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The world cannot afford to let the tragedy of NATO’s war against Yugoslavia be forgotten due to the silence of those who were actors and accomplices of that brutal genocide.
President Clinton, National Security Advisor Sandy Berger, Secretary of State Madeleine Albright and other close collaborators of the President, including the person who was ordered by Berger not to take notes when Cuba was discussed, were at the meeting Clinton held with Aznar in the White House on April 13, 1999, where the decision to intensify the bombings was made, and Aznar suggested that Serbian television, radio and other facilities be bombed, in actions that would take the lives of innumerable defenseless civilians.
Some of them, through press statements or in a book or memoir, may have individually written about the adventure, but none focused on the real danger and suicidal wars that the United States is leading the world to. The publication of the existing secret documents could be the legacy of a President in 200 years from now, when, judging by the pace we’re going at, there will no longer be any publicity or readers.
Less than ten years have since gone by.
In Europe and elsewhere they have many accomplices keeping silence.
After my third message was sent to Milosevic, Italy’s Minister of Transportation visited Cuba. I met with him on March 30, 1999 and directly discussed the issue of the war against Yugoslavia.
What follows is a summary of what I said to him, according to the notes taken during our conversation, in the presence of my Office staff and officials from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs:
“I began by asking why they had invaded Serbia and how they were going to reach a settlement. I told him that, in my opinion, it had been a great mistake and that, were the Serbs to offer resistance, they would run into a cul-de-sac. Why did Europe need to dismantle Yugoslavia, which had implemented many reforms and which, strictly speaking –the Cold War having ended– could not be labeled a communist state and, much less, an enemy of Europe? I explained that, in order to satisfy the German government’s demand, Europe had encouraged and supported the separation of Croatia, where, during World War II, Nazi Germany organized the fearful chetniks, groups which perpetrated countless crimes and massacres against the Serbs and the liberation movement headed by Tito.
“Due to this complacency and lack of political foresight, in the prevailing euphoria of the days when the socialist block and the Soviet Union were in a crisis, Europe dismantled Yugoslavia. This resulted in bloody episodes and, specially, in the long and violent war in Bosnia and, ultimately, in NATO’s current war against Serbia. By then, Macedonia’s separation had also taken place, which meant the mutilation of the greater part of the Yugoslav Federation. Only Serbia, Montenegro and Kosovo remained.
“As everyone knows, for decades Kosovo’s population of Albanian descent grew uninterruptedly until it became the broad majority. In Tito’s lifetime, long before his death, many Serbian families left Kosovo seeking safety faced with the numerous acts of violence that extremist groups from Kosovo committed against them. At that time, in Kosovo, the Serbs were subjected to what today is called ethnic cleansing.
“Yugoslavia’s unnecessary and bloody disintegration encouraged and unleashed the underlying conflicts between the majority, of Albanian descent, and Kosovo’s Serbian minority, conflicts which are at the root of the current problem.
“The Serbian people are the essential core of what remains of the former Yugoslavia. They are a combative and courageous people who have been profoundly humiliated. I was convinced that, offered ample autonomy, Serbia would have accepted an honorable and peaceful settlement of the conflicts in Kosovo.
“Kosovo’s moderate groups, acting in an intelligent and constructive fashion, supported this settlement, as the presence of a broad majority of Albanian descent would, sooner or later, make the peaceful emergence of an independent state possible. Europe knows perfectly well that Kosovo’s extremist groups did not want this settlement; they demanded immediate independence and, because of this, wanted the intervention of NATO forces.
“It is unfair to lay all of the responsibility on Serbia. Serbia has not invaded any sovereign country. What it has done, in essence, is oppose the military presence of foreign troops in its territory. For months, in recent weeks particularly, it has known nothing but constant threats. Its unconditional surrender was urged. No country can be treated like that, let alone the people who, in the days of Europe’s occupation, fought most heroically against the Nazis and have ample experience in irregular warfare.
“If the Serbs resist –and I am convinced that they will resist– NATO will have no other option but to commit genocide, but such an action would fail, for two reasons:
“Firstly: they would be unable to defeat the Serbian people if the latter applied all of its experience and irregular warfare doctrine.
“Secondly: Public opinion in NATO member countries themselves would not allow such an action.
“Armored divisions, stealth bombers, tomahawk, cruise missiles or any other so-called intelligent weapon would not suffice. A missile or bomb would have to be launched for every person capable of carrying a rifle, a bazooka or a portable anti-aircraft weapon. All of NATO’s power would, in this case, be useless. There are star wars and there are ground wars. All high-tech equipment notwithstanding, individual combatants would be the most important element in this type of war.
“Beyond Kosovo, a much more serious problem is emerging, to the detriment of Europe’s and the world’s interests. Russia has been humiliated terribly. NATO has already advanced to the borders of what was once the Soviet Union and it is promising to include other states of the former socialist block, and even Baltic countries that were part of the Soviet Union. Russians have every reason to think they will not stop until they reach the walls of the Kremlin.
“Like the Serbs, the Russians are a Slavic people and this sense of identity is very strong among these peoples. The attacks on Serbia are profoundly humiliating for them and, more than any other action, they have produced deep and justified feelings of insecurity, not only among the Russians but in India and China as well, and these countries will undoubtedly attempt to ally themselves to Russia to guarantee their security. I doubt the Russians would cease to do whatever is necessary to retain a response capability which would be their sole guarantee in this situation.
“Neither Europe nor the world, with their current and overwhelming economic problems, would gain anything through such a course of action.
“A few days ago, in the early morning of March 26, while returning from Colombia to Russia before schedule, the President of the Russian Federation’s State DUMA, Guennadi Selezniov, made a stopover at Havana’s airport. I took up these issues with him of my own initiative. I told him no military solution was possible, that, without a doubt, any effort to offer Serbia military aid would inevitably lead to a general war, as the only means available to wage such a war today are not conventional. I said also that the battle was of a political, not military, nature.
“Selezniov publicly expressed this point of view I shared with him.
“Both, Europe and the world are duty-bound to find such a settlement, which, though difficult and complex, is perfectly possible. If, rather than devote all their efforts to threatening Serbia with terrible bombings, they had brought pressures to bear on extremists in Kosovo, such a settlement could have been reached. Only NATO can contain extremists in Kosovo through frank and uncompromising efforts. It is not a question of using weapons to achieve this, but, rather, of warning the extremists in such a way that they will be certain, beyond all doubt, that they do not have NATO’s support. There is no question that the bombs that have been dropped on Serbia for a week now will never contribute to these dissuasive efforts.
“In addition to this, I believe it is a serious political mistake that the United States and Europe should try to keep Russia on the edge of the precipice in economic terms by imposing it the International Monetary Fund’s unviable formulas.
“The West makes no mention of the 300 billion dollars that have been stolen from Russia and relocated to Portugal, Spain, France, Italy, Austria and other countries. This is fifteen times the miserable 20-billion-dollar loan that the International Monetary Fund has been discussing for months now. The West, which recommended or imposed these models and policies on Russia, shares in the responsibility for this ruthless plundering of Russia’s wealth.
“An internal explosion in Russia would be catastrophic. This is coupled with NATO’s encroachment, which I’ve already mentioned, the proposal to cancel the Strategic Anti-Missile Defense Agreement and, now, the incredible humiliation surrounding the attack launched by NATO’s powerful forces against a small country like Serbia.
“I told him I was against all kinds of genocide or slaughters, regardless of the perpetrator, and that all ethnic groups and religions, without exception, are deserving of the right to life, culture and peace.
“If I have taken the liberty of explaining this, it is because I feel it is my duty to warn you of these dangers and of the need to solve them. To lay these issues on the table does no harm to anyone and can, on the contrary, benefit everyone. I again expressed my conviction that the Serbs would resist, and that a peaceful settlement was, in my opinion, feasible, even though negotiating with a country on which thousands of bombs had been dropped and whose honor, dignity and economy had been dealt a harsh blow was by no means easy.
“NATO has practically no more military targets to strike, perhaps only concentrated or moving troops remain, and the easiest thing for these troops would be to split up to wage another type of war in which they cannot be destroyed by air strikes.
“Europe knows that ground combat would be very costly in terms of human lives and, what’s more, futile. I added that, were the Serbs to deploy the strategy we would use in our country in the event of an invasion by the United States, an area in which they have already shown extraordinary experience, NATO’s war would be futile and repulsive, an act of genocide in the heart of Europe destined to be condemned everywhere”.
Today is a glorious day for our country, the day on which Carlos Manuel de Céspedes began Cuba’s war of independence against the Spanish metropolis.
He was a source of inspiration for the generations of Cubans who came after him. What he taught us was the duty to reflect on and confront the dangers that menace the human species today.
Fidel Castro Ruz
October 10, 2007 | fwe2-CC-MAIN-2013-20-41189000 |
Chemainus, on Vancouver Island’s east shore, is a little town snuggled in between a mountain range and the ocean, isolated with a river cutting it off from the south and a major highway to the north. A town that was born of the hands of labourers, with its only industry failing, Chemainus showed the world its true spirit and determination, and was to achieve fame through the hands of artists.
Such is the condensed recent history of “The Little Town that Did.” Mining, fishing and forestry were the original industries that gave work to many Chinese who worked in “bull gangs” struggling to move huge lumber planks to the ships in the late 1800′s, and who arrived to work on the trans Canada Railroad later. Japanese, and later, east Indians blended their cultures with Scots and Germans looking for riches in the mines and staying to work in the forests and on fishing boats. And the beautiful Cowichan Valley has been the home of The Original First Nations peoples and their ancestors for countless generations, whose history and lives have been interwoven since those first white settlers came to the area.
Learn more about our historic town on the Chemainus website. | fwe2-CC-MAIN-2013-20-41194000 |
The namespace contains Windows Desktop Speech technology types for implementing speech recognition.
The Windows Desktop Speech Technology software offers a basic speech recognition infrastructure that digitizes acoustical signals, and recovers words and speech elements from audio input.
Applications use the namespace to access and extend this basic speech recognition technology by defining algorithms for identifying and acting on specific phrases or word patterns, and by managing the runtime behavior of this speech infrastructure.
You create grammars, which consist of a set of rules or constraints, to define words and phrases that your application will recognize as meaningful input. Using a constructor for the Grammar class, you can create a grammar object at runtime from GrammarBuilder or SrgsDocument instances, or from a file, a string, or a stream that contains a definition of a grammar.
Using the GrammarBuilder and Choices classes, you can programmatically create grammars of low to medium complexity that can be used to perform recognition for many common scenarios. To create grammars programmatically that conform to the Speech Recognition Grammar Specification 1.0 (SRGS) and take advantage of the authoring flexibility of SRGS, use the types of the System.Speech.Recognition.SrgsGrammar namespace. You can also create XML-format SRGS grammars using any text editor and use the result to create GrammarBuilder, SrgsDocument , or Grammar objects.
In addition, the DictationGrammar class provides a special-case grammar to support a conventional dictation model.
See Create Grammars in the System Speech Programming Guide for .NET Framework 4.0 for more information and examples.
Manage Speech Recognition Engines
You can use the SpeechRecognizer class to create client applications that use the speech recognition technology provided by Windows, which you can configure through the Control Panel. Such applications accept input through a computer's default audio input mechanism.
For more control over the configuration and type of recognition engine, build an application using SpeechRecognitionEngine, which runs in-process. Using the SpeechRecognitionEngine class, you can also dynamically select audio input from devices, files, or streams.
See Initialize and Manage a Speech Recognition Engine in the System Speech Programming Guide for .NET Framework 4.0 for more information.
Respond to Events
SpeechRecognizer and SpeechRecognitionEngine objects generate events in response to audio input to the speech recognition engine. The AudioLevelUpdated, AudioSignalProblemOccurred, AudioStateChanged events are raised in response to changes in the incoming signal. The SpeechDetected event is raised when the speech recognition engine identifies incoming audio as speech. The speech recognition engine raises the SpeechRecognized event when it matches speech input to one of its loaded grammars, and raises the SpeechRecognitionRejected when speech input does not match any of its loaded grammars.
Other types of events include the LoadGrammarCompleted event which a speech recognition engine raises when it has loaded a grammar. The StateChanged is exclusive to the SpeechRecognizer class, which raises the event when the state of Windows Speech Recognition changes.
You can register to be notified for events that the speech recognition engine raises and create handlers using the EventsArgs classes associated with each of these events to program your application's behavior when an event is raised.
See Using Speech Recognition Events in the System Speech Programming Guide for .NET Framework 4.0 for more information.
|AudioLevelUpdatedEventArgs||Provides data for the AudioLevelUpdated event of the SpeechRecognizer or the SpeechRecognitionEngine class.|
|AudioSignalProblemOccurredEventArgs||Provides data for the AudioSignalProblemOccurred event of a SpeechRecognizer or a SpeechRecognitionEngine.|
|AudioStateChangedEventArgs||Provides data for the AudioStateChanged event of the SpeechRecognizer or the SpeechRecognitionEngine class.|
|Choices||Represents a set of alternatives in the constraints of a speech recognition grammar.|
|DictationGrammar||Represents a speech recognition grammar used for free text dictation.|
|EmulateRecognizeCompletedEventArgs||Provides data for the EmulateRecognizeCompleted event of the SpeechRecognizer and SpeechRecognitionEngine classes.|
|Grammar||A runtime object that references a speech recognition grammar, which an application can use to define the constraints for speech recognition.|
|GrammarBuilder||Provides a mechanism for programmatically building the constraints for a speech recognition grammar.|
|LoadGrammarCompletedEventArgs||Provides data for the LoadGrammarCompleted event of a SpeechRecognizer or SpeechRecognitionEngine object.|
|RecognitionEventArgs||Provides information about speech recognition events.|
|RecognitionResult||Contains detailed information about input that was recognized by instances of SpeechRecognitionEngine or SpeechRecognizer.|
|RecognizeCompletedEventArgs||Provides data for the RecognizeCompleted event raised by a SpeechRecognitionEngine or a SpeechRecognizer object.|
|RecognizedAudio||Represents audio input that is associated with a RecognitionResult.|
|RecognizedPhrase||Contains detailed information, generated by the speech recognizer, about the recognized input.|
|RecognizedWordUnit||Provides the atomic unit of recognized speech.|
|RecognizerInfo||Represents information about a SpeechRecognizer or SpeechRecognitionEngine instance.|
|RecognizerUpdateReachedEventArgs||Returns data from a SpeechRecognitionEngine.RecognizerUpdateReached or a SpeechRecognizer.RecognizerUpdateReached event.|
|ReplacementText||Contains information about a speech normalization procedure that has been performed on recognition results.|
|SemanticResultKey||Associates a key string with SemanticResultValue values to define SemanticValue objects.|
|SemanticResultValue||Represents a semantic value and optionally associates the value with a component of a speech recognition grammar.|
|SemanticValue||Represents the semantic organization of a recognized phrase.|
|SpeechDetectedEventArgs||Returns data from SpeechRecognitionEngine.SpeechDetected or SpeechRecognizer.SpeechDetected events.|
|SpeechHypothesizedEventArgs||Returns notification from SpeechRecognitionEngine.SpeechHypothesized or SpeechRecognizer.SpeechHypothesized events.This class supports the .NET Framework infrastructure and is not intended to be used directly from application code.|
|SpeechRecognitionEngine||Provides the means to access and manage an in-process speech recognition engine.|
|SpeechRecognitionRejectedEventArgs||Provides information for the SpeechRecognizer.SpeechRecognitionRejected and SpeechRecognitionEngine.SpeechRecognitionRejected events.|
|SpeechRecognizedEventArgs||Provides information for the Grammar.SpeechRecognized, SpeechRecognitionEngine.SpeechRecognized, and SpeechRecognizer.SpeechRecognized events.|
|SpeechRecognizer||Provides access to the shared speech recognition service available on the Windows desktop.|
|SpeechUI||Provides text and status information on recognition operations to be displayed in the Speech platform user interface.|
|StateChangedEventArgs||Returns data from the StateChanged event.|
|AudioSignalProblem||Contains a list of possible problems in the audio signal coming in to a speech recognition engine.|
|AudioState||Contains a list of possible states for the audio input to a speech recognition engine.|
|DisplayAttributes||Lists the options that the SpeechRecognitionEngine object can use to specify white space for the display of a word or punctuation mark.|
|RecognizeMode||Enumerates values of the recognition mode.|
|RecognizerState||Enumerates values of the recognizer's state.|
|SubsetMatchingMode||Enumerates values of subset matching mode.| | fwe2-CC-MAIN-2013-20-41195000 |
Huntsman spiders are commonly encountered in all sorts of situations – gardens, houses, and even under the sun visor of your car! The reason you tend to find a huntsman rather than a Red-back spider walking around inside your car can be explained by how they catch their prey.
Generally, the ways spiders catch their prey divides them into two categories: web-builders and vagrant hunters. A web-builder spins a web, then sits in or near the web and waits for the prey to come to them. A vagrant hunter such as a hunstman does not use a web to catch its prey; instead it roams, stalks and runs down its prey. The wandering habit of hunting spiders is the reason you are more likely to find them indoors.
There are three groups of huntsman spiders in Victoria. They all have the following characteristic, which distinguishes them from other spiders: the front two pairs of legs are noticeably longer than the back or hind two pairs of legs.
The front two pairs of legs of a huntsman spider are much longer the rear two pairs.Artist: Graham Milledge / Source: Museum Victoria
This is not something you would need to measure. The difference in leg lengths is very obvious.
These brown or grey huntsmen are the ones most commonly found in houses, where they hunt at night on walls and ceilings. They also occasionally enter vehicles, causing much alarm. In the bush, Holconia species can be found sheltering during the day beneath the loose bark of eucalypts. They are large spiders and, when alarmed, are capable of moving sideways very rapidly. Food consists of insects and other invertebrates.
Huntsman spider, Holconia montanaPhotographer: Alan Henderson / Source: Museum Victoria
Their flat, oval egg sac is constructed of white papery silk. It is most commonly deposited beneath the bark of trees. The lifespan of these spiders is about two years.
These spiders are usually orange or pink, and have a distinct dark mark on their abdomen. They are active at night and occasionally come into houses, but less frequently than other huntsman spiders. Outside they can be found hunting for prey on the trunks of trees or in foliage. During the day they shelter beneath the bark of trees, where they may build a silken retreat for moulting and egg laying. Some species of Neosparassus build a silken retreat in foliage by gluing several leaves together, and others construct shallow burrows.
Badge Huntsman Spider, Neosparassus dianaPhotographer: Alan Henderson / Source: Museum Victoria
Their flattened circular egg sac is guarded by the female. During this period she can be quite aggressive and will rear up in a defensive display if provoked. Young Neosparassus are often green in colour.
This huntsman is the largest of the huntsman spiders, measuring 35 mm or more in body length. It is a very flat spider with a dark orange head and black fangs. It is not often found indoors, but it is common under pieces of flat metal sheets, fibro-cement or roof tiles left lying around in the backyard. In the bush, it can be found if you peel back loose bark on eucalypt trees. Sometimes hundreds of individuals of this species may be found living together under the loose bark of trees and within logs. They feed on insects and other invertebrates.
The female lays the eggs in a flattened circular egg sac constructed of papery white silk. Once the young hatch, they do not disperse as with other species of huntsmen, but remain and grow within the colony. Communal huntsmen usually live for one or two seasons.
Social Huntsman Spider, Delena canceridesPhotographer: Alan Henderson / Source: Museum Victoria
Huntsman spiders are timid spiders and bites are infrequent. Symptoms are usually minor, including local pain and swelling. Some Neosparassus species can give a painful bite.
Brunnet, B. 1994. The Silken Web – A Natural History of Australian Spiders. Reed Books: Melbourne.
Lindsey, T. 1998. Spiders of Australia. New Holland Publishers: Sydney.
Walker, K. L., Yen, A. L. and Milledge, G. A. 2003. Spiders and Scorpions commonly found in Victoria. Royal Society of Victoria: Melbourne.
Hi Vicky and thanks for your question. Your bright orange huntsmans sound to me like what are commonly called badge huntsmans. These spiders are mentioned in the information sheet that you have commented on however I have also seen badge huntsmans much more orange in colour than the image we have on our information sheet.
There are a number of different species of huntsman spiders and some of them do have a white patterning on their legs. If you still have the image the Museum offers a free identification service. You are welcome to e-mail the picture to [email protected] and we can confirm if it is a huntsman and try and put a species name to it.
Hi thanks for your enquiry. Normally we do need an image or the specimen itself to do an identification. But we have passed this on to our entomology team for their opinion. We'll get back to you as soon as possible
Hi again Nicholas. As suspected our entomologists are unable to provide an identification without the specimen or an image. There are a number of species that are similar so it's hard without an image. Meanwhile, our Victorian Huntsman infosheet and Victorian Spiders website may possibly help you out.
The 'badge' on badge huntsmans is located on the underside, (or ventral surface) of the abdomen and so can be hard to see unless the spider is sitting on glass. Please feel free to take some images of the spider and e-mail them to [email protected] and we will attempt to identify the spider for you.
Hi Trish, our Live Exhibits team are interested in seeing your photograph to help explain this interesting behaviour.
Hi Trish. The response from Live Exhibits is as follows: What you have witnessed is huntsman courtship (and possibly) mating. The male must firstly introduce himself as a mate (not food) through a series of bodily shudders and vibrations, which culminate in him tapping and caressing her. If successful, he will then proceed to mate by leaning underneath her abdomen and engaging his feelers (palps). The bulbs at the end of his palps are where he stores his sperm. He may mate for quite some time, swapping sides intermittently.
Prepare for the pitter patter of many little feet!
Please feel free to take some digital images of the spider and e-mail them to [email protected] and we will try and confirm for you if you have a badge huntsman or a different species.
I would be surprised if the same huntsman keeps climbing from the ground back to your appartment each time, but it is possible. The important thing to remember is that whether the spider is the same one or whether your appartment block has a few that the spiders are not at all interested in you or biting you. They do not make webs and sit in them waiting for food but actively hunt for their food, which on occasion brings them into our homes. It is very hard to keep spiders out, but making sure fly wire on windows is well fitted and any obvious gaps under doors and windows are blocked will help a bit. Good on you for trying your best to continue to put the spiders outside. Just make sure you are very careful doing this as the spiders don't know your good intentions and may be alarmed at being trapped.
if the spider is still around please feel free to take an image of the spider and e-mail it to [email protected] and we will try and identify it for you.
If you have access to a digital camera please feel free to try and safely take some images of the spider and e-mail them to [email protected] and we will try and identify them for you. In terms of risk to the baby, no spiders feed on people and bites usually occur when people try to kill the spiders or if they accidentally stand or lie on one. As far as I know for Tasmania the only spider considered highly dangerous is the Redback which most people can identify. You may want to contact the Tasmanian Museum as well to see if they have any information.
Our Live Exhibits staff are not aware of any particular scent that repels these spiders, Julie, although it's likely that such scents exist as they are very sensitive animals. It may be that the only option for your car is to utilise a surface spray around possible entry points? We'd hate for you to have an accident. Hope this helps.
Hi Janet, we have asked our Live Exhibits Team and they have suggested that the spiderlings will disperse fairly quickly. If you do chose to relocate them, chose somewhere with some shelter, but rest assured, they can survive in the rain!
Razza - no, these spiders do not come in groups of threes. In fact, the vast majority of huntsman spiders are solitary animals, and keep to themselves. The exception to this is the Social Huntsman. They will breed up into large groups which shelter together under the loose bark of acacia and eucalypt trees. Although they shelter together, they still tend to wander around individually.
Hi Cath, we think it would take about 3 or 4 months, depending on how much food it gets. Their development is reasonably slow over cooler months, particularly if food is scarce.
Hi John. See some of the comments above for general advice about keeping spiders away from lived-in areas. Also bear in mind that spiderlings tend to disperse quite quickly. However, if you need to remove them immediately, you might need to vacuum them up!
Hi Stacey, if you can safely collect one of the spiders, place it in the freezer overnight to humanely kill it, put it in a container such as a pill jar and post it to Discovery Centre PO Box 666 Melbourne 3001, we will happily look at it for you and let you know if it is a juvenile huntsman. No spiders feed on people or seek them out to bite but if you step on a spider or if one is trapped in your clothing and being squashed it may bite.
Hi Greg, the Museum does have a free identification service. If you can safely obtain some images of the spiders please feel free to e-mail them to [email protected] and we will try and have them identified for you.
Hi Rebecca, huntsman spiders usually come inside looking for food. They do not build a web and wait for their prey to come to them, but rather hunt for it as their name suggests. Try not to be too alarmed at their presence, they have no interest in people. It is likely that they are also in other peoples' units, but you could try to minimise their numbers in your unit by making sure no vegetation is touching your windows or walls and try to find and block any gaps around windows and doors.
Hi Nerissa, I'm glad you and the kids are getting along well with your lodger. To be able to sex your spider you really need to be able to get quite close to the spider. Please see our information click here on how to determine if the spider is a boy or girl. Your spider may be quite mobile during the night searching for food and is probably helping keep your household insects under control while you sleep. If the spider is female and she has an egg sac the majority of these spiders upon hatching would leave the house as there is likely to be more food outside than inside.
Hi Kate, from your description the spiders are most likely what are commonly called huntsmans. This term applies to a large number of species ranging in colour from orange to grey. These spiders are not considered highly dangerous and are unlikely to bite unless you step on one or handle one and they feel threatened.
Hi Laura, huntsmans are common in most houses throughout Spring and become more common in Summer, when young ones start to appear. Huntsmans don’t build a nest – instead a female will produce an egg sac, generally wait until the eggs have hatched, then abandon the young spiders to their own devices. You can rest assured that 99% of these young spiders will die of natural causes before reaching adulthood. So the appearance of young spiders is a natural occurrence at this time of year and may or may not have anything to do with the adult spider you removed.
If you don’t mind living with huntsmans, the best thing to do is let the majority of them disperse and enjoy the company of the few that remain. Alternatively, you can catch them as you find them to be taken outside (like the original spider), but you don’t need to worry about being overrun with huntsmans if you leave them in place.
Hi Terri, the young huntsmans will begin leaving the female over the next few weeks, it is quite common for young spiders to stay close to the egg sac for the first little while. They have energy reserves in their bodies already so they don’t start getting hungry for a while. Once those energy reserves are used up they will disperse away from one another and catch small invertebrates like flies to feed on.
Hi Sacha, Lots of questions about your spider. Let’s see how many we can answer! It is quite common for Huntsman to return to the same resting place during the day, especially if it is a protected private spot like a disused letter box. Spiders have fine hairs all over their body that can detect the slightest movement around them. They are very good at keeping out of each other’s way and if they do ‘stumble’ across one another it is normally a big run to escape from each other – unless it is for mating purposes in which case they will caress each other to make their intentions known.
Once huntsmen emerge from their egg sac they will disperse away from one another (unless they are social huntmen). If they find a position that is suitable – plenty of food and shelter it is quite likely that they will choose to stay there until their food supply runs out. If huntsman spiders roam, what distance do they typically travel. Do they stay in a general area or move continually? This is a question that I can’t answer. I’m sure some spiders roam widely – some even hitch rides in cars!
It is quite common for people to mention a spider that has been hanging around in a certain place of an extended period of time. When the spider moults it is very soft and a cream colour. The process to moult does not take all that long as spiders are very vulnerable while they are hanging and removing their old exoskeleton. For the next day or two the spider sits quietly and allows its new exoskeleton to harden. When they are young, spiders moult quite often. If there is lots of food around then the spider eats rapidly and grows out of its old exoskeleton. As they get older the rate of moulting decreases.
Hi Rebecca - huntsmans live under bark and have flattened bodies, they are able to squeeze throughcracks and get into your house. They do this nocturnally. There are a number of traditional remedies to keep them out, including lemon oil – I’ve never known them to work but there’s no harm trying.
Huntsman populations vary from place to place and year to year. In bushy suburbs they will be more common and during warm wet summers their populations will also increase. This summer is a particularly good one, as the rain has brought out flushes of new growth on plants, which has boosted the insect numbers, which in turn has meant a massive increase in spiders, including huntsmans.
Huntsmans have adapted well to living inside houses. Without sealing all external cracks, removing foliage from around eaves and sealing all doors and windows, I’m afraid there’s not much else you can do but to live with them. They will treat you when stationary as part of the furniture, so there is a chance they will crawl on you. Huntsmans also have the bad habit of dropping on people’s heads who walk underneath them, which I suspect is part of their evolutionary adaptation to spreading the species around (they are just hitchhiking in this case).
The good news is that huntsmans generally are very reluctant to bite (I’ve inadvertently walked around all day with one inside my boot and was not bitten, for example) and the bite is no worse than a bee sting.
One reason huntsmans are so at home in our homes is their ability to squeeze through the smallest gaps with their flat legs and bodies, and this also enables them to hide away in places where airborne insecticides can’t reach them. The other option is a more residual, more penetrating insecticide but these are considered more harmful to the human inhabitants than the spiders are. And when the insecticides wear off, the huntsmans will just reinvade. The other type, the ‘electric repellent’ you mentioned, has no effect on spiders at all.
Some people use natural remedies such as lemon oil but these generally don’t do a sufficient job for most people’s satisfaction, if they work at all. The best way is to block the spiders’ entry points (around doors and windows, and particularly from foliage touching the house’s eaves), learn to love them even more, and things might return to normal next year.
Hi Hal, hunstmans, like all spiders, do indeed produce threads which they lay down at regular intervals as a safety line in case they lose their footing. When this happens, the spider will dangle from the thread and climb back up to safety. Similar to the way rock climbers attach ropes to the cliff face, so that if they fall it is not too far.
Additionally, huntsmans moult out of their old skins by hanging from a thread, and these empty skins are often seen dangling from these threads for months afterwards, usually under the roof of a shed or empty cupboard. Because huntsmans don’t build a web to catch prey, their silk is not so obvious, but for all the other reasons spiders use silk (mating, producing an egg sac, safety line etc), huntsmans use it too.
Hi Karra, huntsmen dropping legs is not generally a sign of starvation, more commonly a sign of old age or aggression from other animals in the house. Here at the Museum we keep lots of huntsmen in captivity and one of the first things for them to do before dying of old age is to lose all the fine delicate hairs on their backs and then drop a leg or two.
Hi Jordan, it is possible that the huntsman you keep on finding is the same specimen. There is an even greater likelihood if the only shelter in the paddock is the shed. It will head towards somewhere it can hide away – it certainly does not want to be caught out exposed to predators in the open space. To get rid of it from the shed the best thing you can do is find it a place that provides the same type of shelter that the shed does – under the bark of a tree is often a good place to leave him.
Hi Victoria, I have spoken with the Entomologist and he has advised that there are a few things you can do to deter spiders from coming in, but unfortunately, you cannot spider proof your home! Go outside and make sure there is no foliage coming into contact with the house, and block up any visible holes around windows and doors. You should also remember that they are not interested in you, they are coming inside looking for food and shelter.
Hi Audrey! The number of eggs produced by Huntsmans depends on which Huntsman species you have, but the more common species will produce 150-200 eggs. The good news for you, but not for the Huntsmans, is that they have a 99% mortality rate before reaching adulthood. So out of the 200 (at most) that emerge from the egg sac, only about 2 will survive and reproduce. These 2 replace their parents, which keeps the population relatively stable over time.
There are many nooks and crannies around the average house into which huntsman spiderlings can disappear. With holes in the wood panelling there are even more escape routes and there's probably not much benefit in trying to track them all down. The best thing is to let them be and let nature remove the great majority of spiderlings.
Hi John, Huntsman spiders tend to mate in the warmer months of the year when they themselves are more active. There is very little evidence to know if spiders have mated. Generally they will join together for a few minutes to up to an hour while the male transfers a sperm package into the female. Once that is completed you often only know that it was successful by the female putting on condition and her abdomen enlarging. You often find females sitting with egg sacs this time of the year – or earlier.
Hi Natasha, your female spider has chosen to lay her egg sac within your bedroom. She must think that it is fairly good conditions to incubate those eggs. As long as you stop any chemicals such as pesticides from being sprayed near her she should quite happily sit and do her thing. If you do feel you need to relocate her to a place away from the house. You need to carefully disconnect the silk threads connecting her egg sac to the wall and transfer her and her eggs to a dry secluded spot. Good luck.
Hello Astrid! Our entomologist says that this is most likely to be a Pseudoscorpion, which are often found under bark or in leaf litter. They eat even smaller invertebrates (see Melbourne's Wildlife for more information). They're not normally found inside, but might have been brought in on another larger invertebrate, as they hitch rides, or perhaps on some plant material.
Female huntsmans mature at about eight months of age and then mate with a male, generally a couple of weeks after maturing. She will then produce a flat, oval egg sac containing up to 200 eggs, and stand guard continually over it for about three weeks. When the eggs hatch, depending on the species of huntsman, she will often continue to guard them until they disperse.
Females produce egg sacs during summer and, although the records are not readily available, there appears to be a maximum of two egg sacs per summer. The timing of the egg sacs is determined by when she mates (depending on availability of suitable males), how long the eggs take to develop, and whether she gets the opportunity to produce a second egg sac (both of which depend on environmental conditions).
As females can live for two years, they have the potential to produce another two eggs in the second year.
So to summarise, our experience suggests that a female huntsman can produce up to four egg sacs, mainly during the summer months, but the timing is dependent on a number of environmental factors.
Hi Anthony, you can send images to the Discovery Centre, [email protected]
Hi Courtney, Museum Victoria offers a free identification service, but in order for the entomologist to make an accurate identification, a clear image is required You can send images to the Discovery Centre via the Ask the Experts page.
Hi Joe, All Australian spiders are venomous - that is, all Australian spiders produce venom to assist them to kill and digest their prey. Only a small proportion of spiders have venom that is strong enough to make a human sick. No spiders prey on humans; their first response is to run away from you. People are only bitten when a spider feels threatened. If you wear gloves while gardening and moving items outside, it's highly unlikely that you will be bitten.
Museum Victoria has a free identification service. We would be very happy to identify your spiders for you.
The answer to your question depends on the species of huntsman. Some species lay their eggs into a silken egg sac that is either attached to a rock or tree root inside a brood chamber. Some species carry or attach the egg sac beneath their body when moving about. When the spiderlings emerge from the egg sac, they may swarm over the female huntsman’s body, but she does not carry them around on or in its body.
Museum Victoria does not provide eradication advice. Although keeping an area free of spiders is difficult; there are many precautions that can be taken to avoid bites. Avoid walking outside with bare feet, especially at night. When gardening, wear shoes, long trousers and thick gloves to guard against any spiders.
This link from the Australian Museum will provide you with some tips to minimise spider numbers in the home and garden.
Charlie - it isn't possible for an identification to be made from you description - we would need to see the specimen itself, or at least a clear photograph of it. You can find out more about our identification services here, or you might want to try to identify what you saw using our Victorian Spiders website here.
Hope this helps
Huntsman spiders can indeed produce silk thread, in order to move around, however they do not create an actual web. So it is quite plausible that they are creating the silk threads in your car. If what is on your steering wheel and windscreen is in a distinct web formation, a different spider may be creating these.
Hi Andy, Before we can advise you about the eggs on your clothes line, we would need to identify them. Museum Victoria has a free Identification Service. You can either send us some photos of the eggs via our Ask the Experts form, or bring them in to the Discovery Centre at Melbourne Museum.
Hi Michael,Museum Victoria's Live Exhibits team provided us with the following information that may assist you:
Like many insects and spiders, huntsmans can store enough sperm from a single mating to last them the rest of their lives. Most insects and spiders that do this tend to mate with multiple partners so they have a mixture of genes in the stored sperm, but queen termites, for example, may mate once and have enough sperm to produce tens of millions of offspring over the next 20 years.
Your female ate tonnes of crickets in between because she was building up sufficient protein to produce further egg sacs, and will continue to do this until she dies.
Thanks for your comment. We have received your email with a photograph of the huntsman you wish to identify, which we will forward to Museum Victoria's entomologists for assistance.
Yes the Huntsman spider will eat other insects including invertebrates and Daddy long-leg spiders (Pholcus phalangioides). I guess it just depends on how hungry he is! Further information on Daddy long legs can be found here
Hi, Hello (25th of February)!We forwarded your enquiry to Museum Victoria’s Live Exhibits team, our animal keepers, who responded with the following information:
Huntsmans can move considerable distances when they feel the urge, particularly if they find themselves in an unsuitable location. Your bedroom appears to be a suitable location so when taken outside a huntsman will have no hesitation returning inside via the same route it originally used. Another possible explanation is that when you remove a huntsman, another takes its place. They are at their largest size at this time of year, and often look very similar to each other. The only way to be sure is to place a small spot of non-toxic paint on its abdomen when you capture it. If a painted huntsman reappears, you'll know it's the same one.
We love receiving comments, but can’t always respond.
Hi Michele, The Huntsman has moved inside the house to seek food and the fact that it's still around suggests there is a sufficient supply of food there. If food runs short, the huntsman will move to a different location, most likely outside, and you probably won't see it again.
So it doesn't need to be fed, but if you were to feed it then crickets and moths would be the most suitable diet (and there are plenty of both around at the moment, but not for too much longer). Huntsmans respond to movement so your spider is most likely to take living specimens.
If you want to use a Museum Victoria image you will need to locate the image you want to use from our website and then submit your image request here. When submitting your request please provide a link to the image you wish to use. Please read through our image request guidelines prior to submitting your request.
It is impossible for us to tell if you have killed the spider. The important thing to remember is that they have no interest in people and do not seek us out and they have no interest in you or biting you. To deter the spiders from your car you could try making sure any obvious gaps under doors, windows etc are blocked and minimise the amount of vegetation in your car. If your fear reaches the level where it is impacting on your quality of life you may want to chat to your doctor about attending some sort of desensitisation course to manage the fear, Melbourne Zoo used to run these, you can contact them here.
Hi Selina, There are several reasons why huntsmans drop or lose their legs. They may be pulled off by predators, or self-amputated (autotomised) by the huntsman itself to allow it to escape from a predator. Perhaps your spider is having regular near misses with a predator of some kind.
Legs may also be lost during the moulting process, particularly if the environment is too dry, and the legs fail to emerge from the old skin properly. Loss of legs may also be a sign of old age or extremely poor health.
Your spider may be ok - we've seen huntsmans in the wild that have lost all their legs from one side of the body and these individuals can often move almost as fast as they would with the full complement of legs using the palp (a small appendage near the mouth) as a substitute.
Hi Allie, thanks for the question. We have contacted the Live Exhibits Team with the details of your enquiry, and they have advised that in most cases when an insect or spider is found in a package sent from overseas, it turns out the creature entered the package after it arrived in the country of destination, and so is not a cause for concern! We have sent you come further information and details via email.
Spiders usually lose strength and condition towards the end of their lives and may not be able to reach the heights they did earlier in life. Orbweavers will die at the edge of the web or, more commonly, hanging from a thread in the middle of the web. The behaviour you observed is typical of a spider nearing the end of its life. In both cases it sounds like your spiders had fulfilling lives and you should be pleased with your care of them.
Hi Laurence, there are a couple of thousand different types of spiders in Australia and without a photo it's difficult to determine what it would be. But here are some options.
There is a family of spiders called Jumping Spiders but these tend to be small (the largest are less than 1cm long). Some huntsmans will jump when being chased and can move with remarkable speed, but they are usually flat-bodied and unmistakenly huntsman-like. A subgroup of huntsmans called Badge Spiders are not particularly flat but are usually coloured yellow or orange.
Wolf Spider are a ground-dwelling family that also move with speed but they are not known to jump. Wolf spiders are round-bodied and do superficially resemble small mice.
There is also a spider species called the Mouse Spider (Missulena bradleyi), which is very mouse-like but is large and black and also does not jump. Trapdoor spiders sometimes enter houses and fit the physical description but again do not jump.
You can search the Museum's website for the common names of the spiders listed above and see if any match the physical description, but your description of the spider's behaviour does not match any species we're aware of.
Hi Tanya, check out the answers above, particularly the comment from the Discovery Centre dated March 13th 2011.
Hi Sarah, it is possible to have more than one species of huntsman in your home. You have been unlucky in terms of bites, we get large numbers of enquiries regarding these spiders and very few bites are reported to us. Spiders do not seek us out to bite so unless you grab one or stand on one they generally move out of the way. They can be hard to keep out of the house as they can flatten themselves and get through some quite small cracks and crevices.
Try to make sure that there are no obvious cracks around your windows and doors; also that flywire on windows isn't loose or doesn't have any holes in it. Having said that if the spiders do want to come inside looking for insects to eat they can usually find a way, the best you can hope for is to minimise their numbers. The Australian Museum has some information on how to minimise spider numbers in the home and garden.
Six to eight badge huntsmans per night does sound like quite a lot, if you can safely get some good quality images feel free to send them to [email protected] we can have a look and just confirm that is what you are getting.
There is no record of male huntsmans physically fighting over females. Many male spiders will have showdowns with other males that don't involve physical combat, rather it's a competition over size or strength or the best display. However, huntsmans have a wide range of prey that includes any moving animal within a certain size range, and when other huntsmans fit that criteria they become potential prey themselves. So the spiders with missing limbs may have had close calls with larger huntsmans, both males and females.
The dried-up spiderlings are in fact, as you suggested, empty skins. Spiderlings moult as soon as they leave the egg sac and generally disperse by ballooning on a thread of silk. They naturally have a survival rate of less than one percent, so don't expect too many to be present for too long. If there are enough insects to enable the larger huntsmans to live long term inside your house, there will also be plenty of tiny insects to feed the spiderlings.
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Oo exceptionally close, two out of order. Sure why not, have a go at some scientific or common names. | fwe2-CC-MAIN-2013-20-41199000 |
Of all of the places on earth to visit, The Galapagos Islands have been rated one of the top 7 and the trip is said to be a life-changing experience. With so many beautiful places to visit on earth, what makes these islands so special?
The native species of plants and animals have remained relatively the same since the days of Charles Darwin’s visit in 1835 as the islands are located 600 miles from the mainland. So, in a world that is filled with constant change and the creation of new things, these islands present the rarity of the unchanged.
Visitors are limited to itineraries that are set by the Ecuadorian government. In fact, many areas of the Galapagos National Park are not available for visitation to help manage the impact of people on the ecosystem. And in the areas where visitors can roam, no one is allowed to touch, feed or harass the wildlife. Before leaving one island and travelling to another, visitors must clean off the soles of their shoes to eliminate the transfer of any plant or animal species from one island to another, as the flora and fauna of each island is unique to that island.
Seem like a lot of rules? Maybe. But it’s these set of rules that make the islands so fascinating. It’s conservation in its truest form. In June, the National Aquarium will embark on an 8 day cruise led by a naturalist and will visit 9 of the 13 main islands of the Galapagos. For more information on how you can join this excursion, click here! | fwe2-CC-MAIN-2013-20-41209000 |
Russia drills through 4 km of ice to reach ‘mythical’ subglacial lake
A Russian team has succeeded in drilling through four kilometres of ice to the surface of a mythical subglacial Antarctic lake which could hold as yet unknown life forms, reports said Monday.
Lake Vostok is the largest subglacial lake in Antarctica and scientists want to study its eco-system which has been isolated for hundreds of thousands of years under the ice in the hope of finding previously unknown microbiological life forms.
“Because the lower layer was formed 400,000 years ago, from the composition of the gas it is possible to judge the gas composition in the atmosphere 400,000 years ago and during the time that has passed since the formation of the lake,” Sergei Lesenkov, spokesman for the Arctic and Antarctic Scientific Research Institute said.
“From there, it is possible to identify and forecast certain climatic changes in the future. This is very important.” (Photo: AFP/Getty Images) | fwe2-CC-MAIN-2013-20-41210000 |
In recent years, interest in increasing the use of technology in elementary and secondary education has grown. Numerous initiatives- both public and private- have provided discounted or free computers and Internet access to schools and have encouraged the provision of technology-focused teacher professional development and training (Trotter 1999). These initiatives were predicated on the expectation that the use of technology in education can lead to a number of beneficial outcomes. In Getting America's Students Ready for the 21st Century, for example, the U. S. Department of Education (1996) asserts that technology has the potential to enhance the achievement of all students, increase families' involvement in their children's schooling, improve teachers' skills and knowledge, and improve school administration and management.
To track changes in the availability of and access to technology, the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) since 1994 has conducted a series of surveys of public and private elementary and secondary schools. This Issue Brief provides results from the most recent survey of technology in private schools, focusing on trends in the availability of and access to technology from 1995 to 1998. 1 In addition, this Issue Brief reports on the future connectivity plans of private schools not connected to the Internet and on the advanced telecommunications training opportunities private schools offer their teachers.
The number of students per computer is the measure commonly used to provide an indication of the prevalence of computers in schools. In 1998, there was an average of six students per computer in private schools, down from nine students per computer in private schools in 1995 (Table 1). In 1995 and in 1998, nonsectarian schools reported fewer students per computer on average than did Catholic schools and other religious schools, and the student-to-computer ratio was lower on average in private secondary than in private elementary schools.
Another common measure of the prevalence of computers in schools is the number of students per instructional computer. 2 This measure excludes computers that may be used exclusively for administrative or other noninstructional purposes. In 1998, the average number of private school students per instructional computer was eight (Table 1). In public schools, there was an average of six students to each instructional computer in 1998 (Rowand 1999). Non-sectarian private schools had a lower average student-to-in-structional computer ratio (6: 1) than did Catholic schools (8: 1) and other religious schools (9: 1). In addition, the student-to-instructional computer ratio was higher in private elementary schools (8: 1) than in private secondary or combined schools (7: 1).
1 "Prospects: The Congressionally-Mandated Study of Educational Growth and Opportunity (1991-1994)."
The first survey of private schools was administered inOctober of 1995, and the second was administered in February of 1999. Because the second survey was administered during academic year 1998-99, it is referred to in this Issue Brief as the 1998 survey. See Heaviside and Farris (1997) for a complete report on the results of the 1995 survey.
2In the 1998 survey, schools were asked how many computers in the school are used for "instructional purposes." | fwe2-CC-MAIN-2013-20-41212000 |
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Montana's House Bill 183, which purports to "encourage critical thinking regarding controversial scientific theories" such as "biological evolution, the chemical origins of life, random mutation, natural selection, DNA, and fossil discoveries," was tabled in the House Education Committee on February 5, 2013.
A Montana legislator is preparing a bill to require the teaching of "intelligent design" along with evolution.
House Joint Resolution 21, introduced by Representative Robin Hamilton (D-District 92) on January 26, 2007, in the Montana House of Representatives and referred to the Committee on Education, would, if enacted, express the Montana legislature's recognition of the importance of separation of church and state and support of the right of local school board trustees to adopt a science curriculum based on sound scientific principles.
Two evolution-related measures have failed to progress through the Montana legislature and are dead for this session. March 1 was the deadline for bills to pass in their first house. One potential bill, known by its draft number of LC1199, was never formally introduced. Sponsored by Rep. Roger Koopman, the bill had a short title reading: "Allow teaching competing theories of origin". This bill apparently never completed the drafting process.
Following last year's debate over evolution education in the small Montana town of Darby, two bills have been proposed in the Montana legislature which take diametrically opposed stands on the place of evolution in the science classrooms of the state's public schools.
On July 5, 2004, the school board in Darby, Montana voted 3-2 not to adopt a proposed "objective origins policy" on its second reading. The policy had been tentatively approved on February 2 at its first reading, but is now rejected. The proposal sparked intense local controversy and national media attention earlier this year. The fate of the policy became the central issue in the May school board election, where two policy supporters were decisively defeated by opponents, resulting in the change in board majority from "pro" to "anti".
After the May 4, 2004, school board election in Darby, Montana, the proposed "objective origins" policy is likely to be dead in the water.
Roxanne Cleasby, a parent in Helena, Montana, was attempting to have a book about horses (Juliet Clutton-Brock's Horse) removed from her local elementary school library because it devotes two pages to discussing equine evolution.
A parent in Helena, Montana, is attempting to have a book about horses removed from her local elementary school library because it devotes two pages to discussing equine evolution. | fwe2-CC-MAIN-2013-20-41214000 |
The ICM and the IGM show metal lines in the X-ray spectra. These metals cannot have been produced in the gas, but they must have been produced in the galaxies and subsequently transported from the galaxies into the ICM/IGM by certain processes like e.g. ram-pressure stripping, galactic winds, galaxy-galaxy interaction or jets from active galaxies. The metallicity is the best indicator for finding out which of these processes are most important. Of special interest is the distribution of metals. So far there are only few examples of measured metallicity variations in real 2D maps and not only profiles. In CL0939+4713 we find different metallicity in the different subclusters (De Filippis et al. 2002). In the Perseus cluster also clear metallicity variations were found (Schmidt et al. 2002). 1D profiles are not very useful in this context because photons from regions in the cluster which are very far apart are accumulated in the same spectrum.
Apart from the metallicity distribution also the evolution of the metallicity is interesting. As soon as enough XMM and CHANDRA observations of distant clusters are available we can compare the metallicities in these clusters with those of nearby clusters. This is another way of distinguishing between the enrichment processes as different processes have different time dependence. In addition element ratios can be derived, e.g of Fe and -elements to get information on the different types of supernovae that have contributed to the metal enrichment.
Various processes have been suggested for the transport of gas from the galaxies to the ICM/IGM. 30 years ago Gunn & Gott (1972) suggested ram-pressure stripping: as the galaxy moves through the cluster and approaches the cluster centre it feels the increasing pressure of the intra-cluster gas. At some point the galaxy is not able anymore to retain its ISM. The ISM is stripped off and lost to the ICM and with it all its metals. Many numerical simulations have been performed to investigate this process, first 2D models (Takeda et al. 1984; Gaetz et al. 1987; Portnoy et al. 1993; Balsara et al. 1994). With increasing computing power also more detailed 3D models could be calculated (Abadi et al. 1999; Quilis et al. 2000; Vollmer et al. 2001; Schulz & Struck 2001; Toniazzo & Schindler 2001). In Fig. 6 such a simulated stripping process is shown for an elliptical galaxy.
Figure 6. Gas density (grey scale) and pressure (contours) of a galaxy moving downwards towards the cluster centre. The arrows show the Mach vectors (white when M > 1, black otherwise). The gas of the galaxy is stripped due to ram pressure (from Toniazzo & Schindler 2001).
Another possible process is galactic winds e.g. driven by supernovae (De Young 1978). Also for this process simulations have been performed on order to see whether only winds can account for the observed metallicities. The results were quite discordant as the following two examples show. Metzler & Evrard (1994, 1997) found that winds can account for the metals, while Murakami & Babul (1999) concluded that winds are not very efficient for the metal enrichment. In the simulations of Metzler & Evrard quite steep metallicity gradients showed up which are not in agreement with observations.
A third possible process is galaxy-galaxy interactions, like tidal stripping or galaxy harassment. Also during these interactions a lot of ISM can be lost to the ICM and IGM. This process is very likely more efficient in groups of galaxies, because in these systems the relative velocities are smaller and therefore the interaction timescales are longer. The ram-pressure stripping on the other hand is probably less efficient in groups because not only the pressure of the IGM is lower than that of the ICM, but also the velocities are smaller. This is also very important as the stripping is about proportional to gas v2.
A forth possible mechanism is jets emitted by active galaxies. These jets can also carry metals. Fig. 7 shows the interaction of jets with the ICM as it was discovered by X-ray observations. In the cluster RBS797 minima in the X-ray emission have been detected in a CHANDRA observation (Schindler et al. 2001). The X-ray depressions are arranged opposite with respect to the cluster centre. It is very likely that the pressure of the relativistic particles in the jets push away the X-ray gas. Preliminary radio observations with the VLA confirm this hypothesis.
Figure 7. CHANDRA image of the central part of the cluster RBS797 (from Schindler et al. 2001). There are depressions in the X-ray emission which are located opposite to each other with respect to the cluster centre (see arrows). These depressions can be explained by an active galaxy in the centre of the cluster, which has two jets. The pressure of the relativistic particles in the jets push away the X-ray gas resulting in minima in the X-ray emission.
Simulations with different enrichment processes were also performed on cosmological scales. Also here quite discordant results have been found as the two following examples show. Gnedin (1998) found that galactic winds play only a minor role, while galaxy mergers eject most of the gas. In contrary to these results Aguirre et al. (2001) concluded that winds are most important and ram-pressure stripping is not very efficient. The reason for these differences are probably the large ranges in scale that are covered by these simulations, from cosmological scale down to galaxy scales. Therefore only a small number of particles are left for each single galaxy and hence galaxies are not well resolved. This can be the reason for the discordant results.
In order to clarify this we are currently performing comprehensive simulations, which include the different enrichment processes. | fwe2-CC-MAIN-2013-20-41217000 |
Achieving Sustainable Global Capacity for Surveillance and Response to Emerging Diseases of Zoonotic Origin—Workshop Summary (2008)
One of the biggest threats today is the uncertainty surrounding the emergence of a novel pathogen or the re-emergence of a known infectious disease that might result in disease outbreaks with great losses of human life and immense global economic consequences. Over the past six decades, most of the emerging infectious disease events in humans have been caused by zoonotic pathogens—those infectious agents that are transmitted from animals to humans. In June 2008, the Institute of Medicine's and National Research Council's Committee on Achieving Sustainable Global Capacity for Surveillance and Response to Emerging Diseases of Zoonotic Origin convened a workshop. This workshop addressed the reasons for the transmission of zoonotic disease and explored the current global capacity for zoonotic disease surveillance.
- Animal Health at the Crossroads: Preventing, Detecting, and Diagnosing Animal Diseases
- Critical Needs and Gaps in Understanding Prevention, Amelioration, and Resolution of Lyme and Other Tick-Borne Diseases: The Short-Term and Long-Term Outcomes— Workshop Report
- Sustaining Global Surveillance and Response to Emerging Zoonotic Diseases
- The Emergence of Zoonotic Diseases: Understanding the Impact on Animal and Human Health—Workshop Summary | fwe2-CC-MAIN-2013-20-41218000 |
The factors behind the calving process were not well understood
US researchers have come up with a way to predict the rate at which ice shelves break apart into icebergs.
These sometimes spectacular occurrences, called calving events, are a key step in the process by which climate change drives sea level rise.
Computer models that simulate how ice sheets might behave in a warmer world do not describe the calving process in much detail, Science journal reports.
Until now, the factors controlling this process have not been well understood.
Ice sheets, such as those in Antarctica and Greenland, spread under their own weight and flow off land over the ocean water.
Ice shelves are the thick, floating lips of ice sheets or glaciers that extend out past the coastline.
Timelapse footage of an iceberg breaking away from a glacier in July 2008. The event took approximately 15 minutes (Video: Fahnestock/UNH)
The Ross Ice Shelf in Antarctica floats for as much as 800km (500 miles) over the ocean before the edges begin to break and create icebergs. But other ice shelves may only edge over the water for a few kilometres.
A team led by Richard Alley at Pennsylvania State University, US, analysed factors such as thickness, calving rate and strain rate for 20 different ice shelves.
"The problem of when things break is a really hard problem because there is so much variability," said Professor Alley.
"Anyone who has dropped a coffee cup knows this. Sometimes the coffee cup breaks and sometimes it bounces."
The team's results show that the calving rate of an ice shelf is primarily determined by the rate at which the ice shelf is spreading away from the continent.
The researchers were also able to show that narrower shelves should calve more slowly than wider ones.
Ice cracking off into the ocean from Antarctica and Greenland could play a significant role in future sea level rise.
Floating ice that melts does not of itself contribute to the height of waters (because it has already displaced its volume), but the shelf from which it comes acts as a brake to the land-ice behind. Removal of the shelf will allow glaciers heading to the ocean to accelerate - a phenomenon documented when the Larsen B shelf on the Antarctic Peninsula shattered in spectacular style in 2002. This would speed sea level rise.
The UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change in its 2007 assessment forecast that seas could rise by 18 to 59 cm (7-23ins) this century. However, in giving those figures, it conceded that ice behaviour was poorly understood.
This page is best viewed in an up-to-date web browser with style sheets (CSS) enabled. While you will be able to view the content of this page in your current browser, you will not be able to get the full visual experience. Please consider upgrading your browser software or enabling style sheets (CSS) if you are able to do so. | fwe2-CC-MAIN-2013-20-41225000 |
The two-week expedition in January encountered new species of fish, seaweed and other ocean life at little-studied Saba Bank Atoll, a coral-crowned seamount 250 kilometers southeast of Puerto Rico in the Dutch Windward Islands.
In a series of dives buffeted by high winds and strong currents, scientists from Conservation International (CI), the Netherlands Antilles government and Smithsonian Institution's Museum of Natural History found scores more fish species than previously known in the region and vast beds of diverse seaweed, including a dozen or more possible new species.
"We discovered a new species literally every day we were there," said Michael Smith, director of CI's Caribbean Biodiversity Initiative. Among the apparent new fish species found were two types of gobi, while the total number of fish species recorded reached 200, compared to fewer than 50 before the expedition.
The unprecedented richness of marine life and vulnerable status of the atoll's coral beds make Saba Bank a prime candidate for designation as a Particularly Sensitive Sea Area (PSSA) under the International Maritime Organization (IMO).
Mark Littler, marine botanist of the Smithsonian Institution's National Museum of Natural History, declared Saba Bank the richest area for seaweeds in the Caribbean basin, including as many as a dozen new species along with commercially valuable species that will facilitate the creation of economic activity zones under PSSA designation.
