has already composed. We’ll go over several easy ways to avoid plagiarism.
Sometimes the way you phrase and compose your thoughts will be exactly the same as how someone has said the exact same thing. This is especially true for students working on a paper or a writer composing his piece. Here are a few simple ways you can do in order to ensure that the words you just typed are really yours and avoid plagiarism.
This is one of the easy ways in order to avoid accidentally writing exactly what someone else has already composed. The very basic rule behind paraphrasing is to never use someone else’s words. A secondary rule that can become some sort of an appendage of the first rule is to avoid substituting synonyms in a sentence. It is best to use your own words according to how you understand the material you are using. That way, you are making the very words you have been reading your very own.
When you are working on your paper remember to cite your sources to avoid plagiarism. Sometimes you just can’t avoid quoting someone else especially when that someone you are quoting is an expert or an authority on a given subject. Acquaint yourself with using quotation marks and ellipses when quoting someone else. Include your sources in the footnotes, which may also include links to your source’s site. This is one of the really easy ways to avoid plagiarism.
Check for Plagiarism:
There are online tools that are available that you can use to avoid plagiarism. Using these tools can be categorized as one of the easy ways to check for plagiarism. Some online plagiarism detection tools are free while others would charge a small fee. In either case you will have to submit your text and the site’s checker will look for online duplicates for you.
The pressure that comes with beating a deadline is a huge factor in committing plagiarism. One of the practical and easy ways to avoid plagiarism is avoid procrastination and do your work early. That way, you will have more time in your hands to check your work and see if you accidentally committed any form of plagiarism. |
Paris, France - 25 May 2018: Heart doctors from the European Society of Cardiology (ESC) Council on Stroke are calling on national health authorities for permission to provide stroke patients with mechanical thrombectomy, a life-saving treatment for acute ischaemic stroke, in regions where there is a lack of trained specialists. Details of the proposal are presented today at EuroPCR 2018.1
"We have evidence that after a short period of training on the procedure, interventional cardiologists treating acute ischaemic stroke achieve the same results as traditional interventional neuroradiologists," said Professor Petr Widimsky, Chair of the ESC Council on Stroke.
Acute ischaemic stroke is a severe form of the condition where a blood vessel to the brain becomes blocked. It accounts for up to four in five strokes, or over one million cases in Europe each year.
Without treatment most patients die or are severely disabled and permanently bedridden. Even with clot-busting drugs, 75% of patients die or are severely disabled. With mechanical thrombectomy, a procedure to physically remove the clot and restore blood flow to the brain, about half of patients survive and function normally. If performed within two to three hours of symptom onset, the rate of survival with normal neurological function rises to more than 70% of patients.
In Europe, mechanical thrombectomy is currently provided by interventional neuroradiologists, but there is a severe shortage of these specialists. Even countries with the most specialists, such as Germany, the Netherlands and the Czech Republic, only have sufficient numbers to treat around one-third of acute ischaemic stroke patients. In some other countries, less than 1% of acute ischaemic stroke patients can be treated.
Professor Widimsky said: "There are interventional cardiology units in all countries in Europe and the Americas, and in most other continents. The equipment for mechanical thrombectomy is available; it's the trained specialists to perform the procedure that are lacking. This situation could be solved by training cardiologists to perform mechanical thrombectomy."
The ESC Council on Stroke is proposing that interventional cardiologists receive three months of training on how to do mechanical thrombectomy, rather than the typical two years required for other physicians. "Many interventional cardiologists routinely perform stenting of the carotid arteries so three months of training is sufficient to learn intracranial mechanical thrombectomy," said Professor Widimsky. "It is up to health authorities in each country to decide if they will allow this."
The proposals are being put forward by the ESC Council on Stroke and the European Association of Percutaneous Cardiovascular Interventions, a branch of the ESC. |
Whatever Happened to Common Sense?
The time was 1775, the rebellion was increasing in intensity. Blood had been shed at Lexington and Concord, and Falmouth had been bombarded by ships of the Royal Navy. The rebellion had begun, but the War for Independence had not.
The Continental Congress issued their declaration of causes, as well as extending peace overtures to King George with the "Olive Branch Petition", George Washington, now the commander-in-chief, preceded his evening meals with a toast to the king.
In November of 1775 Congress passed a resolution affirming loyalty to the British Crown and Thomas Jefferson himself wrote in favor of reconciliation.
As Scott Liell writes in 46 Pages, "What the vast majority of colonists wanted was not liberty from but liberty within the British Empire. The political vision which animated their words and their actions was actually quite a conservative one."
In short order, all of the above changed, prompted in large part by a 46-page pamphlet by a virtually unknown British citizen newly relocated to Philadelphia -- Thomas Paine. This pamphlet, more than any other factor, changed the political dynamics of the day from seeking a redress of grievances to seeking independence.
The focus of Common Sense, justification for independence from England, was a subject that broke new ground even among most members of Congress.
The popular position of Congress was one of conservatism -- maintaining the status quo with a desire to shift power from remote London to local control in Philadelphia. Most members of Congress were under directives from home areas to specifically not consider full independence.
One of the tactics used by Paine, in his advocacy of full independence, was to focus on a single target -- King George III. Indeed Paine's list of grievances against the king was later used as a model by Jefferson in the Declaration of Independence.
This tactic was hugely successful, as seemingly overnight independence was openly discussed. The king now became the enemy, the individual colonies reconsidered their goals, and the rebellion became the War of Independence.
With this approach, Paine may have instigated, at least in the colonies, a tactic repeated this past election, demonization of the opposition -- focusing on the person, creating a readily identifiable target, and allowing the target to take precedence in the minds of many, versus the issues of the day.
But Paine did not ignore the issues, as Common Sense elaborated on many subjects which became the principles upon which our nation was founded, including individual liberty as well as freedom from a tyrannical government.
There is no arguing that by the measures of the day Paine was a radical. This is evident from his later works:
"The mere Independence of America, were it to have been followed by a system of government modeled after the corrupt system of English government, would not have interested me with the unabated ardor that it did. It was to bring forward and establish the representative system of government...that was the leading principle with me in writing."
This form of a Republican system of government, as opposed to either a monarchial form or true democracy, differentiated Common Sense from other political expressions of the time.
In Common Sense Paine asserts his disdain for corrupt governments:
"Society is produced by our wants, and government by wickedness; the former promotes our happiness positively by uniting our affections, the latter negatively by restraining our vices. The one encourages intercourse, the other creates distinctions. The first is a patron, the last a punisher. Society in every state is a blessing, but government even in its best state is but a necessary evil."
Paine also touches on the importance of free trade (capitalism?) on the emerging nation as he argues in favor of separation from England which would then open up trade to England's enemies:
"Our plan is commerce, and that, well attended to, will secure us the peace and friendship of all Europe; because, it is the interest of all Europe to have America a free port."
An additional point made, one which rings true today, is the responsibility of the government towards sustainability:
"we can have no joy, knowing that this government is not sufficiently lasting to ensure anything which we may bequeath to posterity: And by a plain method of argument, as we are running the next generation into debt, we ought to do the work of it, otherwise we use them meanly and pitifully."
Certainly that sentiment is at odds with policies of today's government leaders. The irresponsibility of the Bush administration now pales in comparison to that of Obama.
Paine was first and foremost opposed to tyranny be it from a malevolent king or a corrupt parliament, this opposition was instrumental in the formation of a government created upon the idea of independence. Unfortunately, the government of today has devolved to the point where independence from has been replaced by dependence upon.
Today we protest against many of the same injustices Paine complained about in Common Sense. What was once a tyranny by the king has become a tyranny of the majority foisted upon an unwilling minority. Voices of opposition are now ignored as politicians scheme in various ways to ensure their re-election.
We have come full circle. Our rights are imperiled, our commonwealth under threat. Our list of grievances is clear. We await a new Thomas Paine. |
Ruby on Rails/Getting Started
This section covers the basics for getting and installing Rails.
Once you have installed ruby on your system, make sure that RUBY_HOME/bin folder is in path. This would enable you to use ruby and other commands associated from any folder within the shell.
There are certain concepts which are core to how Rails works.
Now that Rails is installed, it's time to build something. |
I join millions of others around the globe in mourning former UK Prime Minister, Baroness Margaret Thatcher, who died last Monday. She was one of the most outstanding leaders of the 20th century whose ideas, principles and policies helped to define today’s world.
As the first female Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, she strengthened considerably the belief that women could occupy high political office successfully. Many Africans may remember her with mixed feelings, considering her stance on apartheid South Africa, but, no doubt, the liberal economic paradigm that she and her contemporary, President Ronald Reagan of the United States, pushed in the 1980s, formed the ideological basis for the economic reforms that took place on our own continent, paving the way for freer, more competitive markets in Africa.
We cannot also write the history of the wind of democratic change that blew throughout the African continent in the 1990s, which was influenced by the collapse of world communism, without some notable reference to the key role that these two Western leaders played in bringing the Cold War to an end.
In the words of British Prime Minister David Cameron, Margaret Thatcher “took a country that was on its knees and made Britain stand tall again.” She eagerly pursued the aims of a property-owning democracy, helping more ordinary Britons to own their own homes and have shares in their nation’s wealth, thereby expanding significantly the UK middle-class within a generation.
I admired Baroness Thatcher because she was a patriotic leader of conviction, who did things not because they were necessarily popular, but because she believed they would be good for her country in the long run. It made her inevitably a highly controversial figure.
I draw inspiration from the fact that even though she was, arguably, among the most radical leaders of the 20th century, who had the courage to fight unpopular battles against established traditions that stood in the way of progress, she lived to become the longest serving leader of her country, winning three democratic elections in the process.
She showed that a leader could take bold and far-reaching decisions and still succeed in competitive politics. To her children, Mark and Carol, my condolences. To the Conservative Party, my sympathies. And, to the people of Britain, I join you in celebrating a woman who helped turn the world, even if she was not much for turning, herself. She will be forever remembered. |
Here are some examples of the contributions to medical education and student advocacy AMSA has made during its history
- COMMUNITY HEALTH
In the late ’60s, there was a small interest in community health among a few well-known academic types. SAMA students, through their large, national community health programs in Appalachia, on American Indian reservations and with migrant workers, became the impetus for pushing the community health movement to new levels of interest in medical education as well as among federal and private funding sources. From these activities came numerous student-run community clinics, an elevated interest in community health among educators and students, and eventually, the idea of community-based medical education. Approximately 30,000 medical students participated in SAMA’s/AMSA’s community health programs from 1967 through 1984. These were all community service programs organized and conducted by AMSA student leadership.
- JOINT COMMISSION ON MEDICAL EDUCATION
In the late ’60s, SAMA students, through funding by the Carnegie Foundation, took the initiative to evaluate the nation’s medical curricula and publish a set of recommendations for changing the nation’s medical education agenda. Called the “Handbook for Change,” this document had far-reaching effects on reforming medical education, such as students participating on curriculum and admission committees, engaging in community-based experiences and promoting the advent of a family medicine specialty, etc.
- THE PRECEPTORSHIP
Although widely used today, the preceptorship was not always recognized or accepted as a legitimate medical educational modality. AMSA students, working through their community health programs, redefined the preceptorship as a way to expand their educational experience beyond the confines of medical school. In the 1970s, AMSA conducted research and published formal guides to using the preceptorship model as a way to influence medical schools to and expose students to health-care problems outside their tertiary care settings. Slowly, schools have adopted this model for expanding their students’ experience to a community-based setting. All schools now recognize the value of the preceptorship model.
- USE OF THE MYERS-BRIGGS TYPE INDICATOR (MBTI) IN MEDICINE
AMSA has had a long-standing affiliation with the MBTI. From 1971 until her death in 1984, AMSA worked closely with Isabel Briggs Myers, who was the author and developer of the MBTI, to conduct research on various issues concerning psychological type and physician development and utilization. As part of this effort, the AMSA Foundation founded the Center of Psychological Type, which still exists in Gainesville, Florida. The MBTI has now become the most widely used and respected psychological instrument of its kind in the world.
- STUDENT RIGHTS AND DUE PROCESS
Since its inception, SAMA/AMSA has looked out for student interests. In 1960, SAMA confronted its then supporter the American Medical Association (AMA) on issues of federal student loans. The AMA disagreed with SAMA’s work with the federal government to establish a federal loan program for medical students. Ignoring the AMA’s resistance, SAMA worked to establish the first federal loan program available to medical students in the early 1960s. Today it continues to provide students’ financial needs. AMSA’s student advocacy program dates back to 1971, promoting due process for rights of students. The program continues to exist. In addition, during the 1970s and 80s, the organization worked to establish programs to foster medical student well-being within their medical school learning environments. The first national conference on medical student well-being was organized and administered by AMSA in 1992. The association continues to work to secure universal standards for medical student well-being throughout medical education.
- FINANCING OF MEDICAL EDUCATION
AMSA has been concerned with the increasingly high cost of medical education since 1961. SAMA students were the first to advocate and lobby successfully for federal student loans to medical students. From 1982 to 1986, AMSA worked with Knight Tuition Payment Programs, Sallie Mae and Key Bank to establish the AMSA Health Education Assistance Loan (HEAL) Deal, the first nationally discounted educational loan program available to medical students. This program had more than 20,000 participants by the time it closed in 1991 and saved its student borrowers an average of $60,000 interest if they paid their Heal loans off over the maximum term of 25 years. Equally important, the program forced many banks to discount their loan programs to stay competitive. Since the introduction of the AMSA HEAL Deal, students have had access to discounted loan programs. There is no way to calculate the amount of money medical students saved with AMSA’s initiative. In 2004, AMSA announced its in-school consolidation program that allowed students to lock in interest rates at their lowest rates in 38 years by consolidating their loans while in school. If just 30% of eligible students participate, this program can save AMSA members over $100 million in interest payments. In collaboration with the Association of American Medical Colleges-Organization of Student Representatives and the American College of Physicians, and with the assistance of the Macy Foundation, AMSA hosted its second national conference on financing medical education in 2005, and brought legislators, educators, loan servicers, and students to discuss solutions to the skyrocketing debt. AMSA has since introduced the concept of free medical schools through the United States Public Health Medical College act, and continues to explore innovative ways to reduce the burden of debt on medical students.
- AMICUS BRIEF ON REVERSE DISCRIMINATION
In 1978-79, the hottest topic in medical education was the pending reverse discrimination case before the U.S. Supreme Court (University of California Regents v. Bakke). AMSA was the first medical organization to publicly support the affirmative action position of the University of California and wrote and filed an amicus brief with the Supreme Court. The court eventually ruled in favor of the University of California, and it now stands as a landmark case on discrimination.
- SAMA PROTESTS THE VIETNAM WAR
AMSA was the first national medical organization to formally involve itself in the protest of the Vietnam War. In 1970, the organization organized a large demonstration in Washington of concerned health organizations in opposition to the U.S. government’s involvement in Southeast Asia. The organization also organized and supported opposition to the doctor draft and helped successfully propose alternatives for physicians, such as duty with the National Health Service Corps.
- U.S. MILITARY AGAINST GAYS
In 1989, AMSA’s House of Delegates adopted the policy position of not accepting advertising from the U.S. Military Services because of its known discrimination policies against gay people. Under this policy, the military cannot advertise in AMSA publications or exhibit at AMSA’s annual meetings until such time that it reverses its discriminatory practices. This was not an easy decision in that it cost the organization at least $80,000 in badly needed advertising revenues, but as usual, the organization decided it was morally right.
- INTERDISCIPLINARY TRAINING FOR MEDICAL STUDENTS
During the 1970s, AMSA received several grants from the federal government and the Robert Wood Johnson (RWJ) Foundation to develop and demonstrate viable interdisciplinary training models for health professional students. The Health Team Training Program trained and placed teams of health science students into rural public health systems to work on community health service issues. The Health Team Curriculum Program piloted an interdisciplinary training model for health science students at five selected university health science centers around the country. These programs, along with one funded by RWJ at Montiefeore Hospital, were the first interdisciplinary (health team) training efforts in the country. Those groups pursuing similar interest in medical education today still often reference them.
- INTERNATIONAL PARTNERSHIP IN MEDICAL EDUCATION
By tradition, AMSA has had strong international health interests and ties. In 1986, with the help of the Pew Memorial Trust and the “We Are the World” Save Africa Rock Group effort, AMSA developed the first international consortium of medical schools for exchanging and training physicians. This program ended in 1993 and exchanged/placed students in Nigeria, Ghana, Colombia and Mexico. Many of the past participants have gone on to careers in international health. AMSA has since sponsored language training institutes, another groundbreaking experience in medical education. AMSA is continuing our international partnerships, including, in 2005, with the European Medical Students’ Association.
- NRMP ALGORITHM CHANGE
In 1995, with the help and encouragement of Public Citizen and other interested parties, AMSA confronted the National Resident Matching Program (NRMP) with questions concerning the fairness of the hospital-biased algorithm being used by the Match. During the course of that year, AMSA, working with professionals familiar with the research on the issue, surveyed the schools and students to obtain their opinions on the controversy. The results of this work were then presented to the NRMP with a request to formally investigate the fairness of the current Match and to change it to a student-biased algorithm. From the beginning, AMSA requested the support and participation from other medical student organizations. Groups such as the American Medical Association-Medical Student Section declined. The NRMP eventually agreed to investigate the issue. The following year, AMSA conducted its own survey research on the results of the 1996 Match and presented those findings to the NRMP. In part, taking into account the results of its own investigation and the results of the AMSA survey, the NRMP made the decision to change the Match algorithm in favor of students. In addition, AMSA made the recommendation to the NRMP to have a second Match for those graduates who did not Match in the first round to avoid the chaos and high-pressure atmosphere of the scramble. AMSA also succeeded in calling for full contract disclosures from residency programs before signing on to the Match, and the NRMP now has more student and resident representation on its Board than ever before.
- HEALTH CARE AS A BASIC RIGHT
AMSA was the first mainstream national medical organization to adopt a policy supporting health care as a basic right for all Americans. Adopted by AMSA’s House of Delegates, this policy has always distinguished the organization from the AMA and the other component organizations of organized medicine. As a basic premise of its organizational philosophy, the association pursues this policy in its activities and testimony before Congress. In 1991, the organization, through the office of its legislative affairs director, conducted a set of national debate conferences on health care as a basic right. In opposition to the AMA in the late ’60s, SAMA was one of the first medical organizations to support and work for the new Medicare and Medicaid legislation. AMSA has worked politically work to get “health care as a basic right” proposed as a constitutional amendment, and local chapters all over the country continue to work towards achieving universal access to healthcare through grassroots education and activism efforts
- CHALLENGE TO THE PHARMACEUTICAL INDUSTRY
Since the 1960s, SAMA/AMSA has taken exception to some of the marketing practices of the pharmaceutical industry. Early on, SAMA established a working dialogue/relationship with the industry to work through some of the differences and negative perceptions of students about the industry. At one time, the industry employed several questionable marketing practices to influence students about their companies and products. In 1979, AMSA adopted a formal policy on its conduct with the industry. In the 2000s, AMSA became the only major medical organization to ban pharmaceutical advertising from all of its publications, and now stands alone in eschewing funds from any pharmaceutical company for our publications or other revenue streams. Policies have also been adopted by AMSA’s House of Delegates to limit pharmaceutical interactions with medical students and physicians. In 2002, AMSA’s PharmFree initiative was started to encourage students to use unbiased sources of information on pharmaceuticals and to think critically about the drug industry’s marketing practices to physicians. This initiative has since been quoted by dozens of lay and medical newsources. The success of the PharmFree initiative has led to the next action step in the form of the Counterdetailing Campaign, which involves students going to local doctors’ offices to teach physicians about finding evidence-based information. Thousands of students have participated in Counterdetailing, as well as national PharmFree Day, and PharmFree continues to encourage the new generation of physicians-in-training to use integrity and professionalism throughout their education and careers.
- AMSA AND FAMILY MEDICINE/PRIMARY CARE
Starting with its community health projects in the 1960s, AMSA has always been a strong supporter of primary care and equal distribution of primary care physicians. SAMA, working with the American Academy of General Practice (predecessor to the American Academy of Family Physicians), vigorously supported the establishment of family practice as a medical specialty. Early on, the organization did extensive survey work to prove and support the position that medical students were interested in such a specialty as a career choice. On Capitol Hill, SAMA, now AMSA, has continued to work to support the funding of family medicine and primary care training programs for physicians. AMSA has since had numerous training programs to develop leaders in primary care, is an active member of the Primary Care Organizations Consortium, and is currently producing a new career development program for its members to help them make more informed career decisions.
- AMSA ON HOUSE STAFF
AMSA has always been a strong supporter of the physician house staff movement. The organization has worked on issues to improve house staff working conditions and the quality of their graduate medical training. In the late 1960s, SAMA helped organize the first national house staff conference and the first national house staff organization, Physicians for National Health Program. Two other national house staff conferences followed. The latest, held approximately seven ago, gave birth to the Consortium of House Staff Organizations AMSA also works closely with the Committee on Interns and Residents (CIR/SEIU), the largest housestaff union in the country, on many vital legislative issues.
- REFORMING RESIDENCY WORK HOURS AND IMPROVING PATIENT SAFETY
Following the 2000 Institute of Medicine report, “To Err Is Human,” that showed 98,000 deaths occurred as a result of medical error per year, AMSA has fought for reductions in resident physician work hours to improve resident and patient safety. AMSA’s petitioned the Occupational and Safety Health Administration in 2001 and introduced federal legislation in 2002, 2003, and now 2005 to improve resident physician working conditions and reduce medical errors. As a result of AMSA’s work, the Accreditation Council on Graduate Medical Education (ACGME), changed their accreditation requirements to include tougher standards on resident work hours (“the 80-hour work week”). Though AMSA’s work has unquestionably improved the lives of resident physicians, AMSA continues to fight for stricter standards and better oversight through federal legislation.
- ADVOCATING FOR DIVERSITY AND REDUCING HEALTHCARE DISPARITES
AMSA strives to improve the recruitment and retention of under-represented minorities into medicine while increasing the diversity of our own leadership, in order to create a tolerant, accepting and culturally diverse physician workforce. AMSA has worked with the Sullivan Commission and our partner organizations to increase diversity in medicine, and continues to increase our widen the pipeline and mentor programs. On the disparities front, AMSA works to empower students with knowledge about domestic and global health disparities and provide opportunities for students to take action to eliminate health disparities on the local, state, national, and international levels. Our Jack Rutledge Fellow recently developed the first nationwide, randomized study of medical students’ knowledge and attitudes about health policy, health care delivery, and racial/ethnic disparities in health care access; this study has been published in several peer-reviewed journals.
- AMSA AND INNOVATIVE CURRICULA
AMSA has made tremendous strides in becoming the leading voice of health professionals in calling for medical education reform. Following on our “Handbook for Change” in the 1970s, AMSA has pioneered numerous innovative programs. The AMSA Foundation currently has a 5-year grant funded by the NIH to develop, promote, and disseminate Complementary and Alternative Medicine education curricula and programs at medical institutions. It also has numerous other programs to teach cultural competency, geriatrics, primary care, health policy, and other subjects not addressed in most medical schools to students around the country.
- AMSA AND LEGISLATION
Since AMSA’s move from Chicago to the Washington, DC area in 1978 and the creation of the full-time Legislative Affairs Director position in 1984, AMSA has been very active in the legislative arena. AMSA was instrumental in the support for the establishment of the National Health Service Corps. It subsequently introduced legislation on resident-physician work hours that led to the 80-hour guidelines. In 2006, AMSA introduced to Congress the concept of the United States Public Health Medical College. The U.S. is facing a severe physician shortage, rampant health disparities, and problems with accessibility to medical education due to rising student debt. AMSA proposed a new model of education based on combining public health and medicine where medical school education in 10 new medical schools would be free, in exchange for service in an underserved community. This legislation will be introduced in the 109th Congress. Also in 2006, AMSA proposed to Congress the concept of restricting pharmaceutical representatives’ access to resident physicians; this has also been written into legislation, and will also be introduced. AMSA continues to lobby on hundreds of pieces of legislation affecting medical education and healthcare, and members have the opportunity to develop further lobbying and leadership skills through the Paul Ambrose Political Leadership Institutes (named after past LAD Dr. Paul Ambrose who passed away tragically on Sept. 11, 2001).
- DEVELOPING PHYSICIAN-LEADERS
For 60 years, AMSA has provided the world with responsible, humanistic and ethical physician-leaders of the future who serve as a united force for change and advocate for our patients and communities. As an entirely student-run organization, AMSA provides leadership opportunities on every level, including over 105+ national positions with now five full-time student office staff officers. Currently there are 18 leadership institutes during the year, including several at the AMSA office in Sterling, VA. AMSA members develop into physician-leaders who are now shaping the world of healthcare as clinicians, educators, researchers, administrators, public health officials, FDA Commissioners, and Surgeon Generals. |
British folk revival
The British folk revival incorporates a number of movements for the collection, preservation and performance of traditional music in the United Kingdom and related territories and countries, which had origins as early as the 18th century. It is particularly associated with two movements, usually referred to as the first and second revivals, respectively in the late 19th to early 20th centuries and the mid-20th century. The first included increased interest in and study of traditional music, the second was a part of the birth of contemporary folk music. These had a profound impact on the development of British classical music and in the creation of a "national" or "pastoral school" and led to the creation of a sub-culture based around folk clubs and folk festivals as well as influential sub-genres including progressive folk music and electric folk.
- 1 Origins
- 2 First revival 1890–1920
- 3 Second revival 1945–69
- 4 Impact
- 5 Notes
- 6 See also
Social and cultural changes in British society in the early modern era, often seen as creating greater divisions between different social groups, led from the mid-17th century to the beginnings of a process of rediscovery of many aspects of popular culture, including festivals, folklore, dance and folk song. This led to a number of early collections of printed material, including those published by John Playford as The English Dancing Master (1651), the private collections of Samuel Pepys (1633–1703) and the Roxburghe Ballads collected by Robert Harley, 1st Earl of Oxford and Mortimer (1661–1724). In the 18th century there were increasing numbers of such collections, including Thomas D'Urfey's Wit and Mirth: or, Pills to Purge Melancholy (1719–20) and Bishop Thomas Percy's Reliques of Ancient English Poetry (1765). The last of these also contained some oral material and by the end of the 18th century this was becoming increasingly common, with collections including John Ritson's, The Bishopric Garland (1784) in northern England.
