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On The Way To Sanctity
The sanctification process of materials for the Tabernacle and Temple teaches us that everything has the potential to be used for holiness.
Provided by the Orthodox Union, the central coordinating agency for North American Orthodox congregations.
The purpose of the Exodus was always more than the liberation of the Hebrew slaves; it was the establishment of a physical existence in which Hashem would reign. And, at the center of that existence, would be the Mishkan (Tabernacle), the portable sanctuary:
And they shall make Me a Sanctuary, that I may dwell among them (Exodus 25:8).The establishment of the Mishkan will make it possible for Hashem's Presence to dwell in the midst of the people.
Every aspect of the Mishkan teaches us how to serve Hashem.
How to Serve Hashem
The Mishkan would be the result of the collective efforts of the entire nation of Israel. It would be constructed from donations of their possessions and skills, and dedicated to the service of Hashem:
And Hashem spoke to Moses, saying: ‘Speak to the Children of Israel that they take for Me (v’yikchu li) a donation; from each man whose heart makes him willing shall you take My donation’ (Exodus 25:1-2).
Of course, one cannot really "give" to Hashem, since the whole world is His:
To Hashem are the earth and all that fills it, the habitation and those who dwell in it (Psalms 24:1).
Instead, one takes that which Hashem provides and devotes it to Him.
Rashi's comment on the words v’yikchu li is famous for its brevity, and has stimulated much discussion by his commentaries: that they take for Me: for Me--for My Name.
What does Rashi wish to convey by his comment? How does he hope to shed light on the method of donating to the Mishkan? How does this explain the function of the Mishkan? And, what does this say about creating sanctity in our world?
To answer this, we must analyze how the items contributed for the building of the sanctuary progress from being simple raw material to becoming objects of intrinsic holiness.
Remember that, once something is sanctified by a human declaration (hakdashah), it may not be utilized for any personal use, for then one would be guilty of me'ilah, misappropriation of holy objects. If done intentionally, me'ilah carries with it the penalty of lashes plus the requirement to compensate. Even if done unintentionally, one would have to pay for the benefit plus one-fifth, as well as bring a sacrifice (asham me'ilah).
Because of the severity of me'ilah, writes the Rambam,
When they build the sanctuary, they do not take wood and stones from sanctified items, nor do they build the building with the intention that it is holy; rather, they build everything from the unconsecrated. This is a decree, lest one benefit from the shade of the building, or lean on a stone or a beam during the time of the work (Laws of Me'ilah 8:4).
Since "The Torah was not given to the ministering angels" (Me'ilah 14a), but to human beings, such use would be unavoidable. Only after the building is complete would they sanctify their work.
R. Tzvi Yehudah Kook (1891-1982), in Torat Eretz Yisrael (pp. 347-348), says that, just as the sanctuary was built in gradual stages, so is the redemption of Israel and the building up of the Land of Israel in our time. The secular foundation of the modern State of Israel lays the groundwork for ultimate sanctity. We build with the non-holy until such time that "the sanctification of Hashem will appear in more and more light."
However, the construction materials of the Mishkan, while unconsecrated, are nonetheless earmarked for eventual consecration:
Initially, we do not make any of the utensils except for the sake (l'shem, literally for the name) of holiness. And if they were initially made for lay use, we cannot transform them into use for the Most High (Laws of the Temple 1:20).
Even these unconsecrated raw materials must be designated l'shem ha'kodesh, for the sake of holiness.
Thus, every item donated for the Mishkan passes through three stages:
1. L'shem hakodesh--designated for holiness.
A piece of acacia wood, for example, (Shemot 25:5) begins at the "l'shem" stage of sanctity, although it is not yet sanctified: If the workers lean on it during the construction, they have committed no me'ilah. Only after the craftsmen have made it into part of the Holy Ark (verses 10-16), is it rendered sanctified by their act of sanctification and initiation.
It is in this light that Rashi should be understood. Hashem commands that they take for Me (v’yikchu li) a donation, meaning "for Me--for My Name."
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- aesthetic (n.)
- 1798, from German Ästhetisch or French esthétique, both from Greek aisthetikos "sensitive, perceptive," from aisthanesthai "to perceive (by the senses or by the mind), to feel," from PIE *awis-dh-yo-, from root *au- "to perceive" (see audience).
Popularized in English by translations of works of Immanuel Kant and used originally in the classically correct sense "the science which treats of the conditions of sensuous perception." Kant had tried to correct the term after Alexander Baumgarten had taken it in German to mean "criticism of taste" (1750s), but Baumgarten's sense attained popularity in English c. 1830s (despite scholarly resistance) and removed the word from any philosophical base. Walter Pater used it (1868) to describe the late 19c. movement that advocated "art for art's sake," which further blurred the sense. As an adjective by 1803. Related: Aesthetically. |
Anne Douglass: Making the World Safe for Blondes
When Anne Douglass tells you what she does for a living, she laughs and says she is "making the world safe for blondes" -- not exactly the way her job is described in her NASA employment file.
Image to right: Anne Douglass hopes to make the world safer not just for blondes, but also for her young grandchildren. Credit: NASA
Douglass guides a team of NASA scientists working to answer fundamental questions about our planet and its atmosphere. One of those questions has to do with the amount of ozone present in the atmosphere's upper reaches. As this stratospheric ozone decreases, more harmful ultraviolet radiation penetrates to the Earth's surface.
It's this harmful ultraviolet radiation you try to block with your sunscreen and shades -- the kind with the bad reputation for causing sunburns and skin cancers. People with light-colored skin, like blondes, are particularly susceptible. So, Douglass's job description makes sense. And it goes without saying that making the world safe for blondes makes it that much safer for the rest of us as well.
Officially, Douglass is the co-leader for the validation working group on NASA's Aura mission. Onboard Aura will be several instruments for reading the chemical composition of the atmosphere. What does validation have to do with anything?
Right or Wrong Answers
Think about this example. When you solve a math problem, your teacher can usually check your results. That's because often there's only one correct answer, and only one or two ways to reach that answer. In other words, the final answer could be predicted in advance.
But when it comes to dealing with Mother Nature, there aren't any predetermined right answers. For a mission like Aura, scientists must pay close attention to make sure that all measurements are accurate. Whether the answers are right or wrong depends on exactly that.
For measuring the concentrations of gases in the vast mixture that we call the atmosphere, Aura relies on a set of four satellite-based instruments. It is also supported by instruments located on balloons, airplanes and on the ground. A key strategy in validating data is to use all of these instruments to check one another.
All instruments have their strengths and limits. Ground-based systems often work by gathering real samples of the atmosphere, making the data very accurate and verifiable. However, these earthbound instruments read relatively small areas for short periods of time.
Satellites are able to cover the entire globe. Without collecting any actual air samples, they collect huge amounts of data for longer periods of time. However, while the onboard remote sensors measure conditions in the upper atmosphere fairly easily, they encounter problems when they try to look downward through the lower atmosphere, or troposphere. For example, measurements can be obscured by clouds, dust, aerosols or other obstacles. Since these measurements are so difficult to get right, it is especially critical that they are validated by readings from other instruments. That way, scientists can have confidence in the results.
Steps Along the Way
Douglass not only leads the Aura mission validation team, but as a scientist she conducts her own research. And lately she also finds a little time for her newest pastime: tap dancing. Dancing poses a tough challenge, but Douglass meets it the way she's met many others -- with determination and hard work, attributes that make her both a good scientist and a good student.
Douglass's interest in science and math started in high school. She was inspired by her math teacher, Sister Barbara Garland, who demonstrated that women could excel in math and science. Sister Garland selected Douglass for special math classes in which she was encouraged to develop her own approach to problem solving.
In college, Douglass was attracted to physics because it told the story of how the world works. She especially liked analyzing crashes and collisions and explaining them using math. In contrast, the worlds of biology and chemistry were "too smelly and messy" for her undergraduate tastes -- tastes that have changed since receiving her doctorate from Iowa State University.
At NASA, her research cuts across the worlds of biology, chemistry, physics and math, as she plays a key role in creating accurate global computer models of the Earth's atmosphere. Douglass has been working to refine these models for more than a decade. She points out that their accuracy steadily improves as new and valid data become available. And data from the Aura mission should be the best to date.
The research is critical. The world's scientists depend on good models for making predictions about future changes in global climate and the rates at which the changes will occur. And, on the basis of these predictions, world leaders consider policies necessary for the health of a changing planet. A tough assignment? No one said that keeping the world safe for blondes was going to be easy!
Adapted with permission: ChemMatters magazine © American Chemical Society 2002
Edited by Dan Stillman, Institute for Global Environmental Strategies |
home.js script is the following code (indentation and comments added by me) :
//perform one frame of physics on each snowflake, and draw them.
//f is "the last snowflake I drew before this one"
//Unicorn drawing occurs here
$(j(h,"255,196,255")) //the same pink as seen in the OP's screenshot
I have made some educated guesses as to the meaning of the obfuscated variables.
- H is an array of x,y coordinates, declared elsewhere, that form a
unicorn shape when drawn.
- t is an array of snowflake objects on the screen.
- C is a
var that is declared elsewhere but never assigned to anything, except within
function o. So it is undefined until unicorn drawing occurs, and then it becomes
!0. It appears to behave as a
- g is the sum of the manhattan distances of adjacent snowflakes in
The crucial condition to make the unicorn appear is
if(300<=t.length&&2E3>g&&!C). If my guesses are correct, this translates to "If there are 300+ snowflakes, and they are very close together, and no unicorn has been drawn yet, then draw a unicorn".
Although the pink color and unobfuscated H array are smoking guns, I am not completely confident in my conclusion. I have not personally been able to make the unicorn appear, even after carefully gathering all the snowflakes while holding control. And the OP mentions the unicorn appeared for him after waiting a long time. But the unicorn should never appear, as long as
g is too large. |
Handy Captivate Functions You Should Be Using
Many instructional designers aren’t trained to be instructional technologists—but they often must work in both areas. If this is you, when it comes to e-learning tools you tend to be self-taught. Maybe you learn through trial and error (as well as through user manuals and books). You may have learned just enough, and not much more, to get each project done—especially if there isn’t much variety from one project to the next. However, with limited knowledge comes limited skills. By learning more about a certain tool, you’re able to improve your initial instructional design. That’s because you’ll know how to do exciting new things and increase interactivity.
Take Adobe Captivate, for example. There are dozens of functions you may not be using now either because you haven’t had to before, you’ve never thought about them or you think they’re too difficult to grasp. Let’s take a look at four of them. If you learn to begin using any of these, you can save time and create a better instructional design.
Object Style Manager—Which option is easier: 1) setting an object’s style (font, point size, color, etc.) once, to be used across an entire project, or 2) changing the style manually for every object in the project? You’d probably choose the first option, but you may not know how to use the Object Style Manager (in the Edit menu of Captivate 5 and higher). Instead, you copy and paste objects from one slide to the next and resynchronize them based on their place in the new slide’s timeline. But by using the Object Style Manager, you can set the styles for every text caption or button in the project and, with just one click, specify it for an object you’ve created.
Check Spelling—Nothing says “bad design” like misspelled words in your project. Captivate’s Check Spelling function (in the Project menu) lets you find mistakes that you might not have caught before. But it still requires you to re-read each slide, just in case you’ve mistakenly used a similar-sounding word, such as “lead” instead of “led.” And if you have layers of text captions one atop the other, play the project in Preview mode and…check that spelling.
Advanced Actions—If you’ve ever wanted to make two or more actions (show, hide, open file, jump to slid, etc.) happen at the same time when you learners activate a click box or button, get to know Advanced Actions! Also in the Project menu, Advanced Actions are relatively simple, like filling out a form where you specify which actions take place in which order. You’ll be able to design more interesting interactions that your learners will love.
Slide Notes—If you have a recording script, copy and paste it into Slide Notes (open this function in the Window menu) as it applies to each slide. This is great for two reasons: First, you’ll have another copy of the script to refer to as you build the slide. Second, you can convert the Slide Notes to a simulated voice using the automated text-to-speech function. The audio can be used to estimate the actual playing time of the slide and to help you arrange the timing of slide objects before professional recording begins. Once that’s done, you’ll have a first draft of the project to share with your team.
These are just a few features that Captivate offers, and you should definitely learn how to use them if you aren’t yet doing so. Other functions, such as Variables, Widgets, branching, SWF aggregation and rollover slidelets, may require more training and practice—but they’re worth the trouble to learn so you can advance your instructional design.
What other Captivate functions have you found useful? Tell us about them. |
Archaeological research carried out at the Neolithic site of La Draga, near the lake of Banyoles, has yielded the discovery of an item which is unique in the western Mediterranean and Europe. The item is a bow which appeared in a context dating from the period between 5400-5200 BCE, corresponding to the earliest period of settlement. It is a unique item given that it is the first bow to be found in tact at the site. According to its date, it can be considered chronologically the most ancient bow of the Neolithic period found in Europe. The study will permit the analysis of aspects of the technology, survival strategies and social organisation of the first farming communities which settled in the Iberian Peninsula. The bow is 108 cm long and presents a plano-convex section. Worth mentioning is the fact that it is made out of yew wood (Taxus baccata) as were the majority of Neolithic bows in Europe.
In previous archaeological campaigns, fragments of two bows were found (in 2002 and 2005) also from the same time period, but since they are fragmented it is impossible to analyse the characteristics of these tools. The current discovery opens new perspectives in understanding how these farming communities lived and organised themselves. These bows could have served different purposes, such as hunting, although if one takes into account that this activity was not all that common in the La Draga area, it cannot be ruled out that the bows may have represented elements of prestige or been related to defensive or confrontational activities.
Remains have been found of bows in Northern Europe (Denmark, Russia) dating from between the 8th and 9th centuries BCE among hunter-gatherer groups, although these groups were from the Paleolithic period, and not the Neolithic. The majority of bows from the Neolithic period in Europe can be found in central and northern Europe. Some fragments of these Neolithic bows from central Europe date from the end of the 6th millennium BCE, between 5200-5000 BCE, although generally they are from later periods, often more than a thousand years younger than La Draga. For this reason archaeologists can affirm that the three bows found at La Draga are the most ancient bows in Europe from the Neolithic period.
The research carried out at the La Draga site is financed by the Department of Culture of the Government of Catalonia and the Spanish Ministry for Economy and Competitiveness. This project is being conducted under the coordination of the County Archaeological Museum of Banyoles, with the participation of the UAB Department of Prehistory, the Department of Archaeology and Anthropology of the CSIC Institute Milà i Fontanals, the National Museum of Archaeology of Catalonia and the Centre for Underwater Archaeology of Catalonia. The excavation includes the participation of archaeology students from UAB and other universities in Spain and Europe.
The Neolithic people of La Draga, Banyoles
La Draga is located in the town of Banyoles, belonging to the county of Pla de l'Estany, and is an archaeological site corresponding to the location in which one of the first farming communities settled in the north-east of the Iberian Peninsula. The site is located on the eastern part of the Banyoles Lake and dates back to 5400 and 5000 BCE. The site occupies 8000 sq m and stretches out 100 m along the lake's shore and 80 m towards the east. Part of the site is totally submerged in the lake, while other parts are located on solid ground. The first digs were conducted between the years 1990 and 2005, under the scientific leadership of the County Archaeological Museum of Banyoles. Since 1994, excavations were also carried out by the Centre for Underwater Research (Museum of Archaeology of Catalonia). The current project (2008-2013) includes participation by the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona and the Spanish National Research Council.
The site at La Draga is exceptional for several reasons. Firstly, due to its antiquity, which is considered to be one of the oldest of the Neolithic period existing in the Iberian Peninsula. Secondly, because it is an open-air site with a fairly continuous occupation. Lastly, and surely most remarkably, because of its exceptional conditions in which it is conserved. The archaeological levels are located in the phreatic layer surrounding Lake Banyoles, giving way to anaerobic conditions which favour the conservation of organic material. These circumstances make La Draga a unique site in all of the Iberian Peninsula, since it is the only one known to have these characteristics. In Europe, together with Dispilo in Greece and La Marmota in Italy, it is one of the few lake settlements from the 6th millennium BCE.
The phenomenon of Neolithic lake settlements is well known in the more modern chronologies of central Europe, where there is an abundance of lakes and humid environments, but extremely rare outside this geographic area. For this reason, the La Draga site is well-known amongst specialised scientific sectors and attracts researchers from around the world because of the quality of the data which can be obtained from this archaeological context. La Draga is a palaeodiverse island offering a set of extraordinary bioarchaeological elements, key for the analysis of how farming and livestock rearing communities came into existence in Europe. |
What do Martin Luther King Jr., Barack Obama, Henry Kissinger, Nelson Mandela, Desmond Tutu, Jimmy Carter and Liu Xiaobo all have in common? Easy: they are all recipients of the Nobel Peace Prize.
However, one name stands out from the rest: Liu Xioabo, a man who has been imprisoned since 2009. Liuhas been sentenced to eleven years of imprisonment and from 2009 to 2011 he was deprived of all political rights by court order. While this is not the first time that Liu has been imprisoned (he has served time four times in his life), his current sentence is by far the longest. Furthermore, Liu's wife Liu Xia has been under house arrest since October 2010, living under "inhumane conditions."
Liu's conditions are largely unknown, but many, including Amnesty International, fear the worst the Chinese can offer. The most startling aspect of the Liu Xiaobo case has not just been his arrest for subversion, as his fellow activist Ai Weiwei was in 2011, but the lack of American support for an activist who has been a strong supporter of the United States.
Liu is a very controversial figure in China. Despite being a noted author and having a Ph.D in literature, all of his works are banned. Despite being painted as a hero for being one of the "four junzis of Tiananmen Square" who convinced hundreds of college students to leave the streets, thus saving their lives, the Chinese government was quick to label him as treasonous for his views on Hong Kong. The Chinese government has censored his very name from publications and the press.
His freelance writings have inspired the ire of both the Chinese government and Confucian activists, both of whom Liu Xiaobo has criticised in his writings. However, Liu has inspired millions in Taiwan, Hong Kong, and China to reassess their views on the "revolutionary" Chinese administration and on the West as well. Liu has consistently been the West's greatest political ally in China due to his great approval of the United States; he has supported the United States in foreign matters from the Cold War to the Iraq War. In his 1996 article "Lessons from the Cold War" Liu posited that "The free world led by the U.S. fought almost all regimes that trampled on human rights ... The major wars that the U.S. became involved in are all ethically defensible." The scholar's positions on the U.S. and the wars it has fought (despite his positions on the wars and Islam being very contentious in both China and the West) cements Liu Xiaobo as a firm friend of the United States and the West. So what have the United States done to get the Chinese Government to release Liu Xiaobo?
The truth is very little
Shortly after Liu Xiaobo's initial arrest in December 2008 for his involvement in the publication of Charter 08, a pro-western manifesto which called for the Chinese government to be reformed to be more democratic, the State Department of the United States issued a public demand to the Chinese Government demanding Liu's immediate release ... and then never brought the matter up again. The State Department gave the problem to the United Nations to solve, and the UN have accomplished nothing beyond a hearing which ruled that Liu Xiaobo was given an unfair trial and again asking that he be released ... then never brought the matter up again. The simple truth of the matter is that the West has abandoned their loyal Chinese friend to his fate and will likely do nothing to assist him.
The last time Liu Xiaobo's fate or existence has been mentioned by the U.S. government was in 2010, when a bi-partisan group of 30 members of the U.S. Congress wrote President Barack Obama a passionate letter pleading for the president to discuss the release of Liu Xiaobo and fellow activist Gao Zhisheng at the G-20 Summit with President Hu Jintao. China responded to the president's and Congress's requests with a statement from the Republic of China (Taiwan) President Ma Ying-jiu, who congratulated Liu on his Nobel Peace Prize but reaffirmed that he would not be released anytime soon. With that statement, the world seemingly forgot about Liu Xiaobo and resigned him to his life in prison, content to see him become the next Nelson Mandela.
To help Liu Xiaobo, and his wife Xia, go to Amnesty International and Change. Amnesty International can always use a small monetary donation to do great things; however, if you are a bit more frugal, all the Change petition (led by Desmond Tutu) needs from you is a signature. Let the people of the world try to succeed where Western governments have failed, and in the process try convince those governments to try again ... for Liu Xiaobo and Lia, for Gao Zhisheng and Ai Weiwei, and all those unfairly imprisoned by corrupt governments. |
"'Sheep-eating' plant towers over English countryside. Oh my!"
'Sheep-eating' plant: The Royal Horticultural Society has been nurturing a 10-foot-tall Puya Chilensis for 15 years. This 'sheep-eating' plant is now ready to bloom.
David Clark Scott
June 22nd, 2013
The Christian Science Monitor
There's nothing like a giant carnivorous plant headline to get your heart racing – and to draw folks to the Royal Horticultural Society's Garden Wisley.
So, let's start by being completely accurate here. The Puya chilensis is not actually a sheep eater - or even a meat eater. Yes, it's been known to kill sheep. But it's no Venus fly trap or pitcher plant. Those are true carnivores, and really only eat insects.
What makes the Puya chilensis so fascinating is that it has been known to capture and kill sheep in Chile, its native environment, for fertilizer.
"Most bromeliads have firm, hard leaves, but Puya chilensis is sort of an extreme example. Its leaves look sort of like aloe leaves, but in between them are huge, sharp spines that jut out past them. Most plants that have spines, like cacti, use them for protection, but it's theorized that Puya chilensis actually uses them for hunting," according to PopSci.com.
If a sheep gets close enough, the spines can snag on the wool of the sheep, entrapping them. The sheep starve and die at the base of the plant, thus providing a rather grizzly but effective fertilizer.
Folks at the Royal Horticultural Society make it clear that no sheep have been harmed in the past 15 years of nurturing their Puya chilensis. And now, the three-meter (10- foot) tall plant is finally ready to bloom.
“I’m really pleased that we’ve finally coaxed our Puya chilensis into flower. We keep it well fed with liquid fertiliser as feeding it on its natural diet might prove a bit problematic. It’s well worth a visit but parents coming along with small children don’t need to worry about the plant devouring their little ones. It’s growing in the arid section of our Glasshouse with its deadly spines well out of reach of both children and sheep alike," said Cara Smith, who looks after the plant at RHS Garden Wisley, in a statment
This is not the first Puya chilensis brought to bloom in England. The society has done it in years past and it's always a crowd (and media) pleaser.
In fact, the Society's website lists 11 nurseries around the United Kingdom where local gardeners can buy the South American plant and attempt to create their own backyard botanical snare for small animals wandering by.
Puya Chilensis [Wikipedia] |
The Iliad and The Odyssey Analysis Essay
See the Characteristics and the Disparities Between Homer’s ‘Iliad’ as well as ‘Odyssey’
The main Iliad in addition to The Odyssey are ancient Greek epic poems, traditionally related to Homer. The Iliad describes the poker site seizures of the Trojan War, namely a few weeks within the last year of your war. Often the Odyssey targets Odysseus, master of Ithaca, and his homecoming after the success of the Achaeans. Although those poems employ a few similar traits, their whole themes, time frame, and characters differ considerably.
The surface and the form of both Homer’s poems are much alike. Both Iliad and even Odyssey consist of twenty four books along with concentrate on just a minute within a finished epic bike. The epic poems usually are written on dactylic hexameter and include very similar literary equipment. For example , Homer uses inventory epithets in the his verses: ‘sensible Telemachus’ and ‘wise Penelope’ (from The Odyssey ), and ‘beauteous Helen’ together with ‘godlike Hector’ (from The main Iliad ).
You should definitely development of often the plot, the poems include two things in common. The first aspect is a engagement ring composition. Often the Iliad ‘begins with a ransom and a quarrel (Book I), a etiqueta aggregation with forces (Book II), together with a duel (Book III), and also ends that has a comparable sequence in reverse’ (Silk 34). The Odyssey also displays a ring-composition in the Ebooks IX-XII while Odysseus says the story connected with his travelling to the Phaeacians.
The second variable which is popular for together plots is definitely divine services. Olympian gods help mortals according to their own preferences together with ambitions. For example , Athena is certainly Odysseus’s patroness, while Poseidon wants to circumvent his homecoming. In the actual Iliad , the Olympian gods usually are divided into about three camps: a few of them fight for the exact Achaeans or simply Trojans, and others remain impartial.
The most significant change between the not one but two poems, which entails additional dissimilarities, is usually their overall theme and idea. While the Iliad focuses on the war, battles, in addition to fights, the main Odyssey is usually a tale around adventures, demos, and mythological creatures. In relation to the nature of the particular poem, it is usually said that ‘the Iliad is definitely tragic, … the Odyssey is comic’ (Morris and Powell 115). The last option has bit to do with laughs, but it ends in ‘harmony as well as acceptance’ (Morris and Powell 115), as you move the Iliad comes to an end with the exploitation of Troy.
Different ideas require various main game figures. Achilles, the chief hero in the Iliad , is constantly labeled ‘swift-footed, ‘ ‘lion-hearted, ‘ or ‘like to the gods. ‘ Like characteristics in relation to his fit physique, individual qualities, and even origin. Silk states the fact that ‘the incomer Achilles is certainly rootless. He’s got no friends and family near him and no mates, except for one particular close friend’ (79). The guy knows that his / her faith is decided:
Right here, if I stay 123 essay, before the Malware town,
Short can be my day, but deathless my well known:
If I return, When i quit immortal praise
For years on years, in addition to long-extended days to weeks. ( Iliad , 9)
Achilles decides eternal glory instead of a contented and endurance.
In contrast to the particular hero of the Iliad , Odysseus does indeed everything probable to stay living and give back home. Homer calls him or her ‘much-enduring’ for a good reason. He or she goes through quite possibly the most dangerous studies on his hard way to Ithaca. But the hero manages to be able to overcome the whole set of challenges as a result of his wisdom and trickery. In contrast to Achilles, who applies violence and strength in order to resolve his conditions, Odysseus would rather act detailed and wisely.
One more critical dissimilarity around Homer’s poetry lies in their particular timelines. But the author often describes the parallel occasions (on Mount Olympus as well as Troy), in general, the plot of land of the Iliad develops in a linear chronology. As for the 2nd poem, ‘the Odyssey doesn’t follow a thready chronology. You begins within the center of the tale, learning about previous situations only by means of Odysseus’s retelling’ (Blumberg).
The Iliad and The exact Odyssey have the identical elements in their structure together with shape: each epic poem consists of per day books it is written with dactylic hexameter with the use of precisely the same literary products. Their plots also have equivalent traits: your ring-form makeup and numerous divine interventions. As being the poems specialize in different incidents and build different recommendations, they have a broad selection of dissimilarities: amusing and sad endings, antipodal main game characters, and linear and nonlinear timelines.
Blumberg, Naomi. ‘Odyssey. ‘ Encyclopæ dia Britannica, Encyclopæ dia Britannica, Inc., 22 Oct. 2018, www.britannica.com/topic/Odyssey-epic-by-Homer.
Homer. The Iliad. Translated by means of Robert Fagles, Viking Push, 1990.
Homer. The main Odyssey. Converted by Peter Green, College or university of Los angeles Press, 2018.
Morris, Ian, together with Barry B. Powell. Typically the Greeks: Track record, Culture, together with Society. Pearson, 2014.
Silk, N. S. Homer: The Iliad. Cambridge School Press, 1987.
It is not unexpected for us how the ‘Odyssey’ study essay offered above may help for students. You can find some ideas for your writing to see how to structure your essay. However , you ought to remember that almost all samples shown on our website can’t be burned it’s stealing topics. If you need the ‘Odyssey’ exploration essay crafted on a the same topic, you are able to order it all on our web-site.
Even if you don’t realize how to write your current paper, you could still get a good grade correctly. Typically, pupils leave their particular writing challenges to individuals and pay out their precious time on more interesting and considerations. Those individuals know that their papers will be written just as they assume. Our editors pay attention to many customer recommendations and school standards to get writing the particular paper. These people know what teachers want to see inside students’ documents that’s why written documents written by this writers obtain good quantities. So , when you get a posting assignment you don’t need to know how to manage, don’t be terrified we will look after it. |
These are a few of my favorite student engagement strategies because we know that students learn better when they are engaged, but sometimes increasing student engagement can be exhausting. There is nothing worse than spending so much time on a lesson, giving it your all, and looking out at a bored, unengaged class.
Ideally, these student engagement strategies don’t require any more work from you the teacher, but require more engagement and thought from the student. Let’s get those students engaged, so we can improve learning outcomes.
1. Record Information in a Different Way
Have you ever asked students to write down information on a sticky note instead of on a worksheet? Sticky notes = Instant Engagement.
I don’t completely understand it, but when given a new, novel way of recording their thoughts, students jump all in. You do have to switch it up a bit and use the “something extra” during the most important texts or lessons to maximize their effect.
Here are some of my favorite “different ways” to increase student engagement
- Use sticky notes: Have students write a different answer on each note or draw a visual representation on the sticky note. Then have the students hang them up around the room to share answers.
- Use Post-it tabs: I give my students 2-3 sticky note tabs for each new book we read. They have to mark specific areas in their book with their sticky note tab. For example, I might say, “Put a tab where you notice the character being a good friend.” Marking the page this way seems way more fun than just looking for the page number and examples in a discussion format. It also helps make sure that all students are participating.
- Use a notecard: Students can draw a visual on the blank side and write a sentence or two on the lined side.
- Use Different Colors to Write: Have students write using a different utensil like a pen or marker or have them write in multiple colors.
- Complete worksheets in a group: Have students work in a group to complete a worksheet. Each student uses a different color marker. Each student should answer the first question and then pass the worksheet in a circle. Now each student answers the second question. Continue doing this until the whole worksheet is complete. Students are completing all the work, just on different pages. There is also a moment for self-check when they see what other students have answered.
- Use dry-erase markers: My students love writing right on their desk! (Make sure you try this out first!) You can also use dry-erase boards and pockets, or have students write on the board.
2. Getting Students Talking
It is easy for me to end up talking too much during instruction. I might spend too much time on directions or sometimes even answering my own questions. It is hard to sit and passively listen. I find students are more engaged when they or their classmates are talking.
Here are some ways I encourage my students to talk more:
- Ask open-ended questions to have more of a discussion. In math, instead of asking for the answer to 6 x 7, ask students to share how they solved the multiplication problem. For reading. have one student provide the answer and ask other students to find text evidence to support or refute that answer
- Have students respond together to your single-answer questions. When I do this, I use gestures to show my students if I am talking or the whole class. This works great for questions with simple answers like math facts or vocabulary practice.
- Think, pair, share. This is an oldie, but a goodie! After giving students time to think, make sure to give students time to discuss with a peer. This allows all students to have a space to share and helps students check their thinking with one person instead of the whole class.
- Track students’ participation. Help students set goals for how often they should contribute during class discussions. You can do this by giving students a “participation ticket.” After each contribution, they can color or you can hole punch their cards. As a bonus, this also helps you monitor how often each student is talking so a few students don’t end up dominating the conversations.
3. Use Cooperative Groups
Students love working together! With my last class, I found this was the only way to get most of my students engaged and excited about learning.While it took some time to model how to successfully work together in groups, once we set good routines, my students wanted to work together for everything!
Some of my favorite ways students worked together in groups are:
- Reciprocal Teaching for Reading Articles: In this routine, students work in groups of 4 with each student having a certain job. The jobs include Predictor, Clarifier (of vocabulary words), Questioner, and Summarizer. The student is in charge of leading the discussion related to their job, but all students participate in the discussion.
Seeing this in practice is what really sold me on this strategy. Here is a link from Reading Rockets if you want to check it out:
- Work in pairs to solve word problems. I model, model, model how to make this a back-and-forth dialogue to help improve engagement from both learners instead of one student doing all the work. Students take turns in a back-and-forth fashion to complete the word problem. It might look like this:
Student 1: Reads the Problem
Student 2: Clarifies what students need to solve
S1: Ideas for strategies
S2: Pick a strategy to try and work through the problem
S1: Checks student 2’s answer and explains if it makes sense
- STEM or Makerspace activities in groups (see below)
4. Get Students Moving
Do you know that feeling when your brain starts to get groggy after sitting for too long? Students feel this too and need movement to “wake up” their brains. Movement helps improve engagement because it increases overall attention.
These are some of my favorite ways to get your students moving:
- Keep supplies in central locations. In my classroom, we use flexible seating where students have to get up and gather supplies each time we change subject areas or activities. Students have their own bins in one place of the room and textbooks in another. The quick walk to their supplies is a great way to get their blood flowing again.
- Set Up Task Cards around the room. Find task cards for whatever you are working on and tape them up around the room. Students can solve the problems while walking around with a clipboard.
- Use actions for key vocabulary words or concepts. Not only does acting out a vocabulary word or concept get students moving, but it also helps them remember the content! Sometimes I show students motions to use, but I also like to have students make up their own motions and then decide on a class motion.
- Complete Think, Pair, Share with a movement partner: Ask students a question to think about, tell them to walk around the room. Call out a motion like a high-five, elbow swing, or foot tap. Students do this motion with the person closest to them, and this person becomes their partner to answer your next question with the think, pair, share model.
- Make your content into an interactive scavenger hunt. Have you ever played the get to know you game when you search for someone who needs certain criteria? This concept can be used to practice educational skills as well! Give your students name tags and have them find someone who meets certain criteria related to the content. I love this activity so much, that I made different versions to use for unit reviews for various math and language topics. Find these in my Teachers Pay Teachers store with this link. Try Find an Answer Who… for FREE while students practice multiplication and division basic facts and concepts.
5. Make Learning Hands-On
Students love trying things out on their own. Often my students say they love science because they love the experiments and changes to complete hands-on activities. It is easiest to provide these hands-on experiences in science and math, but it is great to provide hands-on activities whenever possible.
Here are a few of my favorites:
- Exploratory Science experiments: I love when students get a chance to try things out on their own and make their own discoveries. One of my favorite exploratory science experiments requires students to light a light bulb. Give students the materials to light a light bulb but don’t tell them how to make it light. Can they figure out how to do it on their own?
- Don’t skip the math manipulatives! While they can take a little bit of time for passing out and cleaning up the materials, it is critical for students to have concrete understanding of mathematical concepts. Give them time to explore with the manipulatives. I found that it helps to give students a few minutes to “play” with the manipulatives before using them for math. This helps students focus on using them as the needed tools during the lesson.
- Use a low tech Makerspace to review concepts for any subject area. Give students materials to create ideas or concepts for any subject area. For example, have students create a model to show what houses look like in an urban, suburban, and rural community.
More Student Engagement = More Learning
I hope that you found a couple of student engagement strategies to try to improve student engagement in your classroom. What ideas from the list are you looking forward to trying? What other student engagement strategies should be included on the list? I would love to hear about your favorites!
Make sure to grab the FREEBIE
Join my email list to get the Find an Answer who… interactive multiplication and division activity. I am sure that your students will love it (and be so engaged!) with their math practice.
Make Every Teaching Moment Count, |
Drinking water is important but not many people form such a habit and drink enough of it. Our body is made up of 70% water and most our body functions happen in the presence of water.
What does water do?
1. Regulate the body temperature. When we have a fever, we are advised to drink plenty of water to help cool the body and prevent overheating.
2. For the transportation of nutrients and oxygen to all the cells for proper functioning
3. Remove waste from the body and helps with stomach acid problem.
4. Protects the joints and organs and act as cushion against shock.
5. You can lose weight just by drinking enough water. Drinking 2 liters can burn 96 calories in your body. It has no calories and also acts as an appetite suppressant. Drink a big glass of water before your meal and it will prevent you from overeating.
6. Helps maintain a healthy heart. 2002 American Journal of Epidemiology reported those who drink more than 5 glasses of water is 41% lower risk of dying from heart attack that those who drink less than 2 glasses of water.
What happens when we don’t drink enough water?
You will experience chronic pains in the joints and muscle, headaches and constipation. There is an unexplained tiredness which resting does not help.
Your body will detect there is a shortage of water coming in ,hence, goes into conservation mode and does not let go. Waste cannot be eliminated and is retained in the body. Hence, you are self-poisoning and experience water retention.
Urine becomes yellow or amber in color and has a strong odor. You will have bad breadth and your sweat will also have a strong odor due to the waste that excreted with the sweat inside.
You need water long before you feel thirsty. A reduction in 4-5% of water in the body will result in decline of 20-30% in work performance.
How much water do you need?
On a normal condition, 30 ml of water for every kilogram of body weight. So, if you are 60 kg, then you will need to drink a minimum of 1.6 liters of plain water per day. This exclude the coffee , tea and soups.
If you exercise, you will need another 250 ml for every 20 minutes of exercise. So, for 1 hr workout, you will need additional 750 ml of water.
Drinking alcohol is dehydrating to the body. You will need to drink an equivalent amount of water to replenish.
When you are traveling on an airplane, take 250 ml of water for every hour in the plane.
How to drink enough?
Have a water bottle around you and handy at all times. Stop your work at regular interval to sip some water. In this way, you are hydrated all the time.
Plain water is the best. Avoid sweetened drinks such as sodas as they have added sugar that are empty calories and are easily converted into fat.
Freshly squeezed fruit and vegetable juices are good because they contain vitamins, minerals and fiber.
Try this out and you will feel more energetic and refreshed!
If you like this, I have many more. So, go ahead to the right hand side of the page and sign up for more information coming your way! |
(NaturalNews) We all grew up with the classical food pyramid, consuming all the proper servings of grains, dairy, and meat. Well, what if you found out that one of the main levels of the food pyramid actually could give you diabetes? Studies have indeed shown that our bodies, when reacting to A1 beta-casein in dairy, cause a diabetes-like response.
Diabetes is one of the most prevalent conditions in the western world. According to the American Diabetes Association, 18.8 million people are currently diagnosed with diabetes in the United States, seven million people are currently undiagnosed and 79 million people are classified as "pre-diabetic."
For decades, people who have developed Type I diabetes have been told that there is nothing they can do about it, that they were just "born" that way. However, studies have been done which show significantly strong evidence that auto-antibody reactions against the A1 beta-casein particles in cows' milk, may contribute to beta cell (pancreas) dysfunction and Type I diabetes. The correlation has been shown through multiple studies worldwide. The prevalence of casein consumption and diabetes diagnoses are very closely related. The suspected manner in which this occurs is through what is known as cross reactivity (micro-mimicry). Cross reactivity is when our bodies attack a foreign agent such as casein, as well as a cell type in our body. What happens is as we consume dairy products, our body has to digest the food. It breaks the dairy down into both whey and casein proteins. In cross reactivity or micro-mimicry reactions, the body attacks the casein molecule as a foreign invader, and it also begins to attack beta cells in the pancreas because they look very similar. The reaction is similar to a guy taking a girl out on a date, and the next time he goes to take her on the date, he actually takes her twin sister out. The two particles may act and look the same but obviously, we know they are not the same. Unfortunately, when the body's immune system is in "attack" mode, it sometimes gets "a little carried away." As stated by Cavallo et al (1996), it is suggested that micro-mimicry may take place between a sequence of the beta-casein protein and an epitope of the GLUT 2 transporter. This means when the body attacks the casein molecule, it will also attack the GLUT 2 transporter dealing with glucose regulation.
Think about the type of diet an average American has in 2012. If you take the high inflammatory diet that Americans have and add these micro-mimicry reactions, you can see why autoimmune disease is such a problem today. If you read the data from 1975 until 2010 in regards to dairy consumption per year, you will see an increase of 77 pounds per capita. This is a significant increase considering we have more knowledge of food now than we did in 1975.
So, does this mean that casein is the only cause of diabetes, no. It does mean; however, that before you give your kid a nice tall glass of cows' milk, think about the future repercussions. You are not giving your child diabetes, but you are increasing their chance of developing this disease. Now, there are many alternative options that are very delicious and healthy. In fact, options such as coconut milk or almond milk actually have many benefits. Now you have the information, it is up to you to choose not to be ignorant and make changes.
Banchuin N, Boonyasrisawat W, Vannasaeng S, et al. Cell-mediated immune responses to GAD and beta-casein in type 1 diabetes mellitus in Thailand. Diabetes Res Clin Pract. 2002;55(3):237-45 Birgisdottir BE, Hill JP, Thorsson AV, Thorsdottir I. Lower consumption of cow milk protein A1 beta-casein at 2 years of age, rather than consumption among 11- to 14-year-old adolescents, may explain the lower incidence of type 1 diabetes in Iceland than in Scandinavia. Ann Nutr Metab. 2006;50(3):177-83 Cavallo MG, Fava D, Monetini L, et al. Cell-mediated immune response to beta casein in recent-onset insulin-dependent diabetes: implications for disease pathogenesis. Lancet. 1996;348(9032):926-8 Cavallo MG, Monetini L, Walker BK, et al. Diabetes and cows' milk. Letter. Lancet. 1996;348(9032):1655 Elliott RB, Harris DP, Hill JP, at al. Type I (insulin-dependent) diabetes mellitus and cow milk: casein variant consumption. Diabetologia. 1999;42(3):292-6 Fava D, Leslie RD, Pozzilli P. Relationship between dairy product consumption and incidence of IDDM in childhood in Italy. Diabetes Care. 1994;17(12):1488-9 Inman LR, McAllister CT, Chen L, et al. Autoantibodies to the GLUT-2 glucose transporter of beta cells in insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus of recent onset. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA. 1993;90(4):1281-4 Karvonen M, Viik-Kajander M, Moltchanova E, et al. Incidence of childhood type 1 diabetes worldwide. Diabetes Mondiale (DiaMond) Project Group. Diabetes Care. 2000;23(10):1516-26 Laugesen M, Elliott R. Ischaemic heart disease, Type 1 diabetes, and cow milk A1 beta-casein. N Z Med J. 2003;116(1168):U295 Monetini L, Barone F, Stefanini L, et al. Establishment of T cell lines to bovine beta-casein and beta-casein-derived epitopes in patients with type 1 diabetes. J Endocrinol. 2003;176(1):143-50 Monetini L, Cavallo MG, Stefanini L, et al. Bovine beta-casein antibodies in breast- and bottle-fed infants: their relevance in Type 1 diabetes. Diabetes Metab Res Rev. 2001;17(1):51-4 Padberg S, Schumm-Draeger PM, Petzoldt R, et al. The significance of A1 and A2 antibodies against beta-casein in type-1 diabetes mellitus. Dtsch Med Wochenschr. 1999;124(50):1518-21 Pozzilli P. Beta-casein in cow's milk: a major antigenic determinant for type 1 diabetes? J Endocrinol Invest. 1999;22(7):562-7 Thorsdottir I, Birgisdottir BE, Johannsdottir IM, et al. Different beta-casein fractions in Icelandic versus Scandinavian cow's milk may influence diabetogenicity of cow's milk in infancy and explain low incidence of insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus in Iceland. Pediatrics. 2000;106(4):719-24
About the author: Dr. Joseph Bova runs Bova Health and Wellness, which is located in Latham, NY. He received his Doctor of Chiropractic degree in March of this year and is currently enrolled in the Carrick Institute for Graduate Studies where he will be obtaining his specialty diplomate in functional neurology. Dr. Bova is also an attendee of Dr. Datis Kharrazian''s functional medicine seminars dealing with additional education in understanding autoimmunity, neurological diseases, nutritional suggestions, hormone regulation and much more. Dr. Bova is thankful for everyday that the Lord gives him to help patients live their lives to the fullest. You can follow Dr. Bova on twitter at BovaJoe, or at BovaHealthandWellness.com. |
When Galileo turned the first telescope toward the heavens, he recorded that the Milky Way (the galaxy in which Earth spins) is a stretch of innumerable stars grouped together in clusters.
Those star clusters are, in fact, groupings of solar systems, composed of many suns, some with planets revolving around them. Webbing all the clusters together, creating a cloud effect, is interstellar gas (hydrogen and helium combined with more complex molecules), which spreads, in varying densities, across the galaxy.
The Milky Way is 1,000 light years thick and 100,000 light years across at its widest. There are approximately 100 billion solar systems in the Milky Way, comprising 100 billion to 200 billion suns. Those suns release light, which can be seen, and electromagnetic energy, which can be detected with radio telescopes.
The boundaries of a galaxy are marked by the absence of bodies (solar systems, star clusters) to attract one another and by the thinning of interstellar gas. Between galaxies are enormous voids filled only with intergalactic gas, either hydrogen or helium.
One way astronomers know where one galaxy ends and another begins is by observation of the forms of the galaxies. A galaxy known as Messier 31, which is 2.2 million light years away, can be seen with the naked eye. Others require the aid of binoculars and small telescopes. Five hundred million galaxies, spanning a distance of 5 billion light years, are within the reach of large reflecting telescopes.
The galaxies appear in a variety of forms. Spiral galaxies have well defined arms tightly wound around a nucleus, whereas barred spiral galaxies are characterized by arms emanating from both ends of a luminous bar running through a nuclear region. Some galaxies, which contain fewer luminous stars, are elliptical; another category, called irregular galaxies, includes all those having no characteristic pattern.