Paul Hoetjes, marine biologist with the Ministry of Nature Affairs for the Netherlands Antilles (MINA), called the expedition crucial to getting the area protected to benefit local populations. | fwe2-CC-MAIN-2013-20-41227000 |
Have you ever seen billions of dollars in gold bars? A video -- made in the name of science -- gives a glimpse into the massive gold reserves at the Bank of England.
University of Nottingham professor Martyn Poliakoff loves the elements. The eccentric science wizard works with others on a popular Web site and YouTube channel known as The Periodic Table of Videos; one latest video focuses on one of the most valuable elements in existence -- gold.
To further our scientific knowledge (and inadvertently make everyone feel really poor), Poliakoff visited the massive gold bullion vault within the Bank of England and filmed the jaw-dropping contents within. The U.K. stores about 197 billion British pounds ($315 billion) worth of gold bars in various rooms of the vault, with one of the oldest bars originating from 1916.
Can't get enough of gold? In 2010, CNET writer Daniel Terdiman visited the Federal Reserve Bank of New York and got up close and personal with the mega collection of gold, which you can explore further in his gallery below. | fwe2-CC-MAIN-2013-20-41228000 |
One example of that vision, at the state and local levels of government, is the disappointing results of confiscatory tobacco taxes. Confiscatory tobacco taxes have often led to less state and local revenue because those taxes encourage smuggling.
Similarly, when government taxes profits, corporations report fewer profits and greater costs. When individuals face higher income taxes, they report less income, buy tax shelters and hide their money. It's not just rich people who try to avoid taxes, but all of us — liberals, conservatives and libertarians.
What's the evidence? Federal tax collections have been between 15% and 20% of GDP every year since 1960. However, between 1960 and today, the top marginal tax rate has varied between 91% and 35%.
That means whether taxes are high or low, people make adjustments in their economic behavior so as to keep the government tax take at 15% to 20% of GDP. Differences in tax rates have a far greater impact on economic growth than federal revenues.
So far as Congress' ability to prey on the rich, we must keep in mind that rich people didn't become rich by being stupid. | fwe2-CC-MAIN-2013-20-41231000 |
This might be a rare case about which Einstein was wrong. More than 60 years ago, the great physicist scoffed at the idea that anything could travel faster than light, even though quantum mechanics had suggested such a condition. Now four Swiss researchers have brought the possibility closer to reality. Testing a concept called "spooky action at a distance"--a phrase used by Einstein in criticizing the phenomenon--they have shown that two subatomic particles can communicate nearly instantaneously, even if they are separated by cosmic distances.
Alice's Wonderland had nothing on quantum physics, which describes a bizarre state of matter and energy. Not only can the same atom exist in two locations at once, but merely attempting to observe a particle will alter its properties. Perhaps least intuitive is the characteristic called entanglement. As described by quantum mechanics, it means that two entangled particles can keep tabs on each other no matter how far apart they are. Physicists have been trying for decades to determine whether this property is real and what might cause it. In the process, they've uncovered evidence for it but not much about its properties.
Physicist Nicolas Gisin and colleagues at the University of Geneva in Switzerland split off pairs of quantum-entangled photons and sent them from the university's campus through two fiber-optic cables to two Swiss villages located 18 kilometers apart. Thinking of the photons like traffic lights, each passed through specially designed detectors that determined what "color" they were when entering the cable and what color they appeared to be when they reached the terminus. The experiments revealed two things: First, the physical properties of the photons changed identically during their journey, just as predicted by quantum theory--when one turned "red," so did the other. Second, there was no detectable time difference between when those changes occurred in the photons, as though an imaginary traffic controller had signaled them both.
The result, the team reports in tomorrow's issue of Nature, is that whatever was affecting the photons seems to have happened nearly instantaneously and that according to their calculations, the phenomenon influencing the particles had to be traveling at least 10,000 times faster than light. Given Einstein's standard speed limit on light traveling within conventional spacetime, the experiments show that entanglement might be controlled by something existing beyond it. Gisin says that once the scientific community "accepts that nature has this ability, we should try to create models that explain it."
Although the research doesn't demonstrate spooky action at a distance directly, it does provide "a lower boundary for the speed" necessary for the phenomenon, says theoretical physicist Martin Bojowald of Pennsylvania State University in State College. Cosmologist Sean Carroll of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena says that it's "yet another experiment that tells us quantum mechanics is right" and that there "really is an intrinsic connection between entangled particles, not that some signal passes quickly between them when an observation is performed." And physicist Lorenza Viola of Dartmouth College says there's much more to be determined. "I am sure we are not finished unveiling what the quantum [effects] due to entanglement really are and how powerful they can be." | fwe2-CC-MAIN-2013-20-41234000 |
(Make sure to watch this full-screen with the sound on!)
It’s cold, it’s dry, the air is thin. The nearest city is miles away across a barren landscape of boulder-strewn hills. At night, the only lights to guide you are the stars in the sky. Astronomers, welcome to paradise.
Known as the driest place on Earth, Chile’s Atacama Desert has long been recognized as an ideal spot for ground-based telescopes. The skies are free of light pollution, and the high plains enjoy long stretches of steady atmospheric conditions, allowing astronomers to peer deeply into the cosmos without having to worry about turbulence distorting the data.
(Related blog: “The Dry Edge of Life—Studying ‘Martians’ in Chile.”)
In the new time-lapse movie above, photographers Christoph Malin and Babak Tafreshi (founder of The World at Night, or TWAN, program) offer a rarely seen glimpse of Cerro Paranal, one of the high hills in the Atacama that houses instruments for the European Southern Observatory (ESO).
Made by invitation from the ESO, the video includes more than 7,500 still images taken between October and November 2011. It shows the beauty of the dark Atacama skies, sometimes framed by the four main domes of the Very Large Telescope, as well as a brief “behind the scenes” look at what telescope operators see from inside one of the domes.
In an email to National Geographic, Tafreshi says of the Atacama:
There are not many locations left on this planet where you can still experience a dark sky like this. I have been to similar dark skies in other continents, from the heart of Sahara in Algeria to Himalayas or islands in the Pacific. But what makes Atacama beat others is being dry and clear for so many nights per year.
It’s not permitted for tourists and regular visiting groups to stay on Paranal at night time, as it might affect the expensive work time of the ultrahigh-precision telescopes. However, to enjoy the stunning night sky of Atacama it’s not necessary to be on this mountain or exactly this region. … [You] just need to be far from the few main cities in the area and the dusty mine industry. Some of our footage in this video is also made from mountains and desert areas some kilometers away from Paranal.
Walking on the desert near Paranal between the scattered stones and boulders on the pale red dust feels like being on Mars, but under the Earth sky.
One of the most astonishing experiences under such a starry sky is the view of the Milky Way. In several scenes of the film, the setting arc of the Milky Way is captured over the cloud-covered Pacific coastline. The band of the Milky Way is bulged and becomes most brilliant toward the galactic center in the constellation Sagittarius, which is prominent in these scenes. Watching the arc of the Milky Way near the desert horizon is a true scene of science fiction.
It is of course kind of sad that Paranal is not open to the public, but it is a remote place, operated in a very extreme desert environment. … Safety precaucions are omnipresent at Paranal—the place is extremely well organized. … Paranal is organized down to the minute for every day and hour, 365 days per year, to utilize the instrument research time the best possible.
That said, it is still sad, because this magic place shows … how the nights on our planet can truly look like if there is no light pollution. Those are silent, peaceful nights. In pauses when all equipment is running, and you have a moment off, you get immediately thrown back to yourself and to your role in the universe, in a direct, straightforward way just by watching that beautifully glowing night sky. In fact, if you stand there, you see a shadow of your feet just from the light of the Milky Way.
In Europe you have to climb some remote, distant peaks, hike into the most remote, hidden valleys, search for dark places in national parks, fly to the islands to experience such a raw, unspoiled beauty of the starry skies. In this respect, it is a good movement that the Chilean government/tourism board is actively marketing their beautiful night skies and trying to protect them at the same time. I hope that other countries will also start to work on those topics.
Astronomer’s Paradise is just the first installment in Tafreshi and Malin’s “Atacama Starry Nights” series. The next time-lapse movie, to be released in March, will focus on the northern Atacama, the Valley of the Moon, and another major observatory, the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array, or ALMA.
Video and photos are copyright Christoph Malin and/or Babak Tafreshi. Used with permission. | fwe2-CC-MAIN-2013-20-41237000 |
Yahweh had forbidden Israel all kinds of oracles in vogue among the pagans. If, for a time, he consented to reply by Urim and Thummim (apparently a species of sacred lots which the high-priest carried in the cincture of his ephod, and consulted at the request of the public authorities in matters of graver moment), yet He always abominated those who had recourse to divination and magic, practiced augury and enchantment, trusted in charms, consulted soothsayers or wizards, or interrogate the spirits of the dead (Deuteronomy 18:9 sqq.). Speaking of orthodox Yahweism, Balaam could truthfully say "There is no soothsaying in Jacob, nor divination in Israel. In their times it shall be told to Jacob and to Israel what God hath wrought" (Numbers 23:23). For the absence of other oracles, the Chosen People were indeed more than compensated by a gift unique in the annals of mankind, to wit, the gift of prophecy and the prophetic office.
(1) General Idea The Hebrew Prophet was not merely, as the word commonly implies, a man enlightened by God to foretell events; he was the interpreter and supernaturally enlightened herald sent by Yahweh to communicate His will and designs to Israel. His mission consisted in preaching as well as in foretelling. He had to maintain and develop the knowledge of the Old Law among the Chosen People, lead them back when they strayed, and gradually prepare the way for the new kingdom of God, which the messias was to establish on earth. Prophecy, in general, signifies the supernatural message of the Prophet, and more especially, from custom, the predictive element of the prophetic message.
(2) The Hebrew Names The ordinary Hebrew for prophet is nabî'. Its etymology is uncertain. According to many recent critics, the root nabî, not employed in Hebrew, signified to speak enthusiastically, "to utter cries, and make more or less wild gestures", like the pagan mantics. Judging from a comparative examination of the cognate words in Hebrew and the other Semitic tongues, it is at least equally probable that the original meaning was merely: to speak, to utter words (cf. Laur, "Die Prophetennamen des A.T.", Fribourg, 1903, 14-38). The historic meaning of nabî' established by biblical usage is "interpreter and mouthpiece of God". This is forcibly illustrated by the passage, where Moses, excusing himself from speaking to Pharao on account of his embarrassment of speech, was answered by Yahweh: "Behold I have appointed thee the God of Pharao: and Aaron thy brother shall be thy prophet. Thou shalt speak to him all that I command thee; and he shall speak to Pharao, that he let the children of Israel go out of his land" (Exodus 7:1-2). Moses plays towards the King of Egypt the role of God, inspiring what is to be uttered, and Aaron is the prophet, his mouthpiece, transmitting the inspired message he shall receive. The Greek prophetes (from pro-phanai, to speak for, or in the name of someone) translates the Hebrew accurately. The Greek prophet was the revealer of the future, and the interpreter of divine things, especially of the obscure oracles of the pythoness. Poets were the prophets of the muses: Inspire me, muse, thy prophet I shall be" (Pindar, Bergk, Fragm. 127).
The word nabî' expresses more especially a function. The two most usual synonyms ro'éeh and hozéh emphasize more clearly the special source of the prophetic knowledge, the vision, that is, the Divine revelation or inspiration. Both have almost the same meaning; hozéh is employed, however, much more frequently in poetical language and almost always in connexion with a supernatural vision, whereas râ'ah, of which ro'éh is the participle, is the usual word for to see in any manner. The compiler of the first book of Kings (ix, 9) informs us that before his time ro'éh was used where nabî' was then employed. Hozéh is found much more frequently from the days of Amos. There were other less specific or more unusual terms employed, the meaning of which is clear, such as, messenger of God, man of God, servant of God, man of the spirit, or inspired man, etc. It is only rarely, and at a later period, that prophecy is called nebû'ah, a cognate of nabî'; more ordinarily we find hazôn, vision, or word of God, oracle (ne um) of Yahweh, etc.
(1) The first person entitled nabî' in the Old Testament is Abraham, father of the elect, the friend of God, favoured with his personal communications (Genesis 20:7). The next is Moses, the founder and lawgiver of the theocratic nation, the mediator of the Old Covenant holding a degree of authority unequalled till the coming of Jesus Christ. "And there arose no more a prophet in Israel like unto Moses, whom the Lord knew face to face, in all the signs and wonders, which he sent by him, to do in the land of Egypt to Pharao, and to all his servants, and to his whole land, and all the mighty hand, and great miracles, which Moses did before all Israel" (Deuteronomy 34:10 sqq.). There were other Prophets with him, but only of the second rank, such as Aaron and Maria, Eldad and Medad, to whom Yahweh manifested himself in dreams and vision, but not in the audible voice with which He favoured him, who was most faithful in all His house (Numbers 12:7).
Of the four institutions concerning which Moses enacted laws according to Deuteronomy (14:18-18), one was prophecy (18:9-22; cf. 13:1-5, and Exodus 4:1 sqq.). Israel was to listen to the true Prophets, and not to heed the false but rather to extirpate them, even had they the appearance of miracle-workers. The former would speak in the name of Yahweh, the one God; and foretell things that would be accomplished or be confirmed by miracles. The latter were to come in the name of the false gods, or teach a doctrine evidently erroneous, or vainly endeavour to foretell events. Later prophetic writers added as other signs of the false Prophets, cupidity, flattery of the people or the nobles, or the promise of Divine favour for the nation weighed down with crime. Balaam is both a Prophet and a soothsayer; a professional soothsayer it would seem, of whom Yahweh makes use to proclaim even in Moab the glorious destiny of the Chosen People, when He was about to lead them into the Promised Land (Numbers 22-24).
In the time of the Judges, in addition to an unnamed Prophet (Judges 6:8-10), we meet with Debbora (Judges 4-5), "a mother in Israel", judging the people, and communicating the Divine orders concerning the War of Independence to Barac and the tribes. The word of God was rare in those days of anarchy and semi-apostasy, when Yahweh partly abandoned Israel to render it conscious of its feebleness and its sins. In the days of Samuel, on the contrary, prophecy became a permanent institution. Samuel was a new but lesser Moses, whose Divine mission it was to restore the code of the elder, and to supervise the beginning of the royalty. Under his guidance, or at least closely united to him, we find for the first time the nebî'îm (1 Samuel 10:19) grouped together to sing the praises of God to the accompaniment of musical instruments. They are not Prophets in the strict sense of the word, nor are they disciples of the Prophets destined to become masters in their turn (the so-called "schools of Prophets"). Did they wander about spreading the oracles of Samuel among the people? Possibly; at all events, in order to waken the faith of Israel and increase the dignity of Divine worship, they seem to have received charismata similar to those bestowed upon the early Christians in the Apostolic days. They may not ineptly be compared with the families of singers gathered around David, under the direction of their three leaders, Asaph, Heman, and Idithum (1 Chronicles 25:1-8). Doubtless the benê-nebî'îm of the days of Elias, and Eliseus the "disciples of the Prophets", or "members of the confraternities of the Prophets", forming at least three communities, domiciled respectively at Gilgal, Bethel, and Jericho, must be regarded as their successors. St. Jerome seems to have understood their character aright, when he saw in them the germ of the monastic life (P.L., XXII, 583, 1076).
Are we to consider as their degenerate and faithless successors those false Prophets of Yahweh whom we meet at the court of Achab, numbering four hundred, and later very numerous, also fighting against Isaias and Micheas and especially against Jeremias and Ezekiel? A definite answer cannot as yet be given, but it is wrong to consider them, as certain critics do, as authentic as the true Prophets, differing from them only by a more retrograde spirit, and less brilliant intellectual gifts. After Samuel the first Prophets properly so called who are explicitly mentioned are Nathan and Gad. They assist David by their counsels, and, when necessary, confront him with energetic protests. Nathan's parable of the little sheep of the poor man is one of the most beautiful passages in prophetic history (2 Samuel 12:1 sqq.). The Books of Kings and Paralipomenon mention a number of other "men of the spirit" exercising their ministry in Israel or in Juda. We may mention at least Ahias of Silo, who announced to Jeroboam his elevation to the throne of the Ten Tribes, and the ephemeral character of his dynasty, and Micheas, the son of Jemla, who predicted to Achab, in presence of the four hundred flattering court Prophets, that he would be defeated and killed in his war against the Syrians (1 Kings 22).
But the two greatest figures of prophecy between Samuel and Isaiah are Elias and Eliseus. Yahweism was again endangered, especially by the Tyrian Jezabel, wife of Achab, who had introduced into Samaria the worship of her Phœnician gods, and Israel's faith was tottering, as it divided its worship between Baal and Yahweh. In Juda the danger was not less menacing, King Joram had married Athalia, a worthy daughter of Jezabel. At that moment Elias appeared like a mysterious giant, and by his preaching and his miracles led Israel back to the true God and suppressed, or at least moderated, their leaning towards the gods of Chanaan. At Carmel he won a magnificent and terrible victory over the Prophets of Baal; then he proceeded to Horeb to renew within him the spirit of the Covenant and to be present at a marvellous theophany; thence he returned to Samaria to proclaim to Achab the voice of justice calling out for vengeance for the murder of Naboth. When he disappeared in the fiery chariot, he left to his disciple Eliseus, with his mantle, a double share of his spirit. Eliseus continued the master's work against the Chanaanite idolatry with great success, and became such a bulwark to the Kingdom of the North, that King Joas wept for his death and took his farewell with these words: "My father! my father! chariot of Israel and its horsemen"! Not all the Prophets left their oracles in writing. Several of them, however, have written the history of their times. Gad and Nathan, for instance, the history of David; and Nathan that of Solomon; also Semeias and Addo the annals of Roboam; Jehu, son of Hanani those of Josaphat.....Is it possible that the historical books of Josue, Judges, Samuel, and Kings were called in the Jewish canon the "earlier Prophets" because of the belief that they were written by the Prophets or at least based on their writing? To this query there can be no solution.
(2) Prophetic Writers The prophetic books were entitled in the same canon the "later Prophets". Gradually the custom of calling their authors the prophetic writers crept in. There are four Greater Prophets, that is those whose works are of considerable length. Isaias, Jeremias, Ezechiel, and Daniel, and twelve Minor Prophets, whose works are briefer—Osee, Joel, Amos, Abdias, Jonas, Micheas, Nahum, Habacuc, Sophonias, Aggeus, Zacharias, and Malachias. The Book of Baruch, which is not included in the Hebrew canon, is united in our Bibles to the Book of Jeremias. The ministry of Amos, the most ancient perhaps of the prophetic writers, is placed about the years 760-50. Osee follows him immediately. Next comes Isaias (about 740-700), and his contemporary Micheas. Sophonias, Nahum, and Habacuc prophesied towards the last quarter of the seventh century. Jeremias about 626-586; Ezechiel between 592-70. The prophecy of Aggeus and in part that of Zacharias are dated exactly in 520 and 520-18. Malachias belongs to the middle of the fifth century. As for Daniel, Abdias, Joel, Baruch, as well as portions of Isaias, Jeremias, Zacharias, their dates being disputed, it is necessary to refer the reader to the special articles treating of them.
(3) The Prophetesses The Old Testament gives the name nebî'ah, to three women gifted with prophetic charismata: Mary, the sister of Moses; Debbora; and Holda, a contemporary of Jeremias (2 Kings 22:14); also to the wife of Isaias meaning the spouse of a nabî'; finally to Noadia, a false Prophetess if the Hebrew text is accurate, for the Septuagint and Vulgate speak of a false Prophet (Nehemiah 6:14).
(4) Cessation of Israelitic Prophecy The prophetic institution had ceased to exist in the time of the Machabees. Israel clearly recognized this, and was awaiting its reappearance. Its necessity had ceased. Religious revelation and the moral code expressed in Holy Writ were full and clear. The people were being instructed by the scribes and doctors—a living magistracy, fallible, it is true, and bound overmuch by letter of the law, but withal zealous and learned. There was a feeling that the promises were about to be fulfilled and the consequent apocalypse increased and intensified this feeling. It was not unfitting, therefore, for God to allow an interval to elapse between the prophets of the Old Covenant and Jesus Christ, who was to be the crown and consummation of their prophecies.
(1) The Prophetic Vocation "For prophecy came not by the will of man at any time: but the holy men of God spoke, inspired by the Holy Ghost" (2 Peter 1:21). The Prophets were ever conscious of this Divine mission. I am not a professional or a voluntary Prophet, Amos practically said to Amasias, who wished to prevent him from prophesying at Bethel. "I am a herdsman plucking wild figs. And the Lord took me when I followed the flock, and the Lord said to me: Go, prophesy to my people Israel" (vii, 14 sq.). Again "the lion shall roar, who will not fear? The Lord God hath spoken, who shall not prophesy?" (iii, 8). Isaias saw Yahweh seated on a throne of glory, and when a seraph had purified his lips he heard the command "Go!" and he received his mission of preaching to the people the terrible judgments of God. God made known to Jeremias that he had consecrated him from his mother's womb and appointed him the Prophet of nations; He touched his lips to show that He made them His instrument for proclaiming His just and merciful judgments (i, 10), a duty so painful, that the Prophet endeavoured to be excused and to conceal the oracles entrusted to him. Impossible; his heart was consumed by a flame, which forced from him that touching complaint: "Thou hast deceived me, O Lord, and I am deceived: thou hast been stronger that I, and thou hast prevailed" (xx, 7). Ezechiel sees the glory of God borne on a fiery chariot drawn by celestial beings. He hears a voice commanding him to go and find the children of Israel, that rebellious nation, with hardened heart and brazen face, and without prevarication deliver to them the warnings he was to receive.
The other Prophets are silent on the subject of their vocation; doubtless they also received it as clearly and irresistibly. To the preaching and predictions of the false Prophets uttering the fancies of their hearts and saying "the word of Yahweh" when Yahweh spoke to them not, they fearlessly oppose their own oracles as coming from heaven and compelling under penalty of revolt against God. And the manifest sanctity of their lives, the miracles wrought, the prophecies accomplished demonstrate to their contemporaries the truth of their claims. We also separated from them by thousands of years should be convinced by two irrefragable proofs among others: the great phenomenon of Messianism culminating in Christ and the Church, and the excellence of the religious and moral teaching of the Prophets.
(2) Supernatural knowledge: inspiration and revelation
(a) The fact of revelation The Prophet did not receive merely a general mission of preaching or predicting in Yahweh's name: each of his words is Divine, all his teaching is from above, that is, it comes to him by revelation or at least by inspiration. Among the truths he preaches, there are some which he knows naturally by the light of reason or experience. It is not necessary for him to learn them from God, just as if he had been entirely ignorant of them. It suffices if the Divine illumination places them in a new light, strengthens his judgment and preserves it from error concerning these facts, and if a supernatural impulse determines his will to make them the object of his message. This oral inspiration of the Prophets bears an analogy to the Scriptural inspiration, in virtue of which the Prophets and hagiographers composed our canonical books.
The entire contents of the prophetic message is not, therefore, within the compass of the natural faculties of the divine messenger. The object of all strictly so-called prediction requires a new manifestation and illumination; unaided the Prophet would remain in more or less absolute obscurity. This, then, is revelation in the full sense of the term.
(b) Manner of the revelatory communications; Canons for the interpretation of the prophecies and their fulfilment In the words of St. John of the Cross and the doctors of mysticism have a special right to be heard in this matter "God multiplies the means of transmitting these revelations; at one time he makes use of words, at another of signs, figures, images, similitudes; and again, of both words and symbols together" (The Ascent of Carmel, II, xxvii): To grasp accurately the meaning of the Prophets and judge of the fulfilment of their predictions, these words must be remembered and completed: The material element perceived in the vision may have a strictly literal meaning and simply signify itself. When Micheas, the son of Jemla, beholds "all Israel scattered upon the hills, like sheep that have no shepherd", and hears Yahweh say "These have no master; let every man of them return to his house in peace" (1 Kings 22:17), he sees exactly what will be the outcome of Achab's expedition against the Syrians at Ramoth of Galaad. Again, the meaning may be entirely symbolic. The almond branch shown to Jeremias (i, 11 sq.) is not shown for itself; it is intended solely to represent by its name vigilant, the Divine watchfulness, which will not allow the word of God to be unfulfilled. Between these two extremes there exists a whole series of intermediary possibilities, of significations imbued with varying degrees of reality or symbolism. The son promised to David in Nathan's prophecy (2 Samuel 7) is at once Solomon and the Messianic king. In the last verse of Aggeus Zorobabel signifies himself and also the Messias.
Neither the Prophets nor their clear-sighted, sensible hearers were ever misled. It is wronging Isaias to say he believed that at the end of time the hill of Sion would physically surpass all the mountains and hills on the earth (ii, 2). Examples might be multiplied indefinitely. Yet we are not forced to believe that the Prophets were always able to distinguish between the literal and the symbolical significations of their visions. It was sufficient for them not to give, and to be unable to give, in the name of God any erroneous interpretation. It has likewise been long known that the vision very frequently disregards distances of time and place, and that the Messias or the Messianic era almost always appears on the immediate horizon of contemporary history. If to this we add the frequently conditional character of the oracles (cf. Jeremiah 18; 24:17 sqq. etc.), and remember moreover that the Prophets convey their message in words of eloquence, expressed in Oriental poetry, so rich in striking colours and bold figures, the pretended distinction between realized and unrealized prophecies, predictions substantially accurate but erroneous in detail, will disappear.
(c) State of the Prophet during the Vision Ordinarily the vision occurred when the Prophet was awake. Dreams, of which the false Prophets made ill use, are scarcely ever mentioned in the case of true Prophets. Much has been said about the ecstatic state of the latter. Possibly the soul of the Prophet may have been at times, as happened to the mystics, so absorbed by the activity of the spiritual faculties that the activity of the senses was suspended, though no definite instance can be cited. In any case, we must remember what St. Jerome (In Isaiam, Prolog. in P.L., XXIV, 19) and St. John Chrysostom (In I Cor. homil. XXIX in P.G., LXI, 240 sqq.) remarked that the Prophets always retained their self-consciousness and were never subject to the disordered and degrading psychic conditions of the pagan soothsayers and pythias; and, instead of enigmatical and puerile Sybilline oracles, their pronouncements were often sublime and always worthy of God.
(1) The exterior form They usually taught orally. To this they often added symbolical acts which accorded with Oriental tastes and caught the attention of their hearers. Jeremias, for instance, wandered through Jerusalem under a wooden yoke, symbolizing the approaching subjugation of the nations by the King of Babylon. The false Prophet Hananias, having taken this yoke and broken it on the ground, receives this answer, in the name of Yahweh "Thou hast broken chains of wood, and thou shalt make for them chains of iron" (xxviii, 13). Jeremias and Ezechiel make frequent use of this method of instruction. Amos was probably the first who was inspired to unite the written to the spoken word. His example was followed. The Prophets thus exercised wider and more lasting influence, and left moreover an indisputable proof that God had spoken by them (cf. Isaiah 8:16). Some prophecies seem to have been made exclusively in writing, for instance, probably the second part of Isaias and all Daniel. The greater part of the prophetic books is couched in rhythmic language perfectly adapted to the popular and, at the same time, sublime character of the oracles. Hardly any kind of Hebrew poesy is absent; epithalamia and lamentations; little satirical songs; odes of wonderful lyrism etc. The fundamental law of Hebrew poetry, the parallelism of the stichs, is usually observed. The metric seems to be based essentially on the number of accents marking a raised intonation. Most exhaustive researches upon the construction of the strophes have been made, but without many definitely accepted conclusions.
(2) The Teaching
(a) Preaching: religion and morals, in general Samuel and Elias sketch out the programme of the religious and moral preaching of the later Prophets. Samuel teaches that the idols are vanity and nothingness (1 Samuel 12:21); that Yahweh alone is essentially true, and immutable (xv, 29); that He prefers obedience to sacrifice (xv, 22). For Elias also Yahweh alone is God, Baal is nothing. Yahweh chastises all iniquity and punishes the injustices of the powerful for the feeble. These are the fundamental points emphasized more and more by the prophetic writers. Their doctrine is based on the existence of one God alone, possessing all the attributes of the true Divinity sanctity and justice, mercy and fidelity, supreme dominion over the material and moral world, the control of the cosmic phenomena and of the course of history. The worship desired by God does not consist in the profusion of sacrifices and offerings. They are nauseous to Yahweh unless accompanied by adoration in spirit and in truth. With what greater indignation and disgust will He not turn away from the cruel and unclean practice of human sacrifice and the prostitution of sacred things so common among the neighbouring nations. On being asked with what one should approach and kneel before the Most High God, He replies by the mouth of Micheas: "I will show thee, O man, what is good, and what the Lord requireth of thee; Verily to do judgment, and to love mercy, and to walk solicitous with thy God" (vi, 8). So religion joins morality, and formulates and imposes its dictates. Yahweh will call the nations to account for violating the natural law, and Israel, in addition, for not observing the Mosaic legislation (cf. Amos 1-2, etc.). And He will do this, so as to conciliate in a Divine manner the rights of justice with the realization of the promises made to Israel and mankind.
(b) Prophetic predictions. The Day of Yahweh; the Saved; Messianism; Eschatology The constant subjects of the great prophetic predictions of Israel, the punishment of the guilty nations, and the realization for all of the ancient promises. Directly or indirectly all the prophecies are concerned with the obstacles to be removed before the coming of the new kingdom or with the preparation of the New and final Covenant. From the days of Amos, and clearly it was not even then a new expectation, Israel was awaiting a great day of Yahweh, a day, which it deemed one of extraordinary triumph for it and its God. The Prophets do not deny, but rather declare with absolute certainty that the day must come. They dispel the illusions concerning its nature. For Israel, faithless and burdened with crimes, the day of Yahweh will be "darkness and not light" (Amos 5:18 sqq.). The time is approaching when the house of Jacob will be sifted among the nations as wheat is shaken in the sieve and not a good seed drops to the ground (ix, 9)/ Alas! the good seed is rare here. The bulk will perish. A remnant alone will be saved, a holy germ from which the Messianic kingdom will arise. The pagan nations will serve as sievers for Israel. But as they have wandered still further from the right path, the day of Yahweh will come for them in turn; finally the remnant of Israel and the converts of the nations will unite to form a single people under the great king, the Son of David. The remnant of Ephraem or of Juda remaining in Palestine at the time of the Exile, the remnant returning from the Captivity to form the post-Exilic community, the Messianic kingdom in its militant state and its final consummation—all these stages of the history of salvation are mingled here and there in one prophetic view. The future life looms up but little, the oracles being addressed principally to the body of the nation, for which there is no future life. However, Ezechiel (xxxvii) alludes to the resurrection of the dead; the apocalypse of Isaias (26:19 sqq.) mentions it explicitly; Daniel speaks of a resurrection unto life everlasting and a resurrection unto eternal reproach (12:2 sqq.). The broad daylight of the Christian Revelation is coming.
When this dawn is about to break, prophecy then long silent finds voices anew to tell the good tidings. Zachary and Elizabeth, Mary the Virgin-Mother, the old man Simeon and Anna the Prophetess are enlightened by the Holy Ghost and unfold the future. Soon the Precursor appears, filled with the spirit and power of Elias. He finds anew the accents of olden prophecy to preach penance and announce the coming of the kingdom. Then it is the Messias in person who, long foretold and awaited as a Prophet (Deuteronomy 18:15, 18; Isaiah 49; etc.), does not disdain to accept this title and to fulfil its signification. His preaching and His predictions are much closer to the prophetic models than are the teachings of the rabbis. His great predecessors are as far below Him as the servants are below the only Son. Unlike them He does not receive from without the truth which He preaches. Its source is within Him. He promulgates it with an authority thereunto unknown. His revelation is the definite message of the Father. To understand its meaning more and more clearly the Church which He is about to establish will have throughout all ages the infallible assistance of the Holy Ghost. However, during the Apostolic times, God continues to select certain instruments like unto the Prophets of the Old Law to make known His will in an extraordinary manner and to foretell coming events: such, for instance, are the Prophets of Antioch (Acts 13:1,8), Agabus, the daughters of the Evangelist Philip, etc. And among the charismata (cf. Prat, 'La theologie de Saint Paul", 1 pt., note H, p. 180-4) conferred so abundantly to hasten and fortify the incipient progress of the faith, one of the principal, next after the Apostolic, is the gift of prophecy. It is granted "unto edification, and exhortation, and comfort" (1 Corinthians 14:3). The writer of the "Didache" informs us that in his day it was fairly frequent and widespread, and he indicates the signs by which it may be recognized (xi, 7-12). Finally the Canon of the Scriptures closes with a prophetic book, the Apocalypse of St. John, which describes the struggles and the victories of the new kingdom while awaiting the return of its Chief at the consummation of all things.
CORNELY, Historica et crit. introd. in N.T. libros sacros, II, 2 (Paris, 1897), diss. III, i, 267-305; GIGOT, Special Introd. to the Study of the Old Testament, II (New York, 1906) 189-202.
APA citation. (1911). Prophecy, Prophet, and Prophetess. In The Catholic Encyclopedia. New York: Robert Appleton Company. http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/12477a.htm
MLA citation. "Prophecy, Prophet, and Prophetess." The Catholic Encyclopedia. Vol. 12. New York: Robert Appleton Company, 1911. <http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/12477a.htm>.
Transcription. This article was transcribed for New Advent by Sean Hyland.
Ecclesiastical approbation. Nihil Obstat. June 1, 1911. Remy Lafort, S.T.D., Censor. Imprimatur. +John Cardinal Farley, Archbishop of New York.
Contact information. The editor of New Advent is Kevin Knight. My email address is feedback732 at newadvent.org. (To help fight spam, this address might change occasionally.) Regrettably, I can't reply to every letter, but I greatly appreciate your feedback — especially notifications about typographical errors and inappropriate ads. | fwe2-CC-MAIN-2013-20-41242000 |
Television coverage of the earthquake and tsunami in Japan last week, pales in significance, after seeing photos of the destruction. A television wide shot can give an idea of the damage, but it really hits home, when seeing a photo like the one above.
It is difficult for Americans to actually comprehend what has happened in Japan. The country of Japan has been hit by an earthquake, a tsunami and the eruption of a volcano since the earthquake hit last Friday.
To make things worse, the adverse conditions have caused six nuclear reactors to experience serious problems, that could result in radioactivity being released into the atmosphere.
So not only are the Japanese people dealing with the aftermath of a horrific earthquake and tsunami, they now are having to worry about being exposed to radioactivity.
In addition, many people are missing and either are dead, or have no way of contacting their families to tell them they are safe.
The day before the 9.0 earthquake (recently upgraded from 8.9), there were only five earthquakes 5.0 or higher reported in the east coast in the Honshu, Japan vicinity.
However, two days before the 9.0 earthquake, 17 earthquakes over 5.0 magnitude, were recorded. One of those earthquakes was recorded at 7.2 magnitude.
Going two days back to March 7 and March there was no seismic activity recorded in Japan on those days.
The 8.9 earthquake last Friday was the first seismic activity recorded last Friday. 13 aftershocks were felt in the first two hours following the earthquake with one registering a magnitude of 7.1.
Nine aftershocks were recorded the next hour. Yesterday the Honshu, Japan area experienced the only 5.0 earthquakes in the world. There have been 22 earthquakes recorded so far today in Japan.
The complete list of earthquakes in the world measuring 5.0 or higher in magnitude starting on March 7 through today: | fwe2-CC-MAIN-2013-20-41244000 |
Ad’ihani pentathlon (sometimes quadrathlon) is a multi-discipline winter sport developed in Ad’ihan that is widely practised in both Ad’ihan and Liventia. The sport was first created in Ad’ihan in 2129 and quickly became popular in present-day Liventia, which sees more winter weather and had more winter sports facilities than its then-island territory. It is sometimes referred to as a "winter pentathlon", although there are different variations on the disciplines which make up a winter pentathlon.
Ad’ihani pentathlon consists of five disciplines, two of which are combined into a single discipline thus leading to the sport also being called a quadrathlon. The five disciplines are alpine skiing, ski jumping (for men)/skeleton (for women), speed skating, cross-country skiing and shooting, with the latter two being component disciplines of biathlon.
The alpine skiing discipline has always been run as a downhill event and ski jumping has traditionally taken place on the normal hill. The distance of the speed skating race is always 1000 metres, regardless of gender, while the biathlon race is always held at sprint distance, meaning 7.5 km for women and 10 km for men. Records are not kept in the sport as the layouts of alpine skiing, skeleton and biathlon courses change from location to location, although the Ad’ihani Pentathlon Sport Union (APSU) recognises location records. Where there is no biathlon shooting range available, the APSU allows for that discipline to be contested in its component parts as a 10 km (for men) or 7.5 km (for women) cross-country skiing race with a separate shooting event held at an indoor range, with time penalties added to the cross-country timing for missed shots.
The quadrathlon/pentathlon operates a points system as in heptathlon or decathlon, rather than a combined time system as in triathlon or a points system equalised prior to the final event as in modern pentathlon. Similar to heptathlon or decathlon, the points system follows the formula Pts = a × (b - T)c, where T is the timed performance in seconds (for downhill, biathlon, speed skating and skeleton) and Pts = a × (S − b)c where S is the score the athlete has received for his ski jump. Where an athlete fails to start, fails to finish or is disqualified from an event, he or she receives no points for it. However, for the inaugural Ad’ihani Pentathlon World Series, the APSU trialled a new scoring system awarding points equal to exactly half (rounded down to the nearest full point) of the last finisher for any contestant failing to finish or disqualified from an event.
|Men's alpine skiing downhill||0.144||270||1.81|
|Men's biathlon sprint||0.007631||3350||1.583|
|Men's ski jumping normal hill||71.85||40||0.6|
|Men's speed skating 1000 metres||0.22||180||1.827|
|Women's alpine skiing downhill||0.144||260||1.81|
|Women's biathlon sprint||0.00812||2900||1.595|
|Women's skeleton single run||0.493||126||1.79|
|Women's speed skating 1000 metres||0.19||200||1.82|
For comparison, the bronze medal-winning and last-placed performances at the component events in the Fifth Winter Olympics would have earned:
|Event||Fifth Winter Olympics performance|
|Bronze medal||Last finisher||Difference|
|Men's alpine skiing downhill||1413 pts||1235 pts||12.6%|
|Men's biathlon sprint||1027 pts||700 pts||31.8%|
|Men's ski jumping normal hill||1055 pts||681 pts||35.5%|
|Men's speed skating 1000 metres||1199 pts||1134 pts||5.4%|
|Men's total||4694 pts||3750 pts||20.1%|
|Women's alpine skiing downhill||1151 pts||982 pts||14.7%|
|Women's biathlon sprint||984 pts||437 pts||55.6%|
|Women's skeleton||895 pts||827 pts||7.6%|
|Women's speed skating 1000 metres||1223 pts||1131 pts||7.5%|
|Women's total||4253 pts||3377 pts||20.6%|
Competition in Ad’ihan and Liventia
Due to uncommon winter weather in Ad’ihan, a national championship is only organised locally if a prolonged period of snow is expected. The Ad’ihani national championship is usually run in conjunction with the Liventian national championship in Liventia, with entrants from both countries in the same event being eligible for their respective national titles.
There are two major Ad’ihani pentathlon competitions each year held in Liventia (where it was for a time known as "Outer Islands quadrathlon" during increased Ad’ihani–Liventian inflammatory rhetoric): the National Championship every January and the APSU World Open every November. A short professional season is also held from November through January, opened by the APSU World Open and concluding with the two national championships.
The Comité national olympique pour les îles ad’ihanaises proposed that Ad’ihani pentathlon be a demonstration sport at the Sixth Winter Olympics in Ashton, Krytenia, with the backing of the Liventia Olympic Association and five other Olympic committees including the host committee. The sport was approved as a demonstration event as winter pentathlon, with events held for both men and women. Kitomi Hamazuki, a Japanese Liventian who also competes on the domestic Liventian and Ad’ihani circuit, won the women's event by a margin of 41 points with 4105 points. Sorthern Northland's Arnaldur Þorbjarnarson won the men's event by a far smaller margin of just five points, totalling 4082 points. | fwe2-CC-MAIN-2013-20-41247000 |
A new era of space travel is about to begin.
SpaceX’s Dragon capsule is set to make a historic flight just before dawn on May 19. Dragon is expected to launch from Cape Canaveral, Florida, to rendezvous and possibly dock with the International Space Station.
The brain-child of PayPal founder Elon Musk, SpaceX has mounted several successful space flights into low Earth orbit with its Falcon 9 rocket, including the maiden voyage of the Dragon capsule in 2010. SpaceX seeks to eventually provide manned access to space as well.
The launch was set for May 7th but it was pushed back so the engineers could reassess the flight software. That places the launch of a Soyuz with the second half of Expedition 31 in line for the next launch to the International Space Station (ISS) from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan on May 15.
This will once again bring the crew compliment of the ISS up to its standard six. The ISS has been continuously occupied since November 2001 and has provided an on-site orbiting laboratory for zero-g experiments and studies into the effects of long term space flight on human physiology.
If all goes well, the launch of the Falcon 9 should be a dramatic pre-dawn spectacle visible for hundreds of miles up the U.S. eastern seaboard. The chase will then be on as the Dragon capsule is set to rendezvous with the ISS on May 21, and approach and dock with the station on May 22 delivering 520 kilograms of food, fuel and cargo. As of this writing, May 22 is set as the backup launch date.
The good news is that YOU can spot the ISS and approaching Dragon capsule, using nothing more sophisticated than your eyes. About the size of a football field, the ISS can be as bright as Venus as it drifts overhead in the dawn or dusk skies.
With an orbital inclination of 51.6 degrees, anyone from between latitude on 55 degrees north to 55 degrees south can see the ISS. In fact, high latitudes around 50 degrees from the equator may see several illuminated passes in one night!
This flight is vital to demonstrate that commercial space can “bring home the goods” and be a viable alternative for space access. Several startup companies exist ready to jump into the business, at a time when the Space Shuttle has been decommissioned and the NASA budget is at low ebb for the foreseeable future.
The failure of an unmanned Progress vehicle in 2011 demonstrates the current tenuous link that nations have to the orbiting outpost, and suspension of Soyuz flights would mean the abandonment of the ISS, only years after construction.
While manned Dragon flights may be some years off, this month’s launch represents a new era in commercial spaceflight access, the likes of which we were promised in movies such as Kubrick’s 2001: Space Odyssey.
Pan Am may now be defunct, but here’s to hoping for commercial lunar flights in our lifetime!
Read more posts by David Dickinson at AstroGuyz.com.
Watch a video of the SpaceX Rocket Test: | fwe2-CC-MAIN-2013-20-41249000 |
Second Bishop of Louisiana and the Floridas, of Montauban, Archbishop of Besancon, b. February 16, 1766; d. December 12, 1833
Dubourg, LOUIS-GUILLAUME-VALENTIN, second Bishop of Louisiana and the Floridas, Bishop of Montauban. Archbishop of Besancon, b. at Cap Francois, Santo Domingo, February 16, 1766; d. at Besancon, France, December 12, 1833. His theological studies were made at Paris, where he was ordained in 1788 and entered the Company of Saint Sulpice. He was superior of the seminary of Issy when the French Revolution broke out, and retired at first to Bordeaux. In 1794 he emigrated to the United States where he was welcomed by Bishop Carroll. He was president of Georgetown College from 1796 to 1799. After an unsuccessful trip to Havana where he attempted to open a school, he returned to Baltimore and became the first superior of Saint Mary's College.
On August 18, 1812, he was appointed Apostolic Administrator of the Diocese of Louisiana and the Floridas to succeed Bishop Penalver y Cardenas promoted (1801) to the archiepiscopal See of Guatemala. The position was by no means an easy one and Father Dubourg was forced, at the beginning of his administration to take up his residence outside New Orleans. However, he gradually overcame his opponents. On January 23, 1815, on the threshold of the New Orleans cathedral, he bestowed on General Jackson the laurels of victory.
After settling in a satisfactory way the affairs of the diocese Father Dubourg proceeded to Rome where he was consecrated Bishop of Louisiana and the Floridas, September 24, 1815. He returned to America in 1817 and took up his residence in St. Louis where he founded a theological seminary and college at "The Barrens". He also founded the St. Louis Latin Academy which developed into the present well-known St. Louis University. The Religious of the Sacred Heart simultaneously opened their first American convent, St. Charles's Academy (1818), and soon after a second one at Florissant. These institutions gave a great impulse to religion in what was then known as Upper Louisiana. The bishop visited yearly the southern part of his diocese, and when Bishop Rosati was appointed his coadjutor, New Orleans became again his residence. In 1826 Bishop Dubourg went again to Europe. He was a brilliant and learned man, but was reluctant to enforce his authority against the cathedral trustees who continually opposed him; therefore he tendered his resignation of the See of New Orleans (November, 1826), thinking that another incumbent would be more successful.
He was not, however, allowed to live in retirement, but was transferred, October 2, 1826, to the Diocese of Montauban; then on February 15, 1833, he was promoted to the archiepiscopal See of Besancon. Archbishop Dubourg was one of the first patrons and beneficiaries of the Society for the Propagation of the Faith, but was not, as has been said, its founder. This society was organized at a meeting held at Lyons by the Abbé Inglesi, Bishop Dubourg's vicar-general, but the chief rôle in its creation is due to a pious woman of Lyons, Pauline-Marie Jaricot (q.v.).
CELESTIN M. CHAMBON | fwe2-CC-MAIN-2013-20-41251000 |
Dairy farmers in the north country power up equipment every day to finish chores, but they rely on the brainpower of researchers to tell them the latest strategies for making their operations profitable.
Thats why about a dozen farmers took time Tuesday at the Ramada Inn, 21000 Route 3, to listen to researchers from Cornell University, Ithaca, report findings from multiyear research projects funded by the Northern New York Agricultural Development Program.
Highlighted were studies on how predatory worms called nematodes are being used to combat the invasion of the alfalfa snout beetle, the latest strategies for planting winter cover crops and a free online tool that helps farmers cut spring fertilizer costs.
Many farmers are applying the microscopic roundworms called nematodes to their alfalfa crops to battle the alfalfa snout beetle, said Cornell entomology professor Elson J. Shields, who has conducted research on the beetle since the late 1980s. Results have been especially promising in an ongoing study since 2007 on the effectiveness of the method. Research has been conducted in 161 fields on 51 farms in six counties, mainly Jefferson, Lewis and St. Lawrence.
Equipment for treating fields with nematodes is simple and inexpensive. Once the nematodes are mixed with water in a large bucket or garbage can, they are applied to fields in rows with a golf cart or ATV equipped with a spray rig, such as a PVC pipe with holes, that allows gravity to distribute the water. Farmers can breed their own nematodes by purchasing cups of wax worms to inoculate. A $150 purchase of wax worms to breed nematodes will allow treatment of an estimated 5 acres.
Mr. Shields said nematodes usually need to be applied only once. Once the microorganisms are in the soil, they may be spread farther throughout fields by plows and harvesting equipment.
The study suggested that if the presence of the snout beetle is left untreated, alfalfa losses can climb up to $381 per acre after four years. In contrast, the cost to apply nematodes is roughly $30 an acre.
Once you treat an infected area, you can restore the alfalfa when the beetles die out, Mr. Shields said. And two years worth of plowing can spread (nematodes) to an entire field.
Farmers have a good reason to be Internet-savvy an online tool that helps them save money on nitrogen fertilizer was highlighted by Cornell researcher Bianca Moebius-Clune, who has worked on the project for the past decade.
The free service, Adapt-N, helps farmers accurately predict how much fertilizer they need by using a computer model that factors in current farm and weather patterns. The tool is available at http://adapt-n.cals.cornell.edu.
Farmers normally use the same amount of nitrogen fertilizer every year. Doing so is problematic, however, because rainy weather during the spring calls for more fertilizer than usual, while dry conditions call for less. Thats where the online tool becomes useful: Based on 60 trials on farms in Iowa and New York since 2011, farmers saved anywhere from 25 to 60 pounds of fertilizer by using the tool, Ms. Moebius-Clune said. Eighty percent of farmers who participated in the study saved on fertilizer costs an average of $24 an acre.
For example, dairy farmer Robert Donald of Moravia in Cayuga County saved about $70,000 in fertilizer costs by using the online tool. He used 210 pounds of fertilizer to treat 1,000 acres of corn in 2010, which he dropped to 80 pounds in 2011 based on calculations from the program.
This is a very precise tool that farmers have never had before, Ms. Moebius-Clune said. | fwe2-CC-MAIN-2013-20-41254000 |
These days, the use of database stored procedures is regarded by many as a bad practice.
Those that dislike stored procedures tend to regard them as incompatible with the three-tier architecture:
By breaking up an application into tiers, developers only have to modify or add a specific layer, rather than have to rewrite the entire application over. There should be a presentation tier, a business or data access tier, and a data tier.
This is illustrated as follows:
Note that the "tiers" in the figure should actually be labelled "layers", for as the accompanying Wikipedia article says:
The concepts of layer and tier are often used interchangeably. However, one fairly common point of view is that there is indeed a difference, and that a layer is a logical structuring mechanism for the elements that make up the software solution, while a tier is a physical structuring mechanism for the system infrastructure.
In fact, those that argue that stored procedures are bad tend to equate the three logical layers with three physical tiers:
- Data layer = data tier (database)
- Logic layer = middle tier (application server)
- Presentation layer = presentation tier
But if we accept the above definition of "layers" and "tiers", it is obvious that the following is a valid mapping as well:
- Data layer = data tier (database)
- Logic layer = data tier (database)
- Presentation layer = presentation tier
In other words, the database becomes our "logic layer" through the use of database stored procedures, which, as the name implies, are physically stored (and executed) in the database. (And although I use the term "stored procedure", I'm primarily talking about Oracle and PL/SQL, where the PL/SQL code should be put in packages rather than stand-alone procedures.)
But why is this a bad idea? In fact, as it turns out, it might not be a bad idea at all. The usual reasons given against the use of stored procedures for "business logic" (or for anything at all, really) tend to be myths (or outright lies), repeated so many times that they are taken as the truth.
So let's bust these myths, once and for all. And whenever someone argues against stored procedures using one of these myths, just give them a link to this blog post. (And leave comments to prove me wrong, if you will.)
Myth #1: Stored procedures can't be version controlled
Stored procedure code lives in text files, which can be version controlled like any other piece of code or document. Storing/compiling the code in the database is just like (re-)deploying any other code.
Claiming that stored procedures cannot be version controlled (because they are in the database) is like saying your application source code (Java, C# or whatever) cannot be version controlled because it is compiled and deployed to an application server.
Myth #2: Managing the impact of changes in the database is hard
Databases such as Oracle have built-in fine-grained dependency tracking.
A wealth of information about your code is exposed via data dictionary views.
Myth #3: Database tools lack modern IDE features
There are a number of free and commercial PL/SQL code editors and IDEs, and all have various levels of syntax highlighting, code insight and refactoring support.
Myth #4: Stored procedures always result in spaghetti code
To this, I can only say that bad programmers can make pasta in any language (the above is a visual representation of a Java or .NET enterprise framework "several dozen megabytes chock full of helper classes like IEnterpriseAuthenticationProviderFactoryManagementFactory").
And a good programmer can create "beautiful" code in COBOL, Visual Basic, PHP... and any stored procedure language, for that matter.
Myth #5: Code in the database can’t be properly encapsulated and reused, you need an object-oriented language for that
PL/SQL packages, views, pipelined functions and Ref Cursors offer encapsulation and reuse. And PL/SQL has object-oriented features, too.
Myth #6: Stored procedure languages are primitive, they lack basic features such as exception handling and dynamic execution
PL/SQL has had proper exception handling from the start, over 20 years ago (although exception handling was only introduced to SQL Server in 2005).
DBMS_SQL, EXECUTE IMMEDIATE and "weak" Ref Cursors enable dynamic execution of code. Parameter overloading and the ANYDATA and ANYTYPE types allow for generic code to be written.
Myth #7: Debugging stored procedures is hard/impossible
Both Oracle and SQL Server have built-in debugging capabilities, exposed via graphical user interfaces in the common IDEs, with full support for stepping though code, inspecting values, etc.
Myth #8: Stored procedures can't be unit tested
There are a number of free and commercial unit testing frameworks available for PL/SQL. Steven Feuerstein, one of the world's leading experts on the Oracle PL/SQL language, has been preaching the importance of unit testing in the database for years, and has developed several of the available unit testing frameworks.
Myth #9: Stored procedures are not portable, and tie you to one platform
This is the "vendor lock-in" argument. But the fact is that PL/SQL runs on multiple databases.
Such as DB2:
"IBM DB2 9.7 for Linux, UNIX, and Windows has out-of-the-box support for Oracle's SQL and PL/SQL dialects. This allows many applications written against Oracle to execute against DB2 virtually unchanged."And Postgres (EnterpriseDB):
"Postgres Plus Advanced Server implements a comprehensive suite of Oracle-compatible functionality within and around the core PostgreSQL engine, including: (...) Oracle SQL syntax and semantics, Functions and Packages, PL/SQL (extensive support)"Add to this the fact that the Oracle database runs on more operating systems than any other database, which means that your PL/SQL code will seamlessly transfer from Windows to Unix to Linux-based systems.
So PL/SQL-based code can actually be said to be more portable than, for example, .NET code (despite the existence of Mono). There are very few truly portable technologies; even Java is "write once, debug everywhere".
Myth #10: It's stupid/dangerous to put business logic in the database
This claim is usually made without any specific reason as to why it is stupid or dangerous. It usually "just is", because it is "against best practice" and "everybody else is putting the business logic in the middle tier". Sometimes it is claimed that putting logic in the database "mixes concerns", which must be a bad thing.
The problem with "business logic" is that nobody has a clear definition of what it is (but "you'll know it when you see it"). For example, where do you draw the line between "data logic" and "business logic"? Primary keys, foreign key constraints, unique key constraints, not null constraints, check constraints -- are these "data logic" or "business logic"? "Discount must be between 0% and 5%", is that a business rule or a data constraint, and/or is it a validation rule in the presentation layer?
The fact is, if you move ALL your logic into stored procedures, you entirely avoid the "mixing of concerns" between the data tier and the logic tier. (And if you think such an approach dooms your project to failure, consider the next myth, which features an example of a massive [and wildly successful] application written entirely in the database.)
Oh, and by the way, if your business logic is somewhere else than in the database, you always run the risk of someone or something bypassing your middle tier (for example by logging in with SQL*Plus), directly updating the database and possibly corrupting the data.
So let's turn this around and conclude instead that:
"If your business logic is not in the database, it is only a recommendation."
Myth #11: Stored procedures can't scale
A frequent argument against stored procedures is that by placing all the work in the database server, your solution won't be able to scale up, because you need "application servers" in the middle tier to do that. The scalability of the database is limited by the fact that you can only have a single database server (or you need to rewrite your code to work with partitioned/sharded databases like Facebook have done).
Of course, a lot of the people who throw around this kind of argument have never worked on an application or website which needed to scale up to millions of users (and to be clear, neither have I). That's because the vast majority of us work on much smaller enterprise business systems or "normal" websites (perhaps even the kind of website that can be well served with free database software on a server with less juice than your laptop).
But stored procedures CAN scale. It's only a matter of money. And if you have millions of users, you should be able to afford decent hardware.
Let's use Oracle Application Express (Apex) as an example of a big and complex PL/SQL application:
"[Application Express] lives completely within your Oracle database. It is comprised of nothing more than data in tables and large amounts of PL/SQL code. The essence of Oracle Application Express is approximately 425 tables and 230 PL/SQL packages containing 425,000+ lines of code."
This PL/SQL application can be deployed anywhere from your laptop to any kind of server:
The biggest and fastest server you can buy is currently Oracle Exadata.
"An 8 rack configuration has a raw disk capacity of 3,360 TB and 1,680 CPU cores for SQL processing. Larger configurations can be built with additional InfiniBand switches."
Oracle makes bold claims about this machine:
"Oracle claims that (..) two Exadata database systems would be able to handle Facebook’s entire computing load."
It's hard for me to verify that claim, not being associated with neither Oracle nor Facebook, but let's assume it has at least some truth to it.
So what about running our "stored procedure" application on Exadata?
"Does APEX Work on Exadata?
"Yep, Exadata is just Oracle. Let me say that again: It’s just Oracle. Exadata runs an 11.2 Database on Linux x64. It’s the exact same binary install if you download those binaries for “generic” Linux x64 11.2 from OTN. So, if your code / app runs on 11.2, it runs on Exadata. (..) The APEX Dev Team (my old friends and colleagues) did absolutely nothing to port their code to Exadata. I've run a number of customer benchmarks with customer's data and queries and have yet to make a single change to their queries or structures to make them work on Exadata."
So... without changing a single of those 425,000 lines of code, this "stored procedure" application can run on my old laptop (I've even tried it on an Asus EEE netbook), or it can run with 1,680 CPU cores. Without offloading any logic to an application server.
I'd say that's pretty scalable. | fwe2-CC-MAIN-2013-20-41266000 |
is a plant in the geranium family that grows in South Africa. It has heart-shaped leaves and narrow flowers of deep, saturated red. It has a long history of traditional use in southern Africa for treatment of respiratory problems. The root is the part used medicinally.
