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DoD faces a potentially daunting task of remediating thousands of metal contaminated sites within the U.S. and its territories which contain unacceptable levels of the toxic metals As(III/V), Cr(III/VI), Cd, and Pb. With the exception of Pb contaminated soils, human health and ecological risk drivers have prompted EPA to assume that the total soil metal concentration is 100% bioavailable. Previous SERDP funded research (CU-1166 and CU-1210), however, has shown that the ubiquitous metal-sequestering properties of soil can significantly lower the bioavailability and risk of heavy metals to human and ecological receptors. Results from CU-1166 show soil components/properties can reduce risk by reducing bioaccessibility of metals upon ingestion relative to the currently used 100% default values. Key soil physical and chemical properties (e.g. particle size, CEC, Fe-oxides, TOC/TIC, pH) were identified as controlling the extent of toxic metal bioaccessibility as measured using an in vitro physiologically-based extraction test (PBET) that simulated the digestive system of humans. Statistical models were developed and incorporated into a predictive tool known as SBAT (Yang et al., 2002 a,b; Stewart et al., 2002 a,b, Heuscher et al., 2004). The bioaccessibility results (in vitro) were found to be in excellent agreement with molecular-level metal speciation studies and in-vivo swine metal bioavailability studies which confirmed that key soil properties control metal bioavailability. Similarly, previous SERDP funded research (CU-1210) has shown that metal-sequestering properties of soil can significantly lower the ecological risk of metal contamination by reducing bioavailability of metals to ecological receptors (e.g. plants, soil invertebrates). Based on these findings, measurement of key soil properties could be used as an indicator tool at DoD sites to determine whether site remediation is necessary or whether more definitive site-specific in vivo metal bioavailability studies are warranted. Nevertheless, site-specific use of the predictive tool is impeded by the lack of regulatory acceptance. This is rational due to the lack of site-specific investigations that couple in vivo bioavailability and in vitro bioaccessibility studies with soil properties and microscopic interrogation of the solid phase metals. Several studies have shown good correlation between the in vitro PBET method and in vivo swine feeding studies for soil Pb, As, and Cd (Ruby et al, 1996; Rodriguez et al., 1999; and Schroder et al., 2003; respectively). However none were designed to investigate DoD site specific soils or considered the role of soil properties in controlling metal bioavailability.
In the following proposed investigation, we seek to bring together regulators, EPA, end-users, and scientists to demonstrate the applicability of these concepts by showing that simple, readily available soil properties can often times be used to predict the bioavailability of As(V), Cd, Cr, and Pb with a reasonable level of confidence. We will show that in vitro methods (i.e., PBET, soil extractions) can be used for risk assessment of toxic metals in soil by comparing in vitro and in vivo metal bioavailability studies. The proposed research is very timely. The use of in vitro methods to determine exposure (i.e., bioaccessibility) to human from soil ingestion has recently gained approval in the UK, and studies funded by the Danish EPA are underway in Denmark this summer to validate a PBET-like in vitro method for accessing bioaccessibility of As, Cd, and Pb in contaminated soils. Other organized research in the EU, Canada, and Australia are conducting similar studies. Several of the researchers in our proposed study are leaders in the area of in vitro gastrointestinal methods to access bioaccessible metals in contaminated soil in the US. The proposed research also is timely in the area of ecological risk assessment. Frameworks to access terrestrial ecological risk assessment (ERA) for assessing risk/cleanup of contaminated soils are under development in the US, EU, Canada, and Australia. USEPA has published an ERA framework that features an eight-step, tiered process. The primary audience for USEPA ERA documentation is risk assessors and managers conducting an ecological risk assessment at contaminated sites (i.e., Superfund sites). The site screening levels will consider the ability of soil properties/components to sequester contaminants and reduce their bioavailability to ecological receptors. Several member of our research team have conducted several research studies funded by USEPA and SERDP (CU-1210) to quantify the effect of soils on contaminant bioavailability for use in the USEPA ERA framework. This research would address the following Navy environmental requirements:
- 1.II.02.d Regulator Approved Methods and Protocols for Conducting Marine and Terrestrial Risk Assessments
- 1.III.01.k Improved Field Analytical Sensors, Toxicity Assays, Methods, and Protocols to Supplement Traditional Sampling and Laboratory Analysis
Research proposed in our study is novel. To our knowledge, our proposed study would be the first field validation study of laboratory in vitro methods to assess the modifying effect of soils on human and ecological risk. The proposed research is timely as has been accomplished in the UK, and soon to be in the EU. We seek to obtain US EPA acceptance of in vitro methods for the assessment of risk associated with soil metal bioavailability. The experimental and numerical endeavors of this proposed work will provide knowledge and information in previously unexplored areas of decreased toxic metal bioavailability in soils to support DoD’s performance/risk assessment and decision-making process for military base site restoration.
Technical Objectives: (1) To provide validation that the relationships between soil properties and in vitro bioaccessibility methods can serve as a screening tool for estimating in vivo toxic metal bioavailability in DoD soils, (2) To provide DoD with a scientifically and technically sound method for estimating human and ecological risk associated with metal contaminated soils and thus the need, or lack there of, for more-detailed, site-specific bioavailability (e.g., animal dosing) studies on DoD lands, and (3) obtain regulatory and end user acceptance of the use of bioaccessibility values using in vitro methods in human health and ecological risk assessment and policy. Technical Description: The proposed initiative seeks to provide field validated evidence that in vitro bioaccessibility methods can serve as predictive indices of toxic metal bioavailability (in vivo) in DoD soils relative to the more costly and time intensive in vivo feeding studies. By quantifying the extent that soil properties control metal bioavailability, we will show that the predictive models developed in CU-1166 and CU-1210 can be used with a reasonable level of confidence to predict site specific metal bioavailability for DoD soils throughout the United States. By coupling in vitro and in vivo methods at numerous DoD field scale facilities with upfront regulator and end user input, our goal is to obtain regulatory acceptance of in vitro methods and the SBAT tool for assessing toxic metal bioavailability in contaminated DoD soils as it relates to human and ecological risk.
Technology Maturity: Within SERDP CU-1166, a predictive model (SBAT) was developed to assess the relative bioavailability of toxic metals in soils. The model was built on the premise that key soil physical and chemical properties (e.g., Fe-oxide content, organic matter content, pH) were statistically correlated with decreased metal bioaccessibility (as measured by in vitro, PBET technique). Model results were found to be in good agreement with molecular level metal speciation studies and in vivo swine feeding studies (Yang et al., 2002a, 2004). Nevertheless, model validation using in vivo studies on actual DoD field samples is lacking. Such an endeavor is critical if the model is ever to obtain end-user and regulatory acceptance.
In addition, recent publications within our group, investigating the bioavailability of As in soil have found that the in vitro bioaccessibility method (PBET) correlated extremely well with the in vivo method that used non-DoD soils and immature swine as a model for the gastrointestinal function of children (Rodriguez et al., 1999). Similar findings have been reported for soil bound Pb and Cd where the in vitro PBET method correlated very well with in vivo swine feeding studies (Ruby et al., 1996; and Schroder et al., 2003; respectively). Such information has lead to partial regulatory acceptance in England, where the in vitro methods have been used to assess field scale metal bioavailability issues. Our research team are members of the Bioavailability Research Group of Europe where we have established an international collaboration that seeks to demonstrate the appropriateness of in vitro methods for assessing risk associated with soil metal bioavailability. The UK and several countries within the EU have used our data (United States) of coupled in vitro and in vivo soil metal bioavailability to convince the regulatory community, in their respective countries, that in vitro measurements of soil metal bioaccessibility are acceptable estimates of in vivo soil metal bioavailability. However, regulators in the United States remain uncertain that the in vitro methods can adequately predict soil metal bioavailability in humans.
Prior ecotoxicological studies within our group have also been completed that show soil properties similarly affect the bioavailability of As, Cd, Pb, and Zn for soil invertebrates and plants (Lanno and Basta, 2003; SERDP CU-1210). Measures of metal exposure based upon soil extraction techniques, such as chelates (DTPA) and dilute salts (Basta and Gradwohl, 2000; Dayton, 2003), have been coupled with soil chemical and physical properties to develop statistical relationships for estimating metal bioavailability for soil organisms. These statistical models are the first step in the development of models capable of predicting the toxicity of metals to soil invertebrates and plants.
Based on our previous scientific and technical advances in the area of in vitro and in vivo metal bioavailability in soils, we believe that it is timely to apply these techniques to DoD site-specific problems. Such an effort will validate bioaccessibility and bioavailability estimates based on in vitro methods and soil properties for DoD sites. Close corporation with regulators and end users should lead us closer to regulatory acceptance of in vitro methods for assessing toxic metal bioavailability in soils and use of the validated predictive tool SBAT.
Approach and Methodologies: The proposed research will validate the bioavailability screening tool for DoD soils (SBAT from CU 1166; soil extractions from CU 1210) by determining the chemical speciation, bioaccessibility, bioavailability, and toxicity to biological models used to evaluate ecological risk (e.g., plants, earthworms), and human risk (e.g., immature swine model) of metals (Pb, As, Cd, Cr) in soils from DoD sites. Since ingestion is often the primary risk driver at contaminated sites (Exponent, 2001), human risk as related to ingestion will be evaluated rather than dermal pathways. Only four sites are considered for the in vivo swine dosing studies due to the cost of the methods. More soils can be considered as additional funding becomes available. The in vitro ecological models will also be enhanced by considering approximately 10 DoD soils for in vivo ecological bioassay studies (10 contaminated, 10 control), and these soils will be the same as those used for the human-based models in SERDP CU-1166. SERDP CU-1166 screened over 40 DoD soils using the PBET method and these results have served to guide our choice of initial and future DoD sites to consider for additional in vivo studies. This project will also take advantage of the significant prior investment that has been made by SERDP and ESTCP in this area with regards to project CU-1165 and CU-0222, respectively. Both of these projects have similar goals as the proposed work and we plan to collaborate with the PI’s in an effort to leverage the success of our mission. The proposed research strategy will be discussed at a workshop where scientists, regulators, EPA, and end-users will be present in an effort to advance complete or partial acceptance of in vitro methods in human health and ecological risk assessment and policy. The following organizational chart provides an overview of the experimental design of the proposed project (Figure 1.)
An important component of the proposed technical approach is to validate and demonstrate the ability of soil property models (Yang et al., 2002; Stewart et al., 2002) and in vitro techniques to predict metal bioavailability and risk (e.g., ecological, human). Results obtained from methods developed for accessing metal risk-based endpoints for human (CU-1166) and ecological receptors (CU-1210) will be compared with results from well-established standard methods used by risk assessors to determine human risk (U.S. EPA Risk Assessment Guidance for Superfund--RAGS) and ecological risk (U.S. EPA Ecological Risk Assessment) (Figure 2).
Comparison of bioavailability assessment technologies developed by CU-1166 and CU-1210 with bioavailability endpoints in the current U.S. EPA risk assessment framework will satisfy a critical element of the ESTCP proposal requirements to “provide data and support to achieve regulatory and end-user acceptance.” The approach to validate and demonstrate the use of the SBAT tool and in vitro methods to derive risk-based data for end users at the four DoD study sites follows.
Immediately upon receiving possible funding for this endeavor, a two day workshop will be held bringing together state regulators, DoD site end users, state EPA officials, and scientists familiar with soil metal bioavailability. A list of potential attendees is presented later in the proposal. We will seek assistance from the Interstate Technology Regulatory Council (ITRC) which is a state-led coalition working together with industry and stakeholders to achieve regulatory acceptance of environmental technologies. ITRC consists of 40 states, the District of Columbia, multiple federal partners, industry participants, and other stakeholders, cooperating to break down barriers and reduce compliance costs, making it easier to use new technologies, and helping states maximize resources. The workshop will focus on past, current, and future research endeavors that are investigating soil metal bioavailability methodologies and the possible use of in vitro bioaccessibility values in human health risk assessment and policy. We will show how data from the United States, and our group in particular, has contributed to the successful regulatory acceptance in England, where the in vitro methods have been used to assess field scale metal bioavailability issues. We will ask the attendees of the workshop to become an integral part of our project by serving as observers and advisors during the course of the research. A State of the Science and Regulatory Acceptance will be developed as a product of the workshop along with the development of the Technology Demonstration Plan. Attendees will be informed that an important outcome of our research is to seek complete or partial acceptance of in vitro methods in human health and ecological risk assessment and policy. Two additional information meetings will be scheduled on a yearly basis as research results become available.
Possible Site Selection
Four (4) DoD facilities with drastically different soil properties, but with a common metal contamination problem with regards to Cr, As, Pb, and Cd will be utilized in the swine dosing trials and ten (10) facilities will be considered in the ecological bioassay studies. Soil types hypothesized to strongly sequester metals will be compared to soil types thought to have poor metal sequestering potential. Example of such DoD sites are Hill AFB – UT, Travis AFB - CA, Deseret Chemical Depot – UT, Aberdeen Proving Ground – MD, and Redstone Arsenal – AL, Naval Station Newport – RI, and Fallon Naval Air Station – NV, all of which have significant problems with metal contaminated soils. Select chemical, physical, and mineralogical, properties of the soils have been quantified in our laboratory as described by Stewart et al. (2002a). Soils at Hill, Deseret, and Fallon Naval Air Station are Aridisols which are sandy, high pH soils with a limited capacity to sequester metals. These soils are expected to have high metal bioaccessibility. Soils from Aberdeen and Travis are silty, neutral pH soils with good to excellent metal sequestering properties. These soils are expected to have low metal bioaccessibility. Redstone and Naval Station Newport are acidic, Fe-oxide rich Ultisols and Inceptisols which has excellent sequestering properties for As, and potentially poor sequestering properties for Cd, Pb, and Cr(VI), thus the latter metals being highly bioaccessible. Reference soil, the same soil series but uncontaminated (i.e., natural background levels of Cd, Pb, As) will also be collected at each of the study sites for each of the contaminated sites.
Each field soil collected will be air-dried and placed in a large plastic tub. Random portions of the soil will then be mixed within a large plastic cement mixer. This subsample is than placed to the side and another random portion of the sample is mixed accordingly. Once all the sample has been mixed, the subsamples are than mixed. The above procedure is repeated five more times resulting in a completely uniform mixed soil. This will be confirmed by total metal analysis of thirty subsamples for each soil type.
Validation/Demonstration of use of SERDP projects CU-1166 and CU-1210 for Human and Ecological Risk Assessment of Metal Contaminated Soil
Soil properties, total metal content, and metal bioaccessibility and bioavailability (as measured by various in vitro and in vivo methods, respectively) will be determined for metal contaminated soils collected from the four DoD sites for the human health models. A similar approach will be taken for the in vitro ecological model and it will be made more robust by considering an additional 20 DoD soils. Three components of method validation and demonstration are:
in vitro methods and soil property models to predict metal bioaccessibility and bioavailability in study soils: Metal bioaccessibility and metal bioavailability for the four study soils will be calculated using soil property-driven models developed from CU-1166 and CU-1210 studies, respectively. Calculated bioaccessibility values will be compared with measured bioaccessibility values using in vitro gastrointestinal methods for study soils. The physiologically based extraction test (PBET) developed by Ruby et al. (1999), will be utilized at a variety of pH conditions to estimate metal bioaccessibility for variety of stomach environments indicative of food intake, or lack thereof. Using the method of Stewart et al. (2002a), additional soil property-driven models will be constructed using the PBET method at these pH values. This is particularly important for Pb contaminated soils since Pb bioaccessibility decreases with an increase in pH (Yang et al., 2002b). In contrast, As(V) bioaccessibility was minimally influenced by changing pH environments.
For ecological risk estimates, metal bioavailability will be estimated from multiple regression and path analysis models developed using toxicity and bioaccumulation data from 26 soils (CU-1210; previous US EPA-NCEA project). Additionally, 10 selected DoD sites (20 soils) from CU-1166 will be tested in addition to the four soils proposed above. This is necessary to enhance to robustness of the ecological model from CU-1210 as has already been done for the human-based model in CU-1166. In the ecological investigations, data from in vitro DoD soil metal extraction coupled with DoD soil chemical and physical properties will be compared to existing statistical relationships for estimating metal bioavailability to plants and soil invertebrates. Initially, statistical relationships developed for metal availability from a set of 26 soils will be used to estimate the chemical availability of metals in DoD soils, based upon total metal levels and soil physical/chemical characteristics. This will be followed by extraction of the DoD soils using several wet chemical methods (e.g., extraction with chelates (DTPA) or dilute salts (Ca(NO3)2; Basta and Gradwohl, 2000; Dayton, 2003) to actually measure the chemical availability of metals in DoD soils. These measurements will be compared to predicted chemical availability estimated by the models to determine the ability of the models to predict metal availability. The statistical models will also be used to predict the toxicity of the DoD soils to earthworms and plants, assuming additivity of the toxicity of individual metals. Bioassays will be conducted with DoD soils to determine actual toxicity and these results will be compared to the model predictions. Comparison of the actual toxicity from bioassays with predicted toxicity from in vitro models will be used to quantify the ability of in vitro models to predict actual ecotoxicity in field DoD soils. This will be the basis for validation of the in vitro methods for field DoD soils.
In an effort to validate the physical significance of the soil property models used to describe the bioaccessibility of metals in the DoD soils, the mechanisms of enhanced metal sequestration and solid-phase metal speciation will be quantified with a variety of high-resolution surface spectroscopy techniques. Such techniques will include Scanning Electron Microscopy with Energy Dispersive Spectroscopy (SEM-EDS) and X-ray Absorption Spectroscopy (XAS). Bulk SEM-EDS measurements will be conducted with the premier facilities for determining the environmental speciation of metals, located at DOE’s Environmental Molecular Science Laboratory (EMSL), Pacific Northwest Laboratory, Richland, WA., which will provide direct quantification of the mineralogic and nature of solid phase contaminants that are present. These facilities are state-of-the-art with a field emission SEM having resolutions of at least 1.5 nm at 30 KeV and 4.0 nm at 1.0KeV. This technique is useful for determining the crystalline domains of the solids, and with associated energy dispersive spectroscopy, elemental composition. Our research group has extensive experience in the use of this interfacial interrogation technique for monitoring changes in the mineralogy of toxic metals in heterogeneous media and we have a good working relationship with the EMSL staff.
Metal speciation will be assessed on the four DoD soil types using X-ray Absorption Spectroscopy at the Advanced Photon Source (APS) and the Stanford Synchrotron Radiation Laboratory (SSRL). We will elucidate the chemical and structural environment (valence state and surface configuration) of each metal on the various soils using XAS. This effort will provide an improved conceptual understanding of the molecular-level speciation of Pb, Cd, Cr, and As in the soils, and how the molecular speciation influences the resulting bioaccessibility. All of the elements that are the focus of this research have core electron excitation energies between 8 and 26 KeV, making them ideal for synchrotron research. High-intensity synchrotron x-ray sources permit such analysis of undisturbed samples and with new available focused beams allow spatial heterogeneity to be appreciated. XAS is one of the few atomic techniques for obtaining molecular level information that can be conducted in unaltered samples, which is crucial for examining the true in situ molecular-level speciation of these metals. The detection limits for synchrotron-generated XAS vary depending on the matrix, but samples with concentrations greater than 10 mg/kg should yield good results. Our research group has extensive experience in the use of XAS to monitor changes in molecular speciation of toxic metals and radionuclides in heterogeneous media and we have a good working relationship with the SSRL and APS staff. The metal speciation results will be used to confirmed macroscopic observations of metal bioavailability for both the in vitro and in vivo methods (Stewart et al., 2002b, Yang et al., 2004).
Validation/demonstration of in vitro methods to predict metal bioavailability of study soils: Metal bioaccessibility calculated by CU-1166 in vitro methods using more than 40 DoD soils will be correlated with metal bioavailability using in vivo immature swine dosing trials. The pig has been used as an animal model in a number of research fields including gastroenterology, nutrition, and metabolism. Specific justification for the use of swine in chemical bioavailability studies on soil matrices revolves primarily around biological (anatomical, physiological, biochemical) similarities to humans. There is an extensive database of information on the use of the swine model. Standard operating procedures (SOPs) using the immature swine model developed by Dr. Stan Casteel, University of Missouri-Columbia Veterinary Medical Diagnostic Laboratory, have been approved by the USEPA Region 8 (Casteel, 1995) for measuring the bioavailability of Pb from incidental ingestion of soils by children. During the past 10 years, the swine model has served well as a surrogate for study of systemic bioavailability of soil Pb in a sensitive population of humans. More than 30 Superfund Site soils from locations across the nation have been tested. The swine model uses relative bioavailability data as measured by comparing oral absorption of the metal of interest in test soils to oral absorption of some fully soluble form of the metal. The fraction of the absorbed dose of a metal can be measured using concentrations in blood and tissues such as liver, kidney, and bone. For the special case of As, the urinary excretion fraction is most appropriate. It has been shown by Weis et al. that preliminary site-specific estimates of soil Pb relative bioavailability on 20 soils of concern to the USEPA ranged from 6% to greater than 85%, relative to the absorption measured for Pb from lead acetate. The model has also been used successfully to assess the bioavailability of Cd and As.
An example of the general study design for the Pb-contaminated soils dosing trial is as follows where two different contaminated soils are shown with their soluble control at three different dosing levels and five replications:
Intact male pigs weighing 10-12 kg will be housed individually in lead-free cages and fed low-lead feed. All doses will be delivered daily for 15 days in a low-lead vehicle according to the diurnal schedule. One blood sample (6-8 mls) will be drawn (following SOP #9) from each animal on days 0, 1, 2, 3, 5, 7, 9, 12, and 15, into a new plastic lead-free syringe by venipuncture of the anterior vena cava. The blood will be immediately transferred into lead-free VacutainerR tubes containing EDTA. In each case, blood samples will be drawn 17 hours after the second dosing of the previous day. Animal weights will be recorded and doses and feed adjusted on days -1, 2 and every third day thereafter until study termination. Blood samples will be prepared as per SOP #11. Animals will be fed according to the regular daily schedule outlined in the Project Notebook. On study day #15, pigs will be humanely sacrificed and representative samples of liver, kidney, and bone will be collected and prepared for analysis as per SOP #11.
Metal availability estimated by models developed in CU-1210 will be compared and correlated with metal bioavailability using plant bioassay and earthworm (e.g., soil invertebrate) bioassays. Metal bioavailability and ecotoxicity in contaminated soils collected from DoD sites will initially be assessed using soil invertebrate bioassays with earthworms (Eisenia fetida), potworms (Enchytraeus albidus), and collembola (Folsomia candida) according to standard protocols. Bioassay endpoints will include mortality, reproduction, and internal concentration of metals (bioaccumulation). Plant bioassays with Alfalfa, Medicago sativa; Perennial ryegrass, Lolium perrene; and Japanese millet, Echinochloa esculenta will be conducted with contaminated soils from DoD to provide plant risk-based endpoints of germination, dry matter growth, and tissue metal concentrations.
The in vivo results will be compared to results from the various soil property-driven models in an effort to show that the cost-effective in vitro methods can serve as a screening tool for estimating toxic metal bioavailability. This information can in turn be used to prioritize DoD sites in terms of their potential ecological risk and the need for more-detailed, and costly, site-specific bioavailability (e.g., animal dosing, plant and invertebrate) studies.
Demonstration and use of in vitro methods to perform human and ecological risk calculations for contaminated study soils: Risk estimates from incidental ingestion of contaminated soils will be calculated using metal bioavailability values derived from CU-1166 methods (total metal content and soil properties). Adjustments to ecological risk-based endpoints (bioaccumulation, ecotoxicity) based upon study soil properties will be calculated using methods developed in CU-1210. As is being done in CU-1350, neural network models will be implemented in a spreadsheet program to compute health risk due to ingestion of one or more metals of interest and any given soil properties. The program will compute confidence limits on risk estimates due to combined effects of intrinsic model uncertainty and to uncertainty in soil properties (e.g., as estimated from tabulated data for various soil types). The results from this task will provide a tool to evaluate risk reduction due to toxic metal sequestration in soils to support DoD’s performance/risk assessment and decision-making process for military base site restoration.
Cost/Benefit of Technology
The results from this project would provide site managers and risk assessors with tools to make better initial estimates of site risk which can be used to prioritize sites and to justify, on basis of cost savings from estimated Environmentally Acceptable Endpoints, more definitive site-specific in vivo bioavailability studies. Measures of metal bioavailability can be used to eliminate sites or portions of sites from further risk assessment procedures during screening or Phase I procedures. Two types of approaches could be used: 1) where background data on the site such as total metal levels and soil properties are available, direct application of the models developed from CU-1166 and CU-1210 would provide estimates of the hazard posed by metals at the site; 2) for sites where little information is available, chemical data such as an in vitro GI extraction for human risk or a weak salt extraction for ecological risk would be meaningful for making a decision regarding the site. These values would be compared to screening criteria to determine whether any further assessment is warranted. These concepts are quite unique in that site risks are based on bioavailability estimates versus the current standard of basing site risk on traditional total soil metal analyses; concepts that could save DoD huge expenses in unnecessary remedial costs.
Soil excavation and landfilling costs have been estimated at US $730 m-2 to a 60 cm depth (Vangronsveld and Cunningham, 1998). Remediation costs associated with soil excavation and replacement exceeding $10,000,000 per site are not uncommon. Many times, excavation is performed because risk assessments assume the contaminant is highly bioavailable (i.e., 60% for Pb, 100% for As, Cd, and Cr). Use of in vitro methods to assess contaminant bioavailability will identify soils that have low contaminant bioavailability and/or little/acceptable risk and not require remediation via excavation/replacement. in vitro methods will help focus prudent use of limited fiscal resources for contaminant remediation and cleanup on DoD sites. Regulatory acceptance of in vitro methods will produce cost savings in the range of billions of dollars.
The transition of this technology to the end-users requires an integrated effort with regulatory agencies to get buy in. With the help of the Interstate Technology Regulatory Council (ITRC), the project team will be forming a regulatory advisory board to participate in all three stages of the project. The regulatory advisory board will be made up of between five and ten individuals from state, and federal regulatory agencies (contacts have been made for this advisory board with individuals from the Department of Toxic Substances Control in California and the EPA). All site demonstrations will be focused on end-user needs, and data gathered will be used by DoD project managers and regulatory agencies to make risk based decisions at the demonstration site. The other requirement for technology transition is to disseminate information about this technology to DoD project managers and their contractors. This will be accomplished by presentation at conferences including the SERDP/ESTCP symposium. Other potential conference presentations include the Society of Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry (SETAC) and the Society for Risk Analysis (SRA). It will also be accomplished by publication of articles in the Navy’s Currents magazine, other similar DoD publications, and external peer-reviewed publications. Our team is unmatched with regard to peer-reviewed publications and dissemination of information to the scientific community.
This project will involve the collaborative efforts of the following performers: Amy Hawkins, Naval Facilities Engineering Service Center will coordinate regulatory and end-user involvement; Dr. Philip Jardine, Oak Ridge National Laboratory will lead the effort for the demonstration and validation of models to predict bioaccesibility; Dr. Roman Lanno and Dr. Nick Basta, Ohio State University will be responsible for in vivo ecological bioassays; Dr. Stan Casteel, University of Missouri, Columbia will do in vivo swine dosing trials for model validation; and Dr. Scott Fendorf, Stanford University will provide metals speciation for use in the models.
Amy Hawkins is a biologist in the consultation/information management branch of the Naval Facilities Engineering Service Center (NFESC). As a member of the Ecological Risk Technical Assistance Team (ERTAT) her duties include providing review of ecological risk assessments, site-specific application of Navy policy, and management of risk assessment-related research and development projects. She has provided ecological risk assessment technical support at more than 30 Navy sites. She has presented various technologies as part of NAVFAC’s Remedial Innovative Technology Seminars (RITS) and now serves on the technical review team for the RITS. Ms. Hawkins has also managed various projects implementing new technologies through the Navy’s Broad Agency Announcement.
Dr. Philip Jardine is a Distinguished Research Staff Scientist at ORNL. He specializes in subsurface science research that deals with time-dependent, multi-process fate and transport issues at multiple scales. His current research activities include chemical and microbial controls on contaminant fate and transport, experimental and theoretical aspects of subsurface contaminant migration at laboratory and field scales, quantifying the bioavailability of toxic metals in contaminated soils. Twelve national and international scientific awards. Over 130 peer-reviewed publications.
Dr. Roman Lanno is an Associate Professor of Entomology at Ohio State University. He has over 18 years experience in ecotoxicology with research the last seven years focusing on issues of chemical bioavailability, toxicity, and bioaccumulation or organic chemicals and metals in soil invertebrates, specifically using the earthworm as a model. His bioavailability research has involved examining abiotic and biotic modifying factors in determining the bioavailability of chemicals via dermal and intestinal routes of exposure. He has been invited to give presentations on the bioavailability and toxicity of chemicals in the environment by such agencies as the US EPA (Metals Bioavailability White Paper), National Environmental Policy Institute (NEPI), and the United Nations European Council on the Economy (UN ECE). He has participated in a number of SETAC Pellston Workshops in soil and aquatic toxicology and is editor of “Assessing Contaminated Soils: From Soil-Contaminant Interactions to Ecosystem Management”, the publication resulting from one of these workshops.
Dr. Nick Basta is Associate Professor of Soil and Environmental Chemistry in the School of Natural Resources at The Ohio State University. Dr. Basta has active research and instruction programs that focus on environmental soil chemistry including the risk-based environmental chemistry of organic and inorganic pollutants in contaminated soils with emphasis on bioavailability and contaminant transmission to human and ecological receptors. He has authored or co-authored > 50 manuscripts in refereed journals, 7 book chapters, and 130 abstracts and proceedings of presentations at scientific meetings. Co-Chair, CSREES Technical Committee, "Chemistry and Bioavailability of Waste Constituents in Soils," International Society for Trace Element Biogeochemistry, Steering Committee, and Contaminated Soil Advisory Group, Society for Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry.