It is also possible to photograph galaxies with an optical telescope. The instrument collects the galaxy’s light with a mirror and reflects it onto a photographic plate from which a photograph is made. Large clusters of stars transmit light to the plate, whereas the dark spaces between galaxies cast no light, thus defining a galaxy’s boundaries. One of the largest optical telescopes in the world is the Hale reflecting telescope on Mount Palomar in California. Its mirror, measuring nearly 5 1/2 yards in diameter, collects 1 million times more light than the eye.
A more reliable, and now more widely used, device used to observe the galaxies is the radio telescope. Like optical telescopes, most radio telescopes can be positioned to “look” at different points in the universe.
Some are shaped like large dishes; others consist of a group of antennae; several are actually built into natural craters in the earth. The paraboloidal dish of a typical radio telescope reflects and focuses radio waves to a “feed antenna,” or pickup device, at the center of the telescope.
After amplification by a receiver, the signals are conveyed by cable to a computer, which reads the intensity of the radio waves thus received from various points. A computer printout shows how radiomagnetic energy is concentrated and dispersed throughout a galaxy. At the boundaries of the galaxy, radio waves, like light waves, become very weak, and thus does the printout show where a galaxy begins and ends.
The largest radio telescope in the world lies in the hills near Arecibo, Puerto Rico. Its vast reflector dish, lined with aluminum panels, measures 1,000 feet in diameter. The most powerful radio telescope, however, named the Very Large Array (VLA), has a series of fifteen dish shaped antennae, each 82 feet in diameter, spread in a Y shape across the plains near Socorro, New Mexico.
When all twenty seven antennae act together electronically, the telescope has the resolving power of a single dish 17 miles in diameter. |
Tympanoplasty is a surgical procedure that tries to recreate a functional conduction system of the ear. It is classified among the so-called reconstructive operations, which are operations whose goal is to restore the function of the middle ear. As part of remedial surgical procedures, it is often necessary to remove the bone affected by inflammation (hammer, anvil). The defect created in this way must then be solved surgically – tympanoplasty.
In order to be able to indicate tympanoplastiku, tympanoplasty, it is necessary that:
- the inflammation was completely eradicated;
- bone conduction was preserved;
- the Eustachian tube was functional;
- the middle ear mucosa was of good quality.
- Classification of tymponoplasty
- Tympanoplasty I: the suprastructures of the stapes and manubrium of the malleus are preserved, the rest of the middle ear transmission system is replaced using a partial ossicular replacement prosthesis (PORP).
- Tympanoplasty II: all middle ear ossicles are missing, they are replaced by TORP prosthesis - total ossicular replacement prosthesis.
Both autologous (cartilage, bone) and synthetic (plastic, metals, etc.) materials are used for the production of prostheses.
Links[edit | edit source]
Related Articles[edit | edit source]
Source[edit | edit source]
- BENEŠ, Jiří. Studijní materiály [online]. ©2007. [cit. 2009]. <http://jirben2.chytrak.cz/materialy/orl_jb.doc>.
References[edit | edit source]
- KLOZAR, Jan, et al. Speciální otorinolaryngologie. 1. edition. Galén, 2005. 224 pp. ISBN 80-7262-346-X. |
The past year might have made some people complacent and indifferent about their physical well-being because of the events that transpired. According to a study, more people reported being inactive and sleeping more. Isolation and quarantine have kept individuals away from the gym and stuck at home to lay in bed all day. At the same time, gyms from all over the globe have temporarily closed to participate in self-distancing and reduce the number of COVID-19 cases. Time has passed, and even though the pandemic isn’t over yet, people have slowly begun adapting to the new normal when it comes to fitness and staying active. Now that 2021 has already begun, it’s time to pick up where you left off and start thinking of ways to improve your overall fitness and health for the new year.
Why you should stay more active
Apparently, 150 minutes of moderate-intensity or 75 minutes of vigorous-intensity physical activity per week is recommended by the World Health Organization (WHO). Staying active has always been known to improve your overall health and well-being. Being physically fit can give you a wide range of benefits. For starters, it helps you stay healthy and can lessen the risk of acquiring illnesses and diseases, which means you won’t need to spend more money on medications and doctor appointments. Regular exercise can build healthier bones and muscles in the body. Also, it allows you to maintain your stamina, strength, and abilities that can help you function every day. You won’t have to worry about gaining an excessive amount of weight throughout quarantine since exercising can keep your weight under control.
Also, it can contribute to the improvement of your emotional and mental state. Exercising and other physical activities can actually be an effective way to cope with anxiety and depression. It is proven that exercises that can significantly increase our heart rate are more effective in reducing symptoms of depression. An example of these exercises is aerobic activities. Furthermore, improvements in self-esteem and sleeping habits are also possible. Overall, the stress that individuals can experience because of the pandemic can potentially lead to negative situations that can affect their family and friends as well. Using physical activities as a way to manage and get through such a troubling time is essential.
What should you do about it
Even if you’re not a fan of working out or exercising, trying your best to incorporate more movement into your daily routines can already be helpful.
The easiest thing you can do to stay active during this pandemic is to walk. Walking is actually the most basic and simple exercise that anyone can do. Despite the minimal effort exerted for walking, it can still provide several benefits such as burning calories, decreasing heart disease risk, boosting your immune system, improving your mood, and the list goes on.
Household chores, such as cleaning and gardening, can also be a great way to stay active at home. Planning activities with your family members can be effective as well. May it be playing with the little ones at home or fun sports in your own backyard. Physical activities at home are convenient, easy, and fun to do, especially when you’re with your families.
Options online are available as well. You can easily enroll in virtual exercise classes or just watch cardio tutorial videos on YouTube. The internet is filled with endless resources that can guide you through working out and staying active at home.
How to overcome headaches and body pain through physical activities
Another interesting fact is that physical inactivity can more likely cause you to experience headaches and body pain. A lack of exercise can lead to the deterioration and weakening of muscles and bones in your body. The breaking down of your muscles is a process that is called muscle atrophy. As a result, performing everyday tasks will be more difficult for the individual. Moreover, physical inactivity is also known to generate headache disorders. Headaches and migraines are inconvenient and comfortable, which affects how you function every day as well.
With that in mind, several physical activities can help you overcome these challenges. Walking, running, swimming, and biking are some activities you can do during quarantine to reduce the severity of headaches and migraines. Other than that, meditation exercises and practicing deep breathing and relaxation techniques can help you relax and lessen the pain. Yoga is also a great and effective way to decrease muscle tension and tightness by stretching. Similarly, yoga can also help relieve stress that can result in headaches. Combining these exercises with usage of the Zōk Relief Device and TENSIONre has been proven to be beneficial if you do start to experience head and body pain. You’ll be able to relieve your stress as well as tension and pressure.
To conclude, exercising and staying active at home during quarantine is incredibly important for your overall health and well-being. With just a little determination, you can find a lot of different options and alternatives for exercising and keeping your body fit online or in your own home. The possibilities will be endless only if you’re willing to cooperate and be creative with the current resources available to you! |
A New England and Eastern Canada Edible and Medicinal Mushroom Resource
Hedgehog/Sweet Tooth Mushroom
The hedgehog mushroom a.k.a. sweet tooth really is represented by 2 closely related species. They are close relatives of the chanterelle and their aroma is strikingly similar. These can often be found in profusion beginning in mid-summer and continuing into late fall. One really good thing about them is that bugs tend to leave them alone. During the summer that can be very refreshing since so many good looking finds can be infested during the warmer months.
Cap (pileus) Hydnum repandum is 2-8 inches wide, thick, and usually convex but often irregularly shaped with lobes. Occasionally they will become flat or upturned and usually have a wavy margin. Color varies from cream to orangey brown. They may develop an orangey color when bruised.
Hydnum umbilicatum cap is usually orangey brown, smaller, with a more centered stem and a sunken depression at top center.
Teeth (hymenophore) Both species have whitish to light brown tooth-like structures between 1/8-1/4 in long that break off very easily. Hydnum umbilicatum teeth are usually a somewhat darker color.
Stem (stipe) Hydnum repandum has a short thick stem that is usually off center and often irregularly shaped. Hydnum umbilicatum has a thinner longer more centered stem.
Flesh Hydnum repandum flesh is thick, whitish, and
Spores Both species have a white spore print.
When and where to find them (ecology) Hydnum repandum is usually found around hardwoods such as Birch or Beech (and others). I have a nice stand that produces well each year under a very mature yellow birch very near my home. Usually these start showing in August and can continue well into November in mixed woods.
Hydnum umbilicatum is usually found under conifers and in wetter areas during the same time span but mostly in September and October. Often you will find dozens if you find one. Last fall while looking for matsutake I stopped next to a stand of hemlocks near a lake that looked promising to me. I found a piece of black thread near the side of the road that led into the woods to a Hemlock grove in the interior. I could see that this thread led to someone's secret matsutake stand. It was too late though. I could see the holes around the hemlocks where they had been picked. Dang! With a little looking around, I left the woods happy. Nearby were more than a hundred H. umbilicatum that the matsutake hunter overlooked. I think it made them taste extra good.
Preparation Both of these can be prepared in similar fashion. They are nice sautéed, fried and dried. They have a crunchy but not chewy texture. The flavor and smell is somewhat similar to chanterelles. Being much larger and thicker, Hydnum repandum can be used in more ways including microwave. Whereas I don't find Chanterelles to be great deep fried, the bigger chunkier H. repandum fries up pretty well. The smell of Hedgehogs when drying them is worth the price of admission by itself. I don't think any mushroom makes my house smell better. They don't reconstitute all that well so a mushroom powder may be the best use.
Comments This one is great eating and not that hard to find during times when there may not be much around that is not buggy. The teeth make it easy to identify.
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At least 10 wolves have been killed during Michigan's wolf hunt in the Upper Peninsula.
The state Department of Natural Resources updated the results Saturday. The wolf season started on Nov. 15 and runs through December, unless 43 are killed before the end of the year.
It's the first hunt in Michigan since the wolf was placed on the endangered species list nearly 40 years ago. A total of 1,200 people are licensed to participate with firearm, crossbow or bow and arrow.
The DNR had estimated the state's wolf population at 658. |
These programs aim to assist parents in helping children manage their weight and live healthy lifestyles with specific activities and milestones.
The Behavioral Diabetes Institute is an organization dedicated to helping people with diabetes live long, healthy, and happy lives. This website provides an array of evidence-based clinical programs, all designed to help people overcome the emotional and behavioral obstacles to living well with diabetes.
Behavioral Diabetes Institute (BDI)
This toolkit includes articles, videos, and other materials to help you attain greater emotional health and balance in your life.
The evidence-based Group Lifestyle Balance program is designed to help patients make lifestyle changes which can prevent diabetes and prevent or treat metabolic syndrome. This program provides education, encouragement and the tools necessary to help individuals reach their healthy lifestyle goals and is designed for non–diabetic, overweight individuals age 18 and older who have pre–diabetes and/or the metabolic syndrome.
University of Pittsburgh Diabetes Prevention Support Center
This in-person weight management program educates overweight children and their parents about nutrition and physical activity through interactive sessions.
Children's Hospital Los Angeles
This in-person program aims to fight the childhood obesity epidemic by fostering an environment where kids know it's hip to be healthy. Nutrition and physical activity is at the root of each program, helping to build healthy bodies and healthy hearts.
This school- and community-based fitness program teaches kids to live an active and healthy lifestyle by running or walking 26.2 miles over six months, eating healthy food daily, and even learning to grow fruits and veggies. Available in select cities.
This curriculum for an after-school health promotion program is designed to teach young people ages 11 to 13 about the complex media world around them and how it can affect their health—especially in the areas of nutrition and physical activity.
National Institute of Child Health & Human Development (NICHD)
This national weight management program is designed to help veterans lose weight, keep it off, and improve their health. The materials available on this website can also be used to help non-VA patients manage their weight. En español
U.S. Department of Veteran's Affairs (VA)
These resources help teachers get their students active, excited, and engaged in the NFL PLAY 60 Challenge. The resources include a teacher guide, lesson plan worksheets, game planner, classroom scoreboard, and certificate.
American Heart Association (AHA)
- Help Me Select one:
- I Am A Select one:
- Age Select one:
Type of Resource
- In-person programs Remove
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By Kellie Matack, USAG Bavaria Emergency Management
GRAFENWOEHR, Germany — In the spring and summer, it is not unusual for Germany to experience an inflow of warm, humid air masses originating from the southwest. When these air masses converge with the colder air from the north, and there is adequate wind shear, they can trigger the self amplifying convection processes. This precipitates an enormous amount of energy to be released into the atmosphere, creating thunderstorms (severe convection storms) and supercells, bringing lightning, torrential rain, hurricane force winds, hail and even tornadoes.
This year alone, Europe has experienced over 1,300 occurrences of severe damaging winds and microbursts, as well as eight confirmed tornadoes and 64 suspected. One of which the confirmed occurred just a mere 50 kilometers from the Grafenwoehr area.
What are the effects?
In 2007, Germany experienced supercell Kyrill that resulted in 11 deaths and 2 billion euros in damage. And in 2015, there was a series of five tornadoes on the evening of May 5 that caused two deaths, left 30 injured, destroyed 16 homes, damaged more than 100 cars and precipitated more than 30 million euro in damages. Later that month, on May 13, three tornadoes occurred in southern Germany, resulting in the destruction of 230 buildings and losses of more than 50 million euro. More recently, supercell Friederike, caused 1 billion euro in damages and took the lives of eight individuals — the second most expensive storm to strike in the last 20 years.
So now what?
So what does this mean for my family and I, you ask? This means it is time to take action!
The first step in preparedness is to know your risk, and the next step is to take action. You can do this by developing an emergency plan based on our local weather hazards and practice how and where to take shelter before a severe weather event. Be sure to include Fido!
Next is to build an emergency supply kit and create a family communication plan. If you do not even know where to start, head to www.redcross.org or www.ready.gov to download templates, or navigate to www.2cr.army.mil, select “Sponsorship,” then “Prepared Dragoons” for quick reference guides specific to 2nd Cavalry Regiment.
Before a thunderstorm
During a thunderstorm, avoid:
If you are outside
Tornadoes are nature’s most violent storms. Spawned from powerful thunderstorms, tornadoes can cause fatalities and devastate a neighborhood in seconds. They may strike quickly and with little or no warning. Tornado season is May to September, with July having the most recorded tornadoes. Although tornadoes are rare in Bavaria, they can still occur.
Before a tornado
If you are in a structure
If you are in a vehicle, trailer or mobile home
If you are outside without shelter
While a tornado in Germany is rare, downbursts and micro/macrobursts are becoming more common. Before, during and after actions remain the same.
Emergency Alert Systems
U.S. Army Garrison Bavaria has three Giant Voice towers, two on Tower Barracks and one on Rose Barracks, with which they can use to alert the public of imminent danger. They also utilize the Alert! Mass Warning Notification System.
Germany has three warning notification systems: NINA, KATWARN and WARNWETTER, all of which can be downloaded to the user’s smartphone.
Germany also utilizes warning signals called the Civil Defense Sirens. The Warning of Imminent Danger will sound with a one-minute howl changing between upper and lower sounds. This is also known as the ABC Alarm. ABC occurs in the following situations: in case of an attack of atomic (nuclear), biological or chemical nature; extreme weather like storm; flooding; any other big catastrophe. When you hear this alarm you must inform neighbors and non-German speakers in your area, get indoors, close windows and doors, shutdown central air or a/c, turn on your local TV or radio station, and wait for instructions/information. The all clear alarm will sound with a one-minute long howl that will not change pitch or sounds.
Residents may also hear such alarms as the fire alarm and the general test. The fire alarm is a one-minute howl with two breaks calling in the local volunteer fire department, while the general test is one short howl (1x 2 seconds long and 1x 12 seconds long).
The Deutscher Wetterdienst serves all of Germany. They provide forecasts, warnings and other meteorological information to the general public, media, emergency management and law enforcement officials, the aviation community, and other customers. Serving as the nerve center for official government weather services across Germany, the staff at the DWD ensures the delivery of timely information on critical weather.
Other German Weather Resources |
A peer-reviewed analysis published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences classified this age as one of “biological annihilation” — one that has prompted the planet’s sixth mass extinction event. Scientists behind the study threaten that should no policies be made to address this issue now, we may soon be facing catastrophic biodiversity changes. Eschewing the typical sober and detached tone most scientific papers relish, the authors say that this biological annihilation is indicative of a “frightening assault on the foundations of human civilization,” as mentioned on TheGuardian.com.
Co-author, Professor Gerardo Ceballos said, “the situation has become so bad it would not be ethical not to use strong language.”
Strong, indeed. Ceballos, along with Professors Paul Ehrlich and Rodolfo Dirzo, says this worldwide decimation of the animal and plant population underlines the “seriousness for humanity of Earth’s ongoing sixth mass extinction event.” The team of three drew this conclusion after observing the rate in which animal and plant species have been dwindling for millennia. Previous research had already indicated a significantly faster rate of extinction, but always ended with implication of a gradual loss of biodiversity. Professor Ceballos expanded this assumption to include “common” species that were not known to be at risk along with determining the range in which these species were kept.
The scientists found that almost a third of thousands of animal species are losing population — though not enough to be classified as “endangered.” Moreover, around half of all individual animals have died out in only a few decades. Land mammals, it was further noted, had lost 80 percent of their range in the last century alone. This meant, according to their calculations, that billions of population of birds, reptiles, amphibians, and mammals could be at risk of extinction in only two decades.
Likening the effect to a domino cascade, the scientists warn that the prospects for us and our survival do not look good. There remains time, they say, to halt the decline, but far too much damage to the environment has already been done. They attribute this annihilation to habitat destruction, toxic pollution, over-hunting, and most especially, over-consumption. Professor Elrich, who authored a controversial book in 1968 called, “The Population Bomb,” argued that maintaining a livable climate in which humans and nature coexist respectfully and comfortably will require great amounts of vigilance, diligence, and stricter diversity protection laws. He went on to say that current environmental practices are mere “band-aid” solutions to a bigger issue. (Related: ‘Mass extinction event’ across planet may have been unleashed by humans, scientists warn.)
Other scientists though temper the study’s conclusions. Professor Stuart Primm who was not involved in the research agreed with the findings but said that the idea of a sixth mass extinction event is not likely. “It is something that hasn’t happened yet — we are on the edge of it,” he said. Professor Primm said that the study highlights, in broad strokes, everything negative about biodiversity loss but does not acknowledge practices being made now to protect animal and plant life.
Robin Freeman, who helped publish an earlier paper which concluded 50 percent of individual animals have been lost since 1970, agreed that people should be made more aware of the loss of numerous animal species, but says that there is a fine but distinct line in which these facts should be given to people.
Regardless of where you stand on the issue, it cannot be denied that our planet has changed in a relatively short period of time.
Read more articles like this when you visit Enviro.news. |
Be careful! Putting out a heated bird bath may cause your neighbors to tease you about putting out a wild bird "hot tub" when they see steam rising. You may even second guess yourself about the logic of putting water outside in brutal winter weather. But consider why you might want to provide an open water source for your avian visitors.
Here are five reasons why a heated bird bath makes good sense in the depths of a cruel winter:
In climates that regularly experience sub-freezing temperatures and even in climates that are not so brutal but have cool winters, many bird watchers put out bird baths with heating elements. This not only continues to attract winter birds for your birdwatching pleasure, but also helps them survive the coldest season of the year.
Open water becomes scarce in winter when most sources are frozen. Having a dependable open water source draws the birds. Sure, birds can eat snow or ice. But they must burn additional calories to convert that snow or ice to water. Because it reduces the amount of energy a bird must use to convert snow or ice to water, that open water source you provide reduces their energy expenditure and may be more important than food in some instances as it helps them retain their caloric energy.
Birds need to bathe to keep their feathers clean helping them lock out the wet and cold. When they preen, birds arrange the tiny barbs on their feather shafts so they interlock like miniature zippers and so the feathers layer like the shingles on a roof. Having a source of water to clean their feathers actually helps them stay dry and warm.
You'll be rewarded by watching birds gather around your winter bird bath. And you may encounter winter visitors that would not otherwise take nourishment from your feeders.
A bird bath that's heated can be found in many styles including ground level and raised pedestal models. Some bowls come with mounting hardware that can be attached to deck rails or placed on mounted platforms.
In addition to bird baths that are manufactured with internal heaters, individual bird bath heaters or de-icers that can be placed inside the water in the bowl are available. Most bird baths with internal heating elements as well as de-icers are thermostatically controlled.
Some cautionary words about placing a bird bath heater in the bowl of your birdbath .... some bird baths may be damaged by the use of a de-icer. Concrete birdbaths, for example, absorb water. When that water freezes and expands in cold weather, it will crack the concrete bird bath.
The open water in your heated bird bath won't actually be warm, but it will remain unfrozen and liquid when it's below freezing outdoors and even when the air reaches sub-zero temperatures.
Even if it sounds silly to put a heated bird bath out in sub-freezing temperatures, do consider it. You'll help birds survive the winter and you'll take delight in watching them!
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Small and large, deep and shallow, ponds abundantly dot Michigans landscape. People, fish, and wildlife love the resources that these small bodies of water provide. Michigan landowners have built an estimated 50,000 ponds on farms and near rural households to store water for irrigation and livestock, to provide fire protection, to attract wildlife, and to raise fish for recreation. Deep water ponds are great places for fish production because of their cooler temperatures and reduced vegetation. Although shallow ponds are not as valuable for fish production, they provide suitable sites for cattails, bulrushes, and other vegetation that create food and cover for wildlife.
The type of pond to construct depends upon your goals. If you want to raise bluegills, bass, or trout, then make the pond deep. If your goal is to attract ducks, frogs and wetland birds, then build it shallow. Some landowners try to achieve both goals with a single project and usually fail, especially if the pond site is smaller than several acres. For more information on creating shallow water ponds for wildlife, see the chapters on Marshes and Wetland Restoration Techniques. Landowners interested in pond development for other uses should consult with their Michigan State University Extension office or the U.S. Natural Resource Conservation Service.
Deep Water Ponds
To successfully raise fish you must ensure a balanced fish population, provide appropriate water temperature, and limit growth of emergent (cattails and bulrushes) and submergent (pondweed and milfoil) plant species. The Michigan Department of Natural Resources Fisheries Division has information about how many fish and what species to stock to meet your pond's size and shape. Minimum depth for sustaining warm water species like bass and panfish is 10 feet. For trout and other cold water species, the minimum is 12 feet or more unless a cold spring or stream feeds the pond. The entire pond need not be this deep, but unless 25 to 50 percent of its surface area lies at such depths, the pond will not provide the right amount of dissolved oxygen in winter and range of temperatures in summer that fish need to survive. Even though some fish may live in shallower ponds, they will not grow as fast nor as large as they would in better habitat. In addition, they are vulnerable to winter and summer kills. Fish ponds should be 1/2 acre or more in water surface area.
Minimizing the amount of shallow edge around your deep water pond will reduce emergent vegetation, most species of which grow in water less than four feet deep. For this reason, create steep slopes to a depth of four feet or more. Slopes should range from a minimum ratio of 2:1 (2 feet of horizontal per 1 foot drop) to a maximum of 3:1 (3 feet of horizontal per 1 foot drop). Minimize the amount of edge by constructing a circular or rectangular shaped pond.
Shallow Water Ponds
Wildlife species attracted to constructed shallow water ponds (depending on size) include waterfowl, songbirds, shorebirds, wading birds, amphibians, and reptiles, as well as some upland birds and mammals. Although a portion of the pond can be six feet or deeper--to reduce emergent plant growth and to maintain an opening useful to waterfowl and other wetland birds--depths ranging from six inches to four feet are most productive for a variety of wildlife. Ponds deep enough to house fish can have a negative impact on the production of wildlife such as frogs, toads, salamanders, and even ducklings. Wildlife ponds often host some of the same plants as marshes, including cattails and bulrushes in the shallow areas and pondweed and other submerged plants in the deeper spots.
For shallow ponds, increasing the amount of edge makes the pond more productive for wildlife. Irregular-shaped projects or long, rectangular ones with scalloped edges will have more edge, increasing its wildlife value. Slope design should be flatter, ranging from 3:1 to 10:1 (horizontal:drop), and projects that are at least 60 feet wide reduce the impact of predators on ducklings and other young birds.
Constructing a Pond
Generally, ponds should be dug on fairly level areas not suited for wetland restorations. Many parts of Michigan are favorable because of the flatter topography and groundwater which lies close beneath the soil surface. Water will slowly seep through gravel, loam, and sand layers of a dug depression with a high water table. Conversely, surface run-off will readily fill basins constructed on clay soils. While some people have excavated springs to create ponds, we do not recommend it. Remember that springs provide important wildlife habitat to wild turkeys, frogs, salamanders, and turtles. For more information on springs, see the chapter on Seasonally Flooded Wetlands.
Most landowners thinking of building a pond assume that low areas offer the best location. Actually, upland sites may be better because the groundwater table generally follows the land's contours, and it may be fairly close to the surface at higher elevations. Upland excavation most certainly will be better than in the low spots, as they may be muck-filled and more difficult to work with. Excavation projects in lowlands or wetlands should be avoided and may require a permit from the Land and Water Management Division of the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality. Marshes, lowland woodlands, brushy wetlands, bogs, and other wetland types provide important wildlife habitat, and converting them to deep or shallow ponds is not recommended.
The Natural Resources Conservation Service, an agency of the U.S. Department of Agriculture with offices in most Michigan counties, have soil surveys on record that can tell landowners how well certain soils on their property will hold water. Soils for pond construction should contain a minimum of 20% clay. It is important when constructing ponds to know water-holding capacity, depth to water, and expected fluctuations of water in the soil because excavation will have to go below that level to maintain water. This information is also helpful if the source of water for the pond is runoff.
The best way to determine water table depth is to review a soil survey with an NRCS staff member to get an idea of expected normal conditions, then dig test holes when the water table is likely to be at its lowest, usually in the hot, dry part of the summer. Spring and summer groundwater depths often vary by two to four feet or more in Michigan, which is why many shallow ponds dry up in summer. This condition typically occurs where the soil is sandy or the slope too great. Although the drying process may have a negative impact on fish stocks in deeper ponds, it actually helps promote a diversity of plant growth in shallow ponds. When water returns to the site, typically in fall, wildlife will greatly benefit.
In addition, be sure not to dig the pond too deep. A thin layer of impermeable soil, such as clay, may be what holds the water table where it is. Puncturing this soil layer is much like pulling the plug of a bathtub. If this layer of soil is broken, the water table will no longer exist at the previous level and the created pond will be dry.
Operators of earthmoving equipment all too often do not take groundwater tables into account when they contract with landowners. An agreement to create a pond that is 15 feet deep, for example, could produce a pond with only 12 feet of water if the groundwater table lies three feet below the surface. In this instance the operator would have to dig to a depth of 18 feet in order to satisfy the agreement. Landowners are advised to get a written agreement from the contractor that guarantees water depth, not depth of the excavation. Another misconception is the common belief that water seeping into a test hole must come from springs. Landowners and their contractors all too often assume the "spring-fed" depression they dig will fill with water. In truth, the water flowing into the test hole is probably groundwater seeping through sand or gravel. This water will fill a depression only to the level where it currently exists.
An option is to create a pond by impounding existing surface water. For example, field ditches that furnish a constant flow of water can be dammed with an earthen berm. Adding a spillway will allow you to control water depth. For more information, refer to the chapter on Wetland Restoration Techniques. However, such ponds usually require the periodic removal of silt and other sediments. Also, such projects require a permit from Michigan Department of Environmental Quality and may also need to be coordinated with the county drain commissioner's office. Further, runoff and stream water are rarely as pure as groundwater, which has been well filtered and is free of phosphorus and other pollutants. On the other hand, groundwater may be low in oxygen and contain iron, copper, or other minerals that are detrimental to fish. For this reason, if a fish pond is desired, one should test the water source before 'building' the pond.
The actual design of your project will be based on your goals. Also, design considerations will have to take into account the soil type and terrain and the aesthetics desired. Keep ponds away from woodlots to minimize loading from leaves and other nutrients, and locate them away from homes and buildings for maximum wildlife use. Keep in mind excavating costs can soar if dirt must be moved farther than 150 feet. The most cost-effective ponds, then, are those that are no wider than 300 feet. However, they can be bigger if the budget allows.
The least-expensive ponds are usually those that require the removal of excavated dirt (spoil) only once. With the help of the contractor, plan where you will put the spoil. Many landowners are amazed at the large volume of spoil, which typically takes up 20 percent more storage volume once it is removed because it loses its compact nature. A half-acre pond, for example, with a quarter-acre that is 18 feet deep, may easily require a full acre of land for spoil disposal. Place the spoil on an upland site and take precautions to prevent erosion back into your pond.
Ponds offer opportunities for wildlife and fish management. Those that have a reliable supply of water year around function naturally and can best be managed by protecting the water source. The hydrology (water availability) of your pond is critical in maintaining the water quality and quantity. A berm around the pond that is one foot high by four feet wide and is vegetated will help to filter surface water from sediments and contaminants before reaching the pond.
In summary, deep ponds can hold fish and shallow water ponds can attract wildlife to your property. However, landowners should think about the many considerations involved, including construction and maintenance costs. Government cost-sharing programs for pond creation are rare. If your property is located in a lowland area, you may be able to restore a wetland instead of creating a pond. This option would most likely create better habitat for a variety of wildlife. Because of the high priority for restoring drained wetlands and the relative lower cost of these projects compared to pond creations, there are several programs that cost share restorations. Refer to the other chapters in the Wetlands Management section for more information.
Last Revised: December 30, 1999 |
The Problem with Vouchers
In the wake of School Choice Week, advocates took to their bully pulpits to rally support for state and federal school voucher programs. Supporters of vouchers in Congress have introduced new legislation that would redirect much-needed funding from public schools to private schools.
The Reform Movement has consistently opposed vouchers for many reasons, such as taxpayer funding for private education is essentially giving up on the public education system, and many of the private schools that receive government money are religious schools, thus violating the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment and breaking down the separation between church and state.
Legislation that redirects taxpayer money from our local schools to private education takes necessary support for students and their futures away. This shift in funding gives a very small number of students access to private school, with few notable results in student academic achievement – if at all. Congress ought to focus on strengthening public schools – open to all students, regardless of income, race, religion, sex – than contributing to a growing achievement and opportunity gap.
Public funding for religious schools poses serious concerns regarding the separation of church and state. Not only do vouchers violate our age-old and constitutional commitment to the separation of church and state, but also they require that taxpayers fund a religion they might not agree with, or would otherwise choose not to support. There is no clearer example of “Congress [making] a law respecting an establishment of religion” than funding sectarian education.
Vouchers have been infiltrating our education system for many years. In 2001, the URJ created a resource guide called, “Protecting the Wall, Supporting our Schools.” For more information on Jewish perspectives in favor of public education, and our interests in ensuring the wall of separation between church and state, read the guide here. You can also read up on the Reform Movement’s resolutions on the importance of public education and church-state separation. |
Title: Jump! A Game of Numbers
Summary: Save the Snortles! Build multiplication skills in silly, fun math game
Pros: Kids are so excited about saving the Snortles that they don't realize they're building core addition and multiplication skills along the way.
Cons: Students can skip the hard thinking by using the Hint button.
Bottom Line: Absorbing gameplay helps students hone their addition and skip-counting skills. |
Photo and Commentary by Sean Hutchinson
The building we know today as the Cummings Center, though we may take it for granted, was once highly respected for its structural advancements as well as technological advancements. The United Shoe Manufacturing Company, it’s previous name, was built in the early 1900’s, and for thirty years stood as the largest reinforced concrete structure in the world. It is actually ranked highly today as one of the most significant industrial landmarks in the country. The community of Beverly, as well as other communities around the area was housing the thousands of workers at United Shoe. The United Shoe was restored after bought but Cummings Properties in 1996 and came to be called the Cummings Center. It is amazing how many people know of the United Show, but few realize how much impact it actually had on life during the Industrial Revolution.
Yes, it is true that the majority of Beverly citizens know of the Cummings Center in Beverly, which was once the United Shoe. Very few of these people though know how much it affected life here. The United Shoe not only represented Beverly, but many of the things going on in the Industrial Revolution. It was a company that made machines that made shoes. Many people who lived in Beverly and surrounding areas worked at the United Shoe, making Beverly somewhat of a Company Town. A Company Town was a town built around a company or corporation that housed most of the workers. This company basically made Beverly what it is today. Schools and recreational centers, such as Beverly Golf and Tennis, were established for a place for the workers to have fun. From the time the company opened to the 1910’s, the immigration population in Beverly raised the population almost 5,000 people, more than a third of the previous population. Who knew that one building could change a town so much?
The shot I have of the Cummings Center is an updated picture since it has been refurbished in 1996. Even though it has been refurbished, and in the future may even be refurbished again, it will still remain a staple to the town of Beverly. Since the update, the style of the building has changed, but the basis of the building is still standing strong. The United Shoe is a large part of Beverly history, and the people of Beverly would never let that be replaced. That is why it is a staple in the history of Beverly. Though “The Shoe” may change slightly in appearance in generations to come, the building will last as a Beverly historical sight, and believe me, is not being replaced any time soon. |
Explain that the class will be rewriting this report as a description of the actual conversation.
A useful mnemonic for the order of punctuation with direct speech is:
66 What they say (Punctuation) 99
Make a class list of verbs that can be used to describe people speaking. For example:
The first part may be rewritten as:
"How hot does it get inside C-3PO's costume?" enquired Lizo.
"Well, it's incredibly hot in the desert sometimes. When we were shooting just now in Tunisia for Attack of the Clones it was summer and I was cooking inside there," answered Anthony. |
When you walk into a darkened room, your first instinct is to feel around for a light switch. You slide your hand along the wall, feeling the transition from the doorframe to the painted drywall, and then up and down until you find the metal or plastic plate of the switch. During the process you use your sense of touch to develop an image in your mind of the wall's surface and make a better guess for where the switch is.
Sliman Bensmaia, PhD, assistant professor of organismal biology and anatomy at the University of Chicago, studies the neural basis of tactile perception, or how our hands convey this information to the brain. In a new study published in the Journal of Neuroscience, he and his colleagues found that the timing and frequency of vibrations produced in the skin when you run your hands along a surface, like searching a wall for a light switch, plays an important role in how we use our sense of touch to gather information about the objects and surfaces around us.
The sense of touch has traditionally been thought of in spatial terms, i.e. receptors in the skin are spread out across a grid of sorts, and when you touch something this grid of receptors transmits information about the surface to your brain. In their new study, Bensmaia, two former undergraduates, and a postdoctoral scholar in his lab--Matthew Best, Emily Mackevicius and Hannes Saal--found that the skin is also highly sensitive to vibrations, and that these vibrations produce corresponding oscillations in the afferents, or nerves, that carry information from the receptors to the brain. The precise timing and frequency of these neural responses convey specific messages about texture to the brain, much like the frequency of vibrations on the eardrum conveys information about sound.
Neurons communicate through electrical bits, similar to the digital ones and zeros used by computers. But, Bensmaia said, "One of the big questions in neuroscience is whether it's just the number of bits that matters, or if the specific sequence of bits in time also plays a role. What we show in this paper is that the sequence of bits in time does matter, and in fact for some of the skin receptors, the timing matters with millisecond precision."
Researchers have known for years that these afferents respond to skin vibrations, but they studied their responses using so-called sinusoidal waves, which are smooth, repetitive patterns. These perfectly uniform vibrations can be produced in a lab, but the kinds of vibrations produced in the skin by touching surfaces in the real world are messy and erratic.
For this study, Bensmaia and his team used a vibratory motor that can produce any complex vibration they want. In the first experiment, they recorded afferent responses to a variety of frequencies in rhesus macaques, whose tactile nervous system closely resembles humans. In the second part, a group of human subjects reported how similar or different two particular frequencies felt when a probe attached to the motor touched their skin.
When the team analyzed the data recorded from the rhesus macaques, they found that not only did the nerve oscillate at the frequency of the vibrations, but they could also predict how the human subjects would perceive vibrations based on the neuronal responses to the same frequencies in the macaques.
"In this paper, we showed that the timing of spikes evoked by naturalistic vibrations matters, not just for artificial stimuli in the lab," Bensmaia said. "It's actually true for the kinds of stimuli that you would experience in everyday life."
What this means is that given a certain texture, we know the frequency of vibrations it will produce in the skin, and subsequently in the nerve.
In other words, if you knew the frequency of silk as your finger passes over it, you could reproduce the feeling by stimulating the nerves with that same frequency without ever touching the fabric.
But this study is just part of ongoing research for Bensmaia's team on how humans incorporate our sense of touch into more sophisticated concepts like texture, shape, and motion.
Researchers could someday use this model of timing and frequency of afferent responses to simulate the sensation of texture for an amputee by "replaying" the vibrations produced in an artificial limb as it explores a textured surface by electrically stimulating the nerve at the corresponding frequencies. It could also be used for haptic rendering, or producing the tactile feel of a virtual object on a touchscreen (think turning your iPad into a device for reading Braille, or controlling robotic surgery).
"We're trying to build a theory of what makes things feel the way they feel," Bensmaia said. "This is the beginning of a story that's really going to change the way people think about the somatosensory system."
About the University of Chicago Medicine
The University of Chicago Medicine and its Comer Children's Hospital rank among the best in the country, most notably for cancer treatment, according to U.S. News & World Report's survey of the nation's hospitals. The University of Chicago's Pritzker School of Medicine has been named one of the Top 10 medical schools in the nation, by U.S. News' "Best Graduate Schools" survey. University of Chicago physician-scientists performed the first organ transplant and the first bone marrow transplant in animal models, the first successful living-donor liver transplant, the first hormone therapy for cancer and the first successful application of cancer chemotherapy. Its researchers discovered REM sleep and were the first to describe several of the sleep stages. Twelve of the Nobel Prize winners have been affiliated with the University of Chicago Medicine.
Visit our research blog at sciencelife.uchospitals.edu and our newsroom at uchospitals.edu/news. |
Minnesota is watching as the Rice Creek Watershed District tests a new way to remove carp. Designed to improve water quality in Long Lake, the techniques used here could be applied throughout the state where carp migrate to spawn.
Friday marked the first day of a multiweek effort to remove common carp from the lakes that drain to Lake Minnetonka. It’s the latest chapter in the state’s mounting battle to halt the growth of invasive species, which destroy water quality and habitat and can have a significant impact on business and recreation.
On Stieger Lake in Victoria, Minn. — the headwaters of Lake Minnetonka — four workers in hip waders spent Friday morning tossing nearly 2,000 pounds of common carp from nets to a boat to the back of a pickup truck. The fish have become a nuisance in some lakes because they’re so good at moving around and destroying the habitats of more desirable fish species.
The carp management plan is based on data from a three-year study by the University of Minnesota’s Aquatic Invasive Species Research Center. The researchers found an unprecedented number of common carp in the Six Mile Creek system, including Lake Minnetonka’s Halsted Bay. They also identified where the carp are spawning and determined their migration patterns. The findings helped shape a management strategy that includes removing adult carp, installing carp barriers, and aerating lakes to ensure the winter survival of bluegill sunfish (which feed on carp eggs).
On Steiger Lake in Victoria, crews removed four nets, or around 200 eight- to ten-pound carp, with the goal of improving conditions for gamefish and and waterfowl, as well as water quality. It will affect the 14 lakes that drain to Lake Minnetonka.
If you want better fishing in Lake Minnetonka, there’s one fish that’s not welcome. It’s the common carp. Halsted Bay, in the far southwest corner of Lake Minnetonka, is being devastated by carp. According to research done by the University of Minnesota’s Aquatic Invasive Species Research Center, an estimated 60,000 common carp infest its waters.
Friday marked the beginning of the first round of carp removals in the area, starting with Steiger Lake, according to officials with the Minnehaha Creek Watershed District. Common carp can damage the lakes by uprooting plants, which stirs up the lake bottoms leading to algae blooms.
Researchers have identified where carp are spawning and have studied migration. The management plan will include netting carp, installing carp barriers and aerating lakes to help bluegill sunfish, which eat carp eggs. MCWD also will implant radio tags in some carps to monitor their locations.
A years-long effort to remove invasive carp from the headwaters of Lake Minnetonka began Friday, when fisherman pulled up the first nets set on Steiger Lake in Victoria.
This first round of carp removal kicked off what the group anticipates to be a multi-pronged, ten-year effort to improve water quality and wildlife habitat in the southwestern portion of the Minnehaha Creek watershed.
The Shell Rock River Watershed District (SRRWD) is tracking carp to help control their population and improve water quality. SRRWD is working with the company, Carp Solutions, to tag some of the fish in Fountain and Albert Lea Lakes.
The water quality in Fountain and Albert Lea Lakes has gotten better, but they have a long ways to go. A few carp went under the knife Friday to help get it all back to normal.
“Out here on Fountain Lake, we’re seeing some of the highest amounts of fish biomass we’ve seen in a long time,” said Carp Solutions General Manager Jordan Wein.
The Shell Rock River Watershed District is teaming up with CARP SOLUTIONS to track all the carp living in their lakes.
Carp is a type of freshwater fish are degrading lake habitat that native fish and wildlife need. CARP SOLUTIONS is tracking where the fish is in Fountain Lake and State Line Lake. They are surgically implanting radio transmitters into the fish. |
|Photo of F. liguloides larvae from the paper|
Flamingolepis liguloides is not the only species of tapeworm infecting those shrimps, in fact each Artemia species harbours nine different tapeworm species each for a total of ten different tapeworms (both species of shrimps share a number of tapeworms in common). But F. liguloides is by far the most dominant, probably because flamingoes also happen to be the most numerous and long-lived birds in the area - the researchers estimated that flamingoes represented almost ninety percent of the bird biomass at those wetlands. Despite its dominance, F. liguloides does not seem to push aside the other tapeworms; the brine shrimps often harbour multiple species of tapeworms and the different parasites don't seem to get in each other's way. The fact that they have so many different species of parasites is also an indicator of the wide variety of birds that frequently visited the area. The Odiel marshes, where the scientists collected the asexual brine shrimps, is home for up to twenty thousand shorebirds during migration periods.
|Photo of brine shrimps by Hans Hillewaert via Wikipedia|
The high abundance of tapeworm infections simply reflects a high abundance in the bird hosts that harbour the adult worm that produces eggs that infect the brine shrimps. Therefore, bird watchers should perhaps be thankful for the presence of shrimps heavily infected by a wide variety of parasitic worms!
Sánchez, Marta I., et al. (2013) "High prevalence of cestodes in Artemia spp. throughout the annual cycle: relationship with abundance of avian final hosts." Parasitology Research 112: 1913-1923. |
Book review writing: how to criticize the book/author and what structure to follow May 24, 2013
A book review is a way of evaluating the merits of any work of literature. The purpose of the book review is to form an argument about the validity of the work, either for or against it, and then to defend it using valid points and proof to substantiate it. A book review
is not just a summary of the literature, nor does it retell the story or information contained within it, it is a way to either agree or disagree with a statement that you make about the writing itself. Any book review must begin with the originating statement , or thesis statement about your opinion, which is followed by the body, which supports of your thesis statement, and then a conclusion, which reiterates the major points made throughout the review.
There are three major components that must be included in any valid book review. They are:
- There must be a clear summary of the book which outlines the objective of the book, what the content of the book is, and the overall intended purpose of the book itself
- Included in the review must be an assessment of what you thought of the book. This is where you make your assertions and defend them with evidence from the text to substantiate your claims
- In the conclusion there must be a statement of who the book was targeted toward, and who would enjoy reading the text.
How a book review should be structured
The beginning of any review must be interesting enough, and entertaining enough, to captivate the audience and to make them want to read more. The first statements of the introduction must grab the attention of the reader and make them want to read more. Using your creativity is important in the introductory paragraph. When writing a book review the most important component of it will be the introduction section which will contain the thesis statement.
In the introduction you must include a summary of the book. This will include the intention and content of the text. It is a brief overview of why the book was written, who the book was written for, and the major content of the book. Also, within the introduction, you will include your thesis statement
. The thesis statement, in this context, will be your argument about the work.
It is the basis of the thesis statement which will be the framework for your book review. Being concise about the statement itself is important, as it will be the cornerstone of your entire book review. It is within the thesis statement that you will be forming your argument about what you thought of the book. You will define in the thesis statement your opinion about what you thought of the book and then will be using evidentiary proof to back up your thesis statement throughout the rest of the book review.
The basic components of the introduction are:
- Opening statements to captivate the audience
- Summary of the content of the book, or author, you are reviewing
- Thesis, a statement of your argument
The body is the "meat" of the argument. This is the section where you will be using proof and evidence to back up your thesis statement. The body is the main section of the review where you will, not only extrapolate and form your argument, but will also provide the evidence to back it up. When you form your thesis
you will be making a statement about your opinion of the book's content. Although it is an opinion, it is important that you not just make claims, but that you have the proof to back it up. If you make a statement about the book, it is important within the body to use examples, concrete examples, to justify your assertions.