An alcohol extract made from
has become popular in Germany as a treatment for various respiratory problems, including
pharyngitis (sore throat)
, and tonsillitis.
Fairly large studies have been performed to substantiate some of these uses.
For example, in one
, placebo-controlled study, 468 adults with recent onset of acute bronchitis were given either placebo or a standard alcohol extract of
3 times daily for a week.
The results showed a significantly greater improvement in symptoms in the treatment group as compared to the placebo group. On average, participants who received the real treatment were able to return to work 2 days earlier than those given placebo. Benefits were also seen in 2 other double-blind, placebo-controlled studies enrolling a total of almost 350 people with acute bronchitis.
When researchers pooled the results of four well-designed, placebo-controlled trials, they found that a standardized extract of
performed significantly better than placebo at reducing the symptoms of bronchitis by the seventh day of treatment.
Given this evidence,
appears to be effective for acute bronchitis.
Another double-blind, placebo-controlled study enrolled 143 children aged 6-10 years with a nondangerous form of
(technically, non-group A beta hemolytic strep tonsillopharyngitis).
On average, the total duration of the illness was reduced by 2 days in the treatment group as compared to the placebo group.
: Only a medical test can distinguish between the relatively nondangerous form of strep throat studied in this trial (non-group A strep) and strep throat of the potentially very dangerous A form (group A strep). For this reason, physician supervision is essential. See the
article for more information.
Finally, a double-blind study of 133 adults who had just come down with the
found that use of a standardized pelargonium extract at a dose of 30 ml three times daily significantly reduced the severity and duration of symptoms as compared to placebo.
It is not known how
might work, but its action is hypothesized to involve both direct antibacterial effects and immune function modification.
A typical adult dose of the tested standardized root extract is 30 drops three times daily. For children 6-11, this dose is typically reduced to 20 drops three times daily. However, other products beside the tested formulation may vary in strength. Therefore, we recommend that you follow the label instructions.
In clinical trials enrolling a total of over 2,500 adults and children, use of the tested, standardized extract produced few side effects, other than the usual occasional allergic reactions or digestive upset.
However, comprehensive safety testing has not been completed. There is no reliable evidence regarding safety in children under the age of 6, pregnant or nursing women, or people with severe liver or kidney disease. | fwe2-CC-MAIN-2013-20-41269000 |
We have a choice
20120604102 – from the Uto ni Yalo progressing at an average speed of 9 knots in a south westerly direction. Our nautical chart, which we are plotting every 2-3 hours, shows our path will take us past Wailagilala Atoll in northern Lau [right now we are seeing the island of Niuafo'ou]. There are only two true atolls in Fiji with Wailagilala being one and Qelelevu being the other. The “true” atoll is in a stage of geological development where there’s a ring of raised reefs surrounding a central and shallow lagoon with one or more breaks in this reef which can be used as passages inside. The healthy lagoon has many amazing coral heads and myriad reef fish including good sized sharks. In addition atolls possess one or more “motus’ – small islets, low lying sand areas overgrown with vegetation. The larger ones can support significant plant growth including trees that may be as tall as 50 feet!
Atolls in other archipelagos are often uninhabited as they do not have continual fresh water supplies and thus marine species and in particular sea birds abound. Colonies of terns that number in the millions have been observed. Pacific sea birds breed on motus either on the bare sandy ground, under overlying limestone rocks, in burrows easily excavated in the sand or in shrubs or trees. By sharing available nesting space many more species can utilise existing and precious territory.
For instance Sooty terns lay their eggs on sandy ground with their eggs [shell pattern] blending in with the variegated ground. Fairy or White terns prefer laying their single egg in the elbow created between a tree trunk and an extended branch! Why doesn’t the egg roll off? It’s in the egg shape – it’s not oval but almost conical thus the egg stays put more or less wedged into the elbow. Red-tailed tropic birds, being unable to maneuver on land, nest under exposed limestone slabs which enable them to leave the shelter and fly directly into the wind over the reef. Whereas the White-tailed tropic bird nests high up in the hollows in tree trunks. Red-footed boobies nest in low lying shrubs in a platform nest that both parents help to build out of sticks. Their neighbours in other shrub varieties are the Frigate birds who can simply unfold their wings and from the platform nest simply ease into the wind – a marvel of avian aeronautical “technology”! Not to be outdone both Brown and Masked boobies, larger cousins of the Red-footed ones, nest on bare ground often swept clean by their tails! This gives you an idea as to how so many sea birds can “nest” on one motu.
Many migratory shore birds land along the sandy beaches of these motus and forage for food there. Curlews, godwits,whimbrels, plovers, turnstones, tattlers and sandpipers are but a few of the species that have been observed there.In the northern Hawaiian chain it would not be uncommon to find green sea turtles and monk seals in the hundreds sharing sand quays. On French Frigate Shoals they share common areas with many sea bird species. Hopefully one day in the not too distant future we in Fiji can enjoy observing that many sea turtles in one area.
Observing animals in their natural habitat is a joy. It is more soothing and certainly more therapeutic than watching television! There is something that leaves a person in awe when, like today, a Phoenix petrel flew by and shared a few moments with us. It almost seemed like it was relishing being able to fly. This is said knowing that we tend to anthropomorphise animal behaviour [give them human intentions and feelings]. I will risk the “slings and arrows” of those who claim science answers all questions and say that this medium sized sea bird was reveling in the wind. It would glide along the wave trough, dip one wing as if in a salute and then lift out and soar only to repeat itself over and over! Sure it was searching for surface food. I know it’s “only” a bird, but better to possess the willingness to suspend disbelief and allow the bird to “enjoy” flight than to over-analyse and take the imagination out of it!
This morning our paths crossed a pod of 5 small sperm whales, identified by their left and forward “blow”. It reminded us of our first magical encounter with these uncommon cetaceans when we crossed the equator with another pod. There is something almost metaphysical about watching these wonderfully adapted mammals cruise the oceans with virtually no fear of man. Can something be both heartening and sad at the same time? We have been so fortunate in being able to encounter all kinds of marine life [a summary will be shared at a later date] in our journey, but at the same time not seeing some species where we had anticipated seeing them. We shudder to think this may be a sign of things to come. An omen, perhaps a dirge to all those marine animals gone because of our human greed, lack of wisdom and stewardship and simply because we didn’t care until it was too late.
We still have a choice. Will it be the cacophony of sea bird colonies; the hiss and spray of whales surfacing; the thrill of watching an eight foot marlin perform a tail walk or simply the “hold your breath” feeling one gets as a 10 foot hammerhead shark swims underneath him OR will it be a poem somewhere in some little read tome that laments the passing of these marine marvels???? Tabu soro friends it’s still up to you. In sports – the ball is squarely in your court what ever happens, it’s on your shoulders! Fiji here we come! | fwe2-CC-MAIN-2013-20-41278000 |
North Pole (also known as the "Geographic North Pole" or "Terrestrial North Pole") – the northernmost point on Earth.
North Magnetic Pole – the shifting point on the Earth's surface where the Earth's magnetic field points directly downwards.
North Geomagnetic Pole – the point of intersection of the Earth's surface with the axis of a simple magnetic dipole (like a bar magnet) that best approximates the Earth's actual more complex magnetic field.
Originally by analogy with the Earth's magnetic field, the terms "north pole" and "south pole" are also applied to magnets in general, in order to distinguish one "end" of the magnet from the other. For this use see under Magnet and Magnetism. | fwe2-CC-MAIN-2013-20-41280000 |
ANIMAS FORMATION DINOSAURS
Lucas et al. stated that because the Paleocene fossil leaves and palynomorphs of the Animas Formation were from levels stratigraphically
above reported dinosaur fossils, these dinosaurs may not be Paleocene in age.
The Animas Formation was first described in detail by
and was originally assigned a Paleocene age based on fossil leaves (Knowlton,
1924); this age was later confirmed based on palynomorphs (Newman,
1987). Neuman not only stated that his studies indicated that the Animas was Paleocene; he further stated that palynologic evidence indicated that the lowermost Paleocene was missing from the Animas Formation. The Animas is a lithologically consistent and distinct unit containing diagnostic volcaniclastic rock fragments that clearly distinguish it from the underlying Cretaceous Kirtland Formation strata.
Reeside (1924) stated that the basal Animas Formation of the northern San Juan Basin was equivalent in age to the "Tertiary (?)" Ojo Alamo Sandstone of the southern part of the basin. With no evidence to refute the Paleocene age of the entire Animas Formation, the dinosaurs of the Animas can only be assumed to be Paleocene. | fwe2-CC-MAIN-2013-20-41282000 |
The Making Of Kong (1933)
From American Heritage.com comes THIS ARTICLE by Tom Huntington all about the people behind the 1933, 'KING KONG', and how it was made:
Even before it was made, the original King Kong was becoming a legend. “Because of the highly secret methods of filming used, the picture is being made on a closed stage and admittance is strictly forbidden,” read a notice at RKO Studio in the summer of 1932. The studio’s head of production was David O. Selznick; his assistant, Merian C. Cooper, was running Production 601. “I knew they were making something,” remembered the director George Cukor. “I would see them making it for what seemed like years and years, and we thought, dear old Coop, he’s making this preposterous picture."Read the complete article HERE. | fwe2-CC-MAIN-2013-20-41283000 |
© 2009 Pandora’s Aquarium By: Katy
Many of us, in response to being told that being abused as children was not our fault, respond with the line, “…But I never told anybody?”. We berate ourselves for not being able to tell, and somehow conclude that the fact that we “didn’t tell anyone” about the abuse, somehow makes us culpable for it.
As an older teen or adult, it is very easy to look back and think of all the missed opportunities for when we could have broken the silence. But what’s very very important to remember, is that when we do this, we are looking back from the perspective of an adult, not from the perspective of a confused and / or frightened child. It's necessary to remind ourselves of why we didn’t tell as children, so that we can perhaps have more acceptance, compassion and understanding of our child selves.
There are so many reasons that children feel they are unable to report sexual abuse, and many survivors have more than one reason for keeping it secret. This is by no means an exhaustive list, but here are some of those reasons. Maybe you can identify with one or two of them.
- “No one will believe me”: Abusers very often threaten that if you tell, no one is going to believe you. You then face the risk of looking like you are telling lies, and perhaps even that you will get punished for not telling the truth. After all, children believe that adults believe other adults over children.
- Threats of Harm to Others: Abusers can openly threaten that if you tell, then they are going to punish you by hurting someone you love. It’s not unusual for an abuser to threaten that they will, for example, kill the family pet, or hurt a parent or sibling. This, especially to a young child, is incredibly scary – and can result in believeing you are responsible for keeping silent in order to protect others that you care about.
- Threats of further harm to yourself: Abusers can also threaten even worse punishments for you is you do tell. They can think up punishments that literally freeze survivors into silence.
- “It’s my fault”: Many abusers “groom” their victims, and over time, they can make you feel that you have been doing something wrong, and that you are guilty of what’s been happening. If this is said often enough to you, then you start to believe it. You may be told that if anyone finds out then you will be sent to a children’s home or a jail for children, and that everyone will think you are x, y, and z. Its understandable therefore, that many children don’t tell because they are frightened of being blamed for being complicit in the abuse.
- Not wanting the abuser to get into trouble: As many abusers are close to their child victims i.e. a parent, sibling, family friend, religious leader etc. then sometimes the child doesn’t want the abuser to get into trouble. They can fear the abuser being sent to prison, or being told they are not allowed to see this person again – and obviously if you feel love for that person, then silence often wins through. The idea of being responsible for the break up of their family, in particular, can be too much to bear.
- “I don’t know what to say”: Obviously a childs’ vocabulary, especially when talking about sexual acts, is not as sophisticated as that of an adult. There are very real practical barriers to telling, like not knowing what words to use, or not knowing how to bring it up in conversation. Even many adults struggle to talk about sex, especially when abusive in nature, and so how could you expect yourself as a child to be able to do this. Also, if you are very confused about what exactly has been done to you, it is almost impossible to know how to describe it.
- Bribery: Some children are bribed in order to keep a secret. For example, the abuser may promise to give you money, or may buy you nice things. These “rewards” can very much confuse your feelings towards the abuser and towards the abuse itself.
- “But I liked it”: Some survivors keep silent because of things about what’s happening that are deemed “positive”. For example, children who are very deprived of love and affection, may crave the love and affection they feel they are receiving from their abuser. Some human contact is better than no human contact. Understandably, sexual stimulation can also result in arousal, and this can be very confusing for a child to disentagle the nice feelings with the bad feelings. It can make a child feel “special” and wanted, possibly for the first time in their life.
- “I didn’t know it was wrong”: Especially if abuse began at a very early age, you may not have even been aware that this wasn’t something that didn’t happen to everyone. The abuse becomes part of your normal everyday life, and so challenging it wouldn’t even occur to you. | fwe2-CC-MAIN-2013-20-41285000 |
Due Process as Separation of Powers
Nathan S. Chapman
Stanford Constitutional Law Center
Michael W. McConnell
Stanford Law School
February 14, 2012
Yale Law Journal, Forthcoming
Stanford Public Law Working Paper No. 2005406
From its conceptual origin in Magna Charta, due process of law has required that government can only deprive persons of rights pursuant to a coordinated effort of separate institutions that make, execute, and adjudicate claims under the law. Originalist debates about whether the Fifth or Fourteenth Amendments were understood to entail modern "substantive due process" have obscured the way that many American lawyers and courts understood due process to limit the legislature from the revolutionary era through the Civil War. They understood due process to prohibit legislatures from directly depriving persons of rights, especially vested property rights, because it was the court's role to do so pursuant to established and general law. This principle was applied against insufficiently general and prospective legislative acts under a variety of state and federal constitutional provisions through the antebellum era. Contrary to the claims of some scholars, however, there was virtually no precedent before the Fourteenth Amendment for invalidating laws that restricted liberty or the use of property. Contemporary resorts to originalism to support modern due process doctrines are therefore misplaced. Understanding due process as a particular instantiation of separation of powers does, however, shed new light on a number of key 20th century cases which have not been fully analyzed under the requirements of due process of law.
Number of Pages in PDF File: 116
Keywords: constitution, due process, due process of law, separation of powers, legislative power, constitutional history, originalismAccepted Paper Series
Date posted: February 19, 2012
© 2013 Social Science Electronic Publishing, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
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Cross-posted at Grist.
A recent post on Grist attempted to dismantle the intellectual foundations of free market environmentalism—the application of markets and property rights to solve environmental problems. But far from toppling a burgeoning movement within modern environmentalism, it succeeded only in misrepresenting the subject.
To recap: Clark Williams-Derry claimed that while free market environmentalism may be effective in some areas of the environment (e.g., fisheries management), its reliance upon unrealistic assumptions about the real world largely relegates it to useless intellectual theorizing. In particular, the Coase theorem—an important component of market-based environmentalism named for Nobel Prize-winning economist Ronald Coase—amounts to “a quirky but not particularly relevant bit of theoretical math.”
While there is certainly much more to free market environmentalism than the work of Coase (see Terry Anderson and Donald Leal’s book Free Market Environmentalism for more details), I focus here mostly on the misinformed critique of Coase that has been used to discredit free market environmentalism.
So, who is Coase, what is his theorem, and what does it have to do with free market environmentalism?
Ronald Coase’s 1960 paper “The Problem of Social Cost” challenged the way economists thought about competing uses of resources. In short, the Coase theorem states that if property rights are fully specified and the costs of coordinating transactions between agents are zero, bargaining will lead to an efficient outcome, regardless of how rights are initially assigned.
To illustrate: suppose a farmer and a refinery are both located along a river. According to the Coase theorem, as long as property rights to the use of the river are clearly defined and the costs of transacting with one another are zero, the amount of effluent disposed in the river by the refinery will be the same regardless of who has the property right. If the farmer had the right to have the river’s water free of the refinery’s waste, the refinery could compensate him in exchange for a partial right to discharge effluent into the river. If the refinery had the right to use the river for effluent discharge, the farmer could compensate the refinery in exchange for less effluent released into the river.
In this stylized example, voluntary negotiations between the farmer and the refinery will result in the optimal amount of effluent discharged in the river, as long as property rights are defined to one of them. This would occur without taxes imposed, water-use regulations devised, or subsidies doled out to try to control the use of the river.
But as was correctly noted (and astute readers have no doubt picked up on), the real world is much more complex; negotiation is costly, multiple agents are often affected, and information is diffuse. So, Coase’s theorem—and free market environmentalism in general—is irrelevant in the real world, right?
Wrong. Coase’s chief accomplishment was to encourage the economics profession to move away from the abstract mathematical tinkering that often bears no resemblance to the real world. He introduced the world to the reality of transaction costs, the costs of coordinating exchanges in the market. For decades, economists had devised policy prescriptions based on faulty assumptions of perfect competition, complete information, and, although it wasn’t framed in these terms, zero transaction costs. As Coase later wrote, “What my argument does suggest is the need to introduce positive transaction costs explicitly into economic analysis so that we can study the world that exists.”
Despite the claim that his theory is “mathematical,” Coase’s work lacks even a single equation. Coase’s ideas are about reality, not theoretical math – a reason why he rejects what he calls “blackboard economics” because “it does not study the real world.”
Building upon Coase’s essay on social cost, economists began focusing attention on property rights institutions and their ability to lower transaction costs. Free market environmentalism recognizes that when property rights are well defined, disputes over resource use can often be resolved locally and cooperatively. This is in sharp contrast to the conventional command-and-control approach to environmentalism that is characterized by top-down management, special interests, and zero-sum “I-win-you-lose” outcomes.
This is not to say free market environmentalists don’t believe in the presence of high transaction costs. To be sure, sufficiently high transaction costs can present significant hurdles for market-based solutions. But oftentimes, this presents an opportunity for entrepreneurs to step in and define property rights that lower such costs. These environmental entrepreneurs, call them “enviropreneurs,” are the often-unrecognized agents of change that contract with rights holders to keep water instream for fish and wildlife habitat, compensate livestock owners for their losses due to wolf depredation, and develop ecosystem services markets for water quality and endangered species habitat.
Of course, the transaction costs associated with some environmental problems can be too high for even entrepreneurs to handle. For property rights and markets, the atmosphere is in many ways the new frontier. However, in such instances, the common law legal system historically played an important role in resolving resource conflicts in a Coasean manner.
Before being shoved aside in the 1970s by the more politically attractive federal statute law, common law made it clear that no polluter had the right to impose unwanted costs on the owners of private property. Centuries of legal precedence affirmed that people had a legal right to have their property free from pollution. Upon examining the history the common law, economists Roger Meiners and Bruce Yandle concluded that the common law “can protect the environment more effectively and fairly than can congressional statutes and bureaucratic regulations.”
When property rights are well defined, the free market environmentalism approach is bottom-up, not top-down. This addresses the key knowledge problem that plagues much of environmental policy. How do distant policymakers possess the information necessary to design the “socially optimal” tax, regulation, or subsidy that will result in the optimal level of pollution?
It is here that the ideas of another, perhaps more important, luminary of free market environmentalism, F.A. Hayek, come to light. Knowledge in society is dispersed and “not given to anyone in its totality,” he wrote in his seminal 1945 article. Hayek suggested that the information required to effectively allocate resources depends on very specific circumstances of time and place. Because of this fact, the spontaneous ordering among the many supersedes the special wisdom of the few. Hayek’s emphasis on market institutions and decentralized decision making is the essence of free market environmentalism.
Curiously, many discussions of environmental policy ignore Hayek’s knowledge problem, assuming instead that regulators and politicians will yield effective environmental results. But alas, much server space has been occupied by those frustrated with the sad result of political environmentalism.
Critics admonish free market environmentalism because “complete information is impossible” in markets, but fail to apply the same logic to government. Whereas markets are by their very nature decentralized collectors of knowledge, public officials are far from omniscient or benevolent purveyors of sound environmental policy.
Free market environmentalism is already working to end overfishing, encourage resource stewardship, and increase stream flows, and the environmental community is beginning to recognize it. Fred Krupp, president of Environmental Defense Fund, recently remarked that “harnessing the power of the market is often the best way to achieve the greatest environmental benefit at the lowest cost.” As we work on today’s environmental problems, we’d do well to accept free market environmentalism into the broader environmental movement. | fwe2-CC-MAIN-2013-20-41296000 |
Hubris As The Evil Force In History
June 14, 2012 by Paul Craig Roberts
I have always been intrigued by the Battle of Bull Run, the opening battle of the U.S. Civil War, known to Southerners as the War of Northern Aggression. Extreme hubris characterized both sides: the North before the battle and the South afterward.
Republican politicians and ladies in their finery rode in carriages to Manassas, the Virginia town through which the stream Bull Run flowed, to watch the Union Army end the “Southern Rebellion” in one fell swoop. What they witnessed instead was the Union Army fleeing back to Washington with its tail between its legs. The flight of the Northern troops prompted some Southern wags to name the skirmish the “Battle of Yankee Run.”
The outcome of the battle left the South infected with the hubris that had so abruptly departed the North. The Southerners concluded that they had nothing to fear from cowards who ran away from a fight. “We have nothing to worry about from them,” decided the South. It was precisely at this point that hubris defeated the South.
Historians report that the flight back to Washington left the Union Army and the U.S. capital in a State of disorganization for three weeks, during which time even a small army could have taken the capital. Historians who are inclined not to see the battle as a victory for the South claim that the Southerners were exhausted by the effort it took to put the Yankees to flight and that they simply didn’t have the energy to pursue them, take Washington, hang the traitor Abraham Lincoln and all the Republicans, and end the war.
Exhausted troops or not, had Napoleon Bonaparte been the Southern general, the still organized Southern army would have been in Washington as fast as the disorganized Union. Possibly, the Southerners would have engaged in ethnic cleansing by enslaving the Yankees and selling them to Africans, thus ejecting from the country the greed-driven Northern imperialists who, in the Southern view, did not know how to behave either in private or in public.
It was not Southern exhaustion that saved the day for the North. It was Southern hubris. The Battle of Bull Run convinced the South that the citified Northerners simply could not fight and were not a military threat.
Perhaps the South was right about the North. However, the Irish immigrants, who were met at the docks and sent straight to the front, could fight. The South was dramatically outnumbered and had no supply of immigrants to fill the ranks vacated by casualties. Moreover, the South had no industry and no navy. And, of course, the South was demonized because of slavery, although the slaves never revolted — even when all Southern men were at the front. When the South failed to take advantage of its victory at Bull Run and occupy Washington, the South lost the war.
An examination of hubris casts a great deal of light on wars, their causes and outcomes. Napoleon undid himself, as Adolf Hitler was to do later, by marching off into Russia. British hubris caused both world wars. World War II began when the British incomprehensibly gave a “guarantee” to the Polish colonels who were on the verge of returning that part of Germany that Poland had acquired from the Versailles Treaty. The colonels, not understanding that the British had no way of making the guarantee good, gave Hitler the finger, an act of defiance that was too much for Hitler, who had declared Germans to be the exceptional people.
Hitler smacked Poland, and the British and French declared war.
Hitler made short work of the French and British armies. But the British in their hubris, hiding behind the English Channel, wouldn’t surrender or even agree to a favorable peace settlement. Hitler concluded that the British were counting on Russia to enter the war on their side. Hitler decided that if he knocked off Russia, the British hope would evaporate and they would come to peace terms. So Hitler turned on his Russian partner with whom he had just dismembered Poland. Joseph Stalin, in his own hubris, had recently purged almost every officer in the Red Army, thus making Hitler’s decision easy.
The outcome of all this hubris was the rise of the U.S. military/security complex, more than four decades of Cold War and the threat of nuclear destruction, a period that lasted from the end of World War II until Ronald Reagan and Mikhail Gorbachev, two leaders not consumed by hubris, agreed to end the Cold War.
Alas, hubris returned to America with the neoconservative ascendency. Americans have become “the indispensable people.” Like the Jacobins of the French Revolution who intended to impose “liberty, equality, fraternity” upon all of Europe, Washington asserts the superiority of the American way and the right to impose it on the rest of the world. Hubris is in full flower despite its defeats. The “three week” Iraq war lasted eight years; and after 11 years, the Taliban control more of Afghanistan than the “world’s only superpower.”
Sooner or later, American hubris is going to run up against Russia and China, neither of which will give way. Either the United States, like Napoleon and Hitler, will have its Russian (or Chinese) moment, or the world will go up in thermonuclear smoke.
The only solution for humanity is to immediately impeach and imprison warmongers when first sighted before their hubris leads us yet again into the death and destruction of war. | fwe2-CC-MAIN-2013-20-41300000 |
Indian and Himalayan Art
Attendant GoddessMade in Nepal, Asia
Malla Dynasty (1200-1769), c. Late 15th to 16th century
Artist/maker unknown, Nepalese
Mercury-gilded copper alloy with turquoise and garnet? spinel? red glass?
Currently not on view
1962-178-1Gift of Natacha Rambova, 1962
LabelThis statue wears floral disk earrings, a V-shaped necklace, ornate armlets, plain bracelets, a knotted and beaded waistband, and a foliate-trimmed skirt-all elements of Malla period high fashion. Because this statue lacks additional identifying markers, and because Nepalese workshops produced similarly styled works for both Hindu and Buddhist patrons, it cannot be determined if this is a Hindu or Buddhist goddess. Judging from her angled seated posture, she was most likely created as an attendant to a male figure. The pierced flaps at her shoulders indicate another metal piece, possibly a halo, was originally attached. | fwe2-CC-MAIN-2013-20-41303000 |
An international research team has discovered that a pervasive human RNA modification provides the physiological underpinning of the genetic regulatory process that contributes to obesity and type II diabetes.
European researchers showed in 2007 that the FTO gene was the major gene associated with obesity and type II diabetes, but the details of its physiological and cellular functioning remained unknown.
Now, a team led by University of Chicago chemistry professor Chuan He has demonstrated experimentally the importance of a reversible RNA modification process mediated by the FTO protein upon biological regulation. He and 10 co-authors from Chicago, China and England published the details of their finding in the Oct. 16 advance online edition of Nature Chemical Biology.
He and his colleagues have shown, for the first time, the existence of the reversible RNA modification process called methylation and that it potentially impacts protein expression and function through its action on a common RNA base: adenosine. The process is reversible because it can involve the addition or removal of a methyl group from adenosine. The team found that the FTO protein mediates cellular removal of the methyl group.
"An improved understanding of the normal functions of FTO, as exemplified by this work, could aid the development of novel anti-obesity therapies," said Stephen O'Rahilly, professor of clinical biochemistry and director of the Metabolic Research Laboratories at the University of Cambridge. O'Rahilly, a leading researcher in obesity and metabolic disease who also has studied FTO, was not directly involved in He's project.
"Variants around the FTO gene have consistently been associated with human obesity and artificial manipulation of the fto gene in mice clearly demonstrates that FTO plays a crucial role in the regulation of body weight," O'Rahilly explained. "However, the development of a deeper understanding of the normal biological role of FTO has been challenging."
Scientists already had demonstrated that FTO removes methyl groups from nucleic acids, but only on one rare type of DNA or RNA methylation. The new research from He and his colleagues shows that FTO also acts on the common messenger RNA modification called N6-methyladenosine, O'Rahilly said.
The paper arose from He's investigations of the AlkB family of proteins that act on nucleic acids. Based on this work, He and his collaborators proved that human cells exhibit reversible methylation of RNA bases, which significantly impact critical life processes.
Important but mysterious
Every human messenger RNA carries on average three to six methylations on adenosine. Scientists knew these methylations were extremely important but their function remained a mystery, He said. "For the first time, we show that these methylations are reversible and play a key role in human energy homeostasis," the process by which the body maintains a complex biochemical dynamic equilibrium.
The modification of N6-methyladenosine in messenger RNA is pervasive throughout the mammal kingdom and many other organisms. Despite its abundance, this modification's exact functional role remains unknown, He said. But his team's discovery strongly indicates that the modification has major roles in messenger RNA metabolism.
The finding may open a new research field RNA epigenetics for delving into the realm of biological regulatory processes, He said. The epigenetics of DNA and histones (proteins that package DNA in human cells) have become well-explored topics on the frontiers of biological research over the last 10 to 20 years. "It is safe to say 50 percent of biologists work on subjects related to epigenetics one way or another," He said.
DNA (deoxyribonucleic acid) for decades has reigned as king over biological research on epigenetics of nucleic acids, as He noted in the December 2010 issue of Nature Chemical Biology. RNA (ribonucleic acid) modification was regarded more as a vassal that merely fine-tunes gene expression and regulation, until this recent discovery, which confirms the speculation by He and others that RNA modification has secretly wielded a far greater genetic influence than anyone had previously suspected. That's why, as He wrote last year, "reversible RNA modification might represent another realm for biological regulation in the form of 'RNA epigenetics.'"
Explore further: Scientists develop advanced biological computer
More information: "N6-Methyladenosine in nuclear RNA is a major substrate of the obesity-associated FTO," by Guifang Jia, Ye Fu, Xu Zhao, Qing Dai, Guanqun Zheng, Ying Yang, Chengqi Yi, Tomas Lindahl, Tao Pan, Yun-Gui Yang and Chuan He, Nature Chemical Biology, advance online publication Oct. 16, 2011.
"RNA epigenetics?" by Chuan He, Nature Chemical Biology, Dec. 2010. | fwe2-CC-MAIN-2013-20-41308000 |
By examining the frequency of extreme storm surges in the past, previous research has shown that there was an increasing tendency for storm hurricane surges when the climate was warmer. But how much worse will it get as temperatures rise in the future? How many extreme storm surges like that from Hurricane Katrina, which hit the U.S. coast in 2005, will there be as a result of global warming? New research from the Niels Bohr Institute show that there will be a tenfold increase in frequency if the climate becomes two degrees Celcius warmer.
The results are published in the scientific journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Science (PNAS).
Tropical cyclones arise over warm ocean surfaces with strong evaporation and warming of the air. The typically form in the Atlantic Ocean and move towards the U.S. East Coast and the Gulf of Mexico. If you want to try to calculate the frequency of tropical cyclones in a future with a warmer global climate, researchers have developed various models. One is based on the regional sea temperatures, while another is based on differences between the regional sea temperatures and the average temperatures in the tropical oceans. There is considerable disagreement among researchers about which is best.
New model for predicting cyclones
"Instead of choosing between the two methods, I have chosen to use temperatures from all around the world and combine them into a single model," explains climate scientist Aslak Grinsted, Centre for Ice and Climate at the Niels Bohr Institute at the University of Copenhagen.
He takes into account the individual statistical models and weights them according to how good they are at explaining past storm surges. In this way, he sees that the model reflects the known physical relationships, for example, how the El Niño phenomenon affects the formation of cyclones. The research was performed in collaboration with colleagues from China and England.
The statistical models are used to predict the number of hurricane surges 100 years into the future. How much worse will it be per degree of global warming? How many 'Katrinas' will there be per decade?
Since 1923, there has been a 'Katrina' magnitude storm surge every 20 years.
10 times as many 'Katrinas'
"We find that 0.4 degrees Celcius warming of the climate corresponds to a doubling of the frequency of extreme storm surges like the one following Hurricane Katrina. With the global warming we have had during the 20th century, we have already crossed the threshold where more than half of all 'Katrinas' are due to global warming," explains Aslak Grinsted.
"If the temperature rises an additional degree, the frequency will increase by 3-4 times and if the global climate becomes two degrees warmer, there will be about 10 times as many extreme storm surges. This means that there will be a 'Katrina' magnitude storm surge every other year," says Aslak Grinsted and he points out that in addition to there being more extreme storm surges, the sea will also rise due to global warming. As a result, the storm surges will become worse and potentially more destructive.
Explore further: Study: Tropical cyclones are occurring more frequently than before
More information: "Projected Atlantic hurricane surge threat from rising temperatures," by Aslak Grinsted, John C. Moore, and Svetlana Jevrejeva | fwe2-CC-MAIN-2013-20-41310000 |
Considerable attention has been paid to the effects of endocrine disrupting chemicals in aquatic environments, but rather less attention has been given to routes of contamination on land. A new study, published in PLoS ONE on February 27 by researchers at Cardiff University, reveals that wild birds foraging on invertebrates contaminated with environmental pollutants, show marked changes in both brain and behaviour: male birds exposed to this pollution develop more complex songs, which are actually preferred by the females, even though these same males usually show reduced immune function compared to controls.
Katherine Buchanan and her colleagues studied male European starlings (Sturnus vulgaris) foraging at a sewage treatment works in the south-west UK and analysed the earthworms that constitute their prey. The researchers found that those birds exposed to environmentally-relevant levels of synthetic and natural estrogen mimics developed longer and more complex songs compared to males in a control group.
Specifically, birds dosed with the complete spectrum of endocrine disrupting chemicals found in the invertebrates spent longer singing, sang more often and produced more complex songs, a sexually selected trait important in attracting females for reproduction even though birds dosed at these ecologically relevant levels also showed reduced immune function.
The study also addresses the mechanism for this effect, as the researchers found that the high vocal centre (HVC), the area of the brain that controls male song complexity, is significantly enlarged in the contaminated birds. Estrogen causes masculinisation of the songbird brain and the HVC is enriched with estrogen receptors. Neural development is thus susceptible to exposure to chemicals which mimic estrogen, or to enhanced estrogen levels. The results also confirm the plasticity of the adult songbird brain.
Finally, the scientists found that female starlings prefer the song of males exposed to the mixture of endocrine disrupting chemicals, suggesting the potential for population level effects on reproductive success.
“This is the first evidence that environmental pollutants not only affect, but paradoxically enhance a signal of male quality such as song,” said Katherine Buchanan, the corresponding author of the paper. “These results may have consequences of population dynamics of an already declining species.”
Citation: Markman S, Leitner S, Catchpole C, Barnsley S, Müller CT, et al (2008) Pollutants Increase Song Complexity and the Volume of the Brain Area HVC in a Songbird. PLoS ONE 3(2): e1674. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0001674 (www.plosone.org/doi/pone.0001674)
Source: Public Library of Science
Explore further: Study: Amphibians disappearing at alarming rate | fwe2-CC-MAIN-2013-20-41311000 |
(PhysOrg.com) -- Technology developed at The University of Nottingham will be giving James Bond the edge over his enemies when the latest high octane 007 adventure hits cinema screens later this week.
When Daniel Craig reprises the role of Fleming's iconic superspy in The Quantum of Solace, he will continue the franchise's special relationship with Aston Martin by taking the wheel of their flagship model, the DBS.
And a new lightweight but super strong material developed by researchers in the University's Polymer Composites Group, in collaboration with Aston Martin engineers, will be helping to ensure that any high-speed chases leave him stirred, but not shaken.
Underneath the cool, sleek exterior of the DBS is a highly engineered body structure which contains components made using a unique process, Directed Carbon Fibre Preforming (DCFP). During the process, carbon fibres are placed by a robot into a carefully controlled form and epoxy resin is injected around the fibres to create a carbon fibre composite component.
The DCFP process produces a material that is both light and incredibly strong and is able to withstand huge impacts in the event of a crash, making it ideal in the use of high performance cars like the DBS. In addition to this, the material is greener than many of its mainstream counterparts as it can be recycled in accordance with European vehicle end of life directives.
Professor Nick Warrior, in the University's Faculty of Engineering, said it was exciting to think that technology which originated in Nottingham would be seen by cinema-goers around the world.
He added: “The high strength and low weight characteristics of the DCFP have enabled the Aston Martin designers to increase the performance of the DBS reduce its fuel consumption and ultimately minimise 007's carbon footprint — we hope to be able to spin-out DCFP to more affordable vehicles in the near future.”
The DCFP process is part of a longstanding research collaboration between The University of Nottingham and Aston Martin. A unique carbon fibre 3-D braiding process, developed by the research group, was an integral component used in the windscreen pillar of the Aston Martin Vanquish, seen in the 20th James Bond film, Die Another Day.
The DCFP technology was also used in the Aston Martin DBSV12 car seen in Daniel Craig's first outing as Bond, Casino Royale. The car was seen in a spectacular crash in which stunt driver Adam Kirley used an air cannon behind the driver's seat to propel the car into a record seven rolls.
The DCFP process was developed during the ALBOS project (Affordable Lightweight Body Structures), government-funded Technology Strategy Board (TSB) programme through the Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform (BERR). Aston Martin, The University of Nottingham and composites materials suppliers Hexcel and Toho Tenax formed the industrial partnership to create the new process. The project was managed by Qinetiq.
The University continues to work with Aston Martin in a new BERR TSB project, Advanced Structural Preforming.
Provided by University of Nottingham
Explore further: Sensitive bomb detector to rove in search of danger | fwe2-CC-MAIN-2013-20-41312000 |
One of the biggest questions in science has always been how the universe formed. Over the last century, we've made a lot of progress about understanding the way it has developed: The Big Bang Model. With the most sophisticated telescopes ever built, scientists have now made measurements confirming the accuracy of this model within just moments of when the universe began.
Despite all this evidence, the question remains: What actually started the whole process?
Physics actually does have an answer to this question - one which doesn't require the intervention of a creator deity - and in his newest book physicist Lawrence Krauss lays the explanation out in language that is accessible to non-scientists. If this sounds interesting, check out our review of Krauss's A Universe From Nothing.
If you've read the book, then be sure to let us know what you thought of it. Could the laws of quantum physics and relativity have created the universe as we know it? Is God a necessary component of the universe? | fwe2-CC-MAIN-2013-20-41314000 |
A theoretical analysis of recent experiments suggests that a key feature of a topological quantum computer—the unusual statistics of quasiparticles in the quantum Hall effect—may finally have been observed.
By exploiting the concept of particle-hole duality, one can realize a point junction between integer and fractional quantum Hall phases, which constitutes a crucial building block towards possible applications of the quantum Hall effect.
The fractional quantum Hall effect, thought to be special to two dimensions, may also flourish in three, providing a possible explanation for anomalies observed in certain 3D materials in high magnetic fields.
Physics2, 24 (2009) – Published March 30, 2009
The surprising prediction that currents can flow forever in small normal metal rings was confirmed almost twenty years ago. Highly precise new experiments find good agreement with theory that was not seen till now.
H. A. Fertig,
Physics2, 15 (2009) – Published February 23, 2009
Measurements of the heat transport at the edges of two-dimensional electron systems appear to provide explanations about the quantum Hall state that have not been forthcoming via charge transport experiments.
Crystalline structures have been observed in nanoislands of electrons floating above superfluid helium. The energy required to add or subtract an electron from these quantum-dot-like islands agrees well with theory.
Physics1, 36 (2008) – Published November 24, 2008
The esoteric concept of “axions” was born thirty years ago to describe the strong interaction between quarks. It appears that the same physics—though in a much different context—applies to an unusual class of insulators.
Graphene has been idealized as a two-dimensional electron system in which the electrons behave like massless fermions, but how “perfect” is it? Scientists now show they can prepare free-standing sheets of graphene that have some of the highest electron mobilities of any inorganic semiconductor.
A decade ago, experimentalists showed that persistent currents can flow in nonsuperconducting mesoscopic metal rings, but there was no theory that correctly explained the magnitude or direction of the unexpectedly large currents. Theorists are now proposing a simple idea that may at last explain these results.
Electrons in graphene can be described by the relativistic Dirac equation for massless fermions and exhibit a host of unusual properties. The surfaces of certain band insulators—called topological insulators—can be described in a similar way, leading to an exotic metallic surface on an otherwise “ordinary” insulator. | fwe2-CC-MAIN-2013-20-41315000 |
The Philippines is blessed with a very high biodiversity, including the plants living in its remaining forest cover. Trees alone comprise about 3500 species. Just to research on a species a day would take about 10 years to finish all of just the trees. Then there are still the shrubs, herbs, ferns etc. Through this blog we hope to introduce you to some important plants in the forest before they completely disappear because of habitat destruction.
Friday, January 13, 2012
Another Katmon in Flower
Dillenia sibuyanensis in flower
Flower is much smaller than a katmon's
Quick Post: I was gifted by Wendy Regalado with a cutting of Dillenia sibuyanensis or katmon-sibuyan. In about 8 months it established itself then grew from 6 inches to about 2 feet. The other day I saw it in flower. It had a smaller flower compared to Dillenia philippinensis, but has an attractive yellow flower. It must be a delight to see a specimen heavily laden with the yellow blooms. For now I have to contented with the single flower, and at least I know my plant will be doing so someday. | fwe2-CC-MAIN-2013-20-41317000 |
Greek Hunters Take Dim View Of Solar Energy Scheme
Author: Ingrid Melander
The chimney stack of the lignite plants looms over the city of Megalopolis, about 120 km (75 miles) of Athens, May 15, 2009. The air in Greece's southern city of Megalopolis is heavy with dust and smoke spit by lignite plants.
Photo: John Kolesidis
MEGALOPOLIS - Lignite power plants belch dust and smoke into the air above the southern Greek town of Megalopolis, but residents resistant to environmental arguments have blocked a scheme to build the country's biggest solar energy project on a nearby hillside.
Local game hunters, angry that an earlier plan to grow a forest on the site was scrapped, have gone to court to try to stop the construction of a 50-megawatt solar panel park.
"Under no conditions will we accept sacrificing even one tree ... we are not bowing to these interests," Kostas Markopoulos, president of the Hunters' Association of the Peloponnese, said on a visit to the site on a hill overlooking the small town.
Below lie the huge open-air mine where lignite, a cheap but highly polluting energy source also known as brown coal, is extracted and adjacent plants where it is burned to generate electricity for southern Greece. The nearest houses stand only about 100 meters away.
Red tape, a lack of political will and local opposition have cramped the development of an otherwise promising renewable energy market in Greece, whose climate is endowed with plenty of sunshine and wind.
This puts Greece far behind European Union leaders in the field, such as much less sunny Germany.
Despite one of the most generous government subsidies and long-term guaranteed electricity prices worldwide, it ranked 18th in percentage of renewables as a proportion of gross electricity consumption in the EU in 2007.
The Megalopolis project, using photovoltaic panels to convert sunlight into electricity, would be one of the biggest solar energy schemes in the world. It is expected to cost 200 million to 250 million euros ($280 million to $349 million).
Nearly two years after electricity operator PPC was granted production licenses, nothing has been built on the site. A court ruling on the hunters' appeal is still awaited.
Investors, waiting for years to tap Greece's huge potential, say that after decades of struggling with endless bureaucracy, they see some reason for hope as new legislation takes effect.
"In the past 15 years, Greece has been the sleeping giant of European renewables," said Nikos Vassilakos, who heads a Greek and a European association of investors in renewables. "Now something is moving, maybe at a slow pace but investors have learnt to be patient."
Greece is notorious for its long licensing procedure, which Vassilakos estimated at three to four years on average.
The government has just passed a zoning law for renewables as well as approved new incentives for individuals to install solar panels on rooftops and sell the electricity, doing away with a licensing process that used to cost thousands of euros.
Within the next two months, it plans to submit a law to shorten procedures for wind farms and small hydroelectric plants.
With installed capacity of about 1,200 megawatts, mostly from wind, Greece must move up a gear to comply with EU rules.
It needs to produce more than a third of its electricity from renewables by 2020, from about 9 percent currently -- the figure drops to about 4 percent without large hydro plants, which experts say is a more realistic assessment.
Investors present in the Greek renewables market include Italy's Enel, France's EDF, and Spain's Iberdola as well as other, smaller companies. More than 4 billion euros' worth of renewable applications are awaiting approval by Greece's energy regulator.
"It's an exciting moment," Vassilakos said. "Look at how big the untapped potential is."
MISSING THE BIG PICTURE
Walking around the mine and the hamlets bordering the plant, where pollutants in the air burn the throat after just a few minutes, the hunters' leader Markopoulos is unconvinced.
"A (solar) park here at such a large scale ... would be one large mirror that will drive away wildlife," he told Reuters. "This should be done in other areas, and they exist, that do not destroy the natural environment."
Environmentalists, investors and local authorities shake their heads in dismay and say the hunters and others lack information and are missing the big picture of environmental, health and economic benefits.
"Building photovoltaics there is going to be better for the environment than a few trees," said PPC Renewables chief executive Tassos Garis.
"At first we heard things like the temperature will reach 60 degrees Celsius, dreadful things, nothing to do with reality," said Megalopolis mayor Panayiotis Bouras, who backs the project.
Solar power is usually among the most warmly welcomed green options. Hydroelectric dams can cause anger when valleys are flooded and wind turbines can be called eyesores, but solar power is rarely criticized since its panels are usually quite inconspicuous.
The hunters, who shoot rabbits and other small game in the surrounding hills, are not the only ones worried about the project. Those who depend on the power plant and mine for a living fear jobs will be threatened.
"People work here (in the lignite plant), they earn their livelihood there ... what can we do?" said 77-year old Aggeliki, chatting with neighbors near a group of houses a stone's throw from one of the plants.
(Editing by Andrew Dobbie) | fwe2-CC-MAIN-2013-20-41323000 |
During regular check-ups, your doctor will examine your child to see if he or she has any developmental delays. These well-child check-ups are typically scheduled for:
- 9 months
- 18 months
- 24 or 30 months
To look for developmental delays, the doctor will focus on your child’s social skills, language skills, and behavior. Your child's' doctor may talk to and play with your child. You will be asked questions about your child’s development.
This is a good time for you to talk openly to your child's doctor. You may have concerns about how your child is growing and behaving. Tell the doctor if you think your child is not developing normally, or has regressed. It is very important to share these concerns.
Examples of tests that are used to screen for developmental delays include:
- Ages and Stages Questionnaire
- Parents Evaluation of Developmental Status
Your doctor may also give a screening test to check specifically for autism. These screening tools focus on the criteria for diagnosing autism. The criteria are based on the American Psychiatric Association’s Diagnostic and Statistical Manual. These tests are required for screening use in some states.
One test that is used is called the Checklist for Autism in Toddlers (CHAT). It is for children as young as 18 months. This is when autism is typically diagnosed. Some samples of the types of questions in CHAT include:
- Does your child take interest in other children?
- Does your child ever bring objects over to you to show you something?
- Does your child sometimes stare at nothing or wander with no purpose?
The screening may show that your child has signs of autism. If so, the next step would be to work with a professional who specializes in the condition. This may be a child psychologist. The specialist will do further testing.
It is important to remember that if your child is in the high-risk category, your doctor will screen him or her sooner for developmental delays and autism. Your child is considered high-risk if he or she:
- Had a low birth weight
- Was premature
- Has a sibling with a developmental delay or autism | fwe2-CC-MAIN-2013-20-41329000 |
The winter here on the Monongahela in recent weeks has been uncommonly hard, with temperatures remaining in the teens and even the single digits day after day, and the snow accumulating without melting. Compared with more northern regions, we have had it fairly easy, but around here it has been colder than what we have been accustomed to in recent years.
Looking at the fort covered in snow, I am led to wonder how severe the winters may have been here in the 1770s and 80s when the original fort was active. Just how difficult was life in winter west of the Alleghenies during the Revolutionary era?
For the next few posts I would like to explore this question, and in preparation I have been reading original sources — diaries and memoirs and early histories — and having some conversations with Greg Bray, whose knowledge of those times is extensive.
According to Greg, and my research, the winters on the Virginia frontier during the forting period were considerably more severe than they are at present. Joseph Doddridge, for one, believed the winters on the trans-Allegheny frontier during the eighteenth century were consistently more severe than they were even forty or fifty years later.
Doddridge was brought to the Virginia frontier as an infant, just a year or two before the original Pricketts Fort was built, and he grew up about sixty miles north of here, just over the border in Pennsylvania, during the years that Pricketts Fort was active.
Writing some decades afterwards, around 1820, Doddridge had observed a permanent shift in the climate. Winters on the frontier in his boyhood, he remembered, were more severe than they were at the time he was writing (about 1820). One might attribute this difference to an older man’s natural tendency to exaggerate the hardships of a frontier childhood, but Doddridge is speaking as an historian, and his memory is supported by specific details. Even during the summer months, Doddridge remembers, the nights were almost always cool, and the coolness would persist to midday. As for the winters, they began early, and it was not uncommon for frost to occur in September. One year Doddridge witnessed saw an entire field of corn ruined by a hard freeze on September 22. “Hunting” snows generally arrived by mid-October, and severe winter conditions tended to settle in during November, sometimes early in the month.
Doddridge writes that the snows were consistently deeper and longer-lasting in his boyhood than they would be later, being anywhere from a foot to three feet deep and persisting from November into March or April. The deep snows made every chore an ordeal, with trails needing to be opened and frequently re-shoveled from the cabin to outbuildings and to the spring. Doddridge remembers watching a large dead tree felled for firewood in the forest. When it hit the ground the snow was so deep that it was immediately buried. When the settler reached down to yoke a chain around the base of its trunk so that it could be hauled by horse back to the cabin, his arms were buried in snow up to his shoulders.
Doddridge mentions one characteristic of the snow which would have greatly hindered anyone attempting to travel through it: namely that it frequently had a hard crust. This crust would not usually have been strong enough to support the weight of a man or large animal, but it would have been thick and hard enough that trying to plow through it, especially over distance, would have been extremely difficult and exhausting. Doddridge noted that when the snow was heavily crusted, deer could scarcely move through it at all. If there was any benefit to deep crusted snow persisting throughout the winter in the wilderness, it was that the Shawnee and other native tribes gave up attacking settlements until Spring or early Summer. It must have been a comfort to know that while you were slowly starving or freezing to death, you were at least spared the indignity of losing your hair into the bargain. The perils of frontier life may have been too terrible and numerous to be counted, but in many cases they were seasonal.
If it can be established that winters on the Virginia frontier were long and relatively severe (and I will be attempting to collaborate this with further sources), the next obvious question is, how well were the first European settlers equipped to survive their first winter in the wilderness? How well were they able to shelter, clothe and feed themselves? In my next post I will be looking especially at the question of shelter. We are accustomed to Hollywood images of hardy pioneers passing winter nights in snug, sturdy log cabins, warming themselves before a blazing log in a stone fireplace. How true was this image in fact? I’ll dig into some of those old memoirs and journals and see what they have to say. | fwe2-CC-MAIN-2013-20-41338000 |
Glossary beginning with G
Religious figures such as Saints and Bishops that may appear in stained glass, sculpture, and etc. Also terms with an Ecclesiastical meaning.
- Gelasius IIsearch for term
Pope Gelasius II (1064-1119) was pope from 1118 until his death in 1119.Synonyms: Pope Gelasius II
- Gérard de Conchysearch for term
- Synonyms: Bishop Conchy, Gérard de Conchy
- Gregory the Greatsearch for term
Gregory I (540-604), was pope from 590 until his death. He is known for his prolific writings and for revising the worship of the western Christian church. He was canonized immediately after his death and he is the patron saint of musicians, singers, students, and teachers.
He argued against the opinion of the Patriarch Eutychius of Constantinople, who had said that one would not have been able to touch or feel the resurrected body of Christ. He also associated Mary of Magdalene with the woman that Luke had described as a sinner, and that John called Mary and the sister of Lazarus and Martha, with the Mary from out of whom Mark said seven demons had been cast out.Synonyms: Pope Gregory I | fwe2-CC-MAIN-2013-20-41339000 |
Overcoming apathy in research on organophosphate poisoning 329 pp 1231-3
New antidotes for organophosphates are needed to prepare for chemical attacks in the West and to tackle pesticide poisoning in developing countries, argue researchers in this week's BMJ.
Organophosphates are a group of organic compounds containing phosphorus, some of which are used as pesticides. Organophosphates have also been used in chemical weapons and nerve gas attacks, such as the sarin attack in Japan.
Organophosphate poisoning is a leading cause of premature death in the developing world, while Western nations are concerned about terrorist use of chemicals. Yet no new antidotes have been tested in clinical trials in the last 30 years. An international collaboration is needed to make a concerted effort to develop and test new treatments that would benefit both groups of patients, write the authors.
Atropine is currently the only clearly proved and moderately effective treatment for organophosphate poisoning. Information on potential treatments has been available for years, but neither the military nor the pharmaceutical industry has attempted to test them or develop new drugs.
The pharmaceutical industry has little incentive to develop new drugs for use primarily in developing countries, add the authors. However, on humanitarian grounds alone, research into organophosphate pesticide poisoning in developing countries should become an international priority.
Recent concerns by government about having the means to respond to victims of chemical warfare and terrorist attacks means that the time is ripe to break this drug development impasse, they conclude.
Source: Eurekalert & othersLast reviewed: By John M. Grohol, Psy.D. on 21 Feb 2009
Published on PsychCentral.com. All rights reserved.
If you think you're too small to be effective, you have never been in bed with a mosquito.
-- Bette Reese | fwe2-CC-MAIN-2013-20-41346000 |
Individual differences |
Methods | Statistics | Clinical | Educational | Industrial | Professional items | World psychology |
It may be denoted thus:
Compare allele frequency.