Dr. Stan Casteel: Professor and Director of the Veterinary Medical Diagnostic Laboratory at the University of Missouri’s College of Veterinary Medicine. Research Background: Solving animal disease problems, teaching veterinary students and doing research in environmental risk assessment represent the body of his work. As a diagnostician and researcher Dr. Casteel has given more than 150 presentations at scientific meetings and has authored more than 150 abstracts and scientific papers and 29 book chapters. Major funding and current research efforts focus on an understanding of the biokinetics of lead, arsenic and cadmium from contaminated industrial matrices using juvenile and adult-pregnant swine as models for children and pregnant women. This effort is specifically directed toward improving the understanding of the absorption of arsenic, lead and cadmium from contaminated media from various EPA Superfund sites, many of which are on the National Priority List. This is an important departure from EPA's default assumptions regarding heavy metal bioavailability. The impetus for this departure is to provide additional scientific evidence in support of EPA's integrated exposure uptake biokinetic model and site-specific data generated from Superfund Site test soils.
Dr. Scott Fendorf is an Associate Professor at Stanford University. Research Background: Interfacial chemical processes that influence the partitioning , and hence bioavailability, of metals between solution and solid phase. Use of novel, high-resolution surface spectroscopy techniques to decipher the speciation and chemical environment of metals on solid surfaces. 4 national scientific research awards. Over 55 articles published in peer-reviewed journals.
Mark O. Barnett is an associate professor at Auburn University. Research background: soil property controls on metal bioavailability in soils; speciation, transformation, and transport of toxic metals in the subsurface. Notable: 10+ years environmental engineering experience at DoD and DOE facilities, including key project scientist for remediation of Hg-contaminated Superfund site in Oak Ridge, TN. Speciation and bioavailability results were adopted resulting in millions of dollars in cost savings. Work cited by EPA Regional Administrator and awarded ORNL Corp. President’s Award (1995). Over 20 peer-reviewed journal articles.
Basta, N.T., and R. Gradwohl. 2000. Estimation of Cd, Pb, and Zn bioavailability in smelter-contaminated soils by a sequential extraction procedure. J. Soil Contam. 9:149-164.
Casteel S.W., R.P. Cowart, C.P Weis et al: 1997. Bioavailability of Lead to Juvenile Swine Dosed with Soil From the Smuggler Mountain NPL Site of Aspen, Colorado. Fundam. Appl. Toxicol. 36:177-187.
Dayton, E.A. 2003. Relative contribution of soil properties to modifying the phytotoxicity and bioaccumulation of cadmium, lead and zinc to lettuce. Ph.D. Dissertation, Oklahoma State University, Stillwater, OK.
Exponent, 2001. White Paper: Evaluation of the Metals that Drive Risk-Based Remedial Decisions at DoD Sites. Prepared for SERDP, September 2001.
Heuscher, S.A., C.C. Brandt, and P.M. Jardine. 2004. SBAT: A Tool for Estimating Metal Bioavailability in Soils. Oak Ridge National Laboratory ORNL/TM-2004/49.
Lanno, R.P., and N.T. Basta. 2003. An integrated chemical and toxicological approach of evaluating the chemical and biological availability of metals in soil. U.S. Environmental Protection Agency National Center for Environmental Research. EPA Grant Number CR 827230-01-0. Final Report. 129pp.
Rodriguez, R. R., N. T. Basta, S. W. Casteel and L. W. Pace (1999). “An in vitro gastrointestinal method to estimate bioavailable arsenic in contaminated soils and solid media.” Environmental Science & Technology 33(4): 642-649.
Ruby, M. V., A. Davis, R. Schoof, S. Eberle and C. M. Sellstone (1996). “Estimation of lead and arsenic bioavailability using a physiologically based extraction test.” Environmental Science and Technology 30(2): 422-430.
Schroder, J.L., N.T. Basta, J. Si, S.W. Castell, T. Evans, and M. Payton. 2003. Environ. Sci. Technol. 37:1365-1370.
Stewart, M.A., P.M. Jardine, M.O. Barnett, T.L. Mehlhorn, K. Hyder, and L. McKay. 2003. Influence of soil geochemical and physical properties on the sorption and bioaccessability of Cr(III). J. Environ. Qual. 32:129-137.
Stewart, M.A., P.M. Jardine, C.C. Brandt, M.O. Barnett, S.E. Fendorf, L.D. McKay, T.L. Mehlhorn, and K. Paul. 2003. Effects of contaminant concentration, aging, and soil properties on the bioaccessibility of Cr(III) and Cr(VI) in contaminanted soils. Soil and Sediment Contamination 12:1-21.
Vangronsveld, J., and S.D. Cunningham. 1998. Introduction to the concepts. In J. Vangronsveld and S.D. Cunningham (eds.) Metal-contaminated soils: In situ inactivation and phytorestoration. Springer-Verlag, Berlin.
Yang, J. K., M. O. Barnett, S.E. Fendorf, and P. M. Jardine. “Oxidation and bioaccessibility of As(III) in soils.” Environ. Sci. Technol. (submitted).
Yang, J.K., M.O. Barnett, P.M. Jardine, and S.C. Brooks. 2003. Factors controlling the bioaccessibility of arsenic(V) and lead(II) in soil. Soil and Sediment Contamination. 12(2):165-179.
Yang, J.-K., M.O. Barnett, P.M. Jardine, N.T. Basta, and S.W. Casteel. 2002. Adsorption, sequestration, and bioaccessibility of As(V) in soils. Environ. Sci. Technol. 36:4562-4569.
For more information, contact:
Philip Jardine ([email protected], 865-574-8058) | <urn:uuid:531c9656-0e83-4274-bf6f-8bcd93c0afe0> | {
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Located in Boyd County along State Highway (SH) 11, just below the South Dakota border about 15 miles west of where the Missouri River enters South Dakota.
During the 1880′s Nebraska’s population boomed as railroads were built across the prairie. A number of towns were established along the railroad, often spaced between 6 and 10 miles apart so that citizens could make it into town and back home via farm wagon within one day. During he past 100 years, many of these towns have disappeared, or significantly diminished in population.
The Oregon Trail once followed the Platte River across the state, which meant that a variety of military posts, stagecoach stops, and the Pony Express Stations also were scattered along this route.
In 1910, Anoka had a population of about 145 residents. By 1990, the population had diminished to 10.
This is a ghost town, however specific paranormal events have not been recorded as yet for this location. Because this location was once the site of a community of people, we have flagged it as site worthy of exploration. | <urn:uuid:efcd8f2e-b2ec-496b-96fb-d12da324978c> | {
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Start automation testing
from starting stage of the project (I mean whenever the project starts along with manual testing).And confirm the list of functionality that has least possibility for changes.
Automation testing is not a replacement of Manual Testing, Its just continues.
Automation should be done by a tester only, because he is right person who know what all features/areas are covered in the test script and he can plan his test accordingly for other areas or with different variations.
Once you get your automation framework in place, it should be easy to expand as your project grows.
Automatic testing can also benchmark and identify problems with the User Interface, that manually couldn't even be clicked that fast.
Test automation is the use of special software (separate from the software being tested) to control the execution of tests and the comparison of actual outcomes with predicted outcomes.
Test automation can automate some repetitive but necessary tasks in a formalized testing process already in place, or perform additional testing that would be difficult to do manually.
Test automation cannot reproduce the thinking that testers do when they conceive of tests, control tests, modify tests, and observe and evaluate the product.
Test automation tools can be expensive, and are usually employed in combination with manual testing. Test automation can be made cost-effective in the long term, especially when used repeatedly in regression testing.
A test automation framework is an integrated system that sets the rules of automation of a specific product. This system integrates the function libraries, test data sources, object details and various reusable modules. These components act as small building blocks which need to be assembled to represent a business process. The framework provides the basis of test automation and simplifies the automation effort.
Automation of testing does NOT mean automation of the service provided by the software tester.In summary, test automation means applying tools to testing.
Test Automation software is the best way to increase the effectiveness, efficiency and coverage of your software testing.
Test automation can improve the development process of a software product in many cases.
The automation of tests is initially associated with increased effort, but the related benefits will quickly pay off.
Automated tests can run fast and frequently, which is cost-effective for software products with a long maintenance life.
Test Automation should be used by considering the following aspects of a software:
1)Requirements not changing frequently.
2)Large and critical projects
3)Stable software with respect to manual testing
4)Availability of time
The following tools can be used for automation testing:
1)HP Quick Test Professional
3)IBM Rational Functional Tester
Read more about automation testing from http://www.tutorialspoint.com/software_ ... _types.htm | <urn:uuid:61a81722-4570-426e-8b76-4e9c32ac9340> | {
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10 FOR n=0 TO 255 20 PLOT n,88+80*SIN (n/128*PI) 30 NEXT n
It plots the mathematical function sin over a full turn. This little program was an inspiration to me. It was followed quickly by a program to plot cos, which looks very similar. The next one plotted points of the form (cos t, sin t) with t between -pi and pi, which looks like a circle.
It's no exaggeration to say that this program turned me on to mathematics.
At school at about the same time, we'd been going over sin and cos and tan, which were names for the ratios of the sides of right-angled triangles. I'd never seen anything so boring and pointless. There were all sorts of stupid rules for remembering which was which, and when some were supposed to be positive and negative. It was the dullest thing in the world.
And then suddenly it wasn't. SIN and COS were things I could use to draw circles on my computer screen. If I plotted (2*sin, cos), I could make ovals. It was all marvellous. It was obvious what SIN and COS were. They were the distances across and up from the centre of the circle as you were going round it.
Once you knew that, all the blether at school didn't just make sense, it was obvious. I couldn't understand why it had seemed hard. I still didn't see what it was for. But I was very interested in drawing things on my computer. And circles were a big part of that.
A bit later on, for a game, I used my computer to draw a cannonball as it flew. I figured that it would start off going right and up at a certain speed. After a tiny bit, it would have moved, but the speed it was moving up would have gone down a bit. I wrote a program to draw what happened as time went on. It turned out that it made a sort of arc shape like the underside of a bridge.
And a bit later, I worked out how it would change if instead of the cannonball always falling downwards, it always fell towards a certain point on the screen.
A bit later I was watching the moon go round the earth as the earth went round the sun.
When, about five years later, we got to projectiles and ballistics in A level maths, I already knew all the answers.
And when it came to orbital mechanics during my degree, I had a pretty good intuitive grasp.
And it turned out that sin and cos were pretty useful too.
The reason that I mention this is that 27 years ago, a twelve year old child with a new toy and a shiny orange paperback that told him how to use it could draw the graph of sin, and then play with the program to get more interesting programs.
Whereas now, in 2009, a forty year old professional computer programmer sitting in front of a box at least 1000 times more powerful with a screen one hundred times the size that can display millions of colours is having to google for how to do it. (I am trying to write a simulation of an imaginary diffusion equation.)
And answers are not easy to come by. One of the things that google offered up by way of answer was the ZX Spectrum manual. And childhood memories came flooding back.
And I wonder how the hell a modern twelve year old is supposed to write his orrery.
P.S. I posted this on hacker news and it got some interesting responses:
P.P.S. So I posted it on reddit too, where one answer was (in python)
>>> import turtle
And this led me to:
and (I hate to link to a ppt, but it's great)
Which answers my rhetorical question about as well as it could be answered! | <urn:uuid:03e30759-8fdb-4d6e-9d9a-f5434457d5df> | {
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Israel is on high alert for locusts, as swarms of the destructive bugs descend on neighboring Egypt ahead of the Passover holiday.
As many as 30 million of the insects have infested Egyptian cities, traveling from the south of the country into Cairo, three weeks before Passover, according to a ministry statement released to Egypt Independent
As a result, Israel’s Agriculture Ministry set up an emergency hotline and is asking Israelis to be vigilant in reporting locust sightings to prevent an outbreak, which could destroy crops.
Urgent: High Gas Prices: Is it Obama's Fault? Vote Now
When they get hungry, a one-ton hoard of locusts can eat the same amount of food in one day as 2,500 humans, according to the Atlantic.
So far, Egyptian officials said they have eradicated 95 percent of the swarms that arrived in Cairo on Saturday and that no crops have been destroyed, according to the Jewish Press.
"The current inspection teams at areas targeted by locusts did not witness swarms damaging a single inch of crop," Egyptian Agricultural Minister Salah Abdel Moamen said in a statement, adding that the locusts are "sexually immature and do not depend on plants for energy since they mainly rely on fat stores."
The goal is to contain the infestation as much as possible.
The swarms first appeared in Egypt in November 2012, during their seasonal migration to reproduction areas at the Red Sea coasts. In January, those numbers increased. Since their first appearance, as many as 17,452 locusts were exterminated, officials said.
Locust infestations are nothing new in Egypt. Most notably, in 1954, red locusts ate nearly 250,000 tons of corn in Egypt and North Africa. More recently, a plague of locusts nearly 40 miles wide swept over Egypt less than a decade ago, damaging crops at the majority of the country's farms, The Atlantic reported.
: Massive New Rules Revealed for 2013
The locust alert comes ahead of the Passover festival, which recounts the biblical story of the Jewish exodus from Egypt. A plague of locusts was one of 10 plagues God imposed on Egyptians for enslaving and abusing ancient Hebrews, according to the Bible.
Australia Battles Giant Locust Plague
Hot Topics: Israel
© 2015 Newsmax. All rights reserved. | <urn:uuid:4f7b75f6-2ad0-4ea2-baad-de643f5db763> | {
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- An inner liner of S-2 Glass impregnated with a proprietary epoxy formulated for compatibility with the filament-winding process is able to resist continuous exposure to jet fuel.
- A honeycomb core made of urethane foam-filled Kevlar adds structural stiffness needed for aircraft carrier survivability requirements.
- The tank’s carbon-fiber/epoxy filament-wound “box beam” provides internal structural support and attachment points to the jet via lug wells in the outer shell.
When the U.S. Navy and Air Force commissioned the development of the first external fuel tanks in the 1960s to extend the mission range of its fighter aircraft, steel, aluminum and other metals were still the materials of choice. The first external fuel tanks used by McDonnell Douglas, now part of The Boeing Co. (Chicago, Ill.), were all-metal. They included the 600-gal/2,271L tank used on the F-4 Phantom and the 300-gal/1,136L tank used on the A-4 Skyhawk.
Unfortunately, it took a catastrophe to alert designers to the potential advantages of composite materials. The aircraft carrier USS Forrestal (CV 59) was deployed off the coast of Vietnam in July 1967 when a missile inadvertently launched from another fighter jet hit an A-4 jet parked on the flight deck. The A-4’s external fuel tank ruptured, spreading fuel and fire across the deck. The fire quickly engulfed other aircraft, and before the fire was doused, more than 100 seamen died in one of the worst accidents in U.S. military history.
In the tragedy’s wake, the Navy commissioned a team to investigate and recommend ways to improve survivability in the event of a carrier deck fire. The investigation exposed, among other things, the fallibility of all-metal external tanks, especially with respect to ballistic piercing and rupture upon impact with a hard surface. Subsequently, the Navy mandated a more stringent set of survivability and performance requirements for aircraft carrier environments. These included a battery of tests to confirm that a tank has the ability to meet survivability and in-flight load standards. Several of the tests were severe, including ejection of a full tank onto a hard surface, projectile impact, and bonfire resistance. All of these tests required that the tanks maintain a specified structural integrity that would minimize damage and the possibility of a spreading fire.
In the mid-’70s, General Dynamics Armament and Technical Products (GDATP, Lincoln, Neb.) partnered with McDonnell Douglas to design an external fuel tank to meet these standards.
Hybrid design enables early tank
By late in the decade, the two companies had built a hybrid composite/metal tank for the F/A-18 Hornet fighter jet. The decision to go with a hybrid construction, rather than an all-composite tank, was based largely on the fact that, at the time, a jet-fuel-resistant resin system had yet to be tested and qualified.
The tank comprised an internal liner of aluminum, overwrapped with a sandwich construction. The inner and outer skins of the sandwich were laid via filament winding, using S-glass/epoxy yarn. The core was urethane-foam-filled honeycomb made of Kevlar aramid, developed by what is now DuPont Protection Technologies (Richmond Va.), and a filament-wound outer shell of S-glass fiber yarn. McDonnell Douglas supplied the aluminum tank, and GDATP manufactured the outer skin and core. The tanks came in two sizes: a 330-gal/1,250L cylindrically shaped unit and a 315-gal/1,192L, elliptically shaped component. Although GDATP stopped producing these tanks in the 1980s, Cyclone Ltd. (Karmiel, Israel), a subsidiary of Israel-based Elbit Systems, still manufactures a version of this hybrid tank, based on the original design.
Following this successful demonstration of composites’ capability as an outer-skin material in a hybrid tank, McDonnell Douglas and GDATP investigated in the mid-’80s the possibility that an all-composite external tank for the F/A-18 could be built to reduce the mass of the metal-lined hybrid tank.
Emulating an auto breakthrough
At that time, aerospace engineers were drawing inspiration from the automotive industry, where the first all-plastic gas tanks had been introduced in high-density polyethylene (HDPE). However, HDPE couldn’t be considered for jet tanks, says Rick Rashilla, GDATP’s senior manager of business development: “In addition to compatibility with long-term exposure to jet fuel, the resin had to be compatible with the fabrication process.” HDPE was not. It also did not meet the weight goal. And it posed problems in terms of a good bond to the honeycomb core. GDATP faced more severe survivability requirements (takeoff, inflight and landing loads) as well as greater impact risks with the outboard tank than would be expected with an inboard automotive fuel tank. So engineers were presented with the formidable challenge of finding a resin that would be tough enough to withstand continuous contact with jet fuel and withstand severe operational conditions yet meet weight and manufacturability requirements.
After about a year of testing, GDATP developed an epoxy system that met all requirements. “The trick we pulled off was finding a multipart, high-elongation epoxy resin system that would allow us to manufacture a glass-fiber, filament-wound inner liner that acts as a fuel permeation barrier,” says Rashilla. S-glass was selected for the liner because “it provides adequate structural support at a lower cost than carbon fiber.”
The core of the first all-composite tank is similar in basic design to the core of the hybrid tank that preceded it — a foam-filled, honeycomb core made of aramid. However, the outer shell comprises intermixed layers of filament-wound HexTow AS4 PAN-based carbon fiber, supplied by Hexcel Corp. (Stamford, Conn.) and S-2 Glass, which was codeveloped by Owens Corning (Toledo, Ohio) and the U.S. Air Force. In 1998, S-2 Glass became a trademarked product of the Owens Corning and Groupe Porcher Industries (Le Grand Lemps, France) independent joint venture Advanced Glassfiber Yarns, now known as AGY LLC (Aiken, S.C.).
Because the epoxy for the liner was developed primarily to meet criteria for fuel resistance, GDATP formulated a different grade of epoxy that is more suitable for the primarily structural function of the outer shell. The tank also was designed with access doors and additional layers of fabric for reinforcement in the areas around lug wells (cylindrical, sleeve-lined joints), which offer attachment points for pylons on the plane’s bomb rack.
By the late 1980s, all-composite 480-gal/1,817L external fuel tanks for the F/A-18 were in production. The first customer, the Royal Canadian Air Force, used the tanks on its fleet of CF/A-18s. GDATP later manufactured (but did not design) a 230-gal/871L version of the tank for the U.S. Army’s UH-60 Black Hawk and AH-64 Apache helicopters. The all-composite tank was approximately 30 percent lighter than the hybrid tank. The inner liner is wet wound over a steel mandrel. Epoxy-impregnated S-glass is wound to a layer thickness of 0.075 inch/1.9 mm. Then a 0.375-inch/9.53-mm layer of foam-filled aramid core is attached to the inner liner, and the two layers are cured together in an oven. After cure, the inner shell/core is cut in half circumferentially and removed from the mandrel. A square-shaped box beam formed from two glass-fiber arms or frames and a carbon fiber/epoxy filament-wound “strongback” are installed inside the tank to provide internal structural support and external attachment points (see illustration, at top right). The top of the strongback is designed with a radius identical to that of the inner shell, and it fits flush with the inside of the shell. Circular lug wells shaped into the top of the strongback act as receiving joints for the aircraft pylons and as conduits for fuel, air and electrical lines. The two sections are rejoined with an adhesive bond, then a 0.075-inch/1.9-mm-thick layer of epoxy-coated S-glass and carbon fiber is wound around the inner liner and core to form the outer shell. The entire assembly is placed in an oven to facilitate curing of the outer shell.
The all-composite design piqued the interest of the U.S. Navy, which still used the hybrid tank. Its design met general aircraft carrier survivability requirements, but GDATP was asked to qualify it for the extreme load requirements of carrier-based F/A-18s during catapult-assisted takeoff and tailhook arrestment during landing. To compensate for these loads, GDATP added composite material in certain areas, such as the lug-well attachment points. This enabled qualification of an otherwise similar 480-gal/1,817L external fuel tank for the carrier jets in the early 1990s.
GDATP currently provides service and stocks parts for its tank, but no longer manufactures it. However, General Electric manufactures a similar tank.
Project-ready design capabilities
GDATP’s modeling and simulation software is built on a commercial software platform from ANSYS (Canonsburg, Pa.). But it has been customized, Rashilla says, making it capable of modeling the effects of loads and stresses on iterations of in-tank design parameters, including different fibers, thicknesses and orientations. Modeling can be carried out quickly, he adds, with the aid of special programming features. “In metals or lay-up methods of manufacturing, the materials are usually well known and an engineer can look up the material properties of, say, 6061 P6 aluminum in a handbook.” But because GDATP formulates its own materials from base fibers and proprietary resins, Rashilla explains, the company must determine, via testing, the A- and B-basis allowables of those materials. In simple terms, A- and B-basis allowables refer to the statistical certainty one can assign to a given set of test data. Customers decide whether a material used in a specific application must meet A-basis requirements, which require more extensive test data, or the less-stringent B-basis requirements.
Given this state of readiness, Rashilla says GDATP’s next major design/manufacturing opportunity for an all-composite external fuel tank is likely to be the F-35 Lightning II. He expects an external tank will be built for the new jet at some point but reports that funding has yet to be approved. “The survivability requirements for the tank used in the carrier variant of the F-35 will be essentially the same,” Rashilla says. “We hope to be able to apply the lessons we learned on our F/A-18 tank design to that project.” | <urn:uuid:7c45acd1-ffe0-44be-995a-8c360627e490> | {
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Glossary: Identify theft
The theft of personal information such as name, address, phone numbers, bank and credit card account numbers, driving licence or national insurance number in order to steal a person’s “identity”. Identity theft then usually results in money being stolen from the victim’s bank account and savings, or the criminal running up enormous credit card bills, obtaining passports and other official documents such as birth, death and marriage certificates in their victim’s name. The National Fraud Authority estimates identity fraud affects more than 1.8m people in the UK every year at a cost of £2.7bn.
A scheme originally established in 1944 to provide protection against sickness and unemployment as well as helping fund the National Health Service (NHS) and state benefits. NI contributions are compulsory and based on a person’s earnings above a certain threshold. There are several classes of NI, but which one an individual pays depends on whether they are employed, self-employed, unemployed or an employer. Payment of Class 1 contributions by employees gives them entitlement to the basic state pension, the additional state pension, jobseeker’s allowance, employment and support allowance, maternity allowance and bereavement benefits. From April 2016, to qualify for the full state pension, individuals will need 35 years’ of NI contributions.
Used by the holder to buy goods and services, credit cards also have a monthly or annual spending limit, which may be raised or lowered depending on the creditworthiness of the cardholder. But unlike charge cards, borrowers aren’t forced to pay the balance off in full every month and, as long as they make a stated minimum payment, can carry a balance from one month to the next, generating compound interest. As the issuing company is effectively giving you a short-term loan, most credit cards have variable and relatively high interest rates. Allowing the interest to compound for too long may result in dire financial straits. | <urn:uuid:e29d0982-b92f-457d-9d72-24d201a08f1d> | {
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Be Careful! The information presented below is a collaborative effort by several people. The people providing this information may or may not be providing completely accurate information. The information may or may not be relevant to your situation or particular equipment and may or may not comply with local codes. The information should be used as a reference source only. If you are not sure about anything presented, please do not risk your safety, property or life. Hire an electrician.
What is a Motor Starter?
Motor Starters are switches specially designed for starting motors. These switches are designed to withstand the larger loads required by motors. There are basically two types of motor starters, Manual Starters and Magnetic Starters.
Motor Starters serve two main purposes:
- The relay contacts are heavy duty and are rated for the motor starting current.
- Service Panel circuit breakers are designed to protect building wiring, not motors plugged into wall receptacles. If your electrical box circuit breaker trips before your motor burns up, it is incidental, not on purpose. However, motor starters are designed to trip on heater overload before the motor they start burns up.
Manual Motor Starters
Manual motor starters are simply manual switches designed to control larger current loads typical of motor control. They may be small and similar to the light switches in your home, or they may be much larger dedicated switches designed for control of high amperage circuits. These motor starters may be either Single Pole (switch one line only) or Double/Triple
Pole devices (switch 2/3 lines). When a Double/Triple Pole manual motor starter is turned off, the power from the power cable is completely disconnected from the motor. Manual motor starters may also be equipped with matched heaters, which are overload protectors designed to open when the current load is too high. These heaters must be properly sized to the motor they are protecting or else they will either open too soon, or will not protect the motor. The disadvantage to manual motor controls is that they cannot have remotely located On and Off controls.DO NOT USE LIGHT SWITCHES TO START MOTORS
Manual Starter? Follow the wiring sequence as below and merely ignore the control wiring in RED.
There are single pole starters that should only be used for 120 volt motors. L1 is Line 1 in and should be the "hot" black wire. T1 is Motor 1 out and goes from the starter to the motor. In this case, Neutral "White" is carried through to the motor bypassing the starter altogether. This wiring should not be used on 240 volt circuits.
240 volt, 1 phase motors should use a 2 pole starter. L1 is Line 1 in and should be connected to one of the "hot" wires, L2 is Line 2 in and should be connected to the other "hot" wire. T1 and T2 are the corresponding motor out connections and should be carried through to the motor.
Three Phase motors require 3 pole starters and each of the "hot" lines must be switched through the starter.
Magnetic Motor Starters
Magnetic Motor starters are essentially heavy duty relays, often equipped with heater/thermal overloads matched to the motor they start. They are then controlled using a lighter duty (low or high voltage) circuit, auxillary relay contacts and a control station (or several stations) utilizing lighter duty switches (usually momentary sometimes latching). These switches would not be capable of switching the large loads required by the motors. Because the control circuitry is separate from the Load circuit, the On/Off
controls can be mounted remotely and can even be duplicated if desired.
This type of motor starter will usually have an auxiliary contact switch: a smaller set of contacts that opens or closes along with the motion of the main contactors. These contacts will be used to latch the system in an on condition (contacts shown in the picture below as 2-||-3). Latching means that the auxiliary contact bypasses the ON button so the solenoid remains energized, until a separate OFF button cuts the power. Additional contacts (NO & NC) may also be provided and may be used for auxiliary circuits or to provide feedback to the rest of the system that the starter is engaged and the motor has power.
Some older style motor starters have built-in latching. These starters have four terminals labeled 3, P, E, and C (historical leftovers from older models). The E and C terminals are for the hot and neutral wires, respectively, and remain powered. When power is applied to 3 and P at the same time, the starter will engage until power is removed from P. Power can be removed from 3 at any time without affecting operation. The wiring for these starters is not addressed below............
Connector numbers will vary among manufacturers - typical numbers in brackets().
- L1 (1) - first line in from power source (phase 1 for 3ph / Neutral for 1ph)
- L2 (3) - second line in from power source (phase 2 for 3ph / Hot for 1ph* see below for alternate wiring using L2 & L3)
- L3 (5) - third line in from power source (phase 3 for 3ph / NC for for 1ph)
- T1 (2) - first line out to motor (phase 1 for 3ph / Hot for 1ph)
- T2 (4) - second line out to motor (phase 2 for 3ph / NC for 1ph* see below for alternate wiring)
- T3 (6) - third line out to motor (phase 3 for 3ph / Neutral for 1ph)
- -||- (1-2, 13-14, 53-54)is a normally Open NO contact (closes when the relay energizes)
- -|/|- (95-96) is a normally closed NC contact (opens when the thermal overloads trip if associated with the overload block - as shown in all three diagrams)
- -|/|- is a normally closed NC contact (opens when the relay energizes if associated with the relay coil as auxiliary circuit - as shown in the motor reversing diagram as coil isolation contacts)
- M - Relay Coil
- START Button must be wired in Parallel to one another
- STOP Buttons must be wired in Series with each other
- Low Voltage Control with transformer - The transformer output must be rated at the appropriate value for the relay coil (typically 12 or 24 VAC) in your particular starter. This should not be an issue with a manufactured magnetic motor starter as the transformer will have been chosen by the manufacturer to match the coil. Input power for the transformer comes from two legs of the primary input power, chosen to match the input voltage requirements of the transformer.
- Line Voltage Control without transformer - Magnetic Motor Starters which have relay coils at line power levels do not use transformers. Power for the starter relay is taken from two legs of the primary input power, chosen to match the input voltage requirements of the relay coil.
- In either case, power should be taken from below the manual disconnect (if used). This will ensure that there is no power in the box once the manual disconnect has been thrown.
If you are not sure of how to make the connections on your equipment, hire an electrician. Improper wiring can Kill, Injure, Start Fires, Burn Out Motors or any/all of the above.
- All diagrams are intended to illustrate the logic of a latching contol circuit. Your motor starter may use wiring which is internal to the starter, wiring which is different than the diagrams, etc. Please refer to the manufacturer's literature if in doubt.
3ph Starter/3ph Motor
Line Voltage Control three phase (3ph) motor starter controlling a three phase motor (rev 08 Aug 2006)
The above wiring diagram assumes your magnetic starter has a 240V coil. If you have a 120V coil, instead of running a line from Coil - Overload - L2
, you must run Coil - Overload - Neutral
Manual Starter? Merely ignore the control wiring in RED
3ph Starter/1ph Motor
Line Voltage Control three phase (3ph) motor starter controlling a single phase motor (rev 08 Aug 2006)
Some 3 phase Magnetic Motor Starters require current to be seen across each of the three overloads. This may be accomplished by directing the output of second circuit back into the input of the third (previously unused) circuit and feeding the motor off of the output of the third circuit (rather than the second). Wiring then becomes:
Line 1 → L1 → T1 → Motor 1 (L1-hot 240v or neutral 120v)
Line 2 → L2 → T2 → L3 → T3 → Motor 2 (L2-hot 120v or 240v)
Manual Starter? Merely ignore the control wiring in RED
3ph Starter/3ph Motor/Reversible
Line Voltage Control - double contactor three phase motor starter controlling a reversible three phase motor (rev 08 Aug 2006)
(Note: L1 becomes T3 and L3 becomes T1 when the reverse relay is actuated.)