In Scotland the earliest printed collection of secular music was by publisher John Forbes in Aberdeen in 1662 as Songs and Fancies: to Thre, Foure, or Five Partes, both Apt for Voices and Viols. It was printed three times in the next twenty years, and contained seventy-seven songs, of which twenty-five were of Scottish origin. In the 18th century publication included Playford's Original Scotch Tunes (1700), Margaret Sinkler's Music Book (1710), James Watson's Choice Collection of Comic and Serious Scots Poems both Ancient and Modern 1711, William Thomson's Orpheus caledonius: or, A collection of Scots songs (1733), James Oswald's The Caledonian Pocket Companion (1751), and David Herd's Ancient and modern Scottish songs, heroic ballads, etc.: collected from memory, tradition and ancient authors (1776). These were drawn on for the most influential collection, The Scots Musical Museum published in six volumes from 1787 to 1803 by James Johnson and Robert Burns, which also included new words by Burns. The Select Scottish Airs collected by George Thomson and published between 1799 and 1818 included contributions from Burns and Walter Scott.
With the Industrial Revolution the process of social stratification was intensified and the themes of popular music began to change from rural and agrarian life to include industrial work songs. Awareness that older forms of song were being abandoned prompted renewed interest in collecting folk songs during the 1830s and 40s, including the work of William B. Sandys' Christmas Carols Ancient and Modern (1833), William Chappell, A Collection of National English Airs (1838) and Robert Bell's Ancient Poems, Ballads and Songs of the Peasantry of England (1846).
First revival 1890–1920
These developments, perhaps combined with changes in the nature of British identity, led to a much more intensive and academic attempt to record what was seen as a vanishing tradition, now usually referred to as the first English or British folk revival.
Nature of the revival
The first British revival was based around the transcribing, and later recording, of songs by remaining performers. Pioneers of this movement were the Harvard professor Francis James Child (1825–96), Sabine Baring-Gould (1834–1924), Frank Kidson (1855–1926), Lucy Broadwood (1858–1939), and Anne Gilchrist (1863–1954). Kidson and Broadwood were important in the foundation of the Folk Song Society in 1898. Later, major figures in this movement in England were Cecil Sharp (1859–1924) and his assistant Maud Karpeles (1885–1976) and the composers Ralph Vaughan Williams (1872–1951), George Butterworth (1885–1916), and the Australian Percy Grainger (1882–1961). Of these, Child’s eight-volume collection The English and Scottish Popular Ballads (1882–92) has been the most influential on defining the repertoire of subsequent performers and the music teacher Cecil Sharp was probably the most important in understanding of the nature of folk song. Sharp produced the five volume Folk Songs from Somerset from 1904-9 and founded the English Folk Dance Society in 1911, an indication of his parallel interest in dance music. His lectures and other publications attempted to define a musical tradition that was rural in origin, oral in transmission and communal in nature. In Scotland collectors included the Reverend James Duncan (1848–1917) and Gavin Greig (1856–1914), and in Wales, Nicholas Bennett (1823–99).
Revival and national identity
There was a strong nationalist element in the motivation for collecting folk song. As part of a general mood of growing nationalism in the period before the First World War, the Board of Education in 1906 officially sanctioned the teaching of folk songs in schools. One of the major effects of the folk song revival was the creation of a distinctive English form of classical music, known as the English 'national' or 'pastoral school'. It was argued by Sharp that up to that point English ‘art music’ had relied heavily on European composers and styles and was therefore indistinguishable from other national forms. In a search for a distinctive English voice many composers, like Percy Grainger (from 1905), Ralph Vaughan Williams (from about 1906) and George Butterworth (from about 1914) were also collectors and directly utilized their discoveries in composition. Vaughan Williams was also the editor of the English Hymnal (1906) and utilized many collected tunes and set poems to them to produce new religious songs. Similarly other composers such as Gustav Holst (1874–1934) and Frederick Delius (1862–1934) wrote music that utilized sections, cadences or themes from English folk music. By the 1940s this particular tendency among composers had begun to subside and other fusions would be more significant in the second folk revival.
Similar developments could be seen in Scotland in the work of Sir Alexander Mackenzie, who celebrated his native Scotland in three Scottish Rhapsodies for orchestra (1880–81, 1911), and in various concerted works for piano or violin and orchestra composed during the 1880s and 1890s. Similarly, John McEwen's Pibroch (1889), Border Ballads (1908) and Solway Symphony (1911) incorporated traditional Scottish folk melodies.
The first revival has been criticized, particularly by David Harker, as having a romanticized view of agricultural society, of ignoring urban and industrial forms of music such as work songs and those performed in music hall, and of bowdlerising the texts. The focus on collecting performed songs also disregarded the complex, but important, relationship between printed and oral forms, particularly the role of broadside ballads, which were sometimes records of existing songs and sometimes the origin or transmission point for others. Although collectors, from Grainger in 1905 onwards, experimented with new recording technology, it was generally rejected and there was a concentration on transcribing folk song in Britain, in contrast to America, where in a parallel movement John Avery Lomax made extensive recordings for the Library of Congress from 1933. This is thought to have created difficulties, since subtleties of performance have been lost and collectors often adjusted notation to fit their own, often classical, views of music or to fit their own preconceptions.
Second revival 1945–69
Folk-song collecting continued after World War I, but the nationalist impulse had subsided and with the tradition disappearing there were fewer singers available as sources. In 1932 the Folk-Song Society and the English Folk Dance Society merged to become the English Folk Dance and Song Society (EFDSS). New forms of media such as the phonograph and sound film meant that from the 1920s American music began to be increasingly important and even dominant in popular British culture, leading to a further sharp decline in traditional music. British folk song might have become a purely academic interest had it not been for a second wave of revival with a very different emphasis.
Nature of the revival
The second revival in Britain followed a similar movement in America, to which it was connected by individuals such as Alan Lomax, who had moved to Britain in the era of McCarthyism and who worked in England and Scotland. Unlike the first revival which wholly concerned itself with traditional music, the second revival was a part of the birth of non-traditional contemporary folk music. Like the American revival, it was often overtly left wing in its politics, and the leading figures, the Salford-born Ewan MacColl and A. L. Lloyd, were both involved in trade unionism and socialist politics. In Scotland the key figures were Hamish Henderson and Calum McLean who collected songs and popularised acts including Jeannie Robertson, John Strachan, Flora MacNeil and Jimmy MacBeath. In Wales the key figure was Dafydd Iwan, who founded the Sain record label in 1969.
The second revival built on the work of the first, utilizing many of its resources. MacColl recorded many of the Child Ballads and Lloyd eventually joined the board of the EFDSS. The society was also responsible for sponsoring BBC Home Service radio program, As I Roved Out, based on field recordings made by Peter Kennedy and Seamus Ennis from 1952 to 1958, which probably did more than any other single factor to introduce the general population to British and Irish folk music in the period.
However, the second revival differed in several important respects from the first. In contrast to Sharp’s emphasis on the rural, the activists of the second revival, particularly Lloyd, emphasized the work music of the 19th century, including sea shanties and industrial labour songs, most obviously on the album The Iron Muse (1963). It also took a more charitable view of the ‘morally dubious’ elements of traditional folk than the first revival, with Lloyd recording an entire album of erotic folk songs, The Bird in the Bush (1966).
The expansion of the revival scene has been attributed to the short-lived British skiffle craze of 1956-8. Spearheaded by Lonnie Donegan’s hit ‘Rock Island Line’ (1956) it dovetailed with the growth of café youth culture, where skiffle bands with acoustic guitars, and improvised instruments such as washboards and tea chest bass, played to teenage audiences. Beside the many later jazz, blues, pop and rock musicians that started performing in skiffle bands were a number of future folk performers, including Martin Carthy and John Renbourn. It also brought a greater familiarity with American roots music and helped expand the British folk club movement where American folk music also began to be played and which were an important part of the second revival. This started in London where MacColl began the Ballads and Blues Club in 1953. These clubs were usually urban in location, but the songs sung in them often harked back to a rural pre-industrial past. In many ways this was the adoption of abandoned popular music by the middle classes. By the mid-1960s there were probably over 300 folk clubs in Britain, providing an important circuit for acts that performed traditional songs and tunes acoustically, where some could sustain a living by playing to a small but committed audience. Major traditional performers in who built a reputation in the clubs in England included the Copper Family, The Watersons, the Ian Campbell Folk Group, Shirley Collins and Martin Carthy, and in Scotland Alex Campbell, Jean Redpath, Hamish Imlach, and Dick Gaughan and groups like The Gaugers and The Corries.
A significant factor in the early growth of the revival was the output of Topic Records founded as an offshoot of the Workers' Music Association in 1939. From about 1950 Ewan MacColl and A. L. Lloyd became heavily involved, producing several records of traditional music. In 1960 the label became independent and was financially secure after the release of The Iron Muse in 1963. In the 1970s Topic released a series of albums by ground-breaking artists including Nic Jones, Dick Gaughan, The Battlefield Band, as well as major figures on the folk scene including Martin Carthy. From the 1980s they also began to reissue their back catalogue on cd. In the late 1990s, with the resurgence of traditional folk, spearheaded by children of the revival like Eliza Carthy, topic managed to gain both commercial and critical success.
Criticisms of the second revival include the restrictive emphasis on native language and unaccompanied performance, as well as a view of the industrialised working class that was as romantic as Sharp had been about agricultural workers. Most of those attending folk clubs were not working class or rural workers, but the urbanized middle class. Despite these issues, and the limited scale of the revival, it meant that British folk music continued to be a living and performed tradition.
The fusing of various styles of American music with British folk also helped to create a distinctive form of fingerstyle guitar playing known as ‘folk baroque’, pioneered by Davy Graham, Martin Carthy, John Renbourn and Bert Jansch. This led in part to progressive folk music, which attempted to elevate folk music through greater musicianship, or compositional and arrangement skills. Many progressive folk performers continued to retain a traditional element in their music, including Jansch and Renbourn, who with Jacqui McShee, Danny Thompson, and Terry Cox, formed Pentangle in 1967. Others totally abandoned the traditional element and in this area particularly important were the Scottish artists Donovan (who was most influenced by emerging progressive folk musicians in America like Bob Dylan) and the Incredible String Band, who from 1967 incorporated a range of influences including medieval and eastern music into their compositions. Some of this, particularly the Incredible String Band, has been seen as developing into the further sub-genre of psych or psychedelic folk and had a considerable impact on progressive and psychedelic rock.
There was a brief flowering of British progressive folk in the late 1960s and early 1970s, with groups like the Third Ear Band and Quintessence following the eastern Indian musical and more abstract work by group such as Comus, Dando Shaft, The Trees, Spirogyra, Forest, and Jan Dukes De Grey, but commercial success was elusive for these bands and most had broken off, or moved in very different directions, by about 1973. Perhaps the finest individual work in the genre was from artists early 1970s artists like Nick Drake, Tim Buckley and John Martyn, but these can also be considered the first among the British ‘folk troubadours’ or ‘singer-songwriters’, individual performers who remained largely acoustic, but who relied mostly on their own individual compositions. The most successful of these was Ralph McTell, whose ‘Streets of London’ reached number 2 in the UK Single Charts in 1974, and whose music is clearly folk, but without and much reliance on tradition, virtuosity, or much evidence of attempts at fusion with other genres.
Electric folk is the name given to the form of folk rock pioneered in England from the late 1960s, by the band Fairport Convention which build on the work of the folk revival. It uses traditional music, and compositions in a traditional style, played on a combination of rock and traditional instruments. It was most significant in the 1970s, when it was taken up by groups such as Pentangle, Five Hand Reel, Steeleye Span and the Albion Band. It was rapidly adopted and developed in the surrounding Celtic cultures of Brittany, where it was pioneered by Alan Stivell and bands like Malicorne; in Ireland by groups such as Horslips; and also in Scotland, Wales and the Isle of Man and Cornwall, to produce Celtic rock and its derivatives. It has been influential in those parts of the world with close cultural connections to Britain, such as the USA and Canada and gave rise to the sub-genre of medieval folk rock and the fusion genres of folk punk and folk metal. By the 1980s the genre was in steep decline in popularity, but has survived and revived in significance as part of a more general folk resurgence since the 1990s.
Traditional folk resurgence 1990 – present
While in Scotland the circuit of ceilidhs and festivals helped prop up traditional music, from the late 1970s the attendance at, and numbers of folk clubs began to decrease, probably as new musical and social trends, including punk rock, new wave and electronic music began to dominate. Although many acts like Martin Carthy and the Watersons continued to perform successfully, there were very few significant new acts pursuing traditional forms in the 1980s. This all began to change with a new generation in the 1990s, often children of major figures in the second revival. The arrival and sometimes mainstream success of acts like Kate Rusby, Nancy Kerr, Kathryn Tickell, Spiers and Boden, Seth Lakeman, Eliza Carthy, Runrig and Capercaillie, all largely concerned with acoustic performance of traditional material, marked a radical turn around in the fortunes of the tradition. This was reflected in the adoption creation of the BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards in 2000, which gave the music a much needed status and focus and made the profile of folk music as high in Britain as it has been for over thirty years.
"Nu-folk"/"indie-folk" 2005 – present
In the 2000s bands and artists appeared who function as cross-over acts between the indie rock and folk scenes. Their music often utilises traditional instruments beside electronic music. London's nu-folk scene includes artists like Laura Marling, Noah and the Whale, Mumford & Sons, Johnny Flynn and that in Scotland, centred on Glasgow and with a more Celtic tinge, with artists such as Findlay Napier and the Bar Room Mountaineers and Pearl and the Puppets.
- P. Burke, Popular Culture in Early Modern Europe (London: Billing, 1978), pp. 3, 17-19 and 28.
- B. Sweers, Electric Folk: The Changing Face of English Traditional Music (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2005), pp. 31-8.
- M. Patrick, Four Centuries Of Scottish Psalmody (READ BOOKS, 2008), pp. 119-20.
- M. Gardiner, Modern Scottish Culture (Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 2005), pp. 193-4.
- G. Boyes, The Imagined Village: Culture, Ideology, and the English Folk Revival (Manchester: Manchester University Press, 1993), p. 214.
- W. B. Sandys, Christmas Carols Ancient and Modern (London, 1833); W. Chappell, A Collection of National English Airs (London, 1838) and R. Bell, Ancient Poems, Ballads and Songs of the Peasantry of England (London, 1846).
- K. Mathieson, Celtic Music (Backbeat Books, 2001), p. 55.
- G. Grove, Grove's Dictionary of Music and Musicians, vol. 3 (St. Martin's Press., 6th edn., 1954), p. 410.
- M. Shiach, Discourse on Popular Culture: Class, Gender, and History in Cultural Analysis, 1730 to the Present, (Standford CA: Stanford University Press, 1989), pp. 122 and 129.
- M. Brocken, The British Folk Revival, 1944–2002 (Aldershot: Ashgate, 2003), pp. 6, 8, 32, 38, 53-63, 68-70, 74-8, 97, 99, 103, 112-4 and 132.
- S. Sadie and A. Latham, The Cambridge Music Guide (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1990), p. 472.
- J. N. Moore, Edward Elgar: a Creative Life (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1999), p. 91.
- M. Gardiner, Modern Scottish Culture (Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 2005), p. 196.
- D. Harker, Fake Song: the Manufacture of British "folksong" 1700 to the Present Day (Milton Keynes: Open University Press, 1985).
- A. J. Millard, America on Record: A History of Recorded Sound (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2005), p. 245.
- J. Connell and C. Gibson, Sound Tracks: Popular Music, Identity, and Place (Routledge, 2003), pp. 34-6.
- C. MacDougall, Scots: The Language of the People (Black & White, 2006), p. 246.
- S. Hill, Blerwytirhwng?: the Place of Welsh Pop Music (Aldershot: Ashgate, 2007), pp. 59-60.
- R. F. Schwartz, How Britain Got the Blues: The Transmission and Reception of American Blues Style in the United Kingdom (Aldershot Ashgate, 2007), pp, 65-6.
- S. Broughton, M. Ellingham, R. Trillo, O. Duane, V. Dowell, World Music: The Rough Guide (London: Rough Guides, 1999), pp. 66-8 and 79-80.
- S. Broughton, M. Ellingham, R. Trillo, O. Duane and V. Dowell, World Music: The Rough Guide (London: Rough Guides, 1999), p. 264.
- M. Brocken, The British Folk Revival 1944–2002 (Aldershot: Ashgate, 2003), pp. 55-65.
- J. DeRogatis, Turn on Your Mind: Four Decades of Great Psychedelic Rock (Milwaukie MI, Hal Leonard, 2003), p. 120.
- P. Buckley, The Rough Guide to Rock: the definitive guide to more than 1200 artists and bands (London: Rough Guides, 2003), pp. 145, 211-12, 643-4.
- "Streets Of London, Ralph McTell", BBC Radio 2, Sold on Song, 19 February 2009.
- J. S. Sawyers, Celtic Music: A Complete Guide (Cambridge MA: Da Capo Press, 2001), pp. 1-12.
- D. Else, J. Attwooll, C. Beech, L. Clapton, O. Berry, and F. Davenport, Great Britain (London, Lonely Planet, 2007), p. 75.
- A. Denney "Mumford & Sons Sigh No More Review", BBC Music, 2009-10-05, retrieved 28 January 2010.
- R. Devine, "Findlay Napier likes the sound of nu-folk", The Sunday Times 24 January 2010, retrieved 28 January 2010.
- Folk music
- American folk music revival
- Folk music of England
- Folk music of Ireland
- Music of Scotland
- Music of Wales
- Roots revival |
Crocodiles are carnivorous, ambush predators and, depending on their size and species, they eat everything from fish and crustaceans to large mammals. Weighing between 500 and 1650 lbs., the Nile crocodile is the largest African crocodile and approximately 200 humans fall victim to its attacks per year.
Crocodiles mainly eat fish, but anything that shares its habitat is considered the crocodile’s prey. They feed on zebras, hippos, porcupines, scavenge carrion and even other crocodiles. The Nile crocodile can eat up to 50 percent of its own body weight at one time. A full grown Nile crocodile is about 16 feet long and can live 45 years on average in the wild. |
In astronomical terms, at 600 light years away, the nebula around R Aquarii is rather close to us. The symbiotic star itself is made up of a red giant and a white dwarf which have interacted over centuries to form the magnificent surrounding nebula from material ejected from the system.
This system, known as R Aquarii for its apparent location in the large zodiacal constellation of Aquarius, is an important example of the effects of the gravitational interactions that occur between nearby stars. In the later stages of their evolution, when stars like the Sun grow to giant dimensions, lowering the surface gravity and allowing prodigious amount of matter to escape, the gravitation pull of a nearby star can become the dominant cause of their further evolution and destiny. As shown by R Aquarii, matter lost by one star can be sculpted into complex, albeit symmetric, nebulae, and in the process highly collimated outflows, called jets, can form. Jets are a common phenomenon in the Universe, and found around binary stars and black holes, as well as in the centre of the largest and most powerful galaxies.
R Aquarii is the closest-known stellar jet, allowing these complex physical processes to be studied in unprecedented detail. Given its proximity, it has been possible to follow the evolution of the nebula and its jet in real time by patiently obtaining sequence of images over many years. The study recently published in the journal Astronomy & Astrophysics (A&A) used telescopes at the Roque de los Muchachos Observatory (Garafía, La Palma) and Chile over the course of more than 20 years.
"While the large hourglass nebula expands in a regular way, the jet shows an extremely complex behaviour" says Tiina Liimets, the first author of the article and PhD student at the University of Tartu's Tartu Observatory (Estonia). The observations reveal the jets to be comprised of multiple knots of material, which at first glance don't seem to be flowing linearly away from the centre. "Instead they seem to be moving in apparently random directions, merging together and breaking apart, appearing and disappearing from view" states David Jones, researcher at the Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias and co-author of the work. "This indicates that at the observed scales other external factors dominate the apparent evolution of the jet and its curvature, including the changes in the illumination from the central stars." adds Romano Corradi, Director of the Gran Telescopio the Canarias, and who obtained the first images for the study more than 25 years ago.
"We will continue to follow the evolution of R Aquarii over the coming decades, taking advantage of the next generation of telescopes and instruments, which will provide important information on this spectacular system and about the common processes that regulate the formation of all astrophysical jets" concludes Liimets.
The Observatories of the Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias (IAC) form part of the Spanish network of Infraestructuras Científicas y Técnicas Singulares (ICTS). |
Together with other cultural, research and educational establishments, libraries, museums and archives can launch multimedia projects pertaining to the founders of ethnic cultures, folklore collectors, writers, artists, composers and performing musicians. Texts, photographs, digital copies of paintings and sketches, sound and video recordings can be recorded on discs for broad circulation, and their online versions be posted on the websites of cultural, research and educational institutions.
Mass Media Federal, regional and municipal media outlets can become purveyors of cultural and linguistic diversity. The contemporary mass media should focus on :
Evgeny Kuzmin • preserving and developing periodicals in minority languages and sections in those languages in other periodicals ;
• organising television and radio broadcasting in minority languages, especially the release of programmes entirely or partly conducted in those languages, and topical to the original ethnic culture of their speakers ;
• organising internet broadcasting in minority languages ; and • establishing information portals.
Book publishing and circulation Book publishers and traders can make a tremendous contribution to the support of minority languages and development of multilingualism : a language without access to the book industry is a language excluded from intellectual community life. Unesco stresses the importance of translation in strengthening multilingualism, especially in book publishing, which promotes both the industry and the free circulation of ideas.
Publishers can promote minority languages through :
• effecting research, popular science and fiction books, periodicals and translations in a minority language ;
• promoting literary work in a minority language and its emerging authors ;
• assuring that libraries of educational institutions include books in minority languages ; and • helping minority language speakers to acquire books, especially in remote areas that are historically densely populated by the given ethnie.
PUBLIC ORGANIZATIONS Non-governmental language promotion activities include :
• establishing weekend schools, clubs and ethno-cultural associations to provide supplemental linguistic and literary education ;
Evgeny Kuzmin • organising competitions, festivals and creative events to promote cultural and linguistic traditions ;
• participating in language and culture days in and outside the traditional settlement areas of a given ethnie ;
• participating in folk festivals ; and • communicating with and supporting a language’s expatriate population.
PRIVATE INITIATIVES Language should gain support not only from the state, its institutions or non-governmental organizations. Individuals and groups of individuals can also participate in language preservation and promotion by :
• establishing and supporting Wikipedia in minority languages ;
• establishing and supporting websites, blogs, Twitter and other social networks 13.
THE ICT INDUSTRY The ict industry is a key agent in promoting multilingualism, and a crucial participant in supporting and enhancing a language’s status. The ict industry can channel its energy into the following areas :
• articulating and promoting technical standards, taking into account ethnic minorities’ demands 14 ;
• creating complete computer fonts for minority languages ;
• participating in the establishment of international Unicode standards and the implementation of the unified keyboard layout ;
• localising software and creating free software to support local languages ;
13 See in this book : Vassili Rivron, The Use of Facebook by the Eton of Cameroon.
14 See in this book : Stphane Bortzmeyer, Multilingualism and the Internet’s Standardisation.
Evgeny Kuzmin • elaborating computer language models and machine translation systems 15 ;
• supporting minority languages in e-mail, chat and other messaging utilities ;
• uploading electronic study books and dictionaries in minority languages ;
• establishing multilingual domains and e-mail addresses 16 ;
• creating software for multilingual internet domain names and content ;
• establishing localised, minority language retrieval systems ;
• creating information and other websites and portals in bilingual versions ;
• making information resources available electronically ; and • developing the non-textual sphere of the internet (such as voice over ip, data streaming, and video on demand) 17.
The above measures can bring about their desired results only when the entire ethnos – not only its cultural, intellectual and ruling elite – makes major intellectual and emotional efforts, and displays goodwill, desire and interest in the survival and development of its unique culture and linguistic identity.
BIBLIOGRAPHY [KUZMIN, EVGENY (ED). 2008] “Report by the Russian Federation to Unesco General Conference on Measures Taken to Implement the Recommendation concerning the Promotion and Use of Multilingualism and Universal Access to Cyberspace”, In :
Preservation of Linguistic Diversity : Russian Experience. Moscow : Межрегиональный центр библиотечного сотрудничества (Interregional Library Cooperation Centre), pp.
[KUZMIN, EVGENY AND PARSHAKOVA, ANASTASIA. (EDS). 2011] Развитие многоязычия в киберпространстве : пособие для библиотек (Promoting Linguistic Diversity in Cyberspace : A Handbook for Libraries). Moscow : Межрегиональный центр библиотечного сотрудничества (Interregional Library Cooperation Centre).
15 See in this book : Joseph Mariani, How Language Technologies Support Multilingualism.
16 See in this book : Stphane Bortzmeyer, Multilingualism and Internet Governance.
17 See in this book : Tunde Adegbola, Multimedia and Signed, Written or Oral Languages.
Evgeny Kuzmin [KUZMIN, EVGENY AND PLYS, EKATERINA (EDS). 2007] Языковое разнообразие в киберпространстве : российский и зарубежный опыт (Linguistic Diversity in Cyberspace : Russian and International Experience). Collection of analitical works.
Moscow : Межрегиональный центр библиотечного сотрудничества (Interregional Library Cooperation Centre).
[——— 2008] “Development of Multilingualism on the Internet as a New Field of Activity of the Russian Committee of the Unesco Information for All Programme and the Interregional Library Cooperation Centre”, In : Preservation of Linguistic Diversity :
Russian Experience. Moscow : Межрегиональный центр библиотечного сотрудничества (Interregional Library Cooperation Centre), pp. 65-85.
[——— 2008] Представление языков России и стран СНГ в российском сегменте Интернета (Presentation of Languages of Russia and other CIS Countries in the Russian Segment of the Internet). Collection of reports. Moscow : Межрегиональный центр библиотечного сотрудничества (Interregional Library Cooperation Centre).
[——— 2008] Preservation of Linguistic Diversity : Russian Experience. Moscow :
Межрегиональный центр библиотечного сотрудничества (Interregional Library Cooperation Centre).
[——— 2010] Языковое и культурное разнообразие в киберпространстве (Linguistic and Cultural Diversity in Cyberspace). Proceedings of the international conference held in Yakutsk, Russian Federation, 2-4 July, 2008. Moscow : Межрегиональный центр библиотечного сотрудничества (Interregional Library Cooperation Centre).
[——— 2011] Linguistic and Cultural Diversity in Cyberspace. Proceedings of the International Conference held in Yakutsk, Russian Federation, 2-4 July, 2008.
Moscow : Межрегиональный центр библиотечного сотрудничества (Interregional Library Cooperation Centre).