The Hardy-Weinberg law predicts genotype frequencies from allele frequencies under certain conditions, in which case:
Genotype frequencies may be represented by a De Finetti diagram.
|This page uses Creative Commons Licensed content from Wikipedia (view authors).| | fwe2-CC-MAIN-2013-20-41348000 |
- The role of religious epistemology in inter-religious dialogue (2012)
- From the dawn of civilization, a multitude of religious has developed each very complex. These great differences among religions make it difficult to find a least common denominator or to talk at length of religion in general. On the other hand, focusing on just one specific religion often causes us to ignore or underestimate some of the very broad traits that religions seem to share. The fact remains that we will make no headway into the question of what makes a specific religion a religion if we do not seek some characteristics common to all religions. Religion is usually associated with the supernatural or the divine.505 However, the notion of a supernatural realm does not occur in the non-theistic schools of Buddhism and functions in very different ways, say, in Taoism, Hinduism, and Islam. These shortcomings suggest that religion is notoriously difficult to define. To me, religion is any action taken through every aspect of our being to release us from our weakness or imperfection, and bring us closer to the divine reality. In other words, it is a human inner desire or activity to unite with an absolute being. The examination of the intellectual dimension of religion that is, its key beliefs is most beneficial when it is guided and informed. Since epistemology is the theory of knowledge, one would therefore expect epistemological discussions of religion to concentrate on the question whether one could have knowledge of religious beliefs. Religious epistemology is simple to say that it is the epistemology of distinctively religious beliefs, but that will not be helpful in the absence of a definition of religious beliefs. Philosophers of religion might consider the epistemology of religious belief, pondering questions about the sources and justifications of religious knowledge. Fundamental questions regarding the nature of knowledge are likely to arise in any culture. After all, everyone has some stake in distinguishing truth from error, wisdom from ignorance, and the path to knowledge from the path to ignorance. Epistemologists have discussed, in addition to the defining conditions and the sources of knowledge, the extent of human knowledge. They have asked how far human knowledge can extend. Many philosophers find it obvious that we know 505 See Michael Peterson, William Hasker, Bruce Reichenbach David Basinger, Reason and Religious Belief: An Introduction to the philosophy of Religion, 4. 186 at least some things, if only things about personal experiences or household physical objects. Others have claimed, however, that we really have no knowledge. Such philosophers admit that people typically feel confident that they have some knowledge, but these philosophers insist that our apparent cases of knowledge are mere illusions. Many epistemologists aim not to set knowledge beyond our reach or to escape the quest for knowledge but rather to make many of our ordinary claims to knowledge more secure by explaining knowledge. They seek to explain what knowledge consists in and how we get it.506 Therefore, a good deal of the task of general epistemology is to understand the nature of the various truth-relevant merits which beliefs can possess, the necessary and sufficient conditions for beliefs to possess those merits, and the virtues of mind and practice requisite and apt for their presence merits such as being reliably formed, being warranted, being entitled, being scientific, being rational, being justified and indeed being true. Epistemology in Western philosophical tradition has until recently offered a prominent definition of knowledge that analyzes knowledge into three essential components: justification, truth, and belief. According to this analysis, propositional knowledge is, by definition, justified true belief. Epistemologists typically focus on propositional knowledge. Knowledge that something is the case, as opposed to knowledge of how to do something. The content of propositional knowledge can be expressed in a proposition, that is, what is meant by a declarative sentence. Knowledge how to do something is by contrast, a skill or competence in performing a certain task. Within the last few decades, philosophers have discovers that these three conditions are not really sufficient for knowledge; something else is required. Genuine knowledge requires not only truth and belief, but also the satisfaction of the belief condition be appropriately related to the satisfaction of the truth condition. That is, on the traditional approach, genuine knowledge requires that a knower have an “adequate indication” that a believed proposition is true. The required “adequate indication”507 of truth, according to Plato, Kant, and many other philosophers, is evidence indicating that a proposition is true. These philosophers thus hold that knowledge must be based on evidence, or justifying reason. The kind of justification crucial to knowledge is called epistemic justification. Even if knowledge requires justification, a justified belief can be false. In allowing for justified false beliefs, contemporary epistemologists endorse fallibilism about justification. Reformed 506 See Paul K. Moser Dwayne H. Mulder J.D. Trout, The Theory of knowledge; A Thematic Introduction (Oxford University Press, 1998), 4. 507 Ibid., 77-78. 187 epistemologists contend that belief in the existence of God can, in some circumstances, have an epistemic status high enough to render it worthy of acceptance even if it has no support from the arguments of natural theology or from any other beliefs. The views of Alston and Mavrodes are sometimes said to display an affinity with Reformed epistemology, and Nicholas Wolterstorff has made significant contributions to its development. But Plantinga has clearly been the leading contemporary advocate of this school of thought in religious epistemology. During the earlier phase of their development, Plantinga concentrated on defending the view that theistic belief can be in certain conditions, is justified or rationally held even in the absence of any propositional evidence or supporting argument.508 For the conviction that theistic belief is properly basic, foundationalists carry out a reconstructive project that would put our revised doxastic structures on foundations so firm that they could withstand rather than ignore skeptical challenges. That is, for the classical foundationlist theistic belief requires support from propositional evidence or argument if it is to be rationally or justifiably held. However, it is fairly clear that belief in God’s existence does not satisfy this criterion; it is neither self-evident nor incorrigible nor evident to the sense for humans at any time in this life. The question of justification attracts philosophers especially in contemporary epistemology. And controversy of this question focuses on the meaning of ‘justification’ as well as on the substantive conditions of a belief’s being justified in a way appropriate to knowledge. William Alston, for instance, has introduced a non-deontological normative concept of justification that relies mainly on the notion of what is epistemically good from the view-point of maximizing truth and minimizing falsity. Alston link epistemic goodness to a belief’s being based on adequate grounds in the absence of overriding reason to the contrary. But for some epistemologists “Epistemic justification” means simply “evidential support” of certain sort.509 To say that s is epistemically justifiable to some extent for you is, on this view, just to say that s is supportable to some extent by your overall evidential reason. According to epistemologist, knowledge entails beliefs, so that I cannot know that such and such is the case unless I believe that such and such is the case. Robert Audi mentioned that knowledge arises in experience. It is constituted by conclusively 508 See Ibid., 525-26. 509 See Robert Audi, The Cambridge Dictionary of Philosophy, 233-35. 188 justified true belief, meaning that: the believer may be justified by psychological certain of the true proposition in question and this proposition is so well-grounded as to be itself propositionally certain. And knowledge constitute by such belief may be called epistemic certainty. When we come to religious knowledge, Audi says that religious propositions are simply beyond the scope of human knowledge. But the point is why would it be thought that no religious propositions are known? The most common ground for holding this view is namely, that religious propositions, such as that God exists, cannot be known either a priori or on the basis of experience. The concept of justification or evidence would occur with the concept of belief in a more complex analysis of the concept of knowledge.510 In recent decades, questions of knowledge seem to have been marginalized by question of justification. As a matter of fact, however, epistemological discussion of religious belief, at least since the Enlightenment has tended to focus, not on the question whether religious belief has warrant, but whether it is justified. More precisely, it has tended to focus on the question whether those properties are enjoyed by theistic belief - the belief that there exists a person like the God of traditional Christianity, Judaism, and Islam: an almighty, all knowing, wholly benevolent and loving spiritual person who has created the world. The main epistemological question about religious belief, therefore, has been the question whether or not religious belief in general and theistic belief in particular is rational or rationally acceptable, or whether it is justified? In its primary sense, rationality is a normative concept that philosophers have generally tried to characterize in such a way that, for any action, belief, or desire, if it is rational we ought to choose it. Rationality is the use of reason to reach a certain level of reasonableness or unreasonableness. Many positive characterizations of rational beliefs have been proposed by beliefs that are either self-evident or derived from self-evident beliefs by a reliable procedure and beliefs that are consistent with the overwhelming majority of one’s beliefs.511 Analytic epistemology in the twentieth century was conducted as if there were a part from truth itself - just one truth-relevant merit in beliefs, that one typically called either “justification or rationality;”512 and since there was a great deal of disagreement on the answer to that question, there was a great flowering of theories of justification, or theories of rationality. 510 Ibid., 511 Ibid., 674-75. 512 See John Greco and Ernest Sosa, The Blackwell Guide to Epistemology: Epistemology of Religion, (Copyright Blackwell Publishers Inc. 350 Main Street Malden, Massachusetts 02148 USA. Press, 1999), 303-4. 189 According to Nicholas Wolterstorff, there are a large number of distinct truth-relevant merits in beliefs, and that neither “Justification” nor “rationality”513 picks out single such merit, both are highly ambiguous terms, each picking out a number of distinct merits. Religious beliefs are formed or evoked by experience of some sort, or by believing what is said in some discourse, or by reflection on the implications of some complex of beliefs that one has previously acquired. Here, we notice that there are no rational activities to understand or justify the experience. Richard Swinburne considered the nature of actual belief. He saw how in a sense all beliefs given rise to action and must be based on evidence. But he knows that not all beliefs are rational beliefs. For him a beliefs will fail to be rational if it is based on evidence in the wrong way or if it is based on the wrong sort of evidence. According to Swinburne beliefs are rational in so far as they are based on investigation which was, in the believer’s view, adequate, and if the believer believes it to be rational. Swinburne understand by religious beliefs as about transcendent reality, including his belief about whether or not there is a God, and his beliefs about what properties God has (what God is like) and what actions he has performed.514 According to John Hick, the issue is not whether it can be established as an item of indubitable public knowledge that God (or the divine or the Transcendent) exists, or most probably exists, but whether it is rational for those who experience some of life’s moments theistically to believe that God exists, and to proceed to conduct their lives on that basis. Hick looks at a rational belief in general way. For him “belief” can mean a proposition believed or it can be defined as an act or state of believing. The idea of evidence normally presupposes a gap between an observed fact, or body of facts, and an inferred conclusion. Therefore, our ordinary moment - to moment perceptual beliefs contradict the principle that all rational believing must be based upon adequate evidence. It is not that they are based upon inadequate evidence, but rather that the model of evidence-inference-belief does not apply here. Ordinary perceptual beliefs arise directly out of our experience, and it is entirely appropriate, proper, and rational to form these beliefs in this way. The relationship between experience and belief 513 See, an essay by William P. Alston, Epistemic Desiderata, Philosophy and Phenomenological Research L III/3 (Sep. 1993). And Nicholas Wolterstorff, Divine Discourse, (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1995. 514 See Richard Swinburne, Faith and Reason, (Published in the United State by Oxford university press, New York Walton Street, Oxford: OX 2 6 DP. Press, 1981), 55&72. 190 has been much debated in recent work in the philosophy of religion. This discussion has focused upon specifically theistic belief and Hick discusses also in these terms and his argument is that it is rational to believe in the reality of God. Alvin Plantinga argues on these manifestation-experiences that they are properly basic.515 That is to say, it is as rational for religious persons to hold these basic religious beliefs as it is for all of us to hold our basic perceptual beliefs. But, more basically, it is the biblical assumption translated into philosophical terms. According to Plantinga this experience is what justifies me in holding (the belief) that is the ground of my justification, and by extension, the ground of the belief itself. He then applies this principle to religious beliefs. In philosophy, experience is generally what we perceive by the senses what we learn from others, or whatever comes from external sources or from inner reflection. In the sense, experience is associated with observation and experiment. Empiricism stresses that our knowledge must be based on experience, but rationalism claims that experience is a potential source of error and prefers rational certainty to mere empirical generalization. In ordinary usage, for every experience there must be something experienced that is independent of the subject of experience. But in philosophy, the relation between experience as a state of consciousness and independent objects of experience becomes a focus of debate. There are many different kinds of experiences, but it is religious experiences that interest me here. From the point of view of epistemology the modifications of consciousness consisting our apparently perceptual experience are of importantly different kinds. In addition to true perceptions there are misperceptions, illusions, and hallucinations. Therefore, if anyone misled by any of these forms of perceptual error, he or she is then deluded. In each case the delusion consists in a mistaken implicit belief about the cause of the experience: Applying this concept of delusion to the realm of religious experience, we have to ask whether those who assume that their experience of living in God’s presence is caused by their being in God’s presence are believing truly or are, on the contrary, under a delusion. In modern philosophy of mind a major theme which bears on many theoretical issues, concerns the alleged privacy of an experience as an event knowable only to its possessor and 515 See Alvin Plantinga and Nicholas Wolterstorff, Reason and Belief in God, in Faith and Rationality, 78-91. See also John Hick, Philosophy of Religion, 76. 191 the possibility of public access to that experience. There is much philosophical debate concerning precisely how perception is to be analyzed. In particular, questions are raised concerning the status of the phenomenon. But there is general agreement that in perception, objects present themselves to us in ways that enable us to know them. Similarly, in religious experience God presents himself in ways that enable us to know him and his actions. For Alston there are, it seems, important differences between ordinary perceptual or sense experience and religious experience. Sense perception is a common experience, whereas religious experience is less common, perhaps, even rare, sense perception yields a great deal of information about the world, whereas religious experience yields apparently little information about God, all humans have the capacity for sense perception, but many seem not to have the capacity for religious experience. These differences, however, do not show that religious experience has a structure unlike perception. For one thing, neither the frequency of an experience nor the amount of information it yields tells us anything about its structure. On the other hand, the limitation of the rationalist way is that the only truths capable of being strictly proved are analytic and ultimately tautological. But we cannot by logic alone demonstrate any matter of fact and existence; these must be known through experience. For sure if nothing were given through experience in its various modes, we should never have anything to reason about. This is as true in religion as in other fields. If God exists, God is not an idea but a reality outside us, in order to be known to men and women, God must therefore become manifest in some way within their experience. This conclusion is in line with the contemporary revolt against the rationalist assumptions which have dominated much of western philosophy since the time of Descartes.516 Descartes held that we can properly be said to know only truths that are self-evident or that can be reached by logical inferences from self-evident premises. Therefore, those who stress faith and attack reason often place a great deal of emphasis on religious experience. However, religious experience is by no means a purely emotional “happening”; rather, it involves concepts and beliefs about the being that is experienced. If we tried to separate religious experiences from such concepts and beliefs - from the religious belief-system, as we shall call it - then there would be no way saying who or what is that is experienced, or of explaining what sort of difference the experience ought to make to the person who has it. However, such a religious belief system needs to be understood; at least to 516 John Hick, Philosophy of Religion, 69. See also Descartes, Discourse on Method and Meditation. 192 some degree - it is hard to see how understanding it is not going to involve the use of reason. For Rationalisms, in order for a religious belief-system to be properly and rationally accepted, it must be possible to prove that the belief-system is true. Rationalism in this sense implies a reliance on reason, or intelligence, in deciding our beliefs and actions. The central idea of strong rationalism was stated forcefully by W. K. Clifford. According to his opinion, no religious belief-system is capable of meeting the high standard of proof that should govern all of our believing, and so a reasonable (and moral) person must do without religious beliefs. Among the objections to Christian belief, as well as to Judaic and Muslim, Characteristic of the modern intelligentsia is the objection that it is no longer rational, if ever it was, to believe that God exists. Therefore, the rational person will have to make his way in the world without supposing that there exists any God in whom he could trust.517 However, according to Nicholas Wolterstorff, to believe in God is our fundamental human obligation. Central to Christianity, Judaism, and Islam alike is the conviction that we as human beings are called to believe in God to trust in him, to rely on him, to place our confidence in him. Central also is the conviction that only by believing in God can the deepest stirrings of the human heart be satisfied. Duty and fulfillment here coalesce. The rationality of trusting someone presupposes the rationality of believing that person exists. John Locke was among the first to formulate articulately the evidentialist challenge to theistic belief. Reason is reasoning for Locke, and clearly he thinks of it as one among others of our belief-forming processes. Faith is another belief-forming process. It, by contrast, consists in accepting something “as coming from God.”518 However, for Locke it still belongs to reason to judge of the truth of its being a revelation, and of the signification of the words wherein it is delivered. For evidentialist, one’s belief that God exists is rational only if it is formed or sustained by good inference by inferring it from others of one’s beliefs, which in fact provide adequate evidence for it. But, Wolterstorff, see no reason what so ever to suppose that by the criterion 517 See William K. Clifford, The Ethics of Belief, in George I. Mavrodes, ed., The Rationality of Belief in God, (Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice- Hall, press, 1970), 159-60. See also Michael Peterson, William Hasker, Bruce Reighenbach, David Basinger; Reason and Religious Belief, 34. 518 See Alvin Plantinga and Nicholas Wolterstorff, Faith and Rationality, 137. 193 offered the evidentialist challenge is tenable. He see no reason to suppose that people who hold as one of their immediate beliefs that God exists always have adequate reason to surrender that belief or ought to believe that they do. However, for him those abstract and highly general theses of evidentialism no longer look very interesting, once we regard them in the light of the criterion offered. Therefore, for him the fact that it is not rational for some person to believe that God exists does not follow that he ought to give up that belief. But can we accept the Principle of Credulity? One problem is that whereas there is a fundamental uniformity about the way we report both ordinary perceptual experiences and the beliefs about objects of those experiences, there is quite a diversity of reports about religious experiences and the claim based on them. Person give incompatible descriptions of the Reality experienced. Therefore, where perceptions yield conflicting testimony, we must turn to other experiences and rational arguments to determine the truth of the various claims. That is, where there are different accounts, additional considerations must be introduced to help decide which, if any, of the religious experiences are veridical. Although the reports provide a prima facie ground for their acceptance, not all beliefs based on such experiences are true. Just as we at times doubt perceptual claims for good reason, we might do the same for claims based on religious experience. According to Hick, religion constitutes our varied human response to transcendent reality. Religious experience then is structured by religious beliefs which are implicit within religious experience. But the question is if this complex of experience and beliefs that takes place in different shapes within the different traditions, is to be regarded simply as a human creation or as our response to a transcendent reality, even if a response whose particular forms always involve the creative activity of the human imagination. Of course the problem of terminology is obvious as we see in many parts of philosophy, and without explanatory gloss none of the available descriptive labels for these two possibilities is entirely adequate. Much of the philosophical discussion of religious diversity continues to centre on the work of John Hick.519 He is not interested in the question of what can justifiably be affirmed in the face of such diversity, rather, he is primarily concerned with the question of which justified response is most reasonable. Moreover, on this question, he leaves no doubt as to his opinion: 519 See John Hick, An Interpretation of Religion: Human response to the Transcendent, (New Haven: Yale University and London: Macmillan press, 1989), 172. 194 religious pluralism is by far the most plausible explanation for the pervasive religious diversity we encounter. Many Westerners will best understand the emergence of inclusivism and pluralism in terms of the history of Christianity. For most of its history, Christianity has been resolutely exclusivist. In late antiquity, it was a new religion, struggling to establish itself in the face of criticism and persecution. It is not surprising to find it making exclusive claims on behalf of its charismatic founder, Jesus of Nazareth. Of course, Christianity is not the only religion to have fostered exclusivist attitudes. In their more militant movements, Muslims have done the same. Some Jews cherish an ethnically exclusive identity as God’s chosen people, and some Hindus revere the Vedas as a source of absolute truth, Buddhists often see in the teachings of Gautama the only dharma that can liberate humans from illusion and suffering. Hick has set forth a philosophically sophisticated pluralistic hypothesis that may avoid problems of this sort.520 As he sees it, each of the major religious traditions offers a path to salvation or liberation that involves a transformation of human existence from self-centeredness to reality- centeredness. Religious plurality is simply a fact. There are religious traditions that differ deeply in terms of their doctrines, practices, institutions, scriptures, experiences, and hope. According to pluralism, a single ultimate religious reality is being differently experienced and understood in all the major religious traditions; they all, as far as the philosophers can tell, offer equally effective paths to salvation or liberation. According to Harold Coward, Judaism is an appropriate tradition in which to begin the stay of religious pluralism and the world religions. The experience of being a minority group in other cultures, which becoming more common place for all the world religions as religious pluralism spreads, has been the norm for Judaism for countless generations. From the biblical period to the present, Judaism has had to formulate its beliefs and practices in the face of challenges from other cultures and religions. The viewpoint of the modern Jew opens the way for relations with Christianity, Islam, and perhaps Hinduism; however, Buddhism - especially Mahayana Buddhism may prove to be in a separate category. The Buddhist consciousness in which no transcendent God is recognized and the Mahayana awareness of the Divine in the 520 Ibid. 195 secular may be judged by the Jewish philosopher as a modern idolatry. Therefore, perhaps the most serious challenge for Judaism comes in its response to Buddhism. As long as a religion is founded on the experience of a transcendent God, Judaism seems to be able to enter into spiritual partnership with it. But if that experience does not hold true for the Buddhist - if it is not a transcendent God that is being experienced - can the Jew still embrace the Buddhist as a spiritual partner? This question has yet to be faced by Judaism.521 The relationship between Christianity and the other religions is one of the key issues in Christian self-understanding. Perhaps pluralism is so pressing a challenge because of the exclusivist missionary approaches adopted by Christianity over the past several hundred years. In the rapidly expanding body of literature resulting from the encounter with other religions, many Christian theologians are concluding that Christian theology cannot continue to be formulated in isolation from the other religions, and that in fact future developments in Christian theology will be the direct result of serious dialogue with the other religions. Although the Churches are altering their ecclesiology so as to open the way for serious dialogue with other religions, the fundamental Christology that underlies traditional ecclesiology has not yet changed. Through out the centuries the basic Islamic approach to other religions was to search for some fundamental structures that were harmonious with Islam but which lay hidden beneath the other religion’s deviations from true Islam: A major obstacle for understanding other religions was the lack of accurate information. However, Islam has essentially reached the truth toward which all other religions are evolving. Christianity, it seems, has also virtually reached this goal. It is possible that various nations or cultures will reach the truth in their own way. The Qur’an itself teaches that every community in every age has had its prophet. However, modern education will offer Muslims an opportunity to understand each religion in terms of its own culture, history, world view, and claims to truth. This will have an effect on Islamic self-perception. Therefore, the religious pluralism of the modern world will force Islam, finding itself in much the same position as the other traditions, to come to grips with them rather provincial 521 See Harold Coward, Pluralism: Challenge to World Religions, Harold Coward, 1-12. 196 character of some of its past views of other religions. According to Hinduism, there is one divine reality that manifests itself in many forms. The various religions are simply different revelations of the one divine reality. Hinduism sees itself as being a very open and tolerant religion. But because it asserts that the Vedas are the most perfect revelation of divine truth, Hinduism also sees itself as providing the criteria against which the revelations of all other religions must be tested. Nevertheless, the Hindu view that there is one Divine, which may be reached by many paths, has proven through out the centuries to be a powerful influence upon Hinduism’s interaction with the other religions.522 Therefore, the Hindu contribution to the modern challenge of religious pluralism is to encourage the inquiring spirit and devotion to truth that is larger than any individual tradition. The Buddhist attitude to other religions has been described as “critical tolerance”523 combined with a missionary goal. Buddhism has demonstrated a remarkable degree of tolerance and flexibility throughout the course of its expansion. Unlike some other religious expansions, the spread of Buddhism has been accomplished more through the dissemination of ideas than by migration of peoples. Buddhism rejects the worship of God or gods and the performance of religious rituals as a means to release. It also rejects speculations about ultimate beginnings, especially about whether the self and the world were eternal, and a number of speculations about the ultimate state of the self in the future. The tolerant but critical attitude of the Buddha toward the plurality of religious views is shaped into a rigorous philosophic approach by the Madhyamika Buddhists. If, as the Buddha discovered, the goal of religion is compassion, then, say the Madhyamika, the biggest obstacle to realizing that goal is attachment to our own religious beliefs in such a way as to make them absolute. Based on this understanding, the Madhyamika Buddhist’s attitude towards other religions is one of openness and indeed a “missionary desire”524 to enter into dialogue. The inherent desire to conceptualize and share religious experience is too deeply ingrained in 522 Ibid., 63-80. 523 See K. N. Jayatilleke, The Buddhist Attitude to Other Religions (Kandy, Sri Lanka: Buddhist Publication Society, 1975). And see also Harold Coward Pluralism: Challenge to World Religions, 81. 524 See Harold Coward, Pluralism: Challenge to World Religions, 88. 197 human nature to render silence an acceptable answer. In fact the Madhyamika himself has been far from silent. His prescription of silence was only intended to apply to claims of absolute knowledge. As long as the limitation is honored, then discussion, including theological discussion, could take place. The dialogical approach opens the way for the meeting of Christians with Jews, Muslims, and Hindus. However, the theocentric premise could become an obstacle to meaningful encounters with Buddhists and Advaita Vedantists. Therefore, an unresolved problem for all of these approaches is the Buddhist and even those with considerable exposure to Buddhism and Hinduism seem almost willfully to turn a blind eye to this problem. One possible exception might be found in Tillich’s formulation of the “god above gods” as the “ground of being.”525 Dialogue starts from the assumption that each religion has its absolute claims which cannot be relativized. No amount of reformulation will do away with the difference. But, by letting our theologizing be influenced by others we will be forced to greater honesty and deeper spirituality. The prerequisite for dialogue is not the harmonizing of all beliefs but the recognition that each spiritual person has a committed and absolute conviction, and that these convictions are different. Therefore, the expected outcome is not the homogenization of particular religions but the mutual deepening of spiritual experience within each particular religion, which may lead to glimpses of a common transcendent reality. This shift in perspective had the effect of drawing attention to the universal nature of religious experience in its many different traditions. In addition to turning attention away from metaphysics, rationalism, or revelation, the focus on the humanity of religion has had the effect of highlighting some of the limitations in human nature that must be taken seriously in all future religion. | fwe2-CC-MAIN-2013-20-41353000 |
Forging a New Linguistic Identity:
The Hindi Movement in Banaras, 1868–1914
Christopher R. King
Indo-Persian and Hindu Culture
Queen Abode-of-Truth is speaking, testifying before the court of Maharaja Righteous-Rule on behalf of Queen Devanagari:
Here's where Nagari dwells, here her own dear country,
Here our queen was born, in sacred, holy Kashi.
A little later Begam Urdu speaks on her own behalf before the Maharaja:
Persian is my mother, Urdu is my name.
Here my birth took place, and here I will remain.
Each woman claims India as her birthplace, and each asserts her right to rule (see fig. 14). As this late-nineteenth-century Hindi drama develops, the reader soon realizes that the verdict will favor Queen Devanagari, and that the author, Pandit Gauri Datta of Meerut, has passed chiefly "moral" rather than technical judgments in presenting the dispute between the two personified languages and scripts.
The entire action of the play, a short one-act work in the folk theatre tradition of svang[*] (see chapter 2 in this volume) takes place in a courtroom over which Maharaja Righteous-Rule presides. Babu Moral Law
Singh argues for Queen Devanagari, and Mirza Cunning Ali Khan for Begam Urdu. Queen Devanagari complains that Begam Urdu has usurped her former rule over all works of wisdom and virtue, as well as letters, papers, account books, bonds, notes, and official documents. She testifies that she teaches righteousness and removes falsehood, and that under her rule people could make merry, become wealthy, carry on their business, and learn wisdom. Bribery, continues the Queen, would weep at the very sound of her name, and fabrications and fraud would disappear should she rule again. Her witnesses all attest to her good name, sterling character, and indigenous origins. Indeed, as we
saw above, her birth takes place in the hallowed location of Kashi—an older name for the largest of the several sacred zones of Banaras (Eck 1982:350). In short, Queen Devanagari embodies many of the moral and religious values of the Hindu merchant class described by Bayly, especially the core value of credit (sakh ) (Bayly 1983:375–93). "The behaviour and ideals of the merchant family firm were . . . directed to survival first and foremost, but survival here meant above all the continuity of family credit within the wider merchant community" (381). Queen Devanagari, through her righteousness, guarantees the continuing "credit" of business and government records, while Begam Urdu, through her corruptness, threatens the inextricably combined moral and economic well-being of society.
Begam Urdu defends herself by arguing that although her mother, Begam Persian, was foreign, her own birth took place in India, and therefore she has a right to stay. She describes her own work, however, in terms hardly calculated to make a good impression on her judge:
This is my work—passion I'll teach,
Tasks of your household we'll leave in the breach.
We'll be lovers and rakes, living for pleasure,
Consorting with prostitutes, squandering our treasure.
Give heed, you officials, batten on graft,
Deceiving and thieving till riches you've quaffed.
Lie to your betters and flatter each other.
Write down one thing and read out another.
Her witnesses, too, bear names unlikely to mollify the judge: Begam Twenty-Nine Delights, Prince Passion-Addict Khan, Begam Wanton-Pleasure, and Emperor Ease-Lover. Urdu's witnesses all testify to the licentiousness and depravity of their mistress and the pleasures that follow in her train.
The climax of the play sees Queen Devanagari's lawyer making an impassioned plea for his client. By restoring the former monarch to her rightful place, the age of falsehood would become the age of truth, fraud would vanish, good deeds would multiply, people would feed Brahmins, hatred and strife would disappear, enemies would become friends, everyone would become clever, and every child would study Nagari in school. Begam Urdu's lawyer in his final summation points to the British recognition of Urdu and claims that should Nagari try to perform the work of courts and offices, everything would become topsy-turvy. In an inversion of the actual power structure of society at the time (typical of the svang[*] —see chapter 2) Maharaja Righteous-Rule brings the case to a close with his judgment, made in accordance with the sacred law of the Hindus: let Urdu be cast out and Nagari take her place (Datta 188?:13–14, 16).
Language and the Formation of Community Identity
Many studies of the Hindi movement have focused on the political aspects, especially at the national level, and have dealt primarily with the twentieth century (for example, Brass 1974; Das Gupta 1970; Gopal 1953; Harrison 1960; Kluyev 1981; Lutt 1970; S. Misra 1956; Narula 1955; Nayar 1969; Smith 1963; Tivari 1982; L. Varma 1964). The great majority of these have used chiefly English sources, and few of them have thoroughly surveyed the relevant sources for the nineteenth century. Almost no studies have attempted to trace the detailed history of the voluntary language associations that played such major roles in the development of Hindi. In this essay I examine not only the political but also the social and cultural aspects of the Hindi movement, particularly on the local and provincial levels, and deal chiefly with the nineteenth century. Moreover, I have made extensive use of both Hindi and English sources, including a thorough search of official records, such as education reports, publication statistics, and the like. Finally, I stress the importance of voluntary language associations, which both reflected and intensified the Hindi movement (see also King 1974).
The play described above well illustrates the social, cultural, and political matrix from which the Hindi movement arose, namely, the growing split between Indo-Persian and Hindu merchant culture characteristic of the late nineteenth and the early twentieth century in north India. As Bayly (1983) has shown in his analysis of eighteenth- and nineteenth-century north India, these two "conflicting forms of urban solidarity" served as the foundations of the later-developing nationalism and religious communalism, which so dramatically affected events in the twentieth century. Urdu effectively symbolized the dominant Indo-Persian culture of north India in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, for it formed one of the major parts of this blend. The attack on Urdu and the strong support for Nagari (a term that encompassed both language and script) evident in the play became important elements in the process by which a self-conscious Hindu nationalism emerged in north India. Part of this process involved the separation from and rejection of earlier symbols of joint Hindu-Muslim culture, and part entailed the definition and affirmation of newer communal symbols. Moreover, this process also involved the complete disregard or rejection of various forms of written or oral popular culture, such as Hindustani, the regional dialects (e.g., Braj Bhasha and Bhojpuri), and variant scripts (e.g., Kaithi).
This process of separation and differentiation between the Indo-Persian and Hindu merchant cultures led to a shift: the overlapping literary cultures came to function separately, following a new identification of "Hindu" with Hindi and of "Muslim" with Urdu. This shift came about through a wide variety of means, many of which lend themselves to some form or other of measurement. Among these are the development of voluntary organizations to promote languages and scripts; the standardization of languages through dictionaries, grammars, and other publications; newspaper campaigns for or against languages and scripts; systematic searches for, and publication of, old manuscripts; the introduction of large numbers of Sanskrit and Arabic and Persian words into Hindi and Urdu respectively; the publication of books and periodicals, especially elementary- and secondary-school texts; and the production of vernacular literature attacking the joint Hindu-Muslim cultural tradition, especially as it was expressed in Urdu. The "Hindu" and "Muslim" of this shift, however, do not include the Hindu and Muslim masses, but rather refer to a "vernacular elite," that is, Indians educated in the vernaculars and in competition for government service. Likewise, "Hindi" and "Urdu" refer not to the regional and local dialects of the bulk of the population, but rather to carefully cultivated literary dialects, strongly linked to the corresponding classical languages of Sanskrit, Persian, and Arabic.
During our period Banaras played the leading role in the process outlined above. Long famed in India as a center of Hindu learning and religious pilgrimage, by the early nineteenth century the city had also become a major center of Hindu literature (Grierson 1889:108–9). Bharatendu Harishchandra and Raja Shiv Prasad were only two of the most eminent literary figures of the second half of the century to live in Banaras. The peak of the city's influence on the gradual process of the emergence of modern Sanskritized Hindi as an important symbol of Hindu nationalism came with the founding of the Nagari[*] Pracharini[*] Sabha[*] (Society for the Promotion of Nagari) in 1893.
This organization, the majority of whose membership came from the eastern part of the North-Western Provinces and Oudh (NWP&O), remained the single most influential force for Hindi until the eve of World War I, when a gradual decline in membership, and an increasing concern for things literary and a decreasing concern for things political in the Sabha's leadership, allowed the Hindi Sahitya Sammelan (Society for Hindi Literature) of Allahabad to become the premier Hindi institution. This shift from Banaras to Allahabad also roughly coincided with a shift in the scope of the controversy between Hindi and Urdu from the provincial (NWP&O) to the national level. Significantly, one of the ironies of the Hindi movement is that neither of these organizations promoted popular culture in the form of the re-
gional and local dialects that surrounded them, though both spoke for the welfare of the Hindu majority of the population in the "Hindi-speaking" areas of north India. Let us now focus on the process of linguistic and social change in the NWP&O and other parts of north India, and on some of the most important means through which this came about.
The Terminus a QUO
In 1847 a noteworthy encounter took place between Dr. J. F. Ballantyne, principal of the English Department of Benares College, and several students of the Sanskrit College (also part of Benares College). After various unsuccessful attempts to "improve" the Hindi style of his students, Ballantyne lost his patience and directed them to write an essay on the question "Why do you despise the culture of the language you speak every day of your lives, of the only language which your mothers and sisters understand?" (NWP Educ Rpt 1846–1847:32). The ensuing dialogue produced several striking statements that clearly indicated that Sanskritized Hindi had not yet become a symbol of Hindu as opposed to Indo-Persian culture. Ironically, this situation existed among students of the very institution which the founders of the Nagari[*] Pracharini[*] Sabha[*] (NPS) would attend nearly half a century later. An apparently puzzled student spokesman told Ballantyne:
We do not clearly understand what you Europeans mean by the term Hindi, for there are hundreds of dialects, all in our opinion equally entitled to the name, and there is here no standard as there is in Sanskrit. (NWP Educ Rpt 1846–1847:32)
The same student went on to say:
If the purity of Hindi is to consist in its exclusion of Mussulman words, we shall require to study Persian and Arabic in order to ascertain which of the words we are in the habit of issuing every day is Arabic or Persian, and which is Hindi. With our present knowledge we can tell that a word is Sanscrit, or not Sanscrit but if not Sanscrit, it may be English or Portuguese instead of Hindi for anything that we can tell. English words are becoming as completely naturalized in the villages as Arabic and Persian words, and that you call the Hindi will eventually merge in some future modification of the Oordoo, nor do we see any great cause of regret in this prospect. (NWP Educ Rpt 1846–1847:32)
If his students did not yet have a national goal for Hindi, then Dr. Ballantyne did. In reply to this perception of Hindi as a cluster of unselfconscious vernaculars rather than a refined literary language, he urged:
It was the duty of himself and his brother Pundits not to leave the task of formulating the national language in the hands of the villagers, but to endeavour to get rid of the unprofitable diversity of provincial dialects, by creating a standard literature in which one uniform system of grammar and orthography should be followed; the Pundits of Benares, if they valued the fame of their city, ought to strive to make the dialect of the holy city the standard of all India, by writing books which should attract the attention and form the taste of all their fellow countrymen. (NWP Educ Rpt 1846–1847:32)
Ballantyne's uncannily accurate vision of the future of Hindi struck no responsive chord in the thoughts or feelings of his students. The disappearance of Hindi into Urdu aroused no sense of alarm in these Hindi scholars of Sanskrit, nor did they see any necessary connection between being Hindu and speaking Hindi. Moreover, since the very term "Hindi" struck them as vague and ambiguous, no standard having emerged, we may tentatively conclude that these students would have included the regional and local dialects, the vehicles of popular culture, under this rubric. Ballantyne, on the other hand, clearly intended to separate Hindi from the confused mass of popular dialects, to reject any conceivable influence of villagers on "the national language," and to define and affirm Hindi in terms of a standardized and Sanskritized language created by a vernacular elite.
A decade before Ballantyne's encounter with his students, English and various local vernaculars had replaced Persian in British India. In north India, with one or two exceptions, this meant that Urdu in modified form of the Persian script became the official vernacular. The original purpose of replacing Persian had been to make the official proceedings of courts and offices intelligible to the people at large; thus in 1830 the Court of Directors of the East India Company had intoned that "it is easier for the judge to acquire the language of the people than for the people to acquire the language of the judge" (Malaviya 1897:497), overlooking or ignoring the fact that the great bulk of the population had no acquaintance with either spoken or written Urdu.
Very soon, however, the excessive Persianization of the new court-language of north India made a mockery of the supposed reason for which the change had been made. As early as 1836, for example, the Sadar Board of Revenue of the North-Western Provinces (N.W.P.) had warned division Commissioners that the replacement of Persian by Urdu did not mean "the mere substitution of Hindee verbs and affixes, while the words and idiom remain exclusively Persian" (NWP Lt-Gov
Prgs SBRD 19 July to 2 August 1836:Range 221, Volume 77, Number 52). Yet nearly two decades later, exactly this had happened, for the then lieutenant-governor of the N.W.P. felt obliged to inveigh against the style of official Urdu, "little distinguished from Persian, excepting the use of Hindee verbs, particles, and inflections" (Malaviya 1897, Appendix:52). Official protests and notifications did little to change this state of affairs, however, and complaints about the excessive Persianization of court Urdu appeared regularly, well into the twentieth century. In general, British support for Urdu did much to assure the continued dominance of this symbol of Indo-Persian culture. In the province, the heartland of the Hindi movement, most gains for Hindi and the Nagari script in courts and offices came in the face of government neglect or opposition.
At this point, let us posit a spectrum of linguistic popular usage for north India during our period: the term "popular" should be understood in a relative rather than an absolute sense. At one end of this spectrum comes English and at the other, local dialects. In between we have, first, the classical languages Sanskrit, Arabic, and Persian; then, Urdu followed by Hindi; next, Hindustani (in the sense of a language style less Persianized than Urdu, and less Sanskritized than Hindi); and finally, the regional dialects such as Bhojpuri and Awadhi. From this viewpoint Hindi ranks as more "popular" than English or Urdu, but less so than Bhojpuri. The bulk of the supporters of the Hindi movement in Banaras and elsewhere in the province came from the ranks of the vernacular elite, those educated in the more standardized vernaculars of Hindi and Urdu, not from the English-speaking elite on the one hand, nor from the regional- or local-dialect-speaking masses on the other.
The potential for differentiation and separation between the two different sections of the vernacular elite existed long before the 1860s, when controversy between supporters of the more "popular" Hindi and the less "popular" Urdu first began. Bayly concludes that "some of the conditions which fractured the life of modern north India into Hindu and Muslim camps must be dated much earlier than is commonly supposed" (Bayly 1983:455). Similarly, as we shall see, considerable evidence indicates that the potential for linguistic controversy stretched back to the early nineteenth century and before. We must ask, then, what influences kindled underlying differences into open conflict in the 1860s. In general, the pace of economic and social development in the province quickened after the Rebellion of 1857 in a wide variety of ways (see Bayly 1983:427–40). Most important for our
purposes, however, was the rapid post-Rebellion expansion of the three closely related areas of government service, education, and publication (all discussed below). Each of these institutionalized the most refractory difference between Hindi and Urdu—script—and each became an arena of competition in a mutually reinforcing and ever-expanding spiral.
Definition against External Rivals:
The Hindi-Urdu Controversy
The Hindi-Urdu controversy, as the long and heated exchange of opinions between opposing supporters of Hindi and Urdu came to be known, began in the 1860s and continued right up to Independence. Confined largely to U.P. in the nineteenth century, the controversy gradually assumed national proportions in the twentieth. On both the provincial and the national level, a major portion of the debate focused on the question of the proper language and script for government courts and offices. The center of the Hindi side of the controversy lay in the eastern districts of the province and especially in the cities of Banaras and Allahabad.
The themes announced early in the controversy appeared again and again with wearying consistency. The protagonists of Hindi argued: the bulk of the population used Hindi; the Urdu script had a foreign origin, and also made court documents illegible, encouraged forgery, and fostered the use of difficult Arabic and Persian words; the introduction of the Nagari script into government courts and offices would give considerable impetus to the spread of education by enhancing the prospects for public service; and experienced Hindi scribes could write just as fast as their Urdu counterparts. The supporters of Urdu maintained: even the inhabitants of remote villages spoke Urdu fluently; the Urdu language had originated in India even though its script may have come from outside; any script could lend itself to forgery; the numerous dialects of Hindi lacked standardization; and Hindi had an impoverished vocabulary, especially in scientific and technical terms. One of the most often repeated arguments for Hindi appeared in blunt numerical terms, where speakers were identified by religious community. An 1873 issue of the Kavi Vachan Sucha[*] , a Hindi newspaper of Banaras, argued that the government's duty lay in yielding to the demand of the general public for the introduction of Hindi. Although the Muslims might suffer from the change, they constituted only a minority of the population, and the interests of the few always had to yield to those of the many (NWP&O SVN 1873:528). Such arguments, of course, ignored the fact that the great bulk of the population used nonliterary regional and local dialects, and not the Sanskritized Hindi and Persianized Urdu of the vernacular elite.
Throughout the controversy the participants tended to identify language and religion. In 1868, Babu Shiv Prasad, a prominent advocate of the Nagari script, castigated British language policy, "which thrusts a Semitic element into the bosoms of Hindus and alienates them from their Aryan speech . . . and . . . which is now trying to turn all the Hindus into semi-Muhammadans and destroy our Hindu nationality" (Prasad 1868:5–6). Professor Raj Kumar Sarvadhikari, appearing before the Hunter Education Commission in 1882, remarked that in Awadh "Urdu is the dialect of the Muhammadan inhabitants and Hindi of the Hindus" (Educ Comm Rpt NWP&O:462). Conversely, in 1900, a correspondent of the Punjab Observer expressed fears that the recent decision of the provincial government to recognize the Nagari script would eventually lead to the abolition of Urdu, which would in turn cause Muslim boys to become Hindu in thought and expression (Khan 1900:79).
From the very beginning the different parties to the debate consistently confused the names for language and script. "Hindi," "Hindi character," "Nagari," and "Nagari character" seemed interchangeable, as did "Persian," "Persian character," and "Urdu." Sir George Grierson, author of the massive Linguistic Survey of India , remarked that "these fanatics have confused alphabet with language. They say because a thing is written in Deva-nagari [sic ] therefore it is Hindi, the language of the Hindus, and because a thing is written in the Persian character therefore it is Urdu, the language of the Musalmans" (Grierson 1903–1928, vol. 9, part 1, xiv, 49). Yet script was the critical issue. More than any other linguistic fact, the radically different nature of the two scripts rendered any solution to the Hindi-Urdu controversy intractable. While the grammars of Hindi and Urdu, derived from the regional dialect of Khari[*] Boli[*] , were almost identical, and while the vocabularies of the two on the everyday level of discourse overlapped considerably, the two scripts focused and heightened the differences between the Hindu and the Indo-Persian cultures.
Like different channels to different cultural reservoirs, deliberately opened, they allowed the influence of Sanskrit, on the one hand, and of Arabic and Persian, on the other, to pour separately into Hindi and Urdu, bypassing the existing mixture of Indo-Persian culture. The results of this artificial irrigation, highly Sanskritized Hindi and highly Persianized Urdu, not only served to distinguish the rival Hindu and Indo-Muslim cultures from each other, but also sharply differentiated both from the surrounding ocean of popular culture.
Definition against Internal Rivals:
Hindustani, Braj, and Kaithi
The processes of separation and rejection, and of definition and affirmation, occurred not only between Hindi and Urdu, but also within the world of Hindi itself. Considerable controversy took place among Hindi supporters over the question of the proper style for literary works. Whatever the merits or demerits of the various styles current among Hindi authors, however, the reading public showed a definite preference for a simple style. The most popular author of the period, Devki Nandan Khatri (1861–1913), wrote in a clear and readable Hindi that made ample use of common Arabic and Persian words. His two best-known series of novels, Chandrakanta and Chandrakanta Santati , which he started writing in 1888, won him fame and fortune. Within ten years he had earned enough to found his own press in his native city of Banaras. For a few years Khatri became a member of the NPS, but found the atmosphere there uncongenial. From the viewpoint of the Sabha, although Khatri's works (published in the Nagari script) had won more readers than any other author (UP Admin Rpt 1914–1915:72), his style did not deserve to be considered literary Hindi, but rather only merited the designation "Hindustani," a vehicle fit merely for light and frothy creations and too close to Urdu to be respectable (R. C. Shukla 1968:476–77).
In the NPS the whole vexed question of the proper style for Hindi came to a head in a controversy between the Sabha and one of its own officers, Pandit Lakshmi Shankar Mishra, who served as president from 1894 until his resignation in 1902. Mishra possessed impeccable credentials: he held a high position in the provincial Educational Department, he had made efforts for the increased use of Hindi in government schools, and he had published in Hindi on the subject of science before most of his fellow scholars. The heart of the dispute appeared in a letter sent by Mishra to the provincial Text-Book Committee at the time of his resignation. After speaking of a "widening gulf" between Hindi and Urdu, Mishra went on to say:
As the Grammer of both Urdu and Hindi is identical, they should not be considered as separate languages, and hence for ordinary purposes, in such books as are not technical and which are intended for the common people, [an] attempt should be made to assimilate the two forms into one language, which may be called Hindustani, and may be written either in the Persian script or the Nagari character. (NPS Ann Rpt 1894:35–36, 40 41; UP Educ Progs May 1903:31–32)
Yet the raison d'être of the Sabha was the distinct and separate existence of Hindi vis-à-vis Urdu. Any attempt to combine them or to reduce or eliminate their differences undermined the whole purpose of the organization. Views such as those put forth by Pandit Mishra must
have been anathema to the other leaders of the Sabha, and they could hardly tolerate the open expression of such opinions by their own chief officer. The leaders of the Sabha felt obliged both to differentiate their language and script from others and to reject any actual or potential rivals. In Sanskrit plays, characters of loftier social rank speak Sanskrit, while those of lower ranks speak lesser languages. Similarly, the Sabha gave great importance to preserving the Sanskritic purity of an important cultural symbol. In this way, the organization consciously chose to maintain linguistic contact with Hindu vernacular elites in other areas of India, rather than encourage popular culture and enlist the support of the masses of its own area (see Das 1957:251–52).
The Rejection of Braj Bhasha
In its first annual report the Sabha presented a picture of the rise and development of Hindi literature which showed a basic ambiguity (NPS Ann Rpt 1894:1–3). While claiming Braj Bhasha and other literary dialects as part of Hindi literature in the distant past, when speaking of the origins of Hindi prose in the nineteenth century, the Sabha clearly meant only Khari[*] Boli[*] Hindi. The Sabha's use of the term "Hindi" expanded while moving toward the "glorious" past and contracted while moving toward the present.
Behind the Sabha's attitude lay the fact that Braj Bhasha remained the most important medium of "Hindi" poetry in large areas of north India until the 1920s. Ironically, several of the leading Braj poets lived in Banaras, some of whom joined the Sabha, and even Bharatendu Harishchandra, widely acclaimed as the father of modern Hindi, had written most of his poetry in Braj. Many members of the Sabha felt that this situation presented a great obstacle to the progress of Hindi; the language of prose and poetry ought to be the same. Instead, most prose appeared in Khari Boli Hindi and most poetry in Braj Bhasha or Awadhi. Even primary-level Hindi school books used Braj for their poetic selections, wrote Shyam Sundar Das (one of the founders of the NPS) in 1901, urging the use of Khari Boli poetry instead (Misra 1956:209). Nevertheless, Braj remained the language of poetry in Hindi school books for more than another decade (UP SVN 1913:1254).
Years earlier the opening salvo of a controversy between the advocates of Braj Bhasha and those of Khari Boli had appeared in a work entitled Khari Boli ka Padya (Khari Boli Prose) by Ayodhya Prasad
Khatri, a resident of Bihar. Khatri published and distributed his book at his own expense to scores of well-known Hindi supporters. He hoped to persuade Urdu poets to use the Nagari script, and Hindi poets to use Khari[*] Boli[*] . He wished all concerned to meet on the common ground of Khari Boli written in the Nagari script (Misra 1956:158, 179). Although Khatri's efforts met with little success, they did serve to touch off a vigorous debate between two noted Hindi supporters in the pages of Hindustan , the province's only Hindi daily at the time.
Shridhar Pathak, the champion of Khari Boli, had earned a reputation in both of the rival literary dialects and had authored the first poem of any importance in modern Khari Boli Hindi in 1886, only a year before the publication of Khatri's book. Radha Charan Goswami, the defender of the opposing literary dialect, edited a Hindi newspaper in Brindaban in the heart of the Braj area (R. C. Shukla 1968:436, 559). He argued Khari Boli and Braj Bhasha were one language; no poetry worthy of the name had appeared in Khari Boli; Khari Boli did not allow the use of the best Hindi metrical forms; people over a wide area understood Braj; and poetry and prose could never use the same language. Most important, Goswami claimed that should poets accept Khari Boli, as Khatri had suggested, their efforts would only serve to spread Urdu. Pathak countered that Khari Boli and Braj were two languages; the future possibilities for Khari Boli poetry were great; Khari Boli did allow the use of a wide variety of metrical forms; many more people understood Khari Boli than Braj; and poetry and prose could and should use the same language. Although Pathak did not reply directly to Goswami's most important charge, unlike Khatri he neither spoke of Hindi and Urdu as the same nor excluded Braj Bhasha from the realm of Hindi poetry (Misra 1956:175–82).
Goswami had pinpointed an important issue, namely, Khari Boli poetry seemed suspect to many Hindi supporters because almost all of its recent creations were in Persianized Urdu. The real answer to Goswami's imputation appeared in the work of Mahavir Prasad Dwivedi, editor of Saraswati , the most influential periodical in the Hindi literary world in the first two decades of the twentieth century. Dwivedi used Sanskrit words and metrical forms in his own Khari Boli poetry and encouraged the same approach in those who wrote for his journal (Misra 1956:211; R. C. Shukla 1968:583). After Dwivedi, no one could seriously oppose Khari Boli Hindi poetry on the grounds that this would further the spread of Urdu. Dwivedi had succeeded in Sanskritizing the new poetic medium.
More than twenty years later the conveners of the first Hindi Sahitya Sammelan in Banaras in 1910 called on Pathak and Goswami to come forward and reiterate their previous arguments. The situation had changed, for now the question had become not whether Khari Boli
should become a medium of Hindi poetry, but rather to what extent Braj Bhasha should remain one (Misra 1956:213–24). In the second session of the Sammelan a year later in Allahabad, one advocate of Khari[*] Boli[*] had harsh words for Braj. Badrinath Bhatt, later to become professor of Hindi at Lucknow University, told his listeners that in an age when India needed men, the cloying influence of Braj had turned Indians into eunuchs. During the fifth meeting of the Sammelan in 1914, the prominent Hindi poet Maithili Sharan Gupta, a protégé of Dwivedi, spoke even blunter words. He called the supporters of Braj Bhasha enemies of India's national language, Khari Boli Hindi (Misra 1956:225, 228–29).
Part of the process of defining "Hindi," then, involved affirming the earlier literary heritage of other regional dialects in the past, but rejecting literary creations in the same dialects in the present. Because they added lustre to Hindi's past, written traditions in these dialects at least merited attention. On the other hand, because they were presumably considered too vulgar and unrefined, oral traditions, such as the biraha[*] of the Ahirs of the Bhojpuri-speaking area, received no notice. Thus the records of the NPS (for at least the first twenty years) make no mention of Bhojpuri, although its speakers constitute the great majority in Banaras and environs. Nor do they mention the reputed creator of biraha , Bihari Lal Yadav (1857–1926) (see chapter 3).
Nagari Yes, Kaithi No
Script as well as language was subject to these internecine conflicts. The Kaithi script, one of several cursive forms of Nagari used by merchant castes, led a precarious existence in the official infrastructure of British India, though surviving and even thriving in more ordinary surroundings. With a few notable exceptions, British officialdom in the province opposed the use of Kaithi in courts, offices, and schools, even though this script had much greater popularity than Nagari, especially in the eastern districts. Officials in the neighboring province of Bihar, however, displayed very different attitudes. Believing Kaithi to be the most widespread script in the province, as evidenced by the flourishing condition of the indigenous schools teaching it, the government ordered the creation of a font of Kaithi type, and by 1881 had prescribed Kaithi for primary vernacular schools. Kaithi texts soon began to appear, and the schools and courts of Bihar continued to use the script until at least 1913 (see King 1974:162–64, 166–70).
These policies met with bitter criticism from Dr. Rajendralal Mitra, a distinguished Bengali educator, in his testimony before the Hunter Education Commission. He noted that Hindi textbooks for Bihar schools printed in Nagari had previously come from Banaras, and that for every textbook Bihar could produce, the U.P. could produce a hundred.
This flow of books had kept the people of Bihar linguistically united with their fellow Hindus to the west. The use of Kaithi, on the other hand, would eventually deprive Biharis not only of the literature created by their ancestors but also of that more recently created by their kinsmen in the U.P. (Educ Comm Rpt Bengal 1884:334). Mitra spoke of Kaithi as the NPS had written about Hindustani: Kaithi threatened the linguistic and religious identity of Bihari Hindus.
Agreeing with Mitra, the NPS also rejected Nagari's rival. In its ninth year the Sabha, at the suggestion of a member, considered the question of improving Kaithi's shortcomings. After some deliberation, the Sabha declared:
In the opinion of the Sabha there are no letters more excellent than the Nagari, and in its opinion it is useful and proper for the Aryan languages of India to be written only in their Nagari letters. For this reason the Sabha cannot aid in any way in promoting the progress of Kaithi letters, nor can it display any enthusiasm for this. (NPS Ann Rpt 1903:14–15)
Although the Sabha had earlier expressed the need for a shorthand system for Hindi, it apparently never considered the possibilities of Kaithi for this (NPS Ann Rpt 1895:10; NPS Ann Rpt 1899:20; NPS Ann Rpt 1900:21–22). Moreover, the Sabha made numerous and mostly unsuccessful attempts to establish Nagari court writers in every district of the province, largely because the organization ignored the fact that almost no writers knew Nagari, especially in the eastern districts, though many knew Kaithi, and the indigenous schools teaching this script were thriving.
Contemporary sources indicate that other Hindi supporters thought Kaithi to be as illegible and ambiguous as the Urdu script, no easier or more widely used than Nagari, and unsuitable as a medium of education. Certainly Kaithi lacked the auspicious association with Sanskrit possessed by Nagari; rejecting Kaithi meant indirectly affirming Hindi's close connection with Sanskrit. To Hindi supporters, rejecting Kaithi also meant separating Hindi and Nagari from a more popular but lower level of culture. Thus, a writer in a 1900 issue of the Hindi newspaper Bharat Jiwan of Banaras argued that those Hindu trading classes who used the Muria script (another cursive form of Nagari similar to Kaithi) could not hope to better their condition until they received their education through the Nagari script (NWP&O SVN 1900:183). Moreover, a strong association existed between Kaithi and rural life: government policy in Awadh allowed, and in Bihar encouraged, the widespread use of Kaithi by patwari s or village record keepers (Educ Comm Rpt Bengal 1884:46–47; NWP&O Educ Rpt 1886– 1887:77–78; Oudh Educ Rpt 1873–1874:150).
Definition through Print:
The Growth of Publications
In 1868 several provincial governments began to issue quarterly statements of books and periodicals published or printed in the territories under their jurisdictions. Although these statements had several short-comings, especially in their earlier years, they constitute by far the most complete and detailed source for the publishing history of India during our period. According to these records, by 1914 Banaras had become the major center for Hindu-heritage languages, well ahead of Allahabad in Hindi and in Sanskrit-Hindi publications, and far ahead of any other center in Sanskrit, while Lucknow led in Islamic-heritage-language publications. Moreover, while the number of Urdu publications had grown substantially in both relative and absolute terms between 1868 and 1914, the number of Hindi publications had grown even more rapidly, so that the latter outnumbered the former by nearly three to one (see table 6.1). Up to 1900 the ratio between Hindi and Urdu publications had remained roughly constant, about fourteen or fifteen books in Hindi for every ten in Urdu. By 1914, however, the ratio had changed dramatically to nearly twenty-seven to ten, almost double the previous ratio. It is not coincidence that this literary expansion
accompanied an increasing articulation of the differences between Hindi and Urdu.
The British-sponsored development of the lower levels of education beginning at about mid-century played a crucial role in this expansion. The new educational system demanded hundreds of thousands of Hindi texts in the Nagari script and created thousands of career opportunities that depended on literacy in Hindi. The government's recognition of Hindi and Urdu as separate subjects in its schools as early as the 1850s, and the printing of textbooks in both the Nagari and the Urdu script, only heightened existing differences and helped to create opposing vernacular elites.
In the nearly five decades between 1868 and 1914 several other trends emerged. Publications in the classical Islamic-heritage languages of Arabic and Persian slowly diminished, with the most rapid decline occurring in the period 1900–1914. Arabic, comprising about 2–3 percent of total publications previously, dropped to 0.1 percent, while Persian publications went from about 10 percent to less than 1 percent. Hindu-heritage languages, on the other hand, after remaining on roughly equal terms with Islamic-heritage languages in the nineteenth century, showed the same striking increase as Hindi in the first years of the twentieth century, especially dual-language works in Sanskrit-Hindi, suggesting a trend toward the popularization of Sanskrit texts. (See also the discussion of the publishing history of the Awadhi Manas[*] in chapter 1.)
The geographical distribution of publication in various languages showed striking shifts during the same period. The proportion of Hindi works in the total output of the eastern part of the province remained practically constant (56–57 percent), as did the proportion of Urdu works (about 29 percent) in the west. After 1900, however, the proportion of Urdu works in the east fell to about half the former level, while that of Hindi works in the west rose to almost twice the previous level. In short, it was as if an increasing tide of Hindi works had pushed a diminishing flow of Urdu works back into the western part of the province. On the level of the vernacular elite, the differences between Hindi and Urdu had become greater. At the same time, the gap between Hindi and Urdu, on the one hand, and the regional dialects, on the other, had widened.
The Who of Hindi Supporters:
Patterns in Education and Employment
The Vernaculars and Education
In the mid-1840s the government of the N.W.P. conducted a survey of educational institutions, which presented a clear picture of the social
backgrounds of students and teachers in Persian, Hindi, Arabic, and Sanskrit schools in many districts. The distribution of students and teachers in the Persian and Hindi schools (the great majority of the total) of Agra district fairly represented the general situation in other districts. Muslims and Kayasths composed the great majority of teachers and students of Persian, and Brahmins, Baniyas, and Rajputs, of Hindi. Moreover, all but a handful of Muslims studied Persian, while most Hindus (with the notable exception of Kayasths) studied Hindi (NWP Educ Rpt 1844–1845:Appendix I).
Another aspect of language study patterns appears in statistics for government schools in 1859–60. In the western part of the province students learning Islamic-heritage languages were a slight majority, while in the central and eastern parts those learning Hindu-heritage languages were large majorities (NWP Educ Rpt 1859–1860:Appendix A, 2–62). Similar figures for Awadh in 1869 show a pattern very close to that of the western N.W.P., with slightly more than half the students learning Islamic-heritage languages, a little more than a third, Hindu-heritage languages, and the remainder, English (Oudh Educ Rpt 1868–1869:Appendix A). In both Awadh and the N.W.P. another pattern appeared in education statistics during this period: the higher the level of education, the greater the proportion of students taking Islamic-heritage languages and English, and the smaller the proportion taking Hindu-heritage languages (see King 1974:84–91).
When we put these patterns together, a picture emerges which correlates quite well with the distribution of Hindi and Urdu publications discussed above: Hindi in a subordinate position in government institutions, contrasted with Urdu well entrenched in the higher reaches of education and administration; Hindi supported by castes associated with Sanskrit learning and resistance to Muslim rule in the past, versus Urdu upheld by Muslims and those Hindu castes (chiefly Kayasths) with a vested interest in Indo-Persian culture; Hindi whose stronghold lay in the eastern part of the province where the Hindu merchant tradition was more powerful vis-à-vis Urdu, whose strength lay in Awadh and the western part of the province where the Indo-Persian service tradition was more dominant (Bayly 1983); and finally, Hindi and Urdu studied almost entirely by high-caste Hindus and Muslims.
The Vernaculars and Employment
In 1877 the provincial government first prescribed a successful performance in either the Middle Class Vernacular or the Middle Class Anglo-Vernacular Examination as a qualification for government service. By the mid-1880s the sizable increase in the numbers of candidates showed that the order had begun to take effect. Lists of those
passing the examinations were sent to each collector or Deputy Commissioner, and in many districts vacancies were filled from them. By the late 1880s these examinations had come to be the educational event of greatest interest to many hopefuls for government service. Their popularity began to wane toward the end of the century, however, as graduates with higher qualifications offered increasing competition. The statistics for these two examinations plainly show the dominance of certain castes, especially Kayasths, in the struggle for government service. They also show that the chief rivals of the Kayasths and Muslims were high-caste Hindus, namely, Brahmins, Rajputs, Khatris, and Baniyas (NWP&O Educ Rpt 1885–1886:Orders of Government, 6; NWP&O Educ Rpt 1886–1887:15–17, 19; King 1974:186–94).