The motor must be STOPPED before REVERSING unless the contactor allows for on-the-fly reversing. The coils are locked out via the NC contacts (M1, M2) usually contained within the mechanical interlock. When Coil #M1 is engaged, Coil #M2 is locked out and vice-versa.
Air Compressor or Float Pump/3ph Starter/1ph Motor
Line Voltage Control Magnetic Starter controlled by a air compressor pressure switch (NC). Includes Auto/Hand/Off control and low oil switch (NC). Both of these are optional and may not be present in all applications. In some cases, the switch will include only Auto/Off. The Auto/Hand/Off is sometimes an integral part of a factory pressure switch. Auto allows for unattended, automatic starting of the compressor when the air pressure in the tank falls below the preset limit. Hand (manual control) allows the pump to be turned on regardless of the position of the pressure switch. This may or may not be appropriate for all applications
and is shown in the interest of completeness only. Hand should be used with caution and due consideration to what is happening in the circuit. Off is self explanatory. If no low oil switch is present, merely remove it from the circuit and continue the wires from the start switch back to the coil.
Incidentally, the same circuit can be used to power a sump pump. The float switch (NO) for the sump would be connected in place of the pressure switch. When the switch detects liquid, the contacts will close and the pump motor will start - assuming that the Start Switch is in the Auto position. Hand is obviously desirable in a sump pump application as it allows the pump to be activated even if the float switch is not functioning.
Magnetic Starter - Control Stations
One of the advantages of magnetic starters is the ability to add control stations. These stations may be located at any convenient location and duplicated as required. The maximum number of stations and their location is unlimited for all practical purposes. Stations are built using Normally Closed (STOP) and Normally Open (START) momentary contact switches. These switches must be rated for the control circuit voltage at a minimum. Over-rated switches will work fine. Many manufacturers incorporate both Normally Open (NO) and Normally Closed (NC) contacts in a single switch body. By rewiring the switch you can change it from one to the other. Many manufacturers also provide interchangeable buttons in at least red and green.
The last station must always be provided to complete the circuit. The intermediate stations may be repeated as many times as required. Suitable 3 conductor control wiring is required from the starter to each of the control stations in turn (daisy chained).
NEMA Starter Size Charts | <urn:uuid:1a95baf4-311d-4f7a-a59d-48cba192d584> | {
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Musings from the Classroom
Opposite Ends of the Spectrum, Commonalities Regardless—Tied Together by TransitionPosted by VFES Communications at 9/8/2015 7:55:00 AM
It’s compelling to consider the beginning of the school year and the end of the school year. On one hand, they truly are undeniably different in a number of regards.
The beginning of the school year holds a wealth of possibilities.
How can we grow? What can we learn? Where is our path going to lead us? How many hiccups will we navigate along the way?
Are my teachers going to be nice?
Am I going to make any new friends?
On the other side, the end of the year is filled with reflection—opportunities to consider one’s successes and accomplishments as well as the curve balls thrown along the way.
And in all the ways they are different, they are also the same in a number of respects.
For in both, there is a eagerness, an energy that cannot be matched. One that makes your body tingle and keeps you alert to take it all in. Smiles undeniably abound just as much on the first day as the last day. And every day in the books is a win in and of itself; for there cannot possibly be a day that goes by where one learns nothing. On the cusp of starting something new, a requisite transition period is full of a lot of gains—no matter how bumpy it is along the way.
Perhaps the greatest struggles lie in the fear of the unknown and discomfort in trying something new. How can we ease transition and use it to our advantage?
- Practice a day with school or a day without school. Use a visual schedule to help your son or daughter know what to expect and at what time. Go through the motions of getting ready or filling a lot of perceived down time.
- Break the transition down into smaller steps. Offer incentives for accomplishing each; e.g., tokens which can add up and be cashed in for a larger payoff, from a toy to an outing to the movies.
- As difficult as it may be, stay as positive as possible and avoid saying no. Sometimes being negative feeds into an aggravated cycle. Praise your son or daughter for what he or she is doing/has done nicely.
- Employ a favorite toy or electronic device. Keep it on hand and use it as an impetus for completing a difficult next step in the day.
- Make time seem more tangible. If your son or daughter knows how long five minutes will be by experiencing it and tracking it on a clock, time-driven blocks of time become more relatable. “You know how quickly that clip from Frozen went? That’s just five minutes. You can do it.”
- Create a Social Story to help your son or daughter make better use of his or her communication skills when moving from something comfortable to something unfamiliar. Here are some resources: http://www.autism.org.uk/living-with-autism/strategies-and-approaches/social-stories-and-comic-strips/how-to-write.aspx and http://www.friendshipcircle.org/blog/2013/02/11/12-computer-programs-websites-and-apps-for-making-social-stories/.
Exploring all the ways in which something novel can be fun and how to harness the energy solicited by the first day of school or the last day of school can be an excellent way to assuage concerns of the unknown and appreciate the day for what it is: the beginning of opportunities versus the ending of something new and unique.
Life Imitates Art: Creating Really Cool Things During ESYPosted by VFES Communications at 8/5/2015
This summer’s art program run by Ms. Fell presented a robust slate of methods and mediums through which students could engage in artistic endeavors.
From Australian nature sculptures and block prints to printmaking and sketching, students in the Middle and High Schools and the VTC had varied opportunities to try something new. Students learned about the nature sculptures of Andy Goldsworthy—a British photographer and sculptor who produces land art in natural environments. After studying his work, students ventured outside to make their own nature sculptures.
To learn about the concept of positive and negative space, students discussed Goldsworthy’s use of these elements in his piece entitled Rain Shadow. Classes also explored Australian Aboriginal cave hand paintings and compared Goldsworthy’s use of positive and negative to what the Aboriginals produced. After much discussion, students made a stencil and paint in spray bottles to produce their own positive and negative space hand paintings.
During week three of ESY, our older students furthered their understanding of positive and negative space as they were introduced to the process of printmaking using block prints. Students sketched and drew on foam printing blocks, creating the negative space of their print. During weeks four and five, the students rolled out ink to make multiple prints of their image and made frames for their prints.
We’re delighted our students were able to explore new mediums, gain an understanding of novel concepts and expand their appreciation for the art of other cultures.
Honorable mention: Students in our Elementary School explored textures, colors, shapes and dimension, making sea creature friends to comprise an ocean-themed mural. Construction-paper fish were adorned with ripped pieces of colored tissue paper, making these aquatic animals quite animated. Turtles fabricated out of paper and egg cartons leapt off the board. Fluffy clouds floating above the oceanic world, with cotton balls utilized to add dimension and create cumulus clouds.Students Work from the Middle and High School and VTCStudent Work from the Elementary School
Supporting Innovative Educational Initiatives: Students Collect Caps for KitsPosted by VFES Communications at 9/19/2014 3:00:00 PM
Sometimes the simplest of things lend themselves to the greatest ideas.
High School students in Ms. Seel’s class spent time collecting, washing, sorting and labeling bottle caps that had been amassed from locations around campus over the course of a few months.
Their efforts support the Caps Program, a project initiated by a West Chester University professor and student that utilizes recycled caps from water, milk, juice and other beverage bottles in sensory-learning, play-based activities to build literacy, numeracy and sequencing skills. The caps are affixed with a letter, number or symbol to comprise an alphabet kit and a number kit. The alphabet set contains three of each vowel, three of the more popular letters and two of the remaining letters. Number kits include three each of numbers one through zero and two each of various mathematical symbols. There are also 20 blank caps for folks to exercise their creativity and make their own additions. Included along with the caps in a zip-lock bag is a resource guide for parents and teachers that provides some sample, basic ideas and serves as inspiration for creating endless activities.
Kits are collected from those who volunteer their time and energy to create them then distributed to schools, literacy programs, domestic violence shelters and even Costa Rica and other locations in South America. They’re great learning tools for places with minimal resources; and even for those with extensive resources, the vast possibilities for educational activities bolsters children’s creativity. From matching shapes and sorting consonants from vowels to engaging in imaginative play with pretend money and using caps as problem-solving tools when learning basic number sentences, the caps can be utilized in myriad subject areas.
With something so easy make, it’s hard to resist the urge to make a kit for your own child or student.Here’s a picture from when representatives from West Chester University visited campus to meet our students and collect the kits. | <urn:uuid:cad29ff7-fb49-43d3-896e-6de231bd7dfb> | {
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St. Charles County, Missouri
"A Town For All Seasons"
The town of
Augusta is located on the bluffs overlooking the Missouri River Valley
on scenic highway 94. The community traces it roots back to Leonard
Harold, one of the settlers that followed Daniel Boone to Missouri.
Leonard purchased over 300 acres of government land in 1821 and grew
tobacco and other crops on his farm. Realizing that there was good
access to the Missouri River from his property he decided to he laid out
the first streets and lots on a portion of his farm in 1836 and called
the town Mount Pleasant.
The town grew largely from
the immigration of German Liberals who had supported the revolutions of 1830
and 1848. At least two-thirds of the German immigrants into St. Charles
County came from an area in northwest Germany and most tended to settle near
other immigrants who had been their neighbors in Germany. Of the immigrants
from Oldenburg most settled along the Missouri River between Augusta and
Dutzow. When the town applied for a post office in 1842 the residents found
that there was already a Mount Pleasant post office in Missouri and adopted
the name of Augusta. Although local tradition claims the name honors
Harold’s wife, records indicate that neither of his two wives was named
By 1855, when Augusta
incorporated, the town had become a prosperous agricultural community and
river port. The town had also become a trading center and supported numerous
craftsmen, merchants, hotels, and wineries. Augusta’s role as a river port
ended in 1872 when a flood shifted the channel of the Missouri River. The
arrival of the Missouri, Kansas & Eastern Railroad in the early 1890s helped
replace the loss of river traffic.
The Germans in St. Charles
County began making wine soon after their arrival and the vineyards in the
Augusta area had achieved notoriety by the 1850s. By the 1880s about 400
acres in St. Charles County were dedicated to vineyards and were producing
100,000 gallons of wine annually. Over half of that acreage was in the
Augusta area and Augusta had 20 wine cellars. The favored grapes for wine
making were the Norton’s Virginia Seedling and the Concord. The wine
business in Missouri was dealt a severe blow when the Prohibition era began
with the passage of the 18th Amendment in 1919 and many of the grape growers
turned to other crops and the remaining vines were killed by pesticides.
vineyards (photo left) began to revive in the late 1960s and
Highway 94 has become known as the Weinstrasse, or "The Wine
Road." Today Augusta’s economy caters to visitors and offers
antique shops, small boutiques, restaurants, and bed and
breakfast inns. Katy Trail State Park, built on the former
corridor of the Missouri-Kansas-Texas (MKT) Railroad (better
known as the Katy) makes a stop at Augusta. This unique
and popular state park consists of a bike trail that stretches
nearly across the state. Other nearby attractions include the
Lewis and Clark National Historic Trail, the Daniel Boone Home,
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An archaic term used to describe patients who exhibit a long, narrow face, short upper lip, open-mouth breathing, and a hyperactive swallowing pattern.
Adenoid facies is the long, open-mouthed, face of children with adenoid hypertrophy. Hypertrophy of the nasopharyngeal pad of lymphoid tissues (the adenoids) is the most common cause of nasal obstruction in children. The mouth is always open because upper airway congestion has made patients obligatory mouth breathers. Persistent mouth breathing due to nasal obstruction in childhood may be associated with the development of craniofacial anomalies such as the adenoid facies ( also called the “long face syndrome”. The most common presenting symptoms are chronic mouth breathing and snoring” The most dangerous symptom is sleep apnea.
The characteristic facial appearance consists of:
• underdeveloped thin nostrils
• short upper lip
• prominent upper teeth
• crowded teeth
• narrow upper alveolus
• high-arched palate
• hypoplastic maxilla
• Eustachian blockage causing glue ear-deafness
• The deafness and inattentiveness interferes with the learning
• child grows with lowered intelligence and understanding
Enlarged adenoids are not easily identified on physical examination. Soft tissue lateral neck Xray (STLN) with neck extended or CT scan will show the size of the adenoid.of the nasopharynx provides a simple and cost-effective method for assessing the size of adenoids and the amount of post-nasal airway space remaining.
Adenoidectomy is the treatment of choice for adenoid hyperplasia and is commonly recommended for the patient with prolonged mouth breathing, Snoring and OSA,nasal speech, adenoid facies, and recurrent otitis media (glue ear).
Adenoidectomy is usually performed using adenoid curette and hemostasis achieved with suction electrocautery.
Adenoidectomy using Coblator is cumbersome. | <urn:uuid:081f483a-d876-4c1b-944a-f92f1b3eef53> | {
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- on Computer/Software/Internet
- Published in issue 6/2011 on page 16
Developing Apps for Android
Using a PC, BeagleBoard, phone or tablet
The first mobile telephone with the Android operating system made its debut in late 2008, and according to current estimates 350,000 new Android phones go on the air each year. What is the reason for this amazing success? Is it Google? Or the fact that it’s open source? Or because it works well? In any case, the specific reason isn’t that important; what matters is that you can also join the trend and develop your own Android apps. | <urn:uuid:8758f285-33cf-4599-a615-9e8d895feae6> | {
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Popular media coverage of Lake Sturgeon characterizes them as an ancient fish, and few adjectives could be more apropos. Yes, they are ancient on geological time spans. The fossil record confirms there have been sturgeon like fish swimming somewhere on the planet for 250 million years. However, the characterization as “ancient” works on multiple levels. In terms of an individual’s life history, sturgeon can live to be ancient. By counting rings on fin spines or ear bones scientists have determined that Sturgeon can live to over 150 years old (Pflieger 1997). A final connection I will offer to sturgeon being old is a little more metaphoric and —“gasp”— anthropomorphic. We are beginning to learn that our tagged Lake Sturgeon, like your parents or grandparents that go to dinner at Denny’s every Tuesday evening at 4:30pm and order nothing but the 55+ grilled cheese and soup, (cut diagonally!!), are often creatures of habit. When it comes to where they go and when, Sturgeon can be downright curmudgeonly, obdurate, and immutable.
Case in point, there are fish like Aldo and Cosmopolis that wander about the lower Missouri Basin and then reliably show up in the Gasconade in the spring. There is Moe, which last summer was the lonely soul who braved the soupy bathwater of the lower Gasconade River by himself, returning this summer to its steamy waters. There is Edward, who is the only fish that really seems to like a particular shallow, wood-strewn reach in the lower Osage. He showed up right on time in the early summer just as he did last year. Julio, Liam, the list goes on. Fancy statistical analysis of site fidelity and homing in our Lake Sturgeon will come once we have collected a couple more years of movement data, but the anecdotal evidence is racking up that some sturgeon may be predictable. When you are guessing, correctly, which tag is about to ping as you round the river bend it probably is not a leap to imagine something more than random is occurring. A recent paper showed similar behavior in Lake Sturgeon in the St. Clair system that connects Lakes Huron and Erie. The population of Sturgeon broke out into four movement patterns that were more or less consistent across years (Kessel et al. 2018).
Just like long-lived people, perhaps long-lived fish when making decisions — such as where are good places to find food, where are good places to rest — defer to experience. However, when our environment is changes faster than the population is turning over, what is a sturgeon to do? When the price of the 55+ grilled cheese and soup special raises 30 cents to adjust for inflation you had better believe we are going to hear some grumbling. This is a big ecological question and one that takes decades to address, but it is one worth thinking about. For the sake of our long-lived species and the long-term health of aquatic ecosystems, there is no time like the present to begin.
Kessel, S., D. Hondorp, C. Holbrook, J. Boase, J. Chiotti, M. Thoomas, T. Wills, E. Rosman, R. Drouin, and C. Krueger. 2018. Divergent migration within Lake Sturgeon (Acipenser fulvescens) populations: Multiple distinct patterns exist across an unrestricted migration corridor. Journal of Animal Ecology 87:259-273.
Pflieger, W. L. 1997. The fishes of Missouri, 2nd edition. Missouri Department of Conservation, Jefferson City, Missouri. | <urn:uuid:5b81f5d4-a9d4-4076-bb41-22d3545eb202> | {
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Researchers are trespassing more and more from the solid world of atoms into the more subtle world of "spirituality". Of course the philosophical dichotomy between matter and spirits going back at least 2,500 years is not a scientific tenet to which scientists are bound.
Yet, in our everyday perception it is perfectly acceptable, and natural, that a computer can detect our blood pressure or measure our cornea "sphericity" but it is not that easy to accept that a computer can "measure" our level of happiness or detect we are feeling blue.
Yet, researchers are finding ways to probe more and more into our "feelings" and a new branch of computer science is emerging "emotion detection".
Now in an article presented at ACM International Conference on Mobile Computing and Networking a team of researchers at MIT show how our emotion can be detected wirelessly measuring tiny variations in the reflection of the electrical field.
They have developed a device that beams a wireless electromagnetic field (RF) to a person and captures the reflections caused by the body. These reflections are affected by the respiration and heart beat. By analysing these variations a software can detects emotional states like sadness, happiness, stress, anger...
In their article the researchers compare the results with the emotional state detected through more usual approaches and come up with a very high level of "correctness".
Are we moving towards an age where just by looking at our smart phone screen we can tell if the boss on the other side of the hall is relaxed and in good mood, just what we need to submit to her our new projects ideas and ask for funding?
Will technology provide an answer and clear the fog (at least a little bit) I often feel when trying to understand the other half of the sky? Well that would be nothing short of a miracle! | <urn:uuid:72d6423d-520d-43aa-8777-f289439012b9> | {
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Frederick the Great by George Upton
This book focuses mainly on the event-filled Seven Years War, rather than the full life of Frederick the Great. Its focus on the period of greatest conflict and drama permits the most significant events of Frederick's life to be told in detail. It is an excellent companion book to Theresa Maria of Austria, which covers many of the same events from the Austrian, rather than the Prussian point of view.
Heritage History | Homeschool History Curriculum | <urn:uuid:1f0e62b2-a399-4716-a2c7-d72c0a506df1> | {
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Using theatre to enhance teaching and learning and improve institutional climate
Highlight on a recent performance:
(dis)Ability in the Classroom
What obstacles to student learning might you inadvertently be introducing into your classroom? How can you plan courses and lesson plans in ways that effectively anticipate a range of student abilities? What resources and practices can help you work with students who disclose learning disabilities? What are good strategies for fostering respect and understanding about learning disabilities within your classrooms?
Participants discussed all of these questions in a recent workshop with the CRLT Players on "(dis)Abilities in the Classroom." Using theater to prompt reflection and discussion, the session explored various challenges faced by U-M students with learning disabilities and provided concrete strategies for instructors to support students in navigating those challenges. As emphasized by this CRLT Occasional Paper, students with disabilities are attending and succeeding at U-M in increasing numbers. As our classroom communities become more diverse in this way, it's critical for U-M teachers to anticipate and respond productively to a range of student abilities in their classrooms.
During the workshop, participants brainstormed a wide range of teaching strategies that echo the best practices for inclusive teaching recommended by the CRLT Occasional Paper as well as U-M's Services for Students with Disabilities (SSD) office. As their Faculty Handbook--a great resource for all U-M teachers--explains, many strategies for anticipating or accommodating students with learning disabilities are simply good pedagogy.
Specific teaching practices suggested at the workshop include:
- Normalize disabilities in the classroom: e.g., by including a syllabus statement, welcoming students who require accommodation to contact you, and noting openly that students read or process information at very different paces.
- Present class materials in a variety of modes--for instance, using printed as well as verbal instructions.
- Give students ample time for reading, calculating, or processing material that you present in class.
- Provide specific instructions for students who complete in-class tasks early so they aren't just 'filling time' while other students work at their own pace.
- Whenever possible, provide students materials well in advance of class so they can all process it without the pressure or distraction of peers working alongside them.
- Respect students' choice to control how and when to discuss their learning disabilities with you; use the same language they do to talk about their disabilities.
- Avail yourself of CRLT and SSD resources to learn more about disabilities in the classroom! | <urn:uuid:43301910-2a70-4066-bf94-a7cb6dff8863> | {
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The calibration stick and calibration tape are the most commonly used tools for calibrating the video scale--i.e., the ratio of the world distance in meters (or any desired length unit) to the image distance in pixels between two points. The world length of a calibration stick or tape is displayed in a readout and in a length field on the toolbar. For either tool, calibrating the video is simply a matter of setting this world length to a known value--see Calibrating a video for details.
The difference between a calibration stick and a calibration tape is how its world length behaves when an end is dragged. For a calibration stick the world length remains fixed (thus changing the video scale). For a calibration tape the world length changes so that the video scale remains fixed. (The easiest way to understand this difference is to create both, place them side by side, and then for each drag an end and/or set the world length and observe the change in the other). The discussion below refers to a calibration stick but, except for this difference, applies to both tools.
A calibration stick or tape can also be used to correct for tilt in the video image.
Since a calibration stick or tape is a track, it has a track menu that is accessible in the Tracks menu on the menu bar or by right-clicking the main video view.
Click the arrow on the Calibration button on the toolbar and select New|Calibration Stick to create a new calibration stick. If desired, you can create more than one stick. Show or hide the calibration stick (along with other calibration tools, if any) by clicking the main part of the Calibration button.
The calibration stick or tape is initially placed near the center of the video image, and its world length is determined using the current scale. The world length and angle from the x-axis are displayed on the toolbar.
To change the world length, click the readout and enter the desired length in arbitrary units. Do not include the units when entering a world length. You can also enter a world length in the length readout on the toolbar.
To change the pixel length (and thus the scale), drag either end of the stick. To move the entire stick without changing the scale, drag the middle.
To calibrate a video, first drag the ends of the calibration stick to a video feature with known length (for example, a meter stick). Then click the readout to select it and enter the known length (but do not include units). For example, in the figures below a calibration stick is used to set the scale in meter units using a video image of a white PVC pipe with black stripes every 10 cm.
a. Drag the ends of the uncalibrated stick to the desired image positions
b. Click the readout to select it
c. Enter the known distance (in this case 0.3, since units are meters)
d. Completed calibration
The calibration stick also displays its angle relative to the +x-axis on the toolbar. By setting this angle, you can correct for camera tilt when shooting a video.
To correct for tilt, drag the ends of the calibration stick so that it is parallel to a video feature that is known to be horizontal in the real world. Then enter an angle of zero into the angle field. This will rotate the +x-axis to the true horizontal. (Note: the same procedure can be used to set the +x-axis to any known angle.)
By default, the calibration stick has a fixed position--that is, its position is the same in all frames. Uncheck the Fixed Position checkbox in its track menu to allow the position to vary independently from frame to frame.
Note that unfixing the position of the calibration stick is not the same as unfixing the scale of the coordinate system.
Locking the calibration stick prevents it from making any changes to the scale. Lock the stick by turning on the Locked property in its track menu. | <urn:uuid:27ebda13-15a8-4710-bdc8-5ac4e071e68b> | {
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Middle School Academics
Students in our Middle School work at a pace that fits their needs. The curriculum is delivered in small, personalized classes, with study and organizational skills built into each subject area. Our students learn more than just the content; they learn how they learn best, how to advocate for their educational needs, and how to prepare themselves for high school.
ReadingIn addition to these core content classes, careful assessment practices are used to place each student in a reading class appropriate to their current needs. Multisensory programs are employed that stimulate and develop concept and symbol imagery. Highly-trained teachers work to develop targeted skills in decoding, language comprehension, fluency, and sight word development.
EnglishEnglish classes at Westmark focus on literary analysis and intensive writing instruction. Using the foundational writing system, teachers guide students through a clear writing process that empowers them to create organized and well-developed written products. Technology enhances instruction and is a critical assistive tool.
MathMath courses at the Middle School cater to a student’s needs rather than their grade level. Student assessments are used to determine a program that best supports and challenges each learner. Every student is provided the opportunity to take a class that specifically addresses their skill needs. Small class size provides students the opportunity to receive intensive student support.
For students in need of remediation, Westmark offers Math LinksÓ. This course is fully aligned with the Common Core State Standards but created to assist students who are struggling in mathematical concepts. Some of its features - including structured workspace - focus on concepts and efforts to limit magnitudes of numbers so computation does not interfere with learning important mathematical ideas. In addition, PreAlgebra, Algebra, and Algebra 1b are offered to students in each grade level.
Science Middle School students study Earth Science, Life Science and Physical Science. Classrooms employ innovative online programs with interactive science simulations, hands-on labs and activities, further enhanced by research projects and collaborative learning experiences. Explicit instruction and support in note-taking, organization, and study skills are integrated into daily lessons.
HistoryMiddle School students take courses in Ancient Civilizations, Developing Civilizations and American History. Students have access to online reading materials and interactive notebooks. This foundation is enhanced by a multitude of creative projects that draw on students’ creative and critical thinking skills.
Students are provided explicit instruction in organization, study skills, and
note-taking. A foundational writing system is employed to support students’ development of written products.
Electives Westmark is committed to celebrating our student’s strengths and developing their individual talents. Students are offered a wide variety of elective opportunities in an effort to build on existing affinities and create room for exploration. Students participate in an elective of their choice on a weekly basis.
ArtsEach year, students take part in a rotation of Drama, Visual Arts and Digital Arts.
Middle School Performing Arts class meets once a week. Students are introduced to the world of performing through acting, music, writing, improvisation, projects, and application.
Middle School students are introduced to formal visual art concepts through projects designed to build a foundational understanding of art processes and concepts.
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Dr Barend HJ de Graaf
Telephone:+44(0)29 208 74766
Location:Cardiff School of Biosciences, Main Building, Museum Avenue, Cardiff, CF10 3AT
Fertilization in higher plants is the result of a series of successful interactions between pollen and pistils of the same species. An understanding of pollen tube growth and the interactions of pollen and growing pollen tubes with the pistil is fundamental to basic plant sciences. Sexual reproduction in flowering plants involves species specific communication events. Upon pollen landing, pollen and pistil are being recognized as ‘own’ or ‘foreign’ which results in acceptance or rejection, respectively. After a successful pollination and compatible interaction between growing pollen tubes and several pistil tissues, fertilization occurs and portions of the pistil develop into a fruit containing the seeds. To date very little is known about which pollen and pistil proteins play a role in the communication between both partners during compatible pollen pistil interactions. Moreover, nothing is known about how male and female partners of different plant species discriminate between own and foreign. We investigate the mechanisms of pollen and pistil acceptance and rejection during plant reproduction by identifying pistil and pollen proteins involved in these processes. Furthermore we try to characterize pollen and pistil proteins that mediate successful pollen-pistil interactions and in a species specific manner. | <urn:uuid:1ccc68ba-1502-4f9e-aa2d-d7ce4e1b258f> | {
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Quatre mazurkas pour le piano, Op. 24
(Paris: Schlesinger, )
Purchased with income from the Ralph Kirkpatrick Fund
Gilmore Music Library
The mazurka, a traditional Polish dance, takes its name from Mazovia, a region that includes Warsaw, where Chopin grew up. Many other composers have written mazurkas, but today the genre is known chiefly because of Chopin. It was one of his favorites; he composed dozens of mazurkas. They are typically not as long or virtuosic as his efforts in some other genres, and often have simple waltz-like accompaniments, but they include some of his most experimental music, with modal harmonies, ambiguous tonalities, unconventional dissonance treatment, and irregular rhythms.
Chopin probably composed the four mazurkas of Op. 24 in 1833, and he published them in 1836 with a dedication to the Count de Perthuis. They have been favorites of pianists ever since, but the third piece in the set had a more surprising fate; the renowned soprano Jenny Lind (1820–1887) produced a vocal arrangement with Italian words beginning “Mi pover cor.” | <urn:uuid:8d2dc71b-b00f-488e-97cc-0d02c4b0b80f> | {
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Today we -
Drew a flower and labeled the parts we already knew.
Learned the structure and function of flower parts using a guided worksheet and power point. The original copy of the worksheet and the ppt. can be found under Flower Structure and Function. The worksheet is already filled in since the one copied for students was a whited out version. | <urn:uuid:01c6bc88-1dbe-4d74-8f8b-d16a5941ad65> | {
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Cleft lip and/or cleft palate is one of the most common birth defects in the U.S., affecting approximately one in 700 babies. Cleft lip and palate may occur as part of an underlying syndrome or be an isolated birth defect. A cleft lip is the result of the lip not “fusing” together during the first few months of fetal development. This often includes the separation of the upper gum line. A cleft palate, which also occurs during the first few months of fetal development, is a separation in the roof of the mouth caused by the sides of the palate not completely fusing one another.
The severity of cleft lip and cleft palate can vary. A baby can be born with just a cleft lip, just a cleft palate, or both a cleft lip and palate. The clefts are classified as unilateral or bilateral. A unilateral cleft lip or palate affects just one side of the mouth. A bilateral cleft lip or palate affects both sides of the mouth.
Any one of a variety of factors can come into play to determine if a baby is born with a cleft lip or cleft palate. In most instances, there is no single explanation, but a combination of many factors acting together that results in a cleft lip or palate. However, there are cases which are due to a more comprehensive genetic syndrome that often includes other birth defects. The geneticist evaluates every new patient to determine if the cleft is isolated or part of an underlying syndrome. Isolated cleft lip with or without cleft palate and isolated cleft palate or due to multifactorial causation. Multifactorial causation involves a variety of both genetic and non-genetic factors. This is not due to a single gene abnormality but rather many genes working together along with other factors. We do not know all of the other factors but certainly prenatal exposure to alcohol, cigarettes, high temperatures, and other medications and drugs increases the risk. If a genetic syndrome, such as 22q deletion syndrome is identified, the infant may a have several other physical disorders that will occur as well
Although cleft lip with or without cleft palate can occur in any race, there is a higher incidence in people of Asian, Native American or Hispanic decent. There is a lower incidence in African-American individuals.
For additional information regarding cleft lip and cleft palate, visit the following websites.
New Book: Comprehensive Cleft Care: A Family Edition
Co-authored by our own Dr. Kirschner, the Family Edition of Comprehensive Cleft Care, provides an easy-to-understand guide to your child's condition and treatment.
Listen to Dr. Baylis on PediaCast
Cleft Lip and Palate Helping Hands | <urn:uuid:be62f259-9efb-46ad-a9cc-d0ff1922f5f8> | {
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Mega- (symbol M) is an SI prefix in the SI system of units denoting a factor of 106, 1,000,000 (one million).