[KUZMIN, EVGENY, PLYS EKATERINA, KISLOVSKAIA, GALINA AND TCHADNOVA, IRINA (EDS).
2008] Многоязычие в России : региональные аспекты (Multiligualism in Russia :
Evgeny Kuzmin Evgeny Kuzmin TUNDE ADEGBOLA MULTIMEDIA AND SIGNED, WRITTEN OR ORAL LANGUAGES Writing systems were not developed for all languages at the same time, giving written languages a great advantage. As we move deeper into the information age, how can we ensure that the inequalities of the agrarian and industrial ages are not amplified in our information age If literacy is a priority as a fundamental value of the modern world, how can we use the Internet to allow speakers of unwritten languages the expression, memory and expansion of their fields of knowledge Original article in English.
TUNDE ADEGBOLA is a researcher, consultant and cultural activist with long experience in the field of information and communication media. As Director General of the African Languages Technology Initiative, he leads a team of researchers in adapting human language technologies for use in African languages.
he invention of writing was a very important milestone of human development as it facilitated the accurate and detailed documentaTtion of human experiences and ideas outside the confines of the human brain. This development enhanced the mobility of experiences and ideas, freeing them from temporal and spatial constraints, and thereby making possible their sharing within and between various cultures of the world. However, because writing systems were not developed for all human languages at the same time, writing put written languages at an advantage, creating a relative limitation on the pace and extent of the sharing of experiences and ideas coded in unwritten languages. Recent developments in digital technology have now made it a lot easier to document information and knowledge without writing. Multimedia in modern information communication technology has emerged as one of the salient characteristics of the information age as it facilitates easy and enhanced communication in oral, written and signed languages 1. This holds a promise of making cyberspace a truly inclusive communication space.
As we proceed further into the information age, there is a need to ensure that the forms and levels of inequity that characterised the agrarian and industrial ages do not become entrenched in the information age. Whilst on the one hand we continue to quest for increased levels of literacy as a fundamental value of the modern world, there is on the other hand a need to ensure that the offerings of digital technology are not applied to the advantage of users of written languages alone. We need to consciously develop multimedia-based techniques that apply the advantages of modern 1 See in this book : Annelies Brafort & Patrice Dalle, Accessibility in Cyberspace : Sign Languages.
Tunde Adegbola digital technology to making languages without writing systems available and useful in cyberspace and also give access to users of signed languages.
ORAL, SIGNED AND WRITTEN LANGUAGES Language is a semiotic system in which rules relate symbols to meaning.
As a system for communication it features the arrangement of a finite set of auditory or visual symbols according to a finite set of rules resulting in the possibility of the production of an infinite set of statements.
This capacity to produce an infinite set of statements from a finite set of symbols and rules provides the basis for language to refer to a large set of simple objects, describe convoluted notions and express complex concepts.
In speech, language is activated by the use of auditory symbols. Sound is a consequence of the compression and rarefaction of air in time and so there is a strict temporal dimension to the traditional use of auditory signals to realise language. When speech is used to realise language, the auditory activities that are produced decay and become imperceptible within a very short time. Yet the information conveyed by these auditory activities, more often than not, remain valid for a long time, much beyond the extremely short lifespan of the auditory activities that were produced to represent them. This temporal limitation had consequences on the capacity for the documentation and reuse of the information and knowledge expressed in speech.
In writing, language is activated by the use of visual markings on some appropriate media. These markings may be codes that represent the concepts to be communicated directly or by the indirect representation of the sounds expressed in speech statements that describe such concepts directly. The lifespan of such visual markings is usually far in excess of the lifespan of the sounds produced in speech and this temporal advantage of the written word over the spoken word is an important motivation for the development of writing.
In sign languages however, visual symbols are produced in time to make up for the auditory deficiencies of the deaf and hearing impaired. Because the visual symbols of sign language are produced in time, they are also subject to temporal limitations similar to those of speech.
Tunde Adegbola Apart from the temporal dimensions of the distinction between oral, written and signed languages, there are a number of other salient characteristics that distinguish these ways of communicating. From a spatial point of view, the portability of the media on which information is written makes it possible for written ideas and information to travel far away from the sources from which they originate. In contrast, exclusively oral languages depend mainly on the processes of memorisation and recitation which restrict their use mainly to the performance mode of presentation.
Many of the world’s languages have developed writing systems while even more have remained mainly spoken. The cultures that use these written languages have taken due advantage of the temporal and spatial features of writing. They share information and knowledge by writing and reading texts and this frees such information and knowledge to travel as far as the medium of writing can reach. Within the cultures that still use unwritten languages however, people continue to learn merely by memorisation and recitation. Hence, the extent to which knowledge coded in such languages can spread is determined by the capacity for the spread of word of mouth.
Furthermore, due to the limitations of the human memory for accurate recall, information and knowledge coded in unwritten languages are bound to suffer from the limitations of human memory.
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Washington, D.C. Producing a material that is harder than natural diamond has been a goal of materials science for decades. Now a group* headed by scientists at the Carnegie Institution's Geophysical Laboratory in Washington, D.C., has produced gem-sized diamonds that are harder than any other crystals. Further, the researchers grew these diamonds directly from a gas mixture at a rate that is up to 100 times faster than other methods used to date.
"We believe these results are major breakthroughs in our field," said Chih-shiue Yan, lead author of the study published in the February 20, online Physica Status Solidi. "Not only were the diamonds so hard that they broke the measuring equipment, we were able to grow gem-sized crystals in about a day."
The researches grew the crystals using a special high-growth rate chemical vapor deposition (CVD) process that they developed. They then subjected the crystals to high-pressure, high-temperature treatment to further harden the material. In the CVD process, hydrogen gas and methane are bombarded with charged particles, or plasma, in a chamber. The plasma prompts a complex chemical reaction that results in a "carbon rain" that falls on a seed crystal in the chamber. Once on the seed, the carbon atoms arrange themselves in the same crystalline structure as the seed. In this case, the seed was a type 1b synthetic diamond plate. They have grown single crystals of diamonds up to 10 millimeters across and up to 4.5 millimeters in thickness by this method.
The crystals produced by CVD are very tough. "We noticed this when we tried to polish them into brilliant cuts," said Yan. "They were much harder to polish than conventional diamond crystals produced at high pressure and high temperature." The researchers then subjected the tough CVD crystals to high-temperature and high-pressure conditions. The diamonds were heated to 2000° C and put under pressures between 50,000 and 70,000 times atmospheric pressure (5-7 GPa) for ten minutes. This final process resulted in the ultrahard material, which was at least 50% harder than the conventional diamonds as shown by direct measurements carried out in collaboration with scientists at Los Alamos National Laboratory.
"Making diamonds has not been the primary goal of our research," remarked Russell Hemley of Carnegie. "Our group is interested in the behavior of materials at extreme pressures and temperatures. We need large, perfect diamond crystals to create new classes of high-pressure devices for our research and decided to explore whether we could make these crystals by CVD processes. We found that we could, and at a very high growth rate. This has opened up an entirely new way of producing diamond crystals for a variety of applications, such as the next generation diamond-based electronics devices and cutting tools. Our new finding that the diamonds can be supertough and/or superhard was a surprise and will greatly benefit many of these applications."
Source: Eurekalert & othersLast reviewed: By John M. Grohol, Psy.D. on 21 Feb 2009
Published on PsychCentral.com. All rights reserved.
True courage is like a kite; a contrary wind raises it higher.
~ John Petit-Senn |
Over the years, the use of past questions and answers in preparation for examinations have been of great value to students across various learning environments. Past questions have been reported to have improve performance and boost students’ morale in examinations.
Past questions helps familiarize you with likely examination questions, time, strength, weaknesses and technicalities of questions. When studying with past questions, endeavour to attempt 60% or more of each year’s question correctly. If you get this, you are as good as ready to go. If you are a Jambite, ensure you purchase all focus textbooks (textbooks that are particularly written for JAMB purposes). This helps you to relate to areas in the past questions you cannot answer yourself. The benefit of past questions cannot be exhausted as it is emerging. Below, I manage to emphasize on some of these benefits:
1. Past questions enables you identify possible number of questions that JAMB will set in your year of examination. This is very important because it will enable you adjust your preparatory speed.
2. Past questions help to understand the likelihood of examination duration. This is very imperative for Jambites/students because if you do not practice with time, in the examination hall, meeting up with the given timeframe will be very difficult. You are not often asked to answer all questions but to attempt all. Hence, you must be as fast as you can.
3. Past questions allow you to understand the number of alternative choices provided by your examiner. Knowing that you have options gives you the understanding that you need to answer the best questions you know first rather than attempting it in 1,2,3,4 order especially in theory parts.
4. Since you are familiar with past questions, you are able to work out your own time which is as a result of the required time for each subject/question.
5. Examination questions can be technical at times. Two identical correct answers can be given for a particular question. For instance, check this JAMB question 1 for Government 1978:
Objective Question 1:
Democracy means a system of government in which:
A. the majority rules
B. the minority rules
C. there is no party system
D. the people rules
E. none of the above
Now, since Democracy is a government of numbers where majority carries the day, you will be correct if you choose (A). However, Democracy has also been defined as a government of the people. From this view, you are also correct if you choose (D). But you know what? Option (A) conveys the message more than any other options here. So, past questions helps you identify these technicalities.
In 2008/2009 when I was writing my JAMB, I have the same technicality issues with some questions about parliament. Although I can’t really fathom what the argument was about again, I can remember that I took the question to my JAMB lessons Government teacher who clarified the technicality for me. All things being equal, you just need past questions to do better in examinations.
6. Past questions helps identify your strength and weaknesses and capitalize on it. We all know that there are some subjects you know more than others. Understanding this helps you to first answer the subjects you know and like the most before moving to other less interesting and difficult questions. The trick is that if you spend the bulk of your examination time answering the subjects you like most, then you are sure of being faster than when you battle and waste all your precious time on the difficult subjects/topics.
7. Past questions helps you understand which area of the questions are more important than others. In doing so, you spend more time on the questions that are more important and give you more marks than others. This technique can help you if you have limited time.
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Scrabble word: ACID
In which Scrabble dictionary does ACID exist?
Definitions of ACID in dictionaries:
- noun - any of various water-soluble compounds having a sour taste and capable of turning litmus red and reacting with a base to form a salt
- noun - street name for lysergic acid diethylamide
- adj - harsh or corrosive in tone
- adj - being sour to the taste
- adj - having the characteristics of an acid
- Any of a large class of sour-tasting substances whose aqueous solutions are capable of turning blue litmus indicators red, of reacting with and dissolving certain metals to form salts, and of reacting with bases or alkalis to form salts.
- A substance that ionizes in solution to give the positive ion of the solvent.
- A substance capable of yielding hydrogen ions.
- A proton donor.
- An electron acceptor.
- A molecule or ion that can combine with another by forming a covalent bond with two electrons of the other.
- A substance having a sour taste.
- The quality of being sarcastic, bitter, or scornful.
- Of or relating to an acid.
- Having a high concentration of acid.
- Having a sour taste.
- Biting, sarcastic, or scornful: an acid wit; an acid tone of voice.
- noun - a type of chemical compound
There are 4 letters in ACID: A C D I
Scrabble words that can be created with an extra letter added to ACID
All anagrams that could be made from letters of word ACID plus a wildcard: ACID?
Scrabble words that can be created with letters from word ACID
Images for ACID
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A gymnasium is a type of school with a strong emphasis on academic learning, and providing advanced secondary education in some parts of Europe and the CIS, comparable to British grammar schools, sixth form colleges and U.S. preparatory high schools. In its current meaning, it usually refers to secondary schools focused on preparing students to enter a university for advanced academic study.
Historically, the German Gymnasium also included in its overall accelerated curriculum post secondary education at college level and the degree awarded substituted for the bachelor's degree (Baccalaureat) previously awarded by a college or university so that universities in Germany exclusively became graduate schools. In the US, the German Gymnasium curriculum was used at some rather reputable universities such as the University of Michigan as a model for their undergraduate college programs. The word γυμνάσιον (gymnasion) was used in Ancient Greece, meaning a locality for both physical and intellectual education of young men (see gymnasium (ancient Greece)). The latter meaning of a place of intellectual education persisted in German and other languages, whereas in English the meaning of a place for physical education was retained, more familiarly in the shortened form gym.
In the Polish educational system the gimnazjum is a middle school (junior high school) for pupils aged 13 to 16. The same applies in the Greek educational system, with the additional option of Εσπερινό Γυμνάσιο (evening gymnasium) for adults and working students aged 14 upwards.
- 1 School structure
- 2 History
- 3 By country
- 4 Countries with gymnasium schools
- 5 Final degree
- 6 Relationship with other education facilities
- 7 See also
- 8 References
The gymnasium is a secondary school which prepares the student for higher education at a university. They are thus meant for the more academically minded students, who are sifted out at about the age of 10–13. In addition to the usual curriculum, students of a gymnasium often study Latin and Ancient Greek.
Some gymnasiums provide general education, others have a specific focus. (This also differs from country to country.) The four traditional branches are:
- humanities education (specialising in classical languages, such as Latin and Greek)
- modern languages (students are required to study at least three languages)
- mathematical-scientific education
- economical and social-scientific education (students are required to study economics, world history, social studies and business informatics)
Curricula differ from school to school, but generally include language, mathematics, informatics, physics, chemistry, biology, geography, art (as well as crafts and design), music, history, philosophy, civics / citizenship, social sciences, and several foreign languages.
Schools concentrate not only on academic subjects, but on producing well-rounded individuals, so physical education and religion or ethics are compulsory, even in non-denominational schools which are prevalent. For example, the German constitution guarantees the separation of church and state, so although religion or ethics classes are compulsory, students may choose to study a specific religion or none at all.
Today, a number of other areas of specialization exist, such as gymnasiums specializing in economics, technology or domestic sciences. In some countries, there is a notion of progymnasium, which is equivalent to beginning classes of the full gymnasium, with the rights to continue education in a gymnasium. Here, the prefix "pro" indicates that this curriculum precedes normal gymnasium studies.
In the German-speaking, the Central-European, the Nordic, the Benelux (Netherlands, Belgium, Luxembourg) and the Baltic countries, this meaning for "gymnasium", that is a secondary school preparing the student for higher education at a university, has been the same at least since the Protestant Reformation in the 16th century. The term was derived from the classical Greek word "gymnasium", which was originally applied to an exercising ground in ancient Athens. Here teachers gathered and gave instruction between the hours devoted to physical exercises and sports, and thus the term became associated with and came to mean an institution of learning.
This use of the term did not prevail among the Romans, but was revived during the Renaissance in Italy, and from there passed into the Netherlands and Germany during the 15th century. In 1538, Johannes Sturm founded at Strasbourg the school which became the model of the modern German gymnasium. In 1812, a Prussian regulation ordered that all schools which had the right to send their students to the university should bear the name of gymnasia. By the 20th century, this practice was followed in almost all German states, in Austria and in Russia.
In Austria the Gymnasium has two stages, from the age of 11 to 14, and from 15 to 18, concluding with Matura. Historically, three types existed. The Humanistisches Gymnasium focuses on Ancient Greek and Latin. The Neusprachliches Gymnasium puts its focus on actively spoken languages. The usual combination is English, French and Latin; sometimes French can be swapped with another foreign language (like Italian, Spanish or Russian). The Realgymnasium puts its focus on science. In the last couple of decades more autonomy was granted to schools and various types were developed, focusing on sports, music or economics, for example.
North European countries
In Denmark, Estonia, the Faroe Islands, Finland, Greenland, Latvia, Norway and Sweden gymnasium consists of three years, usually starting at age 16 after nine or ten years of primary school. In Iceland and Lithuania the gymnasium usually consists of four years of schooling starting at the age of 16, the last year roughly corresponding to the first year of college.
In all of Scandinavia and the Nordic countries, education is meant to be free. This includes not only primary school, but most gymnasiums and universities as well. Furthermore, to help decrease the heritage of historic social injustice, all countries except Iceland have universal grants for students. However, entrance is competitive and based on merit.
In Denmark, there are four kinds of gymnasiums: stx (Regular Examination Programme), hhx (Higher Business Examination Programme), htx (Higher Technical Examination Programme) and hf (Higher Preparatory Examination Programme). To attend hf, it is a prerequisite that students add a voluntary tenth year to their primary school education. Hf then lasts only two years, instead of the three required for stx, hhx, and htx. All four type of gymnasiums theoretically gives the same eligibility for university. However because of different subjects offered, students may be better qualified in an area of further study. ex. HHX students have subjects that make them practically more eligible, for studies such as business studies or economy at university.
In the Faroe Islands, there are also four kinds of gymnasiums, which are equivalents to the Danish educations: Studentaskúli (equivalent to stx), Handilsskúli (hhx), Tekniski skúli (htx) and HF (hf). Studentaskúli and HF are usually located at the same institutions as can be seen in the name of the institute in Eysturoy: Studentaskúlin og HF-skeiðið í Eysturoy.
In Greenland, there is introduced one kind of gymnasiums, "Den Gymnasiale Uddannelse" (Ilinniarnertuunngorniarneq), this replace the current Greenlandic Secondary Education Programme (GU), the Greenland Higher Commercial Examination Programme (HHX) and the Greenland education to Higher Technical Examination Programme (HTX). This shape allows a more flexible Greenland gymnasium, where students based on a common foundation course can choose between different fields of study that meets the individual student's abilities and interests. The course is offered in Aasiaat, Nuuk, Sisimiut and Qaqortoq. (Ilulissat from 2015 latest 2016 if approved by Inatsisartut)
In Finland, the admissions to gymnasiums are competitive, the accepted people comprising 51% of the age group. The gymnasiums concludes with the matriculation exam (Abitur), an exam whose grades are the main criteria for college admissions.
In Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Kosovo, Macedonia, Montenegro, Serbia, and Slovenia, a gymnasium education takes four years following a compulsory eight or nine-year elementary education and ending with a final aptitude test called Matura. In Croatia, Slovenia, Montenegro and Macedonia, the final test is standardized at the state level and serves as an entrance qualification for universities.
There are both public (state-run and tuition-free) and private (fee-paying) gymnasium schools in these countries.
The subjects taught are mathematics, the native language, one to three foreign languages, history, geography, informatics, the natural sciences (biology, chemistry, physics), history of art, music, philosophy, logic, physical education and the social sciences (sociology, ethics, psychology, politics and economy). Religious studies are optional. In Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Montenegro, Serbia and Macedonia Latin is also an obligatory subject in all gymnasiums, just as Ancient Greek is in a certain type of gymnasiums called Classical Gymnasiums (klasična gimnazija).
In all these countries, the gymnasium (Gimnazija) is generally viewed as a destination for best performing students and as the type of school that serves primarily to prepare students for university, while other students go to technical/vocational schools. Therefore, gymnasiums often base their admittance criteria on an entrance exam, elementary school grades or some combination of the two.
German Gymnasiums are selective schools. They offer the most academically promising youngsters a quality education that is free in all state-run schools (and generally not above 50 €/month cost in Church-run schools, though there are some expensive private schools). Gymnasiums may expel students who academically underperform their classmates or behave in a way that is seen as unacceptable. Pupils study subjects like German, mathematics, physics, chemistry, geography, biology, arts, music, physical education, religion, history and civics/citizenship/social sciences and computer science. Recently, a very basic form of computer science is being added. They are also required to study at least two foreign languages. The usual combinations are English and French or English and Latin, although many schools make it possible to combine English with another language, most often Spanish, Ancient Greek, or Russian. Religious education classes are a part of the curricula of all German schools, yet not compulsory; a student or their parents or guardians can conscientously object taking them, in which case they (along with the confessionless pupils and those whose religion is not being taught in the school) can either elect to take an RE course of another confession or is taught ethics. In state schools, a student who is not baptised into either the Catholic or the Protestant faith is allowed to choose which of these classes to take. The only exception to this is the state of Berlin in which the subject ethics is mandatory for all students and classes and (Christian) religious studies can only be chosen additionally. A similar situation is to be found in Brandenburg where the subject life skills, ethics, and religious education (Lebensgestaltung, Ethik, Religionskunde – LER) is the primary subject but parents/guardians or students older than 13 can choose to replace it with (Christian) religious studies or take both. The intention behind LER is that students should get an objective insight on questions of personal development and ethics as well as on the major world religions.
For younger students nearly the entire curriculum of a Gymnasium is compulsory; in higher grades elective subjects are available and some of the formerly compulsory subjects can be dropped, but the choice is not as wide as in, for example, a US high school.
Although some specialist Gymnasiums have English or French as the language of instruction, at most Gymnasiums lessons (apart from foreign language courses) are conducted in Standard German.
The number of years of instruction at a Gymnasium differs between the states. It varies between six to seven years in Berlin and Brandenburg (primary school is six years in both as opposed to four years in the rest of Germany) and eight in Bavaria, Hesse and Baden-Württemberg among others. While in Saxony and Thuringia students have never been taught more than eight years in Gymnasium (by default), nearly all states now conduct the Abitur examinations, which complete the Gymnasium education, after 12 years of primary school and Gymnasium combined. In addition to that, some states still or again offer a 13-year curriculum leading to the Abitur. These final examinations are centrally drafted and controlled (Zentralabitur) in all German states except for Rhineland-Palatinate and provide a qualification to attend any German university.
The vast majority of Gymnasiums are public (i.e., state-funded) and do not charge tuition fees. Most private Gymnasiums have low tuition fees (generally not higher than €50/month) and/or offer scholarships. There are few expensive private schools.
In Italy originally the Ginnasio indicated a typology of five-year junior high school (age 11 to 16) and preparing to the three year Liceo Classico (age 16 to 19), a high school focusing on classical studies and humanities. After the school reform that unified the junior high school system, the term Ginnasio stayed to indicate the first two year of Liceo Classico, now five years long. Oddly enough, an Italian high school student who enrolls in Liceo Classico follows this study path: Quarta Ginnasio (gymnasium fourth year, age 14), Quinta Ginnasio (gymnasium fifth year, age 15), Prima Liceo (Liceo first year, age 16), Seconda Liceo (Liceo second year, age 17) and Terza Liceo (Liceo third year, age 18). Some believe this still has some sense, since the two-year Ginnasio has a very different set of mind from the Liceo. Ginnasio students spend most of their time studying Greek and Latin grammar, laying the bases for the "higher" and more complicated set of studies of the Liceo, such as Greek and Latin literature, Philosophy and Art History.
In the Netherlands, gymnasium is the highest variant of secondary education, offering the academically most promising youngsters a quality education that is in most cases free (and in other cases at low cost). It consists of six years, after 8 years (including kindergarten) of primary school, in which pupils study the same subjects as their German counterparts, with the addition of compulsory Ancient Greek, Latin and Klassieke Culturele Vorming, Classical Cultural Education, history of the Ancient Greek and Roman culture and literature. The equivalent without classical languages is called Atheneum, and gives access to the same university studies (although some extra classes are needed when starting a degree in classical languages or theology). All are government-funded. See VWO for the full article on Dutch "preparatory scientific education".
In the Czech Republic, gymnázium (also spelled gymnasium) is one type of schools that provide secondary education. There are three types of gymnázium distinguished by the length of study: eight-year, six-year and four-year types. It leads to the maturita exam.
Slovak Republic (Slovakia)
In the Slovak Republic, gymnázium is one type of schools that provide secondary education. There are two types of gymnázium distinguished by the length of study: eight-year and four-year types (more common). Other types are bilingual (usually Slovak/French or Slovak/English) and private gymnasiums. All of them lead to the maturita exam.
Countries with gymnasium schools
- Albania Gjimnaz 3 Years, after 9 years of primary (4) and "medium" (5) education, ends with Matura Shtetërore at the age of 18.
- Argentina: Colegio Nacional de Buenos Aires, 6 years; Rafael Hernández National College of La Plata, 5 years (formerly 6 years), after 7 years of primary school; and Gymnasium Universidad Nacional de Tucumán 61 years.
- Austria 8 years, after 4 years of primary school, or 4 years, after primary school and 4 years of Hauptschule, ends with Matura at the age of 18.
- Belgium 6 years, starting at age 11/13, after 6 years of primary school, ends at the age of 18 where students progress to a university.
- Brazil Humboldt Schule of São Paulo is a German School in São Paulo. There are more Gymnasiums in the country and some of them receive recurses from German Government.
- Bosnia and Herzegovina (4 years, starting at age 14/15 after 9 years in elementary school, ends with Matura)
- Bulgaria 5 years, after 7 years of primary school. Currently graduation after passing at least two Matura's.
- Canada Generally called a private school.
- Colombia Gimnasio Campestre (all-male, traditional and conservative Pre-K to 11th grade private school located in Bogotá, Colombia).
- Croatia (4 years, starting at age 14/15 after 8 years in elementary school, five different educational tracks: opća gimnazija (general education), klasična gimnazija (focused on Latin and Ancient Greek), jezična gimnazija (focused on modern languages), prirodoslovna gimnazija (biology, chemistry, physics) and prirodoslovno-matematička gimnazija (mathematics, physics and computer science), ends with Matura). Students of all tracks have compulsory classes in Latin and English as well as in at least one additional foreign language (most commonly German, Italian, Spanish and French).
- Cyprus 3 years, starting at age 12 and following 6 years of Elementary School. Compulsory for all students. Followed by the non-mandatory Lyceum (ages 15–18) for students with academic aspirations or TEL for students who prefer vocational training.
- Czech Republic (4 years starting at age 15/16; 6 years starting at age 13/14(not usual); 8 years starting at age 11/12; all of them end with a Maturita)
- Denmark 3 years (4 years for athletes who are part of the Team Danmark elite sports program, or musicians who have chosen MGK ("Musical Elementary Course")), usually starting after 10 or 11 years of primary school). This is more like a prep school or the first years of college than high school. Everyone is eligible to go to a US high school, but you have to be deemed competent to get into a gymnasium. (For more information, see Gymnasium (Denmark).) Gymnasium is also available in an intensive 2 year program leading to the Højere Forberedelseseksamen ("Higher Preparatory Exam").
- Estonia (3 years, after 9 years of primary school)
- Faroe Islands 3 years, usually starting after 9 or 10 years of primary school. The system is similar to the Danish system. A gymnasium level education is also available in an intensive 2 year programme leading to Hægri fyrireikingarpróvtøka ("Higher Preparatory Exam").
- Finland: lukio (educational language is Finnish) or gymnasium (educational language is Swedish) takes 2–5 years (most students spend 3 years), after 9 years of primary school (peruskoulu in Finnish, grundskola in Swedish); lukio starts usually in the autumn of the year when the student turns 16 and ends with abitur after passing the matriculation examination; lukio is not compulsory and its entrance is competitive.