Before beginning the body of your book review it may be beneficial to formulate key components of your argument, making an outline of it, to make it coherent and flowing. An outline is a guide that you will use to write your book review that will keep you on task, and make sure that you complete the components of your argument, step by step, so that it is easy to follow for the reader. By formulating an outline, you can breakdown the argument into sections where you can make a claim and then use evidence to prove it.
When writing the body of the book review
it is important that you use both negative and positive points to prove your opinion. After all, if the book were not worthy of positive praise, there is no reason to review, or read, it at all. Likewise, if it were all positive, there is no reason to write anything but how outstanding it was. Stating not only the good, but the bad, is an important component within the body of the book review.
The major components of the body are:
- Components of your argument
- Evidentiary and concrete proof to substantiate your argument
The conclusion is where you tie the ideas of your book review into one cohesive argument. It is a restatement of the thesis, followed by the steps which you took to prove your opinion or argument. It is important that within the conclusion you restate your position and hit on the key points that you used to prove it. It is a brief restatement of the entire book review and the argument that you formulated.
When writing your conclusion it is important to go step by step through your book review to highlight the points that you believe are most relevant. It is the section where you conclude your opinion of the book. In the conclusion you should also let the reader know who the book would be enjoyed by, and who the target audience is. back to all posts |
Increasingly extreme wildfires are raging across the West – leaving behind barren, charred areas and threatening drinking water.
Jill Oropeza is director of sciences for water quality services for Fort Collins Utilities in Colorado.
She says in a healthy forest, trees and shrubs buffer the impact of rain on the ground. Pine needles and detritus on the forest floor help retain water.
“That is the sponge that soaks up and holds a lot of that moisture and allows the precipitation to percolate downwards,” she says.
If this vegetation burns up, melting snow and rain run across the land instead of seeping into the soil. And as the water flows, it picks up ash, sediment, and other debris.
“And those substances in the soil itself and the ash are dissolved and carried in the river and into reservoirs,” Oropeza says.
She says Fort Collins was forced to adjust its water treatment system to cope with influxes of contaminated water. And it’s using helicopters to spread mulch in burned areas to help plants start growing again.
Doing so is expensive but critical to providing people with clean water as the climate warms.
Reporting credit: ChavoBart Digital Media |
Vol. 8 Issue 1, Winter 2003
By Leslie McCasker
Part of the joy of backyard bird feeding is the chance to get close to and observe bird behavior. The cardinal, with its wide territory range and ease in which you can lure it with the right feed, is likely to become a welcome year-round guest.
It is difficult to find a more melodious and beautiful bird anywhere. Once known as the Virginia Nightingale, in recognition of its beautiful song, the common name today is the Northern Cardinal.
The new name compares the cardinal’s beautiful bright red color to the flowing red robes worn by Roman Catholic Cardinals.
So, chances are that your yard is a perfect place to attract cardinals.
They are not too finicky eaters, taking a broader variety of feed than many birds. Although, they prefer sunflower seeds — especially the cracked or stripped varieties.
A partial list of other foods they will eat are: cracked corn, suet, millet, peanut hearts, and nut meals. They supplement the foods from the bird feeders with other foods they can gather such as berries, pine seeds, and insects.
Many of the most destructive garden and farm insects are eaten by cardinals, which is one way the cardinal repays his debt to humankind.
Another way the cardinal earns his keep is by bringing a nature show to your backyard. It is a bird of fascinating habits and is doubtless one of the reasons why bird watching has been called ” America’s largest spectator sport.”
Part of the fun is that the cardinal who comes to your feeder may be unique in certain respects: if you were to compare the cardinal’s song and habits with a friend’s observations from another state, you are likely to find some differences. These differences can range from timidity, or comfort with humans, flocking instincts; nest building techniques, acceptance and coexistence’ with other bird species, food preferences, length of breeding season, and number of broods a pair of cardinals will raise. Watch the birds around your feeder for distinct behaviors.
The more universal habits of cardinals make it an endearing bird. For instance, it is a wonderful joy to observe the relationship between a pair of birds.
Cardinals are monogamous. When the female is not nesting, you will see them come to your feeder in pairs. During the breeding season, which begins in the spring, the male appears to be particularly loving toward his mate. He will bring her food offerings. As she crouches with open beak — and rapidly twitching wings — he will hop by her side, tilt his head just so, and place the food directly into her bill.
You are just as likely to be entertained by a cardinal’s music as by its behavior. In keeping with their namesake, a pair of birds will sing their preferred duets (these vary by location and a bird may switch songs during the year). Much like the early monks who sang antiphonally, the male may start a song and the female answer it. Because of their song varieties, and the nearness of sound to other birds, the best way to recognize whether a cardinal is in the vicinity is by its one
Recognition: 7 1/2 —8 1/2 inches long. Male: An all-red bird with a pointed crest, and a black patch at the base of its thick triangular red bill. Female: Buff-brown, with some red on the wings and tail. The crest, dark face and thick red bill are distinctive.
Habitat: Brushy woodlands and woodland edges, thickets, suburban garden shrubbery, towns, and parks.
Nesting: The nest is a deep cup of stems, fine twigs, and bark strips, 2-12 feet above ground in dense thicket or tangle of vines. Two to five eggs, buff or pale greenish, speckled with brownish-red. Incubation about 13 days, by female. Young leave nest about 11 days after hatching. Up to 4 broods per season.
Food: Fruits, seeds, and insects.
Similar Species: The male Summer Tanager, the other all-red bird of the southern and central states, has no crest.
Now that you’ve read this article, test your knowledge with our Cardinal Crossword Puzzle. |
An overlooked aspect of data management is data integrity: are the files intact tomorrow, a year from now, on the original drive and backup drive(s), or perhaps even on a DVD or BluRay. Or after having been transferred across a network.
Knowing that files/data is intact with no damage is a key part of any system restoration/update/backups/archiving. In some situations it could be mandatory (record keeping). The more valuable the data, the more important it is to consider the risks to loss, which include loss by file corruption as well file deletion (not to mention viruses and software bugs and user errors).
“Data” can mean image files (JPEG, TIF, PSD/PSB, etc) or video clips or projects, Lightroom catalogs, etc. Or it could mean spreadsheets, word processing files, accounting data, and so on. Knowing that these files are 100% intact leads to a comfort level in making system changes in storage approaches.
How can data be damaged? Disk errors, software bugs in applications or drivers or the system itself can happen. Moreover, the “damage” could be user-induced: saving over or replacing/deleting a file inadvertently. Simply having a “warning flag” could be useful in noting that “no expected changes” is violated.
For example, suppose that a new computer system is acquired and various drives need to be transferred over. Or that you have upgraded to a newer and larger hard drive. Or swapped SSDs. Or there is a need to restore from a backup. Or that you burned files to a DVD or BluRay—are they intact with no changes? Even RAID-5 with its parity data does not validate files when reading them, and a validate pass is over the entire volume with no selectivity for the desired file(s).
Enter IntegrityChecker, part of diglloydTools: at any time, files of any and all types can be checked against a previously computed “hash”, a cryptographic number unique to the file. If there is a mismatch, the file has been altered, somehow. This check can be made at any time: on the original, or on a 1000th-generation copy of that file. The only requirement is that the hash be computed once and remain in the same folder as the file for later reference.
How it works with IntegrityChecker.
IntegrityChecker computes a SHA1 cryptographic hash for each file in a folder, storing those hash numbers in a hidden “.ic” file within that folder. Thus, all files in the folder have a “hash value” against which its current state can be checked.
The process can be run on folder(s), or an entire volume.
- Run (computes and writes the hash values for every file in each folder into a hidden “.ic” file in that folder). on the original files
- Make the copy or backup or burn the DVD/BluRay or whatever (this naturally carries along the hidden “.ic” file in each folder).
- At any later time (tomorrow or a year later), run (this recomputes the hashes and compares to the values in the “.ic” file). on any backup or copy
For example, some pro photographers burn DVD or BluRay discs containing folders on which IntegrityChecker has been run; these discs carry along the “.ic” file in each folder, and thus can be verified at any time. There are numerous such uses.
Both command line (Terminal) and GUI versions are provided. The GUI is basic, but the internals are what counts: one of the most efficient multi-threaded programs of any kind you’ll ever find. IntegrityChecker runs as fast as the drive and CPUs can go. Available commands include 'status', 'update', 'verify', 'update-all' and 'clean'.
Worth doing or happy go lucky?
For many computer users, the consequences are of little importance if a few things go bad: a song, a picture, a particular document; no big deal. But even such users would be upset losing years of photos—bugs in software (gray swan?) can have widespread impact; data integrity checking is a sanity check on assumptions.
But in a financial and obligatory professional duty sense, professionals need to consider the end-to-end processes they use. When data is one’s livelihood, attention to data integrity takes on new importance.
The greater the value of the data and the greater the time span over which the data has value, the more important it is to implement processes that minimize the chances of loss, because over years the storage format is likely to change with transitions and copying, etc. Also, knowing that a backup restored from a crash is valid takes some of the sting out of a crash. |
You could call this “Title IX Medicine.”
Title IX, of course, refers to the landmark 1972 anti-discrimination law that gave huge added impetus to school sports programs for girls, helping create cohorts of more athletic grrrrrrrls.
In Title IX’s 40-plus years, American girls’ participation in high-school and college sports has jumped more than 10-fold to well over 3 million. That means many stronger, healthier girls — but it also means more girls at risk for sports-related injuries and what’s known as the Female Athletic Triad, a worrisome mix of poor nutrition, menstrual dysfunction and danger to bone health.
This week, Boston Children’s Hospital announced the creation of its new “Female Athlete Program,” aimed at treating “the entire female athlete – not just a single injury.”
“We know that the build of girls — both their musculature and bone structure — is different than boys’, as is their hormonal milieu,” said the program’s co-director, Dr. Kathryn Ackerman. “We really need to start tailoring our care of these athletes in a slightly different way.”
Certain specific issues need extra attention among girl athletes, she said. They’re at a five to eight times higher risk of anterior cruciate ligament knee injuries. “Aesthetic” activities like ballet tend to be linked with higher risks of eating disorders. If menstrual cycles become abnormal, bone development could suffer.
Some articles suggest that girls’ soccer is second only to men’s football in terms of concussions.
The new program aims to contrast with the traditional piecemeal approach to girls’ injuries and other health issues, Dr. Ackerman said. For example, “A girl comes in having sustained multiple stress fractures, and no one has asked her about her menstrual status or her calcium or Vitamin D intake or her overall caloric intake.” Some studies, she said, suggest that up to 60 percent of girl athletes have at least one component of the Female Athlete Triad: eating dysfunction, loss of menstrual cycle or low bone density.
Dr. Ackerman, herself a former national team rower, and the program’s co-director, Dr. Martha Murray, an orthopedic surgeon with a swimming background, kindly generated this list of their top 10 tips for parents of girl athletes. Dr. Ackerman expands in the comments below.
1. Your daughter can minimize her risk of ACL (anterior cruciate ligament) injury with a simple training program.
It would include hamstring strengthening, landing bio-mechanics, core stability and overall muscular balance. More details in the program’s ACL handout.
2. She needs to be getting good nutrition to play well, especially enough calories and the right amount of calcium and vitamin D.
Calorie counts depend on a girl’s level of activity and growth, but she should be getting 1,300 milligrams of calcium a day until she’s 19, then 1,000 milligrams a day until menopause, when calcium again needs an increase. Vitamin D recommendations vary, but many bone experts recommend at least 800 international units a day for a blood level of at least 30. More details on nutrition here. Continue reading |
Creating artwork with carbon dust is not a widely used technique, yet it is a wonderful medium for creating luminous and detailed drawings. Finished pieces have a lush appearance and the process is almost sculptural, as what is taken away is as important as what is laid down. Max Brödel, the father of modern medical illustration, pioneered this method of illustration in the late 19th century. The technique yields very sublet shifts from deep shadows to vivid highlights easily incorporating the full spectrum of the gray-scale. The carbon dust is brushed onto a surface with soft brushes and “carved” into with a gentle rubbing, erasing or scratching.
Artist Emma Skurnick has embraced the medium. “I have been having a lot of fun with carbon dust technique”, she says. “I enjoy the way the blacks and grays seem to absorb light like velvet, as well as the way they afford me the opportunity to create such subtle gradients and textures.”
Skurnick received her Bachelor of Fine Arts in sculpture and drawing from Binghamton University, NY. Although she began her artistic career as a sculptor, “A friend told me that there was a way of making a living doing art as a Scientific Illustrator I knew I had found my niche,” she says. “Science Illustrators are hired by magazines, researchers and museums to illustrate concepts pertaining to the natural world: how snails migrate up and down the stems of grass throughout the day, the way bones have evolved, how rats like to play.”
Skurnick received her certification in Science Illustration from UC Santa Cruz, CA, and one of the media she mastered there is carbon dust. “It affords the possibility for precise levels of control and detail,” says Skurnick. Although Skurnick became a science illustrator in 2000, she splits her time three ways: between science illustration, fine art, and teaching.
“My own art is always rooted in storytelling, but the stories that feel compelling to me change over time. In art school, my work was based on what it meant to be a human in a physical body: I was fascinated by the machinery of our being alive: rib cages, digestive systems, organs and bones. These pieces (both sculpture and drawing) were very physical – dense applications of charcoal, layers of wax, embedded teeth.
When I switched gears to focus on science illustration, it became my job to tell other peoples’ stories—to make the work of scientists interesting and explicable to the general public. Part of this work is to hide the presence of my own artistic hand as much as possible. Scientists don’t like visible brushstrokes or “arty” marks, because they might accidentally be interpreted as a physical structure on the specimen being depicted causing the viewer to wonder, “is that a brushstroke, or an extra bone?”
Emma Skurnick’s fine art incorporates some of what she was trained to do for scientific illustration, and her use of carbon dust gives unique depth to her luminous drawings.
“I enjoy the clarity that illustration training has given to my own personal stories. Not much is hidden in shadows or ambiguous mark making – the elements on the page are all clearly visible. The stories that these realistically rendered forms are telling, however, are left open to the viewer.”
Carbon dust can be purchased at Jerry’s Artarama. http://www.jerrysartarama.com/generals-sketching-powders?gclid=CLGv6b-DpNICFdgVgQodv0oMnQ
Ora Sorensen (orasorensen.com) was born in New York but grew up overseas in such countries as Libya, Turkey, Iran, Holland and Thailand. Her paintings are collected worldwide and have been shown in numerous exhibitions. |
A Queen's University Classics professor may have found a reference that Dan Brown missed. Ross Kilpatrick believes the Leonardo da Vinci masterpiece, the Mona Lisa, incorporates images inspired by the Roman poet Horace and Florentine poet Petrarch. The technique of taking a passage from literature and incorporating it into a work of art is known as 'invention' and was used by many Renaissance artists.
"The composition of the Mona Lisa is striking. Why does Leonardo have an attractive woman sitting on a balcony, while in the background there is an entirely different world that is vast and barren?" says Dr. Kilpatrick. "What is the artist trying to say?"
Dr. Kilpatrick believes Leonardo is alluding to Horace's Ode 1. 22 (Integer vitae) and two sonnets by Petrarch (Canzoniere CXLV, CLIX). Like the Mona Lisa, those three poems celebrate a devotion to a smiling young woman, with vows to love and follow the woman anywhere in the world, from damp mountains to arid deserts. The regions mentioned by Horace and Petrarch are similar to the background of the Mona Lisa.
Both poets were read when Leonardo painted the picture in the early 1500s. Leonardo was familiar with the works of Petrarch and Horace, and the bridge seen in the background of the Mona Lisa has been identified as the same one from Petrarch's hometown of Arezzo. |
The Fairvue Plantation in Gallatin is said to be haunted by a Union soldier who died in the building during the Civil War. Like most large homes, Fairview was occupied in the early 1860s when the Federal Army marched into Middle Tennessee after the fall of Forts Donelson and Henry.
People who have been in the historic home have heard laughing, voices and other strange noises when no one else was in the building.
Shortly after her husband bought the historic mansion in Gallatin in 1939, Ellen Wemyss accidentally fell into the icehouse and couldn’t get out.
When William Wemyss came home a few hours later, he noticed a man in a blue uniform frantically waving at him from the icehouse trying to get his attention. As William got closer, the soldier disappeared and he began to hear the sounds of his distressed wife that desperately needed his help.
If you’d like to learn more about Rose Mont or other haunted places in Gallatin please take our tour. Also, please check out our book Southern Ghost Stories: Ghosts of Gallatin. |
As a result of this reform, university teachers will be asked to give more English teaching workshops for elementary school teachers. So I thought I would use this post to consider what skills/ knowledge elementary school teachers need to be able to faciliate English activities that encourage language learning. I will review two articles I have read. One is a mammoth report by Curtis Kelly on the training needs of Japanese elementary school teachers and the development of an on-line training website to address these needs and the other is a 2004 article in TESOL Quarterly by Dr. Yoko Goto Butler about the level of English proficiency that teachers in elementary schools in Japan, S. Korea and Taiwan need to attain to teach EFL. I will only introduce the points in the articles that are relevant to identifying the TEFL learning needs of Japanese elementary school teachers and not summarize all the findings.
A word of warning, I am writing this after a big dinner and a couple of glasses of wine and there will most likely be some inaccuracies below.
What does this mean?
These results are not very surprising. First, the goals of English education perceived by the teachers mirror the goals of English activities established by Monbukagasho during that period. Second, the teacher's low assessment of their own English ability probably reflects the fact that when they got their education degree, English education was not a requirement and thus they had little experience studying TEFL or using the English language. Third, the English skill areas where teachers most desire to master seemed to mirror the goals of English actitivies at the time of Butler's study; these goals emphasized the spoken language over the written language. Thus, it seems that the objectives of the national English curriculum will have a substantial impact on the areas of English that teachers want to improve in.
Retrieved April 7, 2007 from <http://www.osaka-gu.ac.jp/php/kelly/papers/mext-report.pdf> |
You are overlooking original prairie never broken by a plow. Nebraska looked much like this 200 years ago before the white men came: Grasses on which buffalo, elk, deer and antelope fed; ground cover for homes for quail, grouse, and prairie chickens; pure spring-fed streams where thirsty animals and birds could drink and where fish spawned; areas where wild strawberries, grapes, plum and chokecherry bushes bore fruit; walnut, cottonwood, and willow trees provided shade; where colorful flowers bloomed--wild indigo, purple coneflower, goldenrod, daisy fleabane, ground plum, dogtooth, and crowsfoot violets. A trail once used by the Pawnee Indians is now U.S. Highway 77. The area was shared with the Oto tribe. To the east in 1856 John Prey, A. J. and Richard Wallingford, and others became some of Lancaster County's first settlers. A few miles to the north, the Fort Kearny Cut-off carried wagon trains westward during the 1850's and 1860's. Sod like you see was cut and used by settlers to build homes. This marker rests on railroad land purchased by William Mitchell in the early 1880's and has been preserved by his descendants including his grandson, Charlton Mitchell.
Elinor L. Brown
Nebraska State Historical Society
Rest Area south of Crete Corner, Hwy 77 |
Deal to cut the worldwide use of climate-damaging refrigerants
The international community has agreed to gradually and drastically curb the use of hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs), which have a particularly damaging impact on the climate. HFCs are used in refrigerators and air conditioning systems as substitutes for the ozone-depleting CFCs banned by the Montreal Protocol of 1987. The new rules, which contracting parties agreed today in Kigali, Rwanda, substantially broaden the scope of the Montreal Protocol, transforming a treaty designed to protect the ozone layer into an effective instrument for combating climate change.
German Environment Minister Barbara Hendricks: "The Kigali decisions are a milestone in fighting climate change at global level. The international community has once again demonstrated its ability to take action. HFCs have become a serious problem for the planet’s climate. If the world now switches to climate-friendly alternatives, we can prevent up to 0.5 degrees Celsius of global warming. Germany will actively support developing countries in the transition."
The substances newly regulated under the Montreal Protocol are increasingly used as substitutes for the ozone-depleting substances (ODSs) already regulated under the Protocol. HFCs are greenhouse gases with a high global warming potential – comparable to that of ODSs. Given the rapidly increasing international demand for cooling and air-conditioning, the unrestricted use of HFCs could significantly contribute to global warming over the next decades.
By 2050, the decision to phase down the use of HFCs will prevent greenhouse gas emissions equivalent to 65 billion tons of CO2. As a comparison, Germany’s greenhouse gas emissions currently amount to 900 million tons per year. Climate-neutral alternatives are already available and the new rules will give them a necessary boost at global level.
The Kigali agreement establishes different timetables for developed and developing countries’ obligations to phase down the production and use of 17 HFCs. Developed countries are to achieve a reduction of 85 per cent by 2036, starting with an initial reduction phase as early as 2019. Differentiated reduction plans apply to developing and emerging countries with reduction targets of 80 and 85 per cent in the period between 2024 and 2047. Developed countries will financially support developing countries in fulfilling their obligations.
Together with the other EU member states, the United States and a large number of ambitious countries, Germany fought for drastic restrictions on the use of HFCs. This objective was achieved in Kigali. The process of phasing down HFCs has already started in Germany and Europe. The rules adopted in Europe therefore already comply with the new Montreal Protocol.
The ban on CFCs under the Montreal Protocol with its now 197 signatories has helped prevent 2 million cases of skin cancer annually and other negative impacts on humans and the environment. UN scientists expect the ozone layer to be restored by mid-century. By broadening its scope to cover additional substances, the Montreal Protocol will become even more effective as a global instrument to combat climate change. |
A radar speed gun is a Doppler radar unit that may be hand-held, vehicle-mounted or static.
How does a radar work?
What types of radar bands exist?
- K-Band: The most frequently used radar frequency band: 24.05 – 24.25 GHz. K-band made its appearance in 1978. The first K-band hand-held radar guns could only be used from a stationary position. Later, a “pulsed” version was introduced that could be used from a stationary or moving vehicle.K-band radar waves have a relatively small wavelength. At the power level found in police radar guns, K-band has an effective clocking range of about 1/4 mile. Depending upon terrain (around a corner, over a hill, etc.), K-band waves can be detected from a range of 1/4 mile to 2 miles.
- KA-Band: In 1987 the FCC allocated a frequency on yet another band, Ka, for police radar use. Ka-Band incorporates Ka-Band, Ka Wide-Band, and Ka Super Wide-Band. With Ka came the introduction of photo radar (also known as “photo-cop”). The photo-cop system works at 34.3 GHz and combines a Ka-band radar gun with an automated camera (see Photo Radar below).The FCC later expanded Ka-band radar use to a range of 34.2 to 35.2 GHz. This became known as Ka Wide-Band.The introduction of the “stalker” radar gun raised the stakes in the detection game. Unlike all previous guns, the Stalker can be FCC licensed for any frequency in the Ka-band between 33.4 GHz to 36.0 GHz, and so cannot be picked up by detectors designed only for X, K, and photo radar. Stalker guns are being used in more than half the country.
- KU-Band: Ku-band radar ranges between 12 and 18 GHz. It is used primarily for satellite communications, in both aerospace and broadcasting. It is used primarily in Europe and not seen much in America. In the radar enforcement realm, Ku is set at 13.45 GHz by the FCC and has only recently been introduced to the U.S. for speed detection.
- X-Band: The first frequency band allocated for police radar: 10.5 – 10.55 GHz. Dating from the 1950s, X-band radar is the easiest to detect because of its lower frequency and higher power output. Depending on terrain, temperature and humidity, X-band radar can be detected from a distance of 2 to 4 miles, yet it can only take accurate readings of speed from a distance of 1/2 mile or less.Unfortunately, police radar is not the only source of X-band signals. Garage door openers, microwave intrusion alarms, microwave towers, and other high-tech equipment can fool a radar detector into giving off an X-band alert. Filters and redundant sampling are used to combat this “falsing.”
Unlike police laser (at least in most states), police RADAR can not be legally jammed, in fact, any attempt to do so (whether one is successful or not, most active radar jammers are not) is a federal offense and violates FCC regulations. Simply put: you can be sent to jail if caught using a radar jammer.
Radar Measured Speed = True Speed x cos(angle)Under Creative Commons License
Radar Detector Legality Map
What is a radar detector?
How do radar detectors work?
Are radar detectors legal?
- Green: Legal
- Red: Illegal
- Yellow: Questionable
Received a citation due to a police radar?
At Driver Defense, we wanted to bring users maximum ease when searching for an attorney. Our Find-A-Lawyer map allows you to locate all of our network attorneys in your area. You can find an attorney by either entering an address or by letting our system find your position. In order to view an attorney’s full profile, you must click on their name. Click here to see what the different color pins stand for. |
Objects > DocumentType
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Returns an array of nested Entity nodes within the DOCTYPE element. An Entity is formatted according to the following syntax (which would appe
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- MOUSE BIOLOGY
- ROOF RAT BIOLOGY
- NORWAY RAT NESTS
- RAT AND MOUSE CONTROL METHODS
- DON’T REMOVE WHAT THE RODENTS ARE EATING TILL THEY’RE GONE!
- PET OWNERS ARE MORE LIKELY TO GET RATS AND MICE!
- RODENTS LOVE NUT TREES
- DON’T CLOSE ACCESS HOLES TILL RODENTS ARE GONE !
- RAT AND MOUSE REMOVAL
- RAT AND MOUSE DROPPINGS ARE DETECTABLE WITH BLACK LIGHTS
- RODENTS CARRY DISEASE
- RAT AND MOUSE CLEANUP
- RAT AND MOUSE POISON BAIT BLOCKS
- RAT AND MOUSE POISON PELLETS
- RAT AND MOUSE BAIT NOT BEING ACCEPTED?
- RAT AND MOUSE PRE BAITED STATIONS
- RAT AND MOUSE BAIT STATIONS
- RAT AND MOUSE LIQUID BAIT
- RAT AND MOUSE SNAP TRAPS
- BEST RAT AND MOUSE TRAP LURE
- RAT AND MOUSE PAPER GLUE TRAPS
- PLASTIC GLUE PLASTIC TRAY GLUE TRAPS
- RAT AND MOUSE CONTROL KILL TRAPS
- RAT AND MOUSE CONTROL LIVE TRAPPING
- MULTIPLE CATCH MOUSE TRAPS
- RAT CONTROL LIVE TRAPS
- RAT CONTROL MULTIPLE CATCH LIVE TRAPS
- LIVE TRAP LURES FOR RAT CAGE TRAPS
- HOW TO MAKE RAT TRAP SET
- RELOCATE OR DESTROY TRAPPED RODENTS
- RAT AND MOUSE EXCLUSION FROM HOME
- RAT AND MOUSE ULTRASOUND REPELLERS
- RODENT REPELLING GRANULES AND SPRAY
- CONTACT US
Fall is the time of year when mother nature tells animals that winter is coming. This prompts animals to prepare for colder weather. This preparation includes eating more food, hoarding food and finding appropriate shelter. Animals can become a nuisance when they use our homes and apartments for their nesting. And throughout North America, there are many animals who will move in with us if we give them the chance. Among the more common to do this are rats and mice.
Related articles: BATS FLYING SQUIRRELS MICE RACCOON SQUIRRELS
Other Information: PEST ARTICLES
MOUSE BIOLOGY *
Mice are small rodents which can multiply rapidly. They feed on stored products, bathroom accessories and all kinds of seeds including bird and lawn seed. We have a few species in America and all will invade our properties. Once inside, you will find their droppings where they are foraging for food.
Their droppings are small, black, oval shaped and about the size of a grain of rice. Large roach droppings look the same so be careful not to confuse the two. Mice love kitchens, pantries, bathrooms, furniture and cabinets. They will nest in dresser drawers, closets and garages. Attics provide adequate nest sites, but mice prefer living close to their food.
Attic’s and crawl spaces may have mice living there unnoticed for long periods of time. This can lead to odor problems, damage and mess so any workers or owners entering these areas should be on the lookout for telltale evidence of an infestation.
ROOF RAT BIOLOGY *
Rats are the other rodent which will move into any structure man builds. We have both Roof Rats and Norway Rats in America. Roof Rats are excellent climbers and prefer to live in attics or cabinets. Commonly referred to as pack rats, wood rats, tree rats or attic rats, these nimble rodents can scale most surfaces and may access your property by climbing up brick, stucco or wood siding. Once on the roof, they will find any small route of entry. This includes vents to bathrooms, gable vents, spaces around soffits, exhaust pipe holes, spaces between facia boards and roofs and just about any vulnerable spot. If none exists, they will chew a hole.
NORWAY RAT NESTS *
Norway Rats prefer to nest in the ground. They dig burrows around railroad ties, gardens, trees, shrubs and against foundations. These burrows will lead into crawl spaces and through cracks around pipes in slabs. Once inside your property, they prefer to nest low in kitchens and bathrooms. Both species have droppings about the size of a black or red bean. The Norway Rat droppings have smooth round ends but the Roof Rat dropping has pointed ends. Generally speaking, these droppings will get larger as the rodent grows bigger. As with mice, rats leave their droppings where they travel. These locations will be where rodent control programs need to be implemented.
RAT AND MOUSE CONTROL METHODS *
Controlling rodents is ongoing. Successful programs start before you have a problem. Know your property. Look for problem areas outside your buildings. These areas may include dumpsters, standing water, creeks, streams, neighboring businesses, and drainage systems. The most common attractant around the average home in America include either pet food or bird seed. The smells from these items is so strong it will attract several types of animals to your yard. Once they get a taste of these nutritious foods they will try to feed there daily.
If you suspect you have rodent activity around pet food or bird seed, DO NOT REMOVE the food until the animal has been successfully trapped, relocated or destroyed using any of the options which this article will detail. Simply put, rodents are creatures of habit. If you remove their food source thinking they will go away YOU ARE WRONG. All you will do is force them to adapt. This adaptation will generally lead them to where the food is stored, where the food came from or where food similar to it is kept.
DON’T REMOVE WHAT THE RODENTS ARE EATING TILL THEY’RE GONE! *
The bottom line is that removing the outside food source will more than likely cause the rodent to come inside your home seeking more food. If you leave the attractive food supply outside and in tact, you will have the upper hand in dealing with this animal because you will know it’s behavioral patterns which are centered around the pursuit of food.
PET OWNERS ARE MORE LIKELY TO GET RATS AND MICE! *
And don’t waste your time hoping your dog or cat will ultimately chase the rodent away. Over 80% of our customers with rodents also have pets. This percentage is significantly higher than homes without pets which leads us to conclude that homes with pets ARE MORE LIKELY TO GET A RODENT PROBLEM compared to homes without pets.
You may not get any for a year, five years or even more but at some point, local neighborhood rodents will find your home and offerings due to the smell of nutritious pet food. Pet food is packed with more nutrition now than ever as is bird seed and rodents are able to detect these food supplies like flares in the night sky. Once found, they will not easily give up and go away from any feeding patterns. Use this to your advantage. After the rodents are successfully removed, you can alter the outside food supplies to help reduce future problems but only at such a time that you are certain there is no activity.
RODENTS LOVE NUT TREES *
If you cannot change the environment, (such as having a big walnut or pecan tree) then locate points between the attractant and your structure where you may be able to intercept the rodents before they get into your home. Remember, it is always easier to keep rodents out. Once they get in, controlling them requires more work, more cost and more aggravation.
DON’T CLOSE ACCESS HOLES TILL RODENTS ARE GONE ! *
Another word of advice: If you know the route of entry to your building,
DO NOT CLOSE OR SEAL THE HOLE UNTIL YOU KNOW THERE IS NO ACTIVITY AND THE ACTIVE RODENTS HAVE BEEN REMOVED OR DESTROYED FOLLOWING THE GUIDELINES IN THIS ARTICLE.
This is another critical part of rodent control. All too many times people will unknowingly close or seal holes thinking the rodents will simply go away. Nothing could be further from the truth. Again, these are creatures of habit which will stop of nothing short of death to reclaim their home.
Think of it like this: If you came home and found all your doors and windows boarded over for no reason would you simply walk away never to return? Of course not. You would do all you could to get inside, claim your personal belongings and find out what is happening. The same is true with rodents. When closed out of their home, they will chew through wood, plastic, metal and cement to get back inside. Remember, they are creatures of habit and knowing their route of entry makes trapping them or using one of our methods listed below all that much easier.
RAT AND MOUSE REMOVAL *
To control existing populations, first consider the options. Methods of control include poisons, snap traps, glueboards, electrocution and live traps. Rodenticide is a poison bait which rodents eat. Most rodenticides are anticoagulants which mean they prevent the clotting of blood. The material works by affecting different components of the animals body. In effect, the rodent looses it’s ability to have it’s blood clot. Once an artery or vein ruptures, the animal dies. This can happen from a cut or when the animal sustains an internal hemorrhage. Either way, it has the potential to lead to a mess.
RAT AND MOUSE POISON BAITS *
So if you still want to use a bait, be prepared to find rodents randomly. Make sure to keep them away from children and pets. There are risks using any rodenticide and you should be aware of them.
NO RODENTICIDE CAUSES THE ANIMAL TO SEEK WATER AN DIE WITHOUT SMELLING!
No product has ever had this capability nor has any manufacturer ever claimed their bait had such a feature. Though we may never know for sure where this old wives tale originated from, it appears that pest control companies started telling customers this would happen when rat poisons were first introduced. Customers were not likely to let poison be used if it was commonly known that death would be random; telling people rodents would either seek water outside and die (better yet, their carcasses would dry up!) and not smell when they deceased was for some reason a falsehood that began to spread and over the years, came to be accepted a truth. In reality, its nothing more than an urban legend at best.
RAT AND MOUSE BAIT ODOR PROBLEMS *
Regardless of where the claim came from that dying rats and mice would “leave” the home before they died, no doubt countless animals have died in attics, crawl spaces and other hidden spaces of the home. And once dead, their bodies were left to decay causing all kinds of issues. The most common problem is malodor. And we still get inquiries asking how to remove dead body rodent odor from living areas which can persist for weeks. The good news is there are ways to resolve this problem.
DEAD RODENT BODY ODOR *
If you have such an odor problem, use NNZ to remove it. This enzymal compound works two ways. First, it readily “eats” the odor molecule which is a gaseous by product emitted by the decaying organic matter – in this case the body of the rodent. It also attaches itself to other odor causing molecules created in the breakdown of the body and causes them to get heavy and simply fall from the air. This dual action will help eliminate the odor.
You will get the best results if you are able to apply the product directly where the animal died. If you do not have access to this area, you can spray NNZ in crawl spaces, attics and into wall voids where you think the animal died. NNZ has no odor so you won’t know it’s been applied which means the bad odor may still be detectable for a short while. If you prefer the product applied to leave a slight “masking” agent or smell, use the N-7C. This is the same material as the NNZ but N-7C also has a slight fresh fragrance that’s to help let you know you’ve applied it to a certain area and to help cover any offensive odors that were present. This will help minimize the unpleasant smell during the time N-7C is working to remove the odor.
RAT AND MOUSE DROPPINGS ARE DETECTABLE WITH BLACK LIGHTS *
Many times odors will develop where rodents have been active for long periods of time. This commonly happens in attics and crawl spaces. If you are not quite sure where they have been traveling use one of our PORTABLE BLACKLIGHTS. They operate off 4 “AA” batteries and are invaluable at locating exact locations where rodents have been traveling. Simply turn down all the lighting and turn on the Blacklight. Don’t be frightened at how many places you are able to see where urine and feces have been distributed. Along with excrement, there will be other bad things.
RODENTS CARRY DISEASE *
Rodents carry disease and there are all types of virus and bacteria commonly found where rodents are active. (This is the main reason why we don’t want them in our home). If you have had activity for a short while, there is probably no reason for alarm. However, established infestations and any room or part of the home where odor is detected needs to be cleaned.
RAT AND MOUSE CLEANUP *
To insure you don’t inhale virus or bacteria during cleanup, wear a DISPOSABLE RESPIRATOR. This will filter out any possible contaminate. To help minimize this risk some more, lightly mist water over the area to be cleaned using a vapor created by a spray bottle or humidifier. The moisture will help keep dust and contaminates from getting airborne. Since bacteria and virus will thrive in rodent droppings, you will need to remove as much of it that you can find.
The best product for this cleanup is ROUGH’N READY. It is used by commercial processing plants, hospitals, etc and is very fast acting and complete. It can be diluted though you using it at full strength is generally preferred. It comes in liquid form and can be sprayed or wiped over areas you need to clean.
Rough’n Ready: http://www.bugspraycart.com/sanitizer/liquid/rough-and-ready
If you have a lot of non-porous surfaces like countertops, ceramic tile or any hard surface where activity has been noted, get the HOSPITAL DISINFECTANT SPRAY. This is a ready to use aerosol which works well at killing any type of bacteria or virus and will quickly sterilize without hurting finishes or making a mess. Once you start the cleanup, be sure to place all rags, towels, droppings and other contaminants in a plastic bag for disposal. Wear rubber gloves during cleanup and be sure to wash your hands, clothing and shoes following the job.
Hospital Disinfectant: http://www.bugspraycart.com/sanitizer/aerosol/hospital-disinfectant-15-oz
RAT AND MOUSE DROPPING CLEANUP *
Once cleaned, use our ODOR DESTROYER to eliminate foul smells. Though the Rough’n Ready and the Hospital Disinfectant spray has a clean smell which will last for awhile, droppings, feces and other animal fluids have odors which require a special mix of enzymes to eliminate. Thats what Odor Destroyer is designed to do. This product works like Odor Killer but it also eliminates the smells from their urine and feces. Treat attics, insulation, floor boards, crawl spaces, dirt floors, floor joists, rafters and any where activity is noted. The more surfaces that are carrying the odor which are treated will enable the product to work both quicker and better. In other words, Odor Destroyer won’t affect areas where it isn’t applied like Odor Killer can.
Odor Destroyer: http://www.bugspraycart.com/sanitizer/liquid/odor-destroyer
If you insist on using a poison for control, understand that non target animals such as children and pets are also vulnerable to these products. For this reason you must be extra careful when using any rodent bait and the use of protective tamperproof bait stations is strongly recommended to help prevent accidental poisoning. In fact, it’s most likely all rodent bait will one day soon only be sold in protective bait stations. This measure is being done mostly to prevent the misuse currently happening with rodent bait that so many times affect non-targeted animals.
With that being said, there are OK locations where the use of bait presents minimal danger or risk to non-target animals. Vacation homes, sheds, abandoned lots and commercial buildings are such places and clearly better suited for these products. In general, placements made away from people and pets are OK and when done properly, the use of rodent bait can be an effective tool for rodent control.
RAT AND MOUSE POISON BAIT BLOCKS *
The original type of bait blocks have been all but phased out by manufacturers. This is because they take a long time to kill targeted animals and even after a lethal dose has been consumed, targeted rodents will continue to feed which leads to a lot of bait being used. To help curb consumption of bait during rodent control programs, newer formulations have a more acute response time and most all are now what we call “single feeds”.
And one of the best products on the market now uses Bromethalin as it’s active. BROMETHALIN BLOCKS are bait blocks which are ready to be set out and placed in burrows or hard to reach places. They can also be used in bait stations. These blocks are weather resistant and designed to be used in moist areas like crawl spaces and water retention ditches. They will work for either mice or rats.
RAT AND MOUSE POISON PELLETS *
This same active is available as a BROMETHALIN PELLET PLACE PACK. This package is more suited for inside applications. The semi-porous package enables odor to release so rodents will find them. Use them when either rats or mice are the suspected rodent.
RAT AND MOUSE BAIT NOT BEING ACCEPTED? *
If you choose to set out bait blocks or place packs, there are some guidelines on proper use to insure your offering will be accepted. In other words, don’t expect local rodents to come to your offering as if it was some kind of magical food. Remember, if you have a problem, its because there is already a good food supply somewhere close and if rodents have a good food supply already, they’re not likely to give up eating it and move onto something like a bait block.
So if you find your bait block or pellet isn’t being consumed, the most likely reason for it to be ignored is that the local rodents have a ready supply of food. It could be pet food, bird seed or some kind of grain or nut. Remember, these animals are very much creatures of habit and if they have been feeding on a particular food that’s in the range of the bait block or pellet and this food is readily available after you make some bait placements, they won’t give up eating what they’ve been consuming just because you set something else out.
Because of this issue, its imperative that you somehow minimize any alternate food by removing as much of it as possible. This will cause the rodents to seek a new food supply and in the process, find your bait.
The second most likely culprit that can interfere with bait acceptance is some kind of malodor. Human scent can be a problem as can cigarette smoke or some other malodor. For this reason it’s important that you first make sure you’re making your bait placements in clean bait stations. Its also suggested that bait placements be made while using surgical gloves. This will help insure you don’t cross contaminate the offering.
Something else to consider is that one type of bait will many times be accepted and another ignored. This is why its always best to set out at least 2 forms of any bait; 3 forms is best. This way as the local rodents change their dietary need, they’ll change the food they’re targeting. So by offering different “flavors”, the odds of getting one of your offerings accepted will increase.
Now if removing alternate food sources is not an option, you should then use them. So for example, if you have an abundance of acorns or pecans around the structure you want to protect and you know these nuts are being consumed, use them to your advantage. Add some of these nuts “shelled” out in ready form alongside the bait blocks or pellets. Mix in a tiny dab of peanut butter or better yet, our Pecan Surprise to the offering. In fact, “shaving” a bait block into tiny shreds and mixing it with some bird seed, pecans, peanuts and PECAN SURPRISE can’t be ignored by any foraging rat or mouse.
In the end, its important to understand that just because you set out a bait block or place pack, this act alone will not guarantee acceptance by local rodents. There are many variables that can cause them to either ignore or accept your placement so be sure to consider them all when incorporating any rodenticide.
RAT AND MOUSE PRE BAITED STATIONS *
One of the more common bait options available these days are the pre baited tamper resistant rodent stations. Basically these are bait stations that come with bait inside so all you have to do is install the station and you’re done. These come in a small size for mice: PREBAITED MOUSE BAIT STATIONS and a larger size for rats: PREBAITED RAT BAIT STATIONS.
RAT AND MOUSE BAIT STATIONS *
Now if you decide to go with the loose bait blocks or place packs, you’ll need to make your placements with one of the following bait stations. We have these in both RAT TAMPERPROOF and MOUSE TAMPERPROOF sizes. The rat stations can be further secured from uninvited guests by using BAIT STATION STAKES to secure them to the ground. These stakes have a simple way to connect them to the station and will prevent animals and people from gaining access inside without the key. They will also help prevent the stations from being stolen.
Rat Tamperproof Station: http://www.bugspraycart.com/equipment/stations/rat-bait-station-tamper-proof
Mouse Tamperproof Stations: http://www.bugspraycart.com/equipment/stations/mouse-bait-station-tamper-proof
Mouse Bait Station: http://www.bugspraycart.com/equipment/stations/mouse-bait-station
For unique bait station sites like on top of a fence pole or a round tree limb, get a TOP LOADING STATION . It’s long pipe like design enable it to be mounted via screws, nails or even long CABLE TIES to anything round. Since rodents will many times find their way into structures via tree limbs, placing some stations on these pathways can prove to be very effective at getting them to find your bait placements quicker leading to faster results.
Top Loading Station: http://www.bugspraycart.com/equipment/stations/rat-bait-station-top-loader
RAT AND MOUSE LIQUID BAIT *
Another poison that can be used is LIQUID BAIT. Though not too effective for mice (since they are able to derive their water requirements from the food they eat), liquid bait works well for rats which are a problem in dry areas. Set the liquid out in LIQUID BAIT STATIONS where rodents are active. Like other poisons, be sure to have such placements away from children and pets. If you have tamperproof stations installed, liquid bait can be used in small cups located in the bait station. Otherwise, the Liquid Bait Stations should be placed up high, behind appliances, in cupboards, in attics or crawl spaces or generally out of the way where only the target rodent is likely to find it. This will help minimize accidental consumption by non-target animals.
Liquid Bait Stations: http://www.bugspraycart.com/equipment/stations/liquid-bait-station-ratmouse
RAT AND MOUSE SNAP TRAPS *
Snap traps may offer some help, but have inherent problems too. Don’t waste your time with the original METAL TRIGGER MOUSE or METAL TRIGGER RAT designs. Instead, get either MOUSE TRAP EXPANDED TRIGGER or RAT TRAP EXPANDED TRIGGER models. Both mice and rats will easily clean the bait off the old metal trigger traps but it’s not so easy with the newer “expanded trigger” design.
Mouse Trap Metal Trigger: http://www.bugspraycart.com/traps/snap-snare-and-tunnel/mouse-trap-metal-trigger
Rat Trap Metal Trigger: http://www.bugspraycart.com/traps/snap-snare-and-tunnel/rat-trap-metal-trigger
Mouse Trap Expanded Trigger: http://www.bugspraycart.com/traps/snap-snare-and-tunnel/mouse-trap-expanded-trigger
Rat Trap Expanded Trigger: http://www.bugspraycart.com/traps/snap-snare-and-tunnel/rat-trap-expanded-trigger
Another advantage with the expanded trigger traps is that you can use them without any bait. Just place them alongside the wall where the rodent is foraging. Be sure to locate the trigger closest to the wall. The trigger is large and the rodent will step on it. Such traps will catch one or two for initial cleanouts and preventive maintenance programs, but don’t rely on them if you suspect more than one animal.