For example, 1 MW (megawatt) = 1,000,000 watts = 1,000 kilowatts.
Confirmed in 1960, it comes from the Greek μέγας, meaning great.
Other common examples of usage
Square and cubic forms
As the SI-prefixes take precedence over exponents,
- 1 Mm2 means one square megametre or the size of a square of 1,000,000 m × 1,000,000 m or m2 (and not 1,000,000 × a square metre or m²)
- 1 Mm3 means one cubic megametre or the size of a cube of 1,000,000 m × 1,000,000 m × 1,000,000 m or m2 (and not 1,000,000 × a cubic metre or m3)
can sometimes denote 1,048,576 (220
) of information units (example: a megabyte
, a megaword), but can denote 1,000,000 (106
) of other quantities, for example, transfer rates: 1 megabit/s = 1,000,000 bit/s
The prefix mebi- has been suggested as a prefix for 220 to avoid ambiguity, but is yet to be widely used. | <urn:uuid:89a40231-ef81-4827-89e7-0cf135e03e71> | {
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State-level policies and practices directly impact the lives of young children and their families in North Carolina. State rules and regulations impact local investments and policy solutions as well.
The North Carolina Early Childhood Foundation promotes state-level early childhood policy and practice solutions by:
- Curating, synthesizing and sharing practices and policies proven to improve children’s outcomes on the measures that matter for early literacy and well-being.
- Promoting actionable strategies and providing practical guidance about what families, professionals, institutions, communities and policy makers can do to advance progress on young children’s literacy and well-being.
- Convening organizations and individuals that serve as statewide leaders in achieving progress on early literacy and child well-being and actively pursue progress as a shared purpose.
- Advancing state and local early childhood policy and understanding of what is needed and what works.
- Tracking state budgets and legislation and reporting on early childhood investments and policy changes.
2017 Cost of NC Pre-K Study Fact Sheet
In 2016, the General Assembly passed legislation requiring the North Carolina Department of Health and Human
Services, Division of Child Development and Early Education (DCDEE), in consultation with the Department of
Public Instruction (DPI), to study the cost and effectiveness of NC Pre-K. It mandated that DCDEE submit a report
on findings and recommendations by February 1, 2017. This Fact Sheet outlines the findings of the report submitted by DCDEE.
Birth-to-8 Provisions in FY 2017-19 Budget
This table outlines several provisions in the budget related to children ages birth through eight. It includes a comparison of the Governor's Proposal, the budgets passed by the House and Senate and the final Conference Report.
The North Carolina Foundations for Early Learning and Development (Foundations)
The North Carolina Foundations for Early Learning and Development (Foundations) provides guidance on the importance of play. This resource could be used to train teachers of young children, develop curricula, and create shared goals across early education and kindergarten programs to re-focus on play and hands-on learning. The Foundations are a set of developmental standards that describe children’s learning and development from birth to age five.
AttendaNCe Counts: Chronic Absence in North Carolina
This issue brief - updated in 2018 to include the most recent chronic absence data - examines the state of the state around chronic absenteeism policies and practices in North Carolina. | <urn:uuid:7747c190-3984-499a-a475-35e2408952c4> | {
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California, with its sunny, mild climate, is home to many beautiful native flowering plants, most of them adapted to dry, hot conditions. The plants presented are all California natives--a few are found nowhere else; others are distributed sparsely along the west coast and southwestern states. To locate seeds listed, contact the California Native Plant Society (CNPS), which maintains an extensive database of local nurseries and suppliers of California native seeds, or check with the California Department of Conservation.
Blue and Purple Flowering Plants
Nothing says wildflowers quite like a field of lupines--along with the California poppy--arroyo lupine (Lupinus ssp.) is the calendar flower of California.
A pale blue annual, baby-blue-eyes (Nemophila menziesii) is native to only two U.S. states--California and Washington. It likes moist ground.
Chinese houses (Collinsia concolor) has a clustering habit and looks very much like miniature purple irises. The plant grows 16 inches tall.
Bluehead Gilia (Gilia capitata), sometimes called Blue Thimble Flower, is a slender native with a wide height range--from 4 to 36 inches--that grows well in rocky soil.
California bluebell (Phacelia campanularia) is another blue-flowered, hardy and low-growing (8 to 24 inches) annual adapted to arid regions.
Red, Yellow & Orange Flowering Plants
California poppy (Eschscholzia californica) can be weedy or invasive, but oh so beautiful as its orange waves covering fields.
Godetia, Farewell-to-Spring, and Satin Flower (all names for Clarkia amoena) identifies one of the prettiest of the native California wild flowers. It is a medium height (12 to 36 inches) showy, cup-shaped flower, pink with red blotches on each of its four petals.
Tidy tips (Layia platyglossa) is a native daisy-like flower, that is yellow with serrated white petal tips. It is a member of the aster family.
Fiddleneck (Amsinckia douglasiana) is a daintily flowered butter-yellow plant that grows up to 36 inches tall.
White Flowering Plants
The straight stems of the yarrow (Achillea millefolium) plant were used by the Chinese practitioners of the ancient "I-Ching" to tell fortunes. Yarrow leaf applied to minor cuts acts as a styptic to stop bleeding as well.
Five Spot (Nemophila maculata) is a low-growing (12 inches) plant with showy white flowers that have unusual dark blue spots on the tip of each petal--sure to be a conversation piece.
Large-flowered desert trumpets (Leptosiphon grandiflorus) are 4- to 20-inch phlox-like flowers that produce clusters of white (sometimes pale pink or lilac) blooms over an extended period. | <urn:uuid:4de79f3d-1cea-4b3d-841f-0485c6248770> | {
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Siege of Fort St. Jean
The Siege of Fort St. Jean (also called St. John, St. Johns, or St. John's) was conducted by American Brigadier General Richard Montgomery on the town and fort of Saint-Jean in the British province of Quebec during the American Revolutionary War. The siege lasted from September 17 to November 3, 1775.
After several false starts in early September, the Continental Army established a siege around Fort St. Jean. Beset by illness, bad weather, and logistical problems, they established mortar batteries that were able to penetrate into the interior of the fort, but the defenders, who were well-supplied with munitions, but not food and other supplies, persisted in their defence, believing the siege would be broken by forces from Montreal under General Guy Carleton. On October 18, the nearby Fort Chambly fell, and on October 30, an attempt at relief by Carleton was thwarted. When word of this made its way to St. Jean's defenders, combined with a new battery opening fire on the fort, the fort's defenders capitulated, surrendering on November 3.
The fall of Fort St. Jean opened the way for the American army to march on Montreal, which fell without battle on November 13. General Carleton escaped from Montreal, and made his way to Quebec City to prepare its defences against an anticipated attack.
- 1 Background
- 2 First approach
- 3 Second approach
- 4 Siege begins
- 5 Large cannon arrive
- 6 Fort Chambly taken
- 7 Carleton tries to help
- 8 Surrender
- 9 Aftermath
- 10 Legacy
- 11 Sources
- 12 References
- 13 External links
Fort Saint-Jean guarded the entry to the province of Quebec on the Richelieu River at the northern end of Lake Champlain. When Benedict Arnold and Ethan Allen captured Fort Ticonderoga and raided Fort St. Jean in May 1775, Quebec was garrisoned by about 600 regular troops, some of which were widely distributed throughout Quebec's large territory.
Continental Army preparations
The invasion of Quebec began when about 1500 men, then under the command of General Philip Schuyler, arrived at the undefended Île-aux-Noix in the Richelieu River on September 4, 1775. On September 6, the Americans began making forays toward Fort St. Jean, only 10 mi (16 km) away. The army was initially composed of militia forces from New York and Connecticut, with most of its operation directed by Brigadier General Richard Montgomery, who took over complete command from Schuyler on September 16, when Schuyler became too ill to continue leading the invasion.
British defensive preparations
Fort St. Jean had been under preparations for an attack from the south ever since Arnold's raid on Fort St. Jean on May 18, in which he captured its small garrison and Lake Champlain's only large military ship. When news of that raid reached Montreal, 140 men under the command of Major Charles Preston were immediately dispatched to hold the fort. Another 50 Canadian militia were raised in Montreal on May 19, and were also sent to the fort.
When Moses Hazen, the messenger bearing news of Arnold's raid, reached Quebec City and notified British Governor and General Guy Carleton of the raid, Carleton immediately dispatched additional troops from there and Trois-Rivières to St. Jean. Carleton himself went to Montreal on May 26 to oversee arrangements for the defense of the province, which he decided to concentrate on St. Jean, as it was the most likely invasion route.
By the time the Americans arrived at Île-aux-Noix, Fort St. Jean was defended by about 750 men under the command of Major Charles Preston. The majority of these were regular troops from the 7th and 26th Regiments of Foot and the Royal Artillery. There were 90 locally raised militia, and 20 members of Colonel Allen Maclean's Royal Highland Emigrants, men who were veterans of the French and Indian War. A detachment of Indians (probably Caughnawaga from a nearby village) patrolled outside the fort under the direction of Claude de Lorimier and Gilbert Tice. The Richelieu River was patrolled by an armed schooner, Royal Savage, under the command of Lieutenant William Hunter, with other boats under construction.
The fort itself, sited on the west bank of the Richelieu River, consisted of two earthen redoubts about 600 feet (180 m) apart, surrounded by a ditch 7 feet (2.1 m) wide and 8 feet (2.4 m) deep that was lined with chevaux de frise. The southern redoubt was roughly 250 by 200 feet (80 by 65 metres), and it contained 6 buildings, including a bake house, the fort's magazine, and storage houses. The northern redoubt was slightly larger, enclosing a two-storey stone house that was used as a barracks. The defenders had cleared brush for several hundred yards around the fort to ensure a clear field of fire. They had put up a wooden palisade to the west of the redoubts, and dug a trench connecting the two redoubts, for ease of communications. The eastern side of the fort faced the river, where there was a shipyard and anchorage for Royal Savage.
Skirmish with Indians
On September 6, Generals Schuyler and Montgomery led a force of men in bateaux to a landing point about 1 mile (1.6 km) upriver from Fort St. Jean. Schuyler remained with the boats while Montgomery led some men into the swampy lands above the fort. There they were surprised by about 100 Indians led by Tice and Lorimier. In the ensuing skirmish, the Americans suffered 8 dead and 9 wounded, while the Indians suffered 4 dead and 5 wounded, with Tice among the wounded. The American troops, which were relatively untried militia forces, retreated to the boats, where they erected a breastwork for protection. The fort's defenders, seeing this, fired their cannon at the breastwork, prompting the Americans to retreat about 1 mile (1.6 km) upriver, where they set up a second breastwork and camped for the night. The Indians, resentful that neither the British forces in the fort nor the habitants had come to their support in the engagement, returned to their homes.
At this camp, Schuyler was visited by a local man, believed by some historians to be Moses Hazen. Hazen, a Massachusetts-born retired officer who lived near the fort, painted a bleak portrait of the American situation. He said that the fort was defended by the entire 26th regiment and 100 Indians, that it was well-stocked and ready for a siege. He also said that the habitants, while friendly to the American cause, were unlikely to help the Americans unless the prospects for victory looked good. Schuyler held a war council on September 7, in which the command decided to retreat back to Île-aux-Noix. However, on September 8, reinforcements arrived: another 800 men including Connecticut militia under David Wooster and New Yorkers with artillery, joined them. Heartened by this arrival, they decided instead to proceed with a nighttime attempt on the fort. Schuyler, whose illness was getting more severe (he was so ill "as not to be able to hold the pen"), turned command of the army over to Montgomery.
Reports of this first contact between opposing forces outside St. Jean were often wildly exaggerated, with many local reports claiming it as some kind of victory. The Quebec Gazette, for example, reported that 60 Indians had driven off 1,500 Americans, killing 30 and wounding 40. Following this news, General Carleton issued orders for all of the nearby parishes to call up ten percent of their militia. Officers of the militia reported to Montreal, but many militia men stayed home. By September 7, a troop of about 120 men was raised, which was sent to Fort St. Jean.
Propaganda and recruiting
On September 8, Schuyler sent Ethan Allen (acting as a volunteer since he had been deposed as head of the Green Mountain Boys by Seth Warner) and John Brown to circulate a proclamation announcing the Americans' arrival, and their desire to free the Canadians from the bondage of British rule. Allen and Brown traveled through the parishes between St. Jean and Montreal, where they were well-received, and even provided with local guards. James Livingston, a local grain merchant (and a relative of Montgomery's wife), began raising a local militia near Chambly, eventually gathering nearly 300 men.
Allen also visited the village of the Caughnawaga, from whom he received assurances of their neutrality. The Caughnawaga had been the subject of a propaganda war, with Guy Johnson, the British Indian agent, trying to convince them (as well as other tribes of the Iroquois Confederacy) to take up arms against the Americans. However, Schuyler had successfully negotiated an agreement in August with most of the Iroquois to remain neutral. Word of this agreement reached the Caughnawaga on September 10; when Carleton and Johnson learned of it, Johnson sent Daniel Claus and Joseph Brant in an attempt to change the minds of the Caughnawaga; their entreaties were refused.
On the night of September 10, Montgomery led 1000 men out again, returning to the first landing site by boat. In the confusion of the darkness and the swamp, some of the troops were separated from the rest. When they encountered one another again, there was panic, as the each mistook the other for the enemy. After just 30 minutes in the swamp, they returned to the landing. Montgomery, who had stayed with the boats, sent the troops out again. This time, the vanguard encountered a few Indians and habitants, and again panicked. Two of the "enemy" were killed, but the troops again made a disorderly retreat to the landing, which their commander, Colonel Rudolphus Ritzema, was apparently unable to stop.
While the command staff met to discuss the next move, word came in that the British warship Royal Savage was approaching. This started a disorganized retreat up the river back to Île-aux-Noix, in which the command staff was nearly left behind.
A third attempt was planned for September 13; bad weather delayed attempts until September 16. However, General Schuyler was by this time so ill that he thought it necessary to withdraw to Ticonderoga. He left that day, turning full command of the invasion over to Montgomery. Schuyler was not the only one falling ill; the bad weather, and the swampy, malaria-infested terrain of Île-aux-Noix was also taking a toll on the troops, as more of them became ill as well. The bad news was tempered by good; an additional 250 troops, in the form of a company of Green Mountain Boys under Seth Warner, and another company of New Hampshire men under Colonel Timothy Bedel, arrived at Île-aux-Noix.
On September 17, Montgomery's army disembarked from their makeshift fleet just south of St. Jean, and sent out John Brown with a detachment to block the road going north from the fort to Montreal. A small flotilla of armed boats guarded the river against the possibility of Royal Savage attacking the army as it landed.
Brown and his men made their first interdiction that day, capturing a wagon-train of supplies destined for the fort. Preston, seeing that this had happened, sent out a sortie to recover the goods. Brown's men, who had had time to hide the supplies in the woods, retreated until the sounds of the conflict reached the main body of the army. Montgomery, along with Bedel and his company, rushed to Brown's aid, and succeeded in driving the British back into the fort without recovering the supplies. During this encounter, Moses Hazen was first captured and questioned by Brown, and then arrested again by the British, and brought into the fort. That night, Hazen and Lorimier, the Indian agent, sneaked out of the fort and went to Montreal, to report the situation to Carleton.
Montgomery began entrenching his troops around the fort on September 18, and constructing a mortar battery south of the fort. He ordered Brown to establish a position at La Prairie, one of the sites where there was a crossing of the Saint Lawrence River to Montreal. Ethan Allen went with a small company of Americans to collect Canadiens that Livingston had been recruiting, and take them to monitor Longueuil, the other major crossing point. Livingston had established a base at Point-Olivier, below Fort Chambly, another aging fort at the base of some rapids in the Richelieu River, and was urging his compatriots to join him there. Some Loyalists attempted to dissuade others from joining with Livingston; Livingston's supporters sometimes violently opposed attempts by Loyalists to organize, and Carleton did nothing at the time to assist the Loyalists outside the city.
Allen, who was already renowned for his bravado in the action at Fort Ticonderoga, decided, when he reached Longueuil on September 24, to attempt the capture of Montreal. In the Battle of Longue-Pointe, this effort failed on the next day, with Allen and a number of men captured by the British. The alarm raised by Allen's proximity to Montreal resulted in the mustering of about 1,200 men from rural districts outside Montreal. Carleton failed to capitalize on this upwelling of Loyalist support by using them for a relief expedition against the besieging Americans. After several weeks of inaction by Carleton, the rural men drifted away, called by the demands of home and harvest. (Carleton did take advantage of the moment to order the arrest of Thomas Walker, a Montreal merchant who was openly pro-American and had been reporting to the Americans.)
The conditions for the Americans constructing the siege works were difficult. The ground was swampy, and the trenches quickly became filled knee-deep in water. Montgomery described his army as "half-drowned rats crawling through a swamp". To make matters even worse, food and ammunition supplies were running out, and the British showed no sign of giving in despite the American bombardment. Disease also worked to reduce the effectiveness of the Americans; by mid-October, more than 900 men had been sent back to Ticonderoga due to illness. In the early days of the siege, the fort's defenders took advantage of the land they had cleared around the fort to make life as difficult as possible for the besiegers erecting batteries. Major Preston wrote in his journal on September 23 that "a deserter [tells us where] the enemy are erecting their battery and we distress them as much as we can with shells." Until large guns arrived from Ticonderoga, the fort's defenders enjoyed a significant advantage in firepower.
Large cannon arrive
On October 6, a cannon that was dubbed the "Old Sow" arrived from Ticonderoga. Put in position the next day, it started lobbing shells at the fort. Montgomery then began planning the placement of a second battery. While he first wanted to place one to the northwest of the fort, his staff convinced him instead to place on the eastern shore of the Richelieu, where it would command the shipyard and Royal Savage. This battery, whose construction was complicated by an armed row galley sent from the fort to oppose the works, was completed on October 13, and opened fire the next day. One day after that, Royal Savage lay in ruins before the fort. Its commander had, in anticipation of her destruction, ordered her to be anchored where her supplies and armaments might be recovered.
Fort Chambly taken
James Livingston had advanced to Montgomery the idea of taking Fort Chambly, near where his militia was encamped. One of Livingston's captains, Jeremy Duggan, had, on September 13, floated two nine-pound guns past St. Jean, and these guns were put to use to that end. Chambly, which was garrisoned by only 82 men, mostly from the 7th Foot, was surrendered on October 18 by its commander, Major Joseph Stopford, after two days of bombardment. Most seriously, Stopford failed to destroy supplies that were vitally useful to the Americans, primarily gunpowder, but also winter provisions. Six tons of powder, 6,500 musket cartridges, 125 muskets, 80 barrels of flour and 272 barrels of foodstuff were captured.
Timothy Bedel negotiated a cease-fire with Major Preston so that the prisoners captured at Chambly could be floated up the river past St. Jean. The loss of Chambly had a dispiriting effect at St. Jean; some of the militia wanted to surrender, but Preston would not allow it. Following Chambly's capitulation, Montgomery renewed his intention to construct a battery northwest of St. Jean. This time, his staff raised no objections, and by the end of October guns that were emplaced there opened fire on the fort.
Carleton tries to help
In Montreal, Carleton was finally prodded to move. Under constant criticism for failure to act sooner, and mistrustful of his militia forces, he developed a plan of attack. He sent word to Colonel Allan Maclean at Quebec to bring more of his Royal Highland Emigrants and some militia forces to Sorel, from where they would move up the Richelieu toward St. Jean, while Carleton would lead a force across the Saint Lawrence at Longueuil.
Maclean raised a force of about 180 Emigrants, and a number of militia. By the time he reached Sorel on October 14, he had raised, in addition to the Emigrants, about 400 militia men, sometimes using threatening tactics to gain recruits. His and Carleton's hopes were dashed on October 30, when Carleton's attempted landing at Longueuil of a force numbering about 1,000 (mostly militia, with some Emigrants and Indian support) was repulsed by the Americans. A few of his boats were landed, but most were driven off by Seth Warner's use of field artillery that had been captured at Chambly.
Maclean attempted to press forward, but his militia forces began to desert him, and the forces under Brown and Livingston were growing in number. He retreated back to Sorel, and made his way back to Quebec.
In late October, the American troop strength surged again with the arrival of 500 men from New York and Connecticut, including Brigadier General David Wooster. This news, combined with the new battery trained on the fort, news of the failed relief expedition, and dwindling supplies, made the situation in the fort quite grim.
On November 1, Montgomery sent a truce flag, carried by a prisoner captured during Carleton's aborted relief attempt, into the fort. The man delivered a letter, in which Montgomery, pointing out that relief was unlikely to come, offered to negotiate a surrender. Preston, not entirely trusting the man's report, sent out one of his captains to confer with Montgomery. The counteroffer, which Montgomery rejected, owing to the lateness of the season, was to hold a truce for four days, after which the garrison would surrender if no relief came. Montgomery let the captain examine another prisoner from Carleton's expedition, who confirmed what the first one had reported. Montgomery then repeated his demand for an immediate surrender, terms for which were drawn up the next day.
Preston's troops marched out of the fort and surrendered their weapons on November 3, with the regulars in full dress uniform. He surrendered 536 officers and soldiers, 79 Canadien and 8 English volunteers.
Following the news of St. Jean's surrender, Carleton immediately began preparing to leave Montreal. He left Montreal on November 11, two days before American troops entered the city without opposition. Narrowly escaping capture when his fleet was forced to surrender after being threatened by batteries at Sorel, he made his way to Quebec to prepare that city's defenses.
Casualties on both sides during the siege were relatively light, but the Continental Army suffered a significant reduction in force due to illness throughout the siege. Furthermore, the long siege meant that the Continental Army had to move on Quebec City with winter setting in, and with many enlistments nearing expiration at year's end. Richard Montgomery was promoted to Major General on December 9, 1775, as a result of his successful capture of Saint Jean and Montreal. He never found out; the news did not reach the American camp outside Quebec before he died in the December 31 Battle of Quebec.
In 1776, the British reoccupied the fort following the Continental Army's abandonment of it during its retreat to Fort Ticonderoga.
The British (and then Canadian) military occupied the Fort Saint-Jean site until 1995, using it since 1952 as the campus of the Royal Military College, which still occupies part of the site. The site now includes a museum devoted to the 350-year military history of Fort Saint-Jean.
Siege of Fort St. Jean is mentioned in a Fort Saint-Jean plaque erected in 1926 by Historic Sites and Monuments Board of Canada at the Royal Military College Saint-Jean. "Constructed in 1743 by M. de Léry under orders from Governor la Galissonnière. This post was for all the military expeditions towards Lake Champlain. In August 31, 1760, Commandant de Roquemaure had it blown up in accordance with orders from the Governor de Vaudreuil in order to prevent its falling into the hands of the English. Rebuilt by Governor Carleton, in 1773. During the same year, under the command of Major Charles Preston of the 26th Regiment, it succumbed to a 45 day siege by the American troops commanded by General Montgomery."
- The number of American forces in this action were highly variable, due to the arrival of additional troops, and the departure of the sick and wounded, during the action. Likewise, the exact number of troops involved in the capture of Chambly, which were a subset of the American forces and Canadian militia, are difficult to count accurately. Stanley, p. 55 estimates that there 200-500 troops besieging Chambly. While the initial invasion force was about 1500 (Stanley, p. 37), any other firm counts are unreliable. Stanley, p. 60, lists the British estimates of the American force at 2000 prior to St. Jean's surrender.
- Stanley, pp. 33–34 lists 662 regulars and militia, and about 100 Indians. Wood, p. 37 lists 725 total.
- Stanley, p. 54
- As with the American troop strengths, determining the exact number of casualties is difficult, in part because different sources may count casualties attached to a particular action differently. Zuehlke, p. 51, and Stanley, p. 62, estimate American casualties at 100, while Smith, p. 458, says there were only 20. Gabriel, p. 112 cites 900 sick removed to Ticonderoga by mid-October.
- Stanley, p. 62
- Lanctot p. 92 lists the surrender count at St. Jean, to which the Chambly garrison size is added
- Stanley, p. 29
- Stanley, pp. 37–39
- Bird, p. 56
- Stanley, p. 41
- Lanctot, p. 44
- Lanctot, pp. 50,53
- Smith, p. 342
- Stanley, pp. 35–36
- Gabriel, p. 106
- Gabriel, p. 98
- Stanley, p. 39
- Gabriel, Stanley, Morrissey, and Smith all make this claim. Stanley cites Smith, p. 612, as providing a reliable conclusion that the man was Hazen.
- Gabriel, p. 99
- Bird, p. 89
- Gabriel, p. 100
- Smith, p. 330
- Lanctot, p. 64
- Lanctot, p. 65
- Smith, pp. 357–359
- Gabriel, pp. 100–101
- Gabriel, p. 101
- Smith, p. 335
- Bird, p. 93
- Bird, pp. 94–95
- Bird, p. 96
- Stanley, p. 42
- Lanctot, pp. 77–78
- Stanley, pp. 48–49
- Wood, p. 39
- Gabriel, p. 112
- Stanley, p. 51
- Gabriel, pp. 118–119
- Gabriel, pp. 120–121
- Stanley, p. 55
- Gabriel, p. 121
- Stanley, pp. 56–57
- Gabriel, p. 123
- Stanley, p. 58
- Smith, pp. 450–451
- Stanley, pp. 58–59
- Stanley, p. 60
- Smith, p. 459
- Smith, p. 460
- Smith, pp. 460–465
- Lanctot, p. 91
- Bird, pp. 142–144
- Stanley, p. 65
- Bird, p. 220
- Stanley, p. 132
- Musée Fort St-Jean
- Anderson, Mark (2013). The Battle for the Fourteenth Colony: America's War of Liberation in Canada, 1774-1776. University Press of New England. OCLC 840463253.
- Bird, Harrison (1968). Attack on Quebec, the American Invasion of Canada, 1775. Oxford University Press. OCLC 440055.
- Gabriel, Michael (2002). Major General Richard Montgomery. Fairleigh Dickinson University Press. ISBN 978-0-8386-3931-3.
- Lanctot, Gustave (1967). Canada and the American Revolution 1774–1783. Harvard University Press. OCLC 70781264.
- Morrissey, Brendan (2003). Quebec 1775, The American Invasion of Canada. Osprey Publishing. ISBN 978-1-84176-681-2.
- Smith, Justin H (1907). Our Struggle for the Fourteenth Colony, vol 1. New York: G.P. Putnam's Sons. OCLC 259236.
- Stanley, George (1973). Canada Invaded 1775-1776. Hakkert. ISBN 978-0-88866-578-2.
- Wood, W. J. (1990). Battles of the Revolutionary War. Da Capo Press. ISBN 978-0-306-81329-0.
- Zuehlke, Mark; Daniel, C. Stuart (2006). Canadian Military Atlas: Four Centuries of Conflict from New France to Kosovo. Douglas & McIntyre. ISBN 978-1-55365-209-0.
- "Musée Fort St-Jean website". Fort Saint-Jean Museum. Archived from the original on April 27, 2008. Retrieved 2009-02-13.
- Musée Fort St-Jean virtual exhibition (most Flash, and in French)
- Town of Saint-Jean-sur-Richelieu
- Parks Canada - Fort Chambly National Historic Site
- Fort Chambly at Historic Lakes
- RMC History of Fort Saint Jean | <urn:uuid:ffe10127-b186-404b-affc-5927a1eb65f6> | {
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Hall’s or mountain tōtara is usually a smaller tree than its lowland relative, the true tōtara. It grows at higher altitudes and on poorer soils. The thin, scaly bark (inset) helps to distinguish it from tōtara.
Using this item
Department of Conservation
Reference: 10049505 (main); 10050398 (inset)
This item has been provided for private study purposes (such as school projects, family and local history research) and any published reproduction (print or electronic) may infringe copyright law. It is the responsibility of the user of any material to obtain clearance from the copyright holder. | <urn:uuid:2a72259e-3ce2-481e-938c-c7a011956fb1> | {
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A building containing equipment for washing vehicles automatically.
More example sentences
- If the force is too great, a mirror may not fold out of harm's way, such as when a vehicle is in a car wash.
- It would have included a wide range of facilities, including round-the-clock jet washers, a car wash and garage shop.
- A single access road is planned from the A65 to be shared by the restaurant and a proposed car wash at a former filling station next door.
Definition of car wash in:
- The US English dictionary | <urn:uuid:7021db7a-68e0-4a8f-806f-6ed00f888ff9> | {
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sábado, 29 de diciembre de 2012
I'd like to share with you a reflection that it is published on Marta Merajver's blog, too. (Quiero compartir con vosotros una pequeña reflexión que he publicado en el blog de Marta Merajver en inglés).
Sixty-seven years after the Second War World, we are still asking ourselves how to remember properly the millions of people who were killed in that period of time. Currently, a lot of people ask themselves: what is the aim of that remembrance?; why should we remember such an evil era?; what’s for?
The Holocaust was not only a Jewish tragedy. Eleven million people were annihilated and murdered in concentration camps. Four million of them were Jews; the rest belonged to “races” as gypsies, Slavs, Latinos… others were sorted as handicapped, incurable patients and so on. All of them were labeled as “lives unworthy to live”. But, how should we classify these other victims of the Holocaust, nowadays? Maybe as the so-called, “collateral damages”?
Nazism never fought against a collective, but against the whole humanity. For Nazi people, humankind was something distasteful and repulsive. It was a stigma. The thing is that, they were looking for a sort of creature who couldn’t think by itself, who was able to sacrifice its own life in favor of the Third Reich, it means, the Führer. They wanted some kind of automatons without personality or autonomy; people ready to be manipulated by them; people whose identity were to be a membership of a special Mass, the chosen one (the Volk). People capable of putting others down; to make them feel stupid and inferior. And they often made a game and a joke of it.
In this context, remember it is extremely important. We can’t forget any single victim; we can’t forget how the human being became a being without a soul, without a conscience, without any sympathy at all. They were absolutely crass, that is, rude and insensitive. The main reasons for remembering are: firstly, to avoid these kind of events now and in the future; those evil events don’t have to happen again and on the other hand, humanity has the duty today to restore victims’ identity and dignity. Then, remembrance is in order to ask for justice, but not for a correct political one. Remembrance demands an alterative justice, that is, a justice in favor of everyone. A sort of justice whose objective is to restore humanity in every person, victim or murderer.