The 1877 order had a significant effect on the numbers of candidates opting to study one or the other of the two vernaculars. In the twenty-year period between 1875 and 1895 the proportions of candidates taking Hindi and Urdu reversed themselves. In the mid-1870s Hindi candidates accounted for more than three-quarters of those taking the examinations; by 1887 Urdu candidates made up more than three-quarters of the total, and this ratio remained nearly the same for the rest of the century (Malaviya 1897:31). The reason for this shift was clear: as a result of the 1877 orders, the candidates chiefly valued the examinations as a means to government service, and naturally preferred to take them in the vernacular language that dominated in courts and offices.
Let us imagine a picture based on the preceding data. A pair of gates labeled Vernacular Middle and Anglo-Vernacular Middle Examinations stands before us. Through them pours a crowd of thousands, moving in the direction of more distant gates. A small portion of the crowd, mainly Muslims and Kayasths, succeeds in passing through one of these more distant gates, labeled Subordinate Judicial and Executive Services, but many others are turned aside. Among these, numbers of Brahmins, Rajputs, Khatris, and Baniyas, as well as a few Muslims, succeed in crossing the portals of a large gate labeled Educational Department. Others, among them many Muslims, manage to enter a smaller gate labeled Police Department. Some of the remaining crowd enter through other, smaller gates, but many fail to pass through any gate and straggle off into the surrounding countryside. Here live millions unacquainted with either Sanskritized Hindi or Persianized Urdu who come from the lower levels of Hindu and Muslim society—Ahirs, Chamars, Bhangis, and many others.
This fanciful portrait is meant to suggest that many non-Kayasth Hindus found that their best hope for government service lay in the newer Educational Department rather than in the older, more presti-
gious, and more remunerative Revenue or Judicial Departments. From the ranks of such Hindus came many leaders of the Hindi movement. The three founders of the NPS, for example, included a Brahmin, a Rajput, and a Khatri; all three made their careers in education—two in government service, and one in both government and private service. Our portrait also suggests that the great majority of the population, the repository of popular culture, did not share the concerns of the vernacular elite.
Yet another aspect of the relationship between education, language, and employment appeared in the results of an investigation ordered by the provincial lieutenant-governor in May 1900, a month after he had issued a resolution ostensibly granting equal status to the two vernacular languages and scripts. This investigation, which included the courts and offices of the Judicial and Revenue Departments from the highest to the lowest level in each district, aimed at determining the respective numbers of Hindu and Muslim clerks familiar with Hindi or Urdu or both (NWP&O Gen Admin Progs October 1900:111, 119, 122–24).
The results showed that most Hindus knew at least some Hindi, and even more knew at least some Urdu. On the other hand, fewer than half of the Muslims knew at least some Hindi, while all knew at least some Urdu. To put matters differently, almost all the Hindus knew Urdu well, and the majority knew Hindi well too. While almost all the Muslims knew Urdu well, only a small minority knew Hindi well. Contemporary observers suggested with good reason that the results were very likely skewed in favor of Hindi. Even so, the investigation clearly indicated that Muslims had a strong vested interest in Urdu, the dominant language of the courts and offices, while Hindus, though rivaling Muslims in Urdu, could easily turn to Hindi, where they far outstripped Muslims. In sum, Muslims stood to lose much more from any change than did Hindus. For the thousands of Hindus and Muslims educated in the vernaculars—that is, those who constituted the vernacular elite—language identity and economic well-being were bound together inseparably, a fact that intensified the rivalry between supporters of Hindi and Urdu.
The Role of Voluntary Organizations:
The Nagari Pracharini Sabha
If Pandit Gauri Datta had expressed himself visually, his play might have taken the form of the picture that appeared in the November 1902 issue of Saraswati (R. K. Das 1902:359: see figure 14). On the left stood a Muslim prostitute, decked out in all the finery of her profession. On the right, facing her rival, sat a Hindu matron, modestly
clothed in an ordinary sari. The caption "Hindi-Urdu" and the verses below made it clear that on the left stood Urdu personified and on the right sat Hindi. The author of the verses was Radha Krishna Das, a member of one of the great merchant families of Banaras, a relative of Bharatendu Harishchandra, and the first president of the Nagari[*] Pracharini[*] Sabha[*] of Banaras.
As the nexus of relationships embodied in the picture suggests, the Sabha both reflected and contributed to the process of change discussed above. Founded in 1893 by schoolboys of Queen's College in Banaras, the Sabha soon acquired influential patrons such as Madan Mohan Malaviya, played the leading role in mobilizing support for the resolution of May 1900, gave prizes for Nagari handwriting in schools, granted awards for Hindi literature, carried out extensive searches for old Hindi manuscripts and published the results, started two influential journals (the Nagari Pracharini Patrika and Saraswati ), attracted a membership of many hundreds, received donations of thousands of rupees, founded the Hindi Sahitya Sammelan of Allahabad, constructed a major headquarters building, published many important works (including grammars and dictionaries), and lobbied the provincial Text Book Committee and other government organizations for Nagari and Hindi (see King 1974:243–377, 455–79). Through all these activities, the Sabha played the leading role in affirming and defining Hindi during our period, a Hindi separate and distinct from Urdu, other literary dialects, Hindustani, and the popular culture of oral tradition.
The social and geographic origins of the early membership of the Sabha, not surprisingly, showed patterns that strongly correlated with the patterns of publication, education, and employment we have already examined. Brahmins, Khatris, Rajputs, and Baniyas[*] (mainly Agarwals) accounted for more than two thirds of the total membership of 84 in 1894. In the same year provincial residents composed 80 percent of the membership, and residents of Banaras 56 percent. The eastern portion of the province provided 68 percent of the membership, Awadh and the western portion only 6 percent each. The remainder of the membership came from Rajasthan, Punjab, the Central Provinces and Central India, Bihar, and Bengal (King 1974:251–68).
By 1914, the peak year before a prolonged decline in membership, the proportions had shifted. The province had dropped to 64 percent and Banaras to 16 percent of the total of 1,368 members, though the leadership remained firmly in the hands of the same Banaras castes. While the share of the eastern portion of the province fell to about 33 percent, that of the western part rose to 20 percent, and that of Awadh to 12 percent, mostly in the two or three years before 1914. Rajasthan, the Central Provinces and Central India, and Bihar made up 23 per-
cent. The Sabha remained an almost entirely north India and Hindu organization throughout our period: the first of a handful of south Indians joined in 1908, and only tiny numbers of Muslims ever became members (King 1974:445–51).
While much of the financial support for the Sabha came from membership donations and the sale of publications, especially school textbooks, a significant portion came from large donors, many of whom were princes. In the first thirty years the organization's twenty largest donors contributed close to Rs. 100,000, or approximately 30 percent of the total income. Twelve of these donors were princes, seven of whom became official patrons of the Sabha, namely, the Maharajas of Gwalior, Rewah, Baroda, Bikaner, Chatrapur, Alwar, and Banaras (King 1974:452–54, 456–59).
Whereas the Sabha's first decade brought significant successes in both political and literary endeavors, the second decade saw continuing progress in the latter but little or no advance in the former. From about 1914 on, the Sabha devoted most of its energies and funds to literary efforts and turned away from political activities. So politically conservative did the organization become that the government even allowed the Sabha to keep proscribed books. In the decades to come, not the Sabha but the Hindi Sahitya Sammelan played the preeminent political role on both the provincial and the national level in the promotion of Hindi and the Nagari script. The Sabha remained content to embellish Hindi literature.
New Identities—The Terminus Ad Quem
The picture in Saraswati provides a convenient departure point for summarizing, analyzing, and speculating about what we have learned of the Hindi movement. By the early twentieth century, as the distance between the two women suggests, the Indo-Persian and Hindu cultures had become separate clusters of symbols for many members of what we have called the vernacular elite. From the more extreme Hindu view-point, the two figures stood for virtue versus vice; from the more extreme Muslim viewpoint, for barbarism versus refinement (see Rahmat-Ullah 1900). As one scholar of north India has suggested, various symbols of communal identity gradually clustered around the master symbol of religion in a process designated as "multi-symbol congruence" (Brass 1974).
We need not restrict ourselves to models from Western sources to analyze the Hindi movement, however, for the process of linguistic
"purification" has a venerable social and cultural history in India. Just as certain standards for social behavior, especially for those castes wishing to elevate their position in the hierarchy, have been embodied in Brahmins for many centuries, so standards for language behavior have resided in Sanskrit, whose very name means "perfected." Thus we can explain much of the Hindi movement as a process of "Sanskritization" in which the excellence of a language was judged by the degree to which it incorporated the standards of Sanskrit. At the same time, we must not overlook the influence of English, which provided a not necessarily antithetical model of a modern language. The supporters of Hindi could choose or reject, and they did; roman letters proved unacceptable, while dictionaries of scientific terms were deemed acceptable.
Through the processes of separation and rejection Hindi supporters determined what Hindi was not and what Hindi should not be . Through the more positive processes of affirmation and definition they decided what Hindi was and what it should be . Hindi was certainly not Urdu (separation) nor should it be (rejection). On the other hand, Hindi had descended from Sanskrit (definition), something good for religious and cultural reasons (affirmation). These admittedly imprecise terms suggest the active approach of the vernacular elite to the creation of a new language style, what we might tentatively call the Sanskritization of Khari[*] Boli[*] (the common grammatical base of both Hindi and Urdu). From this viewpoint we can argue that the rejection of Hindustani, Kaithi, and popular oral traditions rested primarily on their relatively "impure" natures as compared to a shuddh (pure) Hindi. In the cases of Braj Bhasha and Awadhi, however, such an explanation does not suffice. Here more practical reasons seem to have prevailed: though both acted as bearers of a glorious literary tradition and parts of Hindi's past, neither possessed the necessary characteristics for a potential national language. Only Sanskritized Hindi, sharing the same grammatical base as the already widespread Urdu, had both the necessary purity and practicality.
While the vernacular elite played an active, not passive, role in the Sanskritization of Khari Boli, they forged Sanskritized Hindi within arenas—the educational system, the press, the publishing industry, voluntary associations, and the government itself—largely introduced through British rule. This external framework displayed fundamental ambiguities, however: thus, a close study of the period reveals that British officials authored language policies with massive contradictions (see, for example, King 1974:383–93) which exacerbated the very conflict they decried and left considerable room for the vernacular elite to maneuver.
By the eve of World War I, then, a class (the Hindi vernacular elite) had appeared in north India, especially in eastern U.P., whose commu-
nity identity centered on shuddh Hindi, Hinduism, and an urban alliance of service and merchant interests. The harmonious working relationship between two leading members of the Sabha, Radha Krishna Das, merchant, and Shyam Sundar Das, educator, beautifully illustrates this alliance. The intensity of the struggle with the Urdu vernacular elite in the province expanded to the national level in the twentieth century. The emphasis on the purity of Hindi widened the gap between Hindi and Urdu as well as between elite and popular culture. The final result came after Independence, when Hindi became one of the two official languages of India, and the only official language of the U.P., thus at last fulfilling the judgment of Maharaja Righteous-Rule in Pandit Gauri Datta's svang[*] . Truly, Queen Nagari, born in Sanskrit-rich Banaras, ruled again. | fwe2-CC-MAIN-2013-20-41355000 |
Understanding alcohol’s impact on your health
Table of Contents
A brightly colored cosmopolitan is the drink of choice for the glamorous characters in Sex and the City. James Bond depends on his famous martini—shaken, not stirred—to unwind with after confounding a villain. And what wedding concludes without a champagne toast?
Alcohol is part of our culture—it helps us celebrate and socialize, and it enhances our religious ceremonies. But drinking too much—on a single occasion or over time—can have serious consequences for our health. Most Americans recognize that drinking too much can lead to accidents and dependence. But that’s only part of the story. In addition to these serious problems, alcohol abuse can damage organs, weaken the immune system, and contribute to cancers. Plus, much like smoking, alcohol affects different people differently. Genes, environment, and even diet can play a role in whether you develop an alcohol-related disease. On the flip side, some people actually may benefit from drinking alcohol in small quantities. Sound complicated? It sure can be. To stay healthy, and to decide what role alcohol should play in your life, you need accurate, up-to-date information. This brochure is designed to offer you guidance based on the latest research on alcohol’s effect on your health.
A LITTLE GOES A LONG WAY: KNOW THE AMOUNTS
Knowing how much alcohol constitutes a “standard” drink can help you determine how much you are drinking and understand the risks. One standard drink contains about 0.6 fluid ounces or 14 grams of pure alcohol. In more familiar terms, the following amounts constitute one standard drink:
- 12 fluid ounces of beer (about 5% alcohol)
- 8 to 9 fluid ounces of malt liquor (about 7% alcohol)
- 5 fluid ounces of table wine (about 12% alcohol)
- 1.5 fluid ounces of hard liquor (about 40% alcohol)
Research demonstrates “low-risk” drinking levels for men are no more than 4 drinks on any single day AND no more than 14 drinks per week. For women, “low-risk” drinking levels are no more than three drinks on any single day AND no more than seven drinks per week. To stay low-risk, you must keep within both the single-day and weekly limits.
Even within these limits, you can have problems if you drink too quickly, have health conditions, or are over age 65. Older adults should have no more than three drinks on any day and no more than seven drinks per week.
Based on your health and how alcohol affects you, you may need to drink less or not at all. People who should abstain from alcohol completely include those who:
- Plan to drive a vehicle or operate machinery
- Are pregnant or trying to become pregnant
- Take medications that interact with alcohol
- Have a medical condition that alcohol can aggravate
Effects on the brain
You’re chatting with friends at a party and a waitress comes around with glasses of champagne. You drink one, then another, maybe even a few more. Before you realize it, you are laughing more loudly than usual and swaying as you walk. By the end of the evening, you are too slow to move out of the way of a waiter with a dessert tray and have trouble speaking clearly. The next morning, you wake up feeling dizzy and your head hurts. You may have a hard time remembering everything you did the night before.
These reactions illustrate how quickly and dramatically alcohol affects the brain. The brain is an intricate maze of connections that keeps our physical and psychological processes running smoothly. Disruption of any of these connections can affect how the brain works. Alcohol also can have longer-lasting consequences for the brain—changing the way it looks and works and resulting in a range of problems.
Most people do not realize how extensively alcohol can affect the brain. But recognizing these potential consequences will help you make better decisions about what amount of alcohol is appropriate for you.
WHAT HAPPENS INSIDE THE BRAIN?
The brain’s structure is complex. It includes multiple systems that interact to support all of your body’s functions—from thinking to breathing to moving.
These multiple brain systems communicate with each other through about a trillion tiny nerve cells called neurons. Neurons in the brain translate information into electrical and chemical signals the brain can understand. They also send messages from the brain to the rest of the body.
Chemicals called neurotransmitters carry messages between the neurons. Neurotransmitters can be very powerful. Depending on the type and the amount of neurotransmitter, these chemicals can either intensify or minimize your body’s responses, your feelings, and your mood. The brain works to balance the neurotransmitters that speed things up with the ones that slow things down to keep your body operating at the right pace.
Alcohol can slow the pace of communication between neurotransmitters in the brain.
DISCOVERING THE BRAIN CHANGES
There still is much we do not understand about how the brain works and how alcohol affects it. Researchers are constantly discovering more about how alcohol interrupts communication pathways in the brain and changes brain structure, and the resulting effects on behavior and functioning. A variety of research methods broaden our understanding in different ways:
- BRAIN IMAGING – Various imaging tools, including structural magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), diffusion tensor imaging (DTI), and positron emission tomography (PET), are used to create pictures of the brain. MRI and DTI create images of brain structure, or what the brain looks like. fMRI looks at brain function, or what the brain is doing. It can detect changes in brain activity. PET scans look at changes in neurotransmitter function. All of these imaging techniques are useful to track changes in the alcoholic brain. For example, they can show how an alcoholic brain changes immediately after drinking stops, and again after a long period of sobriety, to check for possible relapses.
- PSYCHOLOGICAL TESTS – Researchers also use psychological tests to evaluate how alcohol-related brain changes affect mental functioning. These tests demonstrate how alcohol affects emotions and personality, as well as how it compromises learning and memory skills.
- ANIMAL STUDIES – Testing the effect of alcohol on animals’ brains helps researchers better understand how alcohol injures the human brain, and how abstinence can reverse this damage.
DEFINING THE BRAIN CHANGES
Using brain imaging and psychological tests, researchers have identified the regions of the brain most vulnerable to alcohol’s effects. These include:
- CEREBELLUM – This area controls motor coordination. Damage to the cerebellum results in a loss of balance and stumbling, and also may affect cognitive functions such as memory and emotional response.
- LIMBIC SYSTEM – This complex brain system monitors a variety of tasks including memory and emotion. Damage to this area impairs each of these functions.
- CEREBRAL CORTEX – Our abilities to think, plan, behave intelligently, and interact socially stem from this brain region. In addition, this area connects the brain to the rest of the nervous system. Changes and damage to this area impair the ability to solve problems, remember, and learn.
ALCOHOL SHRINKS AND DISTURBS BRAIN TISSUE
Heavy alcohol consumption—even on a single occasion—can throw the delicate balance of neurotransmitters off course. Alcohol can cause your neurotransmitters to relay information too slowly, so you feel extremely drowsy. Alcohol-related disruptions to the neurotransmitter balance also can trigger mood and behavioral changes, including depression, agitation, memory loss, and even seizures.
Long-term, heavy drinking causes alterations in the neurons, such as reductions in the size of brain cells. As a result of these and other changes, brain mass shrinks and the brain’s inner cavity grows bigger. These changes may affect a wide range of abilities, including motor coordination; temperature regulation; sleep; mood; and various cognitive functions, including learning and memory.
One neurotransmitter particularly susceptible to even small amounts of alcohol is called glutamate. Among other things, glutamate affects memory. Researchers believe that alcohol interferes with glutamate action, and this may be what causes some people to temporarily “black out,” or forget much of what happened during a night of heavy drinking.
Alcohol also causes an increased release of serotonin, another neurotransmitter, which helps regulate emotional expression, and endorphins, which are natural substances that may spark feelings of relaxation and euphoria as intoxication sets in. Researchers now understand that the brain tries to compensate for these disruptions. Neurotransmitters adapt to create balance in the brain despite the presence of alcohol. But making these adaptations can have negative results, including building alcohol tolerance, developing alcohol dependence, and experiencing alcohol withdrawal symptoms.
WHAT FACTORS MAKE A DIFFERENCE?
Different people react differently to alcohol. That is because a variety of factors can influence your brain’s response to alcohol. These factors include:
- HOW MUCH AND HOW OFTEN YOU DRINK – The more you drink, the more vulnerable your brain is.
- YOUR GENETIC BACKGROUND AND FAMILY HISTORY OF ALCOHOLISM – Certain ethnic populations can have stronger reactions to alcohol, and children of alcoholics are more likely to become alcoholics themselves.
- YOUR PHYSICAL HEALTH – If you have liver or nutrition problems, the effects of alcohol will take longer to wear off.
ARE BRAIN PROBLEMS REVERSIBLE?
Abstaining from alcohol over several months to a year may allow structural brain changes to partially correct. Abstinence also can help reverse negative effects on thinking skills, including problem-solving, memory, and attention.
OTHER ALCOHOL-RELATED BRAIN CONDITIONS
LIVER DAMAGE THAT AFFECTS THE BRAIN
Not only does alcoholic liver disease affect liver function itself, it also damages the brain. The liver breaks down alcohol—and the toxins it releases. During this process, alcohol’s byproducts damage liver cells. These damaged liver cells no longer function as well as they should and allow too much of these toxic substances, ammonia and manganese in particular, to travel to the brain.These substances proceed to damage brain cells, causing a serious and potentially fatal brain disorder known as hepatic encephalopathy.
Hepatic encephalopathy causes a range of problems, from less severe to fatal.These problems can include:
- Sleep disturbances
- Mood and personality changes
- Shortened attention span
- Coordination problems, including asterixis, which results in hand shaking or flapping
Doctors can help treat hepatic encephalopathy with compounds that lower blood ammonia concentrations and with devices that help remove harmful toxins from the blood. In some cases, people suffering from hepatic encephalopathy require a liver transplant, which generally helps improve brain function.
FETAL ALCOHOL SPECTRUM DISORDERS
Alcohol can affect the brain at any stage of development—even before birth. Fetal alcohol spectrum disorders are the full range of physical, learning, and behavioral problems, and other birth defects that result from prenatal alcohol exposure. The most serious of these disorders, fetal alcohol syndrome (FAS), is characterized by abnormal facial features and is usually associated with severe reductions in brain function and overall growth. FAS is the leading preventable birth defect associated with mental and behavioral impairment in the United States today. The brains of children with FAS are smaller than normal and contain fewer cells, including neurons. These deficiencies result in life-long learning and behavioral problems. Current research is investigating whether the brain function of children and adults with FAS can be improved with complex rehabilitative training, dietary supplements, or medications.
Effects on the heart
Americans know how prevalent heart disease is—about 1 in 12 of us suffer from it. What we don’t always recognize are the connections heart disease shares with alcohol. On the one hand, researchers have known for centuries that excessive alcohol consumption can damage the heart. Drinking a lot over a long period of time or drinking too much on a single occasion can put your heart—and your life—at risk. On the other hand, researchers now understand that drinking moderate amounts of alcohol can protect the hearts of some people from the risks of coronary artery disease.
Deciding how much, if any, alcohol is right for you can be complicated. To make the best decision for yourself, you need to know the facts and then consult your physician.
KNOW THE FUNCTION:
Your cardiovascular system consists of your heart, blood vessels, and blood. This system works constantly—every second of your life—delivering oxygen and nutrients to your cells, and carrying away carbon dioxide and other unnecessary material.
Your heart drives this process. It is a muscle that contracts and relaxes over and over again, moving the blood along the necessary path. Your heart beats about 100,000 times each day, pumping the equivalent of 2,000 gallons of blood throughout your body.
The two sides, or chambers, of the heart receive blood and pump it back into the body. The right ventricle of the heart pumps blood into the lungs to exchange carbon dioxide from the cells for oxygen. The heart relaxes to allow this blood back into its left chamber. It then pumps the oxygen-rich blood to tissues and organs. Blood passing through the kidneys allows the body to get rid of waste products. Electrical signals keep the heart pumping continuously and at the appropriate rate to propel this routine.
KNOW THE RISKS:
Long-term heavy drinking weakens the heart muscle, causing a condition called alcoholic cardiomyopathy. A weakened heart droops and stretches and cannot contract effectively. As a result, it cannot pump enough blood to sufficiently nourish the organs. In some cases, this blood flow shortage causes severe damage to organs and tissues. Symptoms of cardiomyopathy include shortness of breath and other breathing difficulties, fatigue, swollen legs and feet, and irregular heartbeat. It can even lead to heart failure.
Both binge drinking and long-term drinking can affect how quickly a heart beats.The heart depends on an internal pacemaker system to keep it pumping consistently and at the right speed. Alcohol disturbs this pacemaker system and causes the heart to beat too rapidly, or irregularly. These heart rate abnormalities are called arrhythmias. Two types of alcohol induced arrhythmias are:
- ATRIAL FIBRILLATION – In this form of arrhythmia, the heart’s upper, or atrial, chambers shudder weakly but do not contract. Blood can collect and even clot in these upper chambers. If a blood clot travels from the heart to the brain, a stroke can occur; if it travels to other organs such as the lungs, an embolism, or blood vessel blockage, occurs.
- VENTRICULAR TACHYCARDIA – This form of arrhythmia occurs in the heart’s lower, or ventricular, chambers. Electrical signals travel throughout the heart’s muscles, triggering contractions that keep blood flowing at the right pace. Alcohol-induced damage to heart muscle cells can cause these electrical impulses to circle through the ventricle too many times, causing too many contractions. The heart beats too quickly, and so does not fill up with enough blood between each beat. As a result, the rest of the body does not get enough blood. Ventricular tachycardia causes dizziness, lightheadedness, unconsciousness, cardiac arrest, and even sudden death. Drinking to excess on a particular occasion, especially when you generally don’t drink, can trigger either of these irregularities. In these cases, the problem is nicknamed “holiday heart syndrome,” because people who don’t usually drink may consume too much alcohol at parties during the holiday season. Over the long-term, chronic drinking changes the course of electrical impulses that drive the heart’s beating, which creates arrhythmia.
A stroke occurs when blood cannot reach the brain. In about 80 percent of strokes, a blood clot prevents blood flow to the brain. These are called ischemic strokes. Sometimes, blood accumulates in the brain, or in the spaces surrounding it. This causes hemorrhagic strokes.
Both binge drinking and long-term heavy drinking can lead to strokes even in people without coronary heart disease. Recent studies show that people who binge drink are about 56 percent more likely than people who never binge drink to suffer an ischemic stroke over 10 years. Binge drinkers also are about 39 percent more likely to suffer any type of stroke than people who never binge drink.
In addition, alcohol exacerbates the problems that often lead to strokes, including hypertension, arrhythmias, and cardiomyopathy.
Chronic alcohol use, as well as binge drinking, can cause high blood pressure, or hypertension. Your blood pressure is a measurement of the pressure your heart creates as it beats, and the pressure inside your veins and arteries. Healthy blood vessels stretch like elastic as the heart pumps blood through them. Hypertension develops when the blood vessels stiffen, making them less flexible. Heavy alcohol consumption triggers the release of certain stress hormones that in turn constrict blood vessels.This elevates blood pressure. In addition, alcohol may affect the function of the muscles within the blood vessels, causing them to constrict and elevate blood pressure.
KNOW THE BENEFITS:
Research shows that healthy people who drink moderate amounts of alcohol may have a lower risk of developing coronary heart disease than nondrinkers. Moderate drinking is usually defined as no more than two drinks in a given day for men and one drink per day for women who are not pregnant or trying to conceive.
A variety of factors, including diet, genetics, high blood pressure, and age, can cause fat to build up in your arteries, resulting in coronary heart disease. An excess of fat narrows the coronary arteries, which are the blood vessels that supply blood directly to the heart. Clogged arteries reduce blood supply to the heart muscle, and make it easier for blood clots to form. Blood clots can lead to both heart attacks and strokes.
According to recent studies, drinking moderately can protect your heart from these conditions. Moderate drinking helps inhibit and reduce the build-up of fat in the arteries. It can raise the levels of HDL—or “good” cholesterol—in the blood, which wards off heart disease. It can help guard against heart attack and stroke by preventing blood clots from forming and by dissolving blood clots that do develop. Drinking moderately also may help keep blood pressure levels in check.
These benefits may not apply to people with existing medical conditions, or who regularly take certain medications. In addition, researchers discourage people from beginning to drink just for the health benefits. Rather, you can use this research to help you spark a conversation with your medical professional about the best path for you.
Effects on the liver
KNOW THE FACTS:
Liver disease is one of the leading causes of illness and death in the United States. More than 2 million Americans suffer from liver disease caused by alcohol.
In general, liver disease strikes people who drink heavily over many years.
While many of us recognize that excessive alcohol consumption can lead to liver disease, we might not know why. Understanding the connections between alcohol and the liver can help you make smarter decisions about drinking and take better control of your health.
KNOW THE FUNCTION:
Your liver works hard to keep your body productive and healthy. It stores energy and nutrients. It generates proteins and enzymes your body uses to function and ward off disease. It also rids your body of substances that can be dangerous— including alcohol.
The liver breaks down most of the alcohol a person consumes. But the process of breaking alcohol down generates toxins even more harmful than alcohol itself. These by-products damage liver cells, promote inflammation, and weaken the body’s natural defenses. Eventually, these problems can disrupt the body’s metabolism and impair the function of other organs.
Because the liver plays such a vital role in alcohol detoxification, it is especially vulnerable to damage from excessive alcohol.
KNOW THE CONSEQUENCES:
Heavy drinking—even for just a few days at a time—can cause fat to build up in the liver. This condition, called steatosis, or fatty liver, is the earliest stage of alcoholic liver disease and the most common alcohol-induced liver disorder. The excessive fat makes it more difficult for the liver to operate and leaves it open to developing dangerous inflammations, like alcoholic hepatitis.
For some, alcoholic hepatitis does not present obvious symptoms. For others, though, alcoholic hepatitis can cause fever, nausea, appetite loss, abdominal pain, and even mental confusion. As it increases in severity, alcoholic hepatitis dangerously enlarges the liver, and causes jaundice, excessive bleeding, and clotting difficulties.
Another liver condition associated with heavy drinking is fibrosis, which causes scar tissue to build up in the liver. Alcohol alters the chemicals in the liver needed to break down and remove this scar tissue. As a result, liver function suffers.
If you continue to drink, this excessive scar tissue builds up and creates a condition called cirrhosis, which is a slow deterioration of the liver. Cirrhosis prevents the liver from performing critical functions, including managing infections, removing harmful substances from the blood, and absorbing nutrients.
A variety of complications, including jaundice, insulin resistance and type 2 diabetes, and even liver cancer, can result as cirrhosis weakens liver function.
Risk factors ranging from genetics and gender, to alcohol accessibility, social customs around drinking, and even diet can affect a person’s individual susceptibility to alcoholic liver disease. Statistics show that about one in five heavy drinkers will develop alcoholic hepatitis, while one in four will develop cirrhosis.
KNOW THERE’S A BRIGHT SIDE:
The good news is that a variety of lifestyle changes can help treat alcoholic liver disease. The most critical lifestyle change is abstinence from alcohol. Quitting drinking will help prevent further injury to your liver. Cigarette smoking, obesity, and poor nutrition all contribute to alcoholic liver disease. It is important to stop smoking and improve your eating habits to keep liver disease in check. But when conditions like cirrhosis become severe, a liver transplant may be the primary treatment option.
Effects on the pancreas
KNOW THE FACTS:
Each year, acute pancreatitis sends more than 200,000 Americans to the hospital. Many of those who suffer from pancreatic problems are also heavy drinkers. Habitual and excessive drinking damages the pancreas, and commonly causes pancreatitis.
Learning more about the links between alcohol and pancreatic problems can help you make better decisions to protect your health.
KNOW THE FUNCTION:
The pancreas plays an important role in food digestion and its conversion into fuel to power your body. It sends enzymes into the small intestine to digest carbohydrates, proteins, and fat. It also secretes insulin and glucagon, hormones that regulate the process of utilizing glucose, the body’s main source of energy. Insulin and glucagon control glucose levels, which helps all cells use the energy glucose provides. Insulin also ensures that extra glucose gets stored away as either glycogen or fat.
When you drink, alcohol damages pancreatic cells and influences metabolic processes involving insulin. This process leaves the pancreas open to dangerous inflammations.
KNOW THE RISKS:
A pancreas unaffected by alcohol sends enzymes out to the small intestine to metabolize food. Alcohol jumbles this process. It causes the pancreas to secrete its digestive juices internally, rather than sending the enzymes to the small intestine. These enzymes, as well as acetaldehyde— a substance produced from metabolizing, or breaking down the alcohol—are harmful to the pancreas. If you consume alcohol excessively over a long time, this continued process can cause inflammation, as well as swelling of tissues and blood vessels.
This inflammation is called pancreatitis, and it prevents the pancreas from working properly. Pancreatitis occurs as a sudden attack, called acute pancreatitis. As excessive drinking continues, the inflammation can become constant. This condition is known as chronic pancreatitis.
Pancreatitis is also a risk factor for the development of pancreatic cancer.
A heavy drinker may not be able to detect the build-up of pancreatic damage until the problems set off an attack.
An acute pancreatic attack causes symptoms including:
- Abdominal pain, which may radiate up the back
- Nausea and vomiting
- Rapid heart rate
Chronic pancreatitis causes these symptoms as well as severe abdominal pain, significant reduction in pancreatic function and digestion, and blood sugar problems. Chronic pancreatitis can slowly destroy the pancreas and lead to diabetes or even death.
While a single drinking binge will not automatically lead to pancreatitis, the risk of developing the disease increases as excessive drinking continues over time.
These risks apply to all heavy drinkers, but only about 5 percent of people with alcohol dependence develop pancreatitis. Some people are more susceptible to the disease than others, but researchers have not yet identified exactly what environmental and genetic factors play the biggest role.
TREATMENT HELPS—BUT DOES NOT CURE
Abstinence from alcohol can slow the progression of pancreatitis and reduce its painful symptoms.A low-fat diet also may help. It is also critical to guard against infections and to get supportive treatment. Treatment options, including enzyme-replacement therapy or insulin, can improve pancreatic function. In some cases, surgery is necessary to relieve pain, clear blockages, and reduce attacks.
The effects of alcoholic pancreatitis can be managed, but not easily reversed.
KNOW THE RISKS:
Genetics, environment, and lifestyle habits can all heighten your risk of getting cancer. We can’t do anything to change our genes, and we often can’t do much to change our environment. But lifestyle habits are a different story.
Drinking too much alcohol is one lifestyle habit that can increase your risk of developing certain cancers. This does not mean that anyone who drinks too much will develop cancer. But numerous studies do show the more you drink, the more you increase your chances of developing certain types of cancer.
For example, a group of Italy-based scientists reviewed more than 200 studies examining alcohol’s impact on cancer risk.The collective results of these studies clearly demonstrate that the more you drink, the higher your risk for developing a variety of cancers.The National Cancer Institute identifies alcohol as a risk factor for the following types of cancer:
At least 7 out of 10 people with mouth cancer drink heavily. Drinking five or more drinks per day can also increase your risk of developing other types of cancers, including colon or rectal cancer. In fact, summary estimates from the recent World Cancer Research Fund report indicate that women who drink five standard alcohol drinks each day have about 1.2 times the risk of developing colon or rectal cancer than women who do not drink at all.
People who drink are also more likely to smoke, and the combination increases the risk significantly. Smoking alone is a known risk factor for some cancers. But smoking and drinking together intensifies the cancer-causing properties of each substance. The overall effect poses an even greater risk.
The risk of throat and mouth cancers is especially high because alcohol and tobacco both come in direct contact with those areas. Overall, people who drink and smoke are 15 times more likely to develop cancers of the mouth and throat than nondrinkers and nonsmokers. In addition, recent studies estimate that alcohol and tobacco together are responsible for:
- 80 percent of throat and mouth cancer in men
- 65 percent of throat and mouth cancer in women
- 80 percent of esophageal squamous cell carcinoma, a type of esophagus cancer
- 25 to 30 percent of all liver cancers
WOMEN AND CANCER
One recent, groundbreaking study followed the drinking habits of 1.2 million middle-aged women over 7 years. The study found that alcohol increases women’s chances of developing cancers of the breast,mouth, throat, rectum, liver, and esophagus. The researchers link alcohol to about 13 percent of these cancer cases.
In addition, the study concluded that cancer risk increases no matter how little or what kind of alcohol a woman drinks. Even one drink a day can raise risk, and it continues to rise with each additional drink. While men did not participate in this study, the researchers believe this risk is likely similar for men.
This study also attributes about 11 percent of all breast cancer cases to alcohol. That means that of the 250,000 breast cancer cases diagnosed in the United States in 2008, about 27,000 may stem from alcohol.
KNOW THE REASONS:
Scientists are still trying to figure out exactly how and why alcohol can promote cancer. There are a variety of possible explanations.
One explanation is that alcohol itself is not the primary trigger for cancer.We know that metabolizing, or breaking down, alcohol results in harmful toxins in the body. One of these toxins is called acetylaldehyde. Acetylaldehyde damages the genetic material in cells—and renders the cells incapable of repairing the damage. It also causes cells to grow too quickly, which makes conditions ripe for genetic changes and mistakes. Cancer can develop more easily in cells with damaged genetic material.
In addition, recent animal studies have shown that as cells try to break down alcohol, they cause the body to produce additional amounts of a protein called vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF). VEGF promotes the growth of blood vessels and organ tissue. But, the flip side of having too much VEGF is that it allows blood vessels to grow in cancer cells that would die on their own. This allows the cancer cells to develop into tumors.
We also know that alcohol can damage the liver, causing cirrhosis. Cirrhosis results when too much scar tissue builds up within the liver and leaves it unable to perform its vital functions. One of the many complications that can result from cirrhosis is liver cancer.
Hormones may be the link between alcohol and breast cancer. Alcohol can increase the amounts of some hormones in the body, including estrogen. An excess of estrogen may lead to breast cancer.
Finally, genetics may play a role in preventing some heavy drinkers from developing cancer. A European research team examined 9,000 people with similar lifestyle habits to determine why some of them developed mouth and throat cancers, and some did not. Of the participants who were heavy drinkers, those who did not develop cancers had a particular genetic alteration that enabled them to break down alcohol about 100 times faster than in those without it. The study suggested that this gene is the reason why some people are less likely to develop cancer in response to heavy drinking.
KNOW THERE’S A BRIGHT SIDE:
Fortunately, studies show that you can reduce your risk for cancer by drinking less. A recent Canadian report analyzed studies from 1966 through 2006 and concluded that risk reduction is possible, specifically for head and neck cancers.The study found that as people abstained from drinking, their risk for developing cancer plunged. After 20 years of abstinence, former drinkers had the same risk for head and neck cancers as people who never drank.
Effects on the immune system
Germs and bacteria surround us everywhere. Luckily, our immune system is designed to protect our bodies from the scores of foreign substances that can make us sick. Drinking too much alcohol weakens the immune system, making your body a much easier target for disease. Understanding the effect alcohol can have on your immune system can inform the decisions you make about drinking alcohol.
KNOW THE FACTS:
Your immune system is often compared to an army. This army defends your body from infection and disease. Your skin and the mucous that lines your respiratory and gastrointestinal tracts help block bacteria from entering or staying in your body. If foreign substances somehow make it through these barriers, your immune system kicks into gear with two defensive systems: innate and adaptive.
The innate system exists in your body before you are exposed to foreign substances like bacteria, viruses, fungi, or parasites. These substances, which are called antigens, can invade your body and make you sick. The components of the innate system include:
- WHITE BLOOD CELLS – White blood cells form your first line of defense against infection.They surround and swallow foreign bodies quickly.
- NATURAL KILLER (NK) CELLS – Natural Killers are special white blood cells that detect and destroy cells infected with cancer or viruses.
- CYTOKINES – White blood cells send out these chemical messengers directly to an infected site. Cytokines trigger inflammatory responses, like dilating blood vessels and increasing blood flow to the affected area. They also call on more white blood cells to swarm an infected area.
The adaptive system kicks in after you are exposed to an infection for the first time. The next time you encounter the same infection, your adaptive system fights it off even faster and more efficiently than the first time. The components of the adaptive system include:
- T-LYMPHOCYTE CELLS – T-cells reinforce the work of white blood cells by targeting individual foreign substances.T-cells can identify and destroy a vast array of bacteria and viruses.They can also kill infected cells and secrete cytokines.
- B-LYMPHOCYTE CELLS – B-cells produce antibodies that fight off harmful substances by sticking to them and making them stand out to other immune cells.
- ANTIBODIES – After B-cells encounter antigens, they produce antibodies.These are proteins that target specific antigens and then remember how to combat the antigen.
KNOW THE RISKS:
Alcohol suppresses both the innate and the adaptive immune systems. Chronic alcohol use reduces the ability of white blood cells to effectively engulf and swallow harmful bacteria. Excessive drinking also disrupts the production of cytokines, causing your body to either produce too much or not enough of these chemical messengers. An abundance of cytokines can damage your tissues, whereas a lack of cytokines leaves you open to infection.
Chronic alcohol use also suppresses the development of T-cells and may impair the ability of NK cells to attack tumor cells. This reduced function makes you more vulnerable to bacteria and viruses, and less capable of destroying cancerous cells.
With a compromised immune system, chronic drinkers are more liable to contract diseases like pneumonia and tuberculosis than people who do not drink too much. There is also data linking alcohol’s damage to the immune system with an increased susceptibility to contracting HIV infection. HIV develops faster in chronic drinkers who already have the virus.
Drinking a lot on a single occasion also can compromise your immune system. Drinking to intoxication can slow your body’s ability to produce cytokines that ward off infections by causing inflammations.Without these inflammatory responses, your body’s ability to defend itself against bacteria is significantly reduced. A recent study shows that slower inflammatory cytokine production can reduce your ability to fight off infections for up to 24 hours after getting drunk.
STILL LOOKING FOR THE BRIGHT SIDE
At this point, scientists do not know whether abstinence, reduced drinking, or other measures will help reverse the effects of alcohol on the immune system. Nevertheless, it is important to keep in mind that avoiding drinking helps minimize the burden on your immune system, particularly if you are fighting a viral or bacterial infection. | fwe2-CC-MAIN-2013-20-41357000 |
glob, globfree - generate pathnames matching a pattern
int glob(const char *restrict pattern, int flags,
int(*errfunc)(const char *epath, int eerrno),
glob_t *restrict pglob);
void globfree(glob_t *pglob);
The glob() function is a pathname generator that shall implement the rules defined in XCU Pattern Matching Notation, with optional support for rule 3 in XCU Patterns Used for Filename Expansion.
The structure type glob_t is defined in <glob.h> and includes at least the following members:
Count of paths matched by pattern.
Pointer to a list of matched pathnames.
Slots to reserve at the beginning of gl_pathv.
The argument pattern is a pointer to a pathname pattern to be expanded. The glob() function shall match all accessible pathnames against this pattern and develop a list of all pathnames that match. In order to have access to a pathname, glob() requires search permission on every component of a path except the last, and read permission on each directory of any filename component of pattern that contains any of the following special characters: '*', '?', and '['.
The glob() function shall store the number of matched pathnames into pglob->gl_pathc and a pointer to a list of pointers to pathnames into pglob->gl_pathv. The pathnames shall be in sort order as defined by the current setting of the LC_COLLATE category; see XBD LC_COLLATE. The first pointer after the last pathname shall be a null pointer. If the pattern does not match any pathnames, the returned number of matched paths is set to 0, and the contents of pglob->gl_pathv are implementation-defined.
It is the caller's responsibility to create the structure pointed to by pglob. The glob() function shall allocate other space as needed, including the memory pointed to by gl_pathv. The globfree() function shall free any space associated with pglob from a previous call to glob().
The flags argument is used to control the behavior of glob(). The value of flags is a bitwise-inclusive OR of zero or more of the following constants, which are defined in <glob.h>:
- Append pathnames generated to the ones from a previous call to glob().
- Make use of pglob->gl_offs. If this flag is set, pglob->gl_offs is used to specify how many null pointers to add to the beginning of pglob->gl_pathv. In other words, pglob->gl_pathv shall point to pglob->gl_offs null pointers, followed by pglob->gl_pathc pathname pointers, followed by a null pointer.
- Cause glob() to return when it encounters a directory that it cannot open or read. Ordinarily, glob() continues to find matches.
- Each pathname that is a directory that matches pattern shall have a <slash> appended.
- Supports rule 3 in XCU Patterns Used for Filename Expansion. If pattern does not match any pathname, then glob() shall return a list consisting of only pattern, and the number of matched pathnames is 1.
- Disable backslash escaping.
- Ordinarily, glob() sorts the matching pathnames according to the current setting of the LC_COLLATE category; see XBD LC_COLLATE. When this flag is used, the order of pathnames returned is unspecified.
The GLOB_APPEND flag can be used to append a new set of pathnames to those found in a previous call to glob(). The following rules apply to applications when two or more calls to glob() are made with the same value of pglob and without intervening calls to globfree():
The first such call shall not set GLOB_APPEND. All subsequent calls shall set it.
All the calls shall set GLOB_DOOFFS, or all shall not set it.
After the second call, pglob->gl_pathv points to a list containing the following:
Zero or more null pointers, as specified by GLOB_DOOFFS and pglob->gl_offs.
Pointers to the pathnames that were in the pglob->gl_pathv list before the call, in the same order as before.
Pointers to the new pathnames generated by the second call, in the specified order.
The count returned in pglob->gl_pathc shall be the total number of pathnames from the two calls.
The application can change any of the fields after a call to glob(). If it does, the application shall reset them to the original value before a subsequent call, using the same pglob value, to globfree() or glob() with the GLOB_APPEND flag.
If, during the search, a directory is encountered that cannot be opened or read and errfunc is not a null pointer, glob() calls (*errfunc()) with two arguments:
The epath argument is a pointer to the path that failed.
The eerrno argument is the value of errno from the failure, as set by opendir(), readdir(), or stat(). (Other values may be used to report other errors not explicitly documented for those functions.)
If (*errfunc()) is called and returns non-zero, or if the GLOB_ERR flag is set in flags, glob() shall stop the scan and return GLOB_ABORTED after setting gl_pathc and gl_pathv in pglob to reflect the paths already scanned. If GLOB_ERR is not set and either errfunc is a null pointer or (*errfunc()) returns 0, the error shall be ignored.
The glob() function shall not fail because of large files.
Upon successful completion, glob() shall return 0. The argument pglob->gl_pathc shall return the number of matched pathnames and the argument pglob->gl_pathv shall contain a pointer to a null-terminated list of matched and sorted pathnames. However, if pglob->gl_pathc is 0, the content of pglob->gl_pathv is undefined.
The globfree() function shall not return a value.
If glob() terminates due to an error, it shall return one of the non-zero constants defined in <glob.h>. The arguments pglob->gl_pathc and pglob->gl_pathv are still set as defined above.
The glob() function shall fail and return the corresponding value if:
- The scan was stopped because GLOB_ERR was set or (*errfunc()) returned non-zero.
- The pattern does not match any existing pathname, and GLOB_NOCHECK was not set in flags.
- An attempt to allocate memory failed.
One use of the GLOB_DOOFFS flag is by applications that build an argument list for use with execv(), execve(), or execvp(). Suppose, for example, that an application wants to do the equivalent of:ls -l *.c
but for some reason:system("ls -l *.c")
is not acceptable. The application could obtain approximately the same result using the sequence:globbuf.gl_offs = 2; glob("*.c", GLOB_DOOFFS, NULL, &globbuf); globbuf.gl_pathv = "ls"; globbuf.gl_pathv = "-l"; execvp("ls", &globbuf.gl_pathv);
Using the same example:ls -l *.c *.h
could be approximately simulated using GLOB_APPEND as follows:globbuf.gl_offs = 2; glob("*.c", GLOB_DOOFFS, NULL, &globbuf); glob("*.h", GLOB_DOOFFS|GLOB_APPEND, NULL, &globbuf); ...
This function is not provided for the purpose of enabling utilities to perform pathname expansion on their arguments, as this operation is performed by the shell, and utilities are explicitly not expected to redo this. Instead, it is provided for applications that need to do pathname expansion on strings obtained from other sources, such as a pattern typed by a user or read from a file.
If a utility needs to see if a pathname matches a given pattern, it can use fnmatch().
Note that gl_pathc and gl_pathv have meaning even if glob() fails. This allows glob() to report partial results in the event of an error. However, if gl_pathc is 0, gl_pathv is unspecified even if glob() did not return an error.
The GLOB_NOCHECK option could be used when an application wants to expand a pathname if wildcards are specified, but wants to treat the pattern as just a string otherwise. The sh utility might use this for option-arguments, for example.
The new pathnames generated by a subsequent call with GLOB_APPEND are not sorted together with the previous pathnames. This mirrors the way that the shell handles pathname expansion when multiple expansions are done on a command line.
Applications that need tilde and parameter expansion should use wordexp().
It was claimed that the GLOB_DOOFFS flag is unnecessary because it could be simulated using:new = (char **)malloc((n + pglob->gl_pathc + 1) * sizeof(char *)); (void) memcpy(new+n, pglob->gl_pathv, pglob->gl_pathc * sizeof(char *)); (void) memset(new, 0, n * sizeof(char *)); free(pglob->gl_pathv); pglob->gl_pathv = new;
However, this assumes that the memory pointed to by gl_pathv is a block that was separately created using malloc(). This is not necessarily the case. An application should make no assumptions about how the memory referenced by fields in pglob was allocated. It might have been obtained from malloc() in a large chunk and then carved up within glob(), or it might have been created using a different memory allocator. It is not the intent of the standard developers to specify or imply how the memory used by glob() is managed.
The GLOB_APPEND flag would be used when an application wants to expand several different patterns into a single list.
exec, fdopendir, fnmatch, fstatat, readdir, wordexp
XBD LC_COLLATE, <glob.h>
First released in Issue 4. Derived from the ISO POSIX-2 standard.
Moved from POSIX2 C-language Binding to BASE.
The normative text is updated to avoid use of the term "must" for application requirements.
The restrict keyword is added to the glob() prototype for alignment with the ISO/IEC 9899:1999 standard.
return to top of page | fwe2-CC-MAIN-2013-20-41359000 |
Stakeholder relationships and connections (from figure 1)
Future research priorities of Geography emphasize the discipline's leadership role in the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) in multidisciplinary and integrated research on human and environmental systems and how these systems are interrelated and respond to change
Geography's research priorities also emphasize providing science that is usable to society and creating decision support products applicable to given customer problems. To achieve these goals, we must understand the relationship between our research and our customer, and how to integrate the customer into the research process.
This report details the elements of the research process that help achieve the degree of stakeholder involvement necessary to ensure a successful end-product. It offers suggestions that can help researchers better understand stakeholders and customers and involve them in the research process more effectively, while preserving the integrity of the science. Its aim is to help researchers understand the problems and challenges faced by our customers and communicate the ways in which Geography can help address their problems.
Adopting these guidelines can improve the efficiency of the research process and lead to higher quality output. We will be able to conduct better research because we will have an improved understanding of the research problem and the stakeholders involved.
This report covers a broad range of topics, from identifying and communicating with stakeholders and users, to the use of language, to how to effectively present scientific information to the user. It does not offer a "one size fits all" method. Instead, perhaps only specific sections are suitable for a given project and customers, depending on project scope and needs. This report is based on the objectives of Geography's strategic plan, U. S. Geological Survey's strategic plan, and Department of Interior's strategic plan.
Section 2 of these guidelines describes the purpose of the research process in Geography and the need for better user involvement in the process. Section 3 explains how to conduct a stakeholder analysis. Section 4 explains how to conduct a user-needs assessment.
Download this report as a 35-page PDF file (of2006-1344.pdf; 416 KB)
For questions about the content of this report, contact Caroline Hermans
Download a copy of the latest version of Adobe Reader for free.
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| Western Open-File Reports for 2006 |
| Geography | Science Impact | | fwe2-CC-MAIN-2013-20-41360000 |
Spawning, larval abundance and growth rate of Sardinops sagax off southwestern Australia: influence of an anomalous eastern boundary current
Muhling, B.A., Beckley, L.E., Gaughan, D.J., Jones, C.M., Miskiewicz, A.G. and Hesp, S.A. (2008) Spawning, larval abundance and growth rate of Sardinops sagax off southwestern Australia: influence of an anomalous eastern boundary current. Marine Ecology Progress Series, 364 . pp. 157-167.
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The temporal and spatial distributions of sardine Sardinops sagax eggs and larvae off the oligotrophic southwestern coast of Australia were examined and related to gonadosomatic index, daily growth rates of larvae and regional biological oceanography. Seasonal environmental cycles were established from remotely sensed sea surface temperature and chlorophyll concentration, wind and sea surface height data. Sardine egg and larval distributions were determined from regular transect surveys and annual grid surveys. Sardine eggs and larvae were common across the continental shelf throughout the year between Two Rocks and Cape Naturaliste (∼32 to 34°S), and gonadosomatic index data suggested a distinct winter peak in spawning activity. Surface chlorophyll concentrations were highest during winter, coincident with the seasonal peak in the southward flow of the Leeuwin Current along the continental shelf break. Retention conditions on the mid-outer shelf for pelagic eggs and larvae were therefore poor during this time. Egg and larval concentrations were lower than expected in winter and higher in summer when retention conditions were more favourable. Larval sardine growth rates were unexpectedly high, averaging 0.82 mm d-1. Fisheries for clupeiod species off southwestern Australia are insignificant compared to other eastern boundary current systems. Our data suggest that this may be due to a combination of low primary productivity caused by suppression of large-scale upwelling by the Leeuwin Current and the modest seasonal maximum in primary productivity occurring during the time least favourable for pelagic larval retention.
|Publication Type:||Journal Article|
|Murdoch Affiliation:||School of Biological Sciences and Biotechnology|
School of Environmental Science
|Copyright:||© Inter-Research 2008|
|Item Control Page| | fwe2-CC-MAIN-2013-20-41387000 |
Charles Hall, the father of the energy return on investment (EROI) concept, once told me that our current society would probably not be able to function if the EROI for the entire society slipped below five.
What does that mean? First, a quick review. It takes energy to get energy. EROI is a measurement of how efficient a process, an enterprise or a society is in obtaining energy. EROI is usually expressed in a ratio, say, 20 to 1. That would mean that the process being studied produced 20 units of energy for every one unit expended. As it turns out, that's about what conventional crude oil returns.
Hall estimates that the United States is currently running on an EROI of just under 40 to 1. This looks like a fairly substantial margin of safety over the 5 to 1 that might lead to societal breakdown. But worrisome developments in the oil, natural gas and coal fields may send us rushing toward that figure.
A post earlier this year on The Oil Drum suggests that the EROI for natural gas in North America is dropping like a stone. This is, in part, reflected in the price of natural gas which is up fourfold in this decade. It is also reflected in the number of wells and the number of total feet drilled just to maintain production. We are having to drill faster and deeper just to stay even. The recent uptick in U. S. supplies may represent a small flattening of the EROI decline, but those supplies are the product of furious drilling and huge exploration expenditures.
The tar sands, presumed to be the great energy savior for North America, have long been a low EROI source of oil. Estimates range from 1 to 1 to about 7 to 1. Work by Charles Hall and his students posted on The Oil Drum gives a tentative estimate of 5.2 to 1 based on admittedly incomplete data.
Coal has a very high return when used to generate electricity, around 80 to 1. But evidence now suggests that in the United States at least, not only has the energy content per ton of coal declined by more than 30 percent since 1955, but the total energy content of coal mined in the country is now falling despite rising coal tonnage.
But what about nuclear? Hall and his students once again attempted to calculate the EROI. Others have made claims of 1.86 to 1 to 93 to 1. The very high estimates appear to leave out many steps in the nuclear fuel and construction cycle. Some contend that the EROI of nuclear is favorable enough--perhaps 11 to 1--to argue for expansion of nuclear power. But, if one takes into account all the energy that will be expended over time storing nuclear waste and guarding the waste and the mothballed nuclear plants in the future, the EROI could drop below 1. Essentially, we get the benefit now, and future generations get both the security and energy expenditures.
On its current trajectory, nuclear power may not even maintain its share of world energy production. It would certainly be useful to know what the true EROI of nuclear power is in order to assess its importance to our energy future.
Solar power has promise as shown in this chart compiled by Hall and his students. But, the estimated EROI ranges are so wide that it would be difficult to promise that solar photovoltaic could consistently provide returns above 5 to 1.
This chart provides an estimate of above 70 to 1 for wind power in one location. EROI in this case, of course, depends heavily on whether the wind generators are located in ultra-windy Denmark or not-so-windy Japan. The main problem with wind and solar, however, is that they are intermittent; the energy produced is difficult to store for use during nighttime or low-wind conditions.
Finally, hydroelectric has a very high EROI. While there is still room for some expansion of hydro power in the developing world, most of the good sites have already been taken in North America and Europe.
And, this brings us to the idea of the net energy cliff. If our energy transition away from fossil fuels does not result in their replacement by high EROI sources of energy with the necessary versatility and storage characteristics, or if such replacements are possible, but delayed too long, then we may be facing a net energy cliff.
It may seem that the difference between an EROI of 40 to 1 and one of, say, 30 to 1 would be comparable to a move from 20 to 1 to 10 to 1. But the mathematics say otherwise. In a society that has an EROI of 40 (which is approximately what the United States is thought to have) about 2.5 percent of the economy is devoted to gathering energy for the other 97.5 percent. If an economy has an EROI of 30 to 1, then the portion of the economy involved in gathering energy rises to about 3.3 percent. This is a significant jump, but probably manageable. However, an EROI that drops from 20 to 1 to 10 to 1 results in the doubling of the part of the economy devoted to securing energy from 5 percent to 10 percent. A further drop to an EROI of 5 to 1, puts 20 percent of the economy within the general classification of energy gathering. This is the net energy cliff.
A drop to an EROI of 5 in today's American economy would mean that the energy sector of society would have to grow eightfold. If the drop came quickly, it would be very difficult to adapt. If the EROI were to drop to, say, 3, this would imply that potentially every third person would be involved in gathering energy in some fashion. Such a society would have little resemblence to the one we now inhabit.
The net energy cliff shows us how important EROI is when considering energy alternatives. Even very large resources such as the tar sands and oil shale become problematic when one considers their EROI.
There appear to be two ways forward then. One is to hope for breakthroughs which increase the energy returns of alternative energy sources. A second is to rework our infrastructure and our way of living so that our society can better withstand a significant overall decline in EROI should it develop. | fwe2-CC-MAIN-2013-20-41388000 |
Bringing a new baby home is one of the most exciting times for parents and grandparents. 9 months of planning and anticipation finally pays off when the new addition arrives safe and sound. However, there may be one person who isn't quite sure what all the fuss is about and what having a new child in the family is going to mean for them. The sibling.