Kill trap design has some new traps on the market that are much safer to handle and reduce the risk of accidentally snapping your finger. Two of these trap designs are the SNAP-E SNAP TRAP and the T-REX SNAP TRAP.
BEST RAT AND MOUSE TRAP LURE *
Although baiting is not necessary when using these traps, you should definitely add some TRAPPERS CHOICE PECAN for mice or TRAPPERS CHOICE LOGANBERRY for rats. These strong smelling attractants will guarantee that the trap will be found by foraging rodents. And you might consider making the trap placements secure and safe from children and pets. The use of RAT TRAP STATIONS are can serve this purpose. They hold two traps, have small entrance holes on either side, and can be used in messy areas where traps have a tendency to get dirty or disturbed. These Stations are both heavy and protective so they will shelter the traps from debris so you don’t have accidental triggering and they will keep unwanted targets away and safe. Use them in garages, basements, warehouses and even outside. The Stations are so strong, you can set a Cinder Block of cement on top to anchor it which insures most non-target animals won’t be able to get inside.
Pecan Paste: http://www.bugspraycart.com/traps/lure/pecan-paste
Loganberry Lure: http://www.bugspraycart.com/traps/lure/loganberry-paste
Rat Trap Stations: http://www.bugspraycart.com/traps/snap-snare-and-tunnel/rat-trap-coverkits
RAT AND MOUSE PAPER GLUE TRAPS *
Glueboards are another device which may have seen better days. These “traps” rely on the use of non-drying glue to catch and hold unsuspecting rodents. The traps vary in size and are placed alongside walls, around cabinets, under furniture or refrigerators. In general, place where rodent activity is known to exist. When the animal steps onto the glue they get stuck and cannot pull free.
Be aware that trapped rodents can sometimes pull a leg, tail or section of their body apart in an effort to escape. This can cause a mess so be careful to use these devices where young children are not likely to stumble upon such a mess.
To help prevent target rodents from escaping the glue, use LARGE RAT GLUE BOARDS. These will keep captured animals under control but are only needed for rats. When it comes to mice, the regular sized MOUSE GLUE BOARDS will be adequate. Use a lot to insure a quick catch and prevent glueboard shyness.
Mouse Glue Traps: http://www.bugspraycart.com/traps/glue/mouse-glueboard-5-x-8
PLASTIC GLUE PLASTIC TRAY GLUE TRAPS *
For damp or wet placements, install PLASTIC TRAY GLUE TRAPS. The problem with paper the design will quickly fall apart; the plastic tray glueboard will work for both mice and rat and will last well in wet conditions. These are better suited for wet basements, crawl spaces, storage sheds, restaurant coolers, etc.
Plastic Tray Glue Traps: http://www.bugspraycart.com/traps/glue/rat-glue-board-tray-5-x-10-2-pk
And for those “cat sized rats”, get EXTRA LARGE PLASTIC TRAY GLUE TRAPS. These are made with trays and measure a whopping 10″ x 12″. They hold up well in wet environments and are sure to secure the biggest rat. You may even consider making your own traps by getting BULK GLUE. This is a very sticky glue which is used to create traps on any type of flat solid board, plastic, etc. Once last tool is known as HERCULES PUTTY. Small amounts placed on the bottom of any glue or snap trap can help keep the placement secure and anchored. It can even be used with bait stations.
X-Large Tray Glue Trap: http://www.bugspraycart.com/traps/glue/rat-gb-11-x-13-tray-2-pk
RAT AND MOUSE CONTROL KILL TRAPS *
Electrocution is another method which may help in your rodent control management program. This method of control uses electricity to shock the mouse or rat to death. You will need to know where the animals are feeding or active. This will be where you are finding droppings, pathways or nest sights. Install RODENT ZAPPERS where such locations exist.
Rat Zapper Classic: http://www.bugspraycart.com/traps/electric/rat-zap-classic
For Mice, the MOUSE ZAPPER is a bit smaller but just as effective.
Zappers are easy to deploy, work off inexpensive batteries and are able to deliver a powerful shot of electricity which will prove fatal to any rodent. Bait them with whatever it is around in your home they want. This is usually pet food, grass seed or bird seed. You should also add some of our Trappers Choice paste as well for added attraction. Try to use the Loganberry for rat and our Pecan for mice. However, if you are not sure which animal you have, get the Pecan – it works for both.
If you plan on using the Zapper outside, the TRAP TUBE will help keep the device protected from the elements.
Another option for the Zapper is the RAT TAIL. It helps monitor the device from over 10 feet away so you don’t have to disturb sensitive sets.
When mice or rats enter to feed, they will ground out the circuit causing a fatal amount of electricity to pass through them. This will lead to a painless death.
Be sure to remove dead rodents as quickly as possible. This is important to insure others won’t become shy of the device. Be sure to place them away from where children or pets would have access as well. Though not deadly, the shock would be quite painful and prove to be a bad experience to any person or pet.
RAT AND MOUSE CONTROL LIVE TRAPPING *
The last option (and best) is to use any of the live catch traps available. Many people believe catching rats or mice in live traps isn’t possible. But it’s easy once you know where they are active. Check out this short video clip showing a live trapped roof rat I was able to catch on my back deck.
Live trapping rodents is not impossible. In fact, because these devices do not kill or harm the animal, most can be caught over and over. The latest design of traps will last a long time, catch many rodents and be able to catch even the most experienced and wary rodent. There are many models available for both rats and mice.
MULTIPLE CATCH MOUSE TRAPS *
For mice, REPEATER MOUSE TRAPS and WIND UP MOUSE TRAPS. The author has used both models many times and has been able to catch over 20 mice in either design in one setting. The KWIK KATCH is smaller mouse wind up unit and will not hold as many but is still effective. It’s excellent for wet environments.
One of the newer, more unique designs is the LIVE MOUSE TRAP MULTI CATCH. It can be set out to conform to all kinds of environments and because it’s plastic, it does fine in wet environments. It’s the only trap that can “bend” around corners effectively.
Mouse Multi Catch: http://www.bugspraycart.com/traps/cage/live-catch-mouse-trap
Use the Kwik Katch or Multi Catch where you have moisture since the plastic design is more resistant to breakdown. If moisture or shape is not an issue, go with both Windup Models and the flat Repeater Mouse Traps. The general rule to follow if trying to decide which trap to get is to use a Wind Up Model if you have room to fit it. This trap sets the highest off the ground and is about the size of two cigar boxes set on top of one another. Lastly, use the Kwik Katch where you know you have a moisture problem. It is built from plastic and lasts well in humid, wet environments.
Be sure to place a strong attractant like TRAPPERS CHOICE PECAN in the holding area of your trap no matter which model you get. It’s also a good idea to add anything you think they might be eating. This includes pet food or bird seed.
Pecan Paste: http://www.bugspraycart.com/traps/lure/pecan-paste
The Trappers Choice will lure them close and when they see and smell some of the food they are used to eating, you will quickly catch them.
The great thing about these traps is that they don’t kill the animals so other rodents do not become wary or afraid. In fact, I have observed a trap with several mice in it seemingly lure new ones to it. The untrapped mouse would come and circle the holding area interested with the activity going on inside. The smell of food is so powerful that even after being trapped the mice do not become upset or frightened.
That being said, if they are left there for any length of time and the food supply runs out, they will become frantic and distressed. Be sure to place plenty of bait inside to insure they will be comfortable and quiet once trapped. If you are inspecting the device every day or two, this will not be a problem. If you are using this device in a vacation home or some part of the house where it is difficult to inspect it daily, you may have some of them dying before you are able to empty it.
If the animals are left to die, they will certainly smell and decay. Try to stop this from happening. Although other mice will avoid traps with dead animals, once they are removed and fresh bait is installed, you will be able to catch more. To prevent any type of trap shyness from happening, however, try to prevent any from dying because you left them in the trap unattended too long.
RAT CONTROL LIVE TRAPS *
Now if you are unsure whether the active rodents are mice or young rats, get our single catch live trap. This would be considered a universal design and is versatile to catch both species well. It is very small and generally designed for mice but it will work for small rat as well. Known as the LT3310, it has vented sides and a rear opening door which makes it easy to bait and to release trapped animals. This trap is perfect for catching family pets which get out in the home since it is the safest live trap of all with no risk of injury to targeted animals. It will only catch one at a time but it has many other benefits which make this the trap of choice for many applications.
If you are trying to live catch rats, you will need to use a bigger trap. In the trapping industry, we have several models that can do the job depending on your situation. If you have 10 or less animals to catch, the 5X5X16 GREEN LIVE TRAP will probably do the job. It’s OK for small jobs and strong enough to hold any rat but don’t expect it to last forever. It can be used inside or outside. It’s hard to notice this trap when placed out in green grass, shrubs or other plant life in the yard making it ideal for stealthy trap placement where you may have over curious adults or children.
Green Live Trap: http://www.bugspraycart.com/traps/cage/live-trap-green-5-x-5-x-16
But if you want the best built, longer lasting commercial trap, go with either the LT5518 or the LT5518RD. Both these models will last for many years and can be used inside or outside. The LT5518RD features a rear sliding door making both baiting the trap and releasing trapped animals easy. It’s best suited if you plan on catching 5 or more rats.
RAT CONTROL MULTIPLE CATCH LIVE TRAPS *
For known heavy or large populations, the use of repeating traps might make sense. The 3.5 x 3.5 x 24 REPEATER and the 5x5x30 REPEATER RD are true mulitiple catch live traps. Both feature two one way doors. When rodents enter the first door, they are caught in a holding area from which they cannot escape. Their only option is to pass through another door which leads to yet another holding area. This rear holding area is where most trapped rat will end up due to their natural curiousity. The 5x5x30 has a sliding rear door making both baiting and animal release easier and worth the extra cost. All of these models for rats feature 1/2″ by 1″ wire which is mandatory when live trapping rat. The more commonly used 1″ by 1″ wire found on many live traps simply isn’t tight enough to hold most rat. They can easily pass through the 1″ square hole so don’t use it.
Repeater Small: http://www.bugspraycart.com/traps/cage/repeater3-5-x-3-5-x-24
Repeater Large: http://www.bugspraycart.com/traps/cage/repeater-5-x-5-x-30-rd
LIVE TRAP LURES FOR RAT CAGE TRAPS *
One last thing you’ll need for any of these traps is a good lure. For Rats, just add TRAPPERS CHOICE LOGANBERRY to make it irresistible.
Placement of the trap should be where most activity is noted. If the animal is in the attic, try to place the trap where their droppings are accumulating. If you are finding droppings around a garbage bin or storage area in the garage or basement where you store bird seed or pet food, place your trap there. Another great trap set is under bird feeders. Since rodents will readily feed on over spill, a trap set at such locations will be productive. One other place to set these traps is along pathways into your home. If you have found routes of entry you can use them as prime locations to make trap sets.
Loganberry Lure: http://www.bugspraycart.com/traps/lure/loganberry-paste
HOW TO MAKE RAT TRAP SET *
Follow this rule when determining to make a set:
1) Try to set the trap as close to whatever it is they are attracted to or what it is they are actively eating.
2) If you do not know what their food supply may be, use one of our attractive lures coupled with some pet food or bird seed and you will readily trap them. Place the trap where you suspect activity as evidenced by where you have found droppings, chewed entry holes or where you hear nighttime activity. Once caught, relocate the animal either 5 miles away or destroy it.
RELOCATE OR DESTROY TRAPPED RODENTS *
We are constantly asked what to do with trapped rodents and really, the answer is up to you. If preferred, you can release them out in the wild. Just make sure you take them at least 10 miles away to insure they don’t return to your property. Alternatively you can kill them by using one of the following methods.
Drowning. This is done by placing the animal in a bucket of water while still in the trap. You can also use a stream or pond if one is close by. It usually only takes 15 minutes and any rat or mouse will be dead.
Freezing. Placing the trap in a bag and then in a freezer will cause it to go to sleep and then to die. This is painless but does take awhile. Plan on keeping the animal in the freezer overnight. Suffocating. Though this sounds humane, it can get difficult to do since it is hard to devise a way that removes all air available. Rodents will prove to be persistent so expect them to hang on quite awhile.
Electrocution. The Zappers detailed above have proven to provide a very humane way to destroy unwanted rats or mice. The easiest method is to get the LT5518RD and a Zapper. You are then able to use both for your rodent management at the same time. Rodents caught with the Zapper are killed upon capture; rodents caught in the trap can be destroyed by setting the Zapper at the back of the LT5518RD. Make sure the Zapper is turned on and that you have the two devices tightly pushing up against one another and then lift the rear door of the LT5518RD trap. The rodent will readily run to the “comfort” of the Zapper because it perceives the solid tunnel to be a safe haven as opposed to the openness of the wire cage. Once in the Zapper it will painlessly be killed.
RAT AND MOUSE EXCLUSION FROM HOME *
To stop new rodents from entering structures, you have some treatment options. The first is try and seal any holes which they can use to get in. This might seem easy to do, but in fact is almost a never ending job. Every house the author has inspected and done closure on had so many entrance ways that it would cost over a thousand dollars to seal tightly with a warranty. Since rodents are good climbers, you must look high as well as low.
Once you find access points, seal the holes. And though you might want to use wood, metal will no doubt work best. And don’t use regular steel wool for this job since it will quickly rust out. Get some COPPER WOOL. This product cannot be chewed through and will not rust. It is both easy to cut and easy to stick into access holes. Be sure to get every point you see and even those you don’t think any rodent could use to enter.
Copper Stuff It: http://www.bugspraycart.com/equipment/netting/copper-stuff-it-50-ft
Next follow up with PUR BLACK sealant. This unique expanding material is durable, strong and will pretty much permanently seal any gaps through which nuisance animals can enter. For large jobs where you will be needing to apply several cans, consider getting the PUR SHOOTER GUN. This tool is similar to a caulking gun but a lot better. There are several reasons. First, it has a tip shut off. In other words, the Foam you pump through it comes out a thin tip which is part of the gun. This tip has an internal cut off which will both make for clean starts and finishes when applying the foam. Second, it preserves the foam inside the tube so it won’t dry or harden even though you have released it from the refill can.
If you have hard to reach cracks and crevices, the PUR 24″ GUN may suit your needs better. Either gun will require the PUR BLACK CANNISTER sized can. It’s designed to fit these guns and will prove more economical and efficient to use for large jobs.
The following video demonstrates how a standard foam application can be done.
For extra “repelling” protection, the PUR FOAM W/REPELLENT may be your best bet – especially when dealing with stubborn rodents that just won’t quick trying to get inside the target structure. This Foam has a repellent animals don’t like already mixed in and may provide that extra bit of protection you’ll need to keep them out.
Foam Repellent: http://www.bugspraycart.com/repellents/aerosol/pur-ipf-foam
Lastly, you’ll need some GUN CLEANER to keep either Gun Applicator clean when storing it for any length of time. Watch this video to see how to install the Copper Wool and then add some Foam Sealent.
Pur Gun Cleaner: http://www.bugspraycart.com/sanitizer/aerosol/pur-cleaner
One last point; be sure to inspect high up on the structure. Look along gutters, around vents, windows, decks, chimneys and any other place where different elevations meet. Make sure to cut back tree branches and shrubs from the home and remember that rodents can jump surprising big gaps. It is not unusual for them to jump over 5 feet to get onto a home they know will provide either good food or shelter. They can scale most deck poles, trellis’s, brick, cedar siding and stucco. They will enter through attic gable vents and by using down spouts they will climb up to a roof and squeeze through the gap between the rain gutter and the facia boards. Be sure to use our Copper Wool in all these areas.
RAT AND MOUSE ULTRASOUND REPELLERS *
Another type of repellent to try is the use of ultrasonics. These devices have been out for several years and most make claims beyond their capabilities. The TRANSONIC uses a sound wave that rats and mice don’t like. There is no doubt rodents cannot tolerate the sound emitted from these devices. But don’t rely on them to purge existing populations from your home. When ultra sound is used for existing infestations, the rodents simply relocate to sections of the home or building where the sound is not reaching. Since there is an unlimited amount of such areas, they will inevitably find a new nesting void away from the sounds annoying range. Therefore, you still must trap out the ones currently living there.
This video demonstration goes over the Transonic in detail:
Now once no activity is noted for a period of two weeks, you can definitely install our ultrasonic units and they will definitely keep new infestations from happening. Just remember that since ultrasound cannot penetrate solid objects, you will lose any protection in areas which are not wide open. This means foundation walls, storage and basic insulation can all serve to prevent ultrasound from getting maximum coverage.
Wide open attics and crawl spaces will provide the best results; cluttered areas will require extra units to insure no “dead spots” exist in which rodents will readily move. Most homes will get great protection by installing these where the activity was most noted. And no doubt having units inside pointing at the routes of entry can also be an effective strategy.
RODENT REPELLING GRANULES AND SPRAY *
Another repellent option that can help keep rats and mice from foraging around the home is a combination of PEST RID GRANULES and PEST RID SPRAY. The granules should be applied first, around the foundation and where you suspect they might be entering. After the granules are set out, spray over the area with the Pest Rid Spray. These materials will last a month or two and rodents will avoid where they’ve been applied.
Pest Rid Granules: http://www.bugspraycart.com/exempt/granule/pest-rid-exempt-granules-2-pound
For inside the home, set out some EVAC RODENT REPELLENT in the attic, crawl space or other areas where the problem was active. Evac is packed in handy little place packs and will last a month or two at protecting the treated area.
Rodents have been on the earth longer than mankind. In fact, the more we thrive, the more they prosper. We cannot hope to rid the world of these creatures; like most, they, too, have a place in nature. However, we can do many things around the home to help minimize their intrusions. Once inside, we have several options to first remove and then keep new ones from entering. Which ever method you choose to employ, remember that we as a species are much more advanced and intelligent than any rat. If you learn to observe and use a method of control which works with the rodent’s current pattern of behavior you will get great results. Combining two or three of the options listed above along with the use of repellents should not only solve your problem but keep new ones away. In the end, you will be able to reclaim your home rodent free.
CONTACT US *
Give us a call if you need further help. Our toll free is 1-800-877-7290 and we’re open Monday through Thursday, 8:00 AM to 7:00 PM. On Friday, 8:30 AM to 5:00 PM and on Saturday, 9:00 AM to 2:00 PM (Eastern Standard Time).
Email questions here: http://www.bugspray.com/about-us/contact-us
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Winters are rough for many people and this winter is hitting many citizens in the United States pretty hard. Officials in the health field are reporting that the number of cases is surging especially in the southern areas of the nation.
In the latest report from the CDC, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention the N1N1 virus which is also known as swine flu is the major contributing cause of the influenza activity spreading currently. According to the International Business Times on Jan. 4 this seasonal flu virus affects the respiratory system and has already killed 284,000 people worldwide in 2009 and 2010 alone.
Since October of 2013 the date collected by the CDC from just thirteen states alone has documented 1m583 cases of the flu. “While CDC has not detected any significant changes in pH1N1 viruses that would suggest increased virulence or transmissibility, the agency is continuing to monitor for antigenic and genetic changes in circulating viruses, as well as watching morbidity and mortality surveillance systems that might indicate increased severity from pH1N1 virus infection.”
There is currently no vaccine available for the N1N1 outbreak. An influenza health alert has been issued by the Texas Department of State Health Services in December.
The states that have been hit the hardest are: Alabama, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Louisiana, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, New Jersey, North Carolina, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Utah and Virginia.
Flu symptoms consist of high fevers, sore throat and coughing that is usually dry making it difficult for many to catch their breath. Some may experience chills, muscle aches, fatigue, vomiting, diarrhea, nausea as well as a runny or stuffy nose.
Tell tale signs that a trip to the emergency room is required is when those exposed to this virus stain have difficulty breathing, get a discoloration to their lips that is either blue or purple in color, uncomfortable pains in the chest and abdominal areas, a cough that gets worse as the days continue and persistent or severe vomiting.
Public health officials in many areas are advising people to get the flu shot. The flu vaccine is the most important thing that you can do to protect yourself against the flu. Many people may have symptoms of this flu or a totally different strain. It isn’t too late to get vaccinated for the current flu shot is well-matched to the various strains that have be exposed to the public.
© 2014 Beverly Mucha / All Rights Reserved
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The Saratoga Hospital Center for Breast Care providers coordinate care to complete the diagnostic evaluation and provide treatment for breast disease.
This prestigious designation is only awarded to centers that offer comprehensive services and meet strict quality standards for all breast breast imaging modalities (mammography, breast ultrasound, breast MRI and stereotactic breast biopsy).
Breast cancer screening is done to detect breast cancer before there are any symptoms. Finding breast cancer early gives the best options for treatment and cure.
When an abnormality is detected on a screening test, additional diagnostic tests and a biopsy may be required.We also perform screening mammograms at Saratoga Medical Park in Malta. Conveniently located off of the Northway at Exit 12, the Malta Med Emergent Care building offers medical imaging and additional specialty services on the second floor.
Why Getting a Screening Mammogram Matters
Mammography uses x-rays to produce detailed images of the breast, which are viewed on a high-resolution computer monitor. A board-certified radiologist will analyze the images, describe any abnormalities and make a diagnosis. A report is sent to the referring physician and the patient is also notified of the results.
When to Start Having Mammograms
As you can see in the graphic above, for every 1,000 women who have screening mammograms, about 100 women will be called back for additional testing and 19 will have a breast biopsy, but fortunately only 5 will be found to have breast cancer. The most significant risk associated with screening mammography, therefore, is a “false positive” result that can lead to further evaluation but does not ultimately identify a cancer.
In part because breast cancer is more common in older women, and because there is concern about false positive screening tests, some of the guidelines for screening mammography have recently become more nuanced. The United States Preventative Services Task Force (USPSTF) now recommends that women with average risk start regular mammography at age 50. Their guidelines indicate that the decision to start screening mammography at age 40 should be an individual one, balancing the potential harms of false positive results against the benefits of early cancer detection.
The American Cancer Society recommends screening mammography start at age 45, but also recommends that women be offered the choice to start screening mammography at age 40. That American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, the American College of Radiology, and the National Comprehensive Cancer Network still all recommend that screening mammography start at age 40.
The guidelines which offer women the option to start screening mammography later are all for average risk women. Women with increased risk, due to a family history of breast cancer or other risk factors, are more likely to benefit from early screening and should definitely start mammography at age 40.
Digital Breast Tomosynthesis (3D mammography)
Digital Breast Tomosynthesis generates multiple images through the breast tissue and can more effectively screen for invasive tumors, especially for women with dense breast tissue.
Breast Ultrasound can be used to further evaluate dense breast tissue seen on mammogram or abnormalities felt on breast examination. Ultrasound uses sound waves to produce images, and can help the radiologist determine if a breast mass is solid or a fluid-filled cyst.
Magnetic Resonance Imaging (Breast MRI)
Magnetic Resonance Imaging cas an aid to mammography and ultrasound imaging. It can be used to evaluate the extent of known disease, measure the effectiveness of chemotherapy, and assess for implant rupture. Breast MRI is also appropriate for screening patients who are at a high risk of developing breast cancer. Intravenous contrast is administered for breast MRI exams, except when evaluating implants. Breast MRI has the advantages of not being limited by tissue density, being extremely sensitive, and not using x-rays. It can, however, highlight areas of benign fibrocystic tissue and give false positive results.
Read more here »
An image guided needle biopsy is a highly accurate alternative to a surgical breast biopsy. This procedure is done by the radiologist, using local anesthesia to numb the area while small pieces of tissue are obtained through a needle. The image guidance is done using the modality by which the radiologist can best see the abnormality:
- A stereotactic core needle biopsy is done using x-ray guidance
- An ultrasound guided needle biopsy is done using ultrasound to guide the needle
- MRI guided needle biopsy is done with MRI
The tissue samples are sent to pathology for analysis, and the patient is called with the biopsy results as soon as they are available (typically 3 – 5 days).
Surgical (Excisional) Biopsies
Although it is our preference to offer patients minimally invasive image guided needle biopsies, there are occasions when that approach is not technically feasible or appropriate. A surgical biopsy, also known as an excisional biopsy, can be done by your surgeon, in the operating room. |
Somatic stretching is a unique approach to improving flexibility and mobility that emphasizes mindful movement and body awareness. Unlike traditional stretching techniques that focus on lengthening muscles through external force, somatic stretching involves a deep exploration of internal body sensations and the release of muscle tension. In this article, we will delve into the concept of somatic stretching, its benefits, and how it can enhance the mind-body connection.
Understanding Somatic Stretching
Somatic stretching is based on the principles of somatic movement, a therapeutic approach that involves re-educating the nervous system to release unnecessary muscle tension and improve movement patterns. Developed by Thomas Hanna, somatic movement aims to increase body awareness, alleviate chronic muscular pain, and improve overall physical function.
The process of somatic stretching involves moving slowly and gently through a range of motion, paying close attention to the sensations and feelings within the body. By engaging in slow, mindful movements, somatic stretching allows individuals to consciously release involuntary muscle contractions and reduce excess tension.
Benefits of Somatic Stretching
- Improved Flexibility: Somatic stretching focuses on releasing chronically contracted muscles, leading to improved flexibility and increased range of motion.
- Pain Relief: By addressing muscular imbalances and tension, somatic stretching can help alleviate chronic muscular pain and discomfort.
- Enhanced Mind-Body Connection: Somatic stretching encourages a deeper connection between the mind and body, promoting greater body awareness and proprioception.
- Reduced Stress and Tension: The mindful and gentle nature of somatic stretching promotes relaxation and helps reduce stress and mental tension.
- Improved Posture: By releasing muscular holding patterns, somatic stretching can help improve posture and alignment.
- Increased Body Confidence: As individuals gain a better understanding of their bodies through somatic stretching, they often experience increased body confidence and a sense of empowerment. |
C.V. Wood (center) with Walt Disney
Cornelius Vanderbilt Wood was born on December 17, 1920 in the Lonestar State of Texas. As a younger man (now going by C.V. Wood or his nickname, Woody) he worked as a director of industrial engineering for an aircraft manufacturer in his home state. Later, he was hired by the Stanford Research Institute where he worked as an engineer and as an outside consultant to Walt Disney, helping with the logistics of the anticipated Disney theme park. Walt Disney was so impressed by Wood's intelligence and problem-solving capabilities that he offered him a job as the supervisor of the construction of Disneyland.Orange Groves Where Disneyland Was Built Walt Disney and C.V. Wood were both fiery, passionate individuals and became close very quickly. Walt trusted Wood and named him Disneyland's very first employee. Wood not only supervised the construction of the park, he actually was the one who chose the site among the orange groves of Anaheim AND was in charge of purchasing the land where the park was built. It was C.V. Wood who, as Vice President and General Manager of Disneyland, gave President Nixon the Key To Disneyland in August of 1955, one month after the grand opening of the park. If you're anything like me and you've never heard of this guy before, this doesn't make any sense, right? How could a man who was so deeply involved with the construction and creation of Disneyland, a man who Walt Disney often referred to as “a son,” be totally left out of all of the Disney history books and films? Why doesn't Cornelius Vanderbilt Wood have a window on Main Street U.S.A. in Disneyland, the park that he was so incredibly instrumental in making a reality? Aerial View of Disneyland in 1955 The answer is a bit of a complicated one. In July of 1956, just six months after the opening of Disneyland, C.V. Wood was gone. Not only was he out as Disneyland's Vice President and General Manager, he was wiped clean from all of the historical accounts of the Disney company as well. Walt Disney had his older brother, Roy (another key figure in the history of the Disney company, but that story is for another post!) fire Wood reportedly after a heated argument. It's not known what that argument was about and neither Walt Disney nor his brother Roy ever went public with the true reason why Wood was fired so abruptly. There were rumors that Wood had embezzled money from the Disneys and their company, but there were never any legal proceedings or records that would prove that as a fact. Other speculated reasons for the firing were that Wood was taking too much credit publicly for the creation of Disneyland or that he was fired because he was designing other theme parks behind Walt Disney's back. Whatever the reason, Wood's relationship with the Disney Company ended swiftly and without much fanfare. It was like one day, C.V. Wood was in the Disneyland offices, holding meetings like he always did, and the next day he was gone and never spoken of again. Once he was fired from the Disney Company, C.V. Wood went on to head several other amusement park projects around the country, including Magic Mountain in Colorado in 1958, and Pleasure Island in Boston in 1959. Neither park had much financial success, though, and they were closed within a couple of years. Wood then went on to call himself the “Master Planner of Disneyland” (a title that he probably somewhat deserved) but a lawsuit from the Disney Company squashed his hopes of earning any more money or fame from the Disneyland name. Freedomland U.S.A. Guidemap When Freedomland U.S.A. opened in the Bronx in 1964, it seemed like Wood was finally going to achieve the fame and fortune that Walt Disney had achieved with Disneyland's opening in 1955. The park was made up of several themed lands including Little Old New York, Chicago (which had daily shows depicting the Chicago Fire of 1871), The Great Plains, San Fransisco, The Old Southwest, New Orleans Mardi Gras, and Satellite City: The Future. If any of these ideas sound familiar at all, they should! They were designed an awful lot like Disneyland's themed lands as Wood was trying to create an east coast version of the popular west coast tourist destination. On the day that Freedomland U.S.A. opened, The Ed Sullivan Show hosted a preview of the new theme park, calling it Disneyland's equal on the east coast. The following day, traffic was backed up so badly in the Bronx with cars trying to get to the park that Freedomland U.S.A. had to stop selling park tickets. The initial success of the “East Coast Disneyland” was very short-lived, however, and by the end of it's first year of operation, Freedomland U.S.A. was already over $8 million in debt. After a few more struggling years, the park was met with the extremely tough competition of the 1964 New York World's Fair (Walt Disney's ultimate retribution on his old pal, Woody) and Freedomland U.S.A. filed for bankruptcy and was later torn down. On the site in the Bronx where the park once stood now stands Co-Op City, a large residential development, and the Bay Plaza Shopping Center. A plaque was installed in 2013 commemorating the theme park that once stood on that location. After his most ambitious theme park was shut down, C.V. Wood did achieve some fame and fortune when he moved the London Bridge from London to Arizona and opened it up as a tourist attraction. He then was hired by Warner Brothers where he worked until his death in 1992. The Disney Company still does not acknowledge any link to Wood to this day, and his existence is still completely wiped out of the “official” history of Disneyland and the Disney Company. It's doubtful that anyone will ever know the true reason why Wood and Walt Disney had the intense falling out that they had as almost everyone who knew either man isn't around to tell their stories any longer. Just remember, the next time you're in Disneyland or Walt Disney World, that yes, Walt Disney was in fact a genius and a visionary. Disneyland was his dream project, his creation, and one of his greatest accomplishments. But also remember, Walt Disney had a little bit of help in realizing his dream, and that help's name was Cornelius Vanderbilt Wood. Thank you, as always, for reading and I hope you enjoyed this look back at the story of an all but forgotten visionary who helped Walt Disney design Disneyland. Please feel free to let me know what YOU thought about this story by commenting here on this page, sending me a message or posting on my Facebook wall HERE, tweeting me HERE, or emailing me at [email protected] Thanks again, and please enjoy the rest of your stay here at Ear To There Travel. If you’re thinking about taking a Disney vacation soon, whether it’s Walt Disney World, Disneyland, the Disney Cruise Line, Aulani in Hawaii or Adventures By Disney, I can help! I offer concierge level service and will take care of any and all planning for you, and I will do that 100% FREE OF CHARGE! |
East Germany (GDR) played a profound symbolic role in Europe. It served both as a foil to West Germany and, for Soviet Bloc states, as a buffer against capitalist incursion. It represented Communist resistance to and triumph over the Nazi regime. And the Berlin Wall’s division of East and West Berlin served as the most powerful visual symbol of the Cold War.
Ruled with the iron, if aged, fist of Eric Honecker, the GDR was one of the most repressive regimes in the Eastern Bloc. Still, East Germany was not immune to the changes taking place around it. In the summer of 1989, the regime was undone largely by two things: popular protests across the country, especially in Leipzig and Dresden, and the decision of the Hungarian government to tear down its border fences with Austria.
When Hungary literally tore a hole in the Iron Curtain by removing the fences and minefields from its border during the summer of 1989, approximately 5,000 of East Germans who were vacationing in Hungary fled to Austria – a number that would rise to around 30,000 by December 1989. Other East Germans began camping on the grounds of West German embassies across Eastern Europe, requesting passports. International law viewed the embassy grounds as sovereign territory of the Federal Republic (West Germany) and according to West German law, East Germans who entered West Germany had an immediate right to West German citizenship. The problem was that the West German government could not secure exit visas for their new citizens from the Communist governments in Prague and Warsaw. Faced with these mass defections, Honecker negotiated a deal with those waiting in the compounds of the West German embassies allowing them to leave for the West in sealed trains. They would pass through East German territory and be officially “expelled.”
In September 1989, an opposition organization called New Forum (Neues Forum) emerged. The resisters in this organization reflected the broad swathe of discontent in the GDR: it brought together young people, church leaders, women, gays, punk rockers, environmentalists, and other “outsiders” under its manifesto. Within weeks, this organization became the focus for opposition to the regime and its members helped to organize and lead street protests that grew increasingly large.
When Gorbachev visited Berlin during the 40th-anniversary celebration of the establishment of the German Democratic Republic, he uttered these famous words: “life punishes those who come too late,” an clear allusion to Honecker’s unwillingness to reform East Germany along the lines that Gorbachev was pursuing in the Soviet Union. Enthusiastic students chanted “Gorbi! Gorbi!” even as they marched and attended parades extolling the GDR. That evening a small group of dissidents gathered in a parsonage in the town of Schwante outside of Berlin and founded the first independent political party in East Germany–the Social Democratic Party in the GDR (SDP).
The city of Leipzig became a locus for resistance as demonstrations grew, drawing some 70,000 people by October 9, 1989, and Leipzig’s candlelight vigils caught the attention of the world. Some party leaders were calling for a “Chinese Solution” to stop the growing demonstrations, a reference to the Chinese government’s use of military force against pro-democracy demonstrators on Tiananmen Square in June. To this end, on the evening of October 9, local authorities prepared for mass arrests and even the use of deadly force – 3,000 riot police, 500 additional militia members, and 3,000 regular army soldiers were issued live ammunition and placed on alert at the outskirts of town. Faced with strong international pressure for moderation, the German authorities instead allowed the demonstration to proceed without incident. The crowds marching through Leipzig chanted “Wir sind das Volk” or “We are the people,” which evolved after November 9 into “Wir sind ein Volk” or “We are one people,” a direct reference (by whom) to Germany’s long division and a desire to re-unite the two German states.
Growing public opposition to the regime culminated on the night of November 9 when Günter Schabowski misspoke at a press conference and the Wall, literally and figuratively, began to fall. In the immediate aftermath of the collapse of the Berlin Wall, the East German Communist Party began negotiations with representatives from the SDP, Democracy Now, and other citizen action groups (most of which had previously been part of New Forum) under the auspices of a Central Round Table that brought the main opposition groups together with Party representatives. On March 18, 1990, the first free election was held in the GDR and transferred power to a new governing coalition comprised of Christian Democrats (CDU) and Social Democrats (SPD) led by Prime Minister Lothar de Maizière, a member of the conservative Christian Democratic Union. In the ensuing months, the main task of de Maizière’s new government was to negotiate the reunification of Germany, a process that was completed on October 3, 1990. |
Geology as a control on landslides on the Isle of Wight : an overview
Jenkins, G.O.; Foster, C.; Hopson, P.M.. 2011 Geology as a control on landslides on the Isle of Wight : an overview. Proceedings of the Geologists' Association, 122 (5). 906-922. 10.1016/j.pgeola.2011.09.003Before downloading, please read NORA policies.
The Cretaceous and Palaeogene sedimentary rocks that crop out on the Isle of Wight are highly prone to landsliding and the island offers an important field laboratory wherein to investigate a number of the different types of failure. Many of these landslides represent a significant engineering hazard, with several urban areas requiring remedial work and planning constraints (e.g. The Undercliff and Seagrove Bay) to aid development. Previous studies have thoroughly investigated the major landslides in the Undercliff area around Ventnor and presented a mechanism for that massive failure. This overview of the landslides throughout the Isle of Wight by the British Geological Survey was completed as part of the multidisciplinary survey of the surface geology, structure, geophysical response and offshore interpretations of the island between 2007 and 2010. The survey has collected new observational data on the extensive coastal landslides, as well as the distribution, nature and mechanism of failure of the lesser-studied inland examples.
|Item Type:||Publication - Article|
|Digital Object Identifier (DOI):||10.1016/j.pgeola.2011.09.003|
|Programmes:||BGS Programmes 2010 > Land Use, Planning and Development|
|Date made live:||07 Dec 2011 13:18|
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Photographs from the Falkland Islands
Welcome to Falkland Photos
The Falkland Islands are situated East of Patagonia on the South American coast and cover an area 12,200 square kilometres. The Islands are classified as part of the Antarctic Ecozone, and the Antarctic Floristic Kingdom.
The Falklands are divided into two main Islands, the East Falkland and the West Falkland, in addition to around 700 smaller surrounding islands.
The capital of the Falkland Islands is Stanley. The Islands have a total population of just 2,932 people.
The Falkland Islands consist of flat open regions, high cliff and mountainous hills of Tussock Grass. The Islands have no reptiles or amphibians, and the “Warrah” which was once the Islands’ only native land mammal is now extinct.
The Islands are famous for their marine and bird life. Penguins can often be seen here, including Macaroni Penguins, King Penguins, Rockhopper Penguins, Gentoo Penguins and Magellanic Penguins. These penguins commonly associated with Antarctica, come to the Falkland Islands to breed. In addition to the penguins, a large population of Black-browed albatross also breed on the islands.
The Islands also support an abundance of marine life, such as Killer Whales, Fur Seals, Leopard Seals and a variety of Dolphin species such as the Commersons Dolphin, Peales Dolphin, Hourglass Dolphins and Dusky Dolphins. There are a variety of Whale species that can be found off the coast too, such as Sperm Whales, Bottlenose Whales, and Sei Whales. |
"IF YOU suffer from asthma or chronic lung infections, you are more vulnerable to air pollution in the aftermath of a cold," Ken Donaldson from Napier University told the Edinburgh International Science Festival this week.
Donaldson and his colleagues inserted a cold virus gene into human lungs in the lab. The gene persists after symptoms have disappeared. When they exposed lung cells to PM10s, tiny particles with a diameter of less than 10 micrometres, they found up to a fivefold increase in the proteins that trigger inflammation.
To continue reading this article, subscribe to receive access to all of newscientist.com, including 20 years of archive content. |
FAO Releases Climate Change Mitigation in Agriculture Learning Materials
November 2012: As part of the global learning efforts on sustainable agriculture to help meet climate change mitigation goals, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the UN (FAO) has released the materials and presentations from the 11 webinar sessions held during the month of September 2012 on "Conservation agriculture for climate change mitigation."
The learning event was organized by the community of practice for climate change mitigation in agriculture. It explored issues related to: organic carbon accumulation and emissions from conservation agriculture; the relevance of conservation agriculture in arid and semi-arid areas; and suitable machinery for climate-smart conservation agriculture. [FAO Learning Event on Conservation Agriculture for Climate Change Mitigation] |
National Inventors Month on May, 2020: August is the ONLY calender month without a MAJOR holiday: Why has it never been claimed for any
May, 2020 is National Inventors Month 2020. National Inventors Month Everyday Edisons Program Showcases Local ... National Inventors Month
The following events are observed calendar month-long in August:
American Adventures Month
American History Essay Contest
National Catfish Month
Black Business Month
Cataract Awareness Month
Children's Eye Health and Safety Month
Children's Vision and Learning Month
Get Ready for Kindergarten Month
Happiness Happens Month
Motorsports Awareness Month
National Immunization Awareness Month
National Inventor's Month
National Panini Month
National Water Quality Month
National Win with Civility Month
Neurosurgery Outreach Month
Spinal Muscular Atrophy Awareness Month
What Will Be Your Legacy Month
Irish American Heritage Month?
To the poster who stated that African Americans were sent to the Americas and Caribbean as slaves, SO TOO WERE THE IRISH. African American Historian Leronne Bennett describes the capture and transportation of Irish Slaves as being identical to African Slaves and states that many of the later African Slavers got their experience and capital from the Irish Slave trade. 50,000 Irish were sent to Barbados alone. The first "witch" hung in Boston was Ann Glover, an Irish Slave who was a convenient scapegoat for "unexplained happenings".
To the other poster who stated that African American make up the second largest demograpich in the United States, wrong: Per the US. Census Irish Americans make up 23% of the US Population, African Americans make up 12.4% (BTW Latino Americans make up 15.4% )
The fact that American are so unknowing of these facts is the reason we need Irish American Heritage Month, The biggest issue is that Irish American Heritage month is issued as a yearly Proclamation, it has never been made a law (as have been Jewish Heritage Month, Hispanic Heritage Month, Black History Month etc). This allows public institutions to ignore it. Many of us are trying to correct this. Best suggestion is to write your Congressional and Senate representatives.
For inspiration, see this video :
African American Inventors?
The Top Ten African-American Inventors |
Learning about Elephants is one of the most fascinating and amazing journeys on the animal planet. Their sheer size, intelligence, and gentle nature make these majestic creatures captivating to the imaginations of people of all ages. Preschool children enjoy learning about elephants. Emphasizing their gentle nature and the need to protect these magnificent creatures for generations to come. Here are some amazing facts about elephants that will leave you in awe.
Let’s start with their size. Elephants are the largest land animals on Earth, with adult males standing up to 3 meters tall at the shoulder and weighing in at around 6,000 kg. Females are slightly smaller, standing at around 2.5 meters tall and weighing up to 4,000 kg. Their trunks, which are actually a combination of their nose and upper lip, can grow up to 2 meters long and contain over 100,000 muscles.
Elephants incredibly intelligent among animals, and even known to use tools. With excellent memories, and the ability to show empathy towards other elephants and even humans. They also have a language of their own, using a variety of vocalizations and body language to communicate with each other.
But perhaps one of the most amazing facts about elephants is their ability to communicate over long distances. They use low-frequency sounds that can travel up to 10 kilometers. These infrasonic calls are inaudible to humans. Consequently, these calls possibly play a vital role in the social lives of elephants. Allowing them to stay in touch with other members of their herd even when they are out of sight.
“They’re just these enormous creatures with a real deep and vast intelligence. They have senses that we can only study because we sense such a small fraction of what they can hear, feel and smell.”Natalie Portman, Narrator for National Geographic’s “Secrets of the Elephants” USA Today Network, April 9, 2023
Another incredible fact about elephants is their incredible sense of smell. They have been known to detect water sources from several kilometers away. They can use their trunks to pick up even the faintest scent. This keen sense of smell is also important for finding food and avoiding danger.
In addition to their impressive physical and cognitive abilities, elephants are also remarkable for their social behavior. They are highly social animals that live in matriarchal herds led by the oldest and most experienced female, or matriarch. These herds typically consist of less than a 100 individuals combining females and their young, while males typically live solitary lives.
“I’ve seen an elphant who had a badly hurt spine and could barely walk. Each day the elephants would take turns to come and walk with it, chat with it and spend time with it. They are utterly remarkable in their tenderness and their kindness towards each other.”Toby Strong, Director of Photograpy, “National Geographic – Earth Day” USA Today Networks April 9, 2023
Elephants are also known for their strong family bonds and will often stay with their mothers for several years before striking out on their own. They have been known to mourn their dead, showing grief and respect for the deceased.
Finally, elephants are important members of their ecosystems, playing a vital role in maintaining the balance of their habitats. They help to disperse seeds and create pathways for other animals to follow, shaping the landscape in important ways.
Elephants are truly amazing animals that deserve our respect and protection. From their impressive size and intelligence to their social behavior and ecological importance, there is much to learn and appreciate about these gentle giants. Incorporating these amazing facts into a class plan would be an excellent way to teach children about the wonders of the natural world and the importance of conservation. |
Bright green lettuce leaves are ready for picking, while ripe red tomatoes bow their stalks. Natural produce as they seem to be, the lettuce is grown inside an artificially lit plant factory, while the tomatoes are cultivated inside a solar plant factory, both operated by Chiba University.
Chiba University is a pioneer in this area, having over a 30-year history in growing plants hydroponically. Now operating five solar plant factories and two artificial light plant factories, the university stresses the importance of such factories.
One reason is due to the drastic changes in the distribution and consumption systems of Japan, as an increasing number of people are deciding to eat out, coupled with the increasing trend of importing fresh produce and vegetables from other countries regardless of their high prices.
Another serious problem that Japan faces is “a critical shortage of next-generation farmers, together with the sharp increase in the elderly population,” says Toru Maruo, a doctor of agriculture and professor at the Graduate School of Horticulture, Chiba University. Maruo is also a key player in the vegetable plant factory project that is participated in by over 60 corporate entities.