Of course, it doesn’t mean not to punish criminal people, but to make them understand the evil nature of their crimes. Evil in Auschwitz is the attempt to make evil disappear, namely the crime of criminal acts and consciousness. It searches for control over all conduct and all criteria of value and moral.
The exercised Evil has no moral responsibility in man. Criminal man is not longer a monster, even by way of the "Portrait of Dorian Grey". Evil makes not villain people repugnant or disgusting in their interiority or exteriority. In other words, Evil is as non-reflection of the human representation of "Dracula". The human figure of this character cannot be reflected in the mirror because it no longer exists; Dracula is pure Evil. Then Evil takes root in the depths of each being. It has spent their being and it is presented in its annihilator purity as being, as well.
So, accepting this Evil people are isolated from reality as a corporeal, knowing, thinking and reflective self. Evil that, at first, is "doing" in people criminal actions, as a routine becomes a direction of the inner as well as the outer being as a sadistic omnipotence, its main life principle. Sadism turns out to be an aspect of omnipotence –control over lives, an endeavor to stamp out one’s own will. Because of this, the human being becomes a mere man heartless, unthinking, dependent, fascinated and voluntarily possessed by Evil.
Let us consider what they defended that they didn’t think that their acts were bad; they only obeyed orders. It meant that they didn’t need to ask themselves for the reasons for and the right or wrong of the facts, as well. It was not their business at all that they didn’t want any responsibility. Responsibility is related to freedom. Only free people can be responsible and we can’t forget that they were not free to choose anything; they were automatons! However, what it’s true is that they freely chose their condition of no human being and that makes them guilty and responsible of each of their crimes. | <urn:uuid:6f869a87-f2e6-44ee-917e-b0fe62d6e04a> | {
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From Longman Dictionary of Contemporary Englishlengthlength /leŋθ/ ●●● S2 W2 noun 1 size [countable, uncountable]LONG the measurement of how long something is from one end to the other → breadth, width We measured the length and width of the living room.a length of 1 metre/2 feet etc Some fish can grow to a length of four feet.2 feet/10 metres etc in length The hotel pool is 15 metres in length. You’ll need several pieces of string of different lengths.2 time [countable, uncountable]TIME/HOW LONG the amount of time that you spend doing something or that something continues → durationlength of Your pension will depend on your length of employment. What’s the average length of stay in hospital?(not) for any length of time (=not for very long) He wasn’t left alone for any length of time.RegisterIn everyday English, people usually talk about how long something is in space or time, rather than using the noun length: We need to know the length of the table. → We need to know how long the table is. | He was annoyed by the length of time he had to wait. → He was annoyed by how long he had to wait.3 books/films etc [countable, uncountable]LONG the amount of writing in a book, or the amount of time that a film, play etc continueslength of We had to cut the length of the book by one third.of this length Films of this length (=as long as this) are pretty unusual.4 → run/stretch/walk etc the (full) length of something5 → shoulder-length/knee-length etc6 → go to some/great/any lengths (to do something)7 → at (some/great etc) length8 → the length and breadth of the area/country/land etc9 piece [countable]LONG a piece of something long and thina length of rope/pipe/wire etc10 in races [countable]DSH the measurement of a horse, boat etc from one end to the other – used when saying how far the horse, boat etc is ahead of another The horse won by three lengths.11 swimming [countable]DSS the distance from one end of a swimming pool to the otherdo/swim a length She does at least 20 lengths a day. → hold something at arm’s length at arm1(8), → keep/hold somebody at arm’s length at arm1(9), → full-length1COLLOCATIONSverbsmeasure the length of somethingThe children measured the length of their shadows at three different times of day.have a length of 1 metre/2 feet etcThese leaves have a length of about 7 cm.grow to/reach a length of 2 metres/8 feet etcA blue whale can reach a length of 100 feet.run the length of something (=exist along the whole length of something)A long corridor ran the length of the building.adjectivesthe total lengthThe total length of the completed railway line will be almost 650 kilometres.an average lengthThese worms grow to an average length of about 1 metre.the whole/full/entire length of somethingThe camera looks down the full length of the street.medium lengthAll the girls had short or medium length hair.equal/unequal lengthShe drew two lines of equal length.a maximum/minimum lengthThis species of fish can reach a maximum length of 12 inches.
Examples from the Corpuslength• These fish can grow to a length of four feet.• The average length of a stay in the hospital has dropped sharply.• Actually, no-one has legs of exactly equal length.• The service developments which followed the Home Support Project will be discussed at greater length in the final chapter.• The leaves reach 20-25 cm in length.• The two pieces or rope were unequal in length.• For most of its length it didn't look hard enough and then, with its final roll, it fell in.• Bear in mind that all sections must add up to the overall length measurement.• Try these trousers, they look about the right length.• Do you want your hair at the back to be the same length as the sides?• Ron swims several lengths every morning.• Thread a small length of round elastic through the base of the puppet.• At ten lengths the furthest Pfalz turned to meet the attack, far too late.• In silence, they watched the man's progress along the length of the corridor.• Greene's book is less than half the length of most novels.• I like the length of this skirt.• Measure the length of all three sides of the triangle.• This in turn led to criticism of the length and complexity of documents that customers were being asked to sign.• Aksar won by three lengths.• The windows stretch across the whole length of the wall.length of• The leaves reach a length of about 4 inches.• a length of ropeof this length• A review of this length can only touch on its range.a length of rope/pipe/wire etc• Being Vinnie that means two blondes, a length of rope and a tiger skin.• The man in the cradle was whistling to himself and coiling a length of rope.• Together the two of them set out for Lamri, leading the goat on a length of rope.• She too was calm and stood patiently while he attached the chain to a length of rope around her neck.• Left: Waterfalls can chill your water in the winter, unless you divert the flow with a length of pipe. | <urn:uuid:479f330e-cc87-486f-a7dc-6a7460c89ab9> | {
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Keeping Critters Out
There are few things more frustrating to a gardener than to lavish weeks of care on your vegetable plants, bringing them to the brink of harvest—only to have them munched, trampled, or otherwise ruined by hungry wildlife. Fortunately, there are ways to fight back and protect your crops. Here are some methods for keeping deer, rabbits, and voles out of your garden.
Did you know that rabbits prefer young, tender shoots and are particularly fond of lettuce, beans, and broccoli. They like to nibble on flowers such as marigolds, pansies, and petunias. Young rabbits are curious and tend to sample many plants, even ones reputed to be rabbit-resistant. Rabbits prefer to eat at night.
Here are the most popular methods for curtailing rabbit, deer & vole activity:
- Fencing & Netting – Lay chicken wire or netting on or around your plants to keep bunnies out. For deer, fences and covers, such as plastic netting, chicken wire, or floating row covers that you place over plants so deer can’t reach them. For voles, a fence that’s buried 3 to 6 inches below the soil surface and bent outwards into an L-shape. Above ground, the fence should be from 4 to 12 inches tall.
- Habitat Removal – Remove brush piles, tall grass, low-growing shrubs, and rock piles for bunnies. Voles dislike cleared spaces. Cleared spaces as narrow as 10 inches inhibit their movements; wider areas are even better. Remove weeds, mulch, and any crop litter around the garden. Consider digging a trench, voles don’t like trenches.
- Scare them – having a cat or dog in the yard will help deter rabbits. Once bunnies realize the devices don’t present a true threat, though, they’ll ignore them. A dog that can roam the area is a good threat to deer. Motion-triggered devices that squirt water, turn on a radio, or emit an irritating high frequency sound may also work. Predator urine gives deer a fright by making them think a predator visits your garden.
- Repellents – Rabbit repellents work either by releasing a repulsive odor or by making plants taste bad. For deer, repellents that emit sulfur odors, like that found in egg products or bloodmeal, provide the best control; repellents applied to leaf surfaces are more effective than those (such as capsules or reservoirs) that release an odor intended to create a perimeter. Garlic inserted into tubes, hot sauce around the area and caster oil are some known repellants that may work for voles.
- Predators – Pets, hawks, foxes, snakes, and owls will help with bunny control. Cats are a great deterrent for vole control, as are owls, foxes, hawks, bobcats, some snakes, and coyotes.
- Plant Selection – Grow plants they dislike, or place such plants next to the ones they do like. Deer tend to dislike rhubarb, asparagus and garlic.
Bunnies tend to dislike:
- Vegetables: asparagus, leeks, onions, potatoes, rhubarb, squash, tomatoes
- Flowers: cleomes, geraniums, vincas, wax begonias
- Herbs: basil, mint, oregano, parsley, tarragon
- Trapping – Contact local authorities for more information
Talk to us about options for keeping rabbits, deer and voles out of your yards and garden. We provide repellants, fencing and netting options.
Source: Bonnie Plants | <urn:uuid:59af6773-aa00-4adf-8c61-7db9cfacef84> | {
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In 1919, three years before the Avery Power Machinery Co. went bankrupt, a brochure discussed the company's engines. "The motor on the Avery tractors is of the valve-in-the-head type. Motors are built in three types: the T-head, the L-head and the valve-in-head. In the T-head motor (like Marv Stochl's 40-80 Avery), the valves are located on either side, with the result that the combustion chamber has two pockets, one on each side.
"In an L-head motor, the valves are arranged on one side, with one pocket or valve chamber. In the valve-in-head type, the valves are located directly above the cylinders. There are no side pockets or valve chambers."
Another feature of the Avery engine was its removable cylinder heads. "By removing the nuts from the stud bolts passing through the cylinder head, the head can be slipped off and the valves are so exposed that they can be readily ground."
The renewable inner cylinder wall was another feature far ahead of its time. The inner cylinder wall was cast separately from the main cylinder, which, according to the company, gave it several advantages:
"First, if you have any trouble, such as scoring from lack of lubrication or from any other cause, you can easily and quickly take out the inner cylinder wall and replace it with a new one at a very small cost. With the other tractor motors, should you have trouble of this kind, there is just one of two things to do - either take out the motor, crate it up and ship it back to the factory or to a machine shop and get it rebored, reground and have an oversized piston turned up and fitted for it, or throw it to one side and get a complete new cylinder.
"Either of these methods is a very expensive proposition, both in the amount of money it costs and in the amount of time you are without the use of your tractor, which might seriously delay your work.
"Second, all things wear out in time. When an Avery inner cylinder wall has become worn, you can remove and replace it with a new one yourself, at home or even right in the field, and your motor will be made new again.
"Third, the Avery's inner cylinder wall is cast separate and this enables us to use a harder metal which wears longer. You can also turn the cylinder wall part way around from time to time and thus equalize the wear on all sides.
"Fourth, if the water which you use for cooling contains sediment which collects on the inside of the cylinder, you can remove the Avery inner cylinder wall and clean the scale off by scraping it, and ensure the motor is being cooled perfectly at all times." | <urn:uuid:0481dce4-8add-4504-adcd-d477b61f0b6b> | {
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by Anonymous - 2006-05-09 11:54
by Anonymous - 2006-05-09 14:46
The Inversion of Control (IoC) frameworks (such as Spring) essentially provide generic class factories and then use some mechanism (typically XML files) to "wire" object dependencies in order to remove such "wiring" from your code.
The framework resolves the configured dependencies at runtime for you, rather than hardcoding them yourself.
The technique is called "injection" and, yes, it's simply setting a property in a class.
To leverage the provided example, in this case the JDBC methods call a "getConnection" routine in order to acquire a JDBC connection. Using an IoC framework, rather than using getConnection, you'd simply have a Connection member variable. When you went to get a new instance of your class, rather than calling "new YourClass", you'd ask the IoC framework for it instead.
The IoC framework would see that you have a Connection (because you configured it that way), and when you got your object from the framework, the Connection member variable would come "pre-populated". So the class doesn't need to know how to get a Connection, as one is "injected" in to it when the class is created.
The competing techniques are "contructor injection" and "setter injection", meaning that the properties of an object are set either via the constructor or simply a setter.
The whole goal around IoC frameworks is to keep the objects as simple as possible by pulling the dependencies out of them. By relying on a factory to create your objects, the factory assumes the burden of knowing how to create the different resources (like Connections). Combine this with using Interfaces instead of Objects, and it makes unit testing much easier.
In this case, you could reconfigure the IoC framework to provide your class with a "fake Connection", used only for testing. If your class has a "hard coded" getConnection method, then you'd have to change the class to get another kind of Connection. Or, you wouldn't even have to use the framework at all. Simply do "new YourClass", call it's "setConnection" method, and then run the logic. The class itself stays the same for both the application and the unit test.
That's just a simple example of the basics of an IoC framework. The modern ones take the simple concept and add on to it in many ways.
by Anonymous - 2006-05-11 10:18
by Anonymous - 2006-05-15 14:59
by Anonymous - 2006-05-18 10:34
by Anonymous - 2006-05-26 06:57
by Anonymous - 2006-05-16 14:47
Your use of this web site or any of its content or software indicates your agreement to be bound by these Terms of Participation.
Copyright © 2014, Oracle and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved. Oracle and Java are registered trademarks of Oracle and/or its affiliates. Other names may be trademarks of their respective owners. | <urn:uuid:cc25816e-e556-4a4e-8f67-3997ccdea155> | {
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3 March 2014
Gaspas Enriquez: a recognized born and raised artist in El Paso. Thirty years of experience, and his profession as an art teacher have given Gaspar Enriquez a respected name in the heart of art. His works admire the Chicano Texas culture, paintings significant objects of the La Familia, El Barrio and more art displays. Enriquez works exhibit the real Chicano history and popular culture. At the art gallery his biggest portraits in size are 24 feet high, His paintings represent Chicano visions, dignity, support and independent ideas.
His latest work at the Museum of History at El Paso by Gaspar Enriquez: "Metaphors of El Barrio". This exhibition provides a significant vision for people, and the voice of Chicano people communities. Neighborhoods, such as El Segundo Barrio, have been his inspiration; growing up as an artist, his paintings represent metaphors about real life living in the Segundo barrio.
The inspirations used in these paintings are religion, families, Chicano themes, and corruption.
One of Enriquez's recent pieces, called " Generation Of Attitude", depicts a strong truth of faith in the Mexican-American and Catholic culture. The art pieces drawn by Enriquez, represent the violence of struggling Chicanos, the life they face living in a border point Ciudad(Cd) Juarez/ El Paso, violence, deaths relating to criminals, and the drug war among cartels. His ultra-realistic paintings of El Barrio, represent of Chicano culture. One of the paintings catching my attention was "Beginning of an Attitude"; it represents "Los Pachucos" and "Los Cholos". Both ideologies come together, to represent the ideas of the lifestyle passed from generation to generation. The little girl looking right at me, and the dad looking to the side, makes this painting strong, showing what is coming next: new generations with... | <urn:uuid:82d4f572-8b9f-4ed7-b7d6-66c0fe1e17a0> | {
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Why You Should Throw Away Your Barbecue
Dr Vernon Coleman MB ChB DSc FRSA
Cooking foods over charcoal results in the food concerned being covered with carcinogenic substances.
Back in 1964, it was reported that beef grilled over a gas or charcoal fire contained polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) produced from smoke generated by the dripping of fat from the meat onto the hot coals.
Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons have also been found in a number of smoked foods.
The United States Surgeon General has reported that: ‘International epidemiological evidence suggests that populations consuming diets high in salt-cured, salt-pickled and smoked foods have a higher incidence of stomach and oesophageal cancers’.
So, do yourself and your family a favour: dump the barbecue.
This is, in my view, a real risk – and not one of those one in a million risks that you might read about elsewhere.
Taken from Power over Cancer by Vernon Coleman (obtainable as an ebook on Amazon.)
Copyright Vernon Coleman
There are hundreds of free articles on www.vernoncoleman.com and www.vernoncoleman.co.uk
For a biography please see www.vernoncoleman.org or www.vernoncoleman.net
And there are over 60 books by Vernon Coleman available as ebooks on Amazon.
I’m afraid, however, that you have to pay for those. (But not a lot.) | <urn:uuid:cab7b1d8-dcf1-4470-88ad-fcf41b7b0df8> | {
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Drinking Water In Vietnam Has Excessive Arsenic
Author: Tan Ee Lyn
More than a quarter of drinking wells in Vietnam's densely-populated Red River delta contain unsafe levels of arsenic that can cause cancer, neurological problems and hypertension, researchers warned on Tuesday.
In a paper published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, they also said 44 percent of the wells in the delta carried levels of manganese that exceed World Health Organization guidelines.
"About 7 million people are at a considerable risk of chronic arsenic poisoning. This is particularly worrying because groundwater is the main source of drinking water throughout the delta," lead author Michael Berg wrote in an email to Reuters.
Arsenic contamination of groundwater occurs in many countries, like Argentina, Australia, Bangladesh, Chile, China, Hungary, India, Mexico, Peru, Thailand and the United States.
Manganese can disrupt the development of growing children.
Home to 16.6 million people, the delta straddles eight provinces and two municipalities, the capital Hanoi and Hai Phong port. Eleven million people have no access to the public water supply and are dependent on other sources, such as tubewells.
Experts have long known that groundwater in parts of southeast Asia contain unsafe levels of arsenic, a naturally occurring chemical, but their locations have never been clear.
Berg, a senior scientist at the Swiss Federal Institute of Aquatic Science and Technology, and colleagues collected samples from 512 private wells across the delta and analyzed them for arsenic, manganese and other toxins such as selenium and barium.
"Sixty-five percent of the groundwater wells in the Red River delta contain naturally occurring toxic elements, at levels which exceed the World Health Organization's (WHO) safety standards," Berg wrote.
"The most health threatening ... are arsenic, where 27 percent of the wells (are) above WHO guidelines and manganese, 44 percent."
Berg and colleagues believe the widespread contamination is due to a long history of groundwater exploitation in the delta.
"The practice ... has caused arsenic to leech downward and taint the municipal water supply," they wrote, urging households to use sand filters and other water treatment methods.
According to the WHO, water containing more than 10 micrograms of arsenic per liter is unsafe, and chronic poisoning leads to accumulations in the skin, hair, and nails, resulting in skin pigmentation, hypertension and neurological dysfunctions. It may also cause cancer in the skin, lungs, bladder and kidney.
(Editing by Ron Popeski) | <urn:uuid:97236032-fa2c-4f1f-81ff-8de25e4c638f> | {
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Tillandsia Capitata Peach Air Plant Information and Care
|12 Hours bright to filtered light. Capitata Peach can tolerate full sun. Here in south FL, we keep our specimen Capitata Peach on the south east facing porch but we also have several plants down stairs in full sun.|
|In humid conditions, water by misting or gentle spray every three to four days. Capitata Peach is drought tolerant and missing a few days watering won't hurt it. In dry conditions, water evgery other day. In any condition, the plants must dry within a few hours. Air circulation can aid in drying. Soak Capitata once or twice monthly for 20 minutes in water with fertilizer or in clean rain water or water from a natural fresh water source (stream, lake, pond). NEVER allow your plant to sit in water or soil or remain wet for more than three hours.|
|Fertilize sparingly once or twice monthly, usually during the soak. Use a good tilandsia fertilizer. We use Grow More 17-8-22, and have samples available for free. You pay for the jar and shipping only. TOO MUCH FERTILIZER WILL BURN YOUR PLANT.|
Tillandsia Capitata Peach prefer dry, desert conditions and are found native in Mexico, Honduras, Cuba and the Dominican Republic. They are more commonly found attached to rock, rather than trees, and can survive some cool to cold conditions.
Tillandsia Capitata Peach are VERY easily cared for. They have fine but strong hair like roots that grow for the purpose of anchoring the plant to it's mount - not for transmission of nutrients. As such, these plants prefer warm to hot temperatures, dry conditions, and air circulation. In zones 9 +, these plants can survive outdoors but should be protected from temperatures below 60°. Capitata Peach may be grown in artificial environments, provided they are misted regularly, provided 12 hours of filtered or artificial sunlight, and moving air. Like all tillandsia, they do not require soil and only require occasional fertilization.
Like all tillandsia, Capitata Peach air plants will die after blooming. But, before they do they will produce "pups", "Offsets", or "Offshoots" - all three names mean the same thing. These pups will match the parent plant and can be left to grow on the mount or can be broken off when mature and mounted somewhere else. If your air plant appears sick after blooming, it's NORMAL. DO NOT THROW IT OUT, but continue to care for it as you usually do. Watch for pups to emerge.
Your air plant is only fully exhausted if you can pluck the leaves out of the central plant without effort. Usually this is the result of over watering and rot. Plants that die naturally will tend to still be tough and simply dry out and wither. | <urn:uuid:ae784c6f-69e5-4ea0-897c-ed68b53ad820> | {
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Paper is Recyclable. So Why Do We Throw It In The Trash?
The largest percentage of our municipal solid waste stream belongs to paper. Paper is indispensible. It serves a variety of purposes – from snail mail to packaging. Fortunately, paper is also one of the world’s most recovered materials because it is easily recyclable and options for recycling paper are often readily available.
Facts on Recycling Paper
- It takes seven days for a recycled newspaper to come back as a newspaper again.
- In 2008, 11 million tons of carbon dioxide equivalent emissions were avoided by recycling paper and board. This is equivalent to of taking about 3.5 million cars off the road
Paper Recycling How It Works
- Paper is collected at local recycling sites.
- Paper is graded according to its quality.
- At the paper mill, it goes into a tank which contains chemicals like hydrogen peroxide, caustic soda, soap, and water. This process breaks down paper and separates its fibers.
- Fibers are then screened to remove debris such as staple wires, plastic, paper clips, and sticky tapes.
- In a floatation tank, fibers are cleaned and ink is removed.
- Whitening agents and water are added to the fibers.
- The mixture is then and processed to dry and smoothed on heated rollers.
- Once done, the finished product is then divided to sheets or rolls of paper.
Here are some guides on how to recycle paper materials:
Books and magazines: Magazines are 100 percent recyclable. These reading materials are accepted by many community recycling centers and collection sites in the United States. On the other hand, books are more difficult to recycle because of the glues used to bind them. But you can still find recycling centers around your area o who will reuse or recycle your old books. If you want to turn over hardcover books for recycling, make sure to remove the spine first because of its stiff composition and the adhesive that holds them together. There’s no need to remove the staples because paper mills are set up to remove staples and paper clips from the pulped paper.
Cartons: Cartons used for milk, juice, or soup are all recyclable because they are an excellent source of material to produce tissues, paper towels, and even building materials. Cartons are renewable resources because they are made mainly from paper. Thus, they are very desirable for remanufacturing into new products.
Cardboard: Generally, cardboard is recyclable as long as it is not yet contaminated with food or oil. Although cardboard is biodegradable, it is still better to recycle it if it is still usable. Make sure that the cardboard is not wet or soiled and make sure that the cardboard boxes are flattened before sending them to the recycling center for easier processing.
Gift cards and gift wraps: The amount of waste being generated from gifts, especially during the holiday season, can be a big problem for our landfills. It’s a good thing that gift cards and some forms of gift wrap can be recycled. An organization called Earthworks Systems encourages retailers to send them consumed gift cards for recycling. Gift wraps that do not contain plastics or glitter can be turned over for recycling through curbside programs.
Sheets of paper: Loose pages of paper can be recycled as well. Paper consists of fibers – the longer the fiber, the more useful the paper is during the process of recycling. After a few rounds of recycling, the fibers get shorter and because of this, the end product of the process is tissue or toilet paper. Shredded paper can be recycled but this process shortens the fibers and lowers the grade of the paper from high grade to mixed grade. So when it is not necessary to shred paper, don’t do it. Simply use permanent ink to cover up confidential information (ink does not affect the recycling process) before tossing it in your recycling bin.
How about you? How do you recycle paper? Share your recycling tips with us! | <urn:uuid:022b9fe2-d5a6-427c-948b-388f849b621c> | {
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Straight out of the plot of a wild, high-tech science fiction tale comes this news account of research in Japan concerning amoeboid yellow slime mold and its connection to human intelligence.
If thoughts of a giant blob of slime racing down the streets of downtown Tokyo and swallowing up everyone in its murderous path fills your brain as you read this, fear not. You are not alone.
The scientists believe their research holds the key to the mechanism behind human intelligence and that by harnessing that data, they will be able to design bio-computers capable of solving highly complex problems.
There is a definite brilliance to what others may interpret as their madness. The scientific agenda is focused on the slime’s cells, which appear to be able to process and optimize the growth pattern of the mold. These cells also avoid those forces that may damage them, such as light.
“The cells create the most direct root through a maze to a source of food … Humans are not the only living things with information-processing abilities … Simple creatures can solve certain kinds of difficult puzzles … If you want to spotlight the essence of life or intelligence, it’s easier to use these simple creatures,” said Toshiyuki Nakagaki from his laboratory in Hakodate, on Japan’s northernmost island of Hokkaido.
Yellow slime has been on planet for thousands of years, surviving on bacteria, decaying leaves and logs. Its ability to navigate a maze without a brain suggests a transport network design that scientists can learn much from.
The scientific community awarded Nakagaki the Ig Nobel award in both 2008 and 2010, which is designed to “first make people laugh and then make them think.”
Despite the obvious parody to the coveted Nobel prize, it would appear that our man in Japan, according to his colleagues, is right on target to discovering the origins of intelligence.
Slime molds can create much more effective networks than even today’s most sophisticated technology.
“Computers are not so good at analyzing the best routes that connect many base points because the volume of calculations becomes too large for them…but slime molds, without calculating all the possible options, can flow over areas in an impromptu manner and gradually find the best routes … Slime molds…can flexibly adjust themselves to a change of the environment and can create networks that are resistant to unexpected stimulus,” said Atsushi Tero from Kyushu University, in western Japan.
Slime mold networks can be utilized to design future transport systems or electric transmission lines. They can include detours to avoid power outages.
In true sci-fi fashion, researchers hope to duplicate the mechanism of the human brain with slime molds.
If that’s not enough to make you want to change the channel, remember that you are not watching a movie. You are a witness to the truest example of life imitating art.
Maybe rent that old 1950s flick The Blob and see if you can ever get a good night’s sleep again.
Sweet dreams, dear readers. | <urn:uuid:a07bffce-684d-42f3-801d-4a5f9a8771ba> | {
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A "casual" attitude by the Government could be increasing the risk of the human form of "mad cow disease" being spread via blood transfusions or in operating theatres, MPs warned.
The House of Commons Science and Technology Committee said the low number of variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease (vCJD) cases in recent years was being "used as justification for inaction" at a time of public spending restraint.
But with research suggesting tens of thousands of people may unknowingly be carrying the prion responsible for the disease and 43 NHS patients may have been exposed to infection during surgery in recent years, ministers had a responsibility to return to a more cautious approach until more was known of the risks.
The committee's chairman Andrew Miller warned that the Government's approach was "far less precautionary" than in the past and policy appeared to be "driven less by precaution than by economic prudence".
CJD is a neuro-degenerative disease resulting in symptoms similar to dementia, which is always fatal, usually within a year of infection. The variant form shares many of the same symptoms but tends to affect younger people and result in a longer period of illness before death.
Some 177 deaths in the UK have been attributed to vCJD since its identification in 1995 in the wake of the epidemic of bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE), with the majority of deaths occurring between 1996 and 2003.
But Public Health England told the committee that on 43 occasions between 2010 and 2013, surgical patients may have been exposed to the illness because infection control guidance was not properly followed.
In many of the cases, the infected patient was not diagnosed with CJD at the time of surgery and enhanced precautions were therefore not thought necessary.
Prions - infectious agents in protein form - are known to bind strongly to metal surfaces, meaning that normal cleaning methods do not remove them from surgical instruments.
Evidence to the inquiry suggested that Government guidance on the prevention of prion transmission "may not have been fully implemented across the NHS".
Mr Miller said: "It is known that CJD can be transmitted through the use of contaminated surgical instruments, but the Government's response to this threat has been insufficient.
"It has failed to support development of a technology capable of eliminating this risk and instead chooses to rely on guidance which it knows is only partially effective. And evidence suggests that this guidance is not even followed in some parts of the NHS."
Meanwhile, concerns were raised that prions could be transmitted from an undiagnosed CJD carrier to other patients through blood transfusions.
Only four cases have been confirmed of vCJD transmission via infected blood, all in the 1990s. But the committee voiced concern that prions could still be present in the blood supply and "silent infection" from donors who have not yet displayed symptoms of CJD could be "widespread".
"We know that vCJD can be transmitted via blood transfusion because it has happened in the past, and we have reason to believe that prions may still be present in the blood supply, so there is a chance that it could happen again," said Mr Miller.
"However, in the absence of a reliable vCJD blood screening test, we are unable to discard those donations that might be dangerous."
He warned it would be a "false economy" for ministers to cut off funding for Medical Research Council studies on a new blood test to spot the prion.
Mr Miller said: "Variant CJD is a terrible disease and thankfully cases are now rare.
"However, research suggests that around one in 2,000 of us could be unknowingly carrying the infectious prions responsible for the condition. This raises the worrying prospect that these prions could be transmitted to others via blood transfusions and other medical procedures."
"There remains significant uncertainty about the magnitude of this risk and the Government therefore claims to be taking a precautionary approach. But our inquiry has shown that its attitude towards vCJD today is far less precautionary than it was in the past.
"Indeed, recent policy seems to have been driven less by precaution than by economic prudence and a hope that the storm has now passed. This optimism is not supported by the available evidence."
Scientists were divided about the need for action on vCJD.
Professor Sheila Bird, programme leader at the MRC's Biostatistics Unit, welcomed the committee's recommendations - including registration of those at risk of vCJD infection and a large-scale trial of the new blood test within 12 months - which she said would " put UK's surveillance of sub-clinical vCJD firmly back-on-track".
But David Brown, Professor of Biochemistry at the University of Bath, said: "The response required at this point in time should be in line with the current threat.
"While recent data has suggested that a small percentage of people carry some amount of abnormal prion protein, the reality is that we do not know its origin or cause. This should be combined with the current incidence of vCJD which is now thankfully zero.
"If this situation has been reached without additional screening or preventative measure then the reality is any further measures are likely to have no impact at all."
John Hardy, Professor of Neuroscience at University College London, said: "Mad cow disease and new-variant CJD were a disastrous consequence of poor animal carcass handling procedures in the late 1980s amplified by a lax government response to diseased meat reaching the human food chain in subsequent years. We were fortunate that the problem only killed in total about 200 people.