- In France:, called a lycée.(3 years, after 4 years of primary school and 4 years of secondary school, age 15/18). The last year (terminale), you pass the baccalauréat to enter université (also called faculté)
- Germany (formerly 8–9 years depending on the Bundesland – now being changed to 8 years nationwide, starting at 5th (at age 11), Abitur in 12th or 13th grade); for more information, see Gymnasium (Germany).
- Greece 3 years, starting at age 12 after 6 years of Elementary School. Compulsory for all children, it is followed by the non-mandatory Lyceum (ages 15–18) for students with academic aspirations, or the Technical Vocational Educational School (TEL) for students who prefer vocational training.
- Hungary (4/6/8 years, starting after 8/6 /4 years of primary school, ends with Matura), see Education in Hungary
- Iceland (usually 4 years, starting at age 15/16 after 10 years of elementary school, though 3 years can also be chosen. If chosen, students at Menntaskólinn Hraðbraut finish the school in 2 years.)
- Israel, five schools termed "gymnasium" located in Tel Aviv, Rishon LeZion, Jerusalem and Haifa.
- Italy, ginnasio is the name of the two first years of Liceo Classico
- Kyrgyzstan (7 years, after 5 years of primary school)
- Latvia (3 years, after 9 years of primary school)
- Liechtenstein (ends with Matura)
- Lithuania (gimnazija - ususally 4 years: 2 years of basic school after 4 years of basic school and 2 years of secondary school, sometimes 8 years: 6 of basic school and 2 of secondary school, 12 yrars in rural areas or in art/music gymnasiums)
- Luxembourg (usually 7 years, starting at age 12-13 after 6 years of primary school)
- Republic of Macedonia (4 years, starting at age 14 after 8 years in elementary school, ends with Matura)
- Montenegro (4 years, starting at age 14/15 after 8 years in elementary school, 3 years for those who went in the elementary for 9 years, ends with Matura)
- Netherlands (6 years, starting at age 11-13, after 8 years of primary school. Prepares for admission to University. Gymnasia in the Netherlands have compulsory classes in Ancient Greek and Latin; the same high level secondary school without the classical languages is called "VWO" (Atheneum))
- Norway – the traditional but now discontinued gymnasium led to the completion of examen artium. This has now been succeeded by a 2, 3, or 4 year program ("videregående skole"), depending on course path taken, starting at the age of 15/16, culminating with an exam that qualifies for university matriculation ("studiekompetanse")
- Poland – gimnazjum is the name of Polish compulsory middle school lasting 3 years, starting at the age of 12/13, and following 6 years of primary school. Gimnazjum ends with a standardized test. Further education is encouraged, but optional and consists of either 3 years liceum, 4 years technikum, or 2 to 3 years vocational school (which may be followed by a supplementary liceum or technikum).
- Romania – 4 years, starting at age 10 ends with Diploma de Capacitate at the age of 14. Primary education lasts for four years. Secondary education consists in: 1) lower secondary school education organized in Gymnasium for grades 5 to 8 and lower cycle of Highschool or Arts and trades schools (vocational) for grades 9 and 10. 2) upper secondary school education organized in Ciclul superior al liceului for grades 11, 12 and 13 followed, if necessary, by an additional high school year for those who want to move from vocational training (grade 10) to upper secondary school education. High school education (lower cycle of high school and upper secondary school education) offers three different orientations (academic, technological, specialization).
- Imperial Russia: since 1726, 8 years since 1871. Women gymnasiums since 1862; 7 years + optional 8th for specialisation in pedagogy. Progymnasiums: equivalent to 4 first years of gymnasium.
- Russian Federation: 6 or 7 years, after primary school. Nowadays Russian Gymnasiums specialize in a certain subject (or several subjects), especially in the humanities (example)
- Serbia (4 years, starting at age 14/15 after 8 years in elementary/primary school. There are 3 types of gymnasiums: most commonly 1)general gymnasium (општа гимназија) which offers broad education in either 2) natural science (природно-математички смер) or 3) social studies (друштвени смер), available all over Serbia, and a few specialised ones, i.e. science and mathematics (природно-математичка гимназија) -- only one in all of Serbia, in Belgrade; sports (спортска гиманзија) -- just two in Serbia; and language gymnasiums (филолошка гимназија) -- a total of four in Serbia. In the end, everyone has a final exam – Matura. A technical high school (including business/admin. assistant, i.e. економска школа), or a musical high school is a prerequisite for enrollment into a university. English and another foreign language (in addition to the mother tongue, and in case of minorities also Serbian, of course) are compulsory throughout.
- Slovakia (4 years starting at age 15 after completing 9 years of elementary school (more common); 8 years starting at age 11 after completing 5 years of elementary school; both end with Maturita)
- Slovenia (4 years, starting at age 14/15, ends with Matura).
- South Africa (Paul Roos Gymnasium is a well-known gymnasium for boys in the town called Stellenbosch. The school is a boarding school, based on the classic British boarding schools, however it was more influenced by the Protestant faith, hence the German Gymnasium. Foreign languages such as French, German, Mandarin and Latin are studied, Afrikaans and English are compulsory. School in South Africa: 5 years, starting at age 13/14, at a secondary institution, after 7 years of primary school, ends with Matric).
- Sweden Upper secondary school in Sweden lasts for three years (formerly four years on some programmes). "Gymnasium" is the word used to describe this stage of the education system in Sweden. The National Agency of Education has decided that gymnasium is equivalent to the international upper secondary school. The gymnasium is optional and follows after nine years in elementary school. However, the Swedish term "högskola" (translated to "high school") may cause some confusion. It is in Swedish used almost synonymously to "university", with the only difference being that universities have the right to issue doctoral examinations. In the case of technical universities, these could also be called högskola even when they have right to issue doctoral examinations (e.g. Chalmers tekniska högskola, Lunds tekniska högskola, Kungliga tekniska högskolan). A högskola is often located in cities with lower population, except for the technical ones that can be found also in the largest cities.
- Switzerland (usually 4 years after 9 years of compulsory schooling (primary and secondary I); it is also possible to attend a so-called "Langzeitgymnasium" which lasts 6 years, following a six-year primary schooling; the Gymnasium ends with Matura at the age of 18/19).
- Ukraine (8 years, starting after 4 years of primary school).
- United Kingdom: historically, grammar schools have been the English equivalent of the gymnasium, selecting pupils on the basis of academic ability and educating them with the assumption that they would go on to study at a university; such schools were largely phased out under the Wilson and Heath governments, with less than 5% of pupils now attending grammar schools, and the UK now has no widespread equivalent of the gymnasium. The exception is Northern Ireland and parts of England including the counties of Buckinghamshire, Lincolnshire and Kent which retained the system. Many private, fee-paying independent schools, including all those commonly referred to as "public" schools, seek to fulfil a similar role to the state grammar school if the scholar has the ability (and thus to the gymnasium in other countries).
- United States
- Public school: As school districts continue to experiment with educational styles, the magnet school has become a popular type of high school. Boston Latin School and Central High School (Philadelphia) are both the oldest public schools in the country, and the oldest magnet schools. As the concept has not become entrenched in the various American educational systems, due partly to the federal, rather than unitary style of education in the US, the term may vary among states.
- Private school: The equivalent among private schools is the preparatory school.
Depending on country, the final degree (if any) is called Abitur, Artium, Diploma, Matura, Maturita or Student and it usually opens the way to professional schools directly. However, depending on which country the issuing school is located in, these degrees are occasionally not fully accredited internationally, and students willing to attend foreign university often have to submit to further exams to be permitted access to them. The final two or three years at a gymnasium can be seen as an equivalent to the first two years at college in the United States.
Relationship with other education facilities
In countries like Canada or Austria, most university faculties only accept students from secondary schools that last four years (rather than three). This includes all Gymnasium students but only a part of vocational high schools, in effect making Gymnasium the preferred choice for all pupils aiming for university diplomas.
In Germany, other types of secondary school are called Realschule, Hauptschule and Gesamtschule. These are attended by about two-thirds of the students and the first two are practically unknown in other parts of the world. A Gesamtschule largely corresponds to a British or American high school. However, it offers the same school leaving certificates as the other three types of German secondary schools—the Hauptschulabschluss (school leaving certificate of a Hauptschule after 9th Grade or in Berlin and North Rhine-Westphalia after 10th Grade), the Realschulabschluss, also called Mittlere Reife (school leaving certificate of a Realschule after 10th Grade), and Abitur, also called Hochschulreife, after 12th Grade. Students who graduate from Hauptschule or Realschule may continue their schooling at a vocational school until they have full job qualifications. It is also possible to get an erweiterter Realschulabschluss after 10th grade that allows the students to continue their education at the Oberstufe of a gymnasium and get an Abitur. There are two types of vocational school in Germany. The Berufsschule, a part-time vocational school and a part of Germany's dual education system, and the Berufsfachschule, a full-time vocational school outside the dual education system. Both types of school are also part of Germany's secondary school system. Students who graduate from a vocational school and students who graduate with a good grade point average from a Realschule can continue their schooling at another type of German secondary school, the Fachoberschule, a vocational high school. The school leaving exam of this type of school, the Fachhochschulreife, enables the graduate to start studying at a Fachhochschule (polytechnic), and in Hesse also at a university within the state. Students who have graduated from vocational school and have been working in a job for at least three years can go to Berufsoberschule to get either a "Fachabitur" (meaning they may go to university, but they can only study the subjects belonging to the "branch" (economical, technical, social) they studied in at Berufschule.) after one year, or the normal "Abitur" (after two years), which gives them complete access to universities.
|Wikisource has the text of a 1905 New International Encyclopedia article about Gymnasia and Realgymnasia.|
- http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bakkalaureat section 'Geschichte' ('History') accessed 3/14/2012
- John Seiler Brubacher, Willis Rudy, "Higher education in transition: a history of American colleges and universities", 4th Edition, 1997 New Brunswick, NJ, page 157/158; see Google Books
- this subject has different names in the different states of Germany. See de:Gemeinschaftskunde
- Rines, George Edwin, ed. (1920). "Gymnasia and Real-gymnasia". Encyclopedia Americana.
- PISA 2003 – Der Bildungsstand der Jugendlichen in Deutschland – Ergebnisse des 2. internationalen VergleichesEhmke et al., 2004, In: PISA-Konsortium Deutschland (Hrsg.): PISA 2003 – Der Bildungsstand der Jugendlichen in Deutschland – Ergebnisse des 2. internationalen Vergleiches, Münster/NewYork: Waxmann, S. 244
- This subject has different names in the different States of Germany; see de:Gemeinschaftskunde
- Die ersten Schritte am Gymnasium
- Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports of the Federal State of Brandenburg – Lebensgestaltung-Ethik-Religionskunde (L-E-R)
- "General upper secondary education". Retrieved 2011-10-31. |
Magha (c. 7th century) (Sanskrit: माघ, Māgha) was a Sanskrit poet at King Varmalata's court at Shrimala, the-then capital of Gujarat (presently in Rajasthan state). Magha was Born in a Shrimali Brahmin family, he was son of Dattaka Sarvacharya and grandson of Suprabhadeva. His epic poem (mahākāvya) Shishupala Vadha, in 20 sargas (cantos) is based on the Mahabharata episode where the defiant king Shishupala is beheaded by Krishna's chakra (disc) He is thought to have been inspired by, and is often compared with, Bharavi.
Life and work
Māgha's fame rests entirely on the Shishupala Vadha. Vallabhadeva and Kshemendra quote some verses that are not found in the Shishupala Vadha as that of Māgha, so it is believed that Māgha wrote some other works that are now lost.
Unlike most Indian poets who give no autobiographical details or allude to contemporary events at all, Māgha, in the concluding five verses of the work (known as the Praśasti), gives some autobiographical details, which is rare for Indian poets. The verses inform that his father was Dattaka and his grandfather was Suprabhadeva, a minister at the court of a king whose name is mentioned in different editions as Varmalāta, Dharmanābha, Dharmanātha, Varmalākhya, etc. These verses are therefore called the nija-vaṃśa-varṇana or kavi-vaṃśa-varṇana by commentators.
Māgha is quoted by Anandavardhana, Bhoja, and in the Kavirajamarga, thus putting him no later than the 8th century. Pathak notes that he alludes to the Kāśikāvṛtti and its commentary Nyāsa, the latter of which is not mentioned by I-Tsing and thus must have been written after his departure from India in 695 CE. Thus, Pathak puts Māgha in the second half of the 8th century. Hermann Jacobi puts him in the in 6th century, and Kielhorn and others put him in the second half of the 7th century.
Māgha is highly popular with Sanskrit critics, and is extensively quoted by them. His Shishupala Vadha seems to have been inspired by the Kirātārjunīya of Bharavi, and intended to emulate and even surpass it. Like Bharavi, he displays rhetorical and metrical skill more than the growth of the plot, and is noted for his intricate wordplay, textual complexity, and verbal ingenuity. He also uses a rich vocabulary, so much so that the (untrue) claim has been made that his work contains every word in the Sanskrit language. Whereas Bhāravi glorifies Shiva, Māgha glorifies Krishna; while Bhāravi uses 19 metres Māgha uses 23, like Bhāravi's 15th canto full of contrived verses Māgha introduces even more complicated verses in his 19th.
A popular Sanskrit verse about Māgha (and hence about this poem, as it his only known work and the one his reputation rests on) says:
- उपमा कालिदासस्य भारवेरर्थगौरवं|
- दन्डिन: पदलालित्यं माघे सन्ति त्रयो गुणः||
- upamā kālidāsasya, bhāraver arthagauravaṃ,
- daṇḍinaḥ padalālityaṃ — māghe santi trayo guṇaḥ
- "The similes of Kalidasa, Bharavi's depth of meaning, Daṇḍin's wordplay — in Māgha all three qualities are found."
Thus, Māgha's attempt to surpass Bharavi appears to have been successful; even his name seems to be derived from this feat: another Sanskrit saying goes tāvat bhā bhāraveḥ bhāti yāvat māghasya nodayaḥ, which can mean "the lustre of the sun lasts until the advent of Maagha (the coldest month)", but also "the lustre of Bharavi lasts until the advent of Māgha". However, Māgha follows Bhāravi's structure too closely, and the long-windedness of his descriptions loses the gravity and "weight of meaning" found in Bhāravi's poem. Consequently, Māgha is more admired as a poet than the work is as a whole, and the sections of the work that may be considered digressions from the story have the nature of an anthology and are more popular.
Māgha influenced Ratnākara's Haravijaya, an epic in 50 cantos that suggests a thorough study of the Shishupalavadha. The Dharmashramabhyudaya, a Sanskrit poem by Hari[s]chandra in 21 cantos on Dharmanatha the 15th tirthankara, is modeled on the Shishupalavadha.
- Keith, Arthur Berriedale (1993). A History of Sanskrit Literature, Delhi: Motilal Banarsidass, ISBN 81-208-1100-3, p.124
- Bhattacharji Sukumari, History of Classical Sanskrit Literature, Sangam Books, London, 1993, ISBN 0-86311-242-0, p.148.
- Sisir Kumar Das; Sahitya Akademi (2006), A history of Indian literature, 500-1399: from courtly to the popular, Sahitya Akademi, p. 74, ISBN 978-81-260-2171-0
- K B Pathak (1902), "On the date of the poet Mâgha", Journal of the Bombay Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society, Volume 20, p. 303
- Chandrabhāl Tripāṭhī; Bibliothèque nationale et universitaire de Strasbourg (1975), Catalogue of the Jaina manuscripts at Strasbourg, Brill Archive, p. 42, ISBN 978-90-04-04300-8
- Hermann Jacobi (1890), "Ānandavardhana and the date of Māgha", Vienna Oriental Journal 4: 240
- Satya Prakash; Vijai Shankar Śrivastava (1981), Cultural contours of India: Dr. Satya Prakash felicitation volume, Abhinav Publications, p. 53, ISBN 978-0-391-02358-1
- Moriz Winternitz; Subhadra Jha (transl.) (1985), History of Indian literature, Motilal Banarsidass Publ., pp. 72–77, ISBN 978-81-208-0056-4
- T. R. S. Sharma; C. K. Seshadri; June Gaur, eds. (2000), Ancient Indian literature: an anthology, Volume 1, Sahitya Akademi, p. 444, ISBN 978-81-260-0794-3
- F. Kielhorn (1908), Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain & Ireland, Part 1, p. 499
- George Cardona (1998), Pāṇini: a survey of research, Motilal Banarsidass Publ., p. 359, ISBN 978-81-208-1494-3
- Merriam-Webster's encyclopedia of literature, Merriam-Webster, 1995, p. 712, ISBN 978-0-87779-042-6
- D. D. (Dhruv Dev). Sharma (2005), Panorama of Indian anthroponomy, Mittal Publications, p. 117, ISBN 978-81-8324-078-9
- A. K. Warder (1994), Indian kāvya literature: The ways of originality (Bāna to Dāmodaragupta) 4 (reprint ed.), Motilal Banarsidass Publ., pp. 133–144, ISBN 978-81-208-0449-4
- Sujit Mukherjee (1999), A Dictionary of Indian Literature: Beginnings-1850, Orient Blackswan, p. 95, ISBN 978-81-250-1453-9 |
Derived from the Latin word mandatum, meaning "commandment," Maundy refers to the commands Jesus gave his disciples at the Last Supper: to love with humility by serving one another and to remember his sacrifice. Maundy Thursday is observed during Holy Week on the Thursday before Easter. Also referred to as "Holy Thursday" or "Great Thursday" in some Christian denominations.
Maundy Thursday commemorates the Last Supper when Jesus shared the Passover meal with his disciples on the night before he was crucified. In contrast to joyful Easter celebrations when Christians worship their resurrected Savior, Maundy Thursday services are typically more solemn occasions, marked by the shadow of Jesus' betrayal.
While different denominations observe Maundy Thursday in their own distinct ways, two important biblical events are the primary focus of Maundy Thursday solemnizations:
Before the Passover meal, Jesus washed the feet of his disciples. By performing this lowly act of service, the Bible says in John 13:1 that Jesus "showed them the full extent of his love." By his example, Jesus demonstrated how Christians are to love one another through humble service. For this reason, many churches practice foot-washing ceremonies as a part of their Maundy Thursday services.
Besides the command of mutual love among disciples, Holy [Maundy] Thursday commemorates the institution of the priesthood and of the Eucharist. During the Passover meal, Jesus took bread, bless, broke it and gave it to his disciples, and said, "This is my body, given for you. Do this in remembrance of me." Then he took the cup of wine, shared it with his disciples and said, "This cup is the new covenant in my blood, which will be shed for you" (Luke 22:19-20). His command to "do this in memory of me" in effect initiated the priesthood and the Blessed Sacrament of Holy Communion.
* * * * * *
Passion (Palm) Sunday and Observance of World Youth Day
Saturday at Holy Name of Mary, Sunday at the Cathedral
The technical centre in the cathedral sacristy for Radio-Canada's broadcast of the Palm Sunday/World Youth Day Mass live on Jour du Seigneur
"Dear friends in Christ, for five weeks of Lent we have been preparing, by works of charity and self-sacrifice, for the celebration of our Lord's paschal mystery..."
Some of the youth of Almonte
"Today we joyfully acclaim Jesus our Messiah and King. May we reach one day the happiness of the new and everlasting Jerusalem by faithfully following him who lives and reigns forever and ever."
Carrying the palm
* * * * * *
Tuesday evening Chrism Mass in the Cathedral
In addition to the Chrism Mass itself, a number of events are arranged for the priests as they gather.
First there is a Penitential Service of Hymns, readings, reflection (this year given by Father Andrea Spatafora, MSF, Dean of the Faculty of Theology at St. Paul's University), examination of conscience and the celebration of the Sacrament of Confession.
Then, all are invited to my residence for a cocktail and canapes before a festive meal in the Cathedral Parish Hall at which the priests celebrating a special anniversary are honoured. The speeches are few; we try to get to know one another, the diocesan clergy, religious priests and student priests who live and minister in the Archdiocese.
During the Chrism Mass those jubilarians who are present are the principle concelebrants; we also recall the priests who have been called home by the Lord since our last gathering.
Some photos (those of the Mass are yet to come):
Priests celebrate reconciliation by taking turns confessing one another in the pews
A new photo album is being prepared to mark the Year of the Priesthood (the last one was in 2002); signing up for a photo session took place until Mass time
Conversations after the reconciliation service
Celebrating the priesthood with an aperitif, joy in each other's company
|Some of this year's jubilarians (25, 40, 50, 55 years of ordination)
Priests and deacons vest for the Chrism Mass
* * * * * *
Wednesday evening Tenebrae at Notre Dame Cathedral
Last evening, I was pleased to preside at Tenebrae, a service of Scripture readings and hymnody. We only had nine candles and the last one, representing Christ was not hidden, nor was there a loud noise (strepitus) as in the description below (excerpted from Wikipedia's treatment).
Dominican service of Tenebrae in Oxford has a "hearse" with fifteen candles (website: www.Godzdogz.op.org)
Tenebrae (Latin for 'shadows' or 'darkness') is a Christian religious service celebrated by the Western Church on the evening before or early morning of Maundy Thursday, Good Friday, and Holy Saturday, which are the last three days of Holy Week. The distinctive ceremony of Tenebrae is the gradual extinguishing of candles while a series of readings and psalms are chanted or recited. In the Roman Rite of the Roman Catholic Church the Tenebrae readings and psalms are those of Matins and Lauds.
The structure of Tenebrae is the same for all three days. The first part of the service is Matins, which in its pre-1970 form is composed of three nocturns, each consisting of three psalms, a short versicle and response, a silent Pater Noster, and three readings, each followed by a responsory. Pre-1970 Lauds consists of five psalms, a short versicle and response, and the Benedictus Gospel canticle, followed by Christus factus est, a silent Pater Noster, a devotional recitation of Psalm 50 (51), Miserere, and the appointed collect.
The principal Tenebrae ceremony is the gradual extinguishing of candles upon a stand in the sanctuary called a hearse. Eventually the Roman Rite settled on fifteen candles, one of which is extinguished after each of the nine psalms of Matins and the five of Lauds, gradually reducing the lighting throughout the service.
The six altar candles are put out during the Benedictus, and then any remaining lights in the church. The last candle is hidden beneath the altar, ending the service in total darkness.
The strepitus (Latin for "great noise"), made by slamming a book shut, banging a hymnal or breviary against the pew, or stomping on the floor, symbolizes the earthquake that followed Christ's death, although it may have originated as a simple signal to depart.
Following the great noise, the candle which had been hidden from view is returned to the top of the hearse, signifying the return of Christ to the world with the Resurrection, and all depart in silence.
* * * * * *
The WAY OF THE CROSS (Tenth Station): Jesus Is Stripped of His Garments
Lord Jesus Christ, fill our hearts with the light of your Spirit, so that by following you on your final journey we may come to know the price of our Redemption and become worthy of a share in the fruits of your Passion, Death and Resurrection. You who live and reign for ever and ever.
The WAY OF THE CROSS (Eleventh Station): Jesus Is Nailed to the Cross
May your mercy, O Lord, cleanse the people that serve you from every infection of ancient ways and make them ready for holy renewal. Through Christ our Lord. |
|Product type:||Weapons & Weapon Systems|
The Soltam M-68 gun-howitzer uses a carriage similar to the Tampella 122 mm M-60 Field Gun described in the Finnish section. Further development by Soltam resulted in the M-71 gun-howitzer which is also described in this section. The first Israeli prototype was completed in 1968, with the first production example produced in 1970.
The carriage comprises a top carriage, bottom carriage and two trails. In action a screw type firing jack is lowered under the lower carriage and the two trails are opened out. A loose spade is placed at the end of each trail and staked to the ground by three wedges. A further two loose spades and six wedges are carried enabling the gun crew to change the direction of firing without taking up the original loose spades. When travelling the loose spades and wedges are stowed on the trails. The bogies have four pneumatic tyres and each wheel has a hydraulic brake.
The recoil mechanism is under the barrel and the counter-recoil system is on the top of it with the pneumatic equilibrators either side of the barrel. Recoil varies in relation to elevation but maximum recoil is 1 m. The elevating wheel is on the left side of the carriage as is the panoramic sight, and the traversing gear is on the right.
The barrel is of the monobloc type with a screw-on breech mechanism and a single-baffle muzzle brake with a fume extractor fitted to the rear.
The semi-automatic horizontal sliding breech-block remains open on recoil for loading of the next round. The breech incorporates a specially developed gas check ring which effectively prevents the escape of propellant gases to the rear. Provision is made for opening the breech-block for loading the first round. Loading from the left is possible at all angles of elevation.
The M-68 fires an HE projectile weighing 43.7 kg, a maximum muzzle velocity of 725 m/s and a maximum range of 21000 m. The weapon fires all standard NATO 155 mm projectiles including illuminating and smoke. The M-68 also fires Tampella-designed projectiles using a nine-charge system (charges 1 to 9) with a muzzle velocity of 253 to 820 m/s and a maximum range of 23500 m.
When travelling the barrel is swung through 180º to the rear and is locked in position over the closed trails.
Soltam has developed a self-propelled model of the M-68 called the L-33 based on a modified Sherman chassis, full details of which are given in the Self-propelled guns and howitzers section under Israel. |
by Chris Woodford. Last updated: November 5, 2018.
Have you ever done one of those spot-the-difference newspaper puzzles where
you have to find the missing details using two very similar cartoons?
The quick way to solve them is to cut out the two images, place one
on top of the other, and shine a light through the paper. It might
sound like cheating but it's actually science: you're using the light
pattern from one image to show up differences in the other.
Scientists use a very similar process called interferometry to
measure small things with incredibly high accuracy by comparing
light or radio beams. Let's take a closer look at how it works!
Photo: A laser interferometer. The laser beam is split into two parts. One part travels straight to a detector while the other undergoes a change of some sort. By comparing the two beams again at the end, you can measure the extent of the change very precisely. Photo courtesy of NASA Glenn Research Center (NASA-GRC).
What is interference?
To understand interferometry, you need to understand interference.
In everyday life, interference simply means getting in the way or
meddling, but in physics it has a much more specific meaning.
Interference is what happens when two waves carrying energy meet up
and overlap. The energy they carry gets mixed up together so, instead
of two waves, you get a third wave whose shape and size depends on
the patterns of the original two waves. When waves combine like this,
the process is called superposition.