According to government statistics, the average age of farmers in Japan was 66.5 years in 2013, of which 46.8 percent were 70 or over. As Japan’s population aged 39 years or younger is below 5 percent, the number of Japanese farmers in 10 years will dwindle to about one-third the figure of today; a drastic reduction never experienced by any nation in history.
At the artificial light factory, the initial challenge of producing good, consistently high-quality produce had been overcome relatively easily and 80 to 100 grams of leaf lettuce can be harvested ten days after planting. The second challenge was to reduce costs. To this end, Chiba University simplified the workflow and experimented with various lighting and air conditioning methods until its lettuce factories could better the cost of ¥700 per kilogram.
Another eye-catching development in this area is the recent production of nutrient-fortified vegetables. By adjusting the nutrient solutions and through lighting innovations, some vegetables can now be produced at Chiba University’s plant factories to meet the health requirements of certain consumers.
For example, low-potassium lettuce can now be produced for kidney disease patients who must control their potassium intake. Such innovation could be defined as a new chapter in plant factories that bring fresh produce production closer to medicine.
For more info: May 3, 2015 Japan times news |
This activity investigates how you might make squares and pentominoes from Polydron.
Make a cube out of straws and have a go at this practical
How can you put five cereal packets together to make different
shapes if you must put them face-to-face?
Watch the video BryonyTriangle.mp4 in which Bryony demonstrates how to make a flower from a square of paper. (If you can't see the control bar, zoom out in your browser.)
She then sets you a challenge: what fraction of the original square of paper is the shaded triangle?
Thank you to Bryony Black for giving us permission to use this problem. |
PhD. in Mathematics
Norm was 4th at the 2004 USA Weightlifting Nationals! He still trains and competes occasionally, despite his busy schedule.
Let’s graph the transformation of the secant function. Y equals secant, theta minus pi over 2, and this is a pretty easy one. Let’s start with key points of secant. Now the key points are negative pi over 2, and pi over 2, these are places where secant is undefined because cosine is 0 there.
Then right in between 0 secant of 0 was 1, pi over 3, secant is 2 and negative pi over 3. Remember that secants and even functions, it will also be 2. So what happens when we transform to secant of theta minus pi over 2? Let’s make the substitution theta minus pi over 2 equals u.
U equals theta minus pi over 2 means, u plus pi over 2 equals theta. So to get the theta values I add pi over 2 to all these values. So let me add pi over 2 to negative pi over 2, I get 0. I add pi over 2 to negative pi over 3, I get pi over 6.
I pi over 2 to 0,pi over 2 added to pi over 3 and I get 5 pi over 6. And if I add pi over 2 to pi over 2 I get pi. Now what values do I put here? Well these are just secant u, same us this so I just copy these values down undefined and undefined, 1, 2 and 2.
I’m ready to graph let me start by plotting these vertical asymptotes. X equals 0 and x equals pi. Remember this will give me half period of the secant graph. x equals 0, and x equals pi.
So we start with the point pi over 2, 1 that’s right here. Pi over 6, 2 and 5, pi over 6 2 pi over 6 is a third the way from 0 to pi over 2 so pi over 62 is right here. 5 pi over 6 is 2/3 the way from pi over 2 to pi. So right here so pi over 6. 2 is here. So I graph and I get that familiar u shape of the secant function. Recall to get the second half period you take this half period flip it across the x axis hand shift it to the right half a period. In this case the period is 2 pi, so half a period would be pi. So I shift to the right pi. This point flipped across and shift it to the right, become -1. This point flipped across shifted to the right. I’m a third a way to the pi to the 3 and pi over 2 and I’m going to get -2.
Likewise, this point flipped across and shifted pi to the right gives me a point here. So I can plot that. And also you take this and flip it across the x axis and shift to the right pi, you get another asymptote at x equals 2 pi.
So you should remember that the secant function or the cosecant function, is going to have 3 asymptotes for every period. Left and the right and in the middle one. So this thing is also going to have an asymptote at negative pi.
Well we only have room for another half period so let me graph that. Remember, once you have a four period all you have to do to get more is to shift to the right or left of full period write 2 pi. So to get points over here, I have to shift these points 2 pie to the left.
So in this point for example at 3 pi over 2, -1 goes to negative pi over 2 -1. This point goes 2/3 the way between negative pi over 2 right here, and this point goes over here. So that I have it 1 and half periods of y equals secant theta minus pi over 2.
And you might recognize this function. This is the same as y equals cosecant theta. It’s really important that you know that the secant function and the secant function and the cosecant function have exactly the same shape. And to get cosecant, all you have to do is take the secant graph and shift it to the right pi over 2.
And that’s what this is secant shifted to the right pi over 2. |
The Michigan cherry season is only a few months away, so it’s a perfect time to learn about health benefits of these Michigan grown super fruits.
How Many Cherries Does Michigan Grow?
The U.S. tart cherry industry is estimated to produce approximately 276 million pounds of tart cherries annually. Michigan contributes about 208 million pounds of the total crop. This means Michigan is the number one state in the United States when it comes to tart cherries.
Our state grows over 65% of all of all of the tart cherries in the entire country. The area that grows these tiny red orbs is the Northwestern corner of the Lower Peninsula. This area of Michigan is commonly referred to as the Traverse Bay Farms area.
In addition, Traverse City has earned the nickname as “cherry capital of the world.” The reason for the nickname is the majority of the tart cherry orchards are located near Traverse City.
What are the Health Benefits of Tart Cherries?
Tart cherries offer a number of natural health benefits. Over the past decade a number of research universities have published ground-breaking work on this ruby-red super fruit.
Some of the health benefits includes cherries ability to fight joint pain due to gout and arthritis, help with sleep issues and even help soothe sore muscles due to physical exercise. Click Here to learn more about the health benefits of tart cherries.
When is Tart Cherry Season in Michigan?
The tart cherry harvest season is usually from Mid-July until Mid-august. This short six to eight week season is when the cherries are harvested from the trees and transported to the production. However, the cherries are more than simply harvest season.
For about two weeks in May the trees start to blossom with beautiful white and pink blossom. It’s during this time the orchards are a relaxing and peaceful place to be able enjoy a stroll. The combination of the cherry blossom season with the cherry harvest season this brings the entire cherry season to about an eight to ten week season.
What Makes Northern Michigan So Special for Growing Cherries?
While cherry trees can grow almost anywhere, they quality of the fruit produced and the quantity depends on the conditions of local climate. This is what makes the Traverse Bay Farms area of Michigan from unique. This is the surrounding lakes of the area helps to temper the artic winds during the winter and helps the cool the cherry orchards during the top summer months.
In addition, the combination of rolling hills and sandy soil also contribute to the highly product cherry orchards. The sandy soil allows the water to drain away from the trees while the rolling hills assists with keeping the wind moving.
How Many Cherries Does the Average Cherry Tree Grow?
When you’re picking cherries, you may ask yourself how many cherries does the average cherry tree grow? That’s a great question. The answer is approximately 7,000 cherries. This means you don’t have to worry about picking all of the cherries when you’re out picking your own cherries.
Also, another fun fact is it takes about 100 cherries to make a cherry pie. So the average cherry tree grows about 70 cherry pies.
What Types of Cherries are Best for U-Pick?
There are two types of cherries. These include sweet cherries and tart cherries. The sweet cherries also known as the black cherries are the most popular for U-pick. The reason is they are great for snacking and this is the type of cherry you’ll find in the produce section of your local grocery store or farmers market.
The other type is the tart cherries. These are bright red in color and mostly used for baking and in recipes. However, since they are very tart, hence the name tart cherry, the majority of people don’t eat them straight from the tree.
The best type of cherry for U-Pick usually are the sweet cherries.
Where to Find U-Pick Cherry Orchards in Michigan
Here are some great resources to learn more about U-pick or pick cherries directly from the trees
Traverse Bay Farms
7053 M-88 South, Bellaire MI 49615
Ed Dunneback & Girls Farm
3025 Six Mile Rd. NW, Grand Rapids, Mi 49544
Steffens Orchard and Market
4344 13 Mile Rd., Sparta, Mi 49345
The Fox Barn Market & Winery
500 South 18th Ave., Shelby, Mi 49455
16495 40th Ave., Coopersville, Mi 49404
0-9265 Kenowa Ave. SW, Grand Rapids, Mi 49534 |
- Ocean Surface Currents
Surface ocean currents, in the upper 1000 meters of
the ocean, are driven by winds and are strongly influenced by change in
density between layers of water. These ocean currents tend to follow the
winds in the lower atmosphere, except where they are diverted by continents.
Some wind-driven currents can even go upwind. An example is the North
- Thermohaline Circulation
Because temperature and salinity determine density,
deep-water circulation is called thermohaline circulation.
Higher density water sinks into the deep ocean.
Mixing brings cold water up to the surface.
The thermohaline circulation is actually driven by mixing.
- Ekman Currents
Wind force, friction, and Coriolis are three forces
that act on water at the sea surface.
When the three forces balance, the current goes 45 degrees
to the right looking downwind in the Northern Hemisphere, This is the
Current turns with depth. Each layer goes at an angle
to the layer above it.
Each layer moves slower than the one above it.
Ekman layer, friction is not important.
- Geostrophic Currents
Ekman transport of surface layer water tends to produce
sloping sea surfaces by "piling up" the water in some locations
and "removing" surface water from others. This causes presssure
gradients inside the ocean.
Inside the ocean the only important forces are pressure
gradients and Coriolis force due to ocean currents.When the two forces
balance, the current is a geostrophic current.
- Upwelling and Downwelling
Upwelling occurs where Ekman transport moves surface
waters away from a coast or away from nearby areas (a divergence zone).
As the winds carry the surface waters away from a coast, cooler, often
more nutrient-rich, water from below replaces the surface waters.
Downwelling occurs where Ekman transport pushes surface
water together (a convergence zone).
- Global Conveyor Belt
The deep, thermohaline circulation connects all the
A "conveyor belt" model of this connection
suggests that warm water from the Pacific and Indian Oceans is exported
to the Atlantic Ocean along the surface, where it cools and sinks off
Norway and Greenland, returning at depth back to the Pacific and Indian
Oceans. As heat is lost to the atmosphere in the north, the colder water
sinks below the warmer surface layer and migrates through the depths of
the global oceans.
The entire circuit takes as long as 1,000 years to complete.
The heat lost in the far North Atlantic warms Europe.
If the conveypor belt circulation weakens or stops, Europe and the Northern
Hemisphere could be plunged into a new ice age. |
I guess we should have anticipated such a move on this sesquicentennial of John Brown’s raid at Harpers Ferry. It’s an indication that Brown’s reputation has taken a significant turn since the end of the 1960s and that even Virginia may have a different outlook (at least northern Virginia) on this crucial moment on the eve of the the Civil War. While I don’t know much about David Reynolds, I am surprised to find his name attached to this project. As many of you know, Reynolds teaches at CUNY and is the author of John Brown, Abolitionist: The Man Who Killed Slavery, Sparked Civil War, and Seeded Civil Rights, which is one of the best of the recent crop of Brown biographies. Reynolds has not issued a formal statement, but you can read his thoughts in the following news article.
Let’s remember that many Americans we honor had as many or more flaws in their character and behavior: Washington and Jefferson owned slaves, Columbus has been understandably accused of genocide, and Lincoln shared the racial prejudice of his time and long wanted to deport blacks once they were freed.
I have no interest in signing this petition, but it is available here. Interestingly, the Online poll has supporters of a pardon far ahead. I’ve never had an interest in demonizing or celebrating John Brown. That said, I’ve always found those studies that emphasized some kind of psychological imbalance to be completely off the mark. It’s nice to see historians such as Reynolds finally work to place Brown’s plan in its proper context by analyzing the extent to which his plan and actions were influenced by slave rebellions in the Caribbean and elsewhere. That we’ve spent so much time arguing that he was “crazy” tells us much more about the difficulty subsequent generations have had coming to terms with Brown. |
We understand Advanced Urbanism as the sensitive integration of technology in city. Advanced Urbanism is about merging technologies, culture and government into a participatory inclusive planning process. Transdisciplinary by its nature, this approach demands for new managerial and educational programs built on the following trends.
1 – Technology and Enhanced learning
Knowing more about city’s behaviour so that city can know more about us
2 – Active learning
Implementation of methods as project based learning, practice learning, engineering learning, experiential learning, game based learning. they enable multidisciplinary iterations, learn by doing innovations while working on real life problems.
3 – Cooperative learning
Organizations working and learning together with universities, government agencies and industry businesses.
4 – Open-learning
The city is turning to a classroom: a lab. trandiscipliary approach to knowledge enrichment: an active flow of information and ideas among different sectors.
5- Mindful learning
Both the natural environment and citizens are seen as fuel for knowledge production. In this trend, the learning takes in consideration the social and environmental constraints.
DEMOLA is an organization that connects companies, universities and students. They search questions from companies, government agencies, public institutes to publish and get students involved to solve them. The student team owns the license. The City of delf supports Field labs providing both spaces in the city and a case manager, coming from private or public organization, to help them realize ideas and solve practical or legal issues.
At AUAS (University of Applied Sciences of Amsterdam), BOOT is the operating base for research practices in city’s neighbourhoods with students having the opportunity to put their competences into practice and further develop them.
At the Poblenou superblock experience, architecture students learn how to deal with cooperation processes and learning by doing innovations.
The positively impact of this kind of learning is that students have the opportunity to work on real life problem improving the quality of their neighbourhood in a more rewarding experience. Moreover, they acquire creative views and ideas from colleagues, professional and researchers to address important urban challenges. From the organization’s point of view, they get useful ideas from the knowledge available at university while testing and redefining their prototypes. Researchers can find better accesses to real data as well as the most interesting problem to focus their studies. Finally, the university as practical and service oriented institution is able to balance and efficiently exploit both theoretical and practical fields.
How can we teach Advanced Urbanism?
“When dealing with new technology we transform all the information and particularities in data, levelling everything at the exact same value. We are losing the question of specificity: a concept that advanced urbanism must refer to.” Elodie Nourrigat – ENSAM
“We are experiencing a change in paradigm. Our educational approaches are shifting from teaching the students, to learning with students and teaching the city. This has mutated many different aspects of city’s life. For example, if in the beginning, citizens voted mayor to write law, now mayors are chasing residents to
understand their real problems and to collect information through social networks in a bottom up process.” Nicola Canessa – UNIGE
“With discussions and round tables we are able to put municipality and professional together, make them talk and address the real problems of the city side by side with the citizens”. Andrea Caridi – DARTS
“With active public space and the Poblenou project, students at IAAC have the opportunity to prototype solutions addressing to real problem of the neighbourhood, producing for the city while the city learn more about them”. Chiara Farinea – IAAC
“For us at IAAC is fundamental not to pretend to know everything. In our teaching-learning environment, we are all learning together and in the APS installation this inclination was evident. Students were learning how to fabricate elements embedded in an urban area, constantly having the feedbacks of the dwellers
they were producing for and learning by doing systematically”. Mathilde Marengo – IAAC
“Re-Cycle at UNIGE is a new life approach to material, product and people in the architectural practice. One of the first goals of the research is to build a comprehensive framework of knowledge around the theme of recycling, a body of information and cultures able to develop and propose new ways and schemes of rules to interfere with the constructed environment”.Raffaella Fagnoni – UNIGE
“Being a company that designs products for cities, no matters if modern, smart, or even responsive, we have to actively learn by doing, every day, talking with citizens, dealing with cultures, exploiting past and future experiences. For us, erasing all the boundaries between schools, students and businesses is the new way to make cities, planning and understanding them”. Africa Sabe – Santa & Cole
“EXtimity is an answer to the cities actual evolution, a way to outperform traditional lighting. Based on adaptable technical modules, eXtimity creates “Light spaces”. Places that are transforming and shaping the nocturnal environment, while being dedicated to wellbeing of users. The user finds there all the connectivity needed but can also become an actor and designer of its environment”. Vassili Beillas – TECHNILUM |
The environmental and economic indicators did not improve in 2013. Greenhouse gas emissions stayed about the same as in 2012. Emissions by manufacturing and electricity producers decreased, but emissions from agriculture, services and households increased. The emission intensity, greenhouse gas emissions divided by GDP, rose for the second year in a row. Acidifying emissions increased for the first time in years in 2013. The consumption of energy and of tap water for economic activities remained more or less stable.
Revenues from environmental taxes rose by 1.7 percent in 2013. This was mainly due to the introduction of an additional increment on the tax on gas and electricity to afford renewable energy subsidies ( ‘opslag duurzame energie’). There was a substantial increase in employment in the sustainable energysector, while employment fell for the Netherlands as a whole. The activities regarding wind at sea, installation of solar panels and work for the transport of electricity generated more and more jobs.
Changes in the environmental and economic indicators, 2012-2013
More information about these and other indicators on the environment and the economy can be found in the publication: Environmental accounts of the Netherlands 2013 |
It is hoped the test will offer an alternative to X-ray mammograms, which can give false positive or negative readings.
The test, which is approved by the European Union, could also save women from painful needle biopsies.
It comes after a series of high-profile cases in which women with terminal breast cancer were wrongly given the all-clear. One, a 46-year-old mother of five, died last month after her doctor misdiagnosed her cancer as tennis elbow.
Dr Galit Yahalom, an Israeli scientist who helped develop the technology, said: “In three hours a woman could know if she is positive for cancer or not. The tumour might be very small at this stage but it will give her options she might not have if it was detected later.”
The test has been welcomed by British scientists as current screening methods miss up to half of early breast cancers.
Blood tests have been used for markers that might indicate the presence of breast cancer but this is the first to detect cancer itself. Professor Kefah Mokbel, a breast cancer specialist at St George’s Hospital, south London, said: “It would be particularly useful for those with a family history of the disease and for younger women, as mammograms do not pick up cancers as well in this group due to their denser breasts.”
However he said more work needed to be done as the test, while highly accurate at identifying cancer, can give false positive readings in some women.
In three hours a woman could know if she is positive for cancer or not
The new test analyses the immune system. Raised immune responses indicate the body is fighting of a “foreign assault” which could be a cancer.
The Israeli, American based company, Eventus Diagnostics, which has developed the test, plans to negotiate to make it available on the NHS. A private test costs £200.
The test might have helped Kris Hallenga, 28, from Islington, north London, who was repeatedly told by doctors a lump on her breast was nothing to worry about. Advanced cancer has spread to her spine, pelvis, hips and liver.
Kris, 28, a former travel consultant, knows the disease will probably kill her and has set up a cancer charity, Coppafeel, to help others.
She said: “I first noticed a lump on my breast in 2008, when I was 22 and on a trip to Barcelona with my mum and identical twin sister Maren. I had no idea how long the lump had been there but it was getting more and more painful.
“In February 2009, my breast cancer was eventually diagnosed. By then, the cancer had spread to my spine and was incurable.”
•A BBC1 documentary about Ms Hallenga, Kris, Dying To Live, will be shown tonight at 10.55pm. You can find out more about her charity at coppafeel.org |
Have you heard of it? It is more of a phenomenon rather than a
medical diagnoses, but the term coined by Richard Louv is the perfect
description of a very real issue with today’s children. Too much screen time,
not enough outside time. We are all guilty of it, even me. Life is so busy, we
sometimes find ourselves simply surviving rather than living life to its
fullest. The reality is, life is short. We only have eighteen summers with
our kids before they are off in the real world. That number puts things in to
perspective for me. It is why I am so passionate about experiencing new
things with them as often as we possibly can.
Children in Nature month is upon us, and although we should strive to get
kids outdoors the other 11 months as well, October is weather perfection and
this cause deserves its own month to highlight the importance of the
websites, publications, articles, blogs and more touting the benefits of
getting our kids outside to play and explore. While doing research for this
post, I realized everything I wanted to say has been said a zillion times over.
Instead of inadvertently plagiarizing, I’ve decided to share with you some
excerpts from other websites that perfectly describe the message I want to
decades, taking a mental and physical toll on today’s kids. The negative impact
of decreased time outdoors includes a doubling of the childhood obesity
rate–accompanied by an incremental hundred billion dollar cost to our health
care system–as well as declining creativity, concentration and social skills.
we say it takes a backyard, a playground, a park.
strong, enhances imaginations and attention spans, decreases aggression, and
boosts classroom performance. In addition, children who spend time in nature
regularly are shown to become better stewards of the environment.” –National Wildlife Federation
Nature Network offers a more
comprehensive, and research based list of incentives to getting our kids
to nature have been well documented in numerous scientific research studies and
publications. Collectively, this body of research shows that children’s social,
psychological, academic and physical health is positively impacted when they
have daily contact with nature. Positive impacts include the following:*
(www.childrenandnature.org/research/),AnnotatedBibliographies of Research and
Studies,Volumes 1 and 2 (2007).
Have I convinced you to make a lifestyle change
yet for the sake of your babies? I hope so! Start small and set
goals. Stop at a playground on your way home from school or daycare
instead of going home to your comfy couch once a week. Hike somewhere new
once a month. Flip some rocks or logs in your neighborhood and see what is
under them. Piece of cake, right?
things outdoorsy? Insects, snakes, spiders, poison ivy, ticks, dirt, etc? Lets
get past those fears! Do not pass them on to your kids. Please. Just
don’t. You will not be doing them any favors by making them deathly afraid of
the little spider in your house that helps you out by eating your flies. I
offer many fact based blog posts on each of those potentially scary aspects of
hiking and playing in nature. We can work together to overcome any and all of
your fears, because when you know better, you do better.
your kids to The Bucket Club adventures. Delaware’s FIRST and ONLY nature
explorers club for kids and families. I will be leading monthly walks at local
parks. We will do fun, age appropriate activities and will end with the
all important outdoor free play. Already a self proclaimed nature loving
family? Awesome! We need you to attend as well because the love
of nature is contagious.
And remember, Mother Nature is the best teacher, therapist and entertainer.
Utilize and appreciate what she has to offer and teach your kids to do the |
Snakes are known for their population-control contributions to gardens and farms, hunting insects and animals such as midges and moles. Beyond that essential ecosystem service, snakes amaze me as elegant minimalists. Their entire body’s design is streamlined and purposeful—nothing in excess.
Internally, the snake’s heart contains one single chamber, and the lung has only one lobe. It also smells with its tongue, gathering particles from the air and soil to taste with the Jacobson’s organ inside the roof of its mouth. The snake’s flexible ribs act like tiny arms and legs working from within the skin, without the risk of losing a limb to a predator—that’s what sets them apart from other reptiles and their amphibian ancestors.
An animal that can climb without legs is impressive. Specialized belly scales team up with muscular propulsion and undulation movements to go up trees, rock fences, cliff ledges and barn walls. Because most North American snakes usually live closer to the ground than up in trees, they have evolved a way to hear without ears. Those pesky orifices would get clogged with dirt, and eardrums aren’t suited for changes in pressure that a life underground includes. Snakes simply sense vibrations through the earth, taking note of any danger.
This animal that has such a no-frills, no-fuss approach to life also takes care of grooming in one big move: by shedding its outer skin. This cleanses it of parasites and allows growth, just like wriggling out of a dirty old sock. When you’re out cleaning up the garden, cutting down last year’s growth and preparing for spring planting, you’re likely to come across dried natural design wonders, like wasps nests, mantis cocoons and perhaps a shed snakeskin or two.
You Can Learn a Lot From a Shed Snakeskin
Sheds—the term for the outer layer of skin that a snake releases during the shedding process, called ecdysis—could be more commonly seen in your garden than any actual reptiles. They shed their entire skin several times a year as an efficient way to outgrow their clothing and clean house, in a sense.
Age, type of snake, health and other factors determine how many times a year a snake sheds, so you can’t count it by years. Under ideal conditions, the entire length of the snake’s body sloughs off in one continuous piece. Although sheds are usually dry and fragile when discovered, it’s not always that way. The snake exudes lymphatic fluids to moisten the skin and release it.
Snakes generally don’t shed where they spend most of their time. They need something to rub against to help pull the skin off, and they are in a vulnerable position during this process, thus more likely to strike. Their eyes are covered in a thicker membrane to protect them, so they can’t see very well and are particularly jumpy.
The shed skin you find provides clues not only to a slithering garden friend’s identity, but also to what has drawn it to your property. Is it a gopher snake after your gophers? A rat snake looking for rats? A green snake stalking your grasshoppers?
How to Identify a Shed
To accurately identify a shed, you’ll need more than a simple guide to snakes. Check out a thorough field guide to local snakes, such as Snakes of North America: Eastern and Central Regions, by Alan Tennant and R.D. Bartlett. Color photos show the patterns and help you narrow down the possibilities, but you’ll want to take a much closer look at the drawings and descriptions of scales and compare them to your found shed skin. It might remind you of a kid’s puzzle book with those “what’s different in this picture” scenes, with miniscule differences that are easily overlooked.
For example, a distinguishing characteristic between pit vipers and nonvenomous snakes is whether or not the anal plate is divided. The anal plate is the last belly scale at the base of the cloaca, the opening where mating, giving birth and defecating all happen (again, nicely simplified into one organ) and where the tail begins. Most nonvenomous snakes have a divided anal plate and a double row of scales from there to the tip of the tail. One exception is the coral snake, so take that into special consideration. Rattlesnakes, copperheads, and cottonmouths have a single row of scales on the bottom of their tails. Of course, a rattlesnake’s tail looks like no other, but the skin on it does not shed, so there won’t be a tip with segmented rattles found on the shed.
A more easily recognizable difference between venomous and nonvenomous snakes is the shape of the head. If the head on the shed is intact and distinctly arrow-shaped, or you can make out a small pit between the eye and nostril, you’re likely to have a venomous snake. Again, the coral snake is an exception in North America.
Color patterns on a shed can be difficult to see if the skin has been exposed to the elements for a while. However, you may be able to see banding on a copperhead or the diamond pattern on a diamondback rattlesnake.
A shed snakeskin must necessarily be larger than the snake that once carried it. The interstitial area between scales allows intricate folds in the skin tissue to relax and stretch when it’s time to let go. Sheds are usually inside out because the snake scoots its way out through the mouth. If you are determined to see a shed as a more accurate representation of the snake, turning the fragile skin right side out is a delicate operation. A dedicated naturalist will carefully photograph the head at each step of the inversion, in case it gets torn or disfigured. To identify the species, you will have to be able to count scales and learn their names in relation to the animals’ body parts.
Knowing your snakes is a valuable tool for anyone working outdoors. Always take precautions in tall grass or around piles of brush. If you want to encourage snakes on your property but on your own terms, consider piling branches and leaves along a perimeter or leaving some boundary edges purposely unmown. The key is to be intentional about your messes and piles. Stagnant pockets could be a problem, whereas areas that change with the seasons will encourage a normal predator-prey relationship that coincides with abundance and limitation of resources. Take a clue from the minimalist snakes, and use this spring-cleaning opportunity to pay attention to where stuff is accumulating. |
Why Coalitions Fail
"Every disagreement which is not for the sake of Heaven will not endure the example is that of Korach and his entire company."
This historic perspective provided by the Talmudic Sages in Pirkei Avot (5:17) refers to what this weeks Torah portion tells of the rebellion of Korach and his cohorts against the authority of Moshe Rabbeinu which ended up with their being swallowed up alive by an opening in the earth.
What is puzzling about the text of this statement is the term "Korach and his company". In the contrasting statement about a disagreement which is for the sake of Heaven, the example given is that of the halachic disputes between the Sages Hillel and Shamai, whose differences arose from their genuine wish to serve G-d by determining exactly what His Torah taught us, a Torah dialogue that is still studied by Jews to this very day. If the parties to this praiseworthy disagreement are identified as Hillel and Shamai, shouldnt the protagonists in the rebellion be identified as Korach and Moshe rather than "Korach and his company"?
The answer provided by the commentaries is that in the coalition that Korach formed to challenge Moshe there was no real unity, only a common interest to replace the Heaven-appointed leader of the nation. While Korachs claim for leadership was based on his status as a Levite, the members of the Tribe of Reuven who joined him felt that they had priority because their ancestor was the firstborn of Yaakovs sons. The 250 distinguished men who rounded out this coalition were populists who felt that leadership belonged to men of talent rather than genealogy. So while they were all lined up against Moshe their disagreement was with each other as well and their coalition could therefore not endure.
Here we have a penetrating analysis of the fragility of coalitions formed out of self-interest, one that explains the history of coalition governments in Israel. Only a coalition formed for Heavens sake can endure and truly lead Israel along a secure and fulfilling path. |
Last updated on July 10th, 2022 at 11:15 pm
This article will show you 9 animals that weigh around 500 pounds.
Large animals are rare to see and very interesting to learn about.
500 pounds is equal to 1/4 ton or 226.79 kilograms.
Check out this list of heavy animals weighing over 500 pounds.
A cow is a domesticated animal that is mainly grown for its meat and milk.
A cow’s weight varies in different countries depending on the breed, but a typical cow in the United States can weigh anywhere from 1,200 to 3,000 pounds.
In general, cows have been bred to have bigger bones and muscle mass so they can produce more milk.
If you wanted to see how big a cow was in the past you would have to look at cows from Europe where they are smaller because of different breeding techniques used.
The average weight of a deer is about 500-600 pounds and the average height is between 4-5 feet.
Generally, a deer is considered to be relatively small and the size and weight of them can be misleading.
Considering the size of the deer’s antlers, you would think that they are much larger than they actually are.
Most species of deer are hunted for their meat, but some are hunted for their hides, antlers, or to reduce their population in areas where they are considered overabundant.
Most deer live in forested or partially forested areas where they can find protection from predators.
Deer have an excellent sense of smell which helps them detect danger and food sources.
Hippopotamuses are the third heaviest land mammals after elephants and rhinos.
Their enormous weight largely comes from their round, pot-bellied shape. Hippos typically weigh around 3,500 pounds for males and females weigh around 3000 pounds.
While they are the third heaviest land mammal on earth they also have one of the most unusual diets in the animal kingdom.
They consume mostly grass and other vegetation but will also eat fish, crabs, and other small animals that can be found near water.
A buffalo is a large, heavy animal that belongs to the genus Bison.
They are one of the heaviest living terrestrial animals.
The size and weight of a buffalo can vary depending on species and sex.
It can range from 6ft to 8ft tall and weigh close to 1,800 pounds.
Buffalo are not domesticated animals like cows or bulls. Instead, they are wild animals living in forests or savannas.
Giraffes are one of the most unique and tallest mammals on Earth. Giraffe height ranges between 13 feet and 18 feet when they are standing up.
The tallest giraffe on earth is located in Australia at just over 18 feet tall.
Giraffes can weigh anywhere between 1500 lbs and 1800 lbs when they are fully grown. Even though they weigh a lot, giraffes have long, slender legs that help them balance on these big bodies.
Sharks are one of the most feared sea animals and are known for being one of the most dangerous animals in the sea.
They are also one of the oldest species on earth, with fossils that date back 450 million years ago.
They have a sleek body shape that helps them swim fast and efficiently.
They are highly evolved marine predators, meaning that they have all kinds of adaptations to help them hunt their prey. Their sense of smell is also very strong.
Sharks’ teeth are designed to easily cut through skin and bone so they can eat their prey quickly.
They can’t chew because they do not have any bones in their mouth, instead, it has cartilage which does not break down as easily as bones would.
A shark’s size and weight vary depending on many factors, such as species, age, health, and location. Some sharks can weigh up to 4000 pounds.
The largest sharks are about 12 meters long or approximately 40 feet long.
The size and weight of a horse depend on its breed.
For example, horses such as the Andalusian or Arabian typically weigh between 850 and 1,000 pounds, while the Connemara is typically between 500 and 700 pounds.
A horse is the third-largest domesticated animal in the world and also one of the fastest animals on earth, running at speeds up to 40 miles per hour.
Whales are the largest and heaviest animals on Earth. The blue whale, the largest and heaviest animal ever known, can reach up to 100 feet (30 meters) in length and weigh as much as 200 tons.
The Orca or Killer whale is the largest of the dolphin family of cetaceans. The size of a killer whale can vary greatly. Females are typically shorter and broader than males, with males reaching up to 30 feet (9 meters) in length and weighing up to 6 tons.
The camel is an animal that can be found in the desert and is known for being one of the largest animals on land.
Camels can grow to over six feet tall and weigh more than 1000 pounds.
They have a long, thin nose, long eyelashes, and small eyes. Camels’ mouths have one set of teeth in each jaw and a thick tongue with no incisors, which they use for eating plants.
Camels can drink about 40 gallons of water at once but do not need to eat food very often because it lives off fat stored in its hump.
They are able to carry large amounts of weight on their back and still be able to walk for miles without tiring. |
For the Density experiment (Fig.?2), the same parameters were used, except: TE/TR?=?6.5/13?ms; reception bandwidth?=?30?kHz; Acquisition time?=?5?h 40?min. to tissue engineering. Among novel technological strategies, cell bioprinting has emerged as a promising tool to develop biological substitutes that allows accurate reproduction of a complex three-dimensional tissue architecture and cell microenvironment, including cell-cell and cell-microenvironment interactions1,2. Bioprinting is currently defined as computer-aided, automatic, layer-by-layer deposition, transfer and patterning of Lobeline hydrochloride biologically relevant materials1,3. One of the main advantages of bioprinting is its ability to control structure and functional properties of fabricated tissue-like structures4. Laser-Assisted Rabbit polyclonal to ZNF33A Bioprinting (LAB) is an exciting new addition to the bioprinting arsenal that traditionally consisted of inkjet and extrusion-based methods. Combined with other additive manufacturing process, LAB has significant potential for applications in Tissue Engineering due to its ability to create two- or three-dimensional constructs with desired resolution and organization5. LAB has been successfully used to print a large variety of biological components such as hydrogels, DNA, peptides and live cells6C9. This technology provides significant advantages such as rapidity, reproducibility, precision, high cell viability and density4,5,10. Because it employs a nozzle-free approach, LAB is able to overcome multiple Lobeline hydrochloride issues related to the orifice clogging, non-reproducibility due to solution viscosity and cross-contamination, which are common among other bioprinting techniques. Moreover, as a non-contact technology, LAB has shown promise for computer-assisted medical interventions and tissue engineering applications, where other bioprinting strategies may not work. Indeed, bioprinting is usually reported in the literature for or experiments11,12, or for bioprinting during relatively non-invasive surgical procedures such as skin regeneration13. In contrast, LAB has been used, as a proof of concept, to print particles of nanohydroxyapatite, bioprinting of biological components and mesenchymal stromal cells has been utilized to assess the impact of different geometric cell patterning, obtained by LAB, on bone regeneration patterning in a Lobeline hydrochloride context of bone regeneration. More complex structures like cardiac patches have been designed by Lobeline hydrochloride LAB; however, that process involved two separate steps: creation of the patch followed by implantation16. Combination of bioprinting technologies with stem cell biology has become widespread in regenerative medicine. Among isolated stem cell populations, dental stem cells have many advantages, including their accessibility, capacity for self-renewal, potential for multi-differentiation and possible autologous implantation. Several studies demonstrated regeneration of bone and neural tissue following implantation of dental tissue-derived stem cells17C19. For example, Stem Cells from the Apical Papilla (SCAP) can differentiate into osteogenic, adipogenic, chondrogenic, and neurogenic lineages under inductive conditions bioprinting of dental stem cells is a promising approach in tissue engineering, especially for bone regeneration. bioprinting onto deeper tissues, such as bone, is associated with difficulties in cell pattern imaging and follow-up. However, for the successful application of this technology it is crucial to track printed cells in a noninvasive manner, in order to check the quality of printed patterns immediately after the bioprinting process, to study their persistence and evolution over time, and to provide insight into cellular proliferation and migration dynamics21. To date, no technology has been able to achieve this. Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) is a non-invasive and non-irradiative imaging technique that allows performing longitudinal studies and repetitive scans without harmful effects. It also enables gathering information over the entire depth of a patients or an animals Lobeline hydrochloride body. In order to specifically detect and track bioprinted cells, Cellular MRI can be employed. Gadolinium ions need to be chelated to decrease their cytotoxicity, limiting their internalization by cells22. Mn-based contrast agents are very powerful T1 contrast agents, but their cytotoxicity restrains their use23. Fluorine-based contrast agents are highly specific but, due to a low sensitivity, a high amount of Fluorine atoms have to be present within the cell of interest24. Thus, this type of labeling may be incompatible with some cell types that have low labeling abilities. On the contrary, superparamagnetic particles, mostly based on iron oxides, are efficiently internalized by many cell types. Consequently, this labeling is the most commonly used in Cellular MRI. Among the range of commercially available T2 contrast agents, Micron-sized Iron Oxide Particles (MPIO) contain the highest amount of iron oxide cores, which maximizes the sensitivity of detection of the labeled cells on standard T2 and T2*-weighted MR images. These particles have been used. |
Rock the Vote, but When?
Pat Nixon: Law, Politics and Govt
Skill: Middle School
Time Required: Two to three class periods
In 1971, during Richard Nixon's presidency, the 26th Amendment to the Constitution was ratified, giving the vote to all citizens 18 years of age and older. Since then, at least until 2004, the number of 18-21 year-olds who have actually voted has not been high. What do YOU think the voting age should be?
A Brief History of the Amendments for Voting Timeline of the History of Voting An International Perspective on Voting All About the Youth Vote Civic Learning and Engagement The Youth Vote Counts
This lesson was developed by Averil McClelland, and developed by Bette Brooks, Kent State University. |
ROBOTICS OF SERVICE TO THE AGRiCULTURE AWARD WINNERS “PIONEER IN INNOVATION” IMPLEMENT THEIR IDEA IN PRACTICE
An innovative project idea, awarded within the Climate Smart Urban Development Challenge (CSUD) initiative, began its life in the Srem County, north Serbia.
Until recently, a farmer from Belegish village, Nikola Loncar, used a diesel generator for watering 65,000 seedlings on a 10,000-hectare plot, which means he came two to three times a day to water his crops, which could last up to 10 hours a day. At the annual level, this work was valued at a thousand euros per hectare.
Today, with the help of the Center for Robotics of the Institute “Mihajlo Pupin” from Belgrade, which tests the smart use of natural resources on his agricultural estate, Nikola Loncar remotely controls irrigation through the Android application on his mobile phone.
It is a unique and innovative system of optimal land, water and energy management, which completely replaces the use of fossil fuels with renewable energy sources (solar energy and wind power) and contributes to the reduction of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions.
The core elements of this device are a modern robotized solar generator and a soil moisture sensor, integrated into a climate-smart system for remote management of land and other natural resources. This approach allows the farmer to produce healthier food, because the additives for soil are used only as much as the land needs, or – as the science says. The “Mihajlo Pupin” Institute plans to organize workshops for farmers and entrepreneurs who wish to introduce this innovative system into their agricultural holdings.
The project idea itself was selected as one of the 111 received applications at the CSUD’s Public Call for innovative and climate-smart solutions”, while the Institute “Mihajlo Pupin” is one of the 25 winners of the Call, proclaimed the “Climate Smart Innovation Pioneer”. UNDP implements the CSUD in partnership with the Ministry of Environmental Protection and with the support of the Global Environment Facility (GEF). |
|Area (sq km)
|Population (Census 2001, million)
|Literacy Rate (%)
|GSDP Growth (2000-01 to 2007-08)
|GSDP at current prices in 2007-08
||US$ 1.11 billion|
|Annual Per Capita Income at current prices in 2007-8
|National Highways Length (km)
|Road Length (km)
||Khadi and village industry, handlooms and handicrafts, sericulture, food processing, Bamboo processing, Tourism.|
|Industries with Growth Potential
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The state in the local language is known as the "land of jewels". It is a hill state situated in the eastern-most corner of Northeast India. The state covers an area of 22,327 sq km and shares its borders with other North-eastern states of Nagaland, Mizoram and Assam and international border with Myanmar.
The capital lies in an oval-shaped valley of approximately 2000 sq km surrounded by Blue Mountains and is at an elevation of 790 metres above sea-level.
There are four major rivers in the state, Barak River, Manipur River, Yu River, and the Lanye River. Almost all the rivers in the state are in the mature stage and, therefore, deposit their sediment load in the Loktak Lake.
Physiographically, Manipur may be characterised in two distinct physical regions- an outlaying area of rugged hills and narrow valleys, an inner area of flat plan, with all associated land forms these two area are not only distinct in respect of physical features but are also conspicuous with regard to various flora and fauna.
The natural vegetation occupies an area of about 14,365 km2 which is almost 64% of the total geographical area of the state. The vegetation is of a large variety of different plants ranging from short and tall grasses, reeds and bamboos to trees of various species.
The climate is largely influenced by the topography of the hilly region. Lying 790 meters above sea level, Manipur is wedged between hills on all sides. The state enjoys a generally amiable climate, though the winters can be a little chilly. The temperature in the summer doesn't usually get above 32 degree C and in the winters the temperature often falls below zero, bring snow and frost.
The state is drenched in rains from May until mid-October. It receives an average annual rainfall of 1467.5mm
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|Male Population (million)
|Female Population (million)
|Population growth rate 1991-2001 (%)
|Sex ratio (females per 1,000 males)
|Literacy Rate (%)
|Birth Rate (Per 1,000 persons)
Manipur has a population of 2,388,634 of which 58.9% live in the valley and the remaining 41.1% in the hilly region.
The official languages of the state are Manipuri and English, however there are also over 15 tribal languages spoken throughout the state.The majority of the state follows Hinduism with over 47% being Hindu; Christianity is the second largest religion in the state with 34% of the population being Christian. Islam constitutes 8% of the population and Sikhism and other religions make up the remaining 11%.
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At current prices, the total GSDP of Manipur was about US$ 1.11 billion in 2007-08. This was an average GSDP growth rate of 5.95 per cent from 1999-2000 to 2007-08. The main contributors to the GSDP are the primary and tertiary sectors with a contribution of around 65 per cent of the total GSDP. Within the primary sector, agriculture and allied activities have registered the highest growth during this period.
In 2007-08, the total Net State Domestic Product (NSDP) of Manipur at current prices was about US$ 1.25 billion. The NSDP grew 8.9 per cent over an 8 year period from 1999-2000 to 2007-08.
The tertiary sector, in 2007-08, contributed 56.6 per cent to the state's GSDP at current prices, followed by the primary sector at 35.0 per cent. The primary sectors growth was due to the contribution of agriculture, forestry, and fishing. It recorded a growth of 6.9 per cent between 1999-2000 and 2007-08.
The secondary sector's share in GSDP was 8.3 per cent in 2007-08 vis-à-Vis 7.3 per cent in 1999-2000. This growth is driven by registered and un-registered manufacturing, which registered a growth of 7.6 per cent between 1999- 2000 and 2007-08.
The states per capita GSDP was US$ 541.7 in 2007-08, the per capita GSDP saw an increase at a CAGR of 7.1 percent between 1999-2000 and 2007-08. The state has abundant natural resources that offer potential for the development of the infrastructure and industrial sectors. The Manipur Industrial Development Corporation Limited (MANIDCO) and small industries Development Organisation (SIDO) are responsible for industrial development in the state.
The key industries that have been identified are Khadi and Village industry, Handlooms and Handicrafts, Sericulture, Food processing, Bamboo processing and tourism.
As of December 2008 the outstanding investment in the state was US$ 2.0 billion, the electricity sector accounted for about 87% of the states total outstanding investments.
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The state has three national highways. The highways connect Imphal with Dimapur in the neighbouring state of Nagaland. From Imphal it also runs for another 110 km South East to the international border town of Moreh on the Indo- Myanmar border.
The government of India has a trilateral agreement with Thailand and Myanmar to construct a trans- Asian highway connecting India, through Manipur, to the two countries. The state transport services are provided for by the Manipur State Road Transport Corporation (MSRSTC).
The state of Manipur has a domestic airport at Imphal which is located about 8 km from the heart of the city. There are development plans currently being undertaken to upgrade the airport to an international airport. Developments include a new terminal building and cold-storage facilities.
Dimapur is the only major railway, which links Manipur to the rest of India, which is situated in Nagaland. There is construction underway for a railway line on the Manipur -Assam border connecting Imphal with the rest of India by 2012-14.
In March 2009, Manipur had a total installed power generation capacity of 50.9 MW, all of it controlled by the state. Of the 50.9 MW 45.5MW is thermal and 5.4 MW of renewable energy sources.
There are plans on the table for a joint venture between two key players in the power industry, Satluj Jal Vidyut Nigam Limited (SJVNL) and National Hydroelectric Power Corporation Limited (NHPC), to set up a mega hydro electric power project at Tipaimukh with an investment of US$ 2 billion. The project should, when completed, have six generating units of 250 MW each totalling to 1,500 MW.
In August 2009 the state had 11654 internet and broadband subscribers. Along with that there were 54 telephone exchanges with 48,245 telephone connections. There are also 697 post offices and two telegraph offices serving the population. The main telcom operators in the state are BSNL and Bharti Airtel.
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Two US$ 11 million projects for Imphal have been sanctioned under the Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (JNNURM). The projects have been sanctioned to be completed between 2007-08 and 2009-10 with key development areas being solid waste management and preservation of water bodies. The Manipur government has commissioned for a sewage treatment plant to be built at Lamphlpet the cost of which will be US$ 4.6 Million. Another sewerage infrastructure project costing US$ 29.3 million is being executed at Imphal.