"Clearly, vigilance needs to be maintained to prevent the disease's re-emergence through medical infections and it is appropriate the Commons committee is maintaining scrutiny of this important issue."
A Department of Health spokesman said: "vCJD is a devastating disease that we take extremely seriously. That is why we are providing ring-fenced funding of over £5 million each year for research and surveillance.
"We are continuing work with independent experts and researchers to make sure any risk to the public is minimised, especially in relation to blood tests and instrument decontamination. We will respond to the report fully in due course." | <urn:uuid:aa18950d-5f5d-4160-ab25-f0f823dc04a9> | {
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The Supreme Court Olmstead Decision
On June 22, 1999, the United States Supreme Court held in Olmstead v. L.C. that unjustified segregation of persons with disabilities constitutes discrimination in violation of title II of the Americans with Disabilities Act. The Court held that public entities must provide community-based services to persons with disabilities when (1) such services are appropriate; (2) the affected persons do not oppose community-based treatment; and (3) community-based services can be reasonably accommodated, taking into account the resources available to the public entity and the needs of others who are receiving disability services from the entity.
The Supreme Court explained that its holding "reflects two evident judgments." First, "institutional placement of persons who can handle and benefit from community settings perpetuates unwarranted assumptions that persons so isolated are incapable of or unworthy of participating in community life." Second, "confinement in an institution severely diminishes the everyday life activities of individuals, including family relations, social contacts, work options, economic independence, educational advancement, and cultural enrichment." | <urn:uuid:910bf091-9020-4214-aa96-6efbbc36b6bf> | {
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BREAKING: After 73 Years Doolittle Raiders Will Be Given Congressional Gold Medal Wednesday
It was 1942 and America was reeling from the shock of the attack on Pearl Harbor. 80 men volunteered for what all of them assumed was a suicide mission to prove to the world America would stand strong. Dubbed The Doolittle Raiders (or the Doolittle Tokyo Raiders), these brave young men launched an attack on April 18, 1942, of B-25 bombers directly on Japan.
In 1942 when 80 brave airmen, all volunteers, signed up for a mission in the Pacific, they didn’t know where they were going or what they would be doing. All they knew was, it was a dangerous mission from which they may not return. After April 18, 1942, they became known as the “Doolittle Raiders,” led by Lt. Col. Jimmy Doolittle into the first air raid on Japanese soil during World War II.
The crew, along with 16 B-25 bombers, were more than 600 miles from the Japanese mainland on a U.S. Navy aircraft carrier when they were spotted by an enemy boat. Faced with the choice to abandon the mission or launch the raid knowing they didn’t have enough fuel to make it to allied airfields, Doolittle decided the crew would attack.
Flying through hazardous conditions with little visibility, the Doolittle Raiders faced steep odds. Despite the conditions, they were able to successfully bomb all of their targets in five different cities. Soon after, with their fuel gauges quickly heading towards empty, the 16 airplanes were forced to bail out or crash-land. Eight Doolittle Raiders were captured, two died in the crash, and 70 returned to the United States. The raid changed the course of the war in the Pacific and provided a tremendous morale boost for Americans reeling from the attack at Pearl Harbor.
The Doolittle Raiders epitomized the honorable qualities of “The Greatest Generation”: they were brave, heroic, and no matter the odds, honorably fought in service to their country. Doolittle Raider Lt. Col. Dick Cole simply described the daring mission,”[W]e were just doing our job, part of the big picture, and happy that what we did was helpful.”
Honoring their outstanding heroism, valor, skill, and service to the United States, the Doolittle Raiders will receive a Congressional Gold Medal, the highest civilian honor the United States Congress can bestow.
The ceremony will take place Wednesday, April 15 at 3:00 p.m. in Emancipation Hall and will be live-streamed at www.speaker.gov/live.
On April 18, 2015, the 73rd anniversary of the raid, the medal will be presented at a ceremony to the National Museum of the United States Air Force in Dayton, Ohio by one of the two surviving Raiders, Lt. Col. Dick Cole. The other surviving Raider, Staff Sgt. David J. Thatcher is also planning to attend. More information on that ceremony can be found here.
April 1942: Lt. Col. James H. Doolittle and Capt. Marc A. Mitscher with members of Doolittle’s Raiders while en route to Japan on board USS Hornet CV-8. (Maritime Quest)
Congratulations to Beverly Perlson and Katie O’Malley for working tirelessly for the Raiders. | <urn:uuid:011ddf13-b8bc-41e7-a5da-9742b27eb558> | {
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In 1884 he developed a type of filtration known today as the Chamberland filter or Chamberland-Pasteur filter, a device that made use of an unglazed porcelain bar. The filter had pores that were smaller than bacteria, thus making it possible to pass a solution containing bacteria through the filter, and having the bacteria completely removed from the solution. He was also credited for starting a research project that led to the invention of the autoclave device in 1879.
He worked with Pasteur and came up, by chance, with a vaccine for chicken cholera. He went away on holiday, forgetting to inject the disease into some chickens as he had been told. When he came back he saw the jar of bacteria sitting on the side and thought he would inject it into the chickens anyway. To his amazement they did not die. He reported this to Pasteur, who told him to inject a fresh form into the chickens. He went on to injecting the fresh form into same chickens, and they didn't die. He had found a vaccine! They had also discovered that a weakened form of a disease can act as a vaccine. | <urn:uuid:cd012387-a596-4abd-8b90-84b0ee7e57b4> | {
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Is it correct to use with at the beginning of a sentence?
Here's an example sentence:
With the development of the economy, living standards improved.
To my eyes this looks unnatural; I would rewrite it thus:
Living standards have improved as a result of economic development.
I think it sounds better because, as I understand it, in English it is more natural to put the result at the beginning of the sentence, and then the contributing factors or background information after that. But I am not 100% sure. | <urn:uuid:30f8053f-baff-40a7-8980-d419e41f1d31> | {
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The Circle of Learning
A systematic approach to learning
The Circle of Learning is a systematic approach to learning and teaching. It can be used to help organize and prioritize the areas of learning most relevant to your educational objectives.
Realistic articulation enables proper positioning for procedures
Genitalia, with connectors and urinary reservoir, facilitates urologic care procedures:
Interchangeable wound care modules add realism: | <urn:uuid:5058bf5c-10bc-47c4-8f72-813a86eb7bf5> | {
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What Is A Threadfin Shad? Lake Texoma Fish Species
Identification from Texoma Guide Dan Barnett
Dorosoma is Greek for “lance body,” referring to the lance-like shape of young shad. The word petenense refers to Lake Peten in the Yucatan, the species type locality. Threadfin shad are usually easily distinguished from gizzard shad by the fact that the upper jaw does not project beyond the lower jaw. The anal fin usually has 20-25 rays, as opposed to 29-35 rays found in gizzard shad. The upper surface is silver-blue and grades to nearly white on the sides and belly. All fins have yellow tint except the dorsal. In this species, unlike gizzard shad, the chin and floor of the mouth is speckled with black pigment.
Often used as a bait fish. Threadfin shad almost never bite on a hook.
Like gizzard shad, threadfin shad are most commonly found in large rivers and reservoirs. However, threadfin shad are more likely to be found in waters with a noticeable current and are usually in the upper five feet of water. They are quite temperature sensitive, with die-offs reported at temperatures below 45°F. Spawning begins in the spring when water temperatures reach approximately 70°F, and may continue into the summer. During spawning, one or more females are accompanied by several males. Adults are considerably smaller than gizzard shad adults, rarely exceeding 6 inches in length.
Threadfin shad naturally occur in waters west of the Appalachian Mountains, north to Kentucky, west to East Texas, south to the Rio Grande drainage, and east to Florida. The species has been widely introduced in California and Arizona, as well as Appalachian and southern Atlantic states. Threadfin shad are common in all East Texas streams and have been introduced as forage fish in many reservoirs statewide. | <urn:uuid:85d8c88c-0809-4774-b445-7e763e8d8395> | {
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A British geneticist who identified Richard III has been called in to help archaeologists determine if a headless Jamestown skeleton is the lost body of Sir George Yeardley.
Colonial governor Sir George, who was born in London, is widely regarded as the saviour of Jamestown, the first permanent British colony in America which was on the brink of evacuation when he arrived.
The colony had suffered huge losses and had resorted to cannibalism, but Sir George implemented new laws based on the English judicial system and set up the Virginia Assembly, the first representative government in America.
Now archaeologists excavating Jamestown think they have found his body, and have asked Dr Turi King of Leicester University to help confirm their suspicions.
The skeleton was in the central aisle of a church which would have been reserved for high status members of the colony, and appears to be the same age, 39, Sir George was when he died.
The grave appears to be aligned with the church’s foundations indicating it was dug before the church was dismantled in 1639, 12 years after Yeardley’s death.
Over several months the team will use cutting-edge technologies to try to identify who is buried in the grave.
Prof King said: “It’s a tremendous honour to be involved in the project and hopefully to help identify the putative remains of Sir George Yeardley.
“Jamestown is one of the most famous archaeological sites in US history and Yeardley oversaw the first representative Virginia General Assembly. It’s considered to be the birthplace of American democracy.
“Just as in the King Richard III case, I hope to extract DNA from the remains and match against living relatives as part of the evidence to identify these being the remains of one of the founding fathers of American democracy.”
The new skeleton is headless, but archaeologists discovered an extra skull in a later burial which cut through the grave of Sir George. Dr King is planning to compare teeth found in the original grave to see if they match the skull.
Prof Kevin Schurer, from Leciester University, is also working with the Jamestown team to locate living relatives of Sir George so that DNA samples can be taken and compared with the skeleton.
Professor Schurer “Searching for particular relatives who inherited certain DNA types over many generations is always a challenge, but I hope that we can track down the necessary present-day distant relatives.
“Sir George Yeardley was a central figure in the development of what was to become the United States of America and so should we be able to positively identify the skeleton, this would be a tremendous achievement”.
The skull will also be scanned to create 3D representations and a facial reconstruction of Sir George.
Established in 1607, Jamestown was a disaster with hundreds of colonists dying of starvation or being killed by Powhatan Indians if they left the settlement.
But the winter of 1609, just 60 people survived and the order had been given to evacuate. As the colony waited for rescue a fleet of ships headed by Lord De La Warr arrived with Sir George.
The survivors were ordered back to the fort and Yeardley was eventually tasked with transforming the colony from a military regime to a civil society in an effort to attract more settlers. | <urn:uuid:667b8314-772e-43c5-b403-70b50f9c45fa> | {
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By Claus Nielsen
Animal Evolution offers a complete research of the evolutionary interrelationships and myriad variety of the Animal country. It reports the classical, morphological details from constitution and embryology, in addition to the hot facts won from stories utilizing immune stainings of nerves and muscle groups and blastomere markings which makes it attainable to stick to the destiny of unmarried blastomeres the entire strategy to early organogenesis. until eventually lately, the data from analyses of gene sequences has tended to supply myriads of fairly diverging bushes. notwithstanding, the newest iteration of molecular equipment, utilizing many genes, expressed series tags, or even entire genomes, has introduced a brand new balance to the sector. For the 1st time this booklet brings jointly the knowledge from those different fields, and demonstrates that it truly is certainly now attainable to construct a phylogenetic tree from a mixture of either morphology and gene sequences.
This completely revised 3rd variation of Animal Evolution brings the topic totally modern, in particular in mild of the most recent advances in molecular innovations. The booklet is generously illustrated all through with finely precise line drawings and transparent diagrams, lots of them new.
Preview of Animal Evolution: Interrelationships of the Living Phyla PDF
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- Beatrice and Virgil: A Novel
Extra info for Animal Evolution: Interrelationships of the Living Phyla
1. Annelida and Mollusca. J. Exp. Zool. (Mol. Dev. Evol. ) 302B: 35–68. Nielsen, C. 2005. Trochophora larvae: cell-lineages, ciliary bands and physique areas. 2. different teams and basic dialogue. J. Exp. Zool. (Mol. Dev. Evol. ) 304B: 401–447. Nilsson, D. -E. 1994. Eyes as optical alarm structures in fan worms and ark clams. Phil. Trans. R. Soc. Lond. B 346: 195–212. Nilsson, D. -E. 2009. The evolution of eyes and visually guided behaviour. Phil. Trans. R. Soc. Lond. B 364: 2833–2847. Orrhage, L. and Müller, M. C. M. 2005. Morphology of the anxious approach of the Polychaeta (Annelida). Hydrobiologia 535/536: 97–111. Paxton, J. 2005. Molting polychaete jaws—ecdysozoans are usually not the one molting animals. Evol. Dev. 7: 337–340. Pietsch, A. and Westheide, W. 1987. Protonephridial organs in Myzostoma cirriferum (Myzostomida). Acta Zool. (Stockh. ) sixty eight: 195–203. Pilger, J. F. 1993. Echiura. In F. W. Harrison (ed. ): Microscopic Anatomy of Invertebrates, vol. 12, pp. 185–236. Wiley-Liss, big apple. Prpic, N. -M. 2008. Parasegmental appendage allocation in annelids and arthropods and the homology of parapodia and arthropodia. entrance. Zool. five: 17. Prud’homme, B. , de Rosa, R. , Arendt, D. , et al. 2003. Arthropod-like expression styles of engrailed and wingless within the annelid Platynereis dumerilii recommend a task in phase formation. Curr. Biol. thirteen: 1876–1881. Purschke, G. 2002. at the floor development of Annelida. Org. Divers. Evol. 2: 181–196. Purschke, G. 2005. experience organs in polychaetes (Annelida). Hydrobiologia 535/536: 53–78. Purschke, G. , Arendt, D. , Hausen, H. and Müller, M. C. M. 2006. Photoreceptor cells and eyes in Annelida. Arthropod Struct. Dev. 35: 211–230. Ramírez, F. A. , Wedeen, C. J. , Stuart, D. ok. , Lans, D. and Weisblat, D. A. 1995. identity of a neurogenic sublineage required for CNS segmentation in an annelid. improvement 121: 2091–2097. Rasmussen, E. 1973. Systematics and ecology of the Isefjord marine fauna. Ophelia eleven: 1–495. Remane, A. 1952. Die Grundlagen des natürlichen structures, der vergleichenden Anatomie und der Phylogenetik. Akademische Verlagsgesellschaft, Leipzig. Rieger, R. M. 1980. a brand new workforce of interstitial worms, Lobatocerebridae nov. fam. (Annelida) and its value for metazoan phylogeny. Zoomorphologie ninety five: 41–84. Rieger, R. M. 1981. nice constitution of the physique wall, anxious approach, and digestive tract within the Lobatocerebridae Rieger and the association of the gliointerstitial approach in Annelida. J. Morphol. 167: 139–165. Rieger, R. M. 1988. Comparative ultrastructure and the Lobatocerebridae: Keys to appreciate the phylogenetic dating of Annelida and the Acoelomates. Microfauna Mar. four: 373–382. Rieger, R. M. 1991a. Jennaria pulchra, nov. gen. nov. spec. , eine den psammobionten Anneliden nahestehende Gattung aus dem Küstengrundwasser von North Carolina. Ber. Nat. -Med. Ver. Innsbruck seventy eight: 203–215. Rieger, R. M. 1991b. Neue Organisationstypen aus der Sandlückenfauna: die Lobatocerebriden und Jennaria pulchra. Verh. Dtsch. Zool. Ges. eighty four: 247–259. Rieger, R. M. and Purschke, G. 2005. The coelom and the starting place of the annelid physique plan. Hydrobiologia 535/536: 127–137. Riisgård, H. U. , Nielsen, C. | <urn:uuid:8d6097d4-bc6a-420b-a0a0-eff240f8432a> | {
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What are Rapid Ecoregional Assessments (REAs)?
REAs are assessments aimed at sustaining the health and productivity of America’s public lands. They use existing scientific information to identify resource conditions and trends within an ecoregion, providing the BLM with area-wide looks at entire regions of the west that we hadn’t had before. REAs are designed to increase our knowledge and understanding of our natural resources and to establish baseline conditions needed to assess changes in conditions over time.
REAs gather and synthesize existing data for all the lands in an ecoregion. They help identify important habitats for fish, wildlife, and species of concern. REAs also help identify areas that are not ecologically intact or readily restorable; and where development activities may be directed to minimize potential impacts. REAs then gauge the potential of these habitats to be affected by four overarching environmental change agents: climate change, wildfires, invasive species, and urban and energy development. Their large-scale approach is designed to help us identify patterns of environmental change that may not be evident when managing smaller, local land areas. In contrast to more traditional BLM studies, the REAS do not assess the conditions of specific areas, such as grazing allotments, nor do they describe desired future conditions.
What are ecoregions?
Ecoregions are large geographic areas defined by their shared ecological characteristics. They contain the same types, qualities, and quantities of natural resources. Ecoregions cross traditional administrative boundaries such as county and state lines and typically encompass areas much larger than those managed by individual BLM field offices.
The BLM adopted the geographic boundaries used in the Environmental Protection Agency's "Level III ecoregions," which are widely accepted by other federal and state government agencies and academic researchers. The North American continent currently contains 182 Level III ecoregions. Examples of Level III ecoregions include the cactus-dotted Sonoran Desert and canyon lands of Colorado Plateau. The ecoregions the BLM is assessing in the lower 48 states range in size from 13 million to 89 million acres. The REAs underway in Alaska are considerably larger.
Do REAs only consider data about the public lands within an ecoregion?
No. REAs use information about the natural resources of all the lands within an ecoregion. In this way, the REAs can provide a foundation for formulating coordinated strategies that can respond more effectively to climate change, wildfire, and other environmental challenges that transcend land management boundaries. Including all the lands in an ecoregion also helps us understand how important wildlife habitats are connected today, recognize opportunities to strengthen or maintain connections and identify potential threats to existing connections. In short, REAs can help us identify where the best opportunities exist for conserving or restoring key areas.
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Where are the REAs being conducted?
In addition to the REA for Colorado Plateau that the BLM is releasing now, we plan to release additional REAs for Central Basin and Range, Mojave Basin and Range, Northwestern Plains, Middle Rockies, Sonoran Desert and the Seward Peninsula in Alaska this year. In 2014, the BLM also plans to complete REAs for the Northern Basin and Range/Snake River Plain, Wyoming Basin, and Yukon/Kuskokwim/Lime Hills, all of which began in 2011.
The BLM is conducting pre-assessment work for potential REAs on the North Slope, Chihuahuan Desert, Southern Plains, and Madrean Archipelago.
Why are they called “rapid” assessments, if they take about 18 months to complete?
When compared to studies that conduct research or collect new data, or to the preparation of a BLM land use plan, which typically take from 36 to 48 months to complete, REAs are relatively rapid.
Who else did you invite to participate when creating your REAs?
For each REA, the BLM led an Assessment Management Team that includes other Federal and state land managers. Each of the REA teams guides the assessment and oversees the work of the contractors who perform the technical data management and analysis tasks. The contractors have been hired by the BLM for their special expertise in natural resource assessment, data management, and conservation planning.
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Do REAs make resource management decisions?
No. REAs do not make management decisions or allocate resource uses. They provide science-based information and tools for land managers and stakeholders to consider in subsequent resource planning and decision-making processes, such as Resource Management Plans (RMPs) and Environmental Impact Statements (EISs), which are used to make resource management decisions. In contrast to more traditional BLM studies, the REAS do not assess the conditions of specific areas, such as grazing allotments, nor do they describe desired future conditions. Consequently, the REAs do not use some of the conepts the BLM uses in its local assessments, such as “functioning” or “functioning at risk.”
When will the BLM issue specific findings on the REAS?
REAs do not contain findings and recommendations. The REA data will, however, be used as the BLM creates RMPs, EISs, and other documents that will make resource management decisions.
How will the BLM use the REAs?
The BLM will use the REAs to inform resource management at local and regional levels. At the local level, the REAs will enhance the quality of land use planning and environmental analysis conducted by BLM district and field offices. The information, maps, and tools provided by the REAs will strengthen analyses of the projected and cumulative effects of climate change and other environmental modifications on important natural resources. Information from the REAs should also help focus local land management efforts and integrate them with larger, region-wide initiatives.
At the ecoregional level, the BLM will use the REAs, along with input from partner agencies, stakeholders, and American Indian Tribes, to inform or develop broad-level management strategies. We are working with our offices at all levels and with our partners to make sure this information is used in areas where we are dealing with broad-scale issues, such as Greater Sage-Grouse conservation. We also will be working on implementation plans to fit this data into other efforts we’re making to manage at appropriate scales. Information from the REAs should also prove particularly useful to states with established, multi-agency landscape restoration efforts such as Restore New Mexico and Utah Partners for Conservation and Development.
At the national level, the BLM will use the REAs to help us formulate budget proposals and to establish funding priorities. Information from the REAs may also help us review national-level programs and identify areas where we need to develop new policy.
Other Federal agencies, including the U.S. Forest Service, the Federal Highway Administration and the Defense Department are looking to use the information from the BLM’s REAs in their planning processes as well.
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How confident are you in the REA’s depictions of future ecological conditions?
The REA results are the prouct of scientific modeling. They are “snapshots” based on the best available data at the time they were preapared. They depend on both the assumptions that went in to developing the model itself and the quality of the data that was used in running the model. Changes in the assumptions used in the model or the data inputs can result in radically diffent results. Anyone applying the results produced by the REAs should look closely at the model designs and assumptions as well as the data that was used within the model itself. This more detailed information is available on the REA website and in the written reports. Additionally, the data on the website are accompanied by a disclaimer statement which spells out the limitations on its use.
Why didn’t the BLM cover grazing in its REAs?
The BLM considered including grazing as one of the “change agents,” along with climate change, wild fire, invasive species and development when it was developing the REA concept. After reviewing available grazing data, the BLM decided that its grazing data, while effective for its local-level decisions, did not provide the consistently-gathered, cross-comparable digital data coverage necessary to successfully complete a regional assessment. Consequently, the BLM’s REAs do not cover grazing as a change agent.
The BLM has recently taken steps to address the issue of data availability and consistency in all of its programs, including the grazing program. In May 2012 it adopted a new Assessment, Inventory and Monitoring (AIM) strategy. This strategy will help ensure that, for all of the lands which it manages, the BLM will collect a core set of digital data on topics such as soil stability, hydrologic function, and biotic integrity – the basic building blocks of our rangeland health programs. This data collection effort will be done in a uniform manner that is both statistically valid and useful at multiple scales for BLM management: local, regional and national. The AIM strategy data management plan will ensure that these data are available to other agencies such as the USGS and the Natural Resources Conservation Service and outside partners. The AIM strategy contains specific elements to help BLM’s rangeland managers develop and integrate remote sensing and field-based tools to improve their abilities to detect and adapt to changes in land cover composition over time.
What about assessing the effects of wild horse grazing or Off-Highway Vehicles (OHVs) as change agents in REAs?
As with grazing, the BLM could not identify sufficient region-wide data or appropriate analytical models to incorporate wild horse grazing or OHV use into the development of its REAS. If we can find such data and models, future REAs could assess these or other change agents.
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Why aren’t you assessing cultural resources in your REAs?
Cultural resources and tribal values are important components for landscape-scale ecoregional assessments. The BLM is piloting four projects in 2014 that address integrating cultural values into landscape assessments. One study is a collaboration with the Northern Cheyenne Tribes to identify and incorporate tribal values within the Northwest Plains and Middle Rocky Mountain ecoregions; another incorporates cultural resources and tribal values into a modified REA that is being conducted in the San Luis Valley. Two other projects address issues relating to effective use of cultural resource data derived from multiple sources and with different standards. Each pilot study addresses a particular challenge and each will yield lessons learned and best practices. Taken together these pilots form a fairly comprehensive platform to instruct future efforts to integrate cultural and tribal values in to landscape-scale ecoregional assessments.
Why don’t REAs address the economic issues of the ecoregions they cover?
REAs are primarily assessments of exsiting and projected ecological condition. They complement the Energy Policy and Conservation Act (EPCA) Inventory of Onshore Federal Oil and Natural Gas Resources that the Departments of Agriculture, Energy and Interior prepared in 2008 and the on-line Economic Profiling Systems that the Forest Service and BLM are supporting. Taken together these tools provide local resource managers with a significant amount of information about social, economic and natural resources trends.
What is the relation of the REAs to the Landscape Conservation Cooperatives (LCCs) that are being established by the Department of the Interior (DOI)?
The Department of the Interior is in the process of establishing 21 LCCs which span the nation. These LCCs are composed of private, state, Tribal, and Federal representatives who will work toward a shared vision of landscape health and sustainability. The LCCs are generally based on the Environmental Protection Agency's "Level II ecoregions," which encompass multiple “Level III ecoregions.” The LCCs and the BLM’s REAs are complementary processes that will become more fully integrated as they progress. The BLM will be providing the data and results of its REAs to the LCCS. Once the LCCs are established and fully functioning, they could become involved in, or assume management of, future REAs. They also may assist in “stepping down” the results of the REAs into specific management actions.
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Are other organizations conducting large-scale assessments similar to BLM’s REAs?
Yes. We are aware of several ongoing assessments, including work by the Nature Conservancy and the Western Governors’ Association.
How do these other assessments relate to BLM’s REAs?
These multiple assessment efforts are important and needed. They are working to provide scientifically-grounded information needed to conserve crucial wildlife habitats in an era of complex and widespread environmental challenges. Although these efforts share common goals, they are different in some key aspects: Some focus on different environmental stressors, others cover different geographic areas. BLM encourages people who use the REAs to consider the results of these other assessments at the same time. | <urn:uuid:9ed79696-1844-4a18-bd92-de95e654a955> | {
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London, England (CNN) -- No one doubts that the most high-profile health crisis of 2009 was the unexpected outbreak of H1N1 -- the swine flu virus that has claimed almost 10,000 lives, according to the World Health Organization.
The worldwide pandemic was on the front page of every major news outlet for months on end as people struggled to understand the impact of the first such flu outbreak in over 40 years.
Equally, the vaccine for swine flu, which came out a record five months after the first reported cases of the virulent virus in Mexico, has arguably been 2009's most far-reaching health breakthrough.
But this year has also seen other important health innovations, all of which we might have thought were impossible, or many more years away, a mere 12 months ago.
Some, such as the "Electric Eye," a microchip invented by university researchers that will help blind people regain partial eyesight, are still in the development stage.
Others, such as the $20 knee joint developed by a group of students at Stanford University, are in the early stages of production.
But all of them are products that could have very real and important benefits for the health of patients around the world.
Teo Kermeliotis contributed to this report | <urn:uuid:cda00a84-6d3e-4cfc-9dd3-a1e101b9928c> | {
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WASHINGTON (CNN) -- The H1N1 flu virus could cause up to 90,000 U.S. deaths, mainly among children and young adults, if it resurges this fall as expected, according to a report released Monday by a presidential advisory panel.
The report urges speedier production of the H1N1 vaccine and the availability of some doses by September.
The H1N1 virus, commonly known as swine flu virus, could infect between 30 percent and 50 percent of the American population during the fall and winter and lead to as many as 1.8 million U.S. hospital admissions, the President's Council of Advisors on Science and Technology reported.
The report says 30,000 to 90,000 deaths are projected as part of a "plausible scenario" involving large outbreaks at schools, inadequate antiviral supplies and the virus peaking before vaccinations have time to be effective.
Up to 40,000 U.S. deaths are linked to seasonal flu each year, with most of the fatalities occurring among people over 65. With seasonal flu and H1N1, this fall is expected to bring more influenza deaths and place "enormous stress" on intensive care units nationwide, which normally operate near capacity, the report says.
An H1N1 resurgence may happen as early as September, at the beginning of the school year, and infections may peak in mid-October, according to the report. However, the H1N1 vaccine isn't expected to be available until mid-October, and even then it will take several weeks for vaccinated individuals to develop immunity, the report says. Watch more on H1N1 predictions for this fall »
The potential "mismatch in timing" could significantly diminish the usefulness of the H1N1 vaccine, the report says.
"Even with the best efforts, this will cause some illness, some severe illness and unfortunately, some deaths," Thomas Frieden, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said Monday.
"But a lot so far has gone remarkably right," Frieden said. "There's a vaccine well on its way to being distributed, diagnostic tests available in well over 100 laboratories, treatments pre-positioned around the country ... and guidance issued for health care providers, schools, businesses and other communities."
Among the report's recommendations are for government agencies to:
• Prepare several "planning scenarios" to determine demand for supplies and care.
• Set up surveillance systems to track information about influenza-like illnesses.
• Develop plans to protect the public's most vulnerable groups, such as pregnant women and those with pre-existing medical conditions.
• Speed up the production of the H1N1 vaccine and have an initial batch -- enough to vaccinate up to 40 million people, especially those who are at risk of serious disease -- by mid-September.
Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius said the government's preparation and guidance for the public was based on the need to strike a balance "on a continuum of being paralyzed with fear versus complacency."
So far, clinical trials for the H1N1 vaccine have not indicated adverse side effects beyond what are experienced with the seasonal flu vaccine, Sebelius said.
However, there would be no formal decision to launch a vaccination campaign until those trials were complete, she said. That decision would be hers, she said, and she emphasized that any vaccination program would be strictly voluntary.
Pregnant women, health care workers and parents or guardians of infants under 6 months of age are among the most vulnerable segments of the population, Sebelius has said.
Adults under the age of 65 with an underlying health condition -- such as asthma -- are also considered to be more at risk from the H1N1 virus.
H1N1 preparation guidelines for the nation's businesses and school systems were released three weeks ago. The plans are available at the Web site www.flu.gov.
The H1N1 vaccine would require two shots, the second three weeks after the first. Immunity to the virus would not kick in until two weeks after the second shot.
The World Health Organization declared the H1N1 virus a global pandemic on June 11. More than 1,490 people around the world have died from the virus since it emerged this spring, a WHO official said last week.
CNN's Caleb Hellerman contributed to this report. | <urn:uuid:06c02be2-4fc6-4628-9c66-79c8fd1da2fa> | {
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Data Encryption Standard: Part 1
August 31, 2010
The Data Encryption Standard has been one of the most successful ciphers in history, and is still in use today, especially in its Triple DES variant. The Data Encryption Standard is officially described by FIPS 46-3, though if you are not fond of reading algorithm descriptions written by government lawyers there are many other descriptions available on the internet.
DES is a block cipher, operating on 64 bits at a time. Here is an example:
PT P r o g P r a x
HEX 50 72 6F 67 50 72 61 78
KEY 01 23 45 67 89 AB CD EF
CT CC 99 EA 46 B1 6E 28 90
There is more than one way to encrypt a message longer than 64 bits; we will examine them in a later exercise.