A new brother or sister may be thrilling to most of the family members, but a new baby who is getting all the attention can seem overwhelming to the first child, especially for very young siblings. Their very sense of security can feel threatened, leaving them feeling angry and acting out. So, before the little bundle of joy arrives, it's a good idea to prepare the older child for big changes ahead.
You can do that as early as when mom starts showing. Introduce the idea that mommy is pregnant. Being pregnant means that mom & dad are going to have another child, and that means a little brother or sister is going to be part of the family.
One good tip is to have a calendar on hand and circle the date when the baby is due. Have the older child start marking the days as they go by.
If you have a very young child you can say the baby will arrive in the summer, when the weather gets hot.Or in the fall, when all the leaves start to fall. Give them something they can identify with if they are too young to understand dates.
Once that's established, ask them if they have any questions about having a little brother or sister. Children may be so surprised that they don't have anything to ask right away. But as time goes on, they will have plenty of questions. Give answers that are age appropriate in a language that is easy to understand. Keep your answers simple but inclusive of how a new baby may affect their life. An example might be the baby will cry and may wake you up at night for a while. That's normal behavior for a new baby. We'll all be tired for a little while, but it will get better.
You can also bring out pictures or videos of when they were babies. Children love to hear stories about when they were little. Explain how much you loved them then and now. This little exercise in closeness can also help them understand the importance of babies and what a baby can bring to the family.
As the due date gets closer, try and keep everything as routine as possible. Avoid big transitions such as potty training, changing to a big girl or boy bed, getting rid of the pacifier or binky or anything that may separate the older sibling from the family. If the sibling must undergo some of these changes, start as early as possible so that they don't make a negative association between these changes and the baby.
One unavoidable change that might occur is that mom will be away for a few days when the baby is born. Prepare your child for your absence during the birth of the new baby (how long you will be gone, where your child will stay). If your child is going to stay with someone else for a few days, do a couple of practice stay-overs so they will see that you will come back and bring them home.
For toddlers, you might also consider role-playing with dolls. Let them use the doll to ask questions or talk about their fears or excitement about the baby.
Once the baby is born allow the sibling to come to the hospital and see the baby and that mom is ok. A cute tip is to have a gift from the new baby for the sibling.
Once baby is home, suppress any negative comparisons such as you cried a lot more, or he or she is a lot calmer than you were.
Other things to keep in mind are:
- Don't be alarmed if siblings don't express an interest in the new baby. Sibling relationships have a lifetime to develop.
- Accept that some regression may occur; this is normal. Baby your big-boy/girl for a while, if that's what he/she seems to need.
- Remind visitors to pay attention to your older kids and monitor gift-giving. It can be upsetting for sibling to see all of the presents that the newborn receives, especially when people don''t bring something for them.
- Try not to blame the baby for your new limitations (Mommy can't play with you now because I have to feed the baby or Mommy needs to change the baby, so you need to read to yourself). Blaming new babies for decreased time spent with you can breed sibling resentment. Instead, involve siblings in child-care as helpers.
- Create opportunities for older siblings to be participants and not competitors (e.g., getting a diaper ready, reading the baby a story, pushing the carriage).
- Remind siblings of the things they can do because they are older (e.g., eating food, playing with toys, going to the playground).
- Remember to give siblings private time with you and reinforce the idea that many of the things they are able to help out with (e.g., errand running, meal preparation, etc.), are because of their advanced abilities.
While you are busy with a new baby, developmental changes are still going on with your older child. Kids that are two or under may have difficulty with a new addition because they still have strong needs as well. Stress in the family can make the sibling's adjustment more difficult. So remember to stay calm when you're with the children.
One more thing to be aware of is how rough a sibling may be with a new baby. They really don't understand how delicate the baby is and have to learn what kind of playing or interaction is too rough. They may also hug a little to hard. You'll have to guide them in the correct gentle behaviors. Focus on your older child's positive behaviors towards the new baby such as I like how you gently kiss your little brother or sister.
Having a new baby in the family is difficult, but don't despair. The first few months will be an adjustment for everyone. But before you know it, the new baby will feel like he or she has always been a part of the family.
Source: Bronwyn Charlton, PhD, http://www.everydayhealth.com/kids-health/prepping-your-child-for-a-new-sibling.aspx | fwe2-CC-MAIN-2013-20-41391000 |
The coalition is watering down a commitment to tough new environmental emissions standards, raising the possibility of dirty coal-fired power stations such as Kingsnorth going ahead.To understand why the Coalition is appearing to slow down, one needs to understand the policy context of decisions about energy policy. A new report out by Arthur D. Little, a consultancy, clearly and concisely spells out the practical realities facing UK policy makers. The issue of decarbonization is not so much about rhetoric and good intentions, but about the facts on the ground related to technology, costs and implementation.
Green groups are aghast that a flagship policy called for in opposition by both Lib Dems and Tories, and which they last year tried to force on the Labour government, will now not be implemented in the coalition's first energy bill to be published this year.
Their criticism of the government's commitment to green issues follows news last week that nature reserves could be sold off as countryside protection measures also bear the brunt of budget cuts in the Department for Environment.
Introducing a so-called "environmental performance standard" (EPS) for power companies would have restricted greenhouse gas emissions from coal and gas plants and encouraged companies wishing to build to use more efficient technology.
David Cameron, George Osborne and Nick Clegg when in opposition; their opposition to Kingsnorth became something of a cause célèbre – and even features in the coalition agreement – but was opposed by energy companies and Tory backbenchers.
The chief executive at one coal-plant operating company warned that the UK's renewable energy technology – which would be used to help new plants meet the target – was too undeveloped to make the EPS feasible.
Now government sources confirm they will not be bringing forward legislation in the autumn and will instead spend the summer working on "the larger picture". They will open a consultation on the idea in the autumn with the results being presented to parliament as a white paper in the new year.
The report first explains the nature of the challenge:
The [UK Low Carbon Transition] Plan set out how the UK would reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 34% below 1990 levels by 2020. This is a step along the path to the much more ambitious target of an 80% reduction in greenhouse gas emissions across the entire economy by 2050. Central to the plan is increasing the proportion of electricity from renewable sources to around 30% by 2020, up from the current level of 6.2% in the first quarter of 2010.The report then explains the practical realities shaping efforts to reach the emissions reduction targets set forth in UK law:
These targets are to be met through a plethora of initiatives and incentives ranging from the Renewables Obligation and feed-in tariffs, respectively aimed at bringing large- and small-scale renewable generation onto the system, through to increasing the share of renewable fuels in the transport sector to over 5% from 2013. There is also a plan to install smart meters in all 26 million UK homes by 2020, which, together with feed-in tariffs, are expected inter alia to speed-up the installation of small-scale heat and power generation in households, and to facilitate the development of smart grids to allow better system management and enable wider distributed generation growth.
Consumers are also expected to make large greenhouse gas reductions by both significant changes in behaviour, enabled by smart meters, and further energy efficiency improvements within the home. At the same time, the Government apparently favours the widespread adoption of electric vehicles, which will add significantly to the amount of power generation capacity required, and for which significant investment in a battery charging infrastructure will be needed.
All of these measures, combined with reductions from many other initiatives in a range of sectors, are designed to help reach the Government’s ambitious targets. But governments in general tend to over-estimate the level of take-up of different policy measures. The growth in large-scale renewable generation, for example, has not been anywhere near as fast as successive government estimates have predicted, and has focused heavily on one technology, namely wind generation. This slow take-up is likely to continue, at least in the near term, and each year that passes without significant construction makes it more and more difficult to reach the 2020 targets. Recent estimates are that 7,000 offshore turbines will need to be constructed between now and 2020, nearly two per day every day of this decade. Even investors in this activity doubt that such a level of activity is achievable.The report explains that costs of all of these proposed actions are high and may not even deliver the promised emissions reductions. The report argues that new wind power costs 6 times as much as equivalent gas-fired energy (or as much as 18 times more, depending on the methods used, capital costs only). The report has this bottom line:
The rollout of smart meters will also be a Herculean task, with over 2.5 million meters having to be installed every year, from a near standing start, by 2020 at the latest. There is currently not enough capacity to install this number of meters, nor is it clear exactly what these meters will look like because there is, as yet, no agreed standard. It is also worth noting that there are different degrees of “smartness” in meters. They can range from meters that display real-time energy usage, to meters that allow two-way communication, enabling price signals to be sent to consumers or remote signalling of appliances to turn off during periods of high demand and high prices. It is not clear which level of “smartness” will be installed, although Ofgem proposes two-way communication as a minimum.
Again, there is an implicit assumption by policy makers that a large shift in consumer behaviour will occur once smart meters are installed e.g. responding to price signals and turning off appliances at times of high demand. However, there is little evidence that this will occur to anywhere near the expected degree: pilot studies may not reflect the real world. If parallels can be drawn, they would be with consumer switching behaviour in the face of energy market liberalisation. The UK has one of the highest rates of consumer energy switching, yet in a July 2008 survey Ofgem found that 44% of electricity and 40% of gas customers had never switched supplier, and that a further 44% of electricity and 31% of gas consumers had only switched once. This is despite high-profile advertising campaigns by retailers setting out how much money consumers could save, and very simple processes for switching, facilitated by internet sites.
What is really needed now will be a bitter pill for many to swallow: a slow-down in the drive for low carbon solutions.A slow-down in UK decarbonization policy with respect to the targets of the 2008 Climate Change Act is inevitable. I do the math in this paper. In that paper, written in early 2009, soon after the Act was passed as law, I wrote that the UK would need to achieve the 2006 carbon efficiency of France by no later than 2015 if it was going to be on track to meeting its short-term emissions reduction target (France was at 0.30 in 2006, compare with implied decarbonization of the UK economy shown in the figure from the paper below). I concluded that:
The failure of the UK Climate Change Act is yet to be broadly recognized, but when it is, it will provide an opportunity to recast carbon policies in a more effective manner. | fwe2-CC-MAIN-2013-20-41393000 |
The boundary between Baetica and Noricum region on Lutetia
This image shows a portion of the surface of the main-belt asteroid (21) Lutetia. The image was obtained with the OSIRIS camera on ESA's Rosetta spacecraft as it flew past the asteroid on 10 July 2010.
By tracing craters and other features on Lutetia's surface, scientists have put together a geological map for the asteroid. Their studies have shown that Lutetia's surface comprises regions spanning a wide range of ages: each of them reveals a chapter in the long and tumultuous history of this asteroid.
The image shows the boundary between two of the regions that have been identified on the asteroid's surface in terms of their geological history. In particular, the image shows the abrupt transition between the young and smooth Baetica region, in the upper part of the image, and the much older and heavily cratered Noricum region, in the lower part of the image. | fwe2-CC-MAIN-2013-20-41395000 |
Studying PHP's (5.3.1 and below) LCG (linear congruential generator, a pseudorandom number generator), I discovered that there are weaknesses that reduce the complexity of determining the sequence of pseudorandom numbers. What this means is that PHP is severely deficient in producing random session IDs or random numbers, leading to the possibility of stealing sessions or other sensitive information.
The initial seed can be reduced from 64-bits to 35-bits, and with PHP code execution, can be reduced further down to just under 20-bits, which takes only seconds to recreate the initial seed. You can test with sources available below.
Mad hax0r pr0pz to Arshan "DHS-most-wanted" Dabirsiaghi (bless you) and Amit "smartypants" Klein for pointing me in the right direction with the LCG. Other tools to work out the LCG in forward and reverse, as well as determine session IDs, found below.
To test breaking the seed, run the following (after compiling s1s2.c)
time ./s1s2 11484 0.82548251995711
Can you guess my next lcg_value based off the above? (hint: it's 0.86290409858717).
Test by running:
time ./lcg-state-forward [s1] [s2] 100
Your session_id is mfbu1v8qjnp003ob1pt6bbkft4 (or just look at your cookie)
session_start(); echo "Hi $_SERVER[REMOTE_ADDR]! The time is " . time() . "<p>"; echo "To test breaking the seed, run the following (after compiling <a href='s1s2.c'>s1s2.c</a>)<br>"; echo "<code>time <a href='s1s2.c'>./s1s2</a> " . getmypid() . " " . lcg_value() . "</code><p>"; echo "Can you guess my next lcg_value based off the above? (hint: it's " . lcg_value() . ").<br>"; echo "Test by running: <code>time <a href='lcg-state-forward.c'>./lcg-state-forward</a> [s1] [s2] 100</code><p>"; echo "Your <a href='http://www.test.com/search?q=" . session_id() . "'>session_id</a> is " . session_id() . " (or just look at your cookie)"; | fwe2-CC-MAIN-2013-20-41404000 |
(l-r) ACES’s Team Behaviorist Vince Rose, UCLA, PhD research student Marisa Tellez and Holy Cross manager Vernon Wilson.
Holy Cross Croc Saved
Submitted by Marine Biologist Cherie Chenot-Rose, ACES/American Crocodile Education Sanctuary
North of the cut on Ambergris Island, a five foot American Crocodile decided to take up residence in a shallow canal on the property of the managers of Holy Cross Anglican School, Francis and Vernon Wilson. Worried that the bold reptile would make a beloved pet its prey, the Wilson’s decided it needed to be removed. With the word out that a nuisance crocodile needed to be relocated, a few locals stopped by and offered to ‘off’ the cute little bugger for a price. Not wishing to harm the juvenile croc, the Wilson’s were put in contact with ACES / American Crocodile Education Sanctuary in Punta Gorda by wildlife advocate, Colette Kase. Being ACES is a non‐profit organization with limited funding, the Wilson’s graciously put the ACES’s Team up for the night, and the Holy Cross Anglican School donated funds to cover the costs of the crocodile’s relocation.
American Crocodiles are not only protected under the Belize Wildlife Protection Act (Chapter 220); but are also currently considered ‘Vulnerable’ by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) and on a global level are facing a high risk of extinction in the wild.
ACES’s Team, Behaviorist Vince Rose, Biologist Cherie Chenot‐Rose and UCLA, PhD research student Marisa Tellez, arrived on the scene Tuesday, August 4th , at lunchtime and was fed a yummy, complimentary meal by the Holy Cross School. Setting up traps in the hot day’s sun, the team caught the croc by 5:00 pm in a snare type trap; and then, collected scientific data pertinent to the conservation of Crocodilians in Belize.
The captured croc was a female and name Alice E. after Francis’s mother. In the species Crocodylus acutus, American Crocodiles, the female is the more aggressive. This particular croc had taken up residence in the Wilson’s canal because the contained water had a lower salinity than the surrounding canals.With fresher water to drink and ample food sources, from not only the birds and fish but from the nearby workers, the croc was protecting her little water hole with all she had. This was truly one of the feistiest little crocs I have ever encountered. And, even though this croc was successfully relocated to ACES in Punta Gorda where she will be used in educational lectures on how to safely co‐exist with crocs, another croc will most likely move into her now vacant water hole.
It is important to understand that removing all the problematic crocs is not an answer to Ambergris’s ever growing problem of human‐croc conflicts. The answer to coexisting with these modern day dinosaurs is to recognize it is us, humans, who are the intruder and we need them more than they need us. The number one thing everyone can do to decrease the number of problem crocodiles is never discard food waste, especially chicken and fish scraps, into the waters. Everyone enjoys a free meal and will choose it over paying or expending extra energy.
Feeding crocodiles directly or indirectly by this manner is the number one cause of croc attacks and is illegal in Belize.
If you have small pets or children and you are living on a canal or lagoon front, a sea wall will assure protection from crocodiles coming into your yard. At times of mating and when dry seasons are extra dry, crocs will seek waterholes with a lower salinity than the sea. Even though American Crocs are a saltwater species and can excrete salt through a specialized gland on their tongue and through their feces, high continual concentrations of salt can be stressful on them, especially the young and nesting females. Normally, these crocs will drink fresh water from the thin layer of rainwater that being less dense lays on the surface of the saltier sea. This year, with as dry as it has been, this layer at times does not exist and the crocs will seek out pools, puddles and contained water areas for their lower salinity.
ACES would like to thank Francis and Vernon for their hospitality and the Holy Cross Anglican School for funding the capture. We praise their decision in taking the extra mile to save this highly threatened apex predator. So many people do not seem to understand the importance of crocodiles in keeping Belize’s ecosystems in balance. Not only do they feed upon small mammals and rodents that carry disease, such as raccoons, but they keep fish populations in balance and healthy as well. By reducing the numbers of apex predators, such as crocs, in an area, populations of their prey explode. This in turn leads to spread of disease and famines as prey consume all of the available food sources. In turn, the prey will eventually die off in mass numbers and habitats that once flourished with life will become vast wastelands. With only an estimated 10 to 20 thousand American crocodiles left world‐wide, ACES is making every effort to help preserve these magnificent reptiles for Belize’s future generations and to hopefully save them from extinction.
For more information about ACES please visit our website at www.americancrocodilesanctuary.org. | fwe2-CC-MAIN-2013-20-41405000 |
In the Advanced Learning work session there was a slide that showed the growth of AP and IB in the District. It is true that many more students are taking AP classes than ever before. But it doesn't necessarily mean what you think it means.
Take, for example, Roosevelt High School. At Roosevelt about half of the 10th grade students used to take AP European History. This is typically the first AP available to students, one of the few open to 10th grade students on the typical pathway. The class is challenging for 10th grade students and the fact that about half of the students took it is a testament to Roosevelt's academic strength. The other half of the students took a history class similar to the one that students all across district and the state take in the 10th grade.
Some folks at Roosevelt didn't like that. They didn't like the fact that about half of the students were self-selecting to take on the challenge and rigor of AP European History. Even more, they didn't like the fact that about half of the students were NOT self-selecting the class, the challenge, or the rigor. So they came up with a solution. Now every 10th grader at Roosevelt has to take AP Human Geography. Every one of them, both those who would have taken the regular history class and those who would have taken AP European History.
AP Human Geography, although it is also an AP class, is not comparable to AP European History in rigor. It is intended to be a one semester class instead of a two semester class. At Roosevelt, it is stretched across two semesters. Moreover, the class is not taught as a college level class (as AP classes typically are), but with material with a ceiling at a 10th grade reading level. So, yes, more students are taking an AP class, but you could not say that students were taking more rigorous classes. Half of them maybe, half of them definitely not.
You might wonder why the school didn't simply substitute AP Human Geography for the old history class so that half of the students would still take the more rigorous AP European History and half would take the AP Human Geography. The answer is obvious. While that would have addressed the academic problem - lack of rigor for students in the old history class - it would not address the political problem of some students - primarily White and Asian middle class students - self-selecting more rigor while other students - disproportionately Black and Latino and FRE students - self-selecting less rigor. The politics trumped the academics.
This pattern is now repeating itself in other schools. Where high performing students self-selected challenge that option is being taken away from them and they are placed, along with every other student, in a less challenging class with a label that implies more challenge than the class represents. | fwe2-CC-MAIN-2013-20-41407000 |
Water contamination – special education edition: Fracking
To view hydraulic fracturing infograghics click on toggles.
Wikipedia® is a registered trademark of the Wikimedia Foundation, Inc., a non-profit organization.
Hydraulic fracturing is the propagation of fractures in a rock layer by a pressurized fluid. Some hydraulic fractures form naturally certain veins or dikes are examples—and can create conduits along which gas and petroleum from source rocks may migrate to reservoir rocks. Induced hydraulic fracturing or hydrofracturing, commonly known as fracing, fraccing, or fracking, is a technique used to release petroleum, natural gas (including shale gas, tight gas, and coal seam gas), or other substances for extraction. This type of fracturing creates fractures from a wellbore drilled into reservoir rock formations.
The first use of hydraulic fracturing was in 1947. However, it was only in 1998 that modern fracturing technology, referred to as horizontal slickwater fracturing, made possible the economical extraction of shale gas; this new technology was first used in the Barnett Shale in Texas. The energy from the injection of a highly pressurized hydraulic fracturing fluid creates new channels in the rock, which can increase the extraction rates and ultimate recovery of hydrocarbons.
Proponents of hydraulic fracturing point to the economic benefits from vast amounts of formerly inaccessible hydrocarbons the process can extract. Opponents point to potential environmental impacts, including contamination of ground water, risks to air quality, the migration of gases and hydraulic fracturing chemicals to the surface, surface contamination from spills and flowback and the health effects of these. For these reasons hydraulic fracturing has come under scrutiny internationally, with some countries suspending or banning it.
Fracturing as a method to stimulate shallow, hard rock oil wells dates back to the 1860s. It was applied by oil producers in the US states of Pennsylvania, New York, Kentucky, and West Virginia by using liquid and later also solidified nitroglycerin. Later, the same method was applied to water and gas wells. The idea to use acid as a nonexplosive fluid for well stimulation was introduced in the 1930s. Due to acid etching, fractures would not close completely and therefore productivity was enhanced. The same phenomenon was discovered with water injection and squeeze cementing operations.
The relationship between well performance and treatment pressures was studied by Floyd Farris of Stanolind Oil and Gas Corporation. This study became a basis of the first hydraulic fracturing experiment, which was conducted in 1947 at the Hugoton gas field in Grant County of southwestern Kansas by Stanolind. For the well treatment 1,000 US gallons (3,800 l; 830 imp gal) of gelled gasoline and sand from the Arkansas River was injected into the gas-producing limestone formation at 2,400 feet (730 m).
The experiment was not very successful as deliverability of the well did not change appreciably. The process was further described by J.B. Clark of Stanolind in his paper published in 1948. A patent on this process was issued in 1949 and an exclusive license was granted to the Halliburton Oil Well Cementing Company. On March 17, 1949, Halliburton performed the first two commercial hydraulic fracturing treatments in Stephens County, Oklahoma, and Archer County, Texas. Since then, hydraulic fracturing has been used to stimulate approximately a million oil and gas wells.
In the Soviet Union, the first hydraulic proppant fracturing was carried out in 1952. In Western Europe in 1977–1985, hydraulic fracturing was conducted at Rotliegend and Carboniferous gas-bearing sandstones in Germany, Netherlands onshore and offshore gas fields, and the United Kingdoms sector of the North Sea. Other countries in Europe and Northern Africa included Norway, the Soviet Union, Poland, Czechoslovakia, Yugoslavia, Hungary, Austria, France, Italy, Bulgaria, Romania, Turkey, Tunisia, and Algeria.
Due to shale’s high porosity and low permeability, technology research, development and demonstration were necessary before hydraulic fracturing could be commercially applied to shale gas deposits. In the 1970s the United States government initiated the Eastern Gas Shales Project, a set of dozens of public-private hydraulic fracturing pilot demonstration projects. During the same period, the Gas Research Institute, a gas industry research consortium, received approval for research and funding from the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission.
In 1977, the Department of Energy pioneered massive hydraulic fracturing in tight sandstone formations. In 1997, based on earlier techniques used by Union Pacific Resources, now part of Anadarko Petroleum Corporation, Mitchell Energy, now part of Devon Energy, developed the hydraulic fracturing technique known as “slickwater fracturing” which involves adding chemicals to water to increase the fluid flow, that made the shale gas extraction economical.
Method A hydraulic fracture is formed by pumping the fracturing fluid into the wellbore at a rate sufficient to increase pressure downhole to exceed that of the fracture gradient (pressure gradient) of the rock. The fracture gradient is defined as the pressure increase per unit of the depth due to its density and it is usually measured in pounds per square inch per foot or bars per meter. The rock cracks and the fracture fluid continues further into the rock, extending the crack still further, and so on.
Operators typically try to maintain “fracture width”, or slow its decline, following treatment by introducing into the injected fluid a proppant – a material such as grains of sand, ceramic, or other particulates, that prevent the fractures from closing when the injection is stopped and the pressure of the fluid is reduced. Consideration of proppant strengths and prevention of proppant failure becomes more important at greater depths where pressure and stresses on fractures are higher. The propped fracture is permeable enough to allow the flow of formation fluids to the well. Formation fluids include gas, oil, salt water, fresh water and fluids introduced to the formation during completion of the well during fracturing.
During the process fracturing fluid leakoff, loss of fracturing fluid from the fracture channel into the surrounding permeable rock occurs. If not controlled properly, it can exceed 70% of the injected volume. This may result in formation matrix damage, adverse formation fluid interactions, or altered fracture geometry and thereby decreased production efficiency.
The location of one or more fractures along the length of the borehole is strictly controlled by various methods that create or seal off holes in the side of the wellbore. Typically, hydraulic fracturing is performed in cased wellbores and the zones to be fractured are accessed by perforating the casing at those locations.
Hydraulic-fracturing equipment used in oil and natural gas fields usually consists of a slurry blender, one or more high-pressure, high-volume fracturing pumps (typically powerful triplex or quintuplex pumps) and a monitoring unit. Associated equipment includes fracturing tanks, one or more units for storage and handling of proppant, high-pressure treating iron, a chemical additive unit (used to accurately monitor chemical addition), low-pressure flexible hoses, and many gauges and meters for flow rate, fluid density, and treating pressure. Fracturing equipment operates over a range of pressures and injection rates, and can reach up to 100 megapascals (15,000 psi) and 265 litres per second (9.4 cu ft/s) (100 barrels per minute).
Proppants and fracking fluids and List of additives for hydraulic fracturing
High-pressure fracture fluid is injected into the wellbore, with the pressure above the fracture gradient of the rock. The two main purposes of fracturing fluid is to extend fractures and to carry proppant into the formation, the purpose of which is to stay there without damaging the formation or production of the well. Two methods of transporting the proppant in the fluid are used – high-rate and high-viscosity. High-viscosity fracturing tends to cause large dominant fractures, while high-rate (slickwater) fracturing causes small spread-out micro-fractures.
This fracture fluid contains water-soluble gelling agents (such as guar gum) which increase viscosity and efficiently deliver the proppant into the formation.
The fluid injected into the rock is typically a slurry of water, proppants, and chemical additives. Additionally, gels, foams, and compressed gases, including nitrogen, carbon dioxide and air can be injected. Typically, of the fracturing fluid 90% is water and 9.5% is sand with the chemical additives accounting to about 0.5%.
A proppant is a material that will keep an induced hydraulic fracture open, during or following a fracturing treatment, and can be gel, foam, or slickwater-based. Fluids make tradeoffs in such material properties as viscosity, where more viscous fluids can carry more concentrated proppant; the energy or pressure demands to maintain a certain flux pump rate (flow velocity) that will conduct the proppant appropriately; pH, various rheological factors, among others. Types of proppant include silica sand, resin-coated sand, and man-made ceramics.
These vary depending on the type of permeability or grain strength needed. The most commonly used proppant is silica sand, though proppants of uniform size and shape, such as a ceramic proppant, is believed to be more effective. Due to a higher porosity within the fracture, a greater amount of oil and natural gas is liberated.
The fracturing fluid varies in composition depending on the type of fracturing used, the conditions of the specific well being fractured, and the water characteristics. A typical fracture treatment uses between 3 and 12 additive chemicals. Although there may be unconventional fracturing fluids, the typical used chemical additives are:
•Acids—hydrochloric acid (usually 28%-5%), or acetic acid is used in the pre-fracturing stage for cleaning the perforations and initiating fissure in the near-wellbore rock.
•Sodium chloride (salt)—delays breakdown of the gel polymer chains.
•Polyacrylamide and other friction reducers—minimizes the friction between fluid and pipe, thus allowing the pumps to pump at a higher rate without having greater pressure on the surface. Polyacrylamide are good suspension agents ensuring the proppant does not fall out.
• Ethylene glycol—prevents formation of scale deposits in the pipe.
•Borate salts—used for maintaining fluid viscosity during the temperature increase.
•Sodium and potassium carbonates—used for maintaining effectiveness of crosslinkers.
•Glutaraldehyde—used as disinfectant of the water (bacteria elimination).
•Guar gum and other water-soluble gelling agents—increases viscosity of the fracturing fluid to deliver more efficiently the proppant into the formation.
•Citric acid—used for corrosion prevention.
•Isopropanol—increases the viscosity of the fracture fluid.
The most common chemical used for hydraulic fracturing in the United States in 2005–2009 was methanol, while some other most widely used chemicals were isopropyl alcohol, 2-butoxyethanol, and ethylene glycol.
Typical fluid types.
• Conventional linear gels. These gels are cellulose derivatives (carboxymethyl cellulose, hydroxyethyl cellulose, carboxymethyl hydroxyethyl cellulose, hydroxypropyl cellulose, methyl hydroxyl ethyl cellulose), guar or its derivatives (hydroxypropyl guar, carboxymethyl hydroxypropyl guar) based, with other chemicals providing the necessary chemistry for the desired results.
•Borate-crosslinked fluids. These are guar-based fluids cross-linked with boron ions (from aqueous borax/boric acid solution). These gels have higher viscosity at pH 9 onwards and are used to carry proppants. After the fracturing job the pH is reduced to 3–4 so that the cross-links are broken and the gel is less viscous and can be pumped out.
•Organometallic-crosslinked fluids zirconium, chromium, antimony, titanium salts are known to crosslink the guar based gels. The crosslinking mechanism is not reversible. So once the proppant is pumped down along with the cross-linked gel, the fracturing part is done. The gels are broken down with appropriate breakers.
•Aluminium phosphate-ester oil gels. Aluminium phosphate and ester oils are slurried to form cross-linked gel. These are one of the first known gelling systems.
For slickwater it is common to include sweeps or a reduction in the proppant concentration temporarily to ensure the well is not overwhelmed with proppant causing a screen-off. As the fracturing process proceeds, viscosity reducing agents such as oxidizers and enzyme breakers are sometimes then added to the fracturing fluid to deactivate the gelling agents and encourage flowback. The oxidizer reacts with the gel to break it down, reducing the fluid’s viscosity and ensuring that no proppant is pulled from the formation.
An enzyme acts as a catalyst for the breaking down of the gel. Sometimes pH modifiers are used to break down the crosslink at the end of a hydraulic fracturing job, since many require a pH buffer system to stay viscous. At the end of the job the well is commonly flushed with water (sometimes blended with a friction reducing chemical) under pressure.
Injected fluid is to some degree recovered and is managed by several methods, such as underground injection control, treatment and discharge, recycling, or temporary storage in pits or containers while new technology is being continually being developed and improved to better handle waste water and improve re-usability.
Click Here For Lake Peigneur Part One: Video – Lake Peigneur could be worse than Assumption sinkhole
Click Here For Lake Peigneur Part Two: Largest man-made vortex – Lake Peigneur update – special report.
Click Here For Grand Bayou sinkhole begins Part One: Bayou Corne – Grand Bayou sinkhole begins – can it end?
Click Here For Grand Bayou sinkhole begins Part Two: 06/28/13–05/16/13–facts about Grand Bayou sink hole.
WHOLE WORLD Water seeks to prove that economic, social, and environmental progress are not mutually exclusive. Developed to end the global water and sanitation crisis, WHOLE WORLD Water works to engage the hospitality and tourism industry to filter, bottle, and sell its own water, and contribute 10% of the proceeds to the WHOLE WORLD Water Fund. 100% of the proceeds will go directly to clean and safe water initiatives worldwide.
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Seasonal Recharge Components in an Urban/Agricultural Mountain Front Aquifer System Using Noble Gas Thermometry
Thirteen noble gas samples were collected from eleven wells and two mountain springs in the Treasure Valley, Idaho, USA to derive recharge temperatures using noble gas thermometry. One common assumption with noble gas thermometry is that recharge temperatures are roughly equal to the mean annual surface temperature. When water table depths are shallow or variable, or infiltration is seasonal recharge temperatures may be significantly different from the mean annual surface temperature. Water table depths throughout the study area were used to estimate recharge source temperatures using an infiltration-weighted recharge temperature model which takes into account a time-variable water table. This model was applied to six different seasonally-dependent recharge scenarios. The modeled recharge temperatures for all scenarios showed a strong dependence of recharge temperature on mean annual depth to water. Temperature results from the different recharge scenarios ranged from near the mean annual surface temperature to as much as 6 °C warmer. This compared well to noble gas derived recharge temperatures from the valley wells which ranged from 5 °C below to 7.4 °C above the mean annual surface temperature of the valley. Cooler temperatures suggest an influence of recharge through the adjacent mountain block while warmer temperatures suggest an influence from summer irrigation.
Thoma, Michael J.; McNamara, James P.; and Benner, Shawn G.. (2011). "Seasonal Recharge Components in an Urban/Agricultural Mountain Front Aquifer System Using Noble Gas Thermometry". Journal of Hydrology, 409(1-2), 118-127. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jhydrol.2011.08.003 | fwe2-CC-MAIN-2013-20-41411000 |
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School Lunch at Sixty: Promoting Healthy Eating Habits
ALEXANDRIA, Va. (June 5, 2006) – This year marks the sixtieth anniversary of the National School Lunch Program and the School Nutrition Association. Both began in 1946 and share the goal of ensuring that America’s school children receive healthy school meals.
When the National School Lunch Act was signed into law by president Harry Truman on June 4, 1946, Truman remarked, "no nation is any healthier than its children." In a later speech on the same subject, Truman said "The well nourished school child is a better student. He is healthier and more alert. He is developing good food habits that will benefit him for the rest of his life. In short, he is a better asset for his country in every way." That same year the National School Cafeteria Association and the Conference of Food Service Directors merged to become the School Food Service Association. In 2004 the Association changed its name to the School Nutrition Association.
Sixty years later the 55,000 members of the School Nutrition Association remain committed to President Truman’s promise to our nation’s children. Every school day over 37 million school breakfasts and lunches are served to America’s school children. Provided through the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) National School Lunch Program and School Breakfast Program, these nutritious, balanced meals are provided in age-appropriate serving sizes.
Several recent studies, including those of the U.S. General Accounting Office and Dr. Alice Jo Rainville of Eastern Michigan University, found that the National School Lunch Program (NSLP) provides children with twice the servings of fruits and vegetables and greater amounts of grains and dairy than children who eat lunch brought from home or who leave school to eat lunch. Dr. Rainville’s study concluded that students who eat school lunches consume less calories from fat and twice as many servings of fruits and vegetables than students who eat a bag lunch.
In a letter to Members of Congress marking the anniversary of the National School Lunch Act, SNA President Ruth Jonen, SFNS wrote, “When President Truman signed the NSLP into law on June 4, 1946, it was to address the under nutrition of children. Now, the program is on the front lines in the fight against obesity. Today’s school lunches meet federal nutrition requirements that limit calories from fat and saturated fat, while providing the fruits, vegetables, dairy, protein and grains that children need to achieve and maintain a healthy weight.”
The nutritious school meals of 2006 include entrée salads, shaker salads and salad bars that may feature locally grown produce; yogurt parfaits and multigrain rolls; reduced fat versions of old favorites; healthy cooking techniques like baking; cafeteria and classroom nutrition education; and much more. This year SNA members will continue to play leadership roles in the development of local school wellness policies that promote nutritious foods and beverages on the entire school campus, not just in the lunchroom. While school nutrition professionals face both new challenges like over-nutrition and ones similar to those of 1946, like under-nutrition, they remain passionate and dedicated to advancing good nutrition for all children.
The School Nutrition Association (formerly ASFSA) is a national, non-profit professional organization representing more than 55,000 members who provide high-quality, low-cost meals to students across the country. The Association and its members are dedicated to feeding children safe and nutritious meals. Founded in 1946, SNA is the only association devoted exclusively to protecting and enhancing children’s health and well being through school meals and sound nutrition education.
© 2000 - 2013 School Nutrition Association, All Rights Reserved | fwe2-CC-MAIN-2013-20-41415000 |
Aboard the Tugnacious With Dr. Doom
Topics: Climate, Environment, Geology, News, Radio, Water
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Two-thirds of California residents rely on water pumped through the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta, as its delicate ecosystem teeters on the brink, and its aging levees crumble.
Planners have spent decades searching for a fix. But they'll have to finish the job without the advice of a man who’s played a central role in Delta science.
Jeffrey Mount, the scientist dubbed “Dr. Doom” for his dire pronouncements about the Delta, has retired from his post at University California, Davis. Science editor Craig Miller caught up with him – where else – on the river, aboard his 27-foot cruiser, “Tugnacious.”
This is an edited version of their conversation.
The question of what to do about deteriorating conditions in the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta has dogged Mount throughout his 33 years as a professor of geology, as co-founder of the Center for Watershed Studies at UC Davis and going back to Governor Brown’s first administration. I asked Mount – one of the Delta’s most plainspoken explainers, why it matters so much.
Craig Miller: Eight in 10 Californians can’t even tell you where or what the Delta is. Why do they need to know?
JM: Very few Californians get the notion that this is an interconnected system now, with water that comes all the way out of the Trinity River, piped over and into the Sacramento River and down through the Delta, run into canals and ends up in San Diego. I mean really, that’s extraordinary, all the way from the Klamath Basin to San Diego. This is an interconnected network, so 25 million people get some of their water out of the Delta.
CM: You said in an interview that you thought we were down to our last shot with the Delta. What did you mean by that? And what do you think the real chance is that we'll have a long-term solution in hand by, say 2020?
JM: Let me explain why I think we’re down to our last shot. We have deeply entrenched interests, and regrettably it’s not simple. You’ve got farmers fighting against farmers. You have urban interests fighting against urban interests. You have environmental groups fighting against environmental groups, and then they’re all fighting each other, and that makes it wickedly complicated. And instead of coming out of their foxholes, they seem to be digging deeper and deeper foxholes.
Events will eventually dictate how we manage the Delta and I have said many times, and nothing in the last seven or eight years has changed in this, that we’re dealing with a system that is unstable, and it will rearrange itself, whether from floods or earthquakes or rising sea level or changing human demands on the system or invasive species, it is unstable and it is changing and if we don’t get our hands around it now, it’s going to be doubly hard to get our hands around it in the future.
Some believe one way to “get our hands around it” is to move southbound water around this fragile ecosystem – or in the case of the latest proposal, under it, with twin tunnels that would shuttle water from upstream on the Sacramento, more than 30 miles south to serve needs in the Central Valley and Southern California. Mount agrees, saying it’s the only way to comply with current laws that put water needs and the environment on equal footing.
JM: To meet the co-equal goals of the 2009 legislation, I think you’re going to have to have a tunnel or two. Don’t like it, go back and change the policy. You could say, "We’re going to manage this ecosystem. We’re going to go for ecosystem health as the primary objective within it." If that’s the case, at best you want a tiny little pipe – a peripheral garden hose would be the best description of it. You want to dramatically reduce your withdrawals from the Delta, both in-Delta exports and then all those people upstream; all those people like San Francisco, let’s take them for example, they’re taking water from the Delta, they’re just taking it out upstream.
CM: By upstream, you mean up in the Sierra.
JM: Yeah, they’re just taking it out before it gets to Delta, that’s all.
CM: Give me your pithiest version of why a tunnel beats a canal.
JM: Actually I don’t think there’s any difference between the two in terms of system performance, but there are major differences politically. Good luck building a peripheral canal across the Delta given the level of local resistance and changes in our practices of eminent domain. I can completely understand why they want to spend more money and go under the problem rather than over the problem.
CM: We talked a little about this déjà vu aspect of it, this goes further back than Jerry Brown’s first term, this goes back to Pat Brown, doesn’t it?
JM: That’s correct. When the state water project was developed, they knew all along that they had left a hole in it, and that is the Delta. They knew there was a problem even back in the 1950s that the Delta was going to be a major issue. From that point on, this intractable, difficult wicked problem has bedeviled governors, heads of the Department of Water Resources and water managers in California nonstop.
CM: If they were so aware that this was a problem looming, why didn’t they address the problem head on the first time around?
JM: There’s a tendency in water supply to leave the most complicated and difficult problems to later. We are a society – and there’s no difference in the water supply community – that likes to pluck the low hanging fruit and put off the hard work until later. The Delta fix, if there is one, is not simple, it’s not cheap, it involves burning massive amounts of political capital to get it done, and it involves lots of angry people no matter what you do. I can easily understand why people kept putting that one off.
And yet, with all of the rancor that remains in the Delta water wars, Mount sees a light at end of this tunnel.
JM: I can actually say that I think the state government and federal government are starting to paddle together, which has not been the case – it’s actually been one of the principal problems. They are actually starting to look like they’re much more in sync with each other, and that’s a glimmer of hope.
CM: Does that mean you think we have a decent shot at a long-term solution?
JM: I think it’s a 50-50 chance that we’ll get a long-term solution out of this. This is all of California’s problem. I mean this is 25 million people, also two-thirds of the population of California. It’s our problem.
Mount still has some skin in the game. In his new career is as a consultant, he says he wants to help restore rivers, not just talk about restoring them. As for his nickname, “Dr. Doom,” Mount says it was coined a decade ago by then-KQED reporter Tamara Keith, now Capitol correspondent for NPR. It stuck – and Mount still embraces it, though no doubt he’d love to be proven wrong.
Sean Greene contributed to this article.Tags: California Delta, Dr. Doom, Jeff Mount, sacramento delta | fwe2-CC-MAIN-2013-20-41417000 |
After a nasty blizzard temporarily disabled Washington this winter, conservative politicians and pundits jammed the airwaves with claims the storm “contradicted Al Gore’s hysterical global warming theories.” Their myopia was derided by climate scientists and Stephen Colbert alike, who said on his show: “Now folks, that is simple observational research: Whatever just happened is the only thing that is happening. Ask any peekaboo-ologist.”
Still, in the wake of the storm, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration decided to cancel its scheduled announcement of a Climate Service office, which would keep the public up-to-date on on global warming. Timing matters.
Now, with the East Coast woozy from a humid heat wave, it’s the climate scientists’ turn to spread their message. A press release today highlights a Stanford study showing heat waves and extremely high temperatures could be commonplace in the U.S. by 2039:
According to the climate models, an intense heat wave – equal to the longest on record from 1951 to 1999 – is likely to occur as many as five times between 2020 and 2029 over areas of the western and central United States. The 2030s are projected to be even hotter…
The Stanford team also forecast a dramatic spike in extreme seasonal temperatures during the current decade. Temperatures equaling the hottest season on record from 1951 to 1999 could occur four times between now and 2019 over much of the U.S., according to the researchers.
The 2020s and 2030s could be even hotter, particularly in the American West. From 2030 to 2039, most areas of Utah, Colorado, Arizona and New Mexico could endure at least seven seasons equally as intense as the hottest season ever recorded between 1951 and 1999, the researchers concluded.
“Frankly, I was expecting that we’d see large temperature increases later this century with higher greenhouse gas levels and global warming,” [Noah] Diffenbaugh said. “I did not expect to see anything this large within the next three decades. This was definitely a surprise.”
Photo by leeroy09481 | fwe2-CC-MAIN-2013-20-41419000 |
In the wake of the tsunami disaster what has not occurred to the authorities and the powers that be is that preventive measures should be adopted and put in place side by side with reconstruction. All that is reconstructed could be washed off if there is another tsunami. It is the height of folly to believe that we cannot be struck by another tsunami.
The answer is not only to run away, protecting our lives, but also to protect our property and belongings.
We have missed the woods for the trees, and lulled ourselves into a state of complacency that there could not be another tsunami for quite sometime. We are wrong. We could have been hit by the quake of 28/03/05 if it developed into a tsunami, particularly as the quake registered 8.7 on the Richter Scale.
We are becoming increasingly vulnerable to tsunamis, as there is a tectonic plate developing just 300Km south of Sri Lanka, and as there is a grave possibility of the Australian plate and the 'Sundar' plate coming into collision. It is impossible for scientists to predict when, where and how this plate collision could cause tsunamis.
All they can say is that it will reach Sri Lanka in 2 or 3 hours after a tsunami has occurred, depending on the intensity of the earthquake. It is believed that even a quake measuring over 7 on the Richter Scale can endanger Sri Lanka.
How do we ward off the evil effects of a tsunami? Speedy and immediate measures should be taken to identify the most important and vulnerable areas of the country. The port of Colombo is the most vulnerable and an important spot. If the Colombo Port is struck our economy will come to a standstill.
The Fort, adjoining the Colombo Harbour is the financial hub of the Country. All the Head Offices of all major Banks are situated in the Fort, viz the Central Bank, Bank of Ceylon Tower, Twin Towers, Grindlays Bank, Seylan Bank and various other banks, the President's House, the Telecom Towers, Naval Headquarters, Army Headquarters and Police Headquarters...etc.
Apart from all these institutions and installations, over 250,000 people work in the Fort.
If one traverses the areas struck by the tsunami, one would see that areas with coral reefs and/or mangroves were not affected at all, or their damage was minimal.
We suggest adopting the following strategies to ward off the evil effects: immediate root-balling and planting of huge mangroves, with the assistance of a foreign government; undertaking forthwith the construction of a breakwater. This breakwater can be built very close to the shore, so that there is no interference with ships coming into the harbour.
A rock wall 20-25 feet in height spanning a length of less than a maximum of 1/2 a mile, and a thickness of about 7-10 ft commencing from the light-house area to about the Pettah area would suffice to protect the Fort - the Financial Hub of Colombo.
This whole operation will cost less than Rs. 100 million. If the experts are consulted, they will probably inflate the estimate to about 1 billion, either foolishly or cunningly so that Rs. 900 million can be shared between themselves and the contractors.
Some of the unintelligent so called experts will pooh-pooh this plan as not being feasible. There are quite a number of unintelligent professionals in this country.
This is a sensible and intelligent approach to minimise damage. If we don't take timely action, all the millions spent on reconstruction will be reduced to zero if we are struck by another tsunami, and those experts should be held accountable if there is another catastrophe.
We will not have international assistance a second time, if we don't take preventive measures.
Those in charge of rehabilitation, have lost sight of the possibility of another tsunami. The warning of the possibility of another tsunami given to us on the night of March 28, should open the eyes of these so called experts.
Pose on yourselves the question as to how the Fort of Galle was not affected by the tsunami of 26/12, whereas the immediate adjoining areas were badly struck. This is because of the existence of a break-water in the form of the ramparts - though built 350 years ago, and exposed to the elements day in day out. This strategy on a smaller scale can protect the Fort of Colombo and its environs. The cost will not be so heavy as compared to the destruction if hit by another tsunami.
You don't need engineers to see the wisdom of this. Any intelligent person with common sense will know that such a structure should be built forthwith to protect the Port of Colombo, the Colombo Fort and its environs. This way, we will avert the damage to hundreds of buildings, all built cheek by jowl in the Fort, not to mention the protection of the lives of about 250,000 people working in the Fort.
If this is ignored, it will be damning to the powers that be, for ignoring common sense and advice tendered free of charge.
Instructions should be given by the government, forthwith to those who have offices in the Fort to immediately relocate in a safer area in Colombo or its suburbs, till such time as the Fort can be made and declared a safe place to work in. This is something that the Government owes to the people who daily work in this trapped environment. If danger strikes, it will be a stampede to get out of the Fort, unlike any other place in Colombo." | fwe2-CC-MAIN-2013-20-41433000 |
Swarms of jellyfish, or sea nettles, have returned in full force to the Chesapeake Bay, according to reports from local environmentalists.
The migration of jellyfish throughout the Chesapeake Bay can be seen in a real-time forecasting chart hosted by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
This season is expected to spike, but so far the jellyfish projections are on par with previous years, according to Sandy Point State Park Ranger Kenny Hartman.
Hartman said the state park which doubles as a popular beach, has just started getting reports and sightings of jellyfish.
"It's not bad right now, but it will get worse as the salinity in the water gets higher, especially because of the lack of rain," Hartman said.
When it rains, the salt content in the water is lowered, which slows the migration and prevalence of jellyfish. But without rain, the jellyfish are free to roam wherever they find high levels of salt in the water.
Riverkeeper for the West and Rhode Rivers Chris Trumbauer said this year is no different from others, so far.
"I have recently seen sea nettles in the West and Rhode, as well as the mouth of the Severn," Trumbauer said. "I think they are getting extra attention this year, since there were (almost) none in the area last summer."
Trumbauer advised swimmers and beach joggers to be aware of their surroundings. He also reminded them that the old folk remedies for jellyfish stings of vinegar and urine aren't likely to work. | fwe2-CC-MAIN-2013-20-41435000 |
Temporal range: Triassic period
Riley & Stuchbury, 1836
Thecodontosaurus (meaning "socket-toothed lizard") was a very early dinosaur that lived during the late Triassic period, a time when the Earth was relatively warm and much of the land was dry and desert-like. This was around the time that the dinosaurs were just starting to appear.
Fossils of Thecodontosaurus have been found in southwest England (near Bristol) and Wales, which were probably dry and desert-like when Thecodontosaurus lived. Thecodontosaurus was named by Morris in 1843, but was first described by H. Riley and S. Stutchbury in 1836. | fwe2-CC-MAIN-2013-20-41445000 |
“Even if I thought there was hope for me, . . .” Ruth 1:12 JPS
Hope – What is your definition of “hope”? Two questions might help you determine if your idea of hope comes from biblical sources or from the culture of Greek philosophy. The first question is this: “Is your idea of hope the projection of desired good things happening in the future?” In other words, if you examine what you hope for, is it really just a collection of your wishes for good things for you? If you discovered that this element is present in your idea of hope, then you are right in line with Plato. He taught that hope is the subjective projection of our yearnings for future benefits. Of course, these yearnings often turn out to be disappointments. In Plato’s view, hope is like a psychological crutch. It helps us manage contemporary difficulties by projecting a better tomorrow, but it is ultimately without real foundation. It’s just wishing things will be better.
Examine your feelings carefully. Perhaps there is just a hint of Plato lurking in your own definition. You might ask yourself, “If nothing turns out the way I want it to, does that affect my idea of hope?” If you answered, “Yes,” then Plato is your man.
Now let’s ask the second question. “Does your idea of hope depend entirely on God’s faithfulness regardless of any present or conceivable future circumstances?” Let’s ask the question another way. “If none of your future expectations occur, do you still absolutely trust God and wait patiently for Him to act?” If you find that you can answer “Yes” to these questions, then you are ready to examine the Hebrew word tiqvah. When Naomi uses this word, she doesn’t have the projection of future desires in mind. She is thinking about the color scarlet. What does scarlet have to do with hope. Frymer-Kensky points out that tiqvah is the Hebrew word meaning “thread” in the story of Rahab. “The imagery in this idiom suggests that our life is spun out like a cord, and hope arises from the strength of that cord, representing the prospect of a viable future.” She goes on to show that hope in Hebrew thought is intimately connected with life here and now. To have a future is to not be cut off. To have a future is to see the continuation of your name in the lives of your offspring. Tiqvah hope has nothing to do with getting to heaven. It is all about having a legacy on earth. It’s about a scarlet cord that can’t be cut.
To this we must add Paul’s comments in Romans 8. In the Brit Chadashah, hope (the Greek is elpis) is also not about personal wish fulfillment. It is about the absolute reliability of God, anchored in the completed evidence of Yeshua’s resurrection. In other words, Paul teaches us that our present hope has been guaranteed by Yeshua’s finished act. That does not mean that our wishes will come true. It means that we can patiently wait for God to complete His purposes regardless of what happens to us. Why can we take this attitude about our circumstances? Because we know “that all things work together for the good.” By the way, all things work together for the good (as defined by God), not my good.
Put Plato aside. Our hope doesn’t depend on good things happening to us. Our hope depends on God doing what He says He will do, “on earth as it is in heaven.” That is why hope cannot disappoint. That is why hope casts out fear. It doesn’t depend on you or me, and frankly, it’s not even about you or me. We are just along for the ride as God fulfills His purposes here. That is red letter hope.
Topical Index: scarlet, hope, tiqvah, Joshua 2:18, Ruth 1:12
A previous study of tiqvahin the story of Rahab can be found here.
Tamara Eskenazi and Tikva Frymer-Kensky, Ruth: The JPS Bible Commentary, p. 15. | fwe2-CC-MAIN-2013-20-41451000 |
The three most common types of solar cookers are heat-trap boxes, curved concentrators (parabolics) and panel cookers. Hundreds — if not thousands — of variations on these basic types exist. Additionally, several large-scale solar cooking systems have been developed to meet the needs of institutions worldwide.
Most solar cookers work on basic principles: sunlight is converted to heat energy that is retained for cooking.
- Sunlight is the "fuel." A solar cooker needs an outdoor spot that is sunny for several hours and protected from strong wind, and where food will be safe. Solar cookers don't work at night or on cloudy days.
- Dark surfaces get very hot in sunlight, whereas light surfaces don't. Food cooks best in dark, shallow, thin metal pots with dark, tight-fitting lids to hold in heat and moisture.
- A transparent heat trap around the dark pot lets in sunlight, but keeps in the heat. This is a clear, heat-resistant plastic bag or large inverted glass bowl (in panel cookers) or an insulated box with a glass or plastic window (in box cookers). Curved concentrator cookers typically don't require a heat trap.
- One or more shiny surfaces reflect extra sunlight onto the pot, increasing its heat potential.
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Body long and slender. Prostomium elongate, oval to conical. Ventral pair of antennae somewhat longer than dorsal. Proboscis with two mediodorsal and two lateral rows of papillae, distally and ventrally only wrinkled ridges. Often the proboscis is irregularly scattered with papillae, with two lateral papillae at the anterior edge. Ventral pair of tentacular cirri longer than dorsal.
Dorsal cirri of anterior segments more or less asymmetrical, oval, somewhat longer than broad or broader than long, those of mid-body strongly asymmetrical, almost kidney-shaped, up to 2 1/2 times as long as broad; posterior ones asymmetrical, oval, often somewhat longer than broad (E. spetsbergensis-parapodium). Terminal end of chaetal shaft symmetrical with one large tooth and a few smaller ones on each side. Blades long and slender. Ventral cirri longer than parapodial lobes. Pygidial cirri finger-like.
Up to 100 mm for 200 segments.
Living animal dorsally with reddish banding and dark dorsal cirri; ventrally green. In alcohol almost colourless.
On all substrata; upper sublittoral to 400m.
Arctic, North Pacific, North Atlantic, northern North Sea to Öresund. | fwe2-CC-MAIN-2013-20-41467000 |
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|Canto 10: The Summum Bonum||Chapter 20: The Rainy Season and Autumn in Vṛndāvana|
Bhaktivedanta VedaBase: Śrīmad Bhāgavatam 10.20.8
tamasā bhānti na grahāḥ
yathā pāpena pāṣaṇḍā
na hi vedāḥ kalau yuge
niśā-mukheṣu — during the moments of evening twilight; khadyotāḥ — the glowworms; tamasā — because of the darkness; bhānti — shine; na — not; grahāḥ — the planets; yathā — as; pāpena — because of sinful activities; pāṣaṇḍāḥ — atheistic doctrines; na — and not; hi — certainly; vedāḥ — the Vedas; kalau yuge — in the age of Kali.
In the evening twilight during the rainy season, the darkness allowed the glowworms but not the stars to shine forth, just as in the age of Kali the predominance of sinful activities allows atheistic doctrines to overshadow the true knowledge of the Vedas.
Śrīla Prabhupāda comments as follows: "During the rainy season, in the evening there are many glowworms visible about the tops of trees, hither and thither, and they glitter just like lights. But the luminaries of the sky, the stars and the moon, are not visible. Similarly, in the age of Kali, persons who are atheists or miscreants become very prominently visible, whereas persons who are actually following the Vedic principles for spiritual emancipation are practically obscured. This age, Kali-yuga, is compared to the cloudy season of the living entities. In this age, real knowledge is covered by the influence of the material advancement of civilization. The cheap mental speculators, atheists and manufacturers of so-called religious principles become prominent like the glowworms, whereas persons strictly following the Vedic principles, or scriptural injunctions, become covered by the clouds of this age.
"People should learn to take advantage of the actual luminaries of the sky — the sun, moon and stars — instead of the glowworms' light. Actually, the glowworms cannot give any light in the darkness of night. As clouds sometimes clear, even in the rainy season, and the moon, stars and sun become visible, so even in this Kali-yuga there are sometimes advantages. The Vedic movement of Lord Caitanya — the distribution of the chanting of the Hare Kṛṣṇa mantra — is understood in this way. People seriously anxious to find real life should take advantage of this movement instead of looking toward the so-called light of mental speculators and atheists."
Copyright © The Bhaktivedanta Book Trust International, Inc.
His Divine Grace A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupāda, Founder Ācārya of the International Society for Krishna Consciousness
His Holiness Hrdayananda dasa Goswami
Gopiparanadhana dasa Adhikari
Dravida dasa Brahmacari | fwe2-CC-MAIN-2013-20-41472000 |
Author: Nick Kanas
Softcover: 382 pages
With the construction of the International Space Station, and new plans for manned missions to the Moon, Mars and beyond, there is renewed interest in the heavens. An ever-increasing number of people are fascinated with the science of space and are becoming amateur astronomers.
The beauty and awe generated by the celestial void capture our imagination and delight our aesthetic sense. Antiquarian map societies are prospering, and celestial maps are now viewed as a specialty of map collecting.
This book traces the history of celestial cartography and relates this history to the changing ideas of man’s place in the universe and to advances in map-making.
Reproductions of maps from antiquarian celestial atlases and prints, many previously unpublished in book form, enrich the text, and a legend accompanies each illustration to explain its astronomical and cartographic features.
Also included in the book are discussions of non-European celestial maps and chapters on early American influences and celestial map-collecting.