The number of educational institutions in the state has increased over the last 60 years from 538 in 1950-51 to over 4222 in 2004-05. Of which 4,089 are schools, 62 colleges, 69 colleges for professional education and two universities.
The education system is run by the state government who have assigned four sub-entities to look after each level of the educational system. The state literacy level is higher than the all the all India average and stands at 70.5%, female literacy is a concern for the state as it is at a current low of 60.5%, Male literacy levels are at a very healthy 80.3%.
The government have introduced plans to tackle the section of the population that is non-literate. In March 2007 260'000 persons were enrolled on the Total Literacy Campaign (TLC) and 260,000 enrolled on the follow up Post Literacy Programme
The health infrastructure compromises of 13 hospitals, 72 primary health centres, 420 primary health sub-centres, 16 community health centres and 20 dispensaries as of 2008. According to the Ministry of Health and Family welfare economic survey 2008-09 there was 1 hospital per 4,660 of the population, 1,100 beds per persons, the birth rate was 14.6 and death rate 4.5 per thousand persons, infant mortality rate was 11 per thousand live births. There are many health schemes run by the government which are aimed at improving the health infrastructure. Schemes such as: National Malaria Eradication Programme (NMEP), National Leprosy Control Programme (NCLP), National T.B Control Programme (NTCP), Maternal Child health-cum-expanded programme on immunization amongst many others.
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The state is currently going through a development process and industry is a major area of focus for the government. The Nilakuthi food park is planned to be completed by the end of 2010 at Nilakuthi. The park will host 40-50 food processing units for which common facilities will be provided. The integrated Infrastructural Development Project (IID) is a government of India sanctioned project with a total cost of US$ 1.3 million.
Another project with a cost of US$ 3.2 million has been approved by the Government of India to build the export promotion industrial park. There are also plans to build two trade centres in Moreh and Imphal and a Industrial Growth Centre in Chingaren.
Manipur is under going major infrastructural revamp with over US$1.9 million being invested in the refurbishment of the infrastructure sector. The majority of the investment, over 91 percent, has been made in the power sector with focus being on power generation and distribution. Other areas that have attracted investment are railway and air transport sectors.
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More Information on Manipur
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Hebrew University Bible Project
The Hebrew University Bible Project (HUBP) is a project at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem to create the first edition of the Hebrew Bible that reproduces the text of the Aleppo Codex and includes a thorough critical apparatus.
The text reproduced in this edition is the Aleppo Codex; the full masora (large and small) in that manuscript is included, but not massora from other sources. Six levels of footnotes record textual variants from a wide range of sources. These include:
- Translations: the Septuagint, the Vulgate, the Vetus Latina, the Peshitta, the targums and Saadia Gaon's Arabic translation.
- Manuscripts, such as the Dead Sea scrolls and the most important mediaeval copies (particularly the Codex Cairensis and the Leningrad Codex).
- Rabbinic works, including the two Talmuds and various midrashim (many examined for this purpose for the first time).
- Würthwein, Ernst (1995). "Chapter 6: Printed Editions". The Text of the Old Testament: An Introduction to the Biblia Hebraica. Translated by Rhodes, Erroll F. (2nd ed.). William B. Eerdmans. pp. 43–44. ISBN 0-8028-0788-7.
- Tov, Emanuel (1992). "Critical Editions". Textual criticism of the Hebrew Bible (2nd ed.). Fortress Press. pp. 371–378. ISBN 0-8006-2687-7.
- "About". The Hebrew University Bible Project (HUBP). The Hebrew University of Jerusalem. Retrieved 1 January 2017.
- Goshen-Gottstein, Moshe (2004). THE HEBREW UNIVERSITY BIBLE PROJECT- THE BOOK OF EZEKIEL (PDF). Jerusalem: THE HEBREW UNIVERSITY MAGNES PRESS. Retrieved 19 April 2017. |
The thyroid gland is part of the endocrine system, which is responsible for producing hormones and releasing them into the body. Hormones are chemical signals that can have an affect on cell growth, development and energy metabolism. The thyroid produces the so-called thyroid hormones, which are responsible for regulating the metabolic rate of the body. It is possible for the thyroid gland to be overactive (hyperthyroidism) or underactive (hypothyroidism) in producing these hormones; both types of imbalance can cause disease symptoms.
Hypothyroidism is most often caused by autoimmune inflammation of the thyroid gland, called Hashimoto’s thyroiditis or Hashimoto’s disease, but it can also be caused by certain drugs, radiation treatments for cancer, overtreatment of hyperthyroidism, thyroid surgery, viral infections of the thyroid gland, birth defects and as a complication of pregnancy. Hashimoto’s disease causes chronic inflammation of the thyroid gland because the immune system mistakenly attacks it. Hypothyroidism is more common in women than in men, and individuals who are over the age of 50 years are generally more likely to develop the condition.
Hypothyroidism may be completely without symptoms in the early stages of the condition. The symptoms of hypothyroidism may take years to become noticeable, so people who are experiencing symptoms may not know that something is wrong for a long time. The more severe the deficiency of thyroid hormone, the more severe the potential symptoms of hypothyroidism. Hypothyroidism may present with certain symptoms in the early stages of the condition. Some of these common symptoms include fatigue, constipation, depression, pale skin, dry skin, muscle pain, joint pain, muscle weakness, unexplained weight gain, increased cold sensitivity, heavier flow in menstrual periods in women and hair thinning.
If a person with hypothyroidism leaves their condition untreated, these symptoms may become more pronounced and numerous over time, and new symptoms may also appear. Hypothyroidism can cause an impairment in the sense of smell and taste, swelling or puffiness in the hands, feet and face, a hoarse voice, slower speech and thickened skin. Hypothyroidism can also cause the heart to become abnormally enlarged, and this may show up on a chest X-ray.
A person with hypothyroidism may have a thyroid gland that is shrunken, normal or enlarged, so the size of the thyroid gland is not enough for a diagnosis. Hashimoto’s thyroiditis tends to cause swelling of the thyroid gland, which is called goiter when the lump in the neck is visible, but as the disease progresses the thyroid may shrink to a below-normal size. Blood tests can determine how much thyroid hormone is being produced, and if there is a deficiency in thyroid hormones, the doctor can then begin treatment for the condition.
Hypothyroidism is easily treated by replacing the missing thyroid hormones in the body. The treatment is simple and non-invasive, but in almost all cases of hypothyroidism, it is required to continue treatment for a person’s entire life in order to control the symptoms of hypothyroidism. The only exception to this is in the rare case of a viral infection that causes temporary thyroid inflammation, as opposed to chronic thyroid inflammation like Hashimoto’s thyroiditis, which is much more common.
Hormone replacement therapy for hypothyroidism just involves taking synthetic thyroid hormones orally. Blood tests for hormone levels are required in order to perfect the dosage and monitor the treatment. Symptoms of hypothyroidism can be controlled, as long as the proper hormone levels are maintained. In the rare case that thyroid hormone levels become dangerously low, intravenous medications may be required to get them back up; this situation is called myxedema coma, and it is a life-threatening emergency. Hypothyroidism is not a preventable condition, but it is important to seek medical attention as early as possible if you are exhibiting any unexplained symptoms. |
While juice is generally rich in vitamins, many juice drinks contain added sugar and provide few, if any health benefits. In fact, getting too much added sugar in your diet can lead to unwanted weight gain, obesity, and obesity-related health conditions. Therefore, it's best to limit or avoid certain juice drinks.
Fruit Punch and Cranberry Juice Drink Blends
Unless the fruit punch or cranberry juice blend you're drinking specially states it's 100 percent fruit juice on the label, chances are it's high in added sugar. Many juice drink blends list some form of sugar as the second ingredient, after water, on the food label -- and many of these drinks contain little, if any, fruit juice. The American Diabetes Association urges people with diabetes to avoid fruit punch and other sugary drinks because of the extra calories in these drinks, and blood sugar spikes that can occur after drinking them. However, there are some fruit punch and cranberry juice blends that contain 100 percent fruit juice, so read the food label carefully and make sure that sugar (or high-fructose corn syrup) isn't listed in the ingredient list.
Lemonade and Kool-Aid
Lemonade and Kool-Aid are often loaded with sugar, and can cause blood sugar spikes and unwanted weight gain. The U.S. Department of Agriculture's National Nutrient Database for Standard Reference notes that 1 cup, or 8 fluid ounces, of lemonade contains about 25 grams of sugar. Similarly, Kool-Aid drinks are simply water mixed with sugar, preservatives, and artificial flavor. Lemonade and Kool-Aid drinks contain little or no fruit juice. While these drinks do provide calories and energy, they don't keep you feeling full very long and can put you at risk for overweight and obesity, according to a review published in 2006 in The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition.
Diet Juice Drinks
While diet juice drinks often contain few or no calories, they aren't necessarily better for you than sugary juice drinks. Diet juice drinks contain artificial sweeteners, which are often much sweeter than sugar but don't provide calories. Harvard School of Public Health notes that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved the following five artificial sweeteners to be added to foods and beverages (you may notice these on food label ingredient lists): aspartame, neotame, acesulfame-K, saccharine and sucralose.
A review published in 2013 in Trends in Endocrinology & Metabolism reports that consuming artificial sweeteners is associated with an increased risk for weight gain, obesity, a higher body fat percentage, and type 2 diabetes -- and that higher artificial sweetener use may be associated with high blood pressure and heart disease.
Authors of this review suggest that artificial sweeteners could be responsible for these adverse health outcomes because they alter your brain's response to sweet tastes, and don't stimulate insulin release in your body like foods and drinks that contain calories. Another review published in 2010 in the Yale Journal of Biology and Medicine reports that because artificial sweeteners taste sweet, they can lead to sugar cravings and sugar addiction.
An experienced health, nutrition and fitness writer, Erin Coleman is a registered and licensed dietitian and holds a dietetics degree from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. She also has worked as a clinical dietitian and health educator in outpatient settings. Erin's work is published on popular health websites, such as TheNest.com and J |
A team of research scientists from Britain's Institute of Food Research have published the results of their work in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition to explain how metabolic modifications brought about by consumption of high-glucoraphanin broccoli may be behind the suggested health benefits and cancer-fighting ability of the cruciferous vegetable family. Scientists noted that this study provides the first evidence from human studies for a possible mechanism behind the suggested ability of glucosinolates, including glucoraphanin found in broccoli, to reduce the risks of chronic diseases and cancers.
Broccoli and crucifer compounds rejuvenate critical mitochondrial function to prevent chronic illnessesResearchers fed a special cultivar of broccoli, a combination of wild and commercially available broccoli that contains high levels of glucoraphanin, to nineteen volunteers each week for three months. They compared the first group to two other groups eating the same diet, except one consumed commercially availablebroccoli and the third ate none of the crucifer. The team observed that those eating the glucoraphanin-rich vegetable showed signs of an improved metabolism.
The scientists determined that a compound commonly found in crucifers, known as sulforaphane, improved the chemical reactions inside mitochondria, the power source for our cellular machinery. The study found that glucoraphanin helped 'retune' metabolic processes in the cells that get disrupted as we age. Lead author, Dr. Richard Mithen commented, "We think this provides some evidence as to why people who eat diets rich in broccoli may keep in good health... mitochondria are really, really important, and when they start to go wrong it leads to many of the diseases of aging."
The nutritionists performing the study recommend eating broccoli two to three times a week. Other health-promoting members of the cruciferous vegetable family include Brussels sprouts, kale and cauliflower. Dr. Mithen concluded "We think it is significant because it shows in humans a measurable effect on our metabolism, which is central to our overall health and could explain the diverse range of beneficial effects many observational dietary studies have shown previously." It is important to note that while this study used a specially concentrated type of broccoli to produce the stated results, consumption of commercially available broccoli and crucifers have been shown to exhibit similar anti-cancer properties when eaten over a longer period of time.
Learn more: http://www.naturalnews.com/041505_broccoli_cancer_prevention_crucifer_compounds.html#ixzz2bDtUY9iy |
AS DENGUE fever struck Buenos Aires in Argentina for the first time this week, there is renewed hope that a drug to treat the 100 million people infected worldwide each year may one day be possible.
Mariano Garcia-Blanco of Duke University Medical Center in Durham, North Carolina, and colleagues used RNA interference technology to "knock down" the activity of a gene in a fruit fly cell before exposing it to the dengue virus to assess the impact of this gene on infection. By repeating the experiment on each of the fruit fly's 14,000 genes, they identified more than 100 genes necessary for infection to occur (Nature, DOI: 10.1038/nature07967).
Further testing found that inhibiting 42 of the equivalent human genes stopped dengue fever from infecting human cells, suggesting targets for drug treatment. The team also identified a gene necessary for dengue fever to infect its host, the ...
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Edgar Douglas Adrian, 1st Baron Adrian OM President of the Royal Society (Hampstead, London, 30 November 1889 – Cambridge, Cambridgeshire 4 August 1977 ) was a British electrophysiologist and recipient of the 1932 Nobel Prize for Physiology, won jointly with Sir Charles Sherrington for work on the function of neurons.
Early life Edit
Son of Alfred Douglas Adrian CB MC, legal adviser to the British Local Government Board, he attended Westminster School and studied Natural Sciences at Trinity College, Cambridge, remaining in Cambridge for the major part of his life.
Completing a medical degree in 1915, he did clinical work at St Bartholomew's Hospital London during World War I, treating soldiers with nerve damage and nervous disorders such as shell shock. Adrian returned to Cambridge in 1919 and in 1925 began his studies of nerve impulses in the human sensory organs.
- Anne Pinsent Adrian, who married the physiologist Richard Keynes
- Richard Hume Adrian, 2nd Baron Adrian (1927-1995)
- Jennet Adrian (1927-?), who married Peter Watson Campbell .
Continuing earlier studies of Keith Lucas, he used a capillary electrometer and cathode ray tube to amplify the signals produced by the nervous system and was able to record the electrical discharge of single nerve fibres under physical stimulus. An accidental discovery by Adrian in 1928 proved the presence of electricity within nerve cells. Adrian said,
- "I had arranged electrodes on the optic nerve of a toad in connection with some experiments on the retina. The room was nearly dark and I was puzzled to hear repeated noises in the loudspeaker attached to the amplifier, noises indicating that a great deal of impulse activity was going on. It was not until I compared the noises with my own movements around the room that I realized I was in the field of vision of the toad's eye and that it was signaling what I was doing."
A key result, published in 1928, stated that the excitation of the skin under constant stimulus is initially strong but gradually decreases over time, whereas the sensory impulses passing along the nerves from the point of contact are constant in strength, yet are reduced in frequency over time, and the sensation in the brain diminishes as a result.
Extending these results to the study of pain causes by the stimulus of the nervous system, he made discoveries about the reception of such signals in the brain and spatial distribution of the sensory areas of the cerebral cortex in different animals. These conclusions lead to the idea of a sensory map, called the homunculus, in the somatosensory system.
Later, Adrian used the electroencephalogram to study the electrical activity of the brain in humans. His work on the abnormalities of the Berger rhythm paved the way for subsequent investigation in epilepsy and other cerebral pathologies. He spent the last portion of his research career investigating olfaction.
Among the many awards and positions he received during his career were Foulerton Professor 1929-1937; Professor of Physiology at the University of Cambridge 1937-1951; President of the Royal Society 1950-1955; Master of Trinity College, Cambridge 1951-1965; Chancellor of the University of Cambridge 1967-1975. In 1942 he was awarded the Order of Merit, and in 1955 was created Baron Adrian, of Cambridge in the County of Cambridge.
- The Basis of Sensation (1928)
- The Mechanism of Nervous Action (1932)
- Factors Determining Human Behavior (1937)
- The Master of Trinity at Trinity College, Cambridge
- Nobel Lectures, Physiology or Medicine 1922-1941, Elsevier Publishing Company, Amsterdam, 1965.
Johannes Fibiger (1926) • Julius Wagner-Jauregg (1927) • Charles Nicolle (1928) • Christiaan Eijkman / Frederick Hopkins (1929) • Karl Landsteiner (1930) • Otto Warburg (1931) • Charles Sherrington / Edgar Adrian (1932) • Thomas Morgan (1933) • George Whipple / George Minot / William Murphy (1934) • Hans Spemann (1935) • Henry Dale / Otto Loewi (1936) • Albert Szent-Györgyi (1937) • Corneille Heymans (1938) • Gerhard Domagk (1939) • Henrik Dam / Edward Doisy (1943) • Joseph Erlanger / Herbert Gasser (1944) • Alexander Fleming / Ernst Chain / Howard Florey (1945) • Hermann Muller (1946) • Carl Cori / Gerty Cori / Bernardo Houssay (1947) • Paul Müller (1948) • Walter Hess / Egas Moniz (1949) • Edward Kendall / Tadeusz Reichstein / Philip Hench (1950)
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Tengrism has historically been the predominant religion among the peoples of Central Asia, including the Turks, Mongols, Xiongnu, Bulgars and Huns. Tengrism combines animism with shamanism and the cult of ancestors, and it worships Tengri, a supreme power which is associated with the sky. Tengri is the force behind nature which determines everything from the weather to the fate of individuals and nations. Tengri, say Tengrists, is the unknowable One who knows everything and who judges people’s actions as good or bad and rewards them accordingly.
Altan Tobchi, “The Golden Summary of the Principles of Statecraft as Established by the Ancient Khans,” is a seventeenth-century Mongolian chronicle. Genghis Khan says in the Altan Tobchi: “I have not become Lord thanks to my own bravery and strength, I have become Lord thanks to the love of our mighty father Tengri. I have defeated my enemies thanks to the assistance of our father Tengri. I have not become Khan thanks to my own all-embracing prowess. I have become Lord thanks to the love of our father Khan Tengri. I have defeated alien enemies thanks to the mercy of our father Khan Tengri.”
Tengrists believe in spirits too. There are spirits of trees, mountains, planets and ancestors, and they are either evil, benevolent, or of mixed temperament. Chosen mediums, or shamans, can contact the spirits and convince them to intercede on our behalf or to reveal the future for us. Some shamans have powers that resemble those of spirits, like the power of prophecy or the ability to cast spells. Genghis Khan was a Tengrist, and so were all Mongol rulers until the early fourteenth-century when some, such as Özbeg Khan in the Golden Horde, converted to Islam. To this day it is common for Mongolians to refer to their country as Munkh khukh tengri, the land of the “eternal blue sky.” This is not a weather report as much as a hope concerning divine protection.
There has been a revival of Tengrism in Central Asia since the fall of the Soviet Union. Or rather, some academics and politicians have sought to promote Tengrism as an indigenous alternative to foreign religions such as Christianity and Islam. Neo-Tengrists are particularly active in Kyrgyzstan where a scientific center for Tengrist studies has been set up in the capital Bishkek and observers argue that 60 percent of the rural population follow some Tengrist traditions.
Vague in its moral precepts, Tengrism mixes easily with other religions, including Christianity and Islam. “Tengrism, first of all, is not a religion,” says Dastan Sarygulov, a leader of the Tengrist movement in Kyrgyzstan, but calls it instead a “world view” and a “life style.” More than anything, however, Tengrism is a political program designed to provide a sense of community for the newly independent Kyrgyz state as well as a bond of solidarity between the various peoples of the steppes. Tengrist references connect to an imaginary world of nomadism, gers, cattle breeding and close contact with nature, which is radically different from the imaginary worlds both of the Soviet era and of the contemporary West.
In 2011 a proponent of Tengrism, Kubanychbek Tezekbaev, was put on trial in Kyrgyzstan for inciting religious and ethnic hatred because of statements he made in an interview describing Muslim mullahs as ”former alcoholics and murderers.” Tezekbaev is an outspoken critic of what he sees as the growing influence of fundamentalist Islam in his country, especially among young people, calling it a danger to the nation’s future. Tezekbaev has spoken out against the use of Islamic head scarfs among women and urged young men not to grow long beards. He calls himself a half-Muslim. “I don’t fully follow Islam, I just partially follow some Muslim rituals. I am a pure Kyrgyz.” |
The art of delegation is most commonly associated with assigning tasks effectively. Still, it is more than that. The art of delegation involves managing workload, understanding the strengths and weaknesses of each team member, developing trust, and fostering their potential. Delegation is not just about assigning tasks to others, but it is also about building relationships and empowering the team. It also helps in achieving a better work-life balance for everyone, which further contributes to business management.
In today’s fast-paced business world, managers must learn how to effectively delegate tasks and responsibilities to meet the company’s objectives. With the rise of remote work and the ever-evolving workforce, delegation has become essential. Here are some tips for effective delegation:
1. Know your team’s strengths and weaknesses: Understanding each team member’s strengths, skills, and even limitations enables managers to assign tasks accordingly, improving their work efficiency and job satisfaction.
2. Clearly define the tasks: Clear communication is essential when it comes to delegation. Managers must provide their team with clear instructions on what they expect them to do and how to complete the task.
3. Set achievable goals: It’s important to set achievable goals that will provide motivation. Goals that are impossible to achieve might discourage team members, which further leads to the deterioration in work quality.
4. Offer support and guidance: Managers must offer support and guidance to their team members, helping them overcome obstacles and hurdles along the way.
5. Trust your team: Trust is the foundation of delegation. When managers trust their team members to complete tasks, it inspires the team to work harder and ensures better results.
The art of delegation is essential for good business management. It empowers the team to work together and reach their full potential. Managers who master delegation can prioritize their own time, making it easier to focus on the big picture and achieve business goals. By trusting their team and understanding their strengths and weaknesses, managers can foster an environment of collaboration and support for the team that leads to a healthy workplace culture. The art of delegation is certainly something managers must master to be successful in business management. |
As cities across the United States face increasing drought and water management problems, some corporations and elected officials are pushing an expensive, energy-intensive technology called ocean water desalination. This reverse osmosis program separates the salt from seawater, in order to create fresh water for people and agriculture. It might sound like a good idea, but desalination’s cons far outweigh its potential benefits.
Extensive research by Food & Water Watch has found:
Desalination technology can kill marine life
What happens to all the salt and chemicals removed from seawater during desalination? It’s dumped, in its highly concentrated form, right back into the ocean. This dangerous solution of sodium and industrials endangers fish and other sea life.
Desalination creates carbon emissions and contributes to climate change
While desalination is supposed to improve water shortages, its emissions could actually hasten the climate change that will alter precipitation patterns and further strain existing water supplies. The greenhouse gas pollution from industrial seawater desalination plants dwarfs emissions from other water supply options, such as conservation and reuse.
Desalination can fail to remove harmful chemicals from your drinking water
Desalinated water is not safer water. The portion of desalinated water that reaches consumers contains unregulated chemicals not present in normal drinking water, which endanger the public health. These contaminants include chemicals such as pharmaceuticals, personal care products, and toxins from marine algae.
Desalination projects invite corporate abuse of your public water systems
The push for ocean desalination is led by private corporations, which plan to sell desalted ocean water to the public at a premium. This private ownership allows the people who control our vital resources to put their bottom line before the public interest. Private companies do not conduct the same rigorous, public review of social and environmental impacts as government agencies and are not sensitive to the social and environmental injustice that the public sector must address.
Ocean water desalination harms marine ecosystems, promotes unsound coastal zone management, wastes energy, and impacts human health.
We shouldn’t use desalination as a quick fix to our water shortage problems. Conservation and recycling programs may be a much less expensive and less risky alternative to building desalination plants. Read our report, Desalination: An Ocean of Problems to learn more about this risky business and its impacts on our health and safety. |
Tube Feeding (caloric intake)
My 4 month old daughter is fed through a g-tube that is controlled by a feeding pump. How do I calculate her formula increase as she gains weight? She is currently between 8.5 and 9 pounds and is 20 inches long.
For a child under age 2, there are a lot of considerations taken into account when changing a tube fed formula or increasing a feeding rate. A registered dietitian or pediatric gastroenterologist would be the best person to actually make the recommendation of a rate change. They would take into consideration presence of GERDS (too high a rate can potentially increase reflux), child’s rate of current growth, child’s placement on the growth curve, catch up growth needed, and formula specific information such as is the formula at full strength, is it calorically still appropriate, is it well tolerated at the current rate, would the child be getting adequate water if the rate was increased, etc. We realize a parent is anxious to continue to see weight gain but for the best result please discuss your concern and ask for a recommendation from one of the health professionals mentioned above.
Legal Disclaimer: Please take note that the CdLS Foundation’s Ask the Expert service is comprised of volunteer professionals in various areas of focus. Response times may vary and a response is not guaranteed. Answers are not considered a medical, behavioral, or educational consultation. Ask the Expert is not a substitute for the care and attention your child’s personal physician, psychologist, educational consultant, or social worker can deliver. |
A duodenal ulcer is usually caused by an infection with a germ (bacterium) called Helicobacter pylori (H. pylori). A 4- to 8-week course of acid-suppressing medication will allow the ulcer to heal. In addition, a one-week course of two antibiotics plus an acid-suppressing medicine will usually clear the H. pylori infection. This usually prevents the ulcer from coming back. Anti-inflammatory medicines used to treat conditions such as arthritis sometimes cause duodenal ulcers. If you need to continue with the anti-inflammatory medicine then you may need to take long-term acid-suppressing medication.
Understanding your gut and digestion
Food passes down the gullet (oesophagus) into the stomach. The stomach makes acid which is not essential, but helps to digest food. After being mixed in the stomach, food passes into the first part of the small intestine (the duodenum). In the duodenum and the rest of the small intestine, food mixes with chemicals called enzymes. The enzymes come from the pancreas and from cells lining the intestine. The enzymes break down (digest) the food which is taken up (absorbed) into the body.
Some terms explained
- Peptic inflammation is inflammation caused by stomach acid. Inflammation may be in the stomach; in the first part of the small intestine (the duodenum), as acid flows in with food; or in the lower gullet (oesophagus), if acid splashes up to cause reflux oesophagitis.
- A peptic ulcer is an ulcer caused by stomach acid. An ulcer occurs where the lining of the gut is damaged and the underlying tissue is exposed. If you could see inside your gut, an ulcer looks like a small, red crater on the inside lining of the gut.
- The duodenum is the most common site for a peptic ulcer. This leaflet deals only with duodenal ulcers.
What causes duodenal ulcers?
Your stomach normally produces acid to help with the digestion of food and to kill germs (bacteria). This acid is corrosive so some cells on the inside lining of the stomach and the first part of the small intestine (the duodenum) produce a natural mucous barrier. This protects the lining of the stomach and duodenum. There is normally a balance between the amount of acid that you make and the mucous defence barrier. An ulcer may develop if there is an alteration in this balance, allowing the acid to damage the lining of the stomach or duodenum. Causes of this include the following:
Infection with Helicobacter pylori (H. pylori)
Infection with H. pylori is the cause in about 19 in 20 cases of duodenal ulcer. More than a quarter of people in the UK become infected with H. pylori at some stage in their lives. Once you are infected, unless treated, the infection usually stays for the rest of your life. In many people it causes no problems and a number of these bacteria just live harmlessly in the lining of the stomach and duodenum. However, in some people this bacterium causes an inflammation in the lining of the stomach or duodenum. This causes the defence mucous barrier to be disrupted (and in some cases the amount of acid to be increased) which allows the acid to cause inflammation and ulcers.
Anti-inflammatory medicines - including aspirin
Anti-inflammatory medicines are sometimes called non-steroidal anti inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs). There are various types and brands. For example, aspirin, ibuprofen, diclofenac, etc. Many people take an anti-inflammatory medicine for arthritis, muscular pains, etc. Aspirin is also used by many people to protect against blood clots forming. However, these medicines sometimes affect the mucous barrier of the duodenum and allow acid to cause an ulcer. About 1 in 20 duodenal ulcers are caused by anti-inflammatory medicines.
Other causes and factors
Other causes are rare. For example, the Zollinger-Ellison syndrome. In this rare condition, much more acid than usual is made by the stomach. Other factors such as smoking, stress, and drinking heavily may possibly increase the risk of having a duodenal ulcer. However, these are not usually the underlying cause of duodenal ulcers.
What are the symptoms of a duodenal ulcer?
- Pain in the upper tummy (abdomen) just below the breastbone (sternum) is the common symptom. It usually comes and goes. It may occur most before meals, or when you are hungry. It may be eased if you eat food, or take antacid tablets. The pain may wake you from sleep.
- Other symptoms which may occur include bloating, retching, and feeling sick. You may feel particularly full after a meal. Sometimes food makes the pain worse.
- Complications occur in some cases, and can be serious. These include:
- Bleeding ulcer. This can range from a trickle to a life-threatening bleed.
- Perforation. This is where the ulcer goes right through (perforates) the wall of the first part of the small intestine (duodenum). Food and acid in the duodenum then leak into the abdominal cavity. This usually causes severe pain and is a medical emergency.
What tests may be done?
- Gastroscopy (endoscopy) is the test that can confirm a duodenal ulcer. In this test a doctor or nurse looks inside your stomach and the first part of your small intestine (duodenum). They do this by passing a thin, flexible telescope down your gullet (oesophagus). They can see any inflammation or ulcers.
- A test to detect the H. pylori germ (bacterium) is usually done if you have a duodenal ulcer. If H. pylori is found then it is likely to be the cause of the ulcer. Briefly, it can be detected in a sample of stools (faeces), or in a breath test, or from a blood test, or from a biopsy sample taken during an endoscopy. See separate leaflet called Helicobacter Pylori and Stomach Pain for more details.
What are the treatments for a duodenal ulcer?
A 4- to 8-week course of a medicine that greatly reduces the amount of acid your stomach makes is usually advised. The most commonly used medicine is a proton pump inhibitor (PPI). These are a group (class) of medicines that work on the cells that line the stomach, reducing the production of acid. They include esomeprazole, lansoprazole, omeprazole, pantoprazole and rabeprazole, and come in various brand names. Sometimes another class of medicines called H2 blockers is used. They are also called histamine H2-receptor antagonists but are commonly called H2 blockers. H2 blockers work in a different way on the cells that line the stomach, reducing the production of acid. They include cimetidine, famotidine, nizatidine and ranitidine, and come in various brand names. As the amount of acid is greatly reduced, the ulcer usually heals. However, this is not the end of the story.
If your ulcer was caused by H. pylori
Nearly all duodenal ulcers are caused by infection with H. pylori. Therefore, a main part of the treatment is to clear this infection. If this infection is not cleared, the ulcer is likely to return once you stop taking acid-suppressing medication. Two antibiotics are needed. In addition, you need to take an acid-suppressing medicine to reduce the acid in the stomach. This is needed to allow the antibiotics to work well. You need to take this combination therapy (sometimes called triple therapy) for a week.
One course of combination therapy clears H. pylori infection in up to 9 in 10 cases. If H. pylori is cleared, the chance of a duodenal ulcer returning is greatly reduced. However, in a small number of people, H. pylori infection returns at some stage in the future.
After treatment, a test to check that H. pylori has gone may be advised. If it is done, it needs to be done at least four weeks after the course of combination therapy has finished. In most cases, the test is negative meaning that the infection has gone. If it has not gone then a repeat course of combination therapy with a different set of antibiotics may be advised. Some doctors say that for people with a duodenal ulcer, this confirmation test is not necessary if symptoms have gone. The fact that symptoms have gone usually indicates that the ulcer and the cause (H. pylori) have gone. But, some doctors say it is needed to play safe. Your own doctor will advise if you should have it. (Note: a test to confirm that H. pylori has gone is usually always recommended if you have a stomach ulcer.)
If your ulcer was caused by an anti-inflammatory medicine
If possible, you should stop the anti-inflammatory medicine. This allows the ulcer to heal. You will also normally be prescribed an acid-suppressing medicine for several weeks (as mentioned above). This stops the stomach from making acid and allows the ulcer to heal.
However, in many cases the anti-inflammatory medicine is needed to ease symptoms of arthritis or other painful conditions, or aspirin is needed to protect against blood clots. In these situations, one option is to take an acid-suppressing medicine each day indefinitely. This reduces the amount of acid made by the stomach, and greatly reduces the chance of an ulcer forming again.
In the past, surgery was commonly needed to treat a duodenal ulcer. This was before it was discovered that H. pylori was the cause of most duodenal ulcers, and before modern acid-suppressing medicines became available. Surgery is now usually only needed if a complication of a duodenal ulcer develops such as severe bleeding or a hole (perforation).
Dr Tim Kenny
Dr Roger Henderson
Prof Cathy Jackson |
Monday, February 25, 2013
Guest Author - Charlene Raddon
My special guest today is Western Historical Romance Author Charlene Raddon. Please read her very interesting post about the history of handbags! One lucky commenter will win a ebook copy of her book To Have and to Hold and a $5 Amazon gift card! Please be sure to leave your contact email in your comment!
THE BEGINNINGS OF HANDBAGS
Purses, pouches, or bags have been used since humans first found a need to carry precious items with them. Egyptian hieroglyphs show men wearing purses around the waist, and the Bible specifically identifies Judas Iscariot as a purse carrier.
During the 14th and 15th centuries, bags were attached to the most vital feature of medieval garb: the girdle, along with rosaries, Book of Hours, pomanders (scented oranges), chatelaines (a clasp or chain to suspend keys, etc.), even daggers. Women favored ornate drawstring purses known as “hamondeys” or “tasques”. Men used purses known as “chaneries” for gaming or for holding food for falcons.
During the Elizabethan era, women’s skirts expanded to enormous proportions and small medieval girdle purses became lost among huge amounts of fabric. Rather than wear girdle pouches outside on a belt, women chose to wear them under their skirts. Men wore leather pockets (called “bagges”) inside their breeches. Large satchel-like leather or cloth bags were sometimes worn by peasants or travelers, diagonally across the body.
In the 16th and 17th centuries the more visible bags were rejected and long embroidered drawstring purses were hidden under skirts and breeches instead, while some people wanted them to be conspicuous, for use as decorative containers for gifts, money, perfume, or jewels. Toward the end of the 17th century, purses became increasingly sophisticated, changing from simple drawstring designs to more complex shapes and materials.
Following the French Revolution, narrow, high-waisted dresses became popular, leaving no room beneath for pockets. Consequently, purses, in the form of “reticules” or “indispensables” as the English called them, came into use, showing that women had become dependent upon handbags. The French parodied the women who carried the delicate bags that resembled previously hidden pockets as “ridicules”.
Victorian era developments in science and industry provided a vast array of styles and fabrics women could coordinate with their outfits. Though pockets returned in the 1840s, women continued to carry purses and spend an enormous amount of time embroidering them to show off for potential husbands, often including the date and their own initials in the designs. Chatelaines attached to the waist belt with a decorated clasp remained popular.
The railroad brought about a revolution in the use of bags. As more people traveled by train professional luggage makers turned the skills of horse travel into those for train travel, and soon the term “handbag” emerged to describe these new hand-held luggage bags. Many of the top names of today's handbags started as luggage makers (whereas, previously made purses and pouches were made by dressmakers). Hermes bags were founded in 1837, a harness and saddle maker. Loius Vuitton was a luggage packer for the Parisian rich. Modern handbag designs still allude to luggage with pockets, fastenings, frames, locks, and keys.
Early in the 20th century handbags became much more than just hand-held luggage. Women could choose from small reticules, Dorothy bags (now called dotty or marriage bags) with matching robes, muffs, and fitted leather bags with attached telescopic opera glasses and folding fans. Working women used larger handbags, such as the Boulevard bag, leather shopping bags, and even briefcases worn around the shoulder.
After WWI, the long constricting layers and rigid corseting women wore disappeared. Perhaps the most important development during this period was the “pochette,” a type of handle-less clutch, often decorated with dazzling geometric and jazz motifs, worn tucked under arms to give an air of nonchalant youth. Rules for color coordination grew lax and novelty bags, such as doll bags (dressed exactly like the wearer), became popular. The discovery of King Tutankhamun’s tomb in 1923 inspired purses reflecting exotic motifs.
Today, purse designs continue to fluctuate, and always will. What sort of purses do you remember using when you were young? In the 1950s I had a pink and white, square plastic purse I loved. I wonder whatever became of it. If I owned that purse now, it would probably be worth a pretty penny.
Charlene first serious writing attempt came in 1980 when she awoke one morning from an unusually vivid and compelling dream. Deciding that dream needed to be made into a book, she dug out an old portable typewriter and went to work. That book never sold, but her second one, Tender Touch, became a Golden Heart finalist and earned her an agent. Soon after, she signed a three book contract with Kensington Books. Five of Charlene's western historical romances were published between 1994 and 1999: Taming Jenna, Tender Touch (1994 Golden Heart Finalist under the title Brianna), Forever Mine (1996 Romantic Times Magazine Reviewer's Choice Award Nominee and Affaire de Coeur Reader/Writer Poll finalist), To Have and To Hold Affaire de Coeur Reader/Writer Poll finalist); and writing as Rachel Summers, The Scent of Roses. Forever Mine and Tender Touch are available as e-books and after January 24, To Have and To Hold will be as well.
When not writing, Charlene loves to travel, crochet, needlepoint, research genealogy, scrapbook, and dye Ukrainian eggs.
You can purchase To Have and to Hold on Amazon. |
Leaving Europe’s forests behind them, they head towards the coasts and islands on the outskirts of the great empires on the banks of Euphrate, Tigris and Nile, found a chain of city-states, unite against the Persians under Alexander, crush Darius, subdue nearly the entire then civilised world and spread their civilisation from the Nile to the Indus: the Greeks – about whose descendants Cavafy sings (In the year 200 B.C.)*:
Alexander’s empire fell apart and the rulers of the rivalling dynasties
became a plaything in the hands of the next superpower looming up from
the periphery, still further westwards: Rome. When also this empire
collapses under the sway of the barbarians, this time pushing from the
north, Greek civilisation resurges in Constantinople, under Christian
augurs. In its turn, this Byzantine Empire is threatened by nomads
united under the banner of Islam, coming form the south, until finally
Turks invade the empire from the east and rename its capital Istanbul in
Of all the cities founded by Alexander, no doubt the most glorious was Alexandria: it harboured not only the lighthouse – one of the seven wonders of the world – but also the legendary library, and: Alexander's tomb! Of all this glory, nothing remains: everything has been destroyed, burned or did just perish. Echoing the fate of Atlantis, the formerly glorious capital of Alexander’s empire has disappeared in the delta of the Nile, a city lost forever.
In one of the scattered remains of Alexander’s Empire, crumbled into a veritable Greek Diaspora, from 1873 to 1933 – the year Hitler founded the thousand-year reign that lasted for some mere twelve years - lived: the poet Cavafy. Of his life nothing more is left than of Alexander’s glory: 154 poems scribbled on leaflets, most of them sent as ‘feuilles volantes’ to a handful of friends, and some unedited poems and sins of his youth, destined to the wastebasket by the poet. In his youth he had to witness how the Egyptians raged against the Greeks: the former conquerors were driven back to the mainland. And, as an old man, he lived to see the Greeks expelled from Turkey: the proud Hellenes, the very people that bestowed onto the non-Greeks the label that never passed into disuse since: barbarians.
So sounds Cavafy’s complaint in ‘The Walls’. It seems as if he lives
through the fate of the once victorious Hellenism in his own life. The
four walls surrounding his person are an echo of the four gates, guarded
by angels, surrounding the world in its four quarters in the youth-poem
Cavafy understands himself as a Hellene. What he considers to be a Hellene is revealed in his comments on the enemies that destroyed Hellenism.
The Romans in the first place. Even though, in Cavafy’s work, they are relegated to the background, it is they who hey pull the strings. Alexander’s heirs, fighting their struggle for power in the foreground, are merely their puppets. The oracle continues to speak in Delphi, but the dies are cast in Rome ('Envoys from Alexandria'). Which does not alter the fact that the power of Rome is merely a military one: the Romans are only out at mere plunder, as in ‘By an Italian Shore’, were the booty is brought on land after the conquest of Corinth. On the cultural level, Hellas continues to predominate. If Cavafy stages Romans at all, then as devotees of the ‘Greek principles’. Up to two times Nero is conjured up. In ‘Footsteps’ he is staged, not as a mighty emperor, but as a somewhat overgrown ephebus:
A far more dangerous enemy was Christendom. When, under Constantine, it is declared the religion of the state, the Greek gods are relegated to the realm of the ghosts in the underworld. The victorious Christos Pantokrator lends the Grecian part of the empire a renewed radiance, the afterglow of which continues to shimmer through the solemn gestures and attire of the Byzantine rite (In Church):
Which does not alter the fact that Cavafy never was ready to stomach the
concomitant dawn of the Gods. Time and again he opens up the old sore.
Not less than twelve poems, six of which belonging to the ekdota, are
dedicated to the emperor Julian Apostata (361 - 363 A.D.), educated as a
Christian but nevertheless trying to restore the glory of the ancient
Merely two of them are about the heathen in Julian the Apostat. In ‘In the suburbs of Antioch’, the Christians describe how Julian has the relics of Saint Babyl removed from the outskirts of the temple of Apollo. Whereupon ‘a great fire’ destroys temple and statue of Apollo alike. With more than a hint of sarcasm Cavafy lets them say ('Understood not’):
The same theme can be heard in ‘Julian seeing indifference’, where he says of Julian’s friends:
To the other inhabitants of Alexander’s bygone empire - Medes and Persians, Arabs and Turks, not to mention the Egyptian civilisation and Islam - Cavafy remained completely indifferent. For him, it is all one mess, swept together into one pile as ‘Asians’. Even though he spent his whole life in Egypt, he was not able to speak Arab and did not waste a single word on the Egyptian civilisation and its treasures. One of his scarce utterances on occasion of the Arab saying ‘Silence is golden and the word is silver’ ('The Word and Silence’) speaks volumes:
And the latter is only lent its full weight against the background of the concluding verse from ‘Distinguishing Marks’, in which Cavafy characterises different cultures:
To Cavafy, those Asian barbarians are only worth mentioning when they conform to the Hellenistic ideal. In ‘Orophernes’, Cavafy says of this son of a king who was sent away to grow up in Ionia and there came to know ‘the fullness of pleasure’ ‘entirely à la grecque’ :
Also in ‘Return form Greece’ Cavafy sneers at the Hellenised kings
whereas they themselves take the view:
In Athens man and the word. Barbarians: no more than speechless animals.
And, given the equation of man with the beautiful but infertile
youngster: sheer animals devoted to mere reproduction…
Cavafy is, if possible, still more reticent about the British. According to Warren en Molegraaf (p. 84) he would have compared the Pax Britannica with the Pax Romana. According to Yourcenar, his cultivation of a Cambridge accent would testify to his Anglophilia. But that certainly does not reflect his real stance. Between 1890 and 1894 he exchanged the British for the Greek nationality. We also know that he devoted himself to the cause of the restitution of the Elgin marbles: the stolen freezes of the Parthenon. We can only surmise that through the Romans, who in ‘By an Italian Shore’ are bringing the booty from Greece ashore, actually the British are hinted at. Also ’June 27, 1906, 2:00 p.m.’ is an explicit reference to the misdeeds of the British – among others the hanging of an innocent young boy. But the evildoers are called ‘Christians’….
Also the British, then: no more than plunderers and murderers. Of sculptures and beautiful boys…
Equally ambivalent as on the Christians is Cavafy’s stance on the Jews. Just like other barbarians he only can bear them when Hellenised, as in the marvellous ‘Alexander Jannaius and Alexandra’. Behind the laudatory tone of this this poem, a nearly concealed irony goes hidden. Not so much because the Jews gained their kingdom from the Hellenistic Seleucids, but above all because, with Cavafy, the Jews - who after all also set down their own enamoured couples of fighters - invariantly are staged as stubbornly scorning every infertile love. Not to be Hellenised in principle. Hence the prominence of the couple in this poem, the only one in which Cavafy brings a heterosexual couple into the limelight. The irony is all the more mordant, because both halves of this couple are named after Alexander….
How Cavafy really thought about the Hellenising of the Jews is made clear in ‘Of the Hebrews’. There he lets a young boy speak:
That the Jews consider themselves to be the people of the book must also
have been a thorn in his flesh. We have seen how Cavafy saw Athens as
the city of ‘man and the word’. If we read ‘man’ as the human par
excellence – the beautiful body of the young man – then two opposite
poles are united that never have been compatible in Judaism. With them,
contempt for infertile love joins contempt for the image – Moses’ taboo
on mimesis. We cannot conceive of something more alien to Hellenism.
And, last but not least, it must fiercely have hurt Cavafy thatthe Jews considered Jerusalem to be the centre of the world, not Alexandria or Constantinople.
We have described how Cavafy, in ‘The Walls’, embodies the fate of triumphant Hellenism. Of course, an opposite movement preceded this embodiment in his personal life.