If you've ever sat making waves in a bath-tub, you'll have seen
interference and superposition in action. If you push your hand back
and forth, you can send waves of energy out from the center of the
water to the walls of the tub. When the waves get to the walls, they
bounce back off the hard surface more or less unchanged in size but
with their velocity reversed. Each wave reflects off the tub just as if
you'd kicked a rubber ball at the wall. Once the waves come back to
where your hand is, you can make them much bigger by moving
your hand in step with them. In effect, you create new waves that add
themselves to the original ones and increase the size of their peaks
(amplitude). When waves add together to make bigger waves, scientists call it
If you move your hands a different way, you can create waves that are
out of step with your original waves. When these new waves add to the
originals, they subtract energy from them and make them smaller. This
is what scientists call destructive interference.
It's just a phase
The extent to which one wave is in step with another is known as its
phase. If two identical waves are "in phase," it means their
peaks align so, if we add them together, we get a new wave that's
twice as big but otherwise exactly the same as the original waves.
Similarly, if two waves are completely out of phase (in what we call antiphase),
the peaks of one exactly coincide with the troughs of the other so
adding the waves together gives you nothing at all. In between these
two extremes are all sorts of other possibilities where one wave is
partly in phase with the other. Adding two waves like this
creates a third wave that has an unusual, rising and falling pattern of peaks and
troughs. Shine a wave like this onto a screen and you get a
characteristic pattern of light and dark areas called interference
fringes. This pattern is what you study and measure with an interferometer.
How do interferometers work?
An interferometer is a really precise scientific instrument designed to
measure things with extraordinary accuracy. The basic idea of
interferometry involves taking a beam of light
(or another type of electromagnetic radiation) and splitting it into two equal halves
using what's called a beam-splitter (also called a half-transparent
mirror or half-mirror). This is simply a piece of glass whose surface is very thinly coated with silver. If you shine light at it, half the light passes straight through and half of it reflects back—so the beam-splitter is like a cross between an ordinary piece of glass and
a mirror. One of the beams (known as the reference beam) shines onto a mirror and from there to a screen, camera,
or other detector. The other beam shines at or through something you want to measure, onto a second mirror, back through the beam splitter, and onto the same screen. This second beam travels an extra distance
(or in some other slightly different way) to the first beam, so it gets slightly out of step (out of phase).
Artwork: How a basic (Michelson) interferometer works. If we take the green
beam to be the reference beam, we'd subject the blue beam to some sort of change we wanted to measure.
The interferometer combines the two beams and the interference fringes that appear on the screen
are a visual representation of the difference between them.
When the two light beams meet up at the screen, they overlap and interfere, and the phase difference between them creates a pattern of light and dark areas (in other words, a set
of interference fringes). The light areas are places where the two
beams have added together (constructively) and become brighter; the
dark areas are places where the beams have subtracted from one
another (destructively). The exact pattern of interference depends on
the different way or the extra distance that one of the beams has
traveled. By inspecting and measuring the fringes, you can calculate
this with great accuracy—and that gives you an exact measurement of
whatever it is you're trying to find.
Instead of the interference fringes falling on a simple screen, often they're directed into
a camera to produce a permanent image called an interferogram. In another arrangement,
the interferogram is made by a detector
(like the CCD image sensor used in older digital cameras) that converts the pattern of fluctuating optical interference fringes into
an electrical signal that can be very easily analyzed with a computer.
What are the different types of interferometers?
Photo: Albert Einstein solved the "failed" Michelson-Morley interferometer experiment with his theory of relativity. Photo courtesy of US Library of Congress.
Interferometers became popular toward the end of the 19th century and there are several
different kinds, each based roughly on the principle we've outlined
above and named for the scientist who perfected it. Six
common types are the Michelson, Fabry-Perot, Fizeau,
Mach-Zehnder, Sagnac, and Twyman-Green interferometers:
- The Michelson interferometer (named for Albert Michelson,
1853–1931) is probably best known for the part it played in the
famous Michelson-Morley experiment in 1881. That was when Michelson and his
colleague Edward Morley (1838–1923) disproved the existence of a mysterious invisible fluid called "the ether" that physicists had believed filled empty space. The Michelson-Morley experiment was an important stepping-stone toward Albert Einstein's theory of relativity.
- The Fabry-Perot interferometer (invented in 1897 by Charles
Fabry, 1867–1945, and Alfred Perot, 1863–1925), also known as an
etalon, evolved from the Michelson interferometer. It makes clearer and sharper fringes that are easier to see and measure.
- The Fizeau interferometer (named for French physicist Hippolyte
Fizeau, 1819–1896) is another variation and is generally easier to use than a Fabry-Perot. It's widely used for making optical and engineering measurements.
- The Mach-Zehnder interferometer (invented by German Ludwig Mach and Swissman Ludwig Zehnder) uses two beam splitters instead of one and produces two output beams, which can be analyzed separately. It's widely used in fluid dynamics and aerodynamics—the fields for which it was originally developed.
- The Sagnac interferometer (named for Georges Sagnac, a French physicist) splits light into two beams that travel in opposite directions around a closed loop or ring (hence its alternative name, the ring interferometer). It's widely used in navigational equipment, such as
ring-laser gyroscopes (optical versions of gyroscopes that use laser beams instead of spinning wheels).
- The Twyman-Green interferometer (developed by Frank Twyman and Arthur Green in 1916) is a modified
Michelson mainly used for testing optical devices.
Most modern interferometers use laser light because it's more regular and
precise than ordinary light and produces coherent beams (in
which all the light waves travel in phase). The pioneers of interferometry didn't have access to lasers (which weren't developed until the mid-20th century) so they had to use beams of light passed through slits and lenses instead.
Artwork: Fiber-optic interferometry. Most interferometers pass their beams through the open air, but local temperature and pressure variations can sometimes be a source of error. If that matters,
one option is to use a fiber-optic interferometer like this. A laser (red, 12) shoots its beam through lenses (gray, 16a/b) into a pair of fiber-optic cables. One of them (blue, 18) becomes the reference beam, bouncing its light straight onto a screen (orange, 22). The other (green, 20) allows its beam to reflect off something that's being measured (such as a vibrating surface) into a third cable (green, 30). The reference and reflected beams meet up and interfere on the screen in the usual way. Artwork from
US Patent 4,380,394: Fiber optic interferometer by David Stowe, Gould Inc., April 19, 1983, courtesy of US Patent and Trademark Office.
How accurate are interferometers?
A state-of-the-art interferometer can measure distances to within 1 nanometer (one billionth of a meter,
which is about the width of 10 hydrogen atoms), but like any other kind
of measurement, it's subject to errors. The biggest source of error is likely to come from changes in the
wavelength of the laser light, which depends on the refractive index of the material through which it's
traveling. The temperature, pressure, humidity, and concentration of different gases in the air all
change its refractive index, altering the wavelength of the laser light passing through it and potentially
introducing measurement errors. Fortunately, good interferometers can compensate for this. Some have
separate lasers that measure the air's refractive index, while others measure air
temperature, pressure, and humidity and calculate the effect on the refractive index indirectly; either way,
measurements can be corrected and the overall error is reduced to perhaps one or two parts per million.
What are interferometers used for?
Photo: Interferometry in action: These 3D topographical maps of Long Valley, California were made from the Space Shuttle using a technique called radar interferometry, in which beams of microwaves are reflected off Earth's contours and then recombined. Photo courtesy of NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory (NASA-JPL).
Interferometers are widely used in all kinds of scientific and engineering applications for making precise measurements. By scanning interferometers over objects, you can also make very detailed maps of surfaces.
By "precise" and "detailed", I really do mean precise and detailed. The interference fringes that an optical (light-based) interferometer produces are made by light waves traveling fractionally out of step. Since the wavelength
of visible light is in the hundreds of nanometers, interferometers can theoretically measure lengths a couple of hundred times smaller than a human hair. In practice, everyday laboratory constraints sometimes make that kind of precision hard to achieve. Albert Michelson, for example, found his ether-detecting apparatus was affected by traffic movements about a third of a kilometer away!
Astronomers also use interferometers to combine signals from telescopes so they
work in the same way as larger and much more powerful instruments
that can penetrate deeper into space. Some of these interferometers
work with light waves; others use radio waves (similar to light waves
but with much longer wavelengths and lower frequencies).
Photo: The Keck interferometer. Astronomers have linked the two 10-m (33-ft) optical telescopes in these domes on Mauna Kea, Hawaii to make what is effectively a single, much more powerful telescope. Photo courtesy of NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory (NASA-JPL).
Interferometry is also helping us to figure out the secrets of gravity. In 2017, three US physicists (Rainer Weiss, Barry Barish, and Kip Thorne) shared the Nobel Prize in Physics for the discovery of gravitational waves ("ripples in spacetime"), originally predicted by Albert Einstein over a century ago.
Their experiment is called LIGO (Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory) and uses two very large laser interferometers with arms 4km (2.5 miles) long, located in two different places 3000km (1800 miles) apart, at opposite ends of the United States (Hanford, Washington and Livingston, Louisiana). |
Book of the Week: Additive Manufacturing of Metals
This week’s selection is “Additive Manufacturing of Metals: The Technology, Materials, Design and Production” by Li Yang, Keng Hsu, Brian Baughman, Donald Godfrey, Francisco Medina, Mamballykalathil Menon, and Soeren Wiener.
Metal 3D printing is a hot topic these days, as several industries have discovered its value. Most specifically, the aerospace industry has taken on metal 3D printing in big way, as it provides a way to produce “impossible” parts that are just as strong, but of far lighter weight. This is of obvious importance in aerospace, where weight is gold.
But that interest has drawn in many newcomers to metal 3D printing, and most have no idea of the vast complexity that is metal 3D printing.
And another way you can get more familiar with metal 3D printing is to read this book, which provides an excellent overview of the modern metal 3D printing space.
The book begins with an overview of 3D printing processes, including those not involved in metal 3D printing. This provides considerable perspective on the industry and demonstrates the differences from thermoplastic 3D printing and use of metal, which are significant.
They also explain the workflow through their “Additive Manufacturing Process Chain”, which takes ideas from CAD design all the way through to post-processing.
But there’s much more than that to metal 3D printing, and indeed this book delves deep into such areas as:
Influence of dispersoids
The book then proceeds to examine the peculiarities of each of the major metal 3D printing processes, including: Electron Beam, Powder Bed Fusion, and the differences in usage between them. They even spend time discussing how 3D print-specific metal powders are manufactured and their implications.
Finally, a significant section of the book is spent discussing design considerations, as this is the most challenging part of metal 3D printing. One of the aspects discussed is support structures, a critical aspect of metal 3D printing, where thermal flows can wreck - or save - your metal 3D print.
This book is an excellent overview of the considerations required for getting deep into metal 3D printing and should be considered by anyone thinking of doing so. |
There are many, many of us that create goals that are rooted in the “deficit”:
- “Stop over-spending.”
- “Don’t eat junk food.”
- “Quit talking negatively to yourself.”
This style of goal-setting is certainly effective for some. It lists a behavior and an action for the behavior. But that’s where it stops. Creating goals from a “deficit” perspective can be limiting and its easier to get off-track because of those limits. I mean, the minute you’ve eaten a potato chip, boom! Your whole goal is now ka-put.
When we switch up our thinking and add a little depth, direction and optimism into our goal-setting, we actually open ourselves up to more progress. Let’s call this perspective “thinking from the ‘surplus'” (Now my finance and business folks, we know this isn’t the exact meaning of surplus. Roll with me on this one.)
To create goals from a ‘surplus’ perspective, we are tapping into our positive, action-oriented and forward-thinking strategies. Think of what new habits or activities you want to accomplish, instead of just those you want to stop.
Then quantify your goal. Add a number of times or when during the week you want to work on this goal to make it more attainable. Let’s put a ‘surplus’ spin on the goals we listed above:
- Instead of stop over-spending, how about “start budgeting by saving 10% of what I earn every two weeks.”
- Instead of don’t eat junk food, let’s try “include more fruits and veggies into one of my meals every day.”
- Instead of quit negative self-talk, attempt to “give myself a compliment or praise once a day.”
Using this perspective could be even more enriching to your life, as you may accomplish even more than you originally planned! Getting more specific also helps you measure your progress. Feel free to start small, then add to the original goal you have created. We are all in this together with trying to better ourselves and our lives. Set yourself up for literal and emotional success with a positive perspective.
How do you create goals with a positive mindset? |
«Juanwen Yuan Thesis committee Thesis supervisor Prof. dr. A. Niehof Professor of Sociology of Consumers and Households Wageningen University Thesis ...»
(Agarwal, 1994a; 1994b; 1997; 2001). “Notions of gender […] class, caste, ethnicity and age are integral to understanding the social relations and decision-making processes concerning access to, and use and management of natural resources” (Vernooy, 2005). Francis (2000) notes that gender relations can also be shaped by legal changes in rights to productive resources. Women’s economic situation can influence women’s status as well. He also states that having one’s own income makes women strong. Meanwhile, women’s organizations can also empower women in accessing resources (Agarwal, 1994a). But women’s exercise of power is often regarded as illegitimate (Rosaldo and Lamphere, 1974). “Intra-household inequality of consumption between men and women is likely to be of greater significance than inter-household inequality based on the sex of the household head” (Ellis 2000: 146).
In this research, I will focus on gender in the household division of labour, land use, agricultural production, and migration.
Gender and land Women and men can access, control and use land differently. Men usually can easily access and control land. Francis (2000: 85) has conducted research in central Kenya and states that “because men have been increasingly conceptualized as the owners of land, they can successfully lay claim to deciding its use and to the income derived from it. Women’s labour input alone is not enough to give them enforceable claims to crop income, because their husbands can claim that the land is their property. State policy has reinforced these trends, with marketing boards directing payments to land owners.” He also describes how land ownership rights assigned to male household heads has marginalized women’s usufruct rights to land. But it is also possible, as Roquas (2002) indicates that ownership not necessarily implies control.
While land tenure security can influence investment in farming, women in general have less land security than men. Verma (2001) reports that women’s investments in farming are related to their ability to maintain long-term security in land tenure. Land tenure is also related to age, life cycle, class, and marital status.
Verma (2001) has found that women’s labour burden in on-farm and off-farm work, and their ability to control their labour and the fruits of their labour, are the key factors in their ability to invest in soil management and farming practices.
Gender and the division of labour A household has its own division of labour. Some tasks are undertaken by both sexes, but other tasks are rigidly assigned to either men or women, based on culture and the socialization process. Niehof and Price (2001: 21) state that “while men and women in households typically work together toward the well-being of household members, they are commonly engaged in different activities. They have different tasks and thus allocate their time differently.” Sachs (1996) notes that women are more likely to do the work related to food processing and preparation, while men are involved in labour-intensive activities, such as activities and skills that demand greater physical power. Moore (1988:126) observes that “the sexual
38 Chapter 3
division of labour in the ‘home’ is related in complex and multifarious ways to the sexual division of labour in the workplace and in society at large.” The gendered division of labour is a very complex issue. It varies by class, ethnicity, household’s life course, marital status, the relationships of household members, and in agriculture by crop and by locality (Sachs, 1996; Verma, 2001).
The household division of labour is also related to resource availability. For Central America, Roquas (2002) has reported that the division of household labour is primarily related to what is produced and the availability and quality of land, the quantity of agricultural production, the number of farm household members, the season, the presence of small children, the relationship between husband and wife, or the number of girls and boys. For poor Sri Lankan households, the labour of women is crucial in producing a household’s own food (Schrijvers, 1984). In addition, Agarwal (1994a) states that the gendered division of labour within the household influences women’s involvement in decision-making in community activities in India.
Usually, men are more powerful in making decisions about labour allocation, but in some cases, women have bargaining power as well. Francis (2000) has found that African women have some potential to bargain with their husbands over labour. The gendered division of labour is changing. In the past, women and men had clearly separate tasks, but now the responsibilities are more shared (Kertzer, 1991).
Gender and livelihood Many livelihood diversification strategies are gender-related (Hussein and Nelson, 1998; Niehof, 2004). Francis (2000) states that households with different livelihood bases show different kinds of relations between men and women. Francis (2000) has observed that when African farming income decreases, a household’s livelihood becomes more dependent on men’s ability to earn income through wage labour, which leads the household becoming more unified under male authority.
In Bangladesh, Naved (2003) has found that women usually use income from selling fish for investment or emergency purposes.
Male migrants often have doubts about their wives’ abilities and think they are not good at managing the farm without them (Francis, 2000), but according to Kelly (2002), women are more committed than men to the survival of the farm.
Women try to find different ways to pursue livelihood diversification, even though they have less access to land, the labour market, education, and other resources (Schrijvers, 1984). Ali (2005) has found that women in present-day Bangladesh are more mobile and have more opportunities to get information, which helps them to develop new livelihood strategies.
Gender relations influence the sustainability of livelihoods. In Shiva’s (1997) view, that the partnership between women and nature can influence the sustainability of sustenance. Mtshali (2002) concludes that the gendered division of labour has an impact on rural food security because, while women are responsible for reproductive tasks, men earning cash do not necessarily use it to ensure the household’s food security.
39Literature review and conceptual framework
Gender and agricultural production and technology According to Ellis (2000), women’s roles in agriculture present a heterogeneous picture, depending on ethnicity, type of farming system, and sources of income.
The roles also change from time to time. At the same time, men and women have different roles and different tasks in agricultural production. Their agricultural knowledge is not the same, either. Now that male migration brings about a feminization of agriculture, more women become technology users. Men and women also use technologies differently. According to Niehof (2004), technology interventions will often impact the livelihood activities of either men or women, which subsequently has implications for the livelihood system of the household as a whole. Sachs (1996) indicates that poor women may not benefit from the extended technologies when these require resources that are not easily accessible for them. Vernooy (2005) states that technologies are value-laden and that women and men are involved and affected differently. Extension workers only rarely apply a gender perspective to their work. Male extension officers do not often visit female farmers, due to cultural and other reasons. Mtshali (2002) observes that male extension officers are not trained to work with rural households and to communicate information according to different gender roles. Sachs (1996) has found that rural women are focusing on garden species, but that development planners tend to overlook women’s special needs. Male household heads are targeted because they are considered more knowledgeable. Female-headed households are often unable to engage in pilot experiments because the female household heads are overloaded with farming activities and domestic work (Song 1998).
3.4 Social differentiation and social change Social differentiation refers to the different roles and tasks of people in society.
Social differentiation and social stratification are not the same, but they are related to each other. “Social differentiation usually refers to (1) the situation that exists in every social unit, large or small, by virtue of the fact that people with different characteristics perform different tasks and occupy different roles, and (2) the fact that these tasks and roles are closely interrelated in several ways” (Eisenstadt, 1971: 4-5). Eisenstadt (1971:10) states that “social stratification is the social order that is most closely related to (1) a differential evaluation of roles; (2) the existence – especially in large social systems – of categories, or social divisions, of roles, and (3) the existence of a hierarchy or hierarchies of role categories.” Kohn (1990:31) defines a stratified system as a "hierarchical ordering of positions in terms of power, privilege and prestige". Since different roles and activities are never equally important to any real society, social stratification exists in any system (Barber, 1957;
Grusky, 2001). More qualified people always occupy the more important positions and inequality always allows the more qualified people to move upwards.
Capital goods and high income relate to power; the ownership of capital goods and income contributes to power and prestige (Kingsley, 2001). Social stratification produces social inequality, which influences social participation.
According to Dimaggio (2001: 542), “social inequality shapes important aspects of lifestyle, cognition, social membership, and participation, but [that] these
40 Chapter 3
differences in turn reinforce patterns of material advantage and disadvantage.” Social differentiation can take on different forms among rural households. Blantje (1986) has reported that consistent differences were found among farmers with respect to household size, the control over labour, cattle ownership, the level of agricultural technology, and productivity levels in Tanzania. In Sierra Leone (Beoku-Bettts, 1991), socio-economic and historical processes have shaped household differences and the conjugal roles in the internal household economy. In this research, I will investigate the consequences of the implementation of the Household Responsibility System for social and economic stratification among rural households.
Social change refers to multidimensional and continuous processes of change in societies. It includes changes in social structure and changes of attitudes or beliefs (Ginsberg, 1958). Social change may give rise to inequality and tensions that may motivate some people to try to restore dominancy (Moland, 1996). In this study, structural and normative changes at household level with regard to family relationships, gender roles and division of labour at household level as a consequence of the implementation of the HRS and migration, are the dimensions of social change investigated. At community level, social change is more specifically interpreted as changes in social and economic differentiation in the study area since the HRS was implemented.
3.5 The cohort approach This study will have a longitudinal part (life histories) and a cross-sectional part (a household survey). I will use a cohort analysis to integrate both parts. Both qualitative and quantitative methods have been used for data collection and analysis. Their joint application optimizes both reliability and validity (Angrosino, 2002).
3.5.1 Cohort analysis Ryder (1965: 845) has defined the cohort as “the aggregate of individuals (within some population definition) who experienced the same event within the same time interval”. Since the effects of the introduction of the Household Responsibility System (HRS) – which occurred in the research area in 1980 – constitute the key theme in this study, in this research the moment of household formation was used as the event commonly experienced by the members of the same cohort during the
same time interval. The cohorts distinguished are the following:
• The 1970s cohort (Cohort 1): these households formed their own, independent unit during 1970-1980 and have experienced the collective era and the HRS era.
• The 1980s cohort (Cohort 2): these households formed their own, independent unit during 1980-1990 and have experienced the start of the HRS.
• The 1990s cohort (Cohort 3): these households formed their own, independent unit during 1990-2000 and have only experienced the HRS era.
• The 2000s cohort (Cohort 4): these households formed their own, independent unit from 2000 to the present and have only experienced the HRS era.
41Literature review and conceptual framework
3.5.2 Temporal perspective A longitudinal approach or temporal perspective is necessary for the documentation of social change (Ali, 2005), and when the researcher’s chief interest is to uncover the dynamics of a process (Pennartz and Niehof, 1999). Within a temporal perspective, there are different kinds of time. Pennartz and Niehof (1999) distinguish historical time, daily time, individual time, and household time or family time.
Historical time Households respond to historical events, including policy changes, and adapt their livelihood strategies accordingly. In this study, historical time provides the temporal context within which the processes are studied. The historical period under study runs from 1970 to the present.
Daily time Daily time refers to time allocation and time routines on a daily basis in livelihood and domestic activities. Gender is important in daily time because, every day, men and women live according to a different time allocation.
Individual time “Individual time is referred to as being made up of the milestones in the life course and is progressive in nature” (Ali, 2005: 67). Individual time influences daily time.
Older people usually stay at home to take care of the field and the children, while younger people may spend more time earning cash through migration work. |
Frederic Edwin Church
(1826 - 1900)
Frederic Edwin Church was active/lived in New York, Connecticut / Mexico. Frederic Church is known for majestic landscape and arctic marine scene painting.
Frederic Edwin Church
click to hear
Biography from the Archives of askART
Born in Hartford, Connecticut, Frederic Church became a leading figure
in the Hudson River School* of painters, and in the 1850s and 60s was
one of America's most famous painters. The paintings for which he
became known were landscapes conveying a serene sense of light and
space, showing nature in its pure state without the presence of human
Biography from Altermann Galleries and Auctioneers, III
His career rose very fast, taking off when he was in
his early twenties, but by the time he was forty, public taste had
changed, and this circumstance combined with his own ill health caused
his reputation to fall considerably.
He came from a wealthy
family and received his first art instruction from Benjamin Coe.
His primary master was Thomas Cole with whom he lived and painted in
Catskill, New York from 1844 to 1848. Church was Cole's first and
only student. However, his own style differed from Cole's in that it
was not laden with romanticism and allegory because he believed that an
artist should capture the realities of nature and focus on the
relationship between light and form.
By age 19, he made his
debut at the National Academy of Design* and was elected an Associate
Member. He also set up a studio in New York City, but during this
period the Hudson River Valley came to have deep personal meaning, and
he determined to make his home there. From 1864 into the 1890s,
he frequently worked from his studio at the topmost part of his family
farm near Hudson at Bee Craft Mountain from where he had a broad
panoramic view that he often painted.
But his subject matter
went far beyond the Hudson River and Niagara Falls. He found
landscapes in South America where he first traveled in 1853, staying
for seven months, and the resulting paintings were highly acclaimed at
the National Academy. He also traveled to the Arctic, the Tropics, and
in 1867 to Europe and North Africa.
By 1877, severe rheumatism
crippled his right hand, and he attempted to paint with his left hand,
but his career was essentially curtailed. The last twenty years
of his life, seemingly forgotten as an artist, he spent at Olana, his
Moorish-style palace on the Hudson River and also traveled to Mexico
and Maine where he painted Mount Katahdin.
He died in 1900 in New York City.
Matthew Baigell, Dictionary of American Art
Michael David Zellman, 300 Years of American Art
* For more in-depth information about these terms and others, see AskART.com Glossary http://www.askart.com/AskART/lists/Art_Definition.aspx
Frederic Edwin Church (May 4, 1826 - April 7, 1900) was an American landscape painter born in Hartford, Connecticut. He was a central figure in the Hudson River School of American landscape painters. While committed to the natural sciences, he was "always concerned with including a spiritual dimension in his works".
Biography from Spanierman Gallery (retired)
The family wealth came from Church's father, Joseph Church, a silversmith and watchmaker in Hartford, Connecticut (Joseph subsequently also became an official and a director of The Aetna Life Insurance Company). Joseph, in turn, was the son of Samuel Church, who founded the first paper mill in Lee, Massachusetts in the Berkshires, and this allowed him (Frederic) to pursue his interest in art from a very early age. At eighteen years of age, Church became the pupil of Thomas Cole in Catskill, New York after Daniel Wadsworth, a family neighbor and founder of the Wadsworth Atheneum, introduced the two. In May 1848, Church was elected as the youngest Associate of the National Academy of Design and was promoted to Academician the following year. Soon after, he sold his first major work to Hartford's Wadsworth Atheneum.
Church settled in New York where he taught his first pupil, William James Stillman. From the spring to autumn each year Church would travel, often by foot, sketching. He returned each winter to paint and to sell his work.
In 1853 and 1857, Church traveled in South America. One trip was financed by businessman Cyrus West Field, who wished to use Church's paintings to lure investors to his South American ventures. Church was inspired by the Prussian explorer Alexander von Humboldt's Cosmos and his exploration of the continent; Humboldt had challenged artists to portray the "physiognomy" of the Andes.