Your task is to write the code to encipher and decipher a single 64-bit block using the Data Encryption Standard. When you are finished, you are welcome to read or run a suggested solution, or to post your own solution or discuss the exercise in the comments below.
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Doubtful Europe during the eighteenth century paves the way for evolution
Europe, in the 17th century, had been conceiving doubt and scholars preaching it, philosophy they called it; the love of wisdom, with its distinct odor that can’t be confused but causes confusion to all those who breathe it, a confusion that fades away as truth yields itself to those who sought it.
The conflict between the church and the ones who call themselves “enlightened” was most intense.
The Jewish philosopher Baruch Spinoza (1632-1677) had a profound influence on many Enlightened philosophers of the 18th century with Voltaire being their head. He claimed that morality is the only thing worth mentioning in the old and new testaments, and he regarded the stories and/about the unseen they tell “unbelievable”, which prompted Voltaire to accept from the English deists the “idea that what is true in Christian teachings is the core of human values that are universally true in all religions” he claims these values are common everywhere because it comes from god, and theology is ridiculous and different everywhere because it comes from man. Furthermore, he regards the Torah as a book written by a drunkard ignorant in a vile place.
Andre Cresson says: the positivist philosopher August Comte claimed that destroying traditional religious beliefs is not enough and stressed a substitute must be arranged, many philosopher of the 18th century felt the same need for a substitute, but, what is a valid substitute?
The answer is subject to scholarly dispute, some, the likes of Rousseau and Voltaire, believed that when all divine religions are subject to the mind it tends to justify the existence of a natural religion. Others, like Diderot and d’Holbach and Bentham, went to call genuine atheism the only possible rationale.
The atheistic philosophy of d’Holbach, possibly, found nourishment in the minds of the 18th century philosophers and from them it spread to the 19th and 20th centuries’ materialistic philosophers. Needless to say, evolutionists relied on it without a doubt.
d’Holbach (1723 – 1789) was a German philosopher, and encyclopedist, and one of the first outspoken atheists in Europe and had a major role in the French revolution. He advanced a materialistic and deterministic cosmology whereby everything could be explained in terms of matter and motion, denying the existence of a deity, and refusing to admit as evidence all “a priori arguments”, d’Holbach saw the universe as an eternal and constant totality of matter and motion. Nature could only be known to man as a series of causes and effects:
“The universe, that vast assemblage of everything that exists, presents only matter and motion: the whole offers to our contemplation nothing but an immense, an uninterrupted succession of causes and effects” (Holbach, System of Nature, 15)
Holbach blamed an ignorance of nature for the development of religious ideas in humanity. He believed that people incorrectly personified nature, projecting their own interests and purposes onto natural objects that were in reality very different from themselves. Out of ignorance of nature arose religious beliefs in Gods and concepts like heaven and hell, which caused man to pursue self-preservation in misguided ways:
“The ignorance of natural causes created Gods, and imposture made them terrible. Man lived unhappy, because he was told that God had condemned him to misery. He never entertained a wish of breaking his chains, as he was taught, that stupidity, that the renouncing of reason, mental debility, and spiritual debasement, were the means of obtaining eternal felicity” (System of Nature, 349-350).
d’Holbach concluded that words such as God and create do not evoke any intelligible thought in the mind and must, therefore, be dropped from the language.
Clearly, this can almost be what evolutionists proclaim, especially the Darwinist of them.
There is no use sought in further mentioning of more philosophers in this article , not that they had any less effect in “soil tillage” for the seed of evolution, but because the subject we pursued has been made clear; the road is paved…
to be cont’d
1- story of philosophy, will Durant.
2- at-tawasul, intellectual periodical, 12th edition. | <urn:uuid:2afd1a56-7181-470d-bfd5-c65d701b03d9> | {
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by Bryan Bergeron, Editor
I recently attended a review of robotics research in New England’s universities which included a tour of seven major robotics labs at MIT. Given that academia is typically a year or two ahead of what’s deployable by the military and several years ahead of what may be practical in the marketplace, the future looks promising.
Highlights of the meeting included surgical navigation and surgical robotics — two nascent technologies in medicine. You’ve probably heard of the Da Vinci surgical robot (http://www.davincisurgery.com) which is increasingly used in specific elective surgeries. The Da Vinci is a remote-controlled robot laden with sensors, motors, and minute effectors, but without autonomous functions. Benefits of the system include shorter hospital stays — an important factor in containing medical costs. Pending clearance by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), several other robotic platforms should be coming on line shortly.
Surgical Navigation systems such as the Medtronics StealthStation (http://www.medtronicnavigation.com) are also gaining in popularity. These systems use optical and RF tracking to enable a surgeon to visualize the position of surgical instruments relative to a patient’s anatomy in 3D space. The advantage of surgical navigation systems is that they enable doctors to see the operating field when the instruments and tissues are hidden from the naked eye. Properly employed, these systems can reduce surgical errors, and enable a surgeon to carry out a procedure with a relatively small incision.
One of the more interesting robotic technologies on the horizon was soft machines, such as those under development at the Tufts Biomimetic Devices Laboratory (ase.tufts.edu/bdl). While most of the robotics world is working with and thinking about traditional hardware sensors and effectors, researchers in this lab are working with elastomers, fluids, artificial muscles, and nanosensors.
Instead of a human or lobster, the biomimetic model for much of the work on soft robots is a soft, low-density, tactile-sensitive caterpillar. The potential advantages of a lightweight, soft robot over a heavy robot with a rigid skeleton or exoskeleton include the ability to climb textured surfaces, crawl along ropes and wires, and burrow into winding, confined spaces. Imagine a few dozen soft robots released into the rubble following a devastating earthquake. Soft rescue bots should have a much easier time snaking toward victims relative to traditional robots constrained by stiff, physical bulk.
Soft-bodied robots have obvious military applications, as well. Over a year ago, the DOD offered a small business innovation research (SBIR) grant for the purpose of developing a soft robot that could push itself through a crack in a barrier and reassemble intact on the other side. The endpoint of this R&D effort was an ordnance delivery system that could squeeze through a crack and deliver its payload on the other side of a wall. I’ve seen prototypes of soft delivery vehicles, including a multi-chambered sphere controlled by pneumatics. Pressurizing some of the elastic chambers while reducing pressure in others resulted in steerable movement. There was no room for a significant payload, however.
So, what’s my take-away from the meeting? I’m certain that one day you’ll be able to walk to your corner drugstore and have an autonomous robotic surgeon sew up a laceration, lance a blister, or remove an ingrown toenail. I’m also confident that the military will perfect soft robotic weapons. The underlying challenge in these and other robotics R&D projects is economics. Regardless of the state of the economy, there will always be competition from traditional technologies, the need for a positive return on investment, and the need for visionaries to champion technologies to the forefront.
So, step up and let’s get going. SV | <urn:uuid:efa2fae8-ed1d-4454-a5b4-e4e9131766de> | {
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Fort Wallace Kansas
Situated on the plains of western Kansas, The Army post is but a memory. Built to protect travelers on the smoky Hill Trail from Indian attacks during the 1860’s. Ft Wallace was one of many garrisons the Army constructed on the prairie. The post cemetery is the only reminder that an Army garrison had been in the area. Wallace Township cemetery is south of the military graveyard, and is probably the main reason the site did not become a collection of ruins.
When Ft Wallace was abandoned in the 1880’s, many of the soldiers that had been buried there were exhumed and reburied at Ft Leavenworth, Kansas, except for the soldiers that had died of cholera. There were numerous civilians buried there also, they were given a wooden grave marker with a short eulogy about their death and there are some graves of scouts the Army used. There is also a memorial for the soldiers that were killed by Indians during the Indian wars.
It is a rather somber yard to pause in and ponder. One tends to forget the turmoil and hardship people had to endure back then. Nearby is the Pond Creek state station and then the town of Wallace, an end of tracks railroad town. The site of numerous bloody conflicts, among the Indians, the travelers, railroaders, gamblers and assorted wild times on the plains.
The state operates a museum at Wallace, Kansas and here at the Ft Wallace Museum, one can see many of the travails people faced when traveling the prairie during the 1860’s and 70’s. The museum is on the site of the Pond Creek stage stop, just south of the railroad tracks and a couple of miles from Fort Wallace. Here at the museum one can see the relationship between the people of the plains, their moments of tragedy, the joys of success and the celebrations of life.
The scouts the Army hired were not military, they were civilians, contracted to the military. The scouts were the eyes and ears of the Army. They knew the terrain, where the water was and had dealt with the Indians in the past. Many had been Mountain Men, trappers and had made numerous trips across the plains.
One of the more famous scouts was Kit Carson, who had been chief scout for Colonel John Fremont, when he made his trips across the west. The Pathfinder had taken various routs across Kansas to the Rocky Mountains, with trapper Kit Carson as his scout and guide.
Two of the scouts still buried at the Ft Wallace cemetery did not have a long life. They were involved in the Battle of Beecher Island, where they lost their lives. Beecher Island was one of the unusual fights with the Indians. A party of Indians surprised a group of soldiers and killed some of the troopers before being driven off. But the soldiers were trapped in the Aricakree River bottom by the Indians.
After an extended siege, the Indians withdrew from Beecher Island, when Troops from Ft Wallace could be seen on the horizon riding to the rescue. The soldiers had been able to hold off the Indians with their repeating rifles. It was also during this battle that the Indians lost one of their most feared warriors, Roman Nose. Roman Nose was a revered warrior among the Cheyenne Indians standing over 6’5”, a giant of a man.
The site of the Beecher Island Battle has some conflict as to the actual site. There are some that say the government is wrong that the fight took place further to the west in a steeper ravine. Then things like that make for interesting conversation. One thing for certain, the troops were from Fort Wallace. There were numerous other battles the troopers of Ft Wallace were involved in.
In the 1880’s when the fort was abandoned, it sat empty for some time with a caretaker. With settlers moving in and homesteading in the 1890’s, the building material at the old fort became prized. The settlers would sneak into the fort at night and haul out loads of lumber and stone for their home. When the caretaker did nothing and was in different, the settlers stared driving their wagons in during daylight and scavenging what they wanted. Today parts and pieces of Fort Wallace spread into the surrounding land. | <urn:uuid:79da3f05-8456-4fe7-8641-f7dbaddab93a> | {
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Better Rescue Robots Mimic Snakes' Great Grip
Whether or not snakes give you the willies, they are a valuable inspiration for researchers looking at how to improve robot mobility. Hamid Marvi, a graduate student in mechanical engineering at the Georgia Institute of Technology in Atlanta, is taking a closer look at their use of friction to go up an inclined plane without sliding backwards or falling off.
Inside Science reports that snakes rely on friction to move forward or even to stay in one place such as when they're sleeping. The way they help create friction for themselves is in the texture of their scales, and that is where researchers are focusing their interest.
"Marvi and his colleagues adopted these principles to create Scalybot, an artificial robot designed to climb inclined planes. Scalybot contains scale-like teeth along the bottom of its body, and these teeth can raise or lower depending on what it needs to do to navigate the environment," states Inside Science.
Inside Science/Video screen capture
Scalybot2, the latest version of the robot, has a built-in acceleration sensor and the scales can adjust to different angles until the right amount of friction is found. The goal of the researchers is to develop a Scalybot that can be used to improve the way other robots can move and can potentially be used for search and rescue in rubble and other unstable terrain. | <urn:uuid:0e351d3f-ffd9-49e8-8ff2-022c291214f7> | {
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What Is the Future of the South China Sea?
The July 12 ruling clarified the law of the sea, but may further alienate China.
On July 12, a court based at the Permanent Court of Arbitration in the Hague rejected China’s sweeping claims over much of the South China Sea. The Philippines filed the case against China in 2013, arguing that some of China’s claims and activities violated the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS). The court ruled that a scattering of rocks and reefs in the contested South China Sea does not qualify for exclusive economic zones (EEZ), and stated that the nine-dash line, an imprecise demarcation including most the South China Sea, could not serve as the historical basis of China’s sovereignty claims. China refused to participate in the arbitration and has repeatedly declared that it will not accept the court’s ruling. In this ChinaFile conversation, experts share their reactions to the decision and thoughts about Beijing’s rejection of the ruling. — The Editors
M. Taylor Fravel, Associate Professor of Political Science and member of the Security Studies Program at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology:
My initial reaction is that the tribunal’s award overwhelmingly favors the Philippines — a huge win for Manila.
China’s only lawful claims in the South China Sea would be 12 nautical miles of territorial seas from the land features in the Spratly Islands deemed to be rocks above high tide. China cannot claim an EEZ from any of the land features of the Spratlys Islands, including the largest, Itu Aba. Nor can it claim any historic rights to resources within the nine-dash line.
In particular, the tribunal ruled as follows:
- China cannot lawfully claim historic rights to resources within the nine-dash line.
- China (and others) cannot claim an EEZ from land features above high tide in the Spratlys, which were all judged to be “rocks” entitled only to a 12 nautical mile (nm) territorial sea.
- Mischief Reef was determined to be a low-tide elevation on the Philippines’ continental shelf. China’s construction of artificial installations on the reef violates the Philippines’ sovereign rights.
- The Spratly Islands as a group cannot generate any maritime zones as a unit. This appears to be an effort to pre-empt a Chinese claim to any maritime zones based on straight baselines that could be drawn around the Spratlys as a whole.
What does this mean? The only lawful claim to maritime zones that China can claim in the South China Sea would be a 12 nautical mile territorial sea from land features in the Spratly Island that are above high tide. China (and others) cannot claim an EEZ from any land feature in the Spratlys, as none were judged to be islands under UNCLOS warranting such a zone. China cannot claim any historic rights to resources, either, as the tribunal judged that China gave up those rights when it acceded to UNCLOS. In this way, the tribunal’s ruling restricts significantly the scope of maritime claims that China can lawfully make under UNCLOS in the South China Sea. Paradoxically, this may further increase the importance that China attaches to its sovereignty claims over these land features.
Finally, a few areas of the ruling favored China:
- Gaven/McKenna Reef was deemed to be a rock and not a low-tide elevation.
- The tribunal claimed no jurisdiction in the standoff over Second Thomas Shoal, as it concerned military activities exempted by Article 298.
- Traditional fishing rights for all states within the territorial sea of features in the Spratlys were apparently upheld, based on the finding that the Philippines had traditional fishing rights at Scarborough.
- The tribunal did not define what the nine-dash line might mean but only ruled on what it could not mean, namely, a claim to historic rights.
Jessica Chen Weiss, Associate Professor of Government at Cornell University and the author of Powerful Patriots:
The Chinese government and media have repeatedly rejected the tribunal’s jurisdiction in anticipation of the ruling, creating ample space for China to maneuver. On WeChat, a popular social media platform in China, Chinese state media are stressing that the best response is to ignore the verdict. So far, Chinese President Xi Jinping’s government has been highly effective at both stoking and quashing nationalist sentiment over the South China Sea. His government has fanned patriotic sentiment through the media but kept it online rather than in the streets. Chinese police intervened when demonstrators sought to protest over Scarborough Shoal in 2012 and repressed anti-Vietnamese demonstrations after Vietnamese protests killed several Chinese workers during the oil rig standoff in 2014. Protests by Vietnamese and Filipino activists have been met with Chinese scorn rather than countermeasures.
If we now see Chinese protests over the United States or other countries’ actions to enforce the ruling, we should take them seriously — as a sign of China’s resolve. However the United States and its allies proceed, a quiet approach — actions with a minimum of publicity and a clear legal rationale — would be most effective. The more we trumpet China’s defeat or loss of face, the more domestic pressure or temptation the government will feel to respond with more than bluster.
Peter Dutton, Professor of Strategic Studies and Director of the China Maritime Studies Institute at the U.S. Naval War College:
The award is breathtaking in its scope and the degree to which it gives long-needed clarity to the law of the sea. That it is a unanimous opinion from five of the most learned and experienced practitioners of international law of the sea is especially important.
I see three major takeaways from today’s opinion.
First, the opinion is a strong reinforcement of the dispute resolution process of the UNCLOS and also a strong reinforcement of international law over power politics. The tribunal issued a strong rebuke to those who would use coercion to have their way on the seas. In that sense the ruling strongly supports the administration’s calls for peaceful dispute resolution in accordance with international law. But the United States could and should do more. Currently, we stand with Iran and North Korea as one of the very few coastal states to have failed to ratify UNCLOS. Full U.S. participation will ensure our leadership over the future development of the law of the sea and best protect our rights and interests. In rejecting the tribunal’s authority, China has shown it respects only the role of power and not the rule of law. The Senate should ratify UNCLOS and thereby underscore U.S. leadership and commitment to an international system based on law.
Second, the award adds great clarity to the law of the sea. We now have a much clearer understanding of what types of islands are entitled to resource zones and which are not. The ruling will cause many states to reexamine their own policies in this regard. We now know with certainty the very limited role history plays in determining resource rights at sea and that the Spratly Islands cannot claim resource zones as a group, both points on which China has relied to justify its behavior. The award strikes down China’s expansive claims to historic rights beyond UNCLOS, its blatant interference with the Philippine fishing and hydrocarbon rights, its unilateral island-building on the Philippine continental shelf, and its wanton abuse of the environment.
Finally, this decision is much more than a pyrrhic victory for the Philippines as some will suggest. This opinion will have normative power that over the long run will and should affect the way every state thinks about the South China Sea in the future. Ultimately, the ruling’s power is not in its direct enforceability, but in the way it will inevitably alter perceptions about right and wrong actions in the South China Sea. Coercion will no longer stand with moral impunity. Even if indirectly, the opinion should therefore serve as the basis for improved bilateral negotiations in the future. It has significantly narrowed the scope of what is in reasonable and justifiable dispute and therefore should help the parties move closer to a final resolution of their differences.
Orville Schell, the Arthur Ross Director of the Center on U.S.-China Relations at Asia Society:
The ruling just handed down by the Hague’s Permanent Court of Arbitration in response to the complaint made by the Philippines after the seizure of Scarborough Shoal by China in 2012 now looks destined to radically alter not only China’s interaction with its Asian neighbors, but with the United States as well. Because the ruling so undermines China’s claims in the South China Sea region, Beijing finds itself at a critical juncture point: It can either adjust course and seek accommodation with various claimants in these maritime disputes that have put it at odds with not only the Philippines, but with Vietnam, Malaysia, Brunei, and now even Indonesia, or it can double down and become even more obdurate.
What mitigates against the likelihood that Beijing will become less obdurate and more flexible in its approach to the South China Sea is the reality that having identified these contested islands and rocks as part of China’s so-called “core interest,” it has become trapped by its own conviction that disputes involving the question of Chinese sovereignty are never negotiable. As a result, China’s neighbors and the United States — which has treaty obligations with the Philippines, Japan, and Korea, and growing partnerships with other South East Asian countries, such as Singapore and Vietnam — must be ready for a much more rigid, even belligerent, Chinese posture. It will, of course, be the United States that will be most immediately challenged by the Hague’s ruling and China’s response. For having had the Seventh Fleet long deployed in Asia and playing an important role in assuring freedom of navigation in the region, the White House will be confronted by some very difficult decisions about how far it wants to go in confronting a potentially aggrieved and even more aggressive China.
This will be a delicate high-wire act that must also take into account the importance of the larger U.S.-China relation and the need for cooperation on other crucial issues such as nuclear proliferation (and particular the fate of the North Korea’s nuclear arsenal), climate change, global trade, and pandemics.
How these other important issues can compete with what surely will be a vitriolic Chinese reaction is far from certain. But suffice it to say, the interaction over the next few weeks between China, the United States, and its Pacific neighbors will be crucial, for it will help cast the die for future relations in the whole region.
Edward Friedman, Professor Emeritus in the Department of Political Science at the University of Wisconsin, Madison:
What does the ruling change? It does not increase the military strength of any Indo-Pacific country threatened by the party’s state expansionism. It will not increase the willingness of Indo-Pacific governments to join in collective security to resist further Chinese expansionism.
The ruling may, however, strengthen those forces in Beijing that argue that the present international system was created by the United States to serve the interests of the United States and therefore is a system that does not serve Chinese interests. China could become more chauvinist, militarist, and revisionist.
Or, the decision instead may strengthen those forces in Beijing which have long argued that a Beijing switch from Deng Xiaoping “hide and bide” policies to post-Deng (post 2007-2008 Great Recession, understood as the United States decline and China unstoppable) assertiveness is not serving Chinese interests in the Indo-Pacific but is instead uniting the countries of the Indo-Pacific to join together, including military preparedness, against China in what party leaders see as China’s neighborhood.
What matters most for war and peace in the Indo-Pacific is the impact of the ruling on the ongoing struggle over foreign policy inside of Zhongnanhai, the headquarters of the Chinese government in Beijing.
Tom Nagorski, Executive Vice President of Asia Society:
I was struck by language in the ruling that pertained to the environmental damage done in these waters. This was an often-overlooked element in the Philippines’ case — overlooked because the South China Sea has rightly been seen primarily as a major geopolitical and strategic issue. The ruling finds that the Chinese have inflicted “irreparable” damage to the environment in the course of its building up the various islands, with airstrips and so on. That’s damage done to the coral reef environment, and what the tribunal said was harm “on a substantial scale” to marine life in the area. This is important because China has actually become a major voice on global climate and other environmental issues; and also because this part of the ruling will attract attention and criticism from those for whom the environment is more important, or more interesting, than the geostrategic question of who controls the seas.
Dondi Tawatao/Getty Images | <urn:uuid:16d9c397-8871-429b-a69a-88137e0df0fb> | {
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Proxy Design Pattern
The Proxy design motif
The informal description: Excerpts from [Gamma et al. 1995] (adapted for
Intent: Provide a surrogate or placeholder for another object to control access to it.
Structure: Original OMT diagram converted to UML (Why
- Maintains a reference that lets the proxy access the real subject. Proxy may refer to a Subject if the RealSubject and Subject interfaces are the same.
- Provides an interface identical to Subject's so that a proxy can by substituted for the real subject.
- Controls access to the real subject and may be responsible for creating and deleting it.
- Other responsibilities depend on the kind of proxy:
- Remote proxies are responsible for encoding a request and its arguments and for sending the encoded request to the real subject in a different address space.
- Virtual proxies may cache additional information about the real subject so that they can postpone accessing it. For example, the ImageProxy from the Motivation caches the real image's extent.
- Protection proxies check that the caller has the access permissions required to perform a request.
- Subject: defines the common interface for RealSubject and Proxy so that a Proxy can be used anywhere a RealSubject is expected.
- RealSubject: defines the real object that the proxy represents.
Collaborations: Proxy forwards requests to RealSubject when appropriate, depending on the kind of proxy. | <urn:uuid:a34d0fcd-6d6e-415c-87df-fcb0899e72a3> | {
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In astronomy, the term constellation refers to a group of stars whose movement through the celestial vault is consistent and predictable. What better name could there be for a line of watches whose name became synonymous with the world's chronometers?
In watchmaking, the name Constellation has been closely linked with the art of creating luxurious precision watches at the highest level since 1952, when Omega launched the family. It has always been defined by the combination of sumptuous yet elegantly refined cases and dials with ultra-precise movements.
The symbol of this line was to be the Cupola of the Geneva Observatory, where Omega had just reset its own record for precision in 1951, surrounded by eight stars representing its greatest chronometric achievements at the world’s observatories including the 1931 “clean sweep” at the Observatory of Geneva where Omega broke the record for precision in every category.
The progenitor of the Constellation line is without doubt the appropriately named “Century”, a limited edition self-winding chronometer wristwatch launched in 1948 to celebrate the firm’s 100thanniversary. This watch, not intended for series production, was greeted with such enthusiasm that the decision was taken to create a watch with all the same qualities on an industrial scale. It started with the movements, which were all self-winding chronometers that had received the mention of “Especially good results” during testing.
The line would soon develop into a series of watches which were finished to different degrees. The Constellation available in steel or gold, the Constellation Deluxe only available in gold with applied gold indexes on the dial and finally the Constellation Grand Luxe, which was available in gold and platinum with corresponding dial and the so-called "Brick link" bracelet. The Grand Luxe model was delivered in a solid silver presentation box.
In the United States this line of watches was at first known as the Globemaster due to a trademark conflict which was resolved in 1956. Many of these watches simply have the Constellation star on the dial. Later OMEGA’s American agent would produce a line of lower quality watches under the “Globemaster” name.
In 1958 the Constellation line was further expanded with the Constellation Calendar. It was available in the three different levels of finish from standard to Grand Luxe. At the same time the Constellation was advertised as being “For the man who already has a watch”, an allusion to the fact that a Constellation was so much more.
The form of the Constellation remained little changed until 1964 when the so-called "C-case" watches were introduced. The name was a reference to the form of the case, which resembled two interlocked Cs. The change would also be incorporated in the first ladies' Constellation, launched in 1967.
This period would see much diversification in the form of the Constellation line including square watches and many pavé diamond models. Probably the most significant would be the "Integral" line launched in 1969 based on a 1965 patent, whose hand-finished bracelet and case were integrated, thus forming a consistent and flowing design from one element to the other and back again. This form of integration would soon be adopted by many other brands and has become one of the main features of the luxury sports watch.
On August 25thof the same year, watch No.25699737 was delivered to its new owner. This “standard” model in steel would find its way back to OMEGA in 2005 for its normal service after which the owner requested that the watch be recertified as a chronometer. Impressively, just over 36 years later, on October 25th2005, the watch was recertified a chronometer by COSC.
The 1970s saw the introduction of quartz technology to the wristwatch and this also applied to the Constellation line. Some of the most accurate watches ever produced in series were developed for the Constellation line, including the famous Marine Chronometer which is, to this day, the most accurate autonomous wristwatch and the only watch to be certified as a marine chronometer. However it wasn’t a Constellation Marine chronometer that stunned the watchmaking world with a 0 error rating. It was a calibre 1021 self-winding movement destined for a Constellation that held the distinction of achieving absolute perfection when it received its certificate marked “Especially good results”, showing a variation of 0.00 after 15 days of testing in five positions and at varying temperatures.
The next evolution for the line came in 1982 with the introduction of the Constellation “Manhattan”. This watch introduced the four now-familiar "griffes" or claws which originally held the sapphire crystal in place and helped ensure the watch remained waterproof. It was an immediate success and has become the design standard for the Constellation line. Many of the features of this watch are still found on today's Constellations, including the half-moon facet on the lugs, the integrated hinged bracelet and indexes on the bezel. This watch has, over the years, found its way onto the wrist of many celebrities and world leaders, most notably, perhaps, Mikhail Gorbachev. The fact that Gorbachev was an OMEGA man also found its way onto the silver screen in the 1996 film, My Fellow Americans, whenU. S. President Russell P. Kramer, played by Jack Lemmon, exclaims "That's a Constellation. It was given to me by Gorbachev!" after giving his steel and gold Constellation it to a truck driver as payment for a ride.
2012 marks the 60thanniversary of this line which continues to set the standard for luxury watches and remains, as its original advertising claimed, for those “who want the finest watch that man can make”. | <urn:uuid:9721b4d9-3152-4801-91d1-15753cc8f266> | {
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Traditionally, the benefits of aging include getting away with speaking one’s mind, being forgiven for forgetfulness, and tossing fashion convention to the wind. But now a new study adds perhaps the best reward of all for reaching old age: The silver-haired set can throw dietary caution to the wind because eating healthfully no longer matters.
For people who have passed the 75-year mark, a diet high in sugar and fat doesn’t make a difference — and overly restrictive diets may not improve health at all, according to researchers.
"The results suggest that if you live to be this old, then there may be little to support the use of overly restrictive dietary prescriptions, especially where food intake may already be inadequate," says study author Gordon Jensen, head of the Department of Nutritional Sciences at Penn State.
The study, which appears in the Journal of Nutrition Health and Aging, followed a group of 449 people for five years. Participants were on average 76.5 years old at the beginning of the study; and were categorized as eating according to one of three different dietary patterns: “More healthful” which had relatively higher intakes of fruit, vegetables, whole grains, eggs, nuts, legumes and dairy; “Westernlike” which was characterized by an intake of starchy vegetables, refined grains, meats, fried poultry and fish, oils and fats; and “low produce, high sweets” which was defined by high saturated fat, and low dietary fiber and vitamin C intakes.
During the course of the study, researchers identified whether the participants developed cardiovascular disease, diabetes mellitus, hypertension (high blood pressure), and metabolic syndrome. The results revealed no connection between dietary pattern and prevalence of cardiovascular disease, diabetes, metabolic syndrome, or mortality in the participants. Even though there was evidence of increased risk of hypertension in people who followed the “low produce, high sweets” pattern, the conclusion was nonetheless surprising.
And not only that, but recent reports "suggest that there may be survival benefits associated with overweight and mild obesity status among the elderly,” Jensen noted.
The moral of the story? Make it to 75, then eat cookies to your heart's content.
Related aging stories on MNN: | <urn:uuid:e5f9fe84-74d0-44bd-a446-5a04efa28b08> | {
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Use Shorthand Css
Shorthand CSS gives you a shorter way of writing your CSS codes, and most important of all – it makes the code easier to understand.
Instead of creating CSS like this
It can be short-handed into the following:
Understanding Class And ID
These two selectors repeatedly confuse beginners. In CSS, class is represented by a dot “.” while id is a hash ‘#“. In a nutshell id is used on style that is distinctive and don’t repeat itself, class on the other side, can be re-use.
Forget <Table>, Try <Div>
One of the greatest advantages of CSS is the use of <div> to attain total flexibility in terms of styling. <div> are unlike <table>, where substances are ‘locked’ within a <td>‘s cell. It’s safe to say most <table> layouts are attainable with the use of <div> and proper styling, well maybe except considerable tabular contents.
Padding is the space between the border of an HTML element and the content within it.
Padding of an element in a single property as follows:
padding: 10px 10px 10px 10px;
If you declare all four values as above, the order is as follows:
Top, right, bottom, left
Step 1: Open a new document in flash. Set the stage color as black.
Step 2: Choose Window > Properties from the main menu bar to open the PROPERTIES panel.
Step 3: Expand the Properties section in the panel and choose the Edit button to enlarge the Document Settings window. Next, set the width to 550 px and height to 450 px in the PROPERTIES panel, as shown in Figure below. Choose the Ok button.