To begin with, Cavafy’s self-conception, blown up into historical dimensions, is the enlargement of the fate of his family. Cavafy was the youngest son of a merchant on the decline who died early and left his wife and her seven children in an Alexandria where the Greeks were harassed by the ‘Asians’. In such desperate situation, Cavafy leans on the stories of the former wealth of his family, which he tries to reconstruct by speculating at the stock market. But, precisely because that wealth has gone, the fate of his family is magnified into the fate of a civilisation doomed to perish. Thus, the son of a former prosperous merchant becomes the heir of Alexander: the conqueror that once dominated the world.
But also in the historical dimension Cavafy does not revel in the faded glory. Rather is he fascinated by the inexorable decline, above all during the period after the death of Alexander, but also during the period of the Christianising of the ancient world. In de nadir of this decline, where Cavafy finds himself living, would even the most high-spirited soul not lose its thirst for action? No longer are adventurous young men looking forward to glorious deeds. Instead of participating in legendary conquests – or taking over the business of his father – Cavafy has to accept an inglorious job as a clerk in the office of irrigation. As had Kafka in Prague. Through the words of the young man in the wonderful ‘They should have cared’, Cavafy tells us how he experienced this situation:
In whatever position they place me
I will try to be useful to my land. This is my intention.
But if on the other hand they thwart me with their methods -
we know them, the diligent ones – need we talk about it now?
if they do thwart me, I am not to blame.
Zabinas was a heir to the throne, first pushed by Ptolemy VIII and then
murdered with the help of Antioch VIII ‘Grypos’; and Hyrkanos I was the
king and high priest of the Jewish kingdom, a barbarian re against the
Hellenes. Not more then than intriguers squandering Alexander’s legacy.
A fourth one – a striking personality like Alexander – should have been
sent by the Gods. But these, through Zeus, bemoan his immortal horses in
‘The horses of Achilles’: ‘What are you doing down there, among
woebegone humanity, the plaything of fate?’ Fate, curtailing every human
endeavour, is a theme that dominates Cavafy’s poetry. It is spinned out
in the magnificent ‘When the watchmen saw the light’.
But Cavafy’s commentators should have been warned when they hold that ‘the vision of the Ancients on the relation between man and fate’ is at stake here (Yourcenar). Did we not hear from Cavafy’s own mouth that only ‘sluggish Asians’ subdue to ‘blind mute destiny'? Cavafy is not at all concerned with fate as such. In ‘The Trojans’ (p. 14) the spade is called a spade:
And, on a closer look, it also becomes apparent what kind of fall is meant: the dethroning of kings and emperors through their sons or competitors - their ’brothers’. This is the case in ‘The Ides of March’, the two poems dedicated to Nero (‘Footsteps’ and ‘Nero’s Term’), where the crowned heads are trying to escape their fate. Others do not fall blindly into the trap: as in the beautiful pair of poems ‘King Demetrios’ and ‘Manuel Komnenos’. They have their answer ready: they willingly exchange the king’s mantle for the monk’s habit. Thus, via history and fate, we leave the impersonal world behind us and find ourselves back in the personal sphere: from fate, via decline and fall, to parricide. We will develop this theme below. Here, we concentrate on the answer given by those who are not ‘blind and stupid’. In ‘As much as you can’ Cavafy praises a Schopenhauerian distancing from the goings-on. In ‘Satrapy’ it is recommended that man – and especially the poet – should resign the throne. In ‘Dionysos and his Crew’ Cavafy heavily sneers at the artist that regards his success as a mere leg up to a political career. And in the masterly ‘Che fece..; il gran rifiuto’ he has it poignantly:
The underlying formula sounds: he who does not want to be dropped, drops. Or, to phrase it with Anthony in ‘The God forsakes Anthony’:
To bid farewell what leaves you behind…
No work, merely a job. Why, then, children? So, without country, in a world where it only matters to save the skin of one’s teeth: why marry and procreate? One of Cavafy’s brothers became a homosexual and three more declined marriage. Not otherwise did Cavafy fare. In the very midnight of Hellenism reduced to bare survival, he takes up the position of the last of the Alexandrians: as an ephebus amidst the Christian contempt for the flesh. It must have been a thorn in his flesh that in his dearly loved Alexandria, the last refuge of Hellenism, the very kernel of Greek civilisation was belied: the cult of the young boy. Thus, in ‘Days of 1909, 1910, 1911’ he bemoans the fate of an ephebus, squandering his life in a forge:
Far more appealing than an inglorious job in an inglorious world is the share of the beautiful body: glory, such as the one enjoyed by the young man who, in ‘Favour of Alexander Balas’, boasts:
In ‘From the school of the renowned Philosopher’, Cavafy describes
another young man, educated as a philosopher, disillusioned as a
politician and averse to a career in the church, who, for a long ten
years, was endowed with a ‘rarely handsome face’ and ‘delighted in the
divine gift’, only to finally be obliged to devote himself to philosophy
again, and even to return to politics.
Hence: no offspring, but rebirth. As an ephebus!
And also his personal rebirth expands into a world historic perspective. In ‘Hidden Things’ Cavafy hopes:
The heralds of such ‘more perfect society’ amidst the community of
orthodox Christians are the hidden chambers in Alexandria and other
metropolises of the former empire of Alexander, where the sons of all
barbarian nations abandon themselves to Hellenism. Hellenism, after
having survived a first time in Christendom, has, in a second phase, to
be reborn as the community of ephebi, albeit provisionally in the
catacombs of a hostile world: the new Alexandria rising up out of the
ruins of the lost city.
Also this world historic perspective is a magnification of Cavafy’s personal development. Initially, his utopia takes a negative shape in the youth poem ‘Terror’, where the moribund Cavafy aches:
Once the call responded, he wants to awake others in his turn. In ‘Of the Hebrews’ it is said of the same Jewish boy that wanted to become ‘of the holy Hebrews, the son’:
And also in ‘Orophernes’, an Asian Cappacodocian, educated in Ionia, cannot resist the temptations of Apollo:
The community of ephebi turns out to be the sole place where Alexander’s ‘varied action of thoughtful adaptations’ (In the year 200 B.C.) is still at work. Even when the new koinè of beautiful bodies is not for tomorrow. In ‘Myres: Alexandria, A.D. 340’, Cavafy has to conclude with bitterness how the dead body of a beloved member of the community of ephebi is claimed by the Christians:
It testifies to a remarkable misapprehension of Cavafy’s work to bluntly
put that he seeks refuge in the past. For Cavafy, just like for
Heidegger, the past is merely an alibi. His real aim is to establish a
midnight of world history: the inglorious twilight of Hellenism. The
military conquest of Alexander resuscitates as the proselytism of the
NAILED TO THE CROSS OF BEAUTY
In expectance of the advent of the ‘perfect world’, also the community of the ephebi produces its martyrs. We are not alluding to the scorning of homosexuals, but to something far more fundamental.
In fact, it is remarkable that over most of Cavafy’s erotic poems is hovering the spectre of death. In some of them, it is nearly concealed behind sheer absence: the lover is going away (‘Before time changes them’) or does not return (‘The 25th year of his life’). But in other poems the beloved body is dead: they are – following the example of Hellenistic epitaphs - real ‘tombeaus’ for the deceased lover. The titles speak for themselves: ‘The Grave of Eurion’, ‘Tomb of Iases’, ‘In the Month of Athyr’, ‘The Tomb of Lanes’ and the already quoted ‘Myres: Alexandria, A.D. 340’. Still other poems are about the dying body itself: ‘Kleitos’ Illness’ and ‘Cimon, son of Learches’. And behind this looms up the body mutilated in battle: ‘the Funeral of Sarpedon’, ‘An Artisan of Wine-mixing Bowls’. The erotic charge of which is nearly concealed in ‘In a Town of Osroene’ where the wounded Rhemon is laid on a bed: 'through the window which we left wide open/ the moon lighted his handsome body on the bed’; in ‘The bandaged Shoulder’ where the lover licks the wound of his beloved, not to mention the convulsions of the hanged ephebus in ’June 27, 1906, 2:00 p.m.’:
All this involuntarily made me think of the sculptor Parrhasios, who had
a slave martyred in order to realistically portray his suffering in the
This moment in Cavafy’s poetry is left undiscussed. At best, it is recognised as a stylistic attempt to link up with Hellenistic epigrams. It is nevertheless the key to a real understanding of Cavafy’s approach of the body beautiful. It is only because he wants the ephebi to resurrect as an image in the world of art, that Cavafy destines them to death. Sometimes, the image is merely a reminiscence: in ‘Far Off’ or ‘Before Time changes them’, where the separation after the apex of their relation spares them the pain of having to witness how time does change them. In ‘Voices’ it is voices:
But in ‘The Funeral of Sarpedon’ it is the tangible body, laid out by Apollo in person:
Then, the laid out corpse of Sarpedon is brought to Lycia by Hypnos and Thanatos, where sculptors contrive the tomb and the stone. The ritual of laying out is telescoped in ‘The Grave of Eurion’, where the corpse is buried in an artful monument, covered with violets and lilies, and in ‘Beautiful Flowers and white that became him well’:
Or in ‘Desire’:
More durable than laying it out is catching the body beautiful in an image, as in ‘The Tomb of Lanes’, ‘Picture of a 23-year-old Youth’, ‘For Ammonis’, ‘An Artisan of wine-mixing Bowls’, ‘On Painting’, or on a coin in ‘Orophernes’:
But only as flesh transformed into word, as a poem – more precisely: as
an epitaph – does the transient body beautiful partake in eternal life:
‘Tomb of Iases', ‘Cimon, son of Learches’, ‘Caesarion’ and ‘Passage’.
All this has to be understood against the background of the harsh fate that is fallen to mankind – a fate if possible harsher still than to be obliged to live in a declining world where every human endeavour is doomed to failure: that man is mortal and susceptible to ageing and death. Again and again, Cavafy evokes the utter distress of this fate: in ‘Melancholy of Jason’, ‘An old Man’ and above all in ‘The souls of old men’:
Decay and death in a world doomed to fall weigh the more heavy, since
the body first bloomed in Apollonian beauty. And that sheds a new light
on Cavafy’s obsession with the beauty of his young friends: only death
at the apogee of life can save the body from its inexorable decay,
especially when it is laid out in all its magnificence and transformed
into an image.
But Cavafy would not be Cavafy, were he not to remind us of the fact that even images do not last forever. In ‘From the Drawer’ the lover has to content himself with a damaged photograph. And even the word is susceptible to decay: in ‘In the Month of Athyr’ are rendered the nearly readable words of an ancient epitaph carved in stone:
Such silent reproach on the word is inspired by the awareness that
surviving as an image is deceptive. The desire to be transformed in an
image at the apogee of life, is merely the afterglow of the desire to
never die at all, and, consequently: to never have been born - to be
immortal, like the Gods. Such desire resounds loudly in ‘The horses of
Achilles’, where Zeus’ immortal horses, at the sight of Patroclos’
corpse ‘went on shedding their tears/ for the never-ending calamity of
But since we mortals are begotten, death is our inescapable destiny. He who was not so lucky to die in the prime of his life, cannot but survive his own beauty in a decaying body. Many a man tries to escape such fate through begetting a child, so that out of decay new life is born. As opposed to the ‘distressed souls in their worn-out skin’: the radiating infant, in whose eyes many a mortal descries immortality. Only to mention Hölderlin in ‘Hyperions Schicksalslied’:
But Cavafy’s ephebi are not prepared to hand over their beauty to an
infant. They are not willing to become fathers. Suffice it that they
were born from a mother’s womb! No begetters in Cavafy’s world, as
little as in the New Testament. Unbegotten, the ephebi are brought into
the world by their mothers, who cherish the bud until it blooms as an
ephebus. If he dies or falls in battle before reproducing, only his
mother mourns his death – albeit that the loss of their sons saves them
their loss to a strange woman. In ‘Supplication’ a mother ‘prays and
implores’ the return of her son. In ‘June 27, 1906, 2:00 P.M.’ ‘the
mother-martyr rolled on the ground’. In ‘Infidelity’ it is Thetis that
‘tore off her purple garments‘ and ‘kept on tearing off and casting/
upon the ground her bracelets and rings’. No fathers to be seen near the
corpse of their sons. Also that reminds of the death of Christ, mourned
by his mother at the foot of the cross. ‘Father, Father, why hast thou
That should not surprise us. Certainly, at first glance, the fratricidal ephebi seem to dig their own graves: when Patroclos is killed, Cavafy does not blame the Gods. But in other poems the Gods are positively hold responsible for the death of the ephebi – their sons! Zeus stands around watching Patroclos slaying his son (‘The Funeral of Sarpedon’), and so does Apollo when Achilles is killed, although he promised him a long life (‘The horses of Achilles'). In the historical dimension, Herod has his son Aristoboulus killed (‘Aristoboulus’). And the same fate fell on the ‘little caesar’ Caesarion (‘Caesarion'). Behind the struggling ephebi – and by extension behind the ‘Law’ to which Zeus appeals, ‘fate’ that tears apart and malady that slays – looms up the magnified father who has destined his sons to death. Or rather: the primeval father Kronos, who strangles his nearly born sons – Hölderlin's celestial infants – in an effort to prevent them from dethroning him. With him, the device no longer sounds: ‘Bid farewell whoever abandons you’, but, to the bottom: ‘Kill or be killed!'
Conversely, no sons killing their fathers are to be found in Cavafy’s oeuvre; only in ‘Priest at the Serapeum’ do we see a mourning son standing at his father’s grave . But it brims over with dethroned kings – to begin with the symbolic betrayal of the immortal Alexander. We already hinted at Caesar (‘The Ides of Mach’), Nero (‘Footsteps’ and ‘Nero’s Term’) King Demetrios en Manuel Komnenos who had to exchange the king’s mantle for the monk’s habit. But there are also Demaratos (‘A Byzantine Noble in Exile writing verses), and so many others.
Would they not have fared better, had they killed their sons well in advance? But smarter still than Kronos is the ephebus: the grown up son that escapes his impending dethroning by altogether resigning from becoming a father and ascending the throne! Rather than murdered or dethroned, he wants to be loved! For his sole beauty's sake!
And who else would love him more than his mirror image? In how many poems are the lovers not peers? This is often explicitly mentioned in the title: ‘Two young men 23 to 24’ and ‘Picture of a 23-year-old youth painted by his friend of the same age, an amateur’. In ‘According to ancient Formula’s of Grecosyrian magi ‘, the lover wants to discover the magic potion that ‘for a day… or even for an hour,/ can evoke me my twenty-three years;/ can evoke again for me my friend when he was twenty-two – his beauty, his love?’ In ‘Cimon, son of Learches’ the lovers not only are peers, but, better still: ‘We grew up together, as close as two brothers’. And in ‘The Mirror in the Hall’ the affinity implodes to identity:
What does so inexorably propel the ephebus to his mirror image? The
veils around this secret begin to fall when it dawns on us that,
precisely through resigning from becoming father and king – by evading
womb and throne – the ephebus has become more vulnerable than ever. Is
there anything more transient than the very beauty that was meant to
protect him from his ‘fate’? Inexorably, the beauty of the ageing
ephebus will be eclipsed by the coming of age of a another young man.
Albeit it not his son, but just a boy, begotten by a strange father in a
strange womb. And to escape even from this danger, there is only one way
out: to beget yourself in the womb of your own mother - being reborn by
being your own father. Even when you would then recoil in horror from
your mother’s womb and your role as a father. And even when an old soul
would then still remain in a worn-out skin. What would it badly like to
shake off such skin and move into that newborn body!
No solace, hence, in the sublunar world!
THE REALM OF ART
But let us read again the following verses from ‘The Funeral of Sarpedon’:
Does not such intention of the guilty Zeus seem to be the prologue to Cavafy’s triumph in ‘Very seldom’’:
Only the poet that saves the beautiful but deceased bodies in the image still ‘has his share of youth’. A double share even. On the one hand, the young men speak his words – his ghost lays off its worn-out skin and is reborn in a fresh body. And in this new body it conjures up the image of the beloved ephebus, saved from decay through his poetry. That very image ignites passion in the inhabited body, so that, in ‘Despair’ it seeks
Eventually, also the image resurrected from the death finds a new body.
Together, the poet and his creation stay forever young in ever new young
Thus is founded and perpetuated the risen Alexandria. Without detour around the incestuous womb – which at the same time would degrade to fatherhood – the divine couple hops from young body to young body. The deceased body of the beloved one and the dying body of the poet that survived it, are merely a catalyst in the whole process. No generations here, no sons and fathers, let alone men and women: only clones with words as DNA.
The formula has proven itself ever since Plato. It suffices to read the chapter ‘An Alexandria about an Alexandrian’in Warren and Molegraaf’s book ‘I went to the secret chambers’ to realise how this is done in concreto.
JERUSALEM OR ALEXANDRIA
Even when already in Plato’s time the soul longed for its release from the prison of the body, Cavafy’s resurrection of the body in the image cannot but reminds us of Christ in the first place. Of Jesus, the beautiful young man that had to die nearly thirty three years old. Of Jesus ascending to heaven with body and soul alike, leaving his mother behind in tears. Of Jesus, that will implement the resurrection of the flesh in the end of times.
But only unwillingly did Cavafy owe something to a Christendom that despised the Hellenistic values. A pity that with Plato – or rather with Diotima – the cult of the body is merely a phase in the ascendance towards the immaterial world of the Ideas. Cavafy felt far more affinity for a return to the material word, as it is understood in God’s becoming a man and the resurrection of the flesh. That is why he concocted out of the scarce reports on the life of Apollonius of Tyana – a contemporary of Christ – a kind o Greek Messiah. Not a son of David, but of Alexander! Through many a country, Apllonius of Tyana wandered as a prophet and a miracle worker and had a large following. About his gospel not much is known. ‘Apollonius of Tyana in Rhodes’ is about a ‘vulgar statue of clay’ in a huge temple as opposed to a ‘statue made of ivory and gold’ in a modest one. In ‘But wise men perceive approaching thins’ it is said:
And from ‘Hidden Things’ we already know what kinds of things are forthcoming there:
Whereas Christ, just like Cavafy’s ephebi, died in the prime of his life and ascended to heaven, Apollonius of Tyana reached a ripe old age, just like Cavafy himself. But – and this again he has in common with Christ – it is not sure whether he really died: he might come back, and, again like Christ, he has been seen in diverse places before his ascension. In ‘If dead indeed’, Cavafy writes in that unequalled way of phrasing of his:
One of those ‘supernatural apparitions’ wherein he ‘goes about among us incognito’ is described in ‘One of their Gods’:
And also therein Apollonius of Tyana resembles Cavafy. He survives his
immortality in his worn-out skin, but does not die really. Here and
there he comes to life again on young lips murmuring his poems, teaching
them ‘the right’.
All those beautiful mother’s sons, destined to death by fathers that let them ascend to heaven only as a corpse … The truth about Cavafy’s filling in of Apollonius of Tyana is that the body of Jesus Christ has from the beginning been a magnet that lays bare the inmost secrets of the human soul. And that thereby, not unlike the Byzantine priests and ‘the solemn rhythm of their movements’, has been the vehicle of many an ancient – primeval, all-human – sensitivity. This is poignantly rendered in ‘A great Procession of Priests and Laymen’:
In the meantime, the rumour goes that Alexander Singopoulos, Cavafy’s darling and heir, would haven been his very son (Warren and Molegraaf, p. 63). True or not, this rumour conforms to the spirit that hovers over Cavafy’s poems – even when the intervention of the world of art is thus put in brackets. The suggestion of the double forbidden ‘homosexual incest’ is so strong, that even the way in which it is denied testifies to the opposite. Warren, who has his difficulties with Cavafy’s possible heterosexual bit on the side with a seamstress, thinks that the apparent similarity between Cavafy and Singopoulos means nothing, because, according to his experience ‘there are many Alexandrians whose appearance reminds of Cavafy’ (p. 68). Which then can only be due to the inbreeding of the Alexandrians in a community doomed to extinction. Inbreeding has always been a euphemism for incest...
Perhaps, Cavafy did only sense half of the impending. The desire to be a sun that never dawns and and never sets, is only one of the many manifestations of the retrograde desire, that tries to escape from dying through being reborn again and again – and keeps silent about the fact that the sun in the zenith is always another one. At night, inconspicuously, it glides under the earth. Incest, in its turn, is only one of the figures of the self-love of Hölderlins infant: of man that would so dearly want to be unbegotten and immortal.
Which does not prevent that Cavafy lends us a magnificent view on man’s doings there beneath, on the earth’s surface. Hence this text, with great devotion written for an artist who really deserves this name.
© Stefan Beyst, midsummer 2002.
* the titles are cited from the Rae Dalven translation of Cavafy's poems.
AUDEN, Wyston Hugh: ‘The Complete poems of Cavafy. Expanded Edition. Translation by Rae Dalven. With an introduction by W.H. Auden, New York /London, 1976.
BLANKEN: ‘K.P. Kavafis. Verzamelde gedichten. Vertaald en ingeleid door G.H.Blanken, Atheneum –Polak&Van Gennep, Amsterdam 1994
BRODSKY, Joseph: ‘Less than one’; Farrar, Strauss and Giroux, New York 1986.
WARREN, Hans en MOLEGRAAF, Mario: ‘Ik ging naar de geheime Kamers’, Bert Bakker, Amsterdam 1987.
YOURCENAR, Marguerite: ‘Présentation Critique de Constantine Cavafy 1863-1933, suivi d’une traduction intégrale de ses poèmes par Marguerite Yourcenar et Constantine Dimaras’, Gallimard, Paris 1958.
Ithaka: A Tribute to Constantine P. Cavafy
Michael Lahanas Michael Lahanas: poems of Constantinos Kavafis
Billie Dee's Electronic Poetry Anthology |
Love Endures and we are reminded of this idea during this month of February, when Valentine’s Day is celebrated.. Now- a- days, people buy cards and send e-greetings to their beloveds. But long ago, people expressed their love via post or letters delivered on horseback.No telephones, Internet and mass media were utilized to convey the message from one lover’s heart to another. I adore the old romantic movies from early US history, where letters are hand crafted with delicate calligraphy to express the heartfelt passion of the lovers heart.The letters are then carefully sealed with wax and given to an entrusted delivery person or mail service to ensure that their beloved, however near or far away will receive it. Upon receipt of the letter, that may have taken weeks or months to arrive,the cherished recipient opens it, and is reminded that love endures through time and distance.
How very different this delayed gratification is, from the immediacy of sending a text, email or Instagram post as we do nowadays.With technology so highly advanced,one can reach out to many people at one time and express their love and they can voice their love many times a day to one or numerous friends and lovers near and far. Also,there is no need to wait for a response, as in days gone by, instead one can receive immediate feedback that their loved ones care for them. But perhaps this instant gratification of love expressed virtually has outweighed the benefits of love that is cultivated slowly and held closely to one’s heart over time and space.
I imagine that years ago, before mass communication was available,that love was more tenderly cherished and expressions of love, although more infrequent, were possibly more genuine.The innocence of love that endures over time without the constant need for a barrage of proof that comes from texts, calls, emails and Instagrams that one is loved is a special gift. Consider the friend whom you haven’t heard from in many years, who suddenly resurfaces in your life( maybe from a Facebook search) Upon reconnecting with one another,the love that was there may be instantly reignited and a bond that was formed eons ago can come to life again.This is proof that love endures through time and doesn’t diminish because of lack of contact. remember that just because you have not heard from someone in a while, that does not mean that they don’t love you.
Perhaps you have been lucky enough to connect with a person who feels incredibly familiar to you upon first meeting them. You may have a sense of loving them automatically. This could possibly be a divine union that began in another lifetime, only to be continued in this time and space.When true love is present, the power of that formidable force can transcend all physical limitations.This applies to our loved ones that have moved on to the other side of life as well. Their love is still accessible to us. True love endures ceaselessly.
During this Valentine’s month, look deep within your heart and see if there is someone you could reach out to and express your love for them, even though time may have passed since your last encounter. You just might be pleasantly surprised to discover that love endures through time and space. |
(AP)—Jamaica's education minister plans to use computers to offer long-distance math and literacy courses to students who live in remote parts of the island.
Ronald Thwaites said Friday that the pilot program will be introduced in the next few months and will target elementary and high school students. He did not provide details or say how much the program will cost.
Thwaites has long criticized teachers for providing inadequate instruction in those areas.
He has said that only about 60 percent of students in fourth grade master English. Many opt instead to speak Jamaican patois. A government study also has found that only 105 math teachers out of a total of 1,048 are qualified to teach the subject at their level.
Explore further: Low-income US children less likely to have access to qualified teachers |
Chapter VI. The Doctrine of No Soul: Anatta
What in generally is suggested by Soul, Self, Ego, or to use the Sanskrit expression Ātman, is that in man there is a permanent, everlasting and absolute entity, which is the unchanging substance behind the changing phenomenal world. According to some religions, each individual has such a separate soul which is created by God, and which, finally after death, lives eternally either in hell or heaven, its destiny depending on the judgment of its creator. According to others, it goes through many lives till it is completely purified and becomes finally united with God or Brahman, Universal Soul or Ātman, from which it originally emanated. This soul or self in man is the thinker of thoughts, feeler of sensations, and receiver of rewards and punishments for all its actions good and bad. Such a conception is called the idea of self.
一般用到‘灵魂’、‘自我’、‘个我’或梵文里的‘神我’( Atman)(编者注： Atman其实只是‘我’的意思，一般均译为‘神我’，沿用已久，但是否与奥义书及吠檀多之哲学相符，甚可置疑。)这些字眼的时候，它们所提示的意义是：在人身中有一恒常不变、亘古长存的绝对实体。这实体就是那千变万化的现象世界背后不变的实质。照某些宗教说，每一个人都有一个个别的灵魂，这灵魂是上帝所创造的。人死后，它即永久地生活在地狱或天堂里，而它的命运则完全取决于它的创造主的裁判。依另一些宗教的说法，这灵魂可以历经多生，直到完全净化，最后乃与上帝或梵天或神我合一，因为当初它就是从这里面流出来的。这个人身中的灵魂或自我是思想者、感受者、一切善恶行为所得奖惩的领纳者，这种的观念叫做我见。
Buddhism stands unique in the history of human thought in denying the existence of such a Soul, Self, or Ātman. According to the teaching of the Buddha, the idea of self is an imaginary, false belief which has no corresponding reality, and it produces harmful thoughts of 'me' and 'mine', selfish desire, craving, attachment, hatred, ill-will, conceit, pride, egoism, and other defilements, impurities and problems. It is the source of all the troubles in the world from personal conflicts to wars between nations. In short, to this false view can be traced all the evil in the world.
Two ideas are psychologically deep-rooted in man; self-protection and self-preservation. For self-protection man has created God, on whom he depends for his own protection, safety and security, just as a child depends on its parent. For self-preservation man has conceived the idea of an immortal Soul or Ātman, which will live eternally. In his ignorance, weakness, fear, and desire, man needs these two things to console himself. Hence he clings to them deeply and fanatically.
The Buddha's teaching does not support this ignorance, weakness, fear, and desire, but aims at making man enlightened by removing and destroying them, striking at their very root. According to Buddhism, our ideas of God and Soul are false and empty. Though highly developed as theories, they are all the same extremely subtle mental projections, garbed in an intricate metaphysical and philosophical phraseology. These ideas are so deep-rooted in man, and so near and dear to him, that he does not wish to hear, nor does he want to understand, any teaching against them.
The Buddha knew this quite well. In fact, he said that his teaching was 'against the current' (patisotagāmi), against man's selfish desire. Just four weeks after his Enlightenment, seated under a banyan tree, he thought to himself; 'I have realized this Truth which is deep, difficult to understand… comprehensible only by the wise… Men who are overpowered by passions and surrounded by a mass of darkness cannot see this Truth, which is against the current, which is lofty, deep, subtle and hard to comprehend.'
With these thoughts in his mind, the Buddha hesitated for a moment, whether it would not be in vain if he tried to explain to the world the Truth he had just realized. Then he compared the world to a lotus pond: In a lotus pond there are some lotuses still under water; there are others which have risen only up to the water level; there are still others which stand above water and are untouched by it. In the same way in this world, there are men at different levels of development. Some would understand the Truth. So the Buddha decided to teach it.
The doctrine of Anatta or No-Soul is the natural result of, or the corollary to, the analysis of the Five Aggregates and the teaching of Conditioned Genesis (Paticca-samuppāda).
We have seen earlier, in the discussion of the First Noble Truth (Dukkha), that what we call a being or an individual is composed of the Five Aggregates, and that when these are analysed and examined, there is nothing behind them which can be taken as 'I', Ātman, or Self, or any unchanging abiding substance. That is the analytical method. The same result is arrived at through the doctrine of Conditioned Genesis which is the synthetical method, an according to this nothing in the world is absolute. Everything is conditioned, relative, and interdependent. This is the Buddhist theory of relativity.
Before we go into the question of Anatta proper, it is useful to have a brief idea of the Conditioned Genesis. The principle of this doctrine is given in a short formula of four lines:
When this is, that is (Imasmim sati idam hoti);
This arising, that arises (Imassuppādā idam uppajjati);
When this is not, that is not (Imasmim asati idam na hoti);
This ceasing, that ceases (Imassa nirodhā idam nirujjhati).
On this principle of conditionality, relativity and interdependence, the whole existence and continuity of life and its cessation are explained in a detailed formula which is called Paticca-samuppāda 'Conditioned Genesis', consisting of twelve factors:
Through ignorance are conditioned volitional actions or karma-formations (Avijjāpaccayā samkhārā).
Through volitional actions is conditioned consciousness (Samkhārapaccayā viňňānam).
Through consciousness are conditioned mental and physical phenomena (Viňňānapaccayā nāmarūpam).
Through mental and physical phenomena are conditioned the six faculties (i.e., five physical sense-organs and mind) (Nāmarūpapaccayā salāyatanam).
Through the six faculties is conditioned (sensorial and mental) contact (Salāyatanapaccayā phasso).
Through (sensorial and mental) contact is conditioned sensation (Phassapaccayā vedanā).
Through sensation is conditioned desire, 'thirst' (Vedanāpaccayā tanhā).
Through desire ('thirst') is conditioned clinging (Tanhāpaccayā upādānam).
Through clinging is conditioned the process of becoming (Upādānapaccayā bhavo).
Through the process of becoming is conditioned birth (Bhavapaccayā jāti).
Through birth are conditioned (12) decay, death, lamentation, pain, etc. (Jātipaccayā jarāmaranam…).
This is how life arises, exists and continues. If we take this formula in reverse order, we come to the cessation of the process: Through the complete cessation of ignorance, volitional activities or karma-formations cease; through the cessation of volitional activities, consciousness ceases; … through the cessation of birth, decay, death, sorrow, etc., cease.
It should be remembered that each of these factors is conditioned (paticcasamuppanna) as well as conditioning (paticcasamuppāda). Therefore they are all relative, interdependent and interconnected, and nothing is absolute or independent; hence no first cause is accepted by Buddhism as we have seen earlier. Conditioned Genesis should be considered as a circle, and not as a chain.
于此应该明白熟知的是：这缘起法则的每一部分，一方面是由众多条件(缘)和合而生( conditioned缘生的)，另一方面又同时构成其它部分生起的条件(condition-ing 缘起的)。［注四］因此，它们之间的关系，完全是相对的、互为依存的、互相联结的。没有一事一物是绝对独立的。所以，佛教不接受最初因，这在前文已讲过。缘起法则是一个首尾相接的环，而不是一条直线的链子。［注五］
The question of Free Will has occupied an important place in Western thought and philosophy. But according to Conditioned Genesis, this question does not and cannot arise in Buddhist philosophy. If the whole of existence is relative, conditioned and interdependent, how can will alone be free? Will which is included in the fourth Aggregate (samkhārakkhandha), like any other thought, is conditioned (paticca-samuppanna). So-called 'freedom' itself in this world is not absolutely free. That too is conditioned and relative. There is, of course, such a conditioned and relative 'Free Will', but not unconditioned and absolute. There can be nothing absolutely free in this world, physical or mental, as everything is conditioned and relative. If Free Will implies a will independent of conditions, independent of cause and effect, such a thing does not exist. How can a will, or anything for that matter, arise without conditions, away from cause and effect, when the whole of life, the whole of existence, is conditioned and relative? Here again, the idea of Free Will is basically connected with the ideas of God, Soul, justice, reward and punishment. Not only so-called free will is not free, but even the very idea of Free Will is not free from conditions.
According to the doctrine of Conditioned Genesis, as well as according to the analysis of being into Five Aggregates, the idea of an abiding, immortal substance in man or outside, whether it is called Ātman, 'I', Soul, Self, or Ego, is considered only a false belief, a mental projection. This is the Buddhist doctrine of Anatta, No-Soul or No-Self.
In order to avoid a confusion it should be mentioned here that there are two kinds of truths: conventional truth (sammuti-sacca, Skt. Samvrti-satya) and ultimate truth (paramattha-sacca, Skt. Paramārtha-satya). When we use such expressions in our daily life as 'I', 'you', 'being', 'individual', etc., we do not lie because there is no self or being as such, but we speak a truth conforming to the convention of the world. But the ultimate truth is that there is no 'I' or 'being' in reality. As the Mahāyāna-sūtrālankāra says: 'A person (pudgala) should be mentioned as existing only in designation (prajňapti) (i.e., conventionally there is a being), but not in reality (or substance dravya)'.
'The negation of an imperishable Ātman is the common characteristic of all dogmatic systems of the Lesser as well as the Great Vehicle, and, there is, therefore, no reason to assume that Buddhist tradition which is in complete agreement on this point has deviated from the Buddha's original teaching.'
It is therefore curious that recently there should have been a vain attempt by a few scholars to smuggle the idea of self into the teaching of the Buddha, quite contrary to the spirit of Buddhism. These scholars respect, admire, and venerate the Buddha and his teaching. They look up to Buddhism. But they cannot imagine that the Buddha, whom they consider the most clear and profound thinker, could have denied the existence of an Ātman or Self which they need so much. They unconsciously seek the support of the Buddha for this need for eternal existence-of course not in a petty individual self with small s, but in the big Self with a capital S.
It is better to say frankly that one believes in an Ātman or or Self. Or one may even say that the Buddha was totally wrong in denying the existence of an Ātman. But certainly it will not do for any one to try to introduce into Buddhism an idea which the Buddha never accepted, as far as we can see from the extant original texts.
Religions which believe in God and Soul make no secret of these two ideas; on the contrary, they proclaim them, constantly and repeatedly, in the eloquent terms. If the Buddha had accepted these two ideas, so important in all religions, he certainly would have declared them publicly, as he had spoken about other things, and would not have left them hidden to be discovered only 25 centuries after his death.
People become nervous at the idea that through the Buddha's teaching of Anatta, the self they imagine they have is going to be destroyed. The Buddha was not unaware of this.
A bhikkhu once asked him: 'Sir, is there a case where one is tormented when something permanent within oneself is not found?'
'Yes, bhikkhu, there is,' answered the Buddha. 'A man has the following view: “The universe is that Ātman, I shall be that after death, permanent, abiding, ever-lasting, unchanging, and I shall exists as such for eternity”. He hears the Tathāgata or a disciple of his, preaching the doctrine aiming at the complete destruction of all speculative views… aiming at the extinction of “thirst”, aiming at detachment, cessation, Nirvāna. Then than man thinks: “I will be annihilated, I will be destroyed, I will be no more.” So he mourns, worries himself, laments, weeps, beating his breast, and becomes bewildered. Thus, O bhikkhu, there is a case where one is tormented when something permanent within oneself is not found.'
Elsewhere the Buddha says: 'O bhikkhus, this idea that I may not be, I may not have, is frightening to the uninstructed world-ling.'
Those who want to find a 'Self' in Buddhism argue as follows: It is true that the Buddha analyses being into matter, sensation, perception, mental formations, and consciousness, and says that none of these things it self. But he does not say that there is no self at all in man or anywhere else, apart from these aggregates.
This position is untenable for two reasons:
One is that, according to the Buddha's teaching, a being is composed only of these Five Aggregates, and nothing more. Nowhere has he said that there was anything more than these Five Aggregates in a being.
The second reasons is that the Buddha denied categorically, in unequivocal terms, in more than one place, the existence of Ātman, Soul, Self, or Ego within man or without, or anywhere else in the universe. Let us take some examples.
In the Dhammapada there are three verses extremely important and essential in the Buddha's teaching. They are nos. 5, 6 and 7 of chapter XX (or verses 277, 278, 279).
The first two verses say:
'All conditioned things are impermanent' (Sabbe SAMKHĀRĀ aniccā), and 'All conditioned things are dukkha' (Sabbe SAMKHĀRĀ dukkhā).
The third verse says:
'All dhammas are without self' (Sabbe SAMKHĀRĀ anattā).
Here it should be carefully observed that in the first two verses the word samkhārā 'conditioned things' is used. But in its place in the third verse the word dhammā is used. Why didn't the third verse use the word samkhārā 'conditioned things' as the previous two verses, and why did it use the term dhammā instead? Here lies the crux of the whole matter.
The term samkhāra denotes the Five Aggregates, all conditioned, interdependent, relative things and states, both physical and mental. If the third verse said: 'All samkhārā (conditioned things) are without self', then one might think that, although conditioned things are without self, yet there may be a Self outside conditioned things, outside the Five Aggregates. It is in order to avoid misunderstanding that the term dhammā is used in the third verse.
The term dhamma is much wider than samkhārā. There is no term in Buddhist terminology wider than dhamma. It includes not only the conditioned things and states, but also the non-conditioned, the Absolute, Nirvāna. There is nothing in the universe or outside, good or bad, conditioned or non-conditioned, relative or absolute, which is not included in this term. Therefore, it is quite clear that, according to this statement: 'All dhammas are without Self', there is no Self, no Ātman, not only in the Five Aggregates, but nowhere else too outside them or apart from them.
This means, according to the Theravāda teaching, that there is no self either in the individual (puggala) or in dhammas. The Mahāyāna Buddhist philosophy maintains exactly the same position, without the slightest difference, on this point, putting emphasis on dharma-nairātmya.
In the Alagaddūpama-sutta of the Majjhima-nikāya, addressing his disciples, the Buddha said: 'O bhikkhus, accept a soul-theory (Attavāda) in the acceptance of which there would not arise grief, lamentation, suffering, distress and tribulation. But, do you see, O bhikkhus, such a soul-theory in the acceptance of which there would not arise grief, , lamentation, suffering, distress and tribulation?'
'Certainly not, Sir.'
'Good, O bhikkhus. I, too, O bhikkhus, do not see a soul-theory, in the acceptance of which there would not arise grief, lamentation, suffering, distress and tribulation.'
If there had been any soul-theory which the Buddha had accepted, he would certainly have explained it here, because he asked the bhikkhus to accept that soul-theory which did not produce suffering. But in the Buddha's view, there is no such soul theory, and any soul-theory, whatever it may be, however subtle and sublime, is false and imaginary, creating all kinds of problems, producing in its train grief, lamentation, suffering, distress, tribulation and trouble.
Continuing the discourse the Buddha said in the same sutta:
'O bhikkhus, when neither self nor anything pertaining to self can truly and really be found, this speculative view: “The universe is that Ātman (Soul); I shall be that after death, permanent, abiding, ever-lasting, unchanging, and I shall exist as such for eternity”- is it not wholly and completely foolish?'
Here the Buddha explicitly states that an Ātman, or Soul, or Self, is nowhere to be found in reality, and it is foolish to believe that there is such a thing.
Those who seek a self in the Buddha's teaching quote a few examples which they first translate wrongly, and then misinterpret. One of them is the well-known line Āttā hi attano nātho from the Dhammapada (XII, 4, or verse 160), which is translated as 'Self is the lord of self', and then interpreted to mean that the big Self is the lord of the small self.
想在佛教中找‘我’的人，也举出若干例子。这些例子，先是他们把它翻译错了，之后又加以曲解。一个有名的例子，就是《法句经》第十二章第四节，也就是第一六零偈。他将原文的Atta hi attano natho先译成‘“我”是我的主宰’，然后又将偈文解释为大‘我’是小我的主宰。
First of all, this translation is incorrect. Āttā here does not mean self in the sense of soul. In Pali the word āttā is generally used as a reflexive or indefinite pronoun, except in a few cases where it specifically and philosophically refers to the soul-theory, as we have seen above. But in general usage, as in the XII chapter in the Dhammapada where this line occurs, and in many other places, it is used as a reflexive or indefinite pronoun meaning 'myself', 'yourself', 'himself', 'one', 'oneself', etc.
Next, the word nātho does not mean 'lord', but 'refuge', 'support', 'help', 'protection'. Therefore, Attā hi attano nātho really mean 'One is one's own refuge' or 'One is one's own help' or 'support'. It has nothing to do with any metaphysical soul or self. It simple means that you have to rely on yourself, and not on others.
其次， natho的意义，并不是‘主宰’，而是依怙、支援、救助、保护。［注十八］因此，Atta hi attano natho的真正意义，是‘人当自作依怙’或‘人当自助(支援自己)’。这话与任何形而上的灵魂或‘我’都不相干。它的意义很简单，只是：人应当依靠自己，不可依赖他人。如此而已。
Another example of the attempt to introduce idea of self into the Buddha's teaching is in the well-known words Attidipā viharatha, attasaranā anaňňasaranā, which are taken out of context in the Mahāparinibbāna-sutta. This phrase literally means: 'Dwell making yourselves your island (support), making yourselves your refuge, and not anyone else as your refuge.'
另一个想将‘我’的观念注入到佛教中的例子，就是《大般涅槃经》中被断章取义的名句Attadipa viharatha attasarana anannasarana。［注十九］这句子的字义是‘以你自己作为你的岛屿(支应)而安住，以你自己作为你的依怙，而不以任何其它的人作为你的皈依处。’［注二十］那些想在佛教中见到‘我’的人，却将attadipa和att-asarana 两字曲解为‘以“我”为明灯’，‘以“我”为皈依’。［注二十一］
We cannot understand the full meaning and significance of the advice of the Buddha to Ānanda, unless we take into consideration the background and the context in which these words were spoken.
The Buddha was at the time staying at a village called Beluva. It was just three months before his death, Parinivāna. At this time he was eighty years old, and was suffering from a very serious illness, almost dying (māranantika). But he thought it was not proper for him to die without breaking it to his disciples who were near and dear to him. So with courage and determination he bore all his pains, got the better of his illness, and recovered. But his health was still poor. After his recovery, he was seated one day in the shade outside his residence. Ānanda, the most devoted attendant of the Buddha, went to his beloved Master, sat near him, and said: 'Sir, I have looked after the health of the Blessed One, I have looked after him in his illness. But at the sight of the illness of the Blessed One the horizon became dim to me, and my faculties were no longer clear. Yet there was one little consolation: I thought that the Blessed One would not pass away until he had left instructions touching the Order of the Sangha'.
Then the Buddha, full of compassion and human feelings, gently spoke to his devoted and beloved attendant: 'Ānanda, what does the Order of the Sangha expect from me? I have taught the Dhamma (Truth) without making any distinction as exoteric and esoteric. With regard to the truth, the Tathāgata has nothing like the closed fist of the teacher (ācariya-mutthi). Surely, Ānanda, if there is anyone who thinks that he will lead the Sangha, and that the Sangha should depend on him, let him set down his instructions. But the Tathāgata has no such idea. Why should he then leave instructions concerning the Shangha? I am now old, Ānanda, eighty years old. As a worn-out cart has to be kept going by repairs, so, it seems to me, the body of the Tathāgata can only be kept going by repairs. Therefore, Ānanda, dwell making yourselves your island (support), making yourselves, not anyone else, your refuge; making the Dhamma your island (support), the Dhamma your refuge, nothing else your refuge.
What the Buddha wanted to convey to Ānanda is quite clear. The latter was sad and depressed. He thought that they would all be lonely, helpless, without a refuge, without a leader after their great Teacher's death. So the Buddha gave him consolation, courage, and confidence, saying that they should depend on themselves, and on Dhamma he taught, and not on anyone else, or on anything else. Here the question of a metaphysical Ātman, or Self, is quite beside the point.
Further, The Buddha explained to Ānanda how one could be one's own island or refuge, how one could make the Dhamma one's own island or refuge: through the cultivation of mindfulness or awareness of the body, sensations, mind and mind-objects (the four Satipatthānas). There is no talk at all here about an Ātman or Self.
Another reference, oft-quoted, is used by those who try to find Ātman in the Buddha's teaching. The Buddha was once seated under a tree in a forest on the way to Urevelā from Benares. On that day, thirty friends all of them young princes, went out on picnic with their young wives into the same forest. One of the princes who was unmarried brought a prostitute with him. While the others were amusing themselves, she purloined some objects of value and disappeared. In their search for her in the forest, they saw the Buddha seated under a tree and asked him whether he had seen a woman. He enquired what was the matter. When they explained, the Buddha asked them: “What do you think, young men? Which is better for you? To search after a woman, or to search after yourselves?'
Here again it is a simple and natural question, and there is no justification for introducing far-fetched ideas of a metaphysical Ātman or Self into the business. They answered that it was better for them to search after themselves. The Buddha then asked them to sit down and explained the Dhamma to them. In the available account, in the original text of what the preached to them, not a word is mentioned about an Ātman.