Two years after returning to America, Church painted The Heart of the Andes (1859), now in the collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, at the Tenth Street Studio in New York City. It is more than five feet high and nearly ten feet in length (167.9 × 302.9 cm). Church unveiled the painting to an astonished public in New York City in 1859. The painting's frame had drawn curtains fitted to it, creating the illusion of a view out a window. The audience sat on benches to view the piece and Church strategically darkened the room, but spotlighted the landscape painting. Church also brought plants from a past trip to South America to heighten the viewers' experience. The public were charged admission and provided with opera glasses to examine the painting's details. The work was an instant success. Church eventually sold it for $10,000, at that time the highest price ever paid for a work by a living American artist.
Church showed his paintings at the annual exhibitions of the National Academy of Design, the American Art Union, and at the Boston Art Club, alongside Thomas Cole, Asher Brown Durand, John F. Kensett, and Jasper F. Cropsey. Critics and collectors appreciated the new art of landscape on display, and its progenitors came be to called the Hudson River School.
In 1860 Church bought a farm in Hudson, New York and married Isabel Carnes. Both Church's first son and daughter died in March, 1865 of diphtheria, but he and his wife started a new family with the birth of Frederic Joseph in 1866. When he and his wife had a family of four children, they began to travel together. In 1867 they visited Europe and the Middle East, allowing Church to return to painting larger works.
Before leaving on that trip, Church purchased the eighteen acres (73,000 m²) on the hilltop above his Hudson farm—land he had long wanted because of its magnificent views of the Hudson River and the Catskills. In 1870 he began the construction of a Persian-inspired mansion on the hilltop and the family moved into the home in the summer of 1872. Richard Morris Hunt was the architect for Cosy Cottage at Olana, and was consulted early on in the plans for the mansion, but after the Church's trip to Europe and what is now Lebanon, Israel, Palestine, Syria, Jordan and Egypt, the English architect Calvert Vaux was hired to complete the project. Church was deeply involved in the process, even completing his own architectural sketches for its design. This highly personal and eclectic castle incorporated many of the design ideas that he had acquired during his travels.
Illness affected Church's output. Although he was enormously successful as an artist by 1876 Church was stricken with rheumatoid arthritis which greatly reduced his ability to paint. He eventually painted with his left hand and continued to produce his work although on a much slower pace. He devoted much of his energies during the final 20 years of his life to his house at Olana. Church died on April 7, 1900. He is buried in Spring Grove Cemetery, Hartford, Connecticut.
For his spectacular and panoramic paintings of the wilderness of North and South America, Frederic Edwin Church was a dominant figure in the second generation of the Hudson River School. His canvases celebrated the drama of the American frontier and expressed the expansionist and optimistic outlook of the United States in the mid-nineteenth century.
Biography from William A. Karges Fine Art - Santa Monica
Born in Hartford, Connecticut, Church was the son of a wealthy businessman. He received his early art training from local painters Benjamin Hutchins Coe and Alexander Hamilton Emmons. In 1844, with the help of the art patron Daniel Wadsworth, he became the first pupil of the famous Hudson River School painter Thomas Cole. While studying at Cole's studio in Catskill, New York, Church absorbed his teacher's methods of sketching and became a proponent of his epic style of painting. Upon completing two years of training, Church moved to New York, where he established a studio in the Art-Union building.
Church was successful in New York. In 1848, he became one of the youngest artists to be elected to the status of academician at the National Academy of Design, and he was soon training pupils of his own, including Jervis McEntee and William James Stillman. In the subsequent period, Church emulated Cole's art, painting large-scale landscapes of the Hudson River Valley and of New England. Influenced by the writings of English theorist John Ruskin, he began to paint in a more precise manner, focusing on specific effects of weather and atmosphere. He was also inspired by the writings of Alexander von Humboldt, a German naturalist-explorer.
Church gradually began to take a more scientific approach to nature, using sketches he had created in the outdoors in the preparation of his canvases. In 1853, he became the first American artist to visit South America. Accompanying Cyrus Field, who later gained renown for his participation in the transatlantic cable project, Church followed Humboldt's 1802 route from Colombia to Ecuador. Along the way, Church drew from nature, producing the drawings that became the basis for important canvases depicting exotic subjects such as "The Cordilleras: Sunrise" (1855; Private Collection).
When his works received high praise, Church set off on a second expedition in 1857. On this sojourn, he traveled to Ecuador with the landscape painter Louis Remy Mignot. It was on this trip that he was able to concentrate on the scenery of the Andes, and he filled diaries and sketchbooks with records of the vegetation and the countryside.
Characterized by vast vistas and atmospheric detail, the works that resulted from this sojourn demonstrate Church's unique approach. Among the great triumphs of the artist's career was "Heart of the Andes" (1859; Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York), in which Church captured the essence of the tropics. Another significant product of this period in the artist's career was "Niagara" (1857; Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.), which established Church as the leading interpreter of the American spirit.
During the 1860s, Church continued to travel, seeking subject matter for his paintings. He continued to produce visions of the tropics such as "Twilight in the Wilderness" (1860; Cleveland Museum of Art) and "Cotopaxi" (1862; The Detroit Institute of Arts) until 1867, when he took a year and a half trip to Europe and the Middle East.
He first spent six months in London and Paris, and then continued on to Alexandria, Beirut, Constantinople, Baalbeck, Petra, and Jerusalem. Due to his fascination with ancient civilizations, he also visited Naples, Paestum, and Greece. On his return, he stopped in London, in order to study the works of Turner. The results of this trip were numerous oil sketches and drawings that he used for a series of paintings including "The Parthenon" (1871; The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York) and "Jerusalem" from the Mount of Olives (1870; The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City, Missouri).
By 1880, Church's painting activity was curtailed due to ill health, and in 1883, rheumatism crippled his right arm and hand. In 1890, he settled at Olana, his grand villa near Hudson, New York, which had been designed for him in the Persian and Moorish styles by the architect Calvert Vaux in 1870. The house, which is preserved as a museum today, reflected Church's eclectic interests and his travels, including exotic furnishings and decorative objects. The artist adorned the walls with works by the Old Masters, especially landscapes by Claude Lorrain and Salvator Rosa. Although he spent the winters of his last years in Mexico, Church spent most of the final phase of his life at Olana. He died in New York City.
Frederic Church was born in Hartford, Connecticut, in 1826, to a wealthy family who encouraged his artistic interests. Church's primary art instruction was with the Hudson River School master Thomas Cole, with whom he spent four years. Church was Cole's first and last student.
** If you discover credit omissions or have additional information to add, please let us know at
Church's works were dramatic Hudson River-style paintings of the unspoiled landscape, often heroic and "lit from within" suggesting the presence of a higher power. Church began a successful exhibition history by showing at the National Academy of Design at the age of 19.
Church established a home and studio overlooking the Hudson River, a frequent source of inspiration. He was also an avid traveler, having taken his vision to South America. His epic tropical visions from this trip were highly acclaimed upon his return to New York.
Church's career was cut short when rheumatism crippled his right hand in 1877. He died in New York in 1900.
Share an image of the Artist [email protected]. |
Artificial intelligence when united with art advances how humans understand and interact with artworks. Specifically, the Harvard Art Museums is using computer vision to categorize, tag, describe, annotate, and humanize its collections. We start by giving each AI an image of an artwork. We then ask it to describe what it sees. The machine views and describes the museum’s collection with no additional context. It’s as if the machine is walking into an art museum for the first time. Since the computer lacks any context or artistic knowledge beyond what is depicted in each image, the machine’s interpretations of the artworks lean closer to reflecting the public rather than experts. By folding in an AI’s perspective, browsing and searching art becomes more accessible and intuitive to non-museumgoers.
Not only are the Harvard Art Museums using AI to promote accessibility in art, but other institutions are also pursuing similar efforts. For example, MoMA with the Google Arts and Culture Lab used artificial intelligence to connect older exhibit photos dating back to 1929 to their online collection, allowing greater public access to their exhibition history. Additionally, the machine’s unique perspective can be used to aid art historians—researchers at Rutgers University have used machine learning to uncover previously unnoticed connections of influence between artists. As art institutions are becoming more aware of artificial intelligence, the scope of its real-world applications continues to expand. |
FROM ATKINS TO PALEO, DIET TRENDS HAVE LARGELY VILIFIED carbohydrates, but proteins (and exercise) remain a trusty, glorified sta- ple. According to the makers of many popular food products and supplements, not only can consuming proteins help you build muscle, it can also help
you lose weight and burn fat. Many teens seek out products, such as protein
bars, powders, and shakes, to slim down or bulk up.
Take 16-year-old Sarah, who is interested
in burning fat and building lean muscle for
improving her long-distance running times.
She heard that if she swaps her morning cereal for two egg whites, she will
be healthier and slimmer, and will
feel fuller throughout the day. Sarah
also heard that carbohydrates are
bad, but proteins are good for her
health. So she started to bring
energy bars with her to school
instead of the sandwich she
used to routinely eat for lunch.
Because she doesn’t want to
forget her vegetables, dinner is now
usually broccoli and a piece of lean
chicken breast. Her dad will offer her
brown rice or a slice of hearty wheat
bread, but she often turns him down.
Anthony, who is 15 years old, wants to
build muscle to try out for the Junior Varsity
football team at school. He hits the gym for
two hours per day to get a
head start on the season.
He also orders a large
container of protein pow-
online to help
him build muscle
and recover from
makes sure he has meat
at every meal, especially
red meat such as steak
and hamburger, because
if some protein helps him
gain muscle, he reasons
that a lot should really help
him bulk up.
Sound familiar? Sarah and Anthony’s
approaches are probably not unlike those of
many teens around the country. But will their
protein-heavy diets really help them achieve
Too much of a good thing?
Of course, Sarah and Anthony are correct
in recognizing the importance of protein. Proteins are large biomolecules consisting of long
chains of amino acids, and like carbohydrates
and fat, are macronutrients. Macronutrients
are compounds that humans (and many other
animals) need in their diets to meet their
nutritional needs and provide the energy, or
calories, they need to survive.
But what Sarah and Anthony don’t know is
that they may be eating unhealthy amounts of
protein. While all that protein might provide
some of the benefits they have heard about,
scientists and doctors don’t know whether
eating extra protein—particularly in the form
of supplements such as protein powders and
bars—lives up to all the hype.
By loading up on protein at the expense
of other foods, Sarah and Anthony might be V I D E
Scan the cover with
mobile app to see
a video explaining
mobile app to see
Getting the Right Balance
By Kelly April Tyrrell |
|NW Mystery Racer|
|The NW-1 before going to Selfridge Field, Michigan, 1922|
|National origin||United States|
|Manufacturer||Wright Aeronautical Corporation|
|Designer||Rex Beisel |
|First flight||11 October 1922|
|Status||Both aircraft destroyed|
|Primary user||US Navy|
|Number built||2 (2 NW-1, 1 NW-2 (rebuilt from the original NW-1)|
The Navy-Wright NW series, also called the Mystery Racer were racing aircraft built by Wright Aeronautical Corporation at the request of the US Navy. Although innovative, both prototype racers were lost before achieving their true potential.
Design and development
In the early 1920s, the US Navy asked the Wright Aeronautical Corporation to design an engine based on the Lawrance J-1, the result being the Wright T-2 12-cylinder, water-cooled engine, with a proposed horsepower rating of 650 hp. At the time there was no aircraft that could properly use the engine, so the US Navy Bureau of Aeronautics designed an airframe to accommodate the new powerplant with construction of two prototypes (BU. Aer. Nos. A-6543 and A-6544) undertaken by the Wright Corporation.
Designated the Navy-Wright NW-1, A-6543, the first prototype was designed and built in three months, and flew for the first time on 11 October 1922, just days before it was entered in the 14 October 1922 Pulitzer air race at Selfridge Field, Michigan. Entered at the last minute, the press dubbed the new entry, the Mystery Racer.
The Navy-Wright NW-1 was an unconventional streamlined design, based on a sesquiplane with main wheels faired into the lower wing, and bracing minimized to further reduce drag. Lamblin radiators were suspended beneath the fuselage and wire bracing was incorporated for the mid-fuselage mounted main wing and tailplane.
With the rush to complete the NW-1, the aircraft was not fully tested and by the time of the Pulitzer Race, Lt. S. Sanderson had little opportunity to fly the racer. During the race, the NW-1 wearing race number "9", although reaching a top speed of 186 mph, its engine overheated and failed causing the NW-1 to ditch into Lake St. Clair, flipping over on its back.
With the major damage suffered in the ditching, the US Navy resorted to cannibalizing the wrecked aircraft to provide spares for the second prototype, A-6544, which had been retained as an engine testbed for the T-2 engine.
Early in 1923, a decision was made to redesign the racer and in the months following, a completely new design emerged with the original landplane being converted into a floatplane. Radical surgery was performed to turn the sesquiplane into a biplane, with strutted wings, wing surface radiators, enlarged tail surfaces and a set of floats also part of the redesign. Fitted with a new, more powerful 700 hp Wright T-3, a development of the T-2 and a three-blade propeller, the second of the NW series was designated NW-2 and was entered into the 1923 Schneider Trophy held at Cowes, Isle of Wight.
The Navy conducted flight testing at Anacostia achieving a top speed of 176 mph, before shipping the NW-2 to England in September 1923. At Cowes, wearing the race number "5", during pre-race testing, the NW-2 suffered a propeller failure in flight with the shattered propeller slicing into the floats. The pilot, Lt. Frank Wead alighted but the severely damaged floats collapsed and the NW-2 sank, with Wead scrambling to safety, and being rescued uninjured.
The Navy-Wright NW series was abandoned after the sinking of the NW-2.
Data from
- Crew: 1
- Length: 24 ft 0 in (7.31 m)
- Wingspan: 30 ft 6 in (9.29 m)
- Height: 11 ft 0 in (3.35 m)
- Wing area: 180 ft2 (16.72 m2)
- Empty weight: 2,480 lb (1,125 kg)
- Gross weight: 3,000 lb (1,400 kg)
- Powerplant: 1 × Wright T-2, 525 (650 hp realized in test. ) hp ( kW)
- Maximum speed: 209 mph (336 km/h)
- Endurance: 1.6 hours hours
Data from
- Crew: 1
- Length: 28 ft 4.5 in (8.63 m)
- Wingspan: 27 ft 11 in (8.5 m)
- Wing area: 266 ft2 (24.71 m2)
- Powerplant: 1 × Wright T-3, 750 hp ( kW)
- Maximum speed: 176.5 mph ( km/h)
- Endurance: 1.99 hours hours
- Aircraft of comparable role, configuration and era
- Cowin 1999, p. 26.
- Angelucci 1987, pp. 325–326.
- Kinnert 1969, p. 70.
- Cowin 1962, p. 361.
- Kinnert 1969, p. 67.
- Kinnert 1969, p. 78.
- Angelucci, Enzo. The American Fighter from 1917 to the present. New York: Orion Books, 1987. ISBN 0-517-56588-9.
- Cowin, Hugh W. The Risk Takers, A Unique Pictorial Record 1908-1972: Racing & Record-setting Aircraft (Aviation Pioneer 2). London: Osprey Aviation, 1999. ISBN 1-85532-904-2.
- Cowin, Hugh W. "The Navy-Wright 'Mystery Ship'." Air Pictorial, Volume 24, NO. 11, November 1962.
- Kinert, Reed. Racing Planes and Air Races: A Complete History, Vol. 1 1909-1923. Fallbrook, California: Aero Publishers, Inc., 1969.
|Wikimedia Commons has media related to Navy-Wright NW.| |
In our last learn to sew video we discussed adding a facing around a neckline. Today’s video will be about adding a bias tape facing to an armhole opening.
Bias tape is a narrow strip of fabric cut on the bias (stretchy) part of the fabric. Because it’s cut on the bias the fabric stretches, making it perfect for sewing around curves.
You can make your own bias tape or purchase it from your local craft/sewing store. Bias tape comes in several different sizes, however, for a simple facing you’ll only need single fold bias tape
Bias Tape Facing
A bias tape facing is a facing made from bias tape. Like the regular facing, you sew the edge of the bias tape to the edge of your curve sewing in the ditch of your bias tape fold. Once attached you fold it over and top-stitch the other side of the bias tape down, encasing any raw edges. Hopefully, the video provides a more visual explanation for you.
Bias Tape Hem
The same method used for adding a bias tape facing can pretty much be used for any type of curved hem as well. This is great if you want a really narrow hem, alternatively, you could use hem facing which is basically the same thing, but typically the size of a hem fold.
My Fave Method
While every person has their own personal preference I like using the bias tape facing in almost all cases. There’s less fabric so there is no bulkiness and I don’t have to use extra fabric for cutting my facing.
The only time I don’t use bias tape facing is when there is a collar involved. I feel like a traditional facing has more weight to keep the collar in place. Also, some patterns have an attached facing as part of the main pattern piece, such as when making a wrap dress. |
Come into Green Gardens Nursery and work with our knowledgeable staff to find the perfect indoor plant for your home. Not only can indoor plants transform a room’s aesthetic, but they also have the ability to boost mood, increase creativity, lessen stress, improve sleep, and filter out indoor air toxins. These are all great reasons to invest in plants for your home.
Here are some of our favorite house plants:
A plant that produces oxygen while you snooze.
The snake plant is a no-fuss tropical plant that has thin, upright leaves with irregular banding resembling reptile skin. Often positioned as a low light, or even no light, plant — snake plants actually prefer medium to bright light but can tolerate very low light levels like no other. They won’t actively thrive in super low light levels, but they’ll survive! This adaptation, along with their succulent nature, makes for an almost indestructible houseplant.
Surprised that snake plants are considered succulents? Like other succulent plants, snakes have a modified form of photosynthesis. In order to preserve water, they open their pores exclusively at night. But since photosynthesis only happens with daylight — the plant stores carbon dioxide absorbed at night for use during the day, and releases oxygen at night when its pores open. This helps it maximize efficiency in cleaning the air. In a study conducted by NASA, snake plants were found to filter out various toxins such as benzene, formaldehyde, trichloroethylene, xylene and toluene.
A plant that creates instant spa-shower vibes.
Tillandsia is a genus of neotropical epiphytic plants that belong under the bromeliad family. They are referred to as ‘air plants’ because of their ability to grow without any soil. In their native environment, they can be found growing on top of tree branches, cliffs, and even telephone wires! They have evolved to pull in water from the frequent rain showers in these places through their fuzzy trichomes.
In your home, air plants make the perfect houseplant for a bathroom that receives plenty of natural light. The running water from your bathroom sink and shower helps increase humidity levels, which mimic air plants’ native environments. Just another reason to enjoy a long, warm shower.
A plant that makes burgundy the new black.
The rubber tree is known for its glossy burgundy leaves. It only looks like it would be hard to care for. It does well in medium indirect light to dappled sun along with weekly waterings when the potting mix is completely dry.
Ficus elastica, a member of the fig family Moraceae, gets its common name because its latex sap was once used to make rubber (before synthetics and other natural alternatives became available). Its sap can be considered toxic, and although not fatal, we recommend keeping it out of reach of small children and pets. You wouldn’t want to come home to a sap-covered couch.
A plant that is a natural extension of your medicine cabinet.
Although there are over 300 species of aloe, it is the Aloe vera that is used most often for medicinal purposes. The ancient Egyptians and Mesopotamians kept extensive records of its use — even referencing it in the Book of the Dead as part of the skin-preservation process during mummification! Nowadays, we use aloe to soothe irritated skin, heal minor burns, reduce itch, and more. Simply cut off a large, mature leaf, squeeze out the gooey insides, and apply directly to your skin.
Recent studies have shown that the aloe has an additional benefit — it filters the toxins benzene and formaldehyde from indoor air — making it the perfect plant pick for the hub of your home. Place your aloe on a warm, sunny sill, and water only when dry. Aloes are drought-tolerant and prefer to be under-watered. Not sure when to water? Wrinkles on the aloe’s fleshy leaves are a telltale sign.
A hardy houseplant that doesn’t require extra work.
The pothos is a vigorous grower that is known for its long, trailing vines. In its natural habitat these vines both climb up neighboring trees, thanks to their aerial roots, and stretch across the forest ground, thanks to their trailing stems. You could think of the pothos as a tropical weed! In fact, in some places they are thought to be an invasive species because of their hardiness and rapid growth.
But the pothos easy-to-grow nature makes for a wonderful houseplant. It requires little care and can handle minimal sunlight, yet is attractively fully and leafy. In fact, it is fondly nicknamed the ‘cubicle plant’. Wonderfully versatile, the pothos can be grown both in soil and water. And is an easy plant to propagate. Studies have show it is also efficient in removing pollutants such as formaldehyde, xylene, and benzene from indoor air. Breathe easy while you work. |
Danish Fastelavn In 50 words or less
Danish Fastelavn is somewhat a hybrid of Halloween and Carnival. Back in the old days, this Danish feast included lots of alcohol, barrel hitting and cat killing. Today, the cat is cardboard and the tradition is mostly for children. Don't let this stop you from enjoying Danish Fastelavn though.
The dull facts of Fastelavn
The Danish Fastelavn tradition [Shrovetide] takes place in February in the week up to the Catholic Season of Lent (49 days prior to Easter Sunday).
The word Fastelavn originates from the German word ‘Fastelabend’, which means ‘the evening before the fast’. The word is the North European equivalent to carnival [carne vale] that originally meant ‘goodbye meat’ and is the time of feasting before the fast of Lent.
Now that we got all the dull facts out of the way, we’ll get on to the more interesting stuff like how to celebrate Fastelavn and take full advantage of this Danish tradition.
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NEWS, OFFERS AND TIPS AND TRICKS TO DANISH
Common Danish words for Fastelavn:
Below you'll find a few Danish words and phrases for Fastelavn in Denmark. Click on the icon to hear the pronunciation:
Fastelavnsudklædning – [Shrovetide costume] Danes (mostly the children) dress up for Fastelavn. If you are invited to an adult Fastelavn party, you’ll be expected to find a costume as well.
Fastelavnstønde – [Shrovetide barrel] A fastelavnstønde is a decorated wooden barrel filled with sweets. The barrel is hung up for Fastelavn and children hit it with a wooden bat until it breaks and the sweets inside fall out.
Slå katten af tønden – [Knocking the cat out of the barrel] This is a traditional Danish Fastelavn activity similar to the Mexican piñata tradition. Today, it’s usually kids hitting a barrel full of sweets. Historically, the bloodthirsty Danes put a real black cat in the barrel, and the beating of the barrel (and the cat) was a safeguard against evil.
Kattekonge/dronning – [King/queen of cats] If you are lucky enough to be the one who knocks out the bottom of the barrel (making all the sweets fall out) you become kattedronning (queen of cats). The one who knocks down the last piece of the barrel becomes kattekonge (king of cats).
Fastelavnsris – [Shrovetide birch rod] is a bundle of leafless twigs bound together and decorated with cardboard cats, whistles and treats. Most Danish children get a fastelavnsris on the morning of Fastelavn. They use it to 'birch' their parents in bed, while singing:
Fastelavn er mit navn, boller vil jeg have,
hvis jeg ingen boller får, så laver jeg ballade.
[Fastelavn is my name, buns I want to have,
If I don’t get any buns, I’ll make trouble]
How to join in
Having a kid definitely helps, but you can still enjoy Danish fastelavn buns or find a few Fastelavn parties for adults. The important part is having a costume if you want to join in.
You can also organize your own Fastelavn party. Visit fastelavnstoenden.dk to order the necessary props.
Must try foods or beverages
Modern Danish Fastelavn does not entail a lot of traditional foods or beverages. Today, the tradition involves sweets for the children and 'fastelavnsboller'.
Fastelavnsbolle – [Shrovetide bun] is a popular baked good associated with Danish Fastelavn. This is a round sweet roll usually covered with icing and the best buns are filled with a custard-type cream. Definitely, worth a try.
Inspiration for your Danish bucket list
1. Join the Danes when they hit the cat of the barrel. This activity normally takes place at schools, sport clubs or churches. Check your local newspaper to find a place near you. Who knows ... Maybe you’ll become king or queen of cats.
2. Make your own fastelavnsris [Shrovetide birch rod]. You can buy the twigs in the shops and decorate the birch rod with your favourite colors. They look gorgeous in a vase at home.
3. Make sure to try a Danish 'fastelavnsbolle'. They are delicious. Be careful though. Calorie-wise, they are definitely trouble. |
|Confederate States Secretary of the Navy|
March 4, 1861 – May 2, 1865
|Preceded by||Position established|
|Succeeded by||Position abolished|
|United States Senator
March 4, 1851 – January 21, 1861
|Preceded by||David Yulee|
|Succeeded by||Adonijah Welch|
Trinidad, British West Indies
(now Trinidad and Tobago)
|Died||November 9, 1873 (aged 60–61)
Pensacola, Florida, US
Stephen Russell Mallory (1812 – November 9, 1873) served in the United States Senate as Senator (Democrat) from Florida from 1850 to the secession of his home state and the outbreak of the American Civil War. For much of that period, he was chairman of the Committee on Naval Affairs. This was a time of rapid naval reform, and he insisted that the ships of the United States Navy should be as capable as those of Great Britain and France, the foremost navies in the world at that time. He also wrote a bill, and guided it through Congress, that provided for compulsory retirement of officers who did not meet the standards of the profession.
Although he was not a leader in the secession movement, Mallory followed his state out of the Union. When the Confederate States of America was formed, he was named Secretary of the Navy in the administration of President Jefferson Davis. He held the position throughout the existence of the Confederacy. Because of indifference to naval matters by most others in the Confederacy, Mallory was able to shape the Confederate Navy according to the principles he had learned while serving in the US Senate. Some of his ideas, such as the incorporation of armor into warship construction, were quite successful and became standard in navies around the world. On the other hand, the navy was often handicapped by administrative ineptitude in the Navy Department. During the war, he was weakened politically by a Congressional investigation into the Navy Department for its failure in defense of New Orleans. After months of taking testimony, the investigating committee concluded that it had no evidence of wrongdoing on his part.
Mallory resigned after the Confederate government had fled from Richmond at the end of the war. Following the final collapse of the Confederacy, he and several of his colleagues in the cabinet were imprisoned and charged with treason. After more than a year in prison, the public mood had softened, and he was granted parole by President Andrew Johnson. He returned to Florida, where he supported his family in his final years by again practicing law. Unable to hold elective office by the terms of his parole, he continued to make his opinions known by writing letters to newspapers. His health began to deteriorate, although he was not incapacitated until the very end. He died on November 9, 1873.