The book describes the development and relationships between different sky maps and atlases as well as demonstrating contemporary cosmological ideas, constellation representations, and cartographic advances. | fwe2-CC-MAIN-2013-20-41474000 |
At any given time throughout a political campaign the media may want to know what the public at large thinks about policies or candidates. One solution would be to ask everyone who they would vote for. This would be costly, time consuming and infeasible. Another way to determine voter preference is to use a statistical sample. Rather than ask every voter to state his or her preference in candidates, polling research companies poll a relatively small number of people who their favorite candidate is. The members of the statistical sample help to determine the preferences of the entire population. There are good polls and not so good polls, so it is important to ask the following questions when reading any results.
Who Was Polled?
A candidate makes his or her appeal to the voters because the voters are the ones who cast ballots. Consider the following groups of people:
- Registered voters
- Likely voters
The political composition of the sample sometimes plays a roll in interpreting poll results. A sample consisting entirely of registered Republicans would not be good if someone wanted to ask a question about the electorate at large. Since the electorate rarely breaks into 50% registered Republicans and 50% registered Democrats, even this type of sample may not be the best to use.
When Was the Poll Conducted?
Politics can be fast paced. Within a matter of days an issue arises, alters the political landscape, then is forgotten by most when some new issue surfaces. What people were talking about on Monday sometimes seems to be a distant memory when Friday comes. News runs faster than ever, however good polling takes time to conduct. Major events can take several days to show up in poll results. The dates when a poll was conducted should be noted to determine if current events have had time to affect the numbers of the poll.
What Methods Were Used?
Suppose that Congress is considering a bill that deals with gun control. Read the following two scenarios and ask which is more likely to accurately determine the public sentiment.
- A blog asks its readers to click on a box to show their support of the bill. A total of 5000 participate and there is overwhelming rejection of the bill.
- A polling firm randomly calls 1000 registered voters and asks them about their support of the bill. The firm finds that their respondents are more or less evenly split for and against the bill.
How Large Is the Sample?
As the discussion above shows, a poll with a larger sample size is not necessarily the better poll. On the other hand, a sample size may be too small to state anything meaningful about public opinion. A random sample of 20 likely voters is too small to determine the direction that the entire U.S. population is leaning on an issue. But how large should the sample be?
Associated with the size of the sample is the margin of error. The larger the sample size, the smaller the margin of error. Surprisingly, sample sizes as small as 1000 to 2000 are typically used for polls such as Presidential approval, whose margin of error is within a couple of percentage points. The margin of error could be made as small as desired by using a larger sample, however this would require a higher cost to conduct the poll.
Bringing It All Together
The answers to the above questions should help in assessing the accuracy of results in political polls. Not all polls are created equally. Often details are buried in footnotes or omitted entirely in news articles that quote the poll. Be informed on how a poll was designed. | fwe2-CC-MAIN-2013-20-41477000 |
Bycatch of crab occurs in directed crab pot fisheries as well as groundfish and scallop fisheries. In the crab fisheries, crab bycatch includes females of target species, sublegal (small) males of target species, and non-target crab. In all other fisheries, crabs are a prohibited species, and must be discarded, so every crab caught incidentally is considered bycatch. Crabs caught as bycatch in trawl fisheries are thought to have a high mortality rate (estimated at 80%); in the scallop dredge and pot fisheries for crab and groundfish, mortality is considered to be much lower (between 20 and 50%).
Limits on the bycatch of prohibited crab species have been established in some Bering Sea fisheries, to reduce the impacts on these species traditionally harvested by other gear types. When bycatch limits are reached, fisheries responsible for the bycatch are closed for the rest of the season, or are prohibited from fishing in areas with historically high bycatch rates. Area closures have also been implemented throughout the Bering Sea and GOA to protect crab. In addition to these tools, gear restrictions and other regulations have been implemented to reduce crab bycatch. For example:
- Biodegradable panels are required for pot gear, to minimize bycatch associated with so-called ghost fishing of lost gear.
- Tunnel openings for pot gear are limited in size to reduce incidental catch of halibut and crabs.
- Gillnets for groundfish have been prohibited to prevent ghost fishing and bycatch of non-target species.
- In 1999, the use of bottom trawl gear was prohibited for vessels targeting pollock in the Bering Sea, to reduce crab and halibut bycatch.
In 2011, a trawl sweep modification requirement was implemented for vessels participating in the Bering Sea flatfish fishery, to raise the trawl sweep off the seafloor. Research has demonstrated that this gear modification reduces unobserved mortality of red king crab, Tanner crab, and snow crab. The Council intends for a similar modification to be implemented in the Gulf of Alaska. | fwe2-CC-MAIN-2013-20-41478000 |
Beethoven's bagatelles are short compositions written over the span of the composer's lifetime, from the early to the late periods. Ranging from easy to intermediate level, these popular pieces display a wide variety of moods and musical ideas and are favorites with students and accomplished pianists... read more
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Complete Variations for Solo Piano by Ludwig van Beethoven All 21 sets of Beethoven's variations, including the Diabelli Variations, Op. 120, 32 Variations in C Minor; the "Eroica" Variations, Op. 35; plus variations on themes by Dressler, Salieri, Sussmayr, Righini, other composers.
Complete Piano Sonatas, Volume I by Ludwig van Beethoven Volume 1 of authoritative Schenker edition includes Op. 2, Nos. 1-3; Op. 7; Op. 10, Nos. 1-3; Op. 13; Op. 14, Nos. 1-2; Op. 22; Op. 26; Op. 27, Nos. 1-2; and Op. 28.
Bagatelles, Rondos and Other Shorter Works for Piano by Ludwig van Beethoven Reprinted from the authoritative Breitkopf and Härtel edition, this collection features 18 bagatelles, 3 rondos, and 12 ländlers and minuets. Popular works include Rondo a Capriccio in G and Andante in F.
Complete Sonatinas by Friedrich Kuhlau These 19 highly accessible sonatinas offer intermediate-level pianists training in pedagogical issues, including scales and arpeggios, that will prepare them for the demands of more rigorous works.
Five Great Piano Sonatas by Ludwig van Beethoven This collection features the most famous of the composer's 32 piano sonatas. Includes "Pathétique," "Moonlight," "Waldstein," "Appassionata," "Les Adieux." New introduction by Carl Schachter, and performance notes by Anton Kuerti.
Allegro Barbaro and Other Short Works for Solo Piano by Béla Bartók Includes Allegro Barbaro, a sonorous, boisterous piece of power and bravura; 15 Hungarian Peasant Songs; 6 Rumanian Folk Dances; 20 Rumanian Christmas Carols; and 8 Improvisations on Hungarian Peasant Songs.
Beethoven Symphonies Nos. 1-5 Transcribed for Solo Piano by Franz Liszt This memorable tribute reveals Liszt's remarkable capacity for translating orchestral effects into pianistic terms. An astonishing, brilliant, and sensitive tribute to the master by the 19th-century's greatest piano virtuoso.
Favorite Piano Classics by Ronald Herder Treasury of 83 best-loved pieces in authoritative editions: Beethoven's Für Elise, Chopin's "Minute" Waltz and Polonaise "Militaire," Debussy's Clair de Lune, Liszt's Liebestraum No. 3, Mozart's Turkish Rondo, many more.
Complete Piano Concertos in Full Score by Ludwig van Beethoven Complete scores of 5 great Beethoven piano concertos, with all cadenzas as he wrote them, reproduced from authoritative Breitkopf & Härtel edition. Includes new table of contents.
Complete Piano Sonatas, Volume II by Ludwig van Beethoven Volume 2 of authoritative Schenker edition includes Op. 31, Nos. 1-3; Op. 49, Nos. 1-2; Op. 53; Op. 54; Op. 57; Op. 79; Op. 81a; Op. 90; Op. 101; Op. 106; Op. 109; Op. 110; Op. 111.
Complete String Quartets by Ludwig van Beethoven Reprinted from the authoritative Breitkopf & Härtel edition, this study score includes: 6 quartets of Opus 18; 3 quartets of Opus 59; Opuses 74, 95, 127, 130, 131, 132, 135, and Grosse Fuge.
Beethoven's bagatelles are short compositions written over the span of the composer's lifetime, from the early to the late periods. Ranging from easy to intermediate level, these popular pieces display a wide variety of moods and musical ideas and are favorites with students and accomplished pianists alike. The Romantic era abounded in short compositions for piano: etudes, serenades, impromptus, and other miniatures. Beethoven's term for his refined little piano gems was Kleinigkeiten — "small things" — or bagatelles. Although the public expected symphonic abundance from a composer of his stature, Beethoven was reputed to take particular satisfaction in the challenge of distilling his musical ideas into a concentrated form. Reprinted from authoritative editions, this collection presents all 27 of the composer's bagatelles, including the well-loved "Für Elise."
This book was printed in the United States of America.
Dover books are made to last a lifetime. Our US book-manufacturing partners produce the highest quality books in the world and they create jobs for our fellow citizens. Manufacturing in the United States also ensures that our books are printed in an environmentally friendly fashion, on paper sourced from responsibly managed forests. | fwe2-CC-MAIN-2013-20-41482000 |
According to the International Labour Organisation, there are over 215 million children working across the world and of these 115 million are thought to be involved in hazardous work. The number of those between the ages of 5-14 and engaged in child labour is estimated by UNICEF at around 150 million.
World Day Against Child Labour came and went on June 12, 2012. This wonderful initiative, championed by hundreds of selfless individuals, undoubtedly passed by, unnoticed and unmarked by too many of us, otherwise absorbed in the busy-ness of our lives.
Child labour is considered to be the hiring or employment of anyone below the national minimum working age or the age of 15 – whichever is highest. It is a scourge to every supply chain that considers itself to be ethical.
In transgression, however, there is opportunity. Eradication of child labour is a chance for supply chain practitioners to shine.
We can be the agents of change that the world demands, and that our children deserve. But such initiatives are not exclusively altruistic. They make business sense. By taking the necessary steps to ensure toxins like child labour do not impact the supply chain, businesses are protecting their brand, and developing competitive advantage.
It is usually assumed that for most people in the developed world, a child’s right to an education is a self-evident truth. Sending the child off to the factory or to the fields (or even worse, to the army or to the brothels) is a deprivation a fundamental human right in the 21st century.
The stark reality is, that while many less-developed countries are categorized being at extreme risk of transgression, even the planet’s economic powerhouses are not completely faultless.
Here is a graphic that was prepared earlier this year by risk analysis firm Maplecroft, that reveals the results of its Child Labour Index 2012. I find it stunning:
Child labour transgressions can fall into two broad classifications: direct (when a country or organization engages willfully in, or otherwise sanctions child labour practices) and indirect (when a country or organization turns a ‘blind eye’ to the practice either at home or in other jurisdictions with whom they interact). The first is the object of metrics. Sadly, most of us are guilty of the latter.
This past week, I entered into some interesting conversations about the insecure supply chain. This is a systemic condition where the supply chain becomes open to abuse by any number of detrimental influences. The article that motivated these conversations was my post titled Supply Chain Risk Management: A Matter of Life and Death. In that submission, I wrote about poisons that can creep into the food supply chain. Toxic labour practices, including child labor, are no less critical, although the damage done is far less obvious to the consumer.
Complicating matters are the difficult economic conditions that plague many countries of the world, that have cascaded from the 2008 global financial crisis. Many more children are being forced to work to supplement family incomes. Child labour, though, has been with us through good times and bad, for centuries, and has become a cultural norm in many regions.
In the 21st Century, supply chain practitioners will play a critical role in eradicating this problem, through engagement of ethical and sustainable business practices.
Eliminating child labour from the supply chain
Carmel Giblin, general manager at Sedex, crafted a compelling article in The Guardian newspaper earlier this week, in recognition of World Day Against Child Labour. Sedex, the Supplier Ethical Data Exchange, is a not for profit membership organisation dedicated to driving improvements in responsible and ethical business practices in global supply chains.
As the largest collaborative platform for sharing ethical supply chain data, Sedex is an innovative and effective supply chain management solution, helping firms to reduce risk, protect reputation and improve supply chain practices.
So, why is child labour such an important issue for businesses? We all know that child labour deprives children of their basic rights, including their right to education, but ensuring that your supply chain is free of child labour can also bring important business benefits. The ethical performance of companies is under increasing scrutiny from customers, the media, investors and other stakeholders. Revelations of child labour in the supply chain can damage a company’s reputation and lead to a loss of revenue. Conversely, a child labour free supply chain can help protect your company’s reputation and ensure you have an educated and capable workforce for the long-term.
Sedex’s work with stakeholders has identified some of the most common reasons why children work: In countries or sectors where wages are low, families often rely on the additional income to buy food; some agricultural jobs pay workers based on the amount of produce picked, which can encourage parents to bring their children into the field to help them; others are unfamiliar with the rights of children and deem it acceptable to allow children to work. Understanding the root cause of the issue can help companies to develop suitable mechanisms for effectively remediating child labour.
To resolve the issue of child labour, businesses must first identify where this issue occurs. Gaining complete visibility throughout the supply chain is vital if companies are to identify high risk areas and spot potential issues. By increasing visibility within supply chains, companies can engage with their suppliers in a much more focused manner, allowing critical issues like child labour to be dealt with more efficiently.
Once an occurrence of child labour has been identified, the business then needs to decide how to deal with this issue. Kneejerk reactions should be avoided and any action taken should in no way be detrimental to the child. (Read more…)
Maplecroft: Conflict and economic downturn cause global increase in reported child labour violations – 40% of countries now rated ‘extreme risk.’
Maplecroft provides risk management products and services to leading global corporations across all sectors, governments, UN agencies and international non-governmental organisations. For example, banks use our indices and in depth reports to screen and manage risk, corporations use our research to understand investment risk and supply chain managers use our tools for due diligence monitoring.
It finds that Brazil, China, India, Indonesia and Philippines, for example, expose companies to high levels of supply chain risk.
Launching their 2012 Child Labor Index study earlier this year, Maplecroft explained:
An annual study by risk analysis firm Maplecroft has revealed that 76 countries now pose ‘extreme’ child labour complicity risks for companies operating worldwide, due to worsening global security and the economic downturn. This constitutes an increase of more than 10% from last year’s total of 68 ‘extreme risk’ countries.
The Child Labour Index 2012 evaluates the frequency and severity of reported child labour incidents in 197 countries. Worryingly, nearly 40% of all countries have been classified as ‘extreme risk’ in the index, with conflict torn and authoritarian states topping the ranking. Myanmar, North Korea, Somalia, Sudan are ranked joint first, while DR Congo (5), Zimbabwe (6), Afghanistan (7), Burundi (8), Pakistan (9) and Ethiopia (10) round off the worst performers.
The Child Labour Index has been developed by Maplecroft to evaluate the extent of country-level child labour practices and the performance of governments in preventing child labour and ensuring the accountability of perpetrators. By doing so, the index enables companies to identify risks of children being employed within their supply chains in violation of the standards on minimum age of employment. The index also analyses the risk of the involvement of children in work, the conditions of which could have a negative impact on the health, safety and wellbeing of child labourers.
Maplecroft suggests that the global increase in the use of child labour is mainly caused by a deteriorating human security situation worldwide. This has resulted in increased numbers of internally displaced children and refugees who, together with children from minority communities, continue to be the groups at most risk of economic exploitation. Sub-Saharan Africa is identified as the region posing the most risk in this respect but most of the growth economies have their own unique conditions in respect of child labour and its remediation. (Read more…)
Finally, Gerard Oonk of the Stop Child Labour campaign in India provides a link to a the campaign’s wonderful Action Plan for Companies to Combat Child labour – published June 12, 2012, which will help companies, NGOs and others to do what is needed: eradicate child labour in your supply chain.
I recommend the Action Plan to all supply chain and corporate leaders who are committed to developing ethical and sustainable supply chains.
Your comments and feedback are welcome.
Supply Chain Almanac is now on Facebook. “Like” us on Facebook, or become a friend, to stay up-to-date on all of our posts, our Quote of the Day, Events, and more!
Also, do not forget to visit our Supply Chain Daily newspaper, for the latest news and views on matters concerning practitioners in the supply chain, logistics, operations, and business.
- Slavery Lives in the Supply Chain! Food Multinational Nestlé Drafts Its Battle Plan If you worked for five years or more without pay, and if you were brutally beaten if you tried to run away and were caught,...
- What Is Supply Chain Management? “Social Responsibility” Module 8 of the excellent “What is Supply Chain Management” series, produced by ASU and the W. P. Carey School of Business, discusses the topic...
- Foxconn: A Minefield for Ethical Labor? It’s difficult to compete with slave labor. In spite of recent scrutiny over questionable labor engagement practices and working conditions, Chinese contractor Foxconn, who assemble...
- Olympic Games and Supply Chain Risk: UK Mid-Sized Businesses Poorly Prepared You can lead an equestrian to water, but you can’t make it drink. In spite of continued warnings over the past three or four years,...
- What is Supply Chain Management? Supply Chains and Information Technology What does supply chain management have to do with information technology? In a word, “everything.” One of the reasons I chose to build a career... | fwe2-CC-MAIN-2013-20-41490000 |
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How to extract information from Office files by using Office file formats and schemas
Article ID: 840817 - View products that this article applies to.
If you have to extract information from Microsoft Excel workbooks, Microsoft PowerPoint presentations, or Microsoft Word documents, you can use several methods. These methods include API programming calls, Office Open XML, XML, RTF, or HTML. If these methods do not address your needs, you may be eligible to participate in a Royalty-Free File Format Program and to receive technical documentation for certain Microsoft Office binary file formats.
This article describes several techniques that are available for extracting information from Excel workbooks, PowerPoint presentations, and Word documents.
Office Open XMLThe Office Open XML Formats are designed so that multiple applications on multiple platforms can create and access Office Open XML documents. By using the Office Open XML Format, you can directly manipulate the file format. You do not have to use Microsoft Office applications to create or to access the files.
Benefits of Office Open XML
http://www.ecma-international.org/news/TC45_current_work/TC45-2006-50_final_draft.htmAdditionally, visit the following OpenXMLDeveloper.org Web site:
http://openxmldeveloper.orgThe Office Open XML Formats use the Open Packaging Conventions to store the Office Open XML file information on disk. For more information about the Open Packaging Conventions as used by Office Open XML, see the Office Open XML v1.0 draft, part 2, "Open Packaging Conventions".
Office Application Programming Interfaces (APIs)Office binary file formats are designed to be accessed through the Office Application Programming Interfaces (APIs), instead of by direct manipulation of the file format. Because of the complexity of the formats, direct manipulation can cause corruption and is strongly discouraged.
For more information about the Office APIs, visit the following Microsoft Web site:
http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/library/aa165081(office.10).aspxThe Office 97-2003 binary file formats use the Windows Structured Storage APIs. The Office-specific information is stored as streams in this more generalized format. Common elements, such as document properties, can be accessed through the Structured Storage APIs and do not require access to the Office binary file format documentation.
For more information about the Windows Structured Storage APIs, visit the following Microsoft Web site:
http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/library/aa380369.aspxThe Microsoft Excel 2007 binary format (*.xlsb) stores binary records. This format uses the same part and packaging technologies that are found in SpreadsheetML. SpreadsheetML is part of the Office Open XML Format.
Important Reading or manipulating the structure directly can cause corruption and is strongly discouraged.
XMLXML is a plain-text, Unicode-based metalanguage (a language for defining markup languages). XML is not tied to any programming language, operating system, or software vendor. XML provides access to a plethora of technologies for manipulating, structuring, transforming, and querying data. As the use of XML has grown, it is now typically accepted that XML is not only useful for describing new document formats for the Web, but is also suitable to describe structured data. Examples of structured data include information that is typically contained in spreadsheets, program configuration files, and network protocols.
Microsoft Office includes support for XML schemas. Microsoft maintains a licensing program for certain Office XML schemas.
To learn more about Office XML schemas, visit the following Microsoft Web site to view the Microsoft Office System and XML: Bringing XML to the Desktop article:
Rich Text Format (RTF)The Rich Text Format (RTF) specification is a method of encoding formatted text and graphics for easy transfer between programs. The RTF specification provides a format for text and graphics interchange that can be used with different output devices, operating environments, and operating systems. RTF uses the American National Standards Institute (ANSI), PC-8, Macintosh, or IBM PC character set to control the representation and the formatting of a document, both on the screen and in print. With the RTF specification, documents that are created under different operating systems and that are created by using different software programs can be transferred between those operating systems and those programs.
For more information about how to write or how to implement a sample RTF reader, visit the following Microsoft Web site, and then type RTF Reader in the Search MSDN For box:
Visio XML schemaThrough the Microsoft documentation and a royalty-free license, customers and partners can take advantage of the XML schema in its diagramming and data visualization tool. The availability of the Visio schema provides a complete and W3C-compliant description of the Visio Extensible Markup Language (XML) file format, enabling organizations to access information captured in their Visio diagrams and uses it with other XML-enabled programs, such as customer relationship management (CRM) and enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems, as part of their business processes. For more information and download capabilities, visit the following Microsoft Web site:
HTMLHTML files are text files that include the information that users will see, and tags that specify formatting information about how the information will be presented for display purposes. You can use HTML to store, distribute, and present Office documents and data in a format that can be viewed by using most Web browsers while retaining the rich content and functionality of Office documents.
Note In Microsoft Excel 2007, the HTML file format does not save features that are specific to Excel. Additionally, the HTML formal does not support or render all the features in Excel 2007 when you save a workbook as HTML.
For more information about how to edit HTML, visit the following Microsoft Web site:
http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/library/aa730778(vs.71).aspxFor more information about how to work with code, HTML, and resource files, visit the following Microsoft Web site:
Royalty-Free File Format Programs
Microsoft Office Binary File FormatsMicrosoft makes its .doc, .xls, .xlsb, and .ppt binary file format specifications available under a royalty-free covenant not to sue to anyone who wishes to implement all or part of these specifications in their products. Implementation includes the ability to use the specification documentation for analysis and for forensic reference purposes.
Microsoft Office Drawing File Format for 2007 and Visual Basic for Applications (VBA) File Format for 2007 are also available under this program. The documentation that covers the binary file format specifications is cumulative and covers the most current form of the binary file formats as well as earlier versions.
Office Binary File Format specifications are available under the Open Specification Promise. To obtain documentation, visit the following Microsoft Web site:
Article ID: 840817 - Last Review: February 26, 2008 - Revision: 8.1 | fwe2-CC-MAIN-2013-20-41492000 |
by Swami Krishnananda
Life, ancient as well as modern, is generally calculated and assessed in the light of what we regard as civilisation and culture. We usually, and often, speak of India's civilisation as highly advanced, and its culture as superb in every way. But a cultural or sociological study of history is not the proper way of getting a little deeper into the basic impulses that make culture the essential value of life. Why should anyone be cultured? Unless this question is answered, it is difficult to say what culture is. It is another way of asking, "Why should anyone be good?" We are very fond of saying that we have to be civilised, cultured and good, but have we found time to think of what consequences would devolve in our lives in the absence of this value?
A highly comfortable life of physical satisfaction and social security, with friendliness among the constituents of a society in the manner it is interpreted at any given moment of time, may be regarded as a highlight of civilisation and culture. But we speak of cultures and civilisations, and accept the presence of a multitude of these, implying thereby a simultaneous acceptance of the validity of these multiplicities, and meaning thereby that every culture is relevant to that particular circumstance of society which upholds it as its ideal. It does not mean that the whole of humanity has one culture, one civilisation, one way of thinking. Even the way of giving a friendly greeting differs from place to place, what to talk of other things.
Hence, when we speak of an ethical, moral or cultural society, we oftentimes speak tongue-in-cheek, not being able to assess the basic foundations of these efflorescences which appear outwardly as necessities in the form of culture, civilisation. A comfortable, happy life need not necessarily be a civilised life. Who can say that horses or elephants are not happy? Each group has its own standards of judging happiness, satisfaction, and even security. Animals in the jungle have a satisfaction of their own which is commensurate with the type of understanding with which they are endowed in the state of their evolution. Thus, the judgement of culture and civilisation also has something to say in regard to the stage of evolution.
There are various types of people in the world. Anthro-pologists generally classify humanity into races. This is only a broad classification of human beings, and it does not mean that we have given a clear-cut idea of the varieties of the outlooks of people. It is a peculiar classification based on the physiognomy or bone structure, and the appearance of the face—the nose, particularly. This kind of anthropological classification is not the same as a cultural classification. The anthropological evaluation, if it is applied to people in India, will not find one kind or one set of people throughout the country. There is a geographical impact upon the structure of the body, and many other factors which differentiate the way or conduct of the day-to-day life of people.
Why go so far? In India there are very obvious and interesting differences even in religious practice, as between the South and the North, for instance. In a state such as Kerala, it would be a horror for a person to enter a holy temple wearing a shirt—and much worse, a turban. It is not only irreligious, it is unthinkable, horrid behaviour to put on a coat and worship a holy deity in a temple. But if we go to a temple such as Kedarnath, we will find the pujari wearing a turban and a coat, and it is not regarded as unholy or irreligious. Now, why should this peculiar distinction be made in the conduct of a person—whether it is religious or otherwise—from place to place? It differs not merely from place to place, but from circumstance to circumstance. Perhaps this particular example that I gave has some connection with the circumstance of living—the climatic conditions particularly, and so on.
The dharma of a particular individual or a group of people is the culture, to mention it in a broad outline. The necessity of a person or the need of a group of people under a given set of circumstances, in the light of an ideal that they hold as their religious deity, may be regarded as the determining factor in the expression of culture or civilisation.
In India we have various linguistic states. In one way, we may say each state has its own culture—though not in essence, at least in details. In essence, we have one single culture from Kanyakumari to the Himalayas, which is why we always speak of Bharatiya samskriti, Indian culture; but in minute details, we differ. Hence, when we speak of culture or civilisation, we have to take it in generality as well as in particularity.
Sometimes differences arise among people due to their behaviour, which may appear to be perfectly recognised and valid from their own point of view—from the standpoint of their own culture and civilisation—but may be odd in another atmosphere. Our dress in India is an incoherent cynosure in a country like Britain, for instance; and to us, British or European dress looks something quite different from the way in which we would like to dress ourselves. Now, does dress make a culture, does language make a culture, or does the way of worshipping of God make a culture? What is culture?
If we go threadbare into this problem of culture and civilisation, we will find that it is not one, two or three things, but it is everything that acts as the warp and woof in this fabric of one's life, and a total adjustability of the human group may perhaps be called for in the expression of a culture. When a person speaks sweetly, behaves politely, and expresses a generous feeling of charitableness, one feels that the person is cultured or civilised. We generally speak of a person as cultured when there is a charitable expression on the part of that person in regard to others in feeling, in words, and in outward conduct. But while we may regard this standard of judgement of culture and civilisation as something very beautiful, almost approximating perfection, we have to go a little deeper into the causes that motivate the behaviour of a person in this manner.
Why should one be impelled to speak sweetly to another? Though we may accept that speaking sweetly is a part of cultured behaviour, what is it that prompts a person to speak sweetly to another person? If it is selfishness, exploitation—to utilise that person in some manner by hooking that individual—then sweet speaking would not be a part of culture. It would be a dramatic, deceptive attitude, and we cannot regard sweet speech as a part of culture. Therefore, merely speaking sweetly is not a part of culture; there is something else behind it. Even a charitable act cannot be called culture unless there is some living force behind it, because we may express a gesture of charity with a highly selfish motive. Outward actions can bear the garb of holiness, intense culture, piety and civilisation, but they may have a peculiar axe to grind, which the individual alone will know. Thus, culture is not any kind of external gesture—neither dress, nor even language.
Sometimes people base their culture on their religion, their scriptures. There are scripture-oriented religions whose adherents interpret everything in their lives from the point of view of that particular sacred text. If something is not mentioned in that text, it would not be a holy attitude. The moment they discover a statement in the text concerning a particular behaviour, it becomes sanctioned. So, the book becomes the guide. These are some of the religions we have in the world. But there are other religions which are prophet oriented. They may have no books, but they have a leader, and whatever that person says is valid and final. There is a final validity of a particular conduct, whether it receives its inspiration from a prophet or a book, and this final interpretation of the validity of the behaviour of a person or a group of people makes it impossible for mankind to have one culture and one civilisation, because it does not appear that we have only one book as our guide or only one man as our leader. Sections of people have different leaders—religious, political, and social—and different texts are regarded as holy in their own parlance.
So, how do we come to know whether a person is cultured or civilised? Civilised nations today are those who have up-to-date gadgets of physical amenities. From the point of view of the interpretation of culture as possession of the highest material instruments of action, India cannot be regarded as highly cultured because there are other countries that are more technologically advanced. If technological advancement is the sign of culture and civilisation, India lags behind. But would we say that culture is technological advancement? Certainly not! Nobody would say 'yes' to this, because something lurks within us and tells us that whatever be the might and force of the technology that we have in our hands, it may not be the criterion of our culture. We may be boorish in our outlook, notwithstanding the fact that we possess immense material wealth and tremendous technological power.
Also, wealth cannot be regarded as a sign of culture. An utterly poor person who has not even a morsel to eat may be highly cultured, and the wealthiest man may not be so. Therefore, when we study the philosophy and psychology of culture and civilisation we are in deep waters, and we would not be able to receive an immediate answer to the standard by which we can recognise the presence of culture or civilisation. It is certainly not any kind of external possession, nor does it appear simply an outward behaviour, because political tact sometimes appears to be highly cultured behaviour while it is only diplomacy, which may suddenly become a turncoat and assume a different colour. Therefore, diplomacy is not culture. | fwe2-CC-MAIN-2013-20-41497000 |
|Taekwondo Bible, Vol.2||
8. Unity of Samjae and Kang-Yu
8-3. Failure of Technique
People cannot use Taekwondo techniques although they've learned them. For they
didn't learn them exactly. For they didn't learn exact techniques. What is the
reason you don't learn exact techniques? First you don't understand the substance
of Kang-Yu, and second you have no idea of Samjae even though you understand
Kang-Yu substantially. What's the reason you don't understand the substance
of Kang-Yu? Because you only imitate the technical motions yet losing the truth
of Kang-Yu. What's the reason you have no idea of Samjae though you know Kang-Yu?
It is also because you lose its invisible foundation in the visible changes
Understanding Kang-Yu with the knowledge of Samjae and TAEKWONDO as its foundation you come to understand the importance of basics. And you also come to understand the importance of training, mental attitude, and furthermore, of the rightness in your life. The right life is the basis of the entire Taekwondo. If you ignore this fact only attached to magnificent motions you will go in vain and danger like those who have exaggerated reputation. Mencius warned of this mistake with his analogy to the water of no source. Hence saying ¡°if a thing has no source, it is like the rain water that collects after a downpour in the seventh and eighth months. It may fill all the gutters, but we can stand and wait for it to dry up. Thus a gentleman is ashamed of an exaggerated reputation.¡±2) Likewise, Taekwondo man should be ashamed of exaggerated magnificence of technique more than the firmness of basics.
To sum up, the foundation of Taekwondo technique is Kang-Yu; the foundation of Kang-Yu is Samjae; and its foundation is Ilgiyae as TAEKWONDO.3) And, the foundation of skill is basic motion; it foundation is training; and its foundation again is mental attitude. And the foundation of mental attitude is ethical(right) life. This is why we say the foundation of Taekwondo is verily ethical(right) life.
1) Diamond Sutra, 10c. ð³ÜÌ߱ؤʸ߱ ëëåýãÀßæôèïäãý. ÝÕëëñ¬ßäßæãý. ÝÕëëñ¬á¢¡¤úÅ¡¤Ú«¡¤õº¡¤Ûößæãý. | fwe2-CC-MAIN-2013-20-41499000 |
This week we started looking at elements of fiction and nonfiction. Of course, as the students compared and contrasted the two types of books, the kids quickly noticed some of the text features. I used this as a segway to introduce the text features that students in fourth grade should know such as graphs, timelines, and diagrams.
Today, the kids went on a text feature scavenger hunt. The students were to look in their own nonfiction books (that they had check out from the library or the ones that I had available in the classroom- I prefer students to have a book on a topic they are interested in learning more about). I used The Shabby Chic Teacher's nonfiction text features unit (freebie-check it out) to show examples of text features on the Promethean Board.
Here are some of my kiddos on their text feature scavenger hunt.
After all of the kids have finished, the kids traded books with a friend and they checked their friend's work. The kids LOVED this activity! When the kids were leaving my class, they made comments like, "Mrs. Shelby, the activity today was SO much fun!" That's always a good thing to hear! :)
So, that's what we have been up to in my fourth grade reading class. Do you have any awesome strategies you use to review/teach text features? | fwe2-CC-MAIN-2013-20-41503000 |
EDITOR’S NOTE: We’re proud to announce the launch of our newest state chapter – the Kentucky Tenth Amendment Center!
by Michael Maharrey, Kentucky Tenth Amendment Center
Welcome to the Kentucky chapter of the 10th Amendment Center.
The principle is simple. It is not radical or extremist, nor should it be controversial. The founders of the United States clearly intended a federal government with defined and limited power. The bulk of governance was meant to happen at the state and local level. The 10th Amendment in the Bill of Rights reaffirms this principle in the simplest of language.
“The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people.â€
Simple. Straight forward. No need for complicated exegesis or convoluted interpretation.
James Madison expanded the idea, writing in Federalist No. 45.
“The powers delegated by the proposed Constitution to the federal government are few and defined. Those which are to remain in the State governments are numerous and indefinite. The former will be exercised principally on external objects, as war, peace, negotiation and foreign commerce; with which the last the power of taxation will for the most part be connected. The powers reserved to the several States will extend to all objects which, in the ordinary course of affairs, concern the lives, liberties and properties of the people, and the internal order, improvement and prosperity of the State.â€
The foundation of our country was not laid on empty political theory. It was born from a deep understanding of the danger of concentrated power. As George Washington said, “Government is not reason; it is not eloquent; it is force. Like fire, it is a dangerous servant and a fearful master.â€
Or as Gerald Ford put it some 200 years later, “A government big enough to give you everything you want is a government big enough to take from you everything you have.â€
Most people intuitively understand that the danger of power increases at higher levels of government. Most citizens understand that state and local leaders are more accountable to those they represent at state and local levels. What does Nancy Pelosi care about the coal miner in eastern Kentucky? Kentuckians understand the potential tyranny of unbridled federal power. Our founders certainly understood and created a brilliant system to keep government power in check.
It takes only a quick scan of the news headlines to see that the current system of government in the United States bears little resemblance to what the framers of the Constitution intended.
In the 1990s, the American people cleaned house in Washington D.C. Republicans swept into power promising to limit government, slash spending, cut earmarks and reform government. Instead, “We the People†got more of the same. More big spending. More federal programs. More favors for special interests. More expanding bureaucracy.
In 2008, Pres. Obama took office promising “hope and change.†Instead, he and the Democrats in power doubled down.
Clearly, to solution doesn’t lie in sending different breeds of politician to Washington. Yes, we want to elect candidates to federal office who respect the Constitutional limits of their power. But we the people of Kentucky must insist, through our state government, that we will not accept any more unconstitutional governance from the feds. We must use our power to nullify unconstitutional law and render impotent federal power grabs. We must wean ourselves from the federal trough and stop allowing Washington to control Frankfort via a carrot and stick approach.
The process won’t be easy. The federal government has grown far beyond its intended role and years will likely pass before we can reestablish a proper balance. But we must start now. We must stand together as Kentuckians and fight for what’s best for the Commonwealth of Kentucky. We must demand our liberties and stand up for the Constitution that unites us as a nation.
It is up to us. We the People. Government serves us, not the other way around. | fwe2-CC-MAIN-2013-20-41508000 |
A while back, 1863, actually, in San Jose, California, citizens and business people got together to build a railroad from San Jose north to San Francisco.
At the time, the only transportation available to span the 50 miles between the two cities (although San Jose wasn’t really large enough to be called a city) was by wagon or by steamship. So farmers bringing produce and animals to market in San Francisco or people having business in one of the cities or just visiting, had to put up with the steamship’s all-day transit time, or several days travel by wagon.
And at the time it was being planned and built there was a large amount of criticism of the railroad plan from different groups: farmers complained that the train would disrupt farming; steamship and stagecoach lines complained about the competition; and many folks complained that the price ($7 million) was just too high and the train would never make any money.
And all of these groups were a little bit right and quite a bit wrong. After the railroad, named the San Francisco & San Jose Railroad, was put into operation, the horses and cattle in the farms along the route were spooked for a short time until they got used to the trains, then they settled down and things went back to normal.
The $5 dollar fare (one way) charged by the railroad was half the fare charged by the steamship lines, who cut their fare down to $5 to try to compete, then dropped the passenger business altogether because the railroad had siphoned off nearly all the passengers.
The railroad proved to be so successful that more locomotives and cars were ordered, and thanks to prudent management, the railroad repaid its initial investment and soon was making a profit.
An added and unforeseen benefit was the creation and growth of many small towns along the route. And when the First Transcontinental Railroad was finished in 1869, San Jose and all the farms and people served by the San Francisco & San Jose Railroad had themselves, their commerce, their mail, and their information connected to the rest of the United States.
And the railroad, known today as Cal Train, has run every day since 1863 between San Jose and San Francisco. It still runs several times a day, with Amtrak providing passenger services under contract. The fare is a little higher now, though, as you might expect: one-way costs $8.75.
What keeps this from being just another nostalgia story is that some of the same arguments are being raised by some of the same groups about another railroad, the proposed High Speed Train Project.
Initially, this service will run all-electric, 1,000-passenger trains (about the same passenger capacity as Amtrak’s Coast Starlight and Southwest Chief) between Fresno and Los Angeles at over 200 miles per hour, covering the 225-mile distance in about an hour and a half. Later on, a leg from San Francisco and one from Sacramento will be added.
Having a regularly-scheduled high speed train service will put California’s transportation system on a par with countries like Argentina, Belgium, China, France, Morocco, South Korea, and Taiwan; all of which (along with several others) use a high-speed electric rail system to move their citizens and visitors around.
As with the San Francisco & San Jose Railroad in 1863, farm groups are opposing high speed rail. They argue that the train will disrupt farming. As before, they are probably right, in the short run. Then, as before, the animals and people will get used to the trains and things will settle down.
Transportation companies worried about the competition from the high-speed train may have reason to, at least in some cases. When France inaugurated its TGV (Train à Grande Vitesse, literally, high-speed train) system in 1981, the decision was made to keep fares on par with conventional rail travel, to avoid the Concorde effect where only the wealthy could ride.
Currently there is rail service on the Fresno-to-Los Angeles route via Amtrak’s San Joaquin; this will take you from Fresno to Los Angeles for $34 if you don’t mind spending four and a half hours on the trip and making part of it by bus.
Flying is another option. Several airlines provide service. Flying shortens the trip to about an hour and a half, not counting the time spent navigating all of the airport checkpoints; and costs about $200 one way. It also sets you down at LAX, about 20 miles from Downtown LA; not helpful if your destination is any of the government or entertainment venues.
The groups basing their opposition to a California high speed rail system on the costs have a valid point, but as the San Francisco & San Jose Railroad and other systems have shown, prudent management can enable California’s high speed train to recoup its costs and operate at a profit.
Using the French railway system as an example, their TGV has enabled the system to show an annual profit of €1.1 billion ($1.75 billion), moving over 100 million passengers a year; over 2 billion passengers (over 7 billion in Japan) since the trains were put into service.
And then there are the bonuses. Rather than just trains, think of the High Speed Rail more like part of our Interstate Highway system. Based on the history of the Interstate System and the history of railroads like the San Francisco & San Jose, people will begin traveling more because they can. It will now be easy for people in the Central Valley to come into Los Angeles to see a sports event or a concert, shop, have dinner, catch a connecting Amtrak to Chicago or San Diego, or just ride the train.
And zipping legally through the picturesque Central Valley at over 200 miles sounds exciting just by itself.
And all of this: the convenience, the jobs, the business boosts, and—OK, the excitement– is all ready to go. All it requires is a few people to put partisanship aside and give some thought to the benefits for so many people and businesses.
Posted: Thursday, 5 July 2012
Look, Boss, The Train is a post from: LA Progressive | fwe2-CC-MAIN-2013-20-41514000 |
Storrs - The March 2010 floods in southeastern Connecticut and Rhode Island are part of a new pattern of extreme rainfall events in New England that is likely to continue as the region becomes warmer and wetter with climate change.
So said David Vallee, lead hydrologist at the National Weather Service's Northeast River Forecast Center in Taunton, Mass., during the keynote address at the Connecticut Conference on Natural Resources at the University of Connecticut on Monday.
"I believe we are now seeing the impact of a warming climate in the intensity of storms and the blocking up of multiple weather events in succession," Vallee said to an audience of about 270 gathered in the Student Union.
Tropical plumes are carrying slow-moving "atmospheric rivers" of rainfall to the Northeast with historic frequency and intensity, he said, as more moisture is carried over land as average temperatures rise.
"We are just not cold anymore," he said, showing a graph of rising average winter termperatures over the last two decades.
He traced the beginning of the pattern of annual floods in New England to twin flooding events in October 2005 that caused deaths and dam failures in southeastern New Hampshire and eastern Massachusetts. Next came the May 2006 floods in the Merrimack Valley in Massachusetts, then the April 2007 floods in New Hampshire and Maine, and the 2008 deluge in northern Maine and Quebec.
"This was an area with a very infrequent flood history," Vallee said, showing photos of a town in Quebec under water. "Then in 2010, it hit my hometown."
On the projector were photos of floodwaters lapping the roof of the Warwick, R.I., mall and another scene of a nearby flooded downtown showing the Catholic church where Vallee was confirmed as a boy. This was followed the next year by record flooding in the Lake Champlain region of New York state and Vermont, only to be repeated in the fall of 2012 when Hurricane Irene brought destructive floods to other sections of the Green Mountain state.
Small watersheds of about 75 to 230 square miles are more vulnerable compared to large watersheds, he said, because of fewer large flood-control structures and development patterns that have sent runoff to rivers more quickly.
"We are extremely vulnerable before the spring green-up and just after the fall leaf-out," he said.
The increased intensity of flooding, Vallee said, has widespread implications for land-use and infrastructure decisions. Many existing culverts, bridges and dams were built based on what are now outdated assumptions, he said. Flood plains where development is discouraged may have to be expanded.
"What we built for in the '60s may be grossly undersized because we are wetter," he said. | fwe2-CC-MAIN-2013-20-41517000 |
Their 2011 Human Development Report is out and you can download a copy from their website in a wide variety of languages. Their emphasis this year is on "Sustainability and Equity" - not just for the living but for the yet to be born:
This year we explore the intersections between environmental sustainability and equity, which are fundamentally similar in their concern for distributive justice. We value sustainability because future generations should have at least the same possibilities as people today. Similarly, all inequitable processes are unjust: people’s chances at better lives should not be constrained by factors outside their control. Inequalities are especially unjust when particular groups, whether because of gender, race or birthplace, are systematically disadvantaged.
Sustainable human development is the expansion of the substantive freedoms of people today while making reasonable efforts to avoid seriously compromising those of future generations.
The World Development Report 2012 from the World Bank is good one to read in conjunction with the UNDP report. Their focus this year is on "Gender Equality and Development." As much as we like to cite extraordinary progress in developed countries to reduce gender inequality, women are still "systematically disadvantaged" in many parts of the world. Here is Ana Revenga explaining why this is not just an issue of basic fairness (equity) but an economic issue: | fwe2-CC-MAIN-2013-20-41518000 |
It is imperative that children learn a second language in today’s society. It raises cultural awareness and appreciation in our world. There are also many educational benefits to learning another language, which leads toward greater achievement in other subject areas. Learning a second language is a valuable skill for any child’s future. We live in a highly populated Spanish speaking area and I want my daughter to be able to communicate with everyone in her community. My goal is to cultivate a strong desire for her to become a lifelong learner of the Spanish language. Therefore, we began introducing foreign language studies at a very young age.
I received the Spanish for You! Fiestas Curriculum Package to review which is a unique Spanish program created by Debbie Annett. It was developed for use in either the homeschool environment or for classroom purposes. Debbie Annett has been a Spanish educator for more than 13 years, teaching children in first grade through high school. She has worked with homeschool families over the years. Spanish for You! follows a thematic or unit study approach unlike any traditional textbook approach that I have seen. This product is suitable for children in 3rd-8th grade. The curriculum teaches receptive language skills such as listening and reading while slowly engaging the child in expressive skills such as speaking and writing. Debbie has experienced success in the classroom with teaching children how these components work well together leading towards a better understanding of the language. The curriculum is based upon a combination of different foreign language approaches including but not limited to TPR (Total Physical Response), the Natural Approach, and traditional Direct Instruction methods.
I received the 45-page soft cover book with a stapled binding in hard copy format along with downloadable zip files in PDF and MP3 format. You will need a program that reads MP3 audio files and updated version of Adobe Reader. The curriculum includes clear audio files of the book read aloud by Señora Debbie. The PDF files consist of leveled self-checking worksheets and three leveled lesson guides. The archived worksheet file contains numerous practice sheets including the following formats: fill in the blank, word search, matching, write to respond, circle the correct answer, copywork, scrambled words, drawings, chart completions, tic-tac-toe boards, and the ever so popular question and answer format. You can try sample curriculum worksheets and mini lessons online. The lesson guides are organized into three grade levels 3-4, 5-6, and 7-8 each level progresses in difficulty. The worksheets are organized by lesson noting the appropriate grade level in the title. The higher-grade level material leans more on the writing and reading intensive side requiring more independent thinking and less parental assistance. The Fiestas lesson guide lasts 30 weeks for grades 3-4 and 24 weeks for grades 5-8 meaning one book covers an entire school year’s worth of lessons.
There are currently two books to choose from including Fiestas and Estaciones. The books can be completed in any order. Another book, Viajes, is in the works and trial weeks are available to purchase on their website. I used this product on a MAC computer with Safari as my Internet browser and iTunes to listen to the MP3 audio files. Make sure you familiarize yourself with MP3 reader so that you can pause lessons when necessary. I was unable to pause the audio in the beginning until I actually took the time to learn more about iTunes. This curriculum and its components will also work on a PC computer.
Bonus support materials are included in this package. You will receive black and white flashcard illustrations and audio files of the book read aloud by a native speaker. This enables the child to hear the pronunciation and dialect of a native speaker at a faster pace. The flashcard pictures are utilized quite often during game time and interactive vocabulary lessons. Black and white illustrations limit the amount of ink used while offering children the option of coloring them. The bonus flashcards saved us so much time because she didn’t have to draw every picture, which would have taken my detail-oriented daughter a lot of time to complete. The illustrations enable the child to connect the meaning to the word. In addition to all the material and bonuses, everyone has access to the website which is chock-full of a variety of game ideas requiring minimal, if any, prep work. The materials needed are most likely already in your home. Many games found on the website are interwoven in the book’s lessons. Several additional games can be found on the website. All games are complete with printable instructions. I was thrilled to see that many of the games include variations or alternate methods to play. These suggestions make it possible to differentiate learning on another level. The games captured my daughter’s attention. Her favorite games were Memory, Hangman, Bingo, Cual Falta?, Frio y Caliente, Burbujas, and the Listen and Draw Activity. We could easily switch out one game for another if too many people were required to play a particular game.
The lessons are divided into five topics or fiesta units each covering a different cultural component relevant to Spanish-speaking countries: The Birthday Party, Day of the Dead, Carnival, Holy Week, and April Fair. The curriculum scope and sequence is quite impressive covering the basics such as the alphabet, numbers, commands, and common words or phrases related to the celebrations studied. The curriculum also covers more advanced concepts such as verb conjugates, demonstrative adjectives, possessives adjectives, definite articles, plural forms, adjectives, direct object pronouns, personal pronouns, present progressive, and comparing objects. Each lesson introduces a new set of vocabulary terms, verbs, and focuses on several grammar concepts. The guide contains suggestions for making and practicing flashcards in a more interactive manner while playing purposeful games to help children learn Spanish naturally. There were optional extension activities or projects included in the guide that enrich the study such as making sugar skulls, creating a Day of the Dead altar, making Day of the Dead flowers, and creating a small piñata filled with candies. These activities make the vocabulary learned more meaningful to the child.
It is intended that Spanish for You! be used four times per week for 10-30 minutes each day. Each cultural unit included weekly guides that were broken down into four days so the parent or student knows what must be covered every day. The author suggests that the lessons could be done twice a week if necessary and even once a week in a co-op setting. One thing I loved about the curriculum was the flexibility. You set the schedule by deciding how long your child will study Spanish and how many days per week. You can tailor the curriculum to meet the needs of your children. Some days we completed four lessons a week and other days we extended lessons. The lessons presented in the book spiral and must be followed sequentially (in the order presented) since the lessons build on one another. For example, while learning about The Day of the Dead previously learned vocabulary and skills from the birthday lessons were reiterated and continuously reinforced throughout the book. We used the lesson guide and worksheets meant for children in 3rd - 4th grade as indicated in the guide with an occasional adaptation for my four-year-old daughter. My husband also participated in a few lessons. As much as my husband wanted to continue the lessons, he couldn’t due to schedule conflicts. He believes that the curriculum would serve as a great self-study or introductory program to use in the future preparing him for more difficult courses down the road.
The curriculum is adaptable and can be easily modified for younger children. The author’s expectation for younger children is exposure and not necessarily mastery. Grammar concepts will be gently introduced but your child will need ample amount of time to master the grammar concepts. The lessons can be spread out over a longer period, you can do less or more writing, play more games, have them listen to the audio more often than scheduled, lessons or responses can be verbalized, or you can require the child to verbalize their responses instead of writing them. The parent can also make the flashcards instead of requiring younger children to handwrite them. If your child has the ability to write independently, keep in mind that the more you do for children, the less they will absorb on their own. Making the flashcards enhances the writing aspect of the curriculum. My daughter, even though very young, was able to make the flash cards. It took much longer than expected, but she had pride in making the materials herself and she was able to practice her writing skills. Creating the flashcards without assistance helped her remember the meanings of the words associated with the illustrations.
The short, quick lessons worked well in our homeschool environment. My daughter was learning and retaining the vocabulary words and phrases each week before moving on to the next lesson. The repetitiveness and built-in review was beneficial and allowed her to master the lesson’s vocabulary in a short amount of time. Several of the concepts were review for my daughter but with young children repetition helps solidify learning. I appreciated the emphasis on the cultural components and traditions. It is difficult to find a Spanish curriculum that teaches authentic information and vocabulary related to the culture of Spanish speaking individuals while still covering pronunciation, grammar, spelling, vocabulary, syntax, and more. I also noticed that my daughter attempted to speak Spanish more often in public beginning conversations with employees at restaurants and in stores.
The guide indicates that the worksheets and audio files are clearly labeled yet I found it difficult at times locating the worksheet material necessary for each lesson. I think the worksheet files could be more organized for the user and easier to locate if grade levels are separated into individual folders. It is also easier to locate materials when files match the text order exactly eliminating the need to search through each lesson reading every worksheet title to find the worksheet necessary. Having flashcards that contain the words and text would enable younger children to participate in lessons while reducing the time spent creating them. This gives parents the option to differentiate by having their children handwrite or print the cards depending on their age or grade level. Several games may be more appropriate for larger families with multiple children such as “Around the World.” These games might need game substitutions or modifications for families with only one child. The audio files were occasionally too fast for my daughter. I do wish the curriculum included posters, recipes, more craft ideas, game boards and templates, verb charts, library literature suggestions, maps, video clips, internet links to meaningful content, and more songs with lyrics. Singing Spanish songs was one of my fondest memories when learning Spanish in middle school and high school. You will also need to spend some time researching books and online resources to supplement the cultural component of the curriculum. I prefer these resources to be readily available within the curriculum for ease of use. There is, however, a short informative blurb about each celebration at the beginning of the guide. The parent should encourage and practice conversational skills several times throughout the day utilizing the vocabulary otherwise the speaking activities are limited in the book. The book does contain conversation activities that exhibit the child’s understanding and speaking skills through dialogue also known as question and answer format.
Spanish for You! is a reasonably priced curriculum compared to other curricula on the market costing merely $64.95 for the complete package designed for 3rd-8th grade students. It is also now available as split grade level packages for $39.95 making it even more affordable and valuable for families with multiple children working at the same grade level. Purchasing all the grade levels at once is obviously more cost-efficient in the long run. Furthermore, the recent budget-friendly price arrangement meets the needs of families with fewer children wanting to try a new curriculum or approach while limiting the cost up front.
I recommend Spanish for You! to families looking for a kid-friendly, step-by-step Spanish language curriculum that allows for a more independent study approach with a manageable pace and workload. In fact, I was not as involved as I usually like to be in the lessons; I actually felt more like a facilitator and partner game player. The parent can guide the child or participate more depending on their circumstances. This product can be used with homeschool families that have very minimal, if any, background with the language. You do not need to speak or know Spanish to use this curriculum. The audio teaches proper pronunciation allowing the parent to learn the language with their children. This curriculum could definitely be used in a group setting including classrooms (private and public), co-op groups, after school care, or possibly in a tutoring setting. I do feel that individuals using a Charlotte Mason or unit study teaching approach may find this curriculum of ideal interest. The lessons are short and the topics are studied using a thematic unit approach based on cultural elements. The curriculum addresses a variety of learning modalities making the curriculum more usable to families because not all children in the same family have the same learning style or preferences. Overall, this one-year curriculum was well written and is a good value for the price. My daughter shocked me with her intense participation and the delight she had towards this curriculum. She was responsive, engaged in the activities, and learned essential Spanish that will hopefully help her gain fluency. | fwe2-CC-MAIN-2013-20-41519000 |
How to make a vegetable patch with children so that they can grow and harvest their own food!
Here’s what we did:
On the opposite side of the lawn to the play garden, my wonderful Dad and brother dug out a semi-circular patch from the grass and turned over the soil to loosen it up. We mixed in a whole bag of compost enriched with natural nutrients and turned them over together to mix them.
Next, the girls helped me to dig some little holes around the outside edge and we planted a border of box hedges. These will grow together to create a bushy, neat border if we keep them trimmed, and can even be shaped in a few years time! (Thanks to my wonderfully green-fingered friend Tineke for this lovely idea!)
Then they helped dig some more holes and we planted some vegetable plants that we bought at the garden centre. We planted broad beans, runner beans, peas, gourds and wildflowers. They stuck some bamboo canes into the ground as future supports for the climbers and as they start to grow we will secure them.
Right next to this patch we have a nectarine tree and a Cox’s Orange Pippin apple tree, so those are being treated as part of the same area.
Pop was very enthusiastic and managed to break one of the fragile plants, but she learned along the way and ended up being extremely careful after she realised what had happened. She patted the soil around the tops with a flattened hand and asked for “more, more!”
Once in we set about giving hem a good drink of water. We have a hose pipe ban in the Southern UK at the moment, so we used the watering can instead. Great for problem solving and gross motor co-ordination!
All planted and refreshed, waiting to start growing!
We added some colourful pinwheels to help scare the birds away and also, just to look beautiful! Pop enjoyed blowing them to make them spin.
I drew the other plants that we had planted, including some wild poppies, and we laminated all of the labels and stuck them onto green lolly sticks with tape.
When they were done the girls them stuck them into the ground in the appropriate spots. They are watering their patch each day, taking it in turns to do each row, and patently waiting to see the first fruits of their labours!
If these are successful we will talk about what they want to grow next and try something new!
If you’d like more ideas, Sun Hats and Wellie Boots has a wonderful post about tips for gardening with young kids. Well worth a look!
- knowledge and understanding of the world: growing plants, life cycles, what is needed to keep a plant alive, food comes from plants, edible and non-edible, seeds/roots/shoots/leaves/stem etc
- literacy: use marks and letters to attribute meaning, understand what a label is for, recognise familiar words in the environment
- creativity: drawing from observation
- physical: gross motor skills and co-ordination through digging, watering, patting etc | fwe2-CC-MAIN-2013-20-41520000 |
Painting is often good therapy, but you can kick it up a notch by using marshmallows as the painting tool. You can grade the type of grip used by using the large marshmallows or the mini marshmallows.
You can use regular paint on paper and just dip the marshmallow in and make designs on the paper.
I decided to try a fully edible painting activity since our painting tools were edible. I used powdered Jello with a little water added as the paint. Our “paper” was sugar cookies.
This is a good activity for kids who avoid foods. Playing with food as a toy is a good way to get kids accustomed to being around different foods. Using the tiny marshmallows helps with achieving a tip pinch, and works on developing a tripod grasp for handwriting.
- Marshmallows (large and mini)
- Paint or Jello
- Paper or sugar cookies
**** I often will link to things on Amazon. These are usually affiliate links that will pay me a couple of dollars if you happen to buy something while there. Any money made through the Amazon links goes back into this site and helps us keep it going. Thank You. | fwe2-CC-MAIN-2013-20-41529000 |
Wind Could Power the World
Studies: Wind potentially could power the world
AP : By Seth Borenstein, AP Science Writer
Earth has more than enough wind to power the entire world, at least technically, two new studies find.
But the research looks only at physics, not finances. Other experts note it would be too costly to put up all the necessary wind turbines and build a system that could transmit energy to all consumers.
The studies are by two different U.S. science teams and were published in separate journals on Sunday and Monday. They calculate that existing wind turbine technology could produce hundreds of trillions of watts of power. That’s more than 10 times what the world now consumes.