Much has been written on the subject of the Buddha's silence when a certain Parivrājaka (Wanderer) named Vacchagotta asked him whether there was an Ātman or not. The story is as follows:
Vacchagotta comes to the Buddha and asks:
'Venerable Gotama, is there an Ātman?'
The Buddha is silent.
'The Venerable Gotama, is there an Ātman?'
Again the Buddha is silent.
Vacchagotta gets up and goes away.
After the Parivrājaka had left, Ānanda asks the Buddha why he did not answer Vacchagotta's question. The Buddha explains his position:
'Ānanda, when asked by Vacchagotta the Wanderer: “Is there a self?”, if I had answered: “There is a self”, then, Ānanda, that would be siding with those recluses and brāhmanas who hold the eternalist theory (sassata-vāda).
'And, Ānanda, when asked by the Wanderer: “Is there no self?” if I had answered: “There is no self”, then that would be siding with those recluses and brāhmanas who hold the annihilationist theory (uccheda-vāda).
'Again, Ānanda, when asked by Vacchagotta: “Is there a self?”, if I had answered: “There is a self”, would that be in accordance with my knowledge that all dhammas are without self?'
'Surely not, Sir.'
'And again, Ānanda, when asked by the Wanderer: “Is there no self?” if I had answered: “There is no self”, then that would have been a greater confusion to the already confused Vacchagotta. For he would have thought: Formerly indeed I had an Ātman (self), but now I haven't got one.'
It should now be quite clear why the Buddha was silent. But it will be still clearer if we take into consideration the whole background, and the way the Buddha treated questions and questioners – which is altogether ignored by those who have discussed this problem.
The Buddha was not a computing machine giving answers to whatever questions were put to him by another at all, without any consideration. He was a practical teacher, full of compassion and wisdom. He did not answer questions to show his knowledge and intelligence, but to help the questioner on the way to realization. He always spoke to people bearing in mind their standard of development, their tendencies, their mental make-up, their character, their capacity to understand a particular question.
According to the Buddha, there are four ways of treating questions: (I) Some should be answered directly; (2) others should be answered by way of analyzing them; (3) yet others should be answered by counter-questions; (4) and lastly, there are questions which should be put aside.
There may be several ways putting aside a question. One is to day that a particular question is not answered or explained, as the Buddha had told this very same Vacchagotta on more than one occasion, when those famous questions whether the universe is eternal or not, etc., were put to him. In the same way he had replied to Mālunkyaputta and others. But he could not say the same thing with regard to the question whether there is an Ātman (Self) or not, because he had always discussed and explained it. He could not say 'there is self', because it is contrary to his knowledge that 'all dhammas are without self'. Then he did not want to say 'there is no self', because that would unnecessarily, without any purpose, have confused and disturbed poor Vacchagotta who was already confused on a similar question, as he had himself admitted earlier. He was not yet in a position to understand the idea of Anatta. Therefore, to put aside this question by silence was the wisest thing in this particular case.
We must not forget too that the Buddha has known Vacchagotta quite well for a long time. This was not the first occasion on which this inquiring Wanderer had come to see him. The wise and compassionate Teacher gave much thought and showed great consideration for this confused seeker. There are many references in the Pali texts to this same Vacchagotta the Wanderer his going round quite often to see the Buddha and his disciples and putting the same kind of question again and again, evidently very much worried, almost obsessed by these problems. The Buddha's silence seems to have had much more effect on Vacchagotta than any eloquent answer or discussion.
Some people take 'self' to mean what is generally known as 'mind' or consciousness. But the Buddha says that it is better for a man to take his physical body as self rather than mind, thought, or consciousness, because the former seems to be more solid than the latter, because mind, thought or consciousness (citta, mano, viňňāna) changes constantly day and night even faster than the body (kāya).
It is the vague feeling “I AM' that creates the idea of self which has no corresponding reality, and to see this truth is to realize Nirvāna, which is not very easy. In the Samyutta-nikāya there is an enlightening conversation on this point between a bhikkhu named Khemaka and a group of bhikkhus.
These bhikkhus ask Khemaka whether he sees in the Five Aggregates any self or anything pertaining to a self. Khemaka replies 'No”. Then the bhikkhus say that, if so, he should be an Arahant free from all impurities. But Khemaka confesses that through he does not find in the Five Aggregates a self, or anything pertaining to a self, 'I am not an Arahant free from all impurities. O friends, with regard to the Five Aggregates of Attachment, I have a feeling “I AM”, but I do not clearly see “This is I AM”.' Then Khemaka explains that what he calls 'I AM' is neither matter, sensation, perception, mental formations, nor consciousness, nor anything without them. But he has he feeling 'I AM' with regard to the Five Aggregates, through he could not see clearly 'This is I AM'.
He says it is like the smell of a flower: it is neither the smell of the petals, nor of the colour, nor of the pollen, but the smell of the flower.
Khemaka further explains that even a person who has attained the early stages of realization still retains this feeling 'I AM'. But later on, when he progresses further, this feeling of 'I AM' altogether disappears, just as the chemical smell of a freshly washed cloth disappears after a time when it is kept in a box.
This discussion was so useful and enlightening to them that at the end of it, the text says, all of them, including Khemaka himself, became Arahants free from all impurities, this finally getting rid of 'I AM'.
According to the Buddha's teaching, it is as wrong to hold the opinion 'I have no self' (which is the annihilationist theory) as to hold the opinion 'I have self' (which is the eternalist theory), because both are fetters, both arising out of the false idea 'I AM'. The correct position with regard to the question of Anatta is not to take hold of any opinions or views, but to see things objectively as they are without mental projections, to see that what we call 'I', or 'being', is only a combination of physical and mental aggregates, which are working together interdependently in a flux of momentary change within the law of cause and effect, and that there is nothing permanent, everlasting, unchanging and eternal in the whole of existence.
Here naturally a question arises: If there is no Ātman or Self, who gets the results of karma (actions)? No one can answer this question better than the Buddha himself. When this question was raised by a bhikkhu the Buddha said: 'I have taught you, O bhikkhus, to see conditionality everywhere in all things.'
The Buddha's teaching on Anatta, No-Soul, or No-Self, should not be considered as negative or annihilistic. Like Nirvāna, it is Truth, Reality; and Reality cannot be negative. It is the false belief in a non-existing imaginary self that is negative. The teaching on Anatta dispels the darkness of false beliefs, and produces the light of wisdom. It is not negative: as Asanga very aptly says: 'There is the fact of No-selfness' (nairātmyāstitā).
Mhvg. (Alutgama, 1922), p. 4 f; M I (PTS), p. 167 f.
Explained below.
M III (PTS), p. 63; S II (PTS), pp. 28, 95, etc. To put it into a modern from:
When A is, B is;
A arising, B arises;
When A is not, B is not;
A ceasing, B ceases.
Vism. (PTS), p. 517
See above p. 29
Limited space does not permit a discussion here of this most important doctrine. A critical and comparative study if this subject in detail will be found in a forthcoming work on Buddhist philosophy by the present writer.
Sārattha II (PTS), p. 77
Mh. Sūtrālankāra, XVIII 92.
H. von Glasenapp, in an article 'Vedanta and Buddhism' on the question of Anatta, The Middle Way, February, 1957, p. 154.
The late Mrs. Rhys Davids and others. See Mrs. Rhys Davids' Gotama the Man, Sākya or Buddhist Origins, A Manual of Buddhism, What was the Original Buddhism, etc.
M I (PTS), pp. 136-137
Quoted in MA II (PTS), p. 112.
F.L.Woodward's translation of the word dhammā here by 'All states by 'All states compounded' is quite wrong. (The Buddha's Path of Virtue, Adyar, Madras, India, 1929, p. 69.) 'All states compounded' means only samkhārā, but not dhammā.
Samkhārā in the list of the Five Aggregates means 'Mental Formations' or 'Mental Activities' producing karmic effects. But here it means all conditioned or compounded things, including all the Five Aggregates. The term samkhārā has different connotations in different contexts.
Cf. also Sabbesamkhārā aniccā 'All conditioned things are impermanent', Sabbe dhammā anattā 'All dhammas are without self'. M I (PTS), p. 228; S III pp. 132, 133.
M I (PTS), p. 137
ibid., p. 138. Referring to this passage, S. Radhakrishnan (Indian Philosophy, Vol. I, London, 1940, p. 485), says: 'It is the false view that clamours for the perpetual continuance of the small self that buddha refutes'. We cannot agree with this remark. On the contrary, the Buddha, in fact, refutes here the Universal Ātman or Soul. As we saw just now, in the earlier passage, the Buddha did not accept any self, great or small. In his view, all theories of Ātman were false, mental projections.
In his article “Vendanta and Buddhism' (The Middle Way, February, 1957), H. von Glasenapp explains this point clearly.
The commentary on the Dhp. Says: Nātho ti patitthā 'Nātho means support, (refuge, help, protection),' (Dph. A III (PTS), p. 148.) The old Sinhalese Sannaya of the Dph. Paraphrases the word nātho as pihita vanneya 'is a support (refuge, help)'. (Dhammapada Purānasannaya, Colombo, 1926, p. 77). If we take the negative form of nātho, this meaning becomes further confirmed: Anātha does not mean 'without a lord' or 'lordless', but it means 'helpless', 'supportless', 'unprotected, 'poor'. Even the PTS Pali Dictionary explains the word nātha as 'protector', 'refuge', 'help, but not as 'lord'. The translation of the lord Lokanātha (s.v.) by 'Saviour of the world', just using a popular Christian expression, is not quite correct, because the Buddha is not a saviour. This epithet really means 'Refuge of the World'
D II (Colombo, 1929), p. 62
Rhys Davids (Digha-nikāya Translation II, p. 108) 'Be ye lamps unto yourselves. Be ye a refuge to yourselves. Betake yourselves to no external refuge.'
D II (Colombo, 1929), pp. 61-62. Only the last sentence is literally translated. The rest of the story is given briefly according to the Mahāparinibbāna-sutta.
Ibid., p.62. For Satipatthāna see Chapter VII on Meditation.
Mhvg., (Alutgama, 1929), pp.21-22
On another accasion the Buddha had told this same Vacchagotta that the Tathāgata had no theories, because he had seen the nature of things. (M I (PTS), p. 486.) Here too he does not want to associate himself with any theorists.
Sabbe dhammā anattā. (Exactly the same words as in the first line of Dhp. XX, 7 which we discussed above.) Woodward's translation of these words by 'all things are impermanent' (Kindred Sayings IV, p. 282) is completely wrong, probably due to an oversight. But this is a very serious mistake. This, perhaps, is one of the reasons for so much unnecessary talk on the Buddha's silence. The most important word in this context, anatta 'without a self' had been translated as 'impermanent'. The English translations of Pali texts contain major and minor errors of this kind-some due to carelessness or oversight, some to lack of proficiency in the original language. Whatever the cause may be, it is useful to mention here, with the deference due to those great pioneers in this field, that these errors have been responsible for a number of wrong ideas about Buddhism among people who have no access to the original texts. It is good to know therefore that Miss I. B. Horner, the Secretary of the Pali Text Society, plans to bring out revised and new translations.
In fact on another occasion, evidently earlier, when the Buddha had explained a certain deep and subtle question-the question as to what happened to an Arahant after death-Vacchagotta said: 'Venerable Gotama, here I fall into ignorance, I get into confusion. Whatever little faith I had at the beginning of this conversation with the Venerable Gotama, that too is gone now.' (M I (PTS), p. 487). So the Buddha did not want to confuse him again.
S IV (PTS), pp. 400-401
This knowledge of the Buddha is called Indriyaparopariyattaňāna. M I (PTS), p. 70; Vibh. (PTS), p. 340.
A (Colombo, 1929), p. 216.
E.g., S IV (PTS), pp. 393, 395; M I (PTS), p. 484.
See p. 63 n. 2.
E.g., see S III (PTS), pp. 257-263; IV pp, 391f., 395 f., 398f., 400; MI, pp. 481f., 483f., 489f., A V p. 193
For, we see that after sometime Vacchagotta came again to see the Buddham but this time did not ask any questions as usual, but said: “It is long since I had a talk with the Venerable Gotama. It would be good if the Venerable Gotama would preach to me on good and bad (kusalākusalam) in brief.” The Buddha said that he would explain to him good and bad, in brief as well as in detail; and so he did. Ultimately Vacchagotta became a disciple of the Buddha, and following his teaching attained Arahantship, realized Truth, Nirvāna, and the problems of Ātman and other questions obsessed him no more. (M I (PTS), pp. 489 ff.)
S II (PTS), p. 94. Some people think that Ālayavijňāna 'Store-Consciousness' (Tathāgatagarbba) of Mahāyāna Buddhism is something like self. But the Lankāvatāra-sŭtra categorically says that it is not Ātman (Lanka. P. 78-79.)
S III (PTS), pp. 126 ff.
This is what most people say about self even today.
M III (PTS), p. 19; S III, p. 103.
Abhisamuc, p. 31.
八：见一九五二年二月份中道季刊第一五四页葛拉生纳普氏H. von Glasenapp所著‘吠檀多与佛教’一文中有关无我问题之议论。
九：指现已逝世之瑞斯·戴维兹夫人Mrs. Rhys Davids及其他学者。见瑞斯·戴维兹夫人所著‘乔答摩其人’、‘释迦、佛教之起源’、‘佛教手册’、‘什么是原始佛教’等著。
十二：乌德瓦氏 F.L. Woodward在‘佛的功德之路’(一九二九年玛德拉斯出版)一书中(见第六十九页)，将‘法’字译为‘一切复合的事物’，是很错误的。‘一切复合的事物’只是行，不是法。
十八：巴利文《法句经》注称中说：‘Natho ti patittha一句中natho为支援义(依怙、救助、保护)’(见《法句经》觉音疏第二章第一四八页。巴利文学会版)。古锡兰文‘法句经规矩’中，将natho一字代以pihita vaneya‘, 乃一支柱(依怙、救助)’字样。(见一九二六年哥仑坡出版之Dhammapada puranasannaya第七十七页。)如果我们研究 natho的反义字anatha，这意义就更为确定。Anatha的意义不是‘没有一个主宰’或‘无主’，而是‘无助’、‘无支应’、‘无保护’、‘贫乏’。甚至巴利文学会版之巴利文字典中，亦将 natho释为‘保护者’、‘皈依处’、‘救助’，不作‘主宰’。但该字典中将 Lokanatho一字译为‘世间之救主’，以通俗之基督教名词用在此处，实属未尽恰当，因为佛并不是救主。这一称号的实际意义，乃是‘世间的皈依处’。
二十六： Sae dhamma anatta一语(与巴利文《法句经》第二十章第七偈第一句全同。该偈前文已论及)，乌德瓦氏将它译成‘一切事物皆是无常’(见英译《杂部经》第四集第二八二页)是完全错了；但也许是由于疏忽。可是这错误甚为严重。关于佛的缄默，会有这么多闲话，也许这也是原因之一。因为在这一句中，最重要的一个anatta‘无我’被译成‘无常’了。英译巴利文佛典中，颇有不少这类大大小小的错误——有些是由于粗心疏忽，有些是因为对原文中的文字不够熟谙。对从事这项工作的那些伟大创业者，我十分敬仰。但是不论原因若何，都有必要申明：这些错误已使无法阅读原文的人，对佛教产生了偏见。因此，据悉巴利文学会的秘书(译者按：现已升任会长)荷纳小姐Miss I.b. Horner现已计画出版修正的新译本，实在是一桩好消息。 |
The Bay of Bengal,in Peril from Climate Change. (The New York Times, 10/13/2013)
A distributing summary:
- The Bay of Bengal’s coasts are under assault in every dimension:
- by water conflicts in the Himalayas and
- by drilling for oil and gas in the deep sea.
- The bay is a sink of pollution borne by the great rivers that spill into it, including
- the Ganges,
- the Brahmaputra and
- the Salween.
- Dam construction in China and India threatens downstream communities in India, Bangladesh and mainland Southeast Asia.
- With sea level rising and deltaic lands subsiding, saltwater intrusion onto farmlands has accelerated, with serious consequences for food production.
The author speaks about his latest book, Crossing the Bay of Bengal: The Furies of Nature and the Fortunes of Migrants.
No copies in LINKcat. No reviews in Amazon. |
The Houston Chronicle
reported this weekend that a team may have found the "a" missing from Neil Armstrong's quote as he first stepped onto the lunar surface (watch the NASA video
According to history, Armstrong said, "That's one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind" as he took the final step from the lunar lander onto the Moon. But when you think about it, that doesn't make a lot of sense. In this context, "man" is just another way of saying "mankind," so it's redundant and doesn't have the gravitas of one of the greatest moments in the history of mankind? or man.
Armstrong has said he actually said "That's one small step for a man", which makes a little more sense. Even this NASA factsheet
has the "a" in brackets.
Well now, computer programmer Peter Shann Ford
and James R. Hansen
, Armstrong's biographer, say they have found the signature for the missing letter using GoldWave sound editing software. The "a" was spoken too fast to be heard in the radio transmission. NASA is apparently doing its own analysis.Kelly Young |
Here we take a closed look at the Into the Wild A3 Mat.
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See how many blowing leaves and shiny starfishes you can find!
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The Into the Wild A3 Mat is available now priced around £21.99. |
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A large number of industries have seen the benefits of info science. For example , the fiscal sector may use data mining algorithms to detect bogus transactions and evaluate consumer portfolios. Likewise, healthcare providers are using equipment learning units and other info science components www.kcwellnessdimensions.com to assist with Xray analysis and diagnosis. Moreover, predictive maintenance can be used to predict potential equipment malfunctions in a manufacturing facility. This technology is not only useful for business, although it’s also beneficial in our personal lives. |
|There were "old" features in your gua (hexagram). It means that you have two hexagrams. The first one — is something that the Book tells you at the moment, the second is something it warns you about.
29. Gorge (kǎn). The Abysmal Water
Once in the trap of looking out, do not leave attempts to escape, but act wisely, but then rise above the circumstances.
Inital text of I Ching
The Abysmal repeated. If you are sincere, you have success in your heart, and whatever you do succeeds.
Water flows on uninterruptedly and reaches its goal:
The image of the Abysmal repeated. Thus the superior man walks in lasting virtue and carries on the business of teaching.
- Repetition of the Abysmal. In the abyss one falls into a pit. Misfortune.
- The abyss is dangerous. One should strive to attain small things only.
- Forward and backward, abyss on abyss. In danger like this, pause at first and wait, otherwise you will fall into a pit in the abyss. Do not act in this way.
- A jug of wine, a bowl of rice with it; Earthen vessels simply handed in through the window. There is certainly no blame in this.
- The abyss is not filled to overflowing, it is filled only to the rim. No blame.
- Bound with cords and ropes, shut in between thorn-hedged prison walls: For three years one does not find the way. Misfortune.
Time of rest is over, time of truth search begins. Self-discipline, persistence, dedication and presence of mind are necessary. They will help to overcome the inertia, the inertia of views, and pressure of external circumstances. With the inner truth, you will overcome obstacles. Active action is inside; outside - only accept the circumstances.
This hexagram consists of a doubling of the trigram K'an. It is one of the
eight hexagrams in which doubling occurs. The trigram K'an means a
plunging in. A yang line has plunged in between two yin lines and is closed
in by them like water in a ravine. The trigram K'an is also the middle son.
The Receptive has obtained the middle line of the Creative, and thus K'an
develops. As an image it represents water, the water that comes from above
and is in motion on earth in streams and rivers, giving rise to all life on
In man's world K'an represents the heart, the soul locked up within the
body, the principle of light inclosed in the dark--that is, reason. The name of
the hexagram, because the trigram is doubled, has the additional meaning,
"repetition of danger." Thus the hexagram is intended to designate an
objective situation to which one must become accustomed, not a subjective
attitude. For danger due to a subjective attitude means either foolhardiness
or guile. Hence too a ravine is used to symbolize danger; it is a situation in
which a man is in the same pass as the water in a ravine, and, like the water,
he can escape if he behaves correctly.
Through repetition of danger we grow accustomed to it. Water sets the
example for the right conduct under such circumstances. It flows on and on,
and merely fills up all the places through which it flows; it does not shrink
from any dangerous spot nor from any plunge, and nothing can make it lose
its own essential nature. It remains true to itself under all conditions. Thus
likewise, if one is sincere when confronted with difficulties, the heart can
penetrate the meaning of the situation. And once we have gained inner
mastery of a problem, it will come about naturally that the action we take will
succeed. In danger all that counts is really carrying out all that has to be done-
-thoroughness--and going forward, in order not to perish through tarrying in
Properly used, danger can have an important meaning as a protective
measure. Thus heaven has its perilous height protecting it against every
attempt at invasion, and earth has its mountains and bodies of water,
separating countries by their dangers. Thus also rulers make use of danger to
protect themselves against attacks from without and against turmoil within.
Water reaches its goal by flowing continually. It fills up every depression
before it flows on. The superior man follows its example; he is concerned
that goodness should be an established attribute of character rather than an
accidental and isolated occurrence. So likewise in teaching others everything
depends on consistency, for it is only through repetition that the pupil makes
the material his own.
By growing used to what is dangerous, a man can easily allow it to become
part of him. He is familiar with it and grows used to evil. With this he has
lost the right way, and misfortune is the natural result.
When we are in danger we ought not to attempt to get out of it immediately,
regardless of circumstances; at first we must content ourselves with not being
overcome by it. We must calmly weigh the conditions of the time and by
satisfied with small gains, because for the time being a great success cannot be
attained. A spring flows only sparingly at first, and tarries for some time
before it makes its way in to the open.
Here every step, forward or backward, leads into danger. Escape is out of the
question. Therefore we must not be misled into action, as a result of which
we should only bog down deeper in the danger; disagreeable as it may be to
remain in such a situation, we must wait until a way out shows itself.
In times of danger ceremonious forms are dropped. What matters most is
sincerity. Although as a rule it is customary for an official to present certain
introductory gifts and recommendations before he is appointed, here
everything is simplified to the utmost. The gifts are insignificant, there is no
one to sponsor him, he introduces himself; yet all this need not be
humiliating if only there is the honest intention of mutual help in danger.
Still another idea is suggested. The window is the place through which light
enters the room. If in difficult times we want to enlighten someone, we must
begin with that which is in itself lucid and proceed quite simply from that
Danger comes because one is too ambitious. In order to flow out of a ravine,
water does not rise higher than the lowest point of the rim. So likewise a
man when in danger has only to proceed along the line of least resistance;
thus he reaches the goal. Great labors cannot be accomplished in such times; it
is enough to get out of the danger.
A man who in the extremity of danger has lost the right way and is
irremediably entangled in his sins has no prospect of escape. He is like a
criminal who sits shackled behind thorn hedged prison walls.
Barbara Hejslip interpretation
Do not lose courage, but it is one of four worst combinations. In your life there has come time of losses and defeats. The only thing that it is possible to make,-it to reduce up to a probable minimum number of strokes of bad luck. Have patience and wait, while the goddess of happiness again will award you of the sight. Through two, the greatest - in five months position will start to change for the better. For now you have enough time to occupy in scientific researches, reading, simply homework, which usually enough. Be not nervous, and keep calmness. It is the period when introspection and a sober estimation of position is much more important, than desperate struggle against destiny.
4. Enveloping (méng). Youthful Folly
Ignorance is won by wisdom. Emptiness should be filled in. Nature stands no emptiness.
Inital text of I Ching
Youthful Folly has success. It is not I who seek the young fool; The young fool seeks me. At the first oracle I inform him. If he asks two or three times, it is importunity. If he importunes, I give him no information. Perseverance furthers.
A spring wells up at the foot of the mountain:
The image of Youth. Thus the superior man fosters his character by thoroughness in all that he does.
- To make a fool develop it furthers one to apply discipline. The fetters should be removed. To go on in this way brings humiliation.
- To bear with fools in kindliness brings good fortune. To know how to take women brings good fortune. The son is capable of taking charge of the household.
- Take not a maiden who, when she sees a man of bronze, loses possession of herself. Nothing furthers.
- Entangled folly brings humiliation.
- Childlike folly brings good fortune.
- In punishing folly it does not further one to commit transgressions. The only thing that furthers is to prevent transgressions.
Natural gifts are subjected by ignorance. Efforts to overcome it are needed. An ignorant person is in captivity of illusions. Difficulties when moving forward are inevitable. Plenitude and emptiness can be of two kinds: material and spiritual. Do not worry about material emptiness, be afraid of spiritual emptiness. Seek no material plenitude, seek knowledge instead of gold. Do not envy rich men; do not try to be like them. Gold can dazzle and ignorance will become deeper. Find a teacher, ask questions, but try to avoid excessive importunity. Take the first directions of teacher into account. Do not wait that knowledge will find you itself, show initiative. Do not worry about temporary stop. Lack of knowledge makes movement dangerous.
In this hexagram we are reminded of youth and folly in two different ways.
The image of the upper trigram, Kên, is the mountain, that of the lower,
K'an, is water; the spring rising at the foot of the mountain is the image of
inexperienced youth. Keeping still is the attribute of the upper trigram; that of
the lower is the abyss, danger. Stopping in perplexity on the brink of a
dangerous abyss is a symbol of the folly of youth. However, the two trigrams
also show the way of overcoming the follies of youth. Water is something
that of necessity flows on. When the spring gushes forth, it does not know at
first where it will go. But its steady flow fills up the deep place blocking its
progress, and success is attained.
In the time of youth, folly is not an evil. One may succeed in spite of it,
provided one finds an experienced teacher and has the right attitude toward
him. This means, first of all, that the youth himself must be conscious of his
lack of experience and must seek out the teacher. Without this modesty and
this interest there is no guarantee that he has the necessary receptivity, which
should express itself in respectful acceptance of the teacher. This is the reason
why the teacher must wait to be sought out instead of offering himself. Only
thus can the instruction take place at the right time and in the right way.
A teacher's answer to the question of a pupil ought to be clear and definite
like that expected from an oracle; thereupon it ought to be accepted as a key
for resolution of doubts and a basis for decision. If mistrustful or
unintelligent questioning is kept up, it serves only to annoy the teacher. He
does well to ignore it in silence, just as the oracle gives one answer only and
refuses to be tempted by questions implying doubt.
Given addition a perseverance that never slackens until the points are
mastered one by one, real success is sure to follow. Thus the hexagram
counsels the teacher as well as the pupil.
A spring succeeds in flowing on and escapes stagnation by filling up all the
hollow places in its path. In the same way character is developed by
thoroughness that skips nothing but, like water, gradually and steadily fills up
all gaps and so flows onward.
Law is the beginning of education. Youth in its inexperience is inclined at first
to take everything carelessly and playfully. It must be shown the seriousness
of life. A certain measure of taking oneself in hand, brought about by strict
discipline, is a good thing. He who plays with life never amounts to
anything. However, discipline should not degenerate into drill. Continuous
drill has a humiliating effect and cripples a man's powers.
These lines picture a man who has no external power, but who has enough
strength of mind to bear his burden of responsibility. He has the inner
superiority and that enable him to tolerate with kindliness the shortcomings
of human folly. The same attitude is owed to women as the weaker sex. One
must understand them and give them recognition in a spirit of chivalrous
consideration. Only this combination of inner strength with outer reserve
enables one to take on the responsibility of directing a larger social body with
A weak, inexperienced man, struggling to rise, easily loses his own
individuality when he slavishly imitates a strong personality of higher
station. He is like a girl throwing herself away when she meets a strong man.
Such a servile approach should not be encouraged, because it is bad both for
the youth and the teacher. A girl owes it to her dignity to wait until she is
wooed. In both cases it is undignified to offer oneself, and no good comes of
accepting such an offer.
For youthful folly it is the most hopeless thing to entangle itself in empty
imaginings. The more obstinately it clings to such unreal fantasies, the more
certainly will humiliation overtake it.
Often the teacher, when confronted with such entangled folly, has no other
course but to leave the fool to himself for a time, not sparing him the
humiliation that results. This is frequently the only means of rescue.
An inexperienced person who seeks instruction in a childlike and
unassuming way is on the right path, for the man devoid of arrogance who
subordinated himself to his teacher will certainly be helped.
Sometimes an incorrigible fool must be punished. He who will not heed will
be made to feel. This punishment is quite different from a preliminary
shaking up. But the penalty should not be imposed in anger; it must be
restricted to an objective guarding against unjustified excesses. Punishment
is never an end in itself but serves merely to restore order.
This applies not only in regard to education but also in regard to the
measures taken by a government against a populace guilty of transgressions.
Governmental interference should always be merely preventive and should
have as its sole aim the establishment of public security and peace.
Barbara Hejslip interpretation
Now all around of you as is covered by a veil; but this veil will soon disappear, and the world again will get for you clearness. Now your nerves are strongly loosened, therefore try to not accept hasty decisions. Soon all will change. If wish to become successful - do not neglect councils of friends, the heads, ponder upon them. Give more time to dialogue with children. Do not despond. Already there are the new plans, new prospects, but for new love time has not come yet. Gather; also concentrate will on performance of the one and only desire. |
Our Opinion: Inspiring reading lessons
Thursday, October 25, 2012
Luvenia Washington finds inspiration in Scripture.
She was inspired, in her 80s, to learn to read so she could participate more actively in Bible study.
Today, at age 93, she is an inspiring example that no one is ever too old to learn.
Luvenia learned her reading skills by tapping the community resource that is Adult Basic Literacy Education, commonly known as ABLE.
Founded in 1985 by the late Amie Morrow, a community librarian, ABLE is one of 25 partner agencies and programs assisted by the United Way of Central Missouri.
This month, 31 ABLE students are being instructed by 29 volunteer tutors.
The students represent a range of backgrounds. They include area residents who: never learned to read; are referred by GED programs to strengthen reading skills; and are learning to read English as a second language. Current students include natives of China, Taiwan, Peru, Iran and Liberia.
Tutors average about one hour each week working one-on-one with students. According to ABLE Director Felicia Poettgen, many tutors are current or retired educators and business employees.
“We find tutors through the ‘Volunteer Opportunities’ column in the News Tribune and through word of mouth,” Poettgen said.
“Volunteerism in Jefferson City is really big,” she added. “I’m always amazed by the number of people willing to help.”
In addition to volunteers, Poettgen credits the association with United Way for helping provide funding and resources for the free reading program. “This has been a good partnership,” she said. “The United Way and the sharing among the agencies have been very helpful.”
Helpful is the operative word.
United Way helps ABLE serve the community.
ABLE helps adults receive the gift of reading.
And students, like Luvenia Washington, help us remember age is no barrier to learning.
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1. causing distress or worry or anxiety; "distressing (or disturbing) news"; "lived in heroic if something distressful isolation"; "a disturbing amount of crime"; "a revelation that was most perturbing"; "a new and troubling thought"; "in a particularly worrisome predicament"; "a worrying situation"; "a worrying time"
(synonym) distressing, distressful, perturbing, troubling, worrisome, worrying
1. move deeply; "This book upset me"; "A troubling thought"
(synonym) upset, trouble
(hypernym) affect, impress, move, strike
(hyponym) agitate, rouse, turn on, charge, commove, excite, charge up
(derivation) disturbance, perturbation, upset
2. change the arrangement or position of
(synonym) agitate, vex, commove, shake up, stir up, raise up
(hypernym) move, displace
(hyponym) beat, scramble
3. tamper with; "Don't touch my CDs!"
(hypernym) change, alter, modify
4. destroy the peace or tranquility of; "Don't interrupt me when I'm reading"
(hypernym) act, move
5. damage as if by shaking or jarring; "Don't disturb the patient's wounds by moving him too rapidly!" |
Migrants' children as well integrated as Swedes' childrenJanuary 27, 2014 in Other Sciences / Social Sciences
Children of immigrants have less education and get lower level jobs than children of the majority population. That is the impression one gets when looking at broad-based statistics. But REMESO researcher Alireza Behtoui has shown that when you break them down, the statistics tell another story.
"You can't compare apples and oranges. For the most part, children whose parents immigrated to Sweden in the 1960s and 1970s have a working-class background, while the children of the majority population come from working, middle and upper classes."
Dr. Behtoui has studied data from thousands of children and adolescents with parents born in Turkey, and compared it with an equal number of randomly selected children and adolescents whose parents were born in Sweden. In general, those with a Turkish background are less educated than those with parents born in Sweden. But if you factor in the education level of the parents, there are no differences between the two groups.
In a similar analysis, he investigated their success on the labour market. Broad-based data show that unemployment is higher amongst those with a Turkish background. But when other factors are considered, the picture changes. By factoring in age and educational level, the difference between the two groups decreases drastically. And when the parents' standing on the labour market is also considered, the difference virtually disappears. Again, comparing the children with parents from Turkey with children of Swedish natives of similar circumstances, there are no marked differences. The differences appear when the Turkish-background children are compared with the population as a whole.
However there is a difference in one parameter: salary. The difference does decrease with factors such as education level, gender and whether the person has children, but it is still significant. Young people with a Turkish background have significantly lower salaries than those with a Swedish background.
Dr. Behtoui uses the term "subordinate inclusion" (coined by his colleague Anders Nergaard) to describe the standing of the immigrants' children: they are included in society, but in a subordinate position. There are a number of explanations for this. The children have attended highly segregated schools and their social networks do not facilitate a strong position on the labour market. Many of them consider themselves overqualified for the jobs they have.
"We know that social contacts are important in getting established on the labour market. Many children of immigrants lack the right social contacts."
On the other hand, these children have attended Swedish school from the outset. They know the language and the social codes. Dr. Behtoui also highlights the significance of the Swedish welfare state. Previously it was a barrier against exclusion. Things like homelessness, extreme poverty, long-term unemployment, criminality and extremely low wages amongst ethnified groups are still much less prominent in Sweden than for instance in the United States, he writes.
The article was published in Ethnic and Racial Studies, with the title "Incorporation of children of immigrants: the case of descendants of immigrants from Turkey in Sweden". www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/01419870.2012.696667#.UuC-e7QV_cs
Provided by Linköping University
"Migrants' children as well integrated as Swedes' children" January 27, 2014 http://phys.org/news/2014-01-migrants-children-swedes.html |
Date of this Version
The bobcat (Lynx rufus), alias “wildcat,” is a medium-sized member of the North American cat family. It can be distinguished at a distance by its graceful catlike movements, short “bobbed” tail, and round face and pointed ears. Visible at close distances are black hair at the tip of the tail and prominent white dots on the upper side of the ears. Body hair color varies, but the animal’s sides and flanks are usually brownish black or reddish brown with either distinct or faint black spots. The back is commonly brownish yellow with a dark line down the middle. The chest and outside of the legs are covered with brownish to light gray fur with black spots or bars. Bobcats living at high elevations and in northern states and Canada have relatively long hair. In southern states, bobcats may have a yellowish or reddish cast on their backs and necks. The bobcat occurs in a wide variety of habitats from the Atlantic to the Pacific Ocean and from Mexico to northern British Columbia. It occurs in the 48 contiguous states. The bobcat is as adapted to subtropical forests as it is to dense shrub and hardwood cover in temperate climates. Other habitats include chaparral, wooded streams, river bottoms, canyonlands, and coniferous forests. Bobcats prefer areas where these native habitat types are interspersed with agriculture and escape cover (rocky outcrops) close by. The bobcat has thrived where agriculture is interspersed through the above native habitat types, as in southern Canada. Bobcats are capable of hunting and killing prey that range from the size of a mouse to that of a deer. Rabbits, tree squirrels, ground squirrels, woodrats, porcupines, pocket gophers, and ground hogs comprise most of their diet. Opossums, raccoon, grouse, wild turkey, and other ground-nesting birds are also eaten. Occasionally, insects and reptiles can be part of the bobcat’s diet. Bobcats are secretive, shy, solitary, and seldom seen in the wild. They are active during the day but prefer twilight, dawn, or night hours. Bobcats tend to travel well-worn animal trails,logging roads, and other paths. They use their acute vision and hearing for locating enemies and prey. |
Life In Missouri... More About Trees and Plants...
Today, big bluestem (Andropogon gerardii) was named the official Missouri State Grass.
4th grade teacher Christine Schmidgall and four successive classes of fourth graders in Rolla, MO, were instrumental in the naming. They worked with their state representative, lobbied the legislature, and even testified before a subcommittee. No wonder the governor came to their school to sign the bill into law.
“Big Bluestem has been here for 10,000 years,” said Schmidgall. “One of the neat things about it is that it grows nine to 12 feet above the ground, but its roots go 10 to 15 feet below and nourish the soil as they decay. Really, it’s incredible, and truly native to the state.”
Source: "Blunt Signs Big Bluestem Bill," by Kristen Jump,The Rolla Daily News, June 12, 2007
The Associated Press was less ecstatic about Missouri's new state grass. Perhaps they were trying to be more "fair and balanced" than the hometown newspaper of the teacher and kids who successfully lobbied for big bluestem.
According to a U.S. Department of Agriculture Web site, big bluestem can be a "weedy and invasive" plant. But the agency also said the grass is good for livestock grazing, erosion control and also can provide a place for nesting by birds and other animals.
Source: "Big bluestem is now state’s official grass", by staff. Associated Press, June 12, 2007
The grassy topic of this post may be unpleasant to readers who are allergic to grass pollen. It's a rough time of the year for hay fever sufferers. I hope the clump of big bluestem at the top of this post doesn't make anyone sneeze or break out in hives. |
The term flour was once spelled 'flower'. The milled flour we buy and use today was once ground using a mortar and pestle. Milling of different grains dates back to prehistoric times and through the ages automation of the milling process was perfected. Most people think of flour in terms of "wheat" flour. When in fact flour can be ground from a variety of nuts and seeds. Some types of flours available are: barley, buckwheat, chickpea, corn, oats, potato, rice, rye, soy, wheat, and vegetables. When used in baking flour contributes body and structure, texture and flavor to baked goods. When used in baking it binds the ingredients together and supports the batter. It can also be used to thicken sauces, creams and pie fillings. Recipes calling for dusting cake pans or counters with flour help prevent batters and bread dough from sticking to surfaces. Flour can also be used to coat fruits and nuts before adding to batters, thus preventing them from sinking to the bottom of the pan when baked. The type of flour used will ultimately affect the finished product. Flour contains protein and when it comes in contact with water and heat it produces gluten, which gives elasticity and strength to baked goods. Different types of flour contain different amounts of protein. Therefore using a different type of flour than what is called for in a recipe (without compensating for this change) will alter the outcome of the baked good. A cake flour is used to make a white cake where a delicate tender crumb is desired. Bread flour is used to make a chewy bread and all-purpose flour makes a delicious batch of chocolate chip cookies. All-purpose flour has a 10-12% protein content and is made from a blend of hard and soft wheat flours. It can be bleached or unbleached which are interchangeable. However, Southern brands of bleached all-purpose flour have a lower protein content (8%) as they are made from a soft winter wheat. All-purpose flour can vary in its protein content not only by brand but also regionally. The same brand can have different protein contents depending on what area of the country in the United States you are buying it. Good for making cakes, cookies, breads, and pastries. Cake flour has a 6-8% protein content and is made from soft wheat flour. It is chlorinated to further break down the strength of the gluten and is smooth and velvety in texture. Good for making cakes (especially white cakes and biscuits) and cookies where a tender and delicate texture is desired. To substitute cake flour for all-purpose flour use 1 cup plus 2 tablespoons cake flour for every cup of all-purpose flour. Make your own - one cup sifted cake flour can be substituted with 3/4 cup (84 grams) sifted bleached all-purpose flour plus 2 tablespoons (15 grams) cornstarch. Pastry flour is similar to cake flour, although it has not been chlorinated, with an 8-10% protein content and is made from soft wheat flour. It is soft and ivory in color. Can find it in health food stores or through mail order catalogs. To make two cups of pastry flour, combine 1 1/3 cups (185 grams) all-purpose flour with 2/3 cup (90 grams) cake flour. Good for making pastry, pies and cookies. Self-Rising flour has 8-9% protein and contains flour plus baking powder and salt. I do not use this type of flour because I prefer to add my own baking powder and salt. Also, if the flour is stored too long the baking powder will lose some of its strength and your baked goods will not rise properly. If you want to make your own add 1 ½ teaspoons (7.5 grams) baking powder and ½ teaspoon (3.5 grams) salt per cup (140 grams) of all-purpose flour. |
A Young Folks' History of the Church
were poorly clad, some had no tents or wagon covers, and in the snow and cold there was
much suffering; but on the Saints went, looking with sad hearts on their deserted homes;
but rather would they face the winter storms and cold than to live in constant dread of
Topics.—1. Presiding authority in the Church. 2. The Twelve sustained. 3. Action of
Sidney Rigdon. 4. Mobbings. 5. The removal.
Questions and Review.—1. Where were Joseph and Hyrum buried? 2. What were the
feelings of the Saints? 3. Why were the Saints troubled about a leader? 4. Where were
most of the Twelve at the time of the martyrdom? 5. When the First Presidency is taken
away, what is the next presiding authority in the Church? 6. What did Sidney Rigdon
want? 7. What testimony was given the Saints at the meeting on August 8th? 8. What
became of Sidney Rigdon? 9. What did the enemies of the Church expect to do by killing
Joseph Smith? 10. Who first planned the move to the mountains? 11. Tell about the work
of the mobs. 12. Why did the Saints work so hard to finish the temple, knowing they
would have to leave it? 13. When did the move westward begin? |
On April 27, 1927, Bell Telephone and the U.S. Department of Commerce conducted the first long distance transmission of moving images between Washington D.C. and New York City. The first modern ‘television’ was born.
Secretary of Commerce at the time, Herbert Hoover commented:
“Today we have, in a sense, the transmission of sight for the first time in the world’s history. Human genius has now destroyed the impediment of distance in a new respect, and in a manner hitherto unknown.”
Hoover’s prediction of the ‘unknown’ stands true today as the modern TV continues to evolve into things humanity never imagined only decades prior.
Although most of society couldn’t imagine the impressive capabilities of transmitting moving images over the airwaves, there were a few special folks out there who did.
Five years prior to the world seeing the first practical demonstration of the television, and scores before the first instance of the smartphone, Nikola Tesla, not only imagined it but had completed crucial steps for making it possible.
Television was only a small portion of Tesla’s predictions, however. In Volume 100 of Popular Science Monthly, January-June, 1922, Tesla, born July 10, 1856 would predict FaceTime.
“It will soon be possible to see as well as hear by means of electricity. “Television” will be employed as generally as telephoning. As one listens to a voice at the other end of the line, he will also see every expression of the speaker’s face,” explained Tesla in his article.
“It will be possible to see as well as to hear either by the wireless telephone or over the regular wire circuits. There will be no limit to the distance of such transmission, so that we shall be able to talk to a person in any part of the world and watch his face at the same time.
“In a general way the instrument used for television will closely resemble the mechanism of the human eye. Success in transmitting vision depends upon four things, and of these I have already perfected two.
“The radio transmission oi sound will also be developed in the future far beyond the present system. It will be possible not only for any person with a station to listen in, but also to transmit at the same time to every other station. I have already accomplished this in my experiments.”
But this amazing man, with such grand visions, didn’t stop at the prediction of Facetime. Just a few years later, in an interview with Collier’s Weekly, Tesla predicted the smartphone.
An article dated January 25, 1926, by the Associated Press, documented the interview.
Application of radio principles will enable people by carrying a small instrument in their pockets to see distant events like the sorceress of the magic crystal fairy tales and legends, Nikola Tesla, electrical inventor, predicted today. Mr. Tesla, who on several occasion has tried to communicate with the planet Mars, made his predictions in an interview published in the current issue of Collier’s Weekly.
“We shall be able to witness the inauguration of a president, the playing of a world’s series baseball game, the havoc of an earthquake, or a battle just as though we were present,” Mr. Tesla said.
While every generation is astonished by the advancement of technology, few generation have predicted technological advancements so far before they happened, and with such accuracy that it becomes mind boggling.
Imagine the world today if Tesla’s visions were allowed to come to fruition had his work not been seized by the government. But sadly, that was not the case.
Only two days after his death, the FBI ordered the U.S. Office of Alien Property to seize all of Tesla’s belongings. Tesla’s entire estate from the Hotel New Yorker, and other New York City hotels, was transported to the Manhattan Storage and Warehouse Company under OAP seal.
In an instant, this genius man’s entire life’s work became the property of the government to further their militaristic escapades.
However, not all was lost; several new geniuses would rise up and follow in Tesla’s footsteps. People like Jim Murray would diligently devote their lives to understanding this great man, and in turn, create paradigm shifting technologies like the SERPS (Switched Energy Resonance Power Supply) device. This highly specialized electronic circuit has the ability to “Magnify” the effective power applied to it by nearly 50 times. When Jim coupled his device with his friend Paul Babcock’s patented ultrafast five nanosecond switching technology, they achieved a 4790% increase in electrical power compared to the input. This type of performance, if commercialized, would cause the largest electric utility companies to shake in their boots.
It’s been 75 years since his death, and Tesla is still helping to make the world a better place — in spite of government schools making no mention of his contributions to humanity. |
Subsets and Splits