- 1 Early life
- 2 Adulthood in Florida
- 3 In the US Senate, 1850–1861
- 4 Confederate Secretary of the Navy: nomination and confirmation
- 5 Investigation of the Navy Department
- 6 After the war
- 7 Notes
- 8 References
- 9 External links
Mallory was born in Trinidad, British West Indies, in 1812. His parents were Charles and Ellen Mallory. His father was a construction engineer originally from Redding, Connecticut. He met and married the Irish-born Ellen Russell in Trinidad, and there the couple had two sons. The family moved to the United States and settled in Key West, Florida in 1820. Young Stephen was sent to school near Mobile, Alabama, but his education was interrupted by his father's death. His elder brother John also died about this time. To support herself and her surviving son, Ellen opened a boardinghouse for seamen. Then, she sent her son away for further schooling at a Moravian academy in Nazareth, Pennsylvania. Although he was for all of his life a practicing Catholic, he had only praise for the education he received at the academy. After about three years, his mother could no longer afford to pay his tuition, so in 1829 his schooling ended and he returned home.
Adulthood in Florida
Young Mallory prepared for a profession by reading law in the office of Judge William Marvin. Because of its geographical position, Key West was often sought as a port of refuge for ships caught in storms, and was for the same reason near frequent shipwrecks. Marvin was recognized as an authority on maritime law, particularly applied to laws of wreck and salvage, and Mallory argued many admiralty cases before him. He was reputed to be one of the best young trial lawyers in the state.
His career prospering, in 1838 Mallory courted and wed Angela Moreno, member of a wealthy Spanish-speaking family living in Pensacola. Their marriage produced nine children, five of whom died young; daughters Margaret ("Maggie") and Ruby and sons Stephen R. Jr. ("Buddy") and Attila ("Attie") survived into adulthood. Buddy followed his father into politics, and he would eventually also serve as United States Senator from Florida.
Mallory held a few minor public offices, beginning in 1832 with his selection as town marshal. One of his first paid positions was as Inspector of Customs, for which he earned three dollars per day. Later, President Polk appointed him Collector of Customs. Before his marriage, he joined the Army and took part in the Seminole War, 1835–1837. He also was elected judge for Monroe County for the years 1837–1845.
In 1850, the sectional differences that eventually culminated in the Civil War led to a convention to be held in Nashville, Tennessee for the purpose of defining a common course of action for all Southern (slave-holding) states. Although Mallory had held no statewide offices, he was regarded as sufficiently powerful in the state Democratic Party to be chosen as an alternate delegate to the convention. Personal considerations kept him from attending, but he expressed his agreement with the purposes of the convention in a letter that was widely reprinted in the Florida newspapers.
In the US Senate, 1850–1861
The term in office of Senator from Florida David Levy Yulee expired in 1850. He sought reappointment, but he had aligned himself too strongly with the Fire-eaters, and also had antagonized some commercial interests in the state. The moderates who favored working within the Union still dominated Florida politics, and they successfully sought to put Mallory in place of the radical Yulee. The selection process in the Florida state legislature was somewhat irregular, and Yulee protested, carrying his protest all the way to the Senate itself. That body determined that the Florida legislature had acted within its authority in certifying Mallory, and so he was seated.
Senator from Florida
Much of what he did in the Senate can be described as the typical sponsorship of legislation that would benefit his state. With his sponsorship, the Senate passed a bill that would aid railroads in Florida, and another that would sell off some of the live oak reservations maintained by the Federal government for the Navy; both bills failed in the House of Representatives. He was more successful with bills aimed at prosecuting the ongoing campaign against the Seminole Indians, although the problem seems to have been overstated. His bills would provide compensation for persons who had suffered from the depredations of Indian raids, and would further the process of removing the aborigines from the state. He also introduced bills that provided for marine hospitals in port cities in Florida. None of this would have been considered exceptional for the era.
Mallory was placed on the Senate Committee on Naval Affairs. His assignment became significant when President Millard Fillmore in his Message to Congress of December 13, 1851, recommended Congressional action on two issues. First was the problem of what to do with ineffective officers in the Navy. At the time, promotion was based solely on seniority, and no policy existed for removing officers who could not or would not fulfill their duties. Second was the issue of discipline in the enlisted rates. The practice of flogging had been outlawed in the previous Congress, and many of the old captains believed discipline on their warships was deteriorating; they wanted a return to the old ways, or at least a reasonable substitute that would enable them to exert their authority.
Mallory's first major speech in Congress was in favor of a return to flogging, which he argued was needed in order that a captain would be able to control his seamen in battle. His position was unpopular throughout the nation, and Congress refused to lift the ban. His views on flogging, for good or ill, were forgotten when he turned his energies to the second of President Fillmore's proposals, that of reforming the officer corps of the Navy. He was by this time chairman of the Senate Committee on Naval Affairs, and the law that Congress passed was recognized as coming from his hand. It established a Retirement Board of senior naval officers, who examined the qualifications of all other commissioned officers. Those who were deemed incapable or unworthy of their rank were placed on a retired list, the first compulsory retirement in the history of the US Navy. By most accounts, the board did its work creditably, but many of the officers who were adversely affected did not agree. Among those who were forced into early retirement was Matthew Fontaine Maury, too crippled to go to sea, but whose study of ocean currents formed the basis for the new science of oceanography. Maury and some of the other retirees enlisted other Senators to support their cases, and the debate was renewed. In the end, however, Mallory's views prevailed, a testimonial to his parliamentary skills. The enmity between Maury and Mallory lasted the remainder of their lives and distorted their performance in the Civil War, when both men sided with the South.
Mallory's tenure on the Committee on Naval Affairs came during a time of great innovation in naval warfare. He kept abreast of developments in other navies, and he made sure that the US Navy would incorporate the latest thinking into its new ships. Britain and France, then the two foremost navies in the world, were in the process of converting their fleets from sail to steam, and from paddles to screws. In 1853, the committee recommended passage of a bill providing for the addition of six new screw frigates to the fleet; when delivered, some considered them to be the best frigates in the world. In 1857, his committee persuaded the Senate to authorize twelve sloops-of-war. These entered the navy beginning in 1858, on the verge of the Civil War.
Another innovation that was being considered was that of armor. Mallory was here somewhat ahead of his time, enthusiastically supporting iron cladding for ships before the fledgling metals industry in the country could supply it in the requisite quantities. No armored vessels were commissioned while he was in the Senate, but whatever fault there was lay elsewhere. He spoke up for extending appropriations for an armored vessel that was intended for the defense of New York Harbor; named the Stevens Battery after its designer and builder Robert L. Stevens, it had been laid down in 1842 but was still incomplete in 1853, when Mallory gave his argument. His pleading was unsuccessful in that the Senate did not agree to continue funding the project, but in his supporting speech he expressed some of the principles that guided his thinking when he later became the Confederate Secretary of the Navy.
Representing as he did a state in the Deep South, Mallory could hardly have avoided taking a public stance on the issues that were tearing the nation apart. The occasion arose when the Senate considered the admission of Kansas to the Union. Its Lecompton Constitution would allow slavery in Kansas, and citizens who were against extending the practice into new territories seized upon the widespread irregularities in the adoption procedure to oppose it. Senator Preston King of New York mounted a two-hour attack on the constitution and Southern policy in general, following which Mallory replied in what his biographers describe as "probably his most effective speech in the Senate." One segment of his talk presented the rationale of the slave-holders in their unwillingness to accept majority rule. Addressing the question whether the constitution had been ratified by "the people," he said: "States have conferred, and may at any time confer, their whole political power on a minority. They may make disqualifications dependent upon the tenure of freehold estate, upon the payment of tax, upon militia duty, or upon the color of skin; but whoever the State chooses to confer her political authority upon, are the people." He foresaw the decline in relative power of the slave-holding states, although at this time he did not believe it would necessarily lead to secession. He concluded his remarks by a pledge to follow the South whatever happened: "It is not for me to indicate the path she [the South] may, in her wisdom, pursue; but, sir, ... my whole heart is with her, and she will find me treading it with undivided affections."
Despite his willing adherence to the Southern position on the issues that were dividing the country, Mallory was not prominent in the secession movement. He advocated reconciliation almost up to the moment that Florida passed its ordnance of secession. That occurred on January 10, 1861, making Florida the third state (behind South Carolina and Mississippi) to leave the Union. On January 21, Mallory delivered his farewell speech in the United States Senate.
In the days before Abraham Lincoln took office, parties in the seceding states disagreed over the proper course of action concerning the forts within their domains. In Florida, three forts remained in the possession of the United States Army: Fort Zachary Taylor at Key West, Fort Jefferson in the Dry Tortugas, and Fort Pickens near Pensacola. Some of the most strident secessionists proposed that they be taken over immediately, by force if needed, beginning with Fort Pickens. Cooler heads hoped to avoid bloodshed and gain possession by negotiation; they made much of the conciliatory words of William H. Seward, already selected to be Secretary of State in the incoming administration. Mallory and Florida's other Senator, David L. Yulee, and the two Senators from Alabama sent telegrams to their respective governors urging caution. Other Southern Senators lent their support, and President-elect Jefferson Davis seemed to agree. In the end, the moderates won out, and no attack was made on Fort Pickens. Although Mallory was hardly alone, his political opponents later used his perceived pro-Union stance as an excuse to attack him.
The governmental structure of the newly formed Confederate States of America was very much like that of the parent United States. The executive branch was partitioned into several departments, each headed by a secretary or equivalent who would advise the president. The constitution provided for a navy that would be directed by its own department, and President Jefferson Davis nominated Mallory to be Confederate States Secretary of the Navy. He was chosen for two principal reasons: first, he had extensive experience with nautical affairs, both in his boyhood home of Key West and later in Washington; and second, he was from Florida. In a bow to the principle of States' Rights, Davis had to spread representation in his cabinet around among the seceding states. Although the requirement of geographical representation sometimes meant that the occupant would not be the best person available, the selection process worked well in Mallory's case.
Mallory's nomination as Secretary of the Navy was submitted to the Provisional Congress as soon as the act establishing a navy was passed. Despite his evident qualifications, it drew significant opposition; his detractors cited the Fort Pickens incident as evidence that he was not strongly pro-secession. Ultimately, however, he was confirmed.
As few other persons in the Confederate government were interested in naval matters, Mallory had almost free rein to shape the department, as well as the navy it controlled, according to his own views. The result was very much the product of his prior experience. The Department of the Navy was organized into separate offices, equivalent to the bureau system of the United States Navy; whereas the US Navy had five bureaus, the Confederate Navy had only four: Orders and Detail (dealing with personnel), Provisions and Clothing, Medicine and Surgery, and Ordnance and Hydrography. Although there was no Office of Construction and Repair, its function was met by John L. Porter. Porter served as Chief Naval Constructor, without title from the start until the position was officially established in 1863, and thereafter with title until the end of the war. A few other functions lay outside the bureau system: a small Marine Corps, a few men who were sent to Europe to acquire vessels there and who reported directly to Mallory, and a Torpedo Bureau.
At the start, the Confederate Navy faced one of the problems that Mallory had encountered when he was chairman of the United States Senate Committee on Naval Affairs: an overabundance of high-ranking officers who were too old to go to sea. This came about because the Confederacy had created its navy by promising that men resigning from the US Navy would enter the CS Navy at their old rank. Hoping to avoid the stagnation that was the result of the former promotion process, Mallory proposed that promotion should depend solely on "gallant or meritorious conduct during the war." His proposal was quickly made into law by the Confederate Congress. Still not completely satisfied, in 1863 Mallory initiated the creation of a Provisional Navy, which in effect established two officer corps. The officers whom Mallory or his advisers deemed incapable of combat were retained in the Regular Navy, while young and presumably more aggressive officers would transfer to the Provisional Navy. Officers for fighting ships would be drawn from the Provisional Navy, and they could be promoted without regard for seniority if they served with distinction.
Mallory also was able to shape naval policy and doctrine. After viewing the disparity between the shipbuilding and other manufacturing facilities of the Confederacy and those of the Union, he set forth a fourfold plan for the navy:
- 1. Send out commerce raiders to destroy the enemy's mercantile marine.
- 2. Build ironclad vessels in Southern shipyards for defensive purposes.
- 3. Obtain by purchase or construction abroad armored ships capable of fighting on the open seas.
- 4. Employ new weapons and techniques of warfare.
Attacks on Union commerce
From the start, one of the main efforts of the Confederate Navy was to counter the blockade of its ports by the Union Navy. Mallory believed that by attacking the merchant shipping that carried trade to Northern ports he could force his Union counterpart, Secretary of the Navy Gideon Welles, to divert his own small fleet to defend against the raiders. In the early days of the war, the Confederacy tried to enlist the services of private shipowners in the service by offering letters of marque and reprisal. Issuance of the letters was not in the purview of the Navy Department, but Mallory was aware of them and saw them as part of his plan. For several reasons, the privateers did not have the success that was hoped for. Although they ventured out throughout the war, they had only fleeting success, and that had ceased by the end of the first year.
He was more directly involved in the activities of the commissioned raiders, ships of the Confederate States Navy that were sent out to destroy rather than capture enemy commerce. He first proposed their use as early as April 18, 1861. The first raider, CSS Sumter, avoided the Union blockade at New Orleans on June 30, 1861. From then until after the war was over, the small group of raiders plundered Union shipping, inflicting damage on the American Merchant Marine that persists to the present day. They failed of their primary purpose, however, because Welles maintained the Union blockade, and international trade continued as before, carried in ships flying foreign flags.
No other aspect of Mallory's tenure as Secretary of the Navy is better known than his advocacy of armored vessels. He argued that the Confederacy could never produce enough ships to compete with the industrial Union on a ship-by-ship basis. As he saw it, the South should build a few ships that were individually so far superior to their opponents as to dominate. In his words, "The perfection of a warship would doubtless be a combination of the greatest known ocean speed with the greatest known floating battery and power of resistance." He hoped that armored warships would prove to be the "ultimate weapon." He did not anticipate that his opponents would also produce armored vessels, which rapidly became important parts of both navies. Furthermore, other navies, notably Great Britain and France, stepped up the conversions of their own fleets from wood to iron. Certainly the change was under way even before the Civil War broke out; his legacy consists in forcing the change to be made sooner than would otherwise have been done.
The first ironclad to be created at Mallory's urging was CSS Virginia. The burned and scuttled USS Merrimack had been raised at Gosport (Norfolk) Navy Yard, and an armored casemate built on her hull. For armament, she carried 12 guns. She was also fitted with an iron ram. On March 8, 1862, she attacked the Union fleet enforcing the blockade at Hampton Roads, on the James River near Norfolk. She sank two major Union warships (USS Cumberland and Congress), and menaced a third (Minnesota), which had grounded in the attempt to get into action. The damages she suffered were negligible. In that first day of the battle, she had demonstrated the basic validity of Mallory's belief that armored warships could destroy the best wooden ships and were almost impervious to damage in return. As is well known, when Virginia returned to battle the next day intending to finish off Minnesota, she encountered the Union's Monitor. The two armored vessels fought inconclusively, demonstrating the flaw in Mallory's argument: an ultimate weapon is truly decisive only if one side does not have it.
After Virginia, most other Confederate ironclads had at best limited success, and many were complete failures. Particularly embarrassing were four that were contracted to be built for service on the Mississippi River. Of the four, only one, CSS Arkansas, entered into combat in the way that was intended, with full crew and under steam. Of the others, Tennessee was destroyed on the stocks; Mississippi was hastily launched and then burned to avoid capture; and Louisiana was used merely as an ineffectual floating battery at the Battle of Forts Jackson and St. Philip, when the fate of New Orleans was decided, and she was then blown up rather than be surrendered. No parties in the Confederacy acquitted themselves well in the three losses, but Mallory must bear a large part of the blame. Poor administration is among the foremost reasons for the delays that hindered completion of the vessels. By failing to prioritize their construction, he allowed Louisiana and Mississippi to compete for scarce resources. Because he did not delegate responsibility, he was swamped with details of the construction of Virginia while letting problems concerning the other ships go unresolved. And because he accepted the role implicitly assigned to his service as secondary to the Army, the Navy had to work with only the materials and funds that were left over after the Army had satisfied its needs.
Mission to Europe
The backward condition of shipyards in the seceding states convinced Mallory that he would have to look abroad to obtain the vessels that he thought would be able to challenge the US Navy. He selected two men as his primary representatives: James D. Bulloch and Lieutenant James H. North of the Confederate States Navy. North was a disappointment, but Bulloch proved to be one of the most effective agents for the Confederacy in Europe. He sought diligently and discreetly in England to acquire ships for the purposes of his government while working within or around the framework of the neutrality laws of the host nation.
Four of the Confederate Navy raiders were purchased in Britain: CSS Florida, Georgia, Shenandoah, and above all Alabama. Probably Mallory would have liked to have more, but the record shows that the few that were commissioned were more than adequate.
Efforts to purchase or have built ironclad warships were unsuccessful despite Bulloch's best efforts. Buying them was never seriously considered, as the Royal Navy would not care to give any of its best ships to a foreign power, no matter how favorably disposed. Contracts were made with private shipyards in both Britain and France to build rams to Confederate naval specifications, but their ultimate purpose could not be disguised. They therefore directly violated the neutrality laws, and American (that is, Union) officials immediately informed the governments of their existence. For a while, Her Majesty's Government chose to turn a blind eye on developments, but the Union victories at Gettysburg and Vicksburg caused them to reconsider. On September 5, 1863, Ambassador Charles Francis Adams sent a message to Foreign Minister Lord John Russell informing him that the first of the ironclads was about to leave, and that "it would be superfluous in me to point out to your Lordship that this means war." The ship was not permitted to leave and was later seized for the Royal Navy. As the French government had implicitly agreed to follow Britain's lead concerning North America, all the contracts were voided.
The Civil War provided a testing ground for numerous innovations in warfare, and Mallory was in position to provide support for many of them. His advocacy of armored vessels has been described and is the development most closely associated with his name, but he encouraged the development of several other weapons. For example, he favored the use of rifled guns, as opposed to the smoothbore muzzle loaders used in the Union Navy. The favored gun was a rifle designed by the head of his Office of Ordnance and Hydrography, Lieutenant John Mercer Brooke. The Brooke rifle gave Rebel gunners a qualitative advantage over their Yankee counterparts that persisted to the end of the war.
The torpedo office, officially named the Submarine Battery Service, developed underwater explosive devices, known as "torpedoes" at that time but as "mines" today. The office was initially led by Mallory's enemy Matthew Fontaine Maury, and later by Lieutenant Hunter Davidson. The first ship to be lost to mines was USS Cairo, on December 12, 1862. Subsequently, more vessels of all types were lost in combat to mines and torpedoes than from all other causes combined.
In Charleston Harbor, Army Captain Francis D. Lee, supported by General P. G. T. Beauregard, developed a small boat that would carry a spar torpedo. His craft, known as David, successfully exploded a torpedo against the side of USS New Ironsides, severely damaging her. Later, the more famous H. L. Hunley used one of Lee's spar torpedoes to sink USS Housatonic, the first ship to be sunk by a submarine. The Navy Department had not provided active support for Lee's experiments, but their successful result led to the use of spar torpedoes on ships throughout the fleet. (Less favorably for the Rebel cause, spar torpedoes were also immediately adopted by the Union Navy, and one was used in October 1864 to sink the ironclad CSS Albemarle.)
The loss of New Orleans came as a tremendous shock to the Confederacy, and a spate of recriminations followed. Members of Congress, noting the failure of the ironclads, blamed the navy in particular, and suggested that there was no need for a separate Navy Department. Hoping to forestall such a proposal, Mallory was able to persuade the Congress instead to investigate the conduct of the department. Each house put five of its members on the investigating committee. The chairman, Senator Clement C. Clay, was known as one of Mallory's friends, as was Representative Ethelbert Barksdale. They were at least partially balanced by Representative Henry S. Foote, a persistent critic of secession and everything that the entire Davis administration had done. Also weighing in against Mallory was Senator Charles M. Conrad, chairman of the Naval Affairs Committee, who was not a member of the investigating committee but who did appear as a prosecution witness. The committee continued to meet for more than six months, and ended with no finding of neglect or malfeasance.
The investigation may have weakened Mallory politically and certainly diverted him from other duties, but it was not enough to drive him from office. Perhaps because there was no one to replace him and perhaps because he absorbed shafts that were aimed at the president, Davis retained him in the cabinet until the end of the war. After the surrender of Lee's army at Appomattox, Mallory remained with Davis and the other cabinet members as they fled deeper into the South, first to Danville, Virginia, then to Greensboro, North Carolina, Charlotte, Abbeville, South Carolina, and finally Washington, Georgia. There, Mallory submitted his resignation and went to La Grange, Georgia, where he was temporarily reunited with his wife and children.
After the war
Capture and imprisonment
A large part of the population of the Northern states believed that the Davis government was somehow involved in the assassination of Abraham Lincoln, and although there was no evidence of their complicity, it was a political reality that had to be dealt with. One result was that the political radicals were able to force the government to prosecute those who had led the war against the Union. Mallory was one of the Confederate leaders who were charged with treason, among other things; on May 20, 1865, while he was still at La Grange, he was roused from his sleep at about midnight and taken into custody. From there he was taken to Fort Lafayette in New York Harbor, where he was confined as a political prisoner.
For several months, the demand of the public for vengeance increased, so that Mallory feared that he would face the death penalty if convicted. However, no bill of particulars to specify precisely which of his acts constituted treason was ever presented, and it became increasingly clear that no one in the Confederate government was guilty of assassinating the former president. The period for extracting vengeance passed with no one put on trial, and hope was revived. From his prison cell, Mallory began to write letters in a personal campaign to gain release. He petitioned President Andrew Johnson directly, and enlisted the support of some of his former colleagues in the Senate. His wife Angela visited Washington and importuned President Johnson and other persons who had influence. Johnson was already quite lenient in granting pardons, and the popular clamor for harsh punishment began to recede by the end of the year. On March 10, 1866, Johnson granted Mallory a "partial parole." Although he was no longer in jail, he was required to stay with his daughter in Bridgeport, Connecticut until he could take the oath of allegiance.
Release and return to Florida
In June 1866, Mallory visited Washington, where he called on many of his old friends and political adversaries, including President Johnson and Secretary of War Edwin M. Stanton, who received him cordially. He got permission to return to Florida; his return was somewhat delayed by problems with his health, but on July 19 he arrived at his home in Pensacola.
By the terms of his parole, Mallory was not permitted to hold public office, so he made a living by reopening his old law practice. Nominally excluded from politics, he managed to make his views known by writing letters and editorials for Florida newspapers. At first he urged acceptance of the reconstituted Union and acquiescence in the policies of Reconstruction, but he soon came out in opposition, particularly against black suffrage.
He had long suffered occasional attacks of gout, and these continued to plague him in the postwar years. In the winter of 1871-1872 he began to complain of his heart, and his health began to deteriorate. Still, he remained active, and the end came rather quickly. He is said to have been "listless" on November 8, 1873, and that night he began to fail. On the morning of November 9 he died. He was buried in St. Michael's Cemetery, Pensacola, Florida.
- Scharf, Confederate States Navy, p. 29n, states that he was born in 1813. Durkin, Confederate Navy Chief, p. 11n, asserts that Mallory in his childhood diary wrote that his age was nine when he began school in 1820. Most historians favor the later date, but they acknowledge that records are lacking. Mallory's tombstone in St. Michael's Cemetery, Pensacola, Florida, gives the year of 1812, but no exact birthdate:http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=pv&GRid=21357&PIpi=6333388.
- Some historians (Durkin, Luraghi, Wise) write that the father's given name was John, others (Scharf, Underwood) that it was Charles. Underwood, Mallory, p. 6, has the support of a family tradition.
- Luraghi, Confederate States Navy, p. 10.
- Durkin, Confederate Navy Chief, pp. 14–15.
- Luraghi, Confederate Navy, pp. 10–11. In the absence of law schools, "reading law" under the tutelage of a practicing member was the customary method of preparing for entry into the profession.
- Durkin, Confederate Navy Chief, pp. 31–32.
- Underwood, Mallory, p. 187.
- Clubbs, Florida Historical Quarterly, vol. 25, no. 3, pp. 232, 235, 236–237, 240. While serving as judge, the name of the court was changed to Probate Court.
- Durkin, Confederate Navy Chief, pp. 38–39.
- Underwood, Mallory, p. 21.
- Durkin, Confederate Navy Chief, p. 38–43, 48–49.
- Underwood, Mallory, pp. 22–25.
- Durkin, Confederate Navy Chief, pp. 56–60.
- His other initial committee assignment was to the minor Committee on Engrossed Bills. Congressional Globe, 32nd Congress, 1st session, p. 32.
- Congressional Globe, 32nd Congress, 1st session, p. 19.
- Durkin, Confederate Navy Chief, pp. 52–55.
- Mallory's remarks can be read in full: Congressional Globe, 32nd Congress, 1st session, Appendix, pp. 108–119.
- After 1853. Underwood, Mallory, p. 29.
- Durkin, Confederate Navy Chief, pp. 70–83.
- Tucker, Naval Warfare, pp. 51–57, 62. One of the first class of frigates, USS Merrimack, would later become more closely identified with Mallory's vision of the maritime future.
- Durkin, Confederate Navy Chief, pp. 63–64.
- Durkin, Confederate Navy Chief, p. 101. Similarly Underwood, Mallory, p. 38. His speech cannot be termed an oration. Although the language was sometimes floral in the manner of the time, his voice was so low that at one point he had to be interrupted by a request that he speak louder.
- Congressional Globe, 35th Congress, 1st session, p. 1136–1140 (March 16, 1858). Mallory's revised remarks also can be found in Congressional Globe, 35th Congress, 1st session, Appendix, pp. 214–218.
- Underwood, Mallory, pp. 70–71. See Congressional Globe, 36th Congress, 2nd session, pp. 485–486.
- Underwood, Mallory, p. 67. Two other forts near Pensacola, Forts Barrancas and McRee, were occupied by Florida militia without incident.
- Underwood, Mallory, pp. 68–70–73.
- Durkin, Confederate Navy Chief, pp. 132–133.
- "Cabinet, Confederate States," in Faust, Encyclopedia. The only other cabinet nomination to draw as much opposition was that of Judah P. Benjamin.
- Underwood, Mallory, pp. 77–79.
- Underwood, Mallory, pp. 86–87.
- Luraghi, Confederate Navy, pp. 35–36.
- Underwood, Mallory, p. 87. The Torpedo Bureau was headed initially by Mallory's antagonist Matthew F. Maury.
- Durkin, Confederate Navy Chief, p. 148.
- Durkin, Confederate Navy Chief, p. 284.
- Underwood, Mallory, p. 169.