Wind power doesn’t emit heat-trapping gases like burning coal, oil and natural gas. But there have been questions, raised in earlier studies, about whether physical limits would prevent the world from being powered by wind.
The new studies, done independently, showed potential wind energy limits wouldn’t be an issue.
Money would be.
“It’s really a question about economics and engineering and not a question of fundamental resource availability,” said Ken Caldeira, a climate scientist at the Palo Alto, Calif., campus of the Washington-based Carnegie Institution for Science. He is a co-author of one of the studies; that one appeared Sunday in the journal Nature Climate Change.
Caldeira’s study finds wind has the potential to produce more than 20 times the amount of energy the world now consumes. Right now, wind accounts for just a tiny fraction of the energy the world consumes. So to get to the levels these studies say is possible, wind production would have to increase dramatically.
If there were 100 new wind turbines for every existing one, that could do the trick says, Mark Jacobson, a Stanford University professor of civil and environmental engineering.
Jacobson wrote the other study, published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. It shows a slightly lower potential in the amount of wind power than Caldeira’s study. But he said it still would amount to far more power than the world now uses is or is likely to use in the near future.
Jacobson said startup costs and fossil fuel subsidies prevent wind from taking off. The cheap price of natural gas, for one thing, hurts wind development, he added.
Henry Lee, a Harvard University environment and energy professor who used to be energy chief for the state of Massachusetts, said there a few problems with the idea of wind powering the world. The first is the cost is too high.
Furthermore, all the necessary wind turbines would take up too much land and require dramatic increases in power transmission lines, he said.
Jerry Taylor, an energy and environmental analyst at the conservative Cato Institute, said the lack of economic reality in the studies made them “utterly irrelevant.”
Caldeira acknowledged that the world would need to change dramatically to shift to wind.
“To power civilization with wind turbines, I think you’re talking about a couple wind turbines every square mile,” Caldeira said. “It’s not a small undertaking.”
- The journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences: http://www.pnas.org
- Nature Climate Change: http://www.nature.com/nclimate | fwe2-CC-MAIN-2013-20-41533000 |
Over 8,000 websites created by students around the world who have participated in a ThinkQuest Competition.
Compete | FAQ | Contact Us
Stop Bullying Now!
Students explore ways to increase awareness of bullying by creating an educational web site. Information within the site includes advice and tips to prevent bullying, audio and written summaries of recommended books, an illustrated storybook about bullying, a slideshow, games, and print-outs.
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Social Sciences & Culture | fwe2-CC-MAIN-2013-20-41538000 |
A fossilised little finger discovered in a cave in the mountains of southern Siberia belonged to a young girl from an unknown group of archaic humans, scientists say.
The missing human relatives are thought to have inhabited much of Asia as recently as 30,000 years ago, and so shared the land with early modern humans and Neanderthals.
The finding paints a complex picture of human history in which our early ancestors left Africa 70,000 years ago to rub shoulders with other distant relatives in addition to the stocky, barrel-chested Neanderthals.
The new ancestors have been named “Denisovans” after the Denisova cave in the Altai mountains of southern Siberia where the finger bone was unearthed in 2008.
A “Denis” is thus a member of an archaic human subspecies. | fwe2-CC-MAIN-2013-20-41544000 |
Pick up any 40-year-old science textbook – on chemistry, biology, geology, physics, astronomy or medicine – and you’ll find a slew of “facts” and theories that have been proven wrong or are no longer the “consensus” view. Climatology is no exception.
Back in the 1970s, many scientists warned of global cooling – and fretted that a new ice age brought on by fossil fuel use would cause glaciers to expand, wreaking havoc. They predicted every conceivable disaster, short of roving herds of wooly mammoths stampeding through ice-covered streets. (The possibility of cloning a well-preserved mammoth could buttress the next scary ice age scenario.)
Newsweek’s 1975 cover story “The Cooling World” breathlessly reported that, “after three quarters of a century of extraordinarily mild conditions, the earth's climate seems to be cooling down.” Meteorologists are “almost unanimous” that the trend will “reduce agricultural productivity for the rest of the century,” it intoned, and “the resulting famines could be catastrophic.”
The CIA, NASA, National Academy of Sciences and many news organizations issued similar alarums.Dr. John Holdren, now President Obama’s science adviser, joined Population Bomb author Paul Ehrlich in penning an essay that warned: “The effects of a new ice age on agriculture and the supportability of large human populations scarcely need elaboration here. Even more dramatic results are possible, however; for instance, a sudden outward slumping in the Antarctic ice cap, induced by added weight, could generate a tidal wave of proportions unprecedented in recorded history.”
The Chicken Little ice age never arrived. Instead, the new “consensus” view is that our planet now faces fossil-fuel-induced catastrophic global warming. A 2006 Newsweek story conceded that its ice age theme had been “spectacularly wrong.” But the admission came amid decades of Newsweek, Time and even BusinessWeek and National Geographic stories about an imminent global warming “apocalypse.”
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Fox News' Roger Ailes: Administration's Excuses Won't Work, Americans Died For Press Freedom | Katie Pavlich | fwe2-CC-MAIN-2013-20-41549000 |
Political parties are crucial for democratic politics; thus, the growing incidence of party and party system failure raises questions about the health of representative democracy the world over. This article examines the collapse of the Venezuelan party system, arguably one of the most institutionalized party systems in Latin America, by examining the individual-level basis behind the exodus of partisans from the traditional parties. Multinomial logit analysis of partisan identification in 1998, the pivotal moment of the system’s complete collapse, indicates that people left the old system and began to support new parties because the traditional parties failed to incorporate and give voice to important ideas and interests in society while viable alternatives emerged to fill this void in representation.
Morgan, Jana, "Partisanship During the Collapse Venezuela's Party System" (2007). Political Science Publications and Other Works. | fwe2-CC-MAIN-2013-20-41551000 |
by Anthony Davis
The Office of the President of the United Federation of Planets was created in 2184, at the same time as the ratification of the Federation Constitution. Prior to that time, the Federation government had no centralized executive authority, and while a “president” did exist to preside over the Council, which was at that time a unicameral legislature, he/she had no real power. With the emerging threat posed by the Klingon Empire in the period following the founding of the Federation in 2161, as well as the struggles in maintaining order and cohesion under this weak system of government, the Federation’s leaders decided that a stronger, more effective government was necessary to accomplish the goals for which the Federation had been created. Thus, in 2183 representatives from the Federation’s six charter member worlds met in the city of San Francisco, California on Earth and drafted the Federation Constitution, which, besides guaranteeing certain basic rights to Federation citizens, also created a centralized bicameral parliamentary system of government that included an official head of state, the Federation President.
Although the chambers of the Upper House of the Federation Council were located in San Francisco, the Executive Office of the President was headquartered on the top floor the Palais de la Concorde in Paris, France; this was to make it more difficult for the entire Federation government to be destroyed in the event of an attack on Earth by a hostile alien force, as well as to facilitate the passage of legislation down from the President to the Lower House of the Federation Council, which was located on the bottom floor of the Palais. In accordance with Article II of the Federation Constitution, any Federation Citizen over the age of 30 could be elected president, although the Upper House of the Council usually chose one of its own for the office. The president served as head of state as well as chief diplomat of the Federation government; however, he/she was still technically a part of the Council, since the Federation operated under a unitary, parliamentary system of government. The President could be removed from office with a vote of no-confidence by a majority of the Upper House of the Council, although this only actually occurred once in the entire history of the Federation. Aside from that, there was no fixed limit on how many years a single individual could or must serve as president, and indeed, several Federation presidents served for twenty years or longer. However, elections in the Federation had to occur at least once every five years, due to a five-year limit on how long any government could stay in power.
The first Federation President, former Starfleet captain Jonathan Archer, was elected in 2184 and served an eight-year term that ended in 2192. Archer had played a critical role in the creation of the Federation as well as its wartime predecessor, the Coalition of Planets, and was considered to be the Federation’s most preeminent founding father. During Archer’s presidency, the New World Economy came into effect, resulting in the abolition of the ownership of private property and the severe restriction of the use of money in the Federation. The Council established a 100% tax on the income of all citizens, then allocated resources, goods, services, and property through the use of a system of Federation “credits” that were rationed out on the basis of need as well as one’s perceived relative importance to society.
Initially, the New World Economy was extremely controversial, and a number of worlds attempted to secede from the Federation in response to its implementation. In order to prevent the dissolution of the Federation, Archer dispatched a Starfleet militia—led by Garth of Izar, a prominent Starfleet captain who had served in the Romulan War—to force the rebels to surrender and accept the authority of the new Federation government. In 2187, Garth of Izar defeated the rebel forces at the Battle of Axanar, thereby solidifying the Council’s authority over the Federation’s member worlds and ensuring that the Federation would persevere for the next two centuries.
The tenth Federation President, former Human ambassador Hiram Roth, served the longest term of any person ever to hold the office, from 2264 to 2287. During his presidency, Roth presided over the single greatest period of expansion in the Federation’s history. The first two five-year missions of the USS Enterprise under the command of Captain (later Admiral) James T. Kirk occurred during this period, as a result of which the Federation made first contact with over one hundred new civilizations, many of which went on to apply for Federation membership. The Federation also faced a number of significant external threats during this period, including the re-emergence of the Romulans from their century-long period of isolation and an intense and volatile cold war with the Klingon Empire. Twice during Roth’s presidency, Earth was thrown into a state of planetary emergency: first when the entity known as V’Ger threatened to destroy the planet, and again when the Whale Probe posed a similar threat in 2286. Among the most controversial of Hiram Roth’s actions as president was the approval of Project Genesis, a terraforming device that many feared could be misused as a terrible weapon.
Of particular significance during Hiram Roth’s presidency was the Federation Supreme Court case Plasus v. Kirk, in which Plasus, the High Advisor of Stratos, the capital city of Federation member world Ardana, sued Captain James T. Kirk—and by extension, Starfleet—for the role that Kirk had played in dismantling that planet’s rigidly stratified class system, which Plasus claimed was a violation of the Prime Directive. The court however ruled in Kirk’s favor, declaring that the Prime Directive did not apply to Federation member worlds and that the government of Ardana was obligated to provide each and every one of its citizens with equal protection under the law and all of the rights guaranteed to them in the Federation Constitution. Although this ruling resulted in positive social change in favor of the oppressed Troglyte citizens of Ardana, it also greatly increased the power of the Federation’s central government over its member worlds, to the point where the last remnants of internal autonomy among the member worlds was permanently erased.
The eleventh Federation President, Ra-ghoratreii, was the first person to hold that office who was from a planet that was not one of the six charter members of the Federation (Earth, Vulcan, Andor, Tellar, Rigel, and Denobula). Ra-ghoratreii, an Efrosian, was his own race’s ambassador to the Federation Council and served as president from 2288 to 2300. Ra-ghoratreii is most noted for having negotiated the Khitomer Peace Accords with the Klingon Empire in 2291, which very nearly resulted in his assassination by a conspiracy of Klingon officers and members of Section 31. He was also president during most of the third and final five-year mission of the USS Enterprise (NCC-1701-A) under the command of Captain James T. Kirk, which led to the establishment of diplomatic relations with a number of races with whom the Federation would have extensive dealings in the 24th Century, including the Cardassians, the Talarians, and the Breen. For his many accomplishments, Ra-ghoratreii is considered to be one of the greatest presidents in Federation history and is seen as the individual who guided the Federation into the 24th Century.
The sixteenth president of the Federation, Grazerite Ambassador Jaresh-Inyo, was elected in 2367, as the Federation was still reeling from its stinging defeat by the Borg at the Battle of Wolf 359 the previous year. In stark contrast to Ra-ghoratreii, Inyo is widely regarded as one of the worst presidents in Federation history, due to his incompetence, indecisiveness, and clear lack of leadership ability, as well as a number of controversial actions taken during his presidency that had catastrophic consequences for the entire Alpha Quadrant. As a Grazerite, Inyo abhorred all forms of conflict and desperately sought to bring an end to the period of violence that the Federation had been enduring for the past several years and to usher in new era of peace and prosperity in its place. Instead, however, Inyo’s term in office was marred by increased violence, internal turmoil, the collapse of the Federation-Klingon alliance that Ra-ghoratreii had helped to create, and the overall diminshing of the Federation’s standing in the eyes of the rest of the galaxy.
Shortly after taking office, Inyo signed an armistice with the Cardassian Union, which quickly proved to be tenuous and unstable as the Cardassians demonstrated that they could not be trusted. Inyo also took a stance of official neutrality in the Klingon Civil War, forcing Captain Jean-Luc Picard of the USS Enterprise (NCC-1701-D) to undertake more surreptitious methods to ensure that the Federation’s interests were protected. When the Cardassians wihdrew from Bajor in 2369, Inyo extended the hand of friendship to the new Bajoran Provisional Government, arranging for Starfleet to take control of the former Cardassian space station in orbit of the planet, which was subsequently renamed Deep Space Nine, and for the Federation to aid the Bajorans in the rebuilding of the world, with the goal of eventually admitting Bajor as a member of the Federation. However, in 2370 Inyo signed a second treaty with the Cardassians, negotiated by Admiral Alynna Nechayev, and per the terms of this agreement, he ordered the forced relocation of Federation colonists in the newly-formed Demilitarized Zone in 2370; this action ultimately led to the Maquis Uprising, in which former Federation citizens who refused to abandon their homes in the DMZ took up arms to defend themselves against their Cardassian occupiers.
Upon the discovery of the Bajoran wormhole, Inyo, under pressure from Starfleet, authorized and encouraged the exploration of the Gamma Quadrant, with the intention of eventually establishing colonies and outposts there and expanding Federation influence into that region of space. This policy brought the Federation into direct conflict with the Dominion, which claimed suzeranity over the Gamma Quadrant and viewed the Federation’s attempts to establish a presence there as intrusive and threatening. Official first contact between the Federation and the Dominion occurred in 2370, when the USS Odyssey was destroyed by the Jem’Hadar in the Gamma Quadrant while on a mission to investigate the Dominion threat. Concurrent with this incident, a Vorta representative of the Dominion transported onto Deep Space Nine and issued an ultimatum to the Federation, demanding that they cease and desist in their efforts to explore the Gamma Quadrant or face reprisals by the Dominion. Starfleet ignored this warning and instead began preparing for war; Inyo, though at first receptive to the prospect of trying to meet the Dominion’s demands, ultimately relented under pressure from Starfleet Command and the Federation Council, who were determined not to appear to show weakness by attempting to appease the Dominion.
In 2371, following the failed attack on the Dominion Founders’ homeworld in the Gamma Quadrant by the Romulan Tal Shiar and the Cardassian Obsidian Order, the military-run government of the Cardassian Union collapsed, replaced by the democratically-elected Detapa Council. Klingon Chancellor Gowron, suspecting that the Dominion had infiltrated the new Cardassian government, launched an invasion of the Cardassian Union and requested the assistance of his Federation allies. Rather than support the Klingons however, Inyo condemned the invasion and instructed Starfleet to remain neutral in the conflict. In response, Gowron withdrew from the Khitomer Accords, destroying the Klingon-Federation alliance that had existed for almost thirty years.
In early 2372, a Changeling agent of the Dominion carried out a terrorist attack in the city of Antwerp, Belgium on Earth that killed 27 people and made Starfleet aware that the Dominion had somehow managed to infiltrate the Federation homeworld. Presented with evidence of this infiltration by Starfleet Admiral James Leyton and Captain Benjamin Sisko, Inyo reluctantly decided to declare martial law on Earth and began ordering Federation civilians and Starfleet personnel to undergo forced blood screenings to prove that they were not Changelings. In doing so, Inyo played right into the hands of Leyton, a Section 31 agent, who was plotting to overthrow the Federation’s democratically-elected government in a military coup d’etat—a plot which was later foiled by Sisko and the crew of the USS Defiant. Once the crisis was resolved, these actions scandalized Inyo’s presidency and caused massive public outcry; seeking to avoid the political fallout and in desperate need of a scapegoat, the Federation Council gave Inyo a vote of no confidence and made him the first Federation President to be forcibly removed from office.
The seventeenth president of the Federation, Bolian Ambassador Min Zife, had been one of Jaresh-Inyo’s chief political opponents in the Council and led the charge to have him removed from office after the Changeling Scare. Upon becoming president, Zife issued a formal apology to those Federation citizens who had seen their civil liberties violated by the previous administration. He then began the process of mobilizing the Federation for war against the Dominion, which had been made inevitable by his predecessor’s policies, while simultaneously contending with renewed aggression on the part of the Klingons, who declared war on the Federation in 2372, and the Borg, who launched an invasion of Sector 001 in 2373. Zife is best known as the president who guided the Federation through the Dominion War, although during this period the influence of Starfleet was so strong that the de facto leaders of the Federation were Admiral William Ross and Captain Benjamin Sisko. Zife was one of the primary signators of the Treaty of Bajor, which officially ended the Dominion War in 2375. After the war, Zife’s primary focus was on rebuilding the Federation’s defensive capability, which again included strong support for Starfleet. Also, it was during Zife’s presidency that the Federation first began to explore and attempt to extend its influence into the Beta Quadrant, incurring the resentment and hostility of many species native to that region of space, who began to see the Federation as an imperialistic and hegemonic threat to their sovereignty and the preservation of their religious and cultural identities.
One of the most controversial actions taken by the Zife administration, in conjunction with the Federation Council and certain members of Starfleet Command, was the attempt to forcibly and secretly relocate the inhabitants of the Ba’ku homeworld in the Briar Patch so that the Federation and its allies, the Son’a, would be able to exploit the rejuvenating properties of the metaphasic radiation given off by the planet’s rings. Zife and the Council determined that, because the Ba’ku already possessed warp drive (even if they chose not to use it), were not native to the planet, and numbered only around 300 people, this action did not constitute a violation of the Prime Directive and that the Federation was in its rights to remove the planet’s inhabitants so long as it was for a purpose that served “the needs of the many.” However, Captain Jean-Luc Picard and the crew of the USS Enterprise (NCC-1701-E) exposed the Federation/Son’a plot, prevented the forced relocation of the Ba’ku, and ultimately halted the Federation’s efforts to take control of the planet. Thankfully for Zife, the incident in the Briar Patch was very scarcely reported by the the government-run Federation News Service (FNS), the only mainstream media conglomerate in the Federation, and thus his popularity was not effected in any way.
One of the defining characteristics of Min Zife’s presidency was that for the first time in Federation history, a strong movement in opposition to the existing political establishment began to develop, in the form of the New Essentialists led by Pascal Fullerton. Beginning as a small group of dissidents best known for their attempt to sabotage the weather control network on Risa in 2372, the New Essentialist movement grew during and after the Dominion War, as many Federaton citizens, particularly young people, became disillusioned with the Federation and began seeking alternative lifestyles. The New Essentialists promised a return to the core values upon which the Federation had been founded, which meant, among other things, the rejection of the New World Economy in favor of a return to a capitalistic free-market system, the restoration of planetary sovereignty that had been lost since Plasus v. Kirk, and a non-interventionist foreign policy guided by a strict interpretation of the Prime Directive. By 2377, New Essentialists numbered in the millions on planets across the Federation and had become powerful enough to organize themselves into the Federation’s first true political party, the New Essentialist Party (NEP), led by Fullerton. In response, the Federation establishment created the Social Federalist Party (SFP) to represent its own values and interests and to keep the NEP from getting the upper hand and taking over the Council; the SFP chose Zife as their first leader and candidate for president in the election of 2377. Although the SFP won the election decisively, the NEP did manage to capture more than a quarter of the seats in the Federation Council; from this point forward, partisan politics would define how the Council worked, and the next president of the Federation would be known as soon as the election results came in.
In 2378, less than a year after being re-elected, Min Zife was abruptly forced to resign as President, after the Tezwa crisis scandalized his presidency and made a vote of no confidence in him by the Federation Council almost inevitable. Shortly after resigning, Zife and several other prominent figures within the Federation government were privately assassinated by agents of Section 31, while Admiral Ross watched, powerless to do anything to stop them.
The eighteenth president of the Federation, Cestan Ambassador Nanietta Bacco, succeeded Min Zife after his resignation in 2378. Bacco, the only female Federation president in the 24th Century, had considerably more executive experience than either of her two predecessors, having served as Governor of Cestus III for eleven years prior to being elected to the Federation Council. Consequently, Bacco’s administration was far more smoothly run, centralized, and efficient than that of Min Zife or Jaresh-Inyo; her imperial style and extensive delegation of responsibility mirrored that of Ra-ghoratreii, and she was initially therefore greeted with great praise and high expectations, especially after the corruption and disappointment that the previous two administrations had brought. Although Bacco maintained consistent public support during this period, the unexpectedly slow reconstruction of the Federation’s post-war infrastructure—especially in comparison to the rate at which Starfleet was rebuilt—earned her many political enemies and further fueled the rise of the New Essentialist movement.
In May of 2378, not long after Bacco’s election, the Federation celebrated a momentous and unexpected event: after seven years lost in the Delta Quadrant, the USS Voyager returned to Earth, seemingly miraculously. In the process, the crew of Voyager dealt a crippling blow to the Borg Collective, insuring that the Borg would pose no threat to the Federation for many years to come. Furthermore, Voyager brought back a number of significant technological advances from the Delta Quadrant, including replicator technology that was exponentially more efficient than that currently used by the Federation, Borg-enhanced bio-neural circuitry technology, ablative hull armor, transphasic torpedoes, and even the technology to build a rudimentary transwarp drive system. Bacco greeted Captain Kathryn Janeway in person when Voyager landed in San Francisco and presented her and the rest of her crew with commendations for their actions and their service to the Federation. However, Admiral Nechayev, fearing Janeway’s newfound popularity and still considering Voyager’s Maquis crew members to be fugitive criminals, placed Janeway under arrest shortly thereafter and quickly arranged for her and her crew to be court-martialed for the allegedly criminal actions they had committed in the Delta Quadrant.
Nechayev’s attempt to smear the reputation of the Voyager crew failed however when Lieutenant Geoffrey Henderson, a Voyager crew member who had played a critical role in the ship’s return from the Delta Quadrant and was widely regarded as a hero by the public, gave a stirring testimony in Janeway’s defense that was broadcast on the Federation News Service throughout the Federation and turned public opinion decidedly in Janeway’s favor. Based on this reaction, Bacco took the unprecedented step of intervening in an internal Starfleet disciplinary hearing, forcing Nechayev to call off the trial and granting a general pardon to all members of the Voyager crew for whatever actions they might have committed prior to entering or while in the Delta Quadrant. Nechayev begrudingly complied with the president’s demands, under the conditions that Voyager herself was to be taken out of service and transferred to the Oberon Advanced Research Facility in orbit of the planet Uranus; that none of the ship’s former Maquis crew members—including senior officers Chakotay, B’Elanna Torres, and Tom Paris—would be permitted to retain their Starfleet commissions or serve on Starfleet vessels as ranking officers again; and that Janeway would receive a promotion to the rank of vice-admiral, thereby depriving her of the opportunity to command a starship again and placing her behind a desk. Bacco and Janeway agreed to these terms, but Nechayev would nevertheless continue to harbor a deep personal resentment towards the both of them, and she would dedicate the next several years of her career to destroying them and their reputations. Meanwhile, Bacco and Janeway would go on to develop a very close relationship, with Janeway becoming the president’s most trusted advisor and confidant.
As president, Bacco’s primary focus was on continuing the rebuilding of the Federation’s defenses, namely Starfleet, and on bringing peace to a war-weary quadrant. To these ends, in 2379 Bacco signed an alliance with the Romulan Star Empire, made possible by Praetor Shinzon’s coup and subsequent defeat by Captain Jean-Luc Picard and the crew of the USS Enterprise (NCC-1701-E). A Starfleet task force, led by the USS Titan under the command of Captain William T. Riker, was assigned to assist the Romulans in the rebuilding of their society, and Sobath, the first Romulan ever to serve in Starfleet, entered the Academy in September of 2379. However, in January 2380 Bacco’s plans for achieving peace through strength were complicated by the destruction of the Romulan colony on T’Met IV, and an attack on Earth several weeks later that wiped out nearly all of the Upper House of the Federation Council. Initially, the Remans were blamed for the attacks, and so, on the advice of Admiral Janeway—who by this time had become the senior-most officer in charge of all Beta Quadrant and eastern Alpha Quadrant affairs and had originally ordered Picard and the Enterprise on the mission that led to the opening of diplomatic relations with the Romulans—Bacco authorized Starfleet to launch an invasion of Remus and to institute a regime change that would result in the establishment of a democratic government more friendly towards Federation interests. The ensuing conflict, known as the Reman War, lasted only a matter of weeks, but it resulted in a prolonged and costly occupation of Remus that would cause Bacco’s reputation to become tarnished over time.
Furthermore, an investigation by the crew of the Titan revealed that the Beta Quadrant Resistance Movement (Beta-QRM), an interstellar terrorist organization dedicated to ousting the Federation from the Beta Quadrant and establishing a theocratic “anti-Federation” in its place as a counterbalance to the Federation/Klingon/Romulan alliance, was actually responsible for the attacks on T’Met IV and on the Federation Council, and that these attacks had been the Beta-QRM’s way of making their presence known to the galaxy. This revelation threw Bacco’s entire rationale for the war into question and cost her a significant amount of trust among the Federation people, many of whom came to see the Federation occupation of Remus as a violation of the Prime Directive. There were accusations from many in the general public, particularly the New Essentialist party, that Bacco, in collusion with Janeway, had exaggerated or fabricated the threat posed by Remus as an excuse to go to war, and that their ultimate purpose was really to acquire control of that planet’s dilithium resources. Some fringe elements within the Federation even suggested that Bacco and Janeway had conspired to assassinate the Council, thereby removing the major impediment to their initiating the war. Due to these circumstances, much of the public resentment and mistrust of Starfleet and the Federation government that had been building since the Dominion War was extended to Bacco’s administration, and her popularity began to wane.
In 2381, Bacco extended a “free association” status to Bajor, whose leaders were still very wary about becoming full members of the Federation, given both the perceived threat that the Federation’s secularism posed to Bajor’s theocratic system of government and the fact that Benjamin Sisko, whom Bajorans regarded as the Emissary to their Prophets, had not yet returned from the Celestial Temple and rescinded his decree that Bajor should not join the Federation lest it be destroyed. The free association status allowed Bajor to maintain its sovereignty while creating numerous economic and political ties between Bajor and the Federation and placing Starfleet in charge of the planet’s defense. Furthermore, once the free association pact had been signed, the Bacco administration decided to outsource the responsibility for the rebuilding of Cardassia Prime to the Bajoran militia, since Starfleet’s resources were now needed elsewhere, particularly in the Beta Quadrant to deal with the growing Beta-QRM threat. Thus, in an ironic twist of fate, 13 years after the end of the 50-year-long Cardassian occupation of Bajor, the Bajorans were now occupying Cardassia.
In 2383, the SFP nominated Bacco as their candidate for president, while the NEP nominated Pascal Fullerton for a second time. Despite the failure to find any weapons of mass destruction on Remus (Nechayev had in fact arranged through Section 31 for the weapons to be removed from the planet before the Federation invasion, as part of her plan to humiliate and discredit Janeway and Bacco)—and the fact that the Federation occupation of Remus had turned into a virtual quagmire, with an ever increasing number of Starfleet officers being killed in guerrilla attacks by Reman insurgents—the Social Federalists managed, just barely, to hold on to a majority of seats in the Upper House of the Federation Council, thereby securing Bacco a second term as president. The Social Federalists did however lose control of the Lower House of the Federation Council to the New Essentialists, creating a divided government for the first time in Federation history and making it extremely difficult, if not impossible, for Bacco to get any of her agenda passed.
As the Beta-QRM gained strength and support among various rogue states opposed to the Federation throughout the Beta Quadrant, particularly during the occupation of Remus, it began conducting increasingly bold attacks against Federation colonies, outposts, and interests in that region of space. This included the attack on the USS Viking in the Phoenix Cluster in 2383, in which over 700 Starfleet personnel were killed. In 2386, the launch of the powerful battleship USS Commodore—widely perceived as an aggressive, escalatory move by Starfleet—and the subsequent violent encounters with the Remans, Dominion, and numerous other races, many of which were allied with the Beta-QRM, further reinforced the public’s perception of Bacco as a warmongering President, incompetent and out of touch, who had reneged on all the promises she made when she was originally elected to office, and whose policies had made the Federation less safe and less respected in the galaxy. Her approval rating went into a freefall, eventually sinking below 30%.
In 2388, Bacco announced that she would not seek another term as president, hoping that by doing so she would increase the chances of the Social Federalist Party retaining control of the Upper House of the Federation Council. Instead, the SFP nominated former Starfleet admiral William Ross as their candidate. Nevertheless, the New Essentialist Party soundly defeated the SFP in the Election of 2388, capturing 67% of the seats in the Lower House the Federation Council as well as 52% of the seats in the Upper House of the Federation Council. This outcome brought an end to what had in essence been 204 uninterrupted years of Social Federalist rule.
The nineteenth president of the Federation, former Human ambassador Jeremy Armstrong, was the first—and last—president elected from the New Essentialist Party, which had in the course of only 15 years grown from a small fringe movement into the dominant political force in the Federation. Armstrong was also the first Human to hold the office of President since Hiram Roth, although his tenure in the office ultimately turned out to be far shorter and much less distinguished.
A suave, handsome, smooth-talking man with endless charm and a tremendous talent for persuading others to follow him, Armstrong emerged as the new face of the the New Essentialists in 2388 when, to the shock of political commentators throughout the Federation, the NEP ousted its founder and longtime leader, Pascal Fullerton, from power despite his immense popularity among the public. At the time, Armstrong was a relative unknown who, despite his tremendous charisma and impressive oratorical skills, was a political lightweight with virtually no executive experience. The party’s rationale was that Fullerton’s shady past, along with his age (over 70 by this time) would make him a less attractive candidate for President to more moderate, independent voters as well as young voters than the SFP candidate, William Ross, thereby causing him to become a liability to the party as a whole. In fact, however, the decision to replace Fullerton was greatly influenced by Alynna Nechayev, who had become a very prominent, powerful voice in the party since joining it after resigning from Starfleet at the beginning of the Reman War. Armstrong was essentially Nechayev’s man, and the party leaders judged that they could not afford to alienate her or her supporters by nominating Fullerton a third time. Nevertheless, many New Essentialists still loyal to Fullerton were outraged by his removal, causing a major schism at the convention with nearly a third of the delegates threatening to walk out in protest. Ultimately, however, Fullerton stepped out onto the convention floor and publicly endorsed Armstrong, managing to retain at least enough cohesion within the party to confirm his nomination.
Running on a nebulous campaign of “hope” and “change”, Armstrong served as a far more effective spokesperson for the NEP than Fullerton had been, winning the support of enough moderate and independent voters to swing the election of 2388 in the NEP’s favor. However, once elected, Armstrong found that delivering “change” was much harder than he had imagined. Armstrong’s confirmation process, ordinarily a formality in Federation politics, was disrupted when a faction of New Essentialists in the Upper House of the Council still loyal to Fullerton refused to cast their votes him, instead choosing either to abstain or to cast their votes for Ross. As a result, the Council remained deadlocked in a tie for several days, unable to garner the votes necessary to actually confer the powers of the office of President upon the President-Elect, until finally several Social Federalists, after making closed-room deals with the incoming administration through Nechayev, Armstrong’s new chief of staff, crossed party lines to vote for him. By the time Armstrong was able to assemble a governing coalition, he had made so many concessions to the other side that the domestic policy of his new administration was barely distinguishable from the previous one, thwarting most of the New Essentialists’ hopes for change before his presidency even began.
This, however, turned out not to be that great a concern for Armstrong, despite what the rhetoric of his campaign had suggested. Like most politicians, Armstrong’s concern was to remain popular and in power, and he pursued any policy he believed would aid him to that end, even if that policy violated the NEP platform or was a direct continuation of SFP policies he and other New Essentialists had previously condemned. Uninterested in the minutiae of being a chief executive, Armstrong allowed most of the policy-making for his administration to be crafted by his aides, in particular by Nechayev, who became his Chief of Staff, and her small staff of Palais de la Concorde officials, many of whom were secretly affiliated in some way with Section 31. Armstrong meanwhile, enjoyed most of the perks of the office of the President, spending most of his time womanizing, playing sports and acting-out holonovels in the Palais’s auditorium-sized holosuite, or consuming illicit substances acquired through presidential privilege. Despite all this, Armstrong was shielded from public criticism, both by his immense popularity and by the fact that FNS was engineered to provide positive coverage for him and his administration. Under Armstrong’s inept, largely indifferent leadership, the NEP began to lose its way, gradually becoming little more than a lightweight version of the SFP.
One set of New Essentialist reforms that Armstrong did implement, shortly after the Federation’s disastrous first contact with the Fen Domar in July of 2388, was to reorganize the structure of the Federation’s military by commissioning the creation of the Federation Defense Force (FDF), a separate military entity designed to compliment Starfleet’s traditional role as the sole armed forces of the Federation. The Federation’s first real army, the FDF was placed directly under civilian control, with the Federation President as its commander-in-chief. Also, the FDF was initially composed entirely of volunteer soldiers rather than Academy-schooled cadets; these recruits were trained specifically for combat, not science, and in the field they were led by generals, not admirals, who had no interest in exploration. The Armstrong administration sold the FDF to the public as both a necessary tool for the defense of the Federation in the wake of the glaringly obvious threats posed to the Federation by outsiders and as a response to public distrust and antipathy towards Starfleet, whose power and influence many felt had grown too great in the years since the Dominion War. The public eagerly embraced the idea of the FDF, and Starfleet was made subordinate to that new civilian institution. This effectively put an end to Starfleet’s exploratory activities and made the Commander-in-Chief of Starfleet, Admiral Jean-Luc Picard, into little more than a powerless figurehead who took his orders directly from the President. Meanwhile, Captain Benjamin Sisko, who had recently returned from his thirteen year sojurn with the Bajoran Prophets, was given a promotion to Admiral and appointed Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, thereby placing him in command of the FDF and placing Starfleet at his disposal. The USS Commodore, which had been assigned to the Beta Quadrant as the Federation’s first line of defense in that region, was reassigned to the Alpha Quadrant and placed under the authority Admiral Sisko, while Admiral Janeway was reassigned to be Superintendant of Starfleet Academy.
In January of 2389, only a matter of months after Armstrong took office, terrorists belonging to the Beta Quadrant Resistance Movement hijacked two Civilian Transport Vessels and, bypassing Earth’s defenses from within, crashed them into Starfleet Headquarters in San Francisco and the Palais de la Concorde in Paris, resulting in the deaths of nearly 42,000 civilians, including almost all of the Lower House of the Federation Council (a third CTV had also been hijacked and was headed for the Federation Council Chambers in San Francisco, but this ship was intercepted and destroyed by the USS Commodore before it could reach its target). For several days after the attacks, Armstrong’s whereabouts were unknown to the general public; most people assumed he was being held in an undisclosed location for security reasons, and this idea was reinforced by FNS. In truth, however, Armstrong was buried alive, trapped beneath the rubble of the Palais along with several surviving members of his staff. Eighteen hours after the Palais crumbled to the ground, Nechayev and some of her aides found the president, gravely wounded and unlikely to survive if moved. Nechayev recognized how valuable Armstrong was to the implementation of their goals, and she knew how the loss of their beloved new leader would devastate the morale of the Federation people; however, rather than attempting to rescue him, Nechayev shot Armstrong with a phaser set to kill. She then had his consciousness transferred into a computer and resurrected him as a sentient isomorphic projection, keeping him in place as the figurehead leader of a Federation government of which she—and by extension, Section 31—was now actually in control. From this point forward, Armstrong would occasionally be trotted out by the administration to act as the mouthpiece for the government’s policies, but he had little to no input in any of the actual decision-making process, his movement was severely restricted (unless he was provided with a mobile emitter), and Nechayev could turn him on and off at will.
In response to the attacks on Earth, Nechayev had Armstrong order the FDF—and by extension, Starfleet—to launch a retaliatory strike against the Ktarian Republic, whose theocratic leaders, the Shimars, were among the primary supporters of the Beta-QRM and were known to be providing its leaders with safe haven. Angry and thirsty for vengeance, the Federation people wholeheartedly supported this action, and the Federation Council authorized the new war with little debate on the matter. A fleet of Federation starships, led by the USS Commodore under the command of now-Captain Geoffrey Henderson, invaded the Ktarian system and quickly dispatched the Ktarian and Beta-QRM defense forces there. As the fleet surrounded Ktaris, Nechayev ordered Henderson to carry out Starfleet General Order 24—the complete destruction of all life on the planet’s surface—unless the Ktarians agreed to hand over the leaders of the Beta-QRM. Believing the Federation to be bluffing, the Ktarians refused; however, Henderson, himself so blinded by anger and hatred towards the Ktarians dating as far back as the death of his brother aboard the USS Viking, actually carried out the order, against the advice of his first officer and another prominent member of his crew. The Federation fleet bombarded Ktaris with transphasic torpedoes, destroying most of the planet’s major cities and causing the Ktarian government to collapse. Over 700 million Ktarians were killed in the assault, in comparison to the nearly 42,000 people who had died in the attack on Earth.
As intended, the Federation assault on the Ktarian homeworld broke the back of the Beta Quadrant Resistance Movement. Federation forces occupied the planet and began hunting down the remnants of the Beta-QRM leadership, as well as the Ktarian Republic’s theocratic leaders, the Shimars. However, even after the Beta-QRM collapsed, a number of other significant threats to Federation security remained. In March of 2389, a terrorist group known as the New Maquis hyjacked a Federation Civilian Transport Vessel on its way from Mars to Earth. The New Maquis intended to crash the CTV into downtown San Francisco, killing tens of thouands, in retribution for the attack on Ktaris. Two passengers however, Tom Paris and B’Elanna Torres, who themselves were former members of the original Maquis, managed to stop the terrorists with the assistance of the USS Commmodore—but not without they themselves being accused of having been part of the plot first. Two months later, the Borg, who by this time had fully recovered from the damage caused to the collective by Admiral Janeway’s neurolytic pathogen, launched another invasion of the Federation, this one so successful that the FDF and Starfleet would be forced to fight the Borg on the surface of Earth, in the planet’s major cities. The Borg were ultimately defeated, but at a tremendous cost in life and infrastructure. | fwe2-CC-MAIN-2013-20-41555000 |
April 12, 2005 > New Year, Thai style
New Year, Thai style
by Ceri Hitchcock-Hodgson
Splashes of water, lots of color and good times mark the Songkran celebration of the Thai New Year, the most important of all Thai festivals and holidays. From April 13 to 15, families and friends gather to celebrate by visiting temples, make offerings to the monks, bathe Buddha images, thoroughly clean their houses and sprinkle water on each other to wish good luck. Songkran is a physical and spiritual "spring cleaning" that ushers in the coming year and sweeps out the old.
This is a time of introspection for the Thai Theravada Buddhist population, which makes up about 95 percent of the Thai population. Individuals reflect upon acts of kindness and thoughtfulness each has personally experienced and how generosity and compassion bring peace, happiness and well-being. Songkran is also the time when reunions and family ties are renewed and respect is paid to elders. The underlying significance of Songkran is the process of cleansing and purification - purging ills, misfortune and evil and starting the New Year fresh. Water is symbolic of the cleaning process and signifies purity.
The practices of Songkran date back to the pre-Buddhist spring festivals during which throwing water was a symbol of luck to bring rain for the crops. Buddhism spread to Thailand in the 13th century and the ritual was converted to the religious custom of cleansing the statues of Buddha once a year.
Songkran is a word from the Sanskrit language that means "movement" or "change" and refers to the orbit of the sun moving into Aries of the Zodiac calendar. The traditional Thai calendar is a combination of the solar and lunar movements but the New Year is based on movements of the sun. In modern times, the date is set as April 13.
The first day of the celebration, known as Maha Songkran, begins by bidding farewell to the outgoing year with a thorough "spring cleaning." This act emphasizes awareness of responsibilities toward family and home. The day continues with merit-making, offerings such as rice, dessert and/or fruit, drinking water, candles and lotus blossoms presented to Buddhist monks. Merit-making is an act of giving that demonstrates generosity toward others and is an integral part of the festival.
Later in the day, Buddha images are bathed with lustral (blessed) water in a gesture of respect. Religious ceremonies include a procession of Buddha images through city streets offering residents of the community to take part in the bathing rites. In Thailand, an annual "Miss Songkran" parade and floral floats are part of the popular festivities.
During Wan Nao (April 14), the day between the old and new years, when the position of the sun is in transition between Pisces and Aries, merit-making continues in the morning with more offerings of food to the monks and family members. In the evening, sand is brought to temples to build pagodas called "phra chedis sai" decorated with colorful flags and flowers. An ancient belief says that when an individual walks away from a temple, particles of sand from the temple grounds are inadvertently carried away on shoes or sandals. Building these "sand castles" is seen to be a practical way of replacing the sand lost and a merit-making act through which blessings are earned. This tradition may have started centuries ago as a part of cleansing rituals where new, clean sand was added to the temple floor once a year. This custom highlights the roles and responsibilities of temples, monasteries and the community that is served by the religious institution.
Wan Nao is also the day when the world-famous water festival takes place. Water is an integral part of Thai New Year traditions, both as a symbol of cleansing and of renewal. The ceremonial sprinkling of water on another's shoulder has evolved in to a day of water fights, complete with water guns and hoses. Although throwing large amounts of water has become the epitome of Songkran festivities, it has always been the more delicate water splashing that represents the true nature of Songkran and the Thai New Year.
Sprinkling water on each other during the festival is a gesture of hospitality; individuals' attempt to cool each other off in the intense summer heat. Traditionally, younger people pay respect by pouring water from silver bowls on the hands of elders in a ceremony known as "Rod Nahm Dum Hua." The elders then ask the younger people to forgive them for speaking harshly during the past year and offer the youth a blessing and words of wisdom. This ritual is performed in the home while more vigorous water throwing is done outside. Pouring small amounts of scented lustral water on the heads of the elders on "Wan Parg-bpee" as a sign of respect is also part of this custom that dates back to ancient times.
While some people might sprinkle a bit of scented water on the shoulder to wish a happy new year, the young people of Thailand have turned it in to the world's largest water fight. During the day, water ceremonies involving the temple and home are performed in a subdued, happy manner. At night, Thai youth use buckets, barrels, water guns and hoses to celebrate the custom in their own exaggerated manner. It is not unusual in Bangkok to get dowsed with a bucket of ice water by someone on the back of a moving pickup truck.
A related practice is tying strings around the wrists of others and expressing good wishes for the New Year. A person approaches another with a gentle smile and holds out the string by the two ends and then begins to tie. The person receiving the string has his or her arm outstretched with the under side of the wrist facing upward. While tying the strings, the person recites short prayers of blessing spoken directly for the individual. During Songkran a person could have as many as 25 or 30 strings on each wrist, each from a different person; these are to be left on until they fall off on their own accord.
Another common custom involves a person with a small silver bowl filled with a white powder or pasty substance as a sign of protection and promises to ward off evil. In one of the oldest Songkran rituals, a person with the paste is often older and he or she applies the paste to various parts of the face, neck and torso of others. One is expected to leave this paste on until it washes off with normal bathing.
New Year's Day falls on April 15. Typical merit-making rites performed on this day include the presentation of food and other offerings to Buddhist monks at the temples; donations are made; fish and birds are released; and a bathing ritual is observed whereby lustral water is poured over respected elders in a gesture of respect and reverence. The seeking of their blessing or forgiveness for past wrongdoing is also implied.
The religious ceremonies and folk rituals associated with Songkran are principally performed to bring good luck and prosperity. The rituals are also acts of gratitude and indebtedness undertaken in the memory of those who have passed on to another world.
Songkran is an exciting celebration marking the passing of time and the coming of new things through the cleansing of body and soul. | fwe2-CC-MAIN-2013-20-41558000 |
Prefixes, Suffixes, Inflectional Endings, and Root Words
Spelling Words Correctly Using Prefixes This strategy will focus on the prefix "re-" to help predict the meaning of words. The same strategy can be used to introduce other common prefixes such as "dis-", "in-" and "im-".
Prefixes and Suffixes Students will create two Mini Books. One will incorporate prefixes and the other will focus on suffixes. Each book will include the meanings, sample words, and two well- written sentences for each suffix or prefix. Also supports Tech COS 12
Making Singular Nouns Plural This lesson involves the use of the Structural Analysis element of the Inflectional Ending "-s" to make singular nouns plural.
Vocabulary Root Word Drawing A Lesson Plans Page lesson plan, lesson idea, thematic unit, or activity in Language Arts and Art called Vocabulary Root Word Drawing.
Forming Possessives Showing possession in English is a relatively easy matter (believe it or not). By adding an apostrophe and an s we can manage to transform most singular nouns into their possessive form:
Word Confusion: Students choose the correct word to complete the sentence in this online game.
Inflected Endings: Some languages, such as Chinese, Hmong, and Vietnamese do not use inflected endings to form verb tenses. Students may need help understanding that adding -ed to a verb indicates that the action happened in the past. Spelling changes in inflected verbs may be difficult for ELLs to master.
Prefixes and Suffixes: Some English prefixes and suffixes have equivalent forms in the Romance languages. For example, the prefix dis- in English (disapprove) corresponds to the Spanish des- (desaprobar), the French des- (desapprouver), and the Haitian Creole dis- or dez- (dezaprouve). Students who are literate in a Romance language may be able to transfer their understanding of prefixes and suffixes much easier than those from non-Romance languages.
E/B, D, E: Help ELLs classify English words into meaningful categories. Use word walls, graphic organizers, and concept maps to group related words, record them in meaningful ways, and create visual references that can be used in future lessons. Teachers can help students group and relate words in different ways. For example, place a large picture of a tree on the wall. Place prefix and suffix cards on the different branches (i.e. prefixes: pre-, re- un-; suffixes: -ful, -less) and root words on the roots (write, view, paint). This visual representation can help students conceptualize that prefixes and suffixes are added on to root words.
E/B, D, E: The teacher creates a display of words containing Greek and Latin roots and adds to it during the school year. ELLs can refer to the display to help in understanding new words. (Example of display: the tree display above, or a poster with three columns - Root, Meaning, and Word, i.e. aqua, water, aquarium)
E/B: Read one's own writing or simple narrative text and begin to produce phonemes appropriately.
E/B: Recognize and produce English phonemes students already know, and possibly use them in simple phrases or sentences.
E/B: Recognize sounds in spoken words with accompanying illustrations
E/B: Use cues for sounding out unfamiliar words with accompanying illustrations
E/B: Blend sounds together to make words, shown visually
D: Remove or add sounds to existing words to make new words, shown visually (i.e. "Cover up the t in cart. What do you have now?")
D: Use letter-sound relationships and word roots to produce and understand multi-syllabic words; E: Use letter-sound relationships and word roots to produce and understand new word families.
D, E: Recognize and use prefixes and suffixes to find meanings of unknown words.
E: Segment illustrated sentences into words and phrases.
E: Identify and analyze sentence and context clues to find meanings of unknown words.
E/B, D, E: When sharing new vocabulary words, make sure to write each word divided into syllables (i.e. dic-tion-ar-y). When introducing each word, sound it out, pausing between each syllable, and then blend the syllables together. Have students repeat after you. Ask students how many syllables the word has. Tell students: Pay attention to the syllables in a word. This will help you spell the word, and it will help you pronounce it, too.
E/B, D, E: Before teaching the phonics skills, introduce the target words orally to students by using them in activities such as chants and riddle games, or asking and answering questions that use the words.
Some of the above ELL suggestions came from the following resources:
WIDA Consortium's English Language Proficiency Standards and Resource Guide, PreK - Grade 12
Scott Foresman Reading Street ELL and Transition Handbook Grades 3-6
A Guide to the Standard Course of Study for Limited English Proficient Students / Grades K-5 (Public Schools of N.C.) | fwe2-CC-MAIN-2013-20-41559000 |
The sun is an incredibly powerful source of energy. That’s why TVA is using photovoltaic (PV) panels to transform solar energy into usable electricity.
When rays of sunshine strike a solar panel, they give some of the electrons inside it more energy, a process that creates an electrical current.
TVA has set up photovoltaic systems at various solar sites throughout the region.
Can PV systems produce power on cloudy days? See the Solar FAQ for the answer to this question and others.
Properly placed wind turbines can generate electric power anywhere the wind blows steady and strong.
Wind turbines use the momentum of moving air to quietly turn large blades that are attached to the shaft of an efficient electric generator.
Wind energy is a major contributor to Green Power Switch. TVA has one wind power site, located on Buffalo Mountain near Oak Ridge, Tenn. The site has 15 very large and three smaller turbines.
How large are the blades on the wind turbines? See the Wind Q&A for the answer to this question and others.
Wastewater methane collection is a potential source of renewable energy. Biogas energy is produced when organic wastes decay – in wastewater treatment plants or landfills, for example. TVA collects methane gas, a by-product of organic decay, from the city of Memphis wastewater treatment plant and co-fires it with coal at Allen Fossil Plant.
How does firing methane with coal help the environment? Read the answer to this and other questions in the Biogas FAQ. | fwe2-CC-MAIN-2013-20-41566000 |
What LEED Measures
LEED is a voluntary certification program that can be applied to any building type and any building lifecycle phase. It promotes a whole-building approach to sustainability by recognizing performance in key areas:
Choosing a building’s site and managing that site during construction are important considerations for a project’s sustainability. The Sustainable Sites category discourages development on previously undeveloped land; minimizes a building’s impact on ecosystems and waterways; encourages regionally appropriate landscaping; rewards smart transportation choices; controls stormwater runoff; and reduces erosion, light pollution, heat island effect and construction-related pollution.
Buildings are major users of our potable water supply. The goal of the Water Efficiency credit category is to encourage smarter use of water, inside and out. Water reduction is typically achieved through more efficient appliances, fixtures and fittings inside and water-wise landscaping outside.
|Energy & Atmosphere
According to the U.S. Department of Energy, buildings use 39% of the energy and 74% of the electricity produced each year in the United States. The Energy & Atmosphere category encourages a wide variety of energy strategies: commissioning; energy use monitoring; efficient design and construction; efficient appliances, systems and lighting; the use of renewable and clean sources of energy, generated on-site or off-site; and other innovative strategies.
|Materials & Resources
During both the construction and operations phases, buildings generate a lot of waste and use a lot of materials and resources. This credit category encourages the selection of sustainably grown, harvested, produced and transported products and materials. It promotes the reduction of waste as well as reuse and recycling, and it takes into account the reduction of waste at a product’s source.
|Indoor Environmental Quality
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency estimates that Americans spend about 90% of their day indoors, where the air quality can be significantly worse than outside. The Indoor Environmental Quality credit category promotes strategies that can improve indoor air as well as providing access to natural daylight and views and improving acoustics.
|Locations & Linkages
The LEED for Homes rating system recognizes that much of a home’s impact on the environment comes from where it is located and how it fits into its community. The Locations & Linkages credits encourage homes being built away from environmentally sensitive places and instead being built in infill, previously developed and other preferable sites. It rewards homes that are built near already-existing infrastructure, community resources and transit, and it encourages access to open space for walking, physical activity and time spent outdoors.
|Awareness & Education
The LEED for Homes rating system acknowledges that a green home is only truly green if the people who live in it use the green features to maximum effect. The Awareness & Education credits encourage home builders and real estate professionals to provide homeowners, tenants and building managers with the education and tools they need to understand what makes their home green and how to make the most of those features.
|Innovation in Design
The Innovation in Design credit category provides bonus points for projects that use new and innovative technologies and strategies to improve a building’s performance well beyond what is required by other LEED credits or in green building considerations that are not specifically addressed elsewhere in LEED. This credit category also rewards projects for including a LEED Accredited Professional on the team to ensure a holistic, integrated approach to the design and construction phase.
USGBC’s regional councils, chapters and affiliates have identified the environmental concerns that are locally most important for every region of the country, and six LEED credits that address those local priorities were selected for each region. A project that earns a regional priority credit will earn one bonus point in addition to any points awarded for that credit. Up to four extra points can be earned in this way. See the Regional Priority Credits for your state »
Source: U.S. Green Building Council | fwe2-CC-MAIN-2013-20-41569000 |
A major thrust of the effort is to establish the potential of this technology for calibration and validation of satellite-based ocean-color measurements. The new floats are enabled with a two-way communication system that allows researchers to control when the floats descend and ascend, and when they take measurements.
“Radiometers allow us to do a better job in modeling primary production,” says Boss. “We’re trying to see if we can use them to calibrate satellites, and plan on having other sensors measure for scattering. That allows us to get more information on what’s in the water.”
Most of the existing floats are programmed to descend and ascend for specific periods of time to take a predetermined number of measurements. Using wireless communication and data dissemination created by CLS America, researchers will provide the floats with commands during missions, including changes in response to events such as hurricanes.
The data collected will be sent to a centralized Web site for all researchers to analyze and for future input into assimilating ocean ecosystem models.
With more advanced communications systems, it may also be possible to increase the life of profiling floats. Currently, researchers can record about 300 profiles from one float. The devices are limited by battery life, and once the batteries die, it’s not possible to recapture the devices. One of Boss’ goals is to test recovery possibilities, so that floats can be reused.
Scientists from the NASA Goddard Earth Sciences Data and Information Services Center, partners in this project, are building a tool that will provide crucial remotely sensed information around the float surfacing location for measurement context. Every time a float reports its location, NASA will provide real-time data on weather, temperature and events in a 50-kilometer radius.
“We have the opportunity to make a huge difference in the future of our field and its ability to provide much-needed information on how carbon and other material are processed globally,” says Boss. | fwe2-CC-MAIN-2013-20-41573000 |
Sensors flag environmental damage to art at the Met
NEW YORK It will take a good eye to spot them, but dozens of tiny, very modern works of art have been installed near the 15th-century unicorn tapestries and other medieval masterpieces at a New York City museum.
The Metropolitan Museum of Art announced this week that a network of wireless environmental sensors designed to prevent damage to the collection is being tested at its Cloisters branch.
The IBM sensors — each housed with a radio and a microcontroller in a case about the size of a pack of cigarettes — can measure temperature, humidity, air flow, light levels, contaminants and more. They are inexpensive and run on low power, and several can be positioned in a room, scientists said.
The information collected goes into a three-dimensional "climate map" that can be accessed on a computer, and the data can then be analyzed to adjust the climate, spot trends and even make predictions.
"Nobody in the world at this moment has this kind of information, not at this level of detail," said Paolo Dionosi Vici, associate research scientist at the Metropolitan. "It's the analytics that will keep us one step ahead technologically."
The network now covers about a third of the Cloisters, which houses 3,000 medieval works in several ancient buildings that were disassembled in Europe and rebuilt in northern Manhattan. The Met expects to expand the network throughout the Cloisters and eventually to the main museum on Fifth Avenue.
The climate at museums like the Cloisters is already tightly controlled, with especially fragile items kept in sealed cases. Curators don't have to worry about the ravages that might happen to a fresco in an open Italian church, for example.
But the artwork is sensitive to small climate variations.
"A window in a museum, in summer, that can be a hot spot," Vici said. "And the light from the window on the floor can increase the temperature of the floor. Until now, that is a variation we might not know about because we were not taking so many measurements."
Another factor that can influence the climate in a museum is the number of visitors — and where the visitors have been.
"If it's raining outside the Cloisters and the tourists that come in are wet, that has an effect," Vici said.
The idea is to keep the effects from causing any damage, even slow damage, to the art.
"Whenever we have to act on an object to repair it, it's a loss of memory of what it was in the past," Vici said. "Restoration can be very useful but if we can prevent (deterioration), it's better."
Hendrik Hamann, an IBM research manager working on the project, said the 100-year-old company has had a long relationship with the Met and found the art world a good test for its sensor technology, which can also be used in ordinary buildings to measure energy efficiency and other details.
"The conservation of art and our cultural heritage is obviously one of the grand challenges of our time," Hamann said.
Vici and Hamann both said the sensors — which they called low-power motes — could eventually be adapted to measure how a painting on wood, for example, reacts to minor climate fluctuations.
"We'd like to be able to monitor how much the wood swells, even a tiny amount," said Vici, who said he worked on the preservation of the Mona Lisa.
Hamann said as data pours in, trends will appear, "and we can use those trends to understand what will happen in the future."
"We will know that certain things happen in the museum environment on certain days," he said. Those trends can then be correlated with information about the best way to protect a tapestry or a wooden statue, for example.
Hamann said the Cloisters was chosen for the test because "It is a historic building. It has high ceilings. It has famous glass windows. It has tapestries, wood paintings, stonework, it has indoors and outdoors sections. It's very interesting from a monitoring perspective."
The Cloisters had temperature and humidity monitors but lacked the analytic capabilities of the new program, he said.
About 100 of the new sensors have been spread through seven adjacent rooms, including the one housing the priceless tapestries that portray a unicorn hunt. They are inconspicuous, but not hidden entirely.
"If you know where the motes are you can see them," Hamann said.
But Vici said, "The visual impact of the sensors is so small compared to the quality of the information. … For every object in the room we can know in real time how the climate evolves in that particular point."
Copyright 2011 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. | fwe2-CC-MAIN-2013-20-41578000 |
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