- Durkin, Confederate Navy Chief, pp. 158–160.
- Anderson, By Sea and by River, p. 44.
- The raiders can be counted on one's fingers: Sumter, Alabama, Georgia, Florida, Shenandoah, Nashville.
- Tucker, Naval Warfare,, p. 110.
- Underwood, Mallory, p. 114.
- Anderson, By Sea and by River, pp. 212–214.
- ORN, ser. II, vol. 2, p. 51. Mallory, Report of the Secretary of the Navy to the President, April 26, 1861. Note that his ideal warship, combining speed, firepower, and armor, was not achieved until the 1930s, at the end of the battleship era. Tucker, Naval Warfare, p. 226.
- Luraghi, Confederate Navy, pp. 68, 89–90.
- The first Confederate ironclad, CSS Manassas, was converted by private parties who intended to use her as a privateer.
- Underwood, Mallory, p. 99.
- Simson, Naval Strategies, p. 60.
- Hearn, Capture of New Orleans, pp. 143–147.
- Underwood, Mallory, p. 83.
- Luraghi, Confederate Navy, pp. 91–92.
- Luraghi, Confederate Navy, pp.217–233.
- With little evidence in support, naval theorists in the mid-nineteenth century thought that the primary weapon of armored ships should be a reinforced bow that would enable them to destroy enemy ships by ramming. Ram bows became a standard feature of warships built almost to the start of World War I, although improved gunnery had made them anachronistic almost from the start. Even CSS Virginia was often referred to as a ram, as if that were her most significant feature. Tucker, Naval Warfare. pp. 97, 132–133.
- Luraghi, Confederate Navy, pp. 265–271.
- The cover of Underwood's biography of the man shows his portrait against the backdrop of the battle between the ironclads Monitor and Virginia – or, as it was known even in the Confederacy, as the Battle between the Monitor and Merrimack.
- Underwood, Mallory, p. 139.
- Underwood, Mallory, p. 149. The Torpedo Bureau, with which the Service cooperated, was run by the War Department.
- Luraghi, Confederate Navy, p. 247.
- Tucker, Naval Warfare, pp. 167–168.
- Durkin, Confederate Navy Chief, p. 264.
- G. J. Rains, "Torpedoes," Southern Historical Society Papers, v. III, p. 256 (1877).
- Underwood, Mallory, p. 153.
- Most accounts of the Hunley-Housatonic encounter fail to mention that the former was actually traveling on the surface at the time of the attack. See Tucker, Naval Warfare, pp. 177–178.
- Underwood, Mallory, p. 164.
- Underwood, Mallory, pp. 111–112.
- Underwood, Mallory, pp. 174–178.
- Underwood, Mallory, pp. 178–179.
- Underwood, Mallory, pp. 179–184.
- Underwood, Mallory, pp. 203–204.
- Underwood, Mallory, pp. 207–208.
- Underwood, Mallory, p. 210.
- Anderson, Bern, By Sea and by River: The Naval History of the Civil War. New York: Knopf, 1962; reprint, Da Capo Press, 1989.
- Durkin, Joseph T., Confederate Navy Chief: Stephen R. Mallory. Columbia, S.C.: University of South Carolina Press, 1987. ISBN 0-87249-518-3
- Historical Times Illustrated Encyclopedia of the Civil War, Patricia L. Faust, editor. New York: Harper & Row, 1986. ISBN 0-06-181261-7
- Hearn, Chester G., The Capture of New Orleans, 1862. Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, 1995. ISBN 0-8071-1945-8
- Luraghi, Raimondo, A History of the Confederate Navy. (tr. Paolo E. Coletta, Marina del Sud: storia della marina confederate nella Guerra Civile Americana, 1861-1865. Rizzoli, 1993.) Annapolis: Naval Institute Press, 1996. ISBN 1-55750-527-6
- Perry, Milton F., Infernal Machines: The Story of Confederate Submarine and Mine Warfare. Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, 1965.
- Scharf, J. Thomas, History of the Confederate States Navy from Its Organization to the Surrender of Its Last Vessel; Its Stupendous Struggle with the Great Navy of the United States, the Engagements Fought in the Rivers and Harbors of the South and upon the High Seas, Blockade-Running, First Use of Iron-Clads and Torpedoes, and Privateer History. New York, Rogers & Sherwood, 1887.
- Simson, Jay W., Naval Strategies of the Civil War: Confederate Innovations and Federal Opportunism. Nashville, Tenn.: Cumberland House, 2001. ISBN 1-58182-195-6
- Still, William N., Iron Afloat: The Story of the Confederate Armorclads. Nashville: Vanderbilt University Press, 1971; reprint, Columbia, S.C.: University of South Carolina Press, 1985. ISBN 0-87249-454-3
- Tucker, Spencer C., Handbook of 19th Century Naval Warfare. Annapolis: Naval Institute Press, 2000. ISBN 1-55750-322-2
- Underwood, Rodman L., Stephen Russell Mallory: a Biography of the Confederate Navy Secretary and United States Senator. Jefferson, N.C.: McFarland & Co., 2005. ISBN 0-7864-2299-8 (alk. paper)
|Wikisource has original works written by or about:
Stephen Russell Mallory
- Biographical Directory of the US Congress
- "Stephen Russell Mallory". Catholic Encyclopedia. New York: Robert Appleton Company. 1913.
|United States Senate|
|United States Senator (Class 1) from Florida
Served alongside: Jackson Morton, David Yulee
|New office||Confederate States Secretary of the Navy
|Notes and references|
|1. Because of Florida's secession, the Senate seat was vacant for seven years before Welch succeeded Mallory.| |
More About Colon Health
Billions of bacteria normally reside in your large intestine. And, in return for a warm place to live, they do good things for the gut. These “bowel bugs” (as I like to call them) are also called intestinal flora because like plant life they are the fertile soil that contribute to colon health and contribute to the health of the whole body. Besides healthful bacteria residing in your colon, harmful ones also get in from the food supply. Most of these harmful bacteria (those that cause intestinal upsets such as diarrhea or gastroenteritis) are killed by the stomach acids, but some do find their way into the colon. Colon health is basically helping the healthy bacteria far outnumber the harmful “bugs,” and that’s what you can do for colon health. The healthful bacteria are also known as probiotics because they are pro-life or add health to life. Let’s now learn how these probiotics bring health to your gut and to your body.
How Probiotics are Beneficial to Healthy Aging
Since the gut is the body’s largest immune system organ, it stands to reason that the better you feed your gut the better you feed your immune system. When you eat probiotics, you essentially are feeding your immune system to help it work better. You may also have heard the term prebiotics which, like fiber, are indigestible carbohydrates that feed the probiotics. Think of prebiotics as food for the good bowel “bugs.” Here are the good things that probiotics do for your gut:
Boost Intestinal Immunity
The most important benefit is they enhance your intestinal immune defenses. The GI tract is the body’s largest immune organ. Probiotics enhance the immune barrier of the gut lining. They help increase the immunoglobulin IGA and increase the thickness of intestinal mucus, which act like a protective paint to keep harmful bacteria from getting through. Probiotics (good “bowel bugs”) compete with pathogenic bacteria (bad “bowel bugs”), thereby discouraging the growth and harmful effects of bad bowel bugs that get it. These good bugs stick to the intestinal lining, effectively crowding out the bad bugs and preventing them from getting a foot-hold on the intestinal lining.
Promote a Healthy Gut Environment
Probiotics produce acidic and lactic acid, which creates a more acidic environment in the gut, which favors the growth of good bacteria (“good bowel bugs”) and discourages the growth of harmful bacteria (“bad bowel bugs”).
Reduce Intestinal Allergies
Probiotics promote anti-allergic processes by stimulating the production of growth factors, which suppresses the allergic response and generally increases tolerance. They are helpful in reducing the severity of inflammatory conditions, such as gastroenteritis and colitis. Probiotics may alleviate inflammatory bowel disease by suppressing the auto-immune response of the gut. Persons with inflammatory bowel disease tend to have less healthy intestinal micro flora.
Produce Healthful Nutrients
Probiotics ferment some of the fiber in food to form short-chain fatty acids (SCFA’s) which nourish the cells lining the colon, stimulate healing of these cells, and reduce the likelihood of colon cancer. These short-chain fatty acids are also absorbed into the bloodstream and travel to the liver where they lessen the liver’s production of cholesterol. These SCFA’s also inhibit the growth of yeast and harmful bacteria in the gut.
Suggested Gut Food
Here are our recommendations for prebiotics and probiotics to nourish your intestinal health:
Yogurt and other fermented dairy products such as kefir are the main dietary source of probiotics. The two most familiar bowel “bugs” that are added to yogurt during the culturing process are lactobacillus bulgaricus and lactobacillus acidophilus. Be sure to use organic yogurt.
Take Probiotic Supplements
Besides eating yogurt at least several days a week, I take a probiotic supplement called Culturelle®, the one that is used in most of the scientific medical studies showing the health benefits of probiotics. |
Vansittart, Robert Gilbert Vansittart, 1st Baron,
1881–1957, British diplomat. After serving in a number of diplomatic positions, he was (1920–24) private secretary to Lord Curzon, who was then foreign secretary. In 1930 he became permanent undersecretary of state for foreign affairs. In this position, he advocated an anti-German, though noninterventionist, policy. Vansittart served as chief diplomatic adviser to the foreign secretary from 1938 to 1941, when he was raised to the peerage. He continued throughout the war to advocate a
See his memoirs, Lessons of My Life (1945) and The Mist Procession (1958); study by I. G. Colvin (1965).
The Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia, 6th ed. Copyright © 2012, Columbia University Press. All rights reserved.
See more Encyclopedia articles on: British and Irish History: Biographies |
The first frost will kill the vine, but you should leave the gourds on the vine until the stem connecting them is brown AND dried.
You can leave them outside in the gourd patch through Winter and Spring, or harvest them and move to shed or barn until they are dried and ready to be cleaned.
Gourds will dry on their own. You don't need to do anything special.
Do Not bring the gourds into the house or any enclosed space to dry. The thin outer layer that covers the gourd gets moldy. This is normal, but the spores decrease the indoor air quality and may even be unhealthy.
After several months the gourds will be brown and mottled, not green.
Dried gourds should be very light weight. Seeds may or may not rattle. |
With one formula, you can find what fan is right for your home. This is the formula for fan CFM: Cubic feet per minute, more commonly known as CFM is calculated by the following formula: air speed (feet per minute) X area (square feet)=CFM. Not everyone is going to take a look at CFM, but for those who do it is a helpful tool. In simpler words than that of the formula, it is the amount of air a fan moves.
Here is a basic guide to help interpret the CFM number as it relates to air movement:
5,000 – 6,000 CFMs = decent to good air movement.
6,000 – 7,000 CFMs = good to very good air movement. For those looking for a fan that can be used daily, perform well and provide good air movement, I would expect a 52” ceiling fan to move at least 6,000 cfms.
7,000 – 8,000 CFMs = excellent air movement.
8,000+ = exceptional air movement. Generally, only fans with the largest diameters (72, 82, 90”) fans will offer this kind of air movement because they not only move a substantial quantity of air but they also push the air over the largest surface area. |
What are Tonsils and Adenoids?
Tonsils and adenoids are part of your body's immune system. Specifically, they help protect you from bacteria and viruses that can enter your body through your nose or mouth. You have two tonsils that are visible in the back of your mouth. Your adenoids, which are not normally visible without special instrumentation, are located behind your nose and roof of your mouth.
Common difficulties with tonsils or adenoids that may require treatment include bacterial or viral infection (tonsillitis), and swelling/inflammation
Causes of Difficulties with Tonsils and Adenoids
Infection of the tonsils or adenoids is most often caused by a viral infection. Viral infections usually heal on their own or can be treated with over-the-counter medication. Typical recovery times for viral infections of your tonsils or adenoids are about one week.
Bacterial infection of your tonsils or adenoids are more serious than viral infections. Bacterial infections normally requires treatment with prescribed medications or antibiotics.
Other common causes or infections that can result in difficulties with your tonsils or adenoids include:
- Contact with another sick person
- Streptococcus pyogenes infection (strep throat)
- Epstein-barr virus, or mononucleosis (mono)
Symptoms and Diagnosis of Tonsil and Adenoid Difficulties
Symptoms that are often associated with difficulties with your tonsils and adenoids include the following:
- Sore throat
- Voice hoarseness
- Yellow or white spots on the tonsils
- Tonsils appearing red or swollen
- Foul smelling breath
- Jaw or neck tenderness
- Neck stiffness
- Difficulty swallowing, including pain when swallowing, coughing, or gagging
- Fever or chills
Diagnosis of difficulties with your tonsils or adenoids will often involve reviewing your symptoms and a physical examination. The examination may include using a lighted mirror to inspect the tonsils, mouth, tongue, and throat area to look for signs of infection. Your ENT specialist will also likely use a stethoscope to listen to your breathing, feel your neck area for swollen lymph nodes, or potentially taking a swab or blood sample to test for different infections.
Treatments for Tonsil and Adenoid Difficulties
Bacterial infections of the tonsils and adenoids are usually treated with prescribed antibiotics. If you suffer from frequent infections of your tonsils or adenoids, your ENT specialist may recommend surgery to remove your tonsils (tonsillectomy) or adenoids (adenoidectomy). If your airways are partially blocked due to inflammation, steroids, such as prednisone, may be helpful in treating the symptoms. |
My June story, “The 6 most important numbers in the universe,” centered on the most significant values that come up in astronomy. From the austerely unbreakable speed of light to the almost playfully simple pi, each number was a powerful force toward conquering the mysteries of the universe. With the inclusion of six “bonus” values at the end, these 12 figures could reveal at a glance much of what we’ve learned about the cosmos.
But that doesn’t mean they’re easy to remember individually. It’s one thing to know that G, the gravitational constant, represents the strength of attraction two objects feel for each other due to gravity. It’s another to recall that the actual value is 6.673 x 10–11 N m2/kg2. The story featured various “trading cards” to help visually accent each important number, but they also displayed vital information for each, including their often unwieldy values.
Below, you can print out personal versions of each of these cards for your own use. We hope you enjoy them, whether they become an oft-used resource to remember the facts, a beautiful way to illustrate the universe’s constants, or just a handy reminder of all that astronomy has taught us.
Astronomy magazine subscribers can read the full article for free. Just make sure you're registered with the website. |
Napoléon Bonaparte founded the Institut d'Égypte (al-Majma al-Ilmi al-Misri) in Cairo in 1798. Its members were the elite of the French expedition's Commission des Sciences et Arts, whose massive Déscription de l'Égypte (1809–1826) surveyed all aspects of the Egyptian scene. The institute disappeared when the French evacuated Egypt in 1801.
Inspired by the original institute, Europeans founded the Institut Egyptien in Alexandria in 1859 with Saʿid Pasha's approval. Egyptologist Auguste Mariette was among the forty-odd European founders. The Egyptian scholar Rifaʿa al-Rafi al-Tahtawi and Egypt's future prime minister Nubar Pasha were among the seven Middle Eastern founders. The institute maintained a library, sponsored lectures, and published a bulletin and scholarly memoirs. The institute was moved to Cairo in 1880, and resumed the Napoleonic name Institut d'Égypte in 1918. When most European residents left Egypt during Gamal Abdel Nasser's tenure in office, the membership became mostly Egyptian. Neglected by the government since 1952 when Nasser's coup took place, the institute struggles to find funds to keep up its publications, its building just off Cairo's central square, and its once impressive library.
See also mariette, auguste; nubar pasha; tahtawi, rifaʿa al-rafi al-.
donald malcolm reid |
In March and April, 2004, the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), in cooperation with the North Carolina Geological Survey (NCGS) and the Raleigh Water Resources Discipline (WRD), drilled a stratigraphic test hole and well in Bertie County, North Carolina (fig. 1). The Hope Plantation test hole (BE-110-2004) was cored on the property of Hope Plantation near Windsor, North Carolina. The drill site is located on the Republican 7.5 minute quadradrangle at lat 36?01'58'N., long 78?01'09'W. (decimal degrees 36.0329 and 77.0192) (fig. 2). The altitude of the site is 48 ft above mean sea level as determined by Paulin Precise altimeter. This test hole was continuously cored by Eugene F. Cobbs, III and Kevin C. McKinney (USGS) to a total depth of 1094.5 ft. Later, a ground water observation well was installed with a screened interval between 315-329 feet below land surface (fig. 3). Upper Triassic, Lower Cretaceous, Upper Cretaceous, Tertiary, and Quaternary sediments were recovered from the site. The core is stored at the NCGS Coastal Plain core storage facility in Raleigh, North Carolina.
In this report, we provide the initial lithostratigraphic summary recorded at the drill site along with site core photographs, data from the geophysical logger, calcareous nannofossil biostratigraphic correlations (Table 1) and initial hydrogeologic interpretations. The lithostratigraphy from this core can be compared to previous investigations of the Elizabethtown corehole, near Elizabethtown, North Carolina in Bladen County (Self-Trail, Wrege, and others, 2004), the Kure Beach corehole, near Wilmington, North Carolina in New Hanover County (Self-Trail, Prowell, and Christopher, 2004), the Esso #1, Esso #2, Mobil #1 and Mobil #2 cores in the Albermarle and Pamlico Sounds (Zarra, 1989), and the Cape Fear River outcrops in Bladen County (Farrell, 1998; Farrell and others, 2001). This core is the third in a series of planned benchmark coreholes that will be used to elucidate the physical stratigraphy, facies, thickness, and hydrogeology of the Tertiary and Cretaceous Coastal Plain sediments of North Carolina.
Additional Publication Details
USGS Numbered Series
Preliminary Physical Stratigraphy and Geophysical Data of the USGS Hope Plantation Core (BE-110), Bertie County, North Carolina |
The following article is reprinted with permission from Pennsylvania Farmer. The article first appeared there in the March 22, 1952 edition.
Life on the Mississippi may have been more glamorous, but the North Branch of the Susquehanna which flows through the rich anthracite region of northeastern Pennsylvania has a richness of its own. On its placid bosom ply a weird assortment of river craft which sweep its bottom with huge vacuum cleaners for the precious mine waste of the great anthracite breakers. For a distance of 80 miles, from a point below Shickshinny in Luzerne County to a point opposite the State Capitol in Harrisburg, powerful dredges scour the river bed for its treasure of 'black diamonds.'
The 'take' from the river is variously estimated at from one to two million tons of coal annually, but the once-profitable business is slowly dying of starvation since the State, in 1946, passed its clear streams act. The collieries now are required to build huge desilting basins to cleanse all mine waste from the polluted mine water before releasing it into the creeks and tributaries of the river. Before the passage of this act, river men operated their rigs from early spring until December. Now they are fortunate if they can operate from the middle of April until the first of July.
Twenty years ago each colliery in the anthracite region was dwarfed by its accompanying pile of mine waste. For generations this culm was believed to be worthless, but with modern improvements in boiler design these former scrap piles took on a new economic significance. Today, the culm banks have disappeared. The streams which formerly ran black with mine refuse are now running clear.
Where Does It Come From?
The question of where the million-odd tons of coal which the dredges remove annually come from is a puzzling one. Of two common theories, the most plausible is that the huge deposits of coal now being dredged from the river have lain in seams and pockets in the river bed for scores of years and represent the accumulated mine waste from a century of mining operations. Spring ice floes sweep the bed of the river and transport the valuable mine waste downstream. The other theory holds that there are rich veins of virgin anthracite running through the river's bed which are eroded by the spring freshets. Either or both theories may be true, but the fact remains that thousands of tons of coal are still being removed from the river.
Most of the coal tipples along the Susquehanna are owned by entrepreneurs who employ five or six men to operate the various pieces of equipment. The enterprising 'gamblers,' not unlike their Mississippi counterparts, risk their fortunes and sometimes their lives on the vagaries of the river. A typical plant such as the one shown in the accompanying photographs costs in the neighborhood of $45,000.
Equipment usually includes a gasoline-powered dredge, a powerful tug or pusher, several large barges for handling the coal, a drag-line conveyor for transporting the coal from the open barges to the cleaning table, several powerful pumps, huge bins for storing the coal after it has been graded and storage space for thousands of tons of processed coal. The drag-lines and pumps are powered by electricity. Maintenance and repair of the equipment is a full-scale job in itself.
Suck Up Coal
Operations for most of the river plants are similar. The dredges are equipped with a six or eight-inch suction pump. A long metal tube which resembles the business end of a tank-type floor cleaner is lowered over the side of the dredge where it sucks the muck from the river bottom. The pilot of the dredging machine is wise in the ways of the river. He locates coal pockets by thrusting a slender wooden pole into the river bed and so uncanny is his skill that he can determine with accuracy both the depth and the quality of the coal in the pocket. The powerful pump sucks up the coal and passes it through a revolving screen where the combustible material is separated from stones and foreign objects such as bottles and cans. If the coal pocket is extensive, the dredge will 'dig' ten tons of coal in an hour. The screened coal is deposited on a flat-topped barge moored alongside the 'digger. ' These barges are made of virgin white pine and are approximately 12 feet wide by 40 feet in length.
Two types of dredges are used in river operations. One type is pushed to the site of a rich coal deposit by the tug and anchored at three points with drag lines. By means of a winch, the dredge is moved forward and either to right or left while engaged in sweeping the mud from the river bottom. The dredge shown in the photograph is self-propelled and can sweep a wide area at the will of the pilot. This type of craft is superior when the coal deposits are sparse or the pockets widely scattered.
When the barge is loaded with 20 to 24 tons of river coal, a tug picks up the loaded flat and pushes it upstream or downstream to the cleaning plant. In the photograph is shown a 300-foot drag line which raises the coal on the barges to a height of 40 feet above the level of the river. The coal, containing a large percentage of gravel, flows by gravity from the tipple to an oscillating table where the mine waste, being lighter in weight than the gravel, is floated off with the assistance of a continuous stream of water supplied by a three-inch pump. The table in the photograph was designed for placer mining and was purchased on the West Coast. A wood flume carries the sand and gravel back to the river bank where a large sand spit soon inches its way out into the channel.
Coal Is Graded
The coal, now almost free from impurities, is graded into sizes commonly called barley, buckwheat, and stove and is stored in overhead bins by auxiliary drag lines. Aside from small quantities of slate and ash, the smaller sizes of river coal are equivalent to fresh-mined anthracite. The finer sizes are used by industries or public institutions in the surrounding area. Some fine coal is shipped out by rail, while large quantities of furnace coal are used by local residents.
Some idea of the demise of the river industry since measures were taken to eliminate mine waste from the streams may be gained from one operator's statement. In 1947 he took 15,000 tons of coal from the river. Today he will be fortunate if he can dredge 6,000 tons during the present two and one-half month season.
While the Susquehanna is normally calm and unruffled, river men must always contend with their two great antagonists: low water and high water. Sudden storms lash the river into a frenzy, sending three-foot waves reeling against the anchored dredges. Spring floods crest at 30 feet and hurl ice, trees, and other debris into the screening plant workings. When the river is low, jagged rocks submerged a few inches below the surface often rip the bottoms out of barges and tugs. In winter the boats are drawn out of the river on steel rails with windlasses for major repairs. The reconditioned craft are launched early in the spring.
In all, it is an arduous life, but the river men love it. Today they survey the future dimly and long for the old days when anthracite flowed from the collieries in a seemingly endless stream.
Our thanks to Brent Musser Jr., 192 East Black Creek Road, East Earl, Pennsylvania 1 7519, for providing us with the issue of Pennsylvania Farmer in which this article originally appeared. |
Woman working on her field in Kavre, Nepal, November 26, 2016. TRF/Arun Karki
KAVRE, Nepal – Nearly two years after an earthquake destroyed her family’s house, Suntali Danuwar is farming her land again. A small grub hoe in her hand, she scrubs mud on her field of cauliflowers in Bhoterungti village, Nepal.
“Before the earthquake I only knew how to cultivate maize, which was not enough to feed my family and could only grow in the summer,” she said, bending to water a neat row of vegetables. “And with hardly any rain in winter, I couldn’t grow anything. So our land was left unused from September to March.”
Almost 9,000 people died and more than half a million homes were destroyed when the 7.8- and 7.3-magnitude earthquakes rocked the impoverished Himalayan nation in April and May 2015. Survivors face constantly changing weather conditions, including at times heavy rain and hail. But farmers in Kavre, one of the hardest districts hit by the disaster, are starting to boost their income and rebuild their homes thanks to an organic farming programme.
As part of a programme funded by the International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development, technicians teach farmers climate-smart techniques such as plastic ponds to conserve water, chemical-free products or vegetable “nurseries” to protect crops from extreme weather.
The programme covers about 1,000 households in eight villages in Kavre district, where according to the International Labour Organization thousands of men take up seasonal jobs abroad each year, leaving fewer people to manage farming at home.
Having started organic farming just over a year ago, Suntali is now growing her second lot of cauliflowers of the winter, expecting to earn some 60,000 Nepalese rupees ($560) from selling the lot – “compared to nothing before the earthquake,” she said.
Living in a shelter made of zinc and iron since the earthquake, her family are building a new home where the old one was destroyed, using the revenue gained from vegetable farming to supplement funds disbursed by the government to rebuild homes.
“We’ve received about 50,000 rupees ($466) so far from the government, but a house costs on average 900,000 rupees (about $8,400) to build, so we need to find extra sources of income like vegetable farming,” said Suntali.
The programme also trains farmers to make Jholmal (“liquid fertiliser”), a fertiliser made up of cow or buffalo dung, urine and locally available vegetation.
Gangadevi Nepal, a farmer from Mahadevsthan, a nearby village, said “I don’t need to buy any ingredients to make Jholmal, I can find all of them at home or in the village.”
“There are no more bugs on my spinach leaves – maybe because of the horrible scent,” she laughed, while spraying the rotten-smelling liquid onto her field. “And it dissipates after three days anyway.”
Roshan Subedi, coordinator of the Center for Environmental and Agricultural Policy Research, Extension and Development, which implements the programme, explained that farmers’ little knowledge about pesticides led many to use them improperly.
“Farmers would just spray pesticides onto their crops whenever they saw insects, for example,” she said.
As Jholmal becomes popular in Kavre, however, other farmers from nearby villages are asking for training to make the product.
Ramdeo Shah, a field technician from the Center, said that “the programme’s main benefit is that it focuses on farming techniques that are not only easy to adopt but affordable.”
“Plastic ponds to save water, for example, have effectively given farmers another working season – as they can now grow vegetables all year round – which in turn boosts their income.”
He said the programme aims to help farmers move from subsistence to commercial agriculture. |
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