Step 4: import an image to perform the action script. Choose File > Import > Import to stage from the main menu bar and Import the unzipped images file. The three files will be imported to the stage, as shown in Figure below.
Step 5: Perform some actions to this image. From the timeline create new layer to the name them as figure follows
Step 6: Now we will use some action script. To make the thumbnails function and to rotate them around the main image.
Step 1: Open a new flash file. Choose Window > Properties from the main menu bar to open the PROPERTIES panel.
Step 2: Expand the Properties section in the panel and choose the Edit button to enlarge the Document Settings window. Next, set the width to 550 pixels and height to 300 pixels in the
PROPERTIES panel, as shown in Figure below. Choose the Ok button.
Step 6: Create a timeline for layer 1 and name it as player.
Step 7: Create another layer for controlling effects and named it as controls. And for frame select the rectangle tool from toolbar.
Step 8: Create a fourth layer for Performing Action Script.
Step 9: Type the following Action Script in Layer-4(Action Script).
Step 10: Import shake effect images to library. Images name should be same as in library and script. Go to library panel and right click on each image. Choose Properties à Linkage. Check the “Export for Action script” option. And run the program.
Step 13: Now, create a new MOVIE CLIP (Insert > New Symbol) called “thumb0″ and create 2 layers called “image” and “mask”. Drag the thumbnail thumb_0 on to the “image” layer, placing it at the position shown below.
Step 23: To rotate the thumbnails with action script, the thumb Holder MC will be rotate so that each thumbnail doesn’t have to be rotated individually. Setting the registration point to the center makes sure the MC will rotate from the center. Press F8 to perform the action as figure shown below.
There are three types of masks which is displayed above flash file. Click the buttons to see the different effects.
Step 1: open a new flash file. Set the width to 500 pixels and height to 300 pixels. Choose window -> properties from main menu bar, the properties panel is displayed.
Step 2: choose the Edit button under the properties tab to display the document settings window. Set the width to 500px and height to 300px and click ok button to set the stage size.
Step 4: select the image and then select the Align to stage checkbox from the ALIGN panel. And select the second button from left under the ALIGN and the distribute area. Image will be displayed to stage.
Step 5: Then convert the images into symbol, choose Modify -> Convert to Symbol from the main menu bar, the Convert to Symbol window is displayed; as shown in Figure below. Rename the movie clip as car and choose the OK button.
Step 6: select the car movie clip, and then choose Window -> Properties from the main menu bar to display the PROPERTIES window. Maximize the COLOR effect tab and select Advanced from the Style drop-down list. Enter the values as shown in the figure below.
Step 9: Create a new layer and name it as blending, and then drag the car image from the library, place it exactly over the stage area. Make it as a movie clip symbol with the name car-blending.
Step 10: Maximize the DISPLAY tab to select Hard Light blending option from the Blending drop down list. Before that make sure, whether PROPERTIES panel is displayed and the car-blending movie clip is selected.
Step 11: maximize the FILTERS tab and add the Glow filter to the car-blending movie clip. To get the desired effect set the parameters in the FILTER tab.
Step 14: Create a new layer with the name lightening, and then choose Insert -> New Symbol from the main menu bar to create a new symbol. And then rename the new symbol to lightning and set the symbol type to Movie clip and choose the OK button. Now a blank new movie clip is created.
Step 15: Choose the Brush Tool from the toolbar and create some brush strokes in the stage area as shown below
tep 21: Now, set the shape tweening between the all the keyframes. Then create a new layer, and then create random strokes which created on above with two colors with the position of the keyframes exactly at the same position and add shape tweening between the keyframes. The timeline is shown below.
Step 22: Now, add Blur Filter to the movie clip in the PROPERTIES panel and set the Blur X and Y values to 10 and Strength to High. Go back to the main stage and create a new layer. Create a blank movie clip with the name white strokes.
Step 23: Select the Rectangle Tool from the main menubar and create 5 rectangles randomly. Add linear gradient to it in the sequence transparent, white, and transparent, and then arrange them like a figure as shown below
Step 26: Now, Go back to the main stage area and press CTRL + T to activate the TRANSFORM tab. set the rotate value to 20 degrees.
Step 27: Then, create a new layer and rename it as mask. Now create a sketch the image that is shown in the Figure below such that the car image can come exactly in between it.
Step 29: Next, select the layer named mask and right click over it and choose the Mask option from the flyout to mask the underneath layer. Publish the file by pressing CTRL + ENTER to get the animation effect as like below
Step 30: Finally we animate the car to get more life into the animation.
Step 2: Set any background color for the document.
Step 3: To set the background image, choose File -> Import -> Import to stage (ctrl+R) and select the image. Call the current layer background, double click on it to change the layer name as Background.
Step 4: While the image is still selected, goto Align panel (ctrl+K) and follow the steps below:
1.Make sure that Align/Distribute to stage button is turned on,
2.Click on the Align horizontal (Center)button and
3.Click the Align vertical button.
Step 5: Now click on Frame 100 and press F5 key.
Step 6: Create a new layer above the background layer and named it as Bird. Now we need to draw an bird body without wings using Line Tool and Paint Bucket Tool as shown below,
Step 7: Select the bird body layer and double click on it, specify the name as birdbody from the default name (layer 1).
Step 8: Click on the frame 30 and press F5 Key.
Step 9: Now, we need to create feather animation, so create a new layer above the layer birdbody and named it as feather1.
Step 10: Draw a feather of a bird using the Line tool and paint bucket tool.
Step 46: Right-click anywhere on the gray area between frame 1 and 70 and frame 70 and 100 on the timeline and choose Right click on the layer and select Create Motion Tween from the menu that appears.
Step 47: Save and publish the file using ctrl+Enter key.
Follow the steps to complete the tutorial.
1. Open a new flash file. Choose Window ->Properties from the main menu bar to open the PROPERTIES panel.
2. Expand the Properties section in the panel and choose the Edit… button to enlarge the Document Settings window. Next, set the width to 940px and height to 400px in the
PROPERTIES panel, as shown in Figure below. Choose the Ok button.
3. Now we will import the images to be used in this tutorial. Unzip the bulle.rar file that you downloaded.
4. Choose File > Import > Import to stage from the main menu bar and Import the images.
5. Now, let us distribute these images on different layers. To do so, right click on the images when they are selected and choose Distribute to Layers… from the fly out, the images are distributed in different layers.
6. Next, convert the images into symbols. Select img1.jpg and choose Modify > Convert to Symbol from the main menu bar; the Convert to Symbol window is displayed; as shown in Figure below.
7. Name the movie clip symbol as img1 and choose the OK button. The image is converted to movie clip symbol. Similarly, convert img2.jpg and so on into movie clip symbols.
The movie clip helps to manage an image in a better way. Also, it will help us to apply filters and other effects to the mages in a better way.
8. Next, select the img1 movie clip and choose Modify -> Convert to Symbol from the main menu bar and name the movie clip as masking1.
9. Double-click on the movie clip and next create a key frame on frame as much as possible in the timeline, as shown in Figure below.
10. Next set the motion twining between the frames. Select the key frame on zoom and place the movie clip on it and perform action.
11. Select all the frames and right click on them and choose Distribute to Layers to distribute them to different layers. Rename the layers as frame1, frame2, frame3, frame4, and frame5.
12. Next layer is for creating avoid layer, select the frame and right click on it and choose distribute to layers.
13. Next layer is for avoid 2, select the frame and right click on it and choose distribute to layers.
14. Next layer is for Ligne, select the frame and right click on it and choose distribute to layers.
15. The last layer is for creating bubbles, Select the key frame on zoom and place the movie clip on it and perform action.
16. Next, activate the layer named layer1 and rename it to anim1 and select the image movie clip at the first key frame and choose Window > Properties from the main menu bar, the PROPERTIES panel will be displayed.
17. Set the alpha to zero for the movie clip on the first frame.
18. Now, right click on the frame1 layer and choose mask from the fly out. Similarly, set mask for frame2, frame3, frame4, and frame5 layers and align the frames in the timeline to as shown in Figure below.
19. Press ENTER and have a look on the frame transition effect. You can tweak the animation as per your needs and requirements.
20. Next, go to the main stage and similar transition effect to the other layers and make a timeline animation to create a layer show transition effect.
Step-1 Open a new document in flash. Set the stage color as black.
Step-2 Create four buttons for smoke colors transformation in Layer-1. Give the instance name for each button. Here I gave one_btn, two_btn, three_btn and four_btn.
Step-3 Type the following Action Script in Layer-2.
Step-4 Import smoke effect images to library. Images name should be same as in library and script. Go to library panel and right click on each image. Choose Properties à Linkage. Check the “Export for Action script” option.
Run the program.
OUTPUT (in IE) AFTER FIXING THE SOLUTION:
OUTPUT (in IE) BEFORE FIXING THE SOLUTION:
The main script should be added to thesection. It only can access the HTML5 in IE. Without the below script you will not get the required output. | <urn:uuid:789c53b8-dead-406e-9855-0a2f12289599> | {
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Best Exercise – Lunges to Prevent Back Pain
Did you know that neck and low back spine pain affects approximately eighty percent of the population including children? One of the main reasons is the increased amount of time that both children and adults spend sitting watching online tv and computer programs. Most people don’t realize that sitting for long periods of time without standing up and moving around can cause repetitive strain injury (RSI) to our body.
Repetitive strain is caused when our muscle tissues become over-used, shortened, and tightened which ultimately lead to discomfort and pain. One of the easiest ways to combat back pain associated this type of repetitive strain is to take a few minutes and stand up and stretch.
Children will be spending hours every day sitting at their desks in a class studying and playing various games. My suggestion this fall and winter is to stand up every 20 to 30 minutes and do a few lunges to open up your hips, stretch and exercise your body.
People don’t realize that the posture associated with sitting ultimately causes our hip flexors to become shortened and tight. The psoas muscle, which is one of the hip flexors, is responsible for flexing our hips in the seated posture that attaches to the low back. When this muscle becomes tight from spending too many hours in a seated position it puts pressure on the spinal discs in our low back. This pressure can cause the discs to become irritated and inflamed leading to low back pain. Lunges help prevent this from occurring as they stretch hip flexors and work by taking pressure off the low back by opening up the hips and strengthening the glutes. Lunges are not only a great thigh exercise but can positively impact the entire body including the legs, glutes, upper body with raising the arms overhead and core muscles…..all of which can become weak from sitting all day.
So today, when you sit down to watch a tv or online program or respond to emails at your computer, do yourself a favor and try it! Every 20-30 minutes, stop, stand up and do a few lunges and see how you feel! Trust me, your back and spine will thank you!! | <urn:uuid:83c5dc5c-83be-4411-b9a1-945ae562408b> | {
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this program imitates the capabilities and function of a 4GB(4096mb) flash disk. It must contain the ff.functions and declerations.
int Copy(int size);
int Delete(int size);
int freeMem = 4096;
*freeMem - holds the remaining space of the flash disk,initialize to 4096.
Format() - erase all contents of the flash disk
Copy() - copies a file with a specified size to the disk. If size is larger than the free space,Copy() fails. Returns 1 successful,otherwise returns 0;
Delete()-deletes a file with a specified size from the disk.If size is larger than the used space,Delete() fails. Returns 1 successful,otherwise,returns 0 | <urn:uuid:850f93e1-eccb-4157-9ac5-2daeaa6e3bdb> | {
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Regional Planetary Image Facility
Logo of the Regional Planetary Image Facility Network
Regional Planetary Image Facility Locations
|Purpose||Research, Education, Outreach|
NASA Regional Planetary Image Facilities (RPIFs) are planetary image and data libraries located throughout the United States and abroad that are funded by both NASA and the host institutions. A network of these facilities was established in 1977 to maintain photographic and digital data as well as mission documentation. Each facility’s general holding contains images and maps of planets and their satellites taken by solar system exploration spacecraft. These planetary image facilities are open to the public. The facilities are primarily reference centers for browsing, studying, and selecting lunar and planetary photographic and cartographic materials. Experienced staff can assist scientists, educators, students, media, and the public in ordering materials for their own use. Since it was formally established, the network of RPIFs has expanded to nine U.S. facilities and seven in other countries. The first RPIF to be established outside of the U.S. was in England in 1980 at the University College London (UCL), and since then RPIFs have been set up in Canada, France, Germany, Israel, Italy, and Japan.
Resources and services offered
The RPIFs store and maintain a variety of planetary data and imagery, making them unique resources covering decades of planetary science. Among the offerings are:
- Digital and non-digital data and supporting documents from U.S. and foreign lunar and planetary missions flown since 1959
- The Earth Impact Database at the Canadian RPIF at the University of New Brunswick
- More than 10,000 planetary images from Earth-based telescopes, Photographic Lunar Atlas and Rectified Lunar Atlas at the University of Arizona Space Imagery Center
- A collection of near-infrared reflectance spectra of small areas of the lunar surface at the University of Hawaii RPIF
- An inventory of 120,000 United States Geological Survey (USGS) lunar and planetary maps at the USGS Astrogeology RPIF
- The Cornell University Meteorite Collection inventory at the Cornell University RPIF
- An extensive collection of online maps, publications, and outreach tools maintained by the Lunar and Planetary Institute RPIF
- The Ronald Greeley Center for Planetary Studies (RGCPS), the Arizona State University RPIF, holds over 200,000 images and negatives from planetary missions, from the Lunar Orbiters of the 1960s to the Galileo mission to Jupiter that ended in the early 2000s.
- Bevan French Collection at Brown University A research scientist's personal collection of books, photographs, periodicals and papers on space exploration and planetary topics ranging from early 1950’s pre-mission to late 1990’s.
- Shirley & Fairbridge, eds. (1997). "Regional Planetary Image Facilities," Encyclopedia of Planetary Sciences, Chapman & Hall, London, pp. 686-687
- Muller & Grindrod (2010). "UK NASA 3D-RPIF: A European facility for extracting, analysing and visualising DTMs from HiRISE and CTX," European Planetary Science Congress 2010, September 20–24, 2010, Rome, Italy, pp. 883-884 | <urn:uuid:9e168625-f236-45a4-aa62-152efaf4ee03> | {
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Guest Author - Deb Frost
To some people, the term Sourdough conjures up gold miners of the Klondike Gold Rush era or some other old-time, rural Alaskan “live-off-the-land” trapper/hunter type. They envision a “sour” jug of bread starter sitting on a shelf near a wood stove (or sometimes in a sack tied at their waist to keep it safe). Yes, these men did and still do exist in Alaska.
To others, sourdough brings to mind only the pungent, distinctive smell of a specific type of fresh baked bread famous to the San Francisco Bay area of California! So, which came first, the old-timer “sourdoughs” or the bread and why the name?
Sourdough bread did come by its common name during the gold rush period in Alaska but this method of making bread has been around since ancient times around the world. It certainly was not invented by either Californians or Alaskans. Our gold prospectors simply inspired the name.
Gold miners, especially on remote claims, did not have access to commercial yeast or bread. In order to make their own bread they had to use "starters". Some prospectors learned this method of bread-making while waiting in San Francisco for a boat to the gold fields and brought either the bread or a bit of “starter” with them to Alaska. The bread itself was already well known – just not by the name “sourdough”.
Those often scruffy old miners were referred to as “sourdoughs” due to the smell that often emanated from their abodes due to these fermenting starters. The bread resulting from these yeasty concoctions were sometimes sour indeed, depending on the yeast source used. Thus the bread the miners lived on became known as “sourdough’s bread”, and eventually simply sourdough. Since this was the main source of bread available to and often associated with the miners, the name became interchangeable.
There doesn’t seem to be one particular "right" way to start a sourdough, so use your imagination and feel free to try out new ideas. Sourdough can be started using the traditional “flour and water” method and trusting to luck for the yeast ingredient, or by using water drained off from boiling potatoes with some flour added or by dropping a little dough left over from a previous batch of bread into a jug of room temperature water. Cover lightly (don’t seal it) and wait.
Mixed and allowed to stand at room temperature, a normal starter will pick up “wild yeast cultures” from its surroundings or from whatever yeast source was added to the mixture. Left for a few days at room temperature, this “starter” will begin to ferment. As long as the starter dough is “fed” a small, fresh amount of flour and water daily in equal measure, the sourdough mixture can stay at room temperature indefinitely. It will continue to be healthy and usable. It can be refrigerated, but must be brought back to normal room temperature before using it to make bread.
In Alaska, bear-berries (also known as wild cranberry) have been used as a yeast source for a bread starter for hundreds of years. Fruit, berries or other non-soluble yeast sources must be strained and discarded after a day or so and do not add a fruit “flavor” to the bread – they simply add a type of yeast. Once they have done their job – you don’t want to leave them in the starter.
Some sourdough starts have many years of history. Others are freshly developed and have only been in existence for a few days to a week – however long it takes YOU to develop your very own starter. The result of the individual method used, along with temperature, humidity and even elevation makes every batch of sourdough different and unique.
Be sure to keep in mind that your sourdough starter is a living, breathing thing (it sure seems like it at times, anyway). Sourdough starters do seem to have distinct moods and personality. Some cultures are delicate and require careful handling, others are almost bulletproof.
Watch for Sourdough Recipes and more tips on “the care and feeding” of sourdough in an upcoming article! | <urn:uuid:020c04be-040b-41ca-94fc-8d34f3ddb9b8> | {
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The rise of Western Europe after 1500 is due largely to growth in countries with access to the Atlantic Ocean and with substantial trade with the New World, Africa, and Asia via the Atlantic. This trade and the associated colonialism affected Europe not only directly, but also indirectly by inducing institutional change. Where "initial" political institutions (those established before 1500) placed significant checks on the monarchy, the growth of Atlantic trade strengthened merchant groups by constraining the power of the monarchy, and helped merchants obtain changes in institutions to protect property rights. These changes were central to subsequent economic growth.
Acemoglu, Daron, Simon Johnson and James Robinson.
2005."The Rise of Europe: Atlantic Trade, Institutional Change, and Economic Growth."American Economic Review,
95(3): 546-579.DOI: 10.1257/0002828054201305 | <urn:uuid:31581f18-c568-46ef-982d-61b2971a632d> | {
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NGC 3077 is a small but bright peculiar galaxy about 45' east-southeast of the magnificient spiral galaxy M81 in Ursa Major, which has an equally dynamic companion, M82 (The Cigar Galaxy).
In the mid-nineteenth century, NGC 3077 was thought to be either an irregular lenticular (I0) galaxy or a peculiar mixed spiral lenticular galaxy (SAB0p). Today we know NGC 3077 is a nearby dwarf starburst galaxy with a true linear extent of 20'000 light-years at a distance of about 12.5 million light-years.
In this deep exposed image, many similarities to M82 become obvious. Specifically a couple of red jets near the center are clearly visable.
Telescope: RCOS 14.5" f/8
Mount: ASA DDM85
Detector: Apogee U16M
Filters: Astrodon Gen 2
Exposures: LRGB 780:220:200:180 min
Observatory: ROSA, France | <urn:uuid:99128541-c5d8-4547-b158-8ef5a18f3f00> | {
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Learn something new every day
More Info... by email
Critical infrastructure refers to those essential assets that are considered vital to the continued smooth functioning of the society as an integrated entity. The term is mostly utilized by the government of various countries, states or local administration in the description of the infrastructural framework within a place in the area. Some of these fundamental or critical infrastructure include features like the transportation system as it exists in the area, electricity and other energy requirements as well as the health system. It may also include the financial framework, telecommunication, electricity and the supply of water.
Critical infrastructure are considered “critical” because they are deemed to be essential to the effective functioning of the society. For instance, a good telecommunication network allows for the easy flow of information between members of the society in their private and business capacities. When people are able to communicate with each other, the society will benefit in various forms. An example is when phone service is available in a good portion of the country people will be able to conduct meetings over the phone, obtain and relay information, and generally keep in touch without having to travel long distances. This critical infrastructure may be developed by the government in conjunction with private investors.
Another critical infrastructure is the health or medical structural framework in place in the society. This particular infrastructure is important simply due to the benefits derived from having a good health infrastructure. An example of health infrastructure is building and maintaining hospitals, including supplying hospitals with modern medical equipment. It also includes the establishment of a financial health welfare system, which the less-privileged members of the society can utilize to gain access to necessary health care services.
Water supply is a critical infrastructure that involves treating and supplying good drinking water to the different areas of the community as well as the building and maintenance of water processing tanks and water supply pipelines. Part of the water supply infrastructure includes the protection of water sources, including underground and surface water sources from pollutants and other sources of contamination. Another aspect of the water supply infrastructure is the building of sewages and other projects that will help in the management of waste water.
Electricity is a critical infrastructure because people depend on electricity for daily home and industrial activities. This type of infrastructure may include the construction and maintenance of dams, coal plants and other sources of electricity generation, including solar electricity-generating plants. It may also include the construction and maintenance of other alternative sources of electricity generation, such as windmills or energy derived from nuclear power.
One of our editors will review your suggestion and make changes if warranted. Note that depending on the number of suggestions we receive, this can take anywhere from a few hours to a few days. Thank you for helping to improve wiseGEEK! | <urn:uuid:67ee20e5-684a-4a34-ab85-ea4c5d6f0658> | {
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Used to express disgust or contempt: “Pah! They know nothing.”
Más ejemplos en oraciones
- Crazy what people will do to advertise their site, pah!
- They couldn't sing or dance that well, they weren't too pretty, and above all they were a manufactured band - pah!
- And we diligently ensure that harmless old Biggs remains locked up… justice pah!
natural utterance: first recorded in English in the late 16th century.
Definición de pah en:
- el diccionario Inglés británico e internacional | <urn:uuid:2cadaaf8-3098-4d86-9819-7ad8f8f5c06f> | {
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Read and understand the story. If you may have any difficult words to pronounce and words you cannot understand, always ask your teacher.
*Teachers will divide the article into 2-3 paragraphs to help you understand and check the pronunciation of the difficult words.
*Read the words carefully.
- Morse Code /ˈmoɚs-/ (n.)
- recognize /ˈrɛkɪgˌnaɪz/ (n. )
- abbreviation /əˌbriːviˈeɪʃən/ (n. )
a system of sending messages that uses long and short sounds, flashes of light, or marks to represent letters and numbers
not used in progressive tenses : to know and remember (someone or something) because of previous knowledge or experience
a shortened form of a word or name that is used in place of the full word or name
* Read the text below
(click right and save)
(1) Different people have different ways of saying things – their own special expressions. Each week we tell about some popular American expressions.
(2) What you are listening to is a call for help. It is the Morse code distress signal S.O.S. For years, telegraph operators used Morse code to communicate across the country and around the world.
(3) A skilled operator could send and receive 30 or 40 words a minute. In the language of Morse code, the letter “S” is three short dots and the letter “O” is three longer dashes. Put them together and you have S.O.S.
(4) These sounds represent the international call for help because they are easy to recognize. Now, it is simply known as S.O.S.
(5) But many people think that S.O.S. stands for “Save Our Ship” or “Save Our Souls.” It does not. S.O.S. has come to mean that because of how we use it – when we need to be saved, as when a ship is sinking.
(6) S.O.S. is an example of a new, if somewhat unofficial, word in the English language. We call it a backronym. A backronym is a combination of two words: backward and acronym.
(7) An acronym is an abbreviation, a shorter version of a long word or expression. For example, the word “scuba” is an acronym. It stands for self-contained underwater breathing apparatus. But scuba is so much easier to say!
(8) Backronyms, on the other hand, are built in the opposite way. They are made by creating a phrase or expression for an already existing word or acronym.
(9) For example, the United States Department of Justice recently gave new meaning to its Amber Alert program. Now, Amber officially stands for “America’s Missing: Broadcast Emergency Response.” But the program was originally named for Amber Hagerman, a nine-year-old girl who was kidnapped and murdered in Texas in 1996.
(10) Sometimes, backronyms come from outdated language. Writing “CC” at the end of a document once meant “carbon copy.” Before computers and email, people would often make a carbon copy of a letter they sent on official business. These days we often send electronic copies of letters by email, not carbon copies. So, “CC” is now a backronym that means “courtesy copy”
(11) Americans often use backronyms as jokes. For example, NASA, the U.S. space agency, named a treadmill on the International Space Station after the television personality Stephen Colbert. The agency created the name “Combined Operational Load-Bearing External Resistance Treadmill” to spell out the name COLBERT.
(12) Who says scientists lack a sense of humor?
(13) Do not worry if you have never heard of backronyms. Many Americans have not either. The earliest known use of “backronym” appeared in The Washington Post in 1983.
(14) The newspaper asked readers to send in a new word. Editors picked Meredith G. Williams as the winner with her word, “backronym,” spelled with or without a “k.” She defined backronym, as the “same as an acronym, except that the words were chosen to fit the letters.”
*Let’s talk about the article base on the questions below | <urn:uuid:bbeb6ead-0711-4bc5-93fc-e8558c8f4b9c> | {
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Kirkham, Natasha Z. and Richardson, D.C. and Wu, Rachel and Johnson, S.P. (2012) The importance of "what": infants use featural information to index events. Journal of Experimental Child Psychology 113 (3), pp. 430-439. ISSN 0022-0965.Full text not available from this repository.
Dynamic spatial indexing is the ability to encode, remember, and track the location of complex events. For example, in a previous study, 6-month-old infants were familiarized to a toy making a particular sound in a particular location, and later they fixated that empty location when they heard the sound presented alone (Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, 2004, Vol. 133, pp. 46–62). The basis and developmental trajectory of this ability are currently unclear. We investigated dynamic spatial indexing across the first year after birth and tested the hypothesis that the structure of visual cues supports infants’ learning of sound and location associations. In our study, 3-, 6-, and 10-month-olds were tested in a dynamic spatial indexing eye movement paradigm that paired two sounds with two locations. In one condition, these were reliably paired with two sets of visual features (two toys condition), replicating the original studies. We also presented a single set of visual cues in both locations (one toy condition) and multiple sets of visual features in both locations (six toys condition). Infants from 3 months of age onward showed evidence of dynamic spatial indexing in the two toys condition, but only the 10-month-olds succeeded in the one toy and six toys conditions. We argue that this may reflect a broader developmental trajectory, whereby infants first make use of multiple cue integration but with age are able to learn from a narrow set of cues.
|Keyword(s) / Subject(s):||Infancy, Spatial indexing, Multiple cues, Multimodal, Eye tracking, Binding|
|School or Research Centre:||Birkbeck Schools and Research Centres > School of Science > Psychological Sciences|
|Date Deposited:||08 Aug 2012 15:55|
|Last Modified:||17 Apr 2013 12:24|
Archive Staff Only (login required) | <urn:uuid:87646110-42c9-4b4e-adad-b33ac44a090c> | {
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The robots don’t know they’re any different from their human visitors, until they slowly begin to suspect that something isn’t right with their “lives.” It’s not hard to predict that a violent clash with their human creators is going to ultimately take place. Just a short time ago, such a storyline would have been a far-out fantasy, but today, it’s a frightening look at what actually could happen if we get too carried away with our development of artificial intelligence.
What has been sticking in my mind, however, is less the concern that our own creations are going to rise up against us (at least this year; who knows where we’ll be in another?) and more the thought that WHAT IF WE’RE ALL ROBOTS OURSELVES? What if we’re part of some grand experiment or marketing scheme in which we’ve all been fabricated in a lab and the real human beings are watching us and making sure we don’t get too far out of line?
It all sounds like the ramblings of stoned college kids at 3AM – until the experts start weighing in. Stephen Hawking has already warned that if we’re not careful, our robotic inventions will one day overthrow us, and now billionaire tech genius and SpaceX founder Elon Musk has validated the theories that have been flying around among nerds and stoners since The Matrix came out in 1999 – yes, we could very well be living in a simulated world.
At this year’s Code Conference, which took place at the beginning of June, Musk commented that in his opinion, “there’s a billion to one chance we’re living in base reality.” And he’s far from alone in that view. In 2003, University of Oxford professor Nick Bostrom published a paper entitled “Are You Living in a Computer Simulation?” in which he posed some compelling reasons to believe that we are, in fact, living in the Matrix.
The paper is well worth a full read, but one of Bostrom’s arguments points to our own rapid advancements in computer simulation and virtual reality. If we continue to develop such technology at our current pace, he said, then we will soon get to the point at which we are creating virtual worlds populated by conscious beings. Once realistic simulations of the universe are possible, there will quickly be more simulations of reality than reality itself, and if that’s true, then the odds of us being part of an actual reality are pretty slim – maybe even as slim as a billion to one.
It’s known as the simulation problem, and it can quickly twist your mind into a pretzel. It reminds me of one argument in favor of life on other planets – we live in such a vast, largely unknown universe that the odds of us being the only life form, or even the only intelligent life form, are pretty tiny, and it displays a certain amount of arrogance to think that we’re even the most advanced life form in existence.
Look at what we’ve been doing with virtual reality lately. We’re using 3D scanning to place realistic versions of ourselves into video games and apps, for example. We’re developing devices that allow us to physically feel objects in the virtual world. We’re touring places that haven’t existed for thousands of years – which leads us to another one of Bostrom’s theories: that we’re computer simulations of the ancestors of a more advanced race.
It may sound completely bonkers, but think about it for a minute. Bostrom wrote his paper in 2003, well before we developed the capabilities to create realistic virtual reality tours of places that no longer exist. Now that we have those capabilities, it’s not that far-fetched to think our next step might be to create realistic virtual people to populate those historical places. And as we continue to develop more and more advanced artificial intelligence technology, how long will it be before those virtual people become autonomous, and even conscious? According to Musk, such developments are inevitable.
“Forty years ago we had Pong – two rectangles and a dot. That’s where we were. Now 40 years later, we have photorealistic, 3D simulations with millions of people playing simultaneously and it’s getting better every year. And soon we’ll have virtual reality, we’ll have augmented reality,” he said. “If you assume any rate of improvement at all, then the games will become indistinguishable from reality.”
Not all scientists buy into the simulation theory, as The Guardian points out in a recent feature. Many more do believe it, however, than you might expect, and none of them are fringe types. Rich Terrile, a scientist at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, agrees with Musk that we’re inevitably progressing toward a future in which virtual, artificially intelligent beings outnumber humans.
“If one progresses at the current rate of technology a few decades into the future, very quickly we will be a society where there are artificial entities living in simulations that are much more abundant than human beings,” he said. “If in the future there are more digital people living in simulated environments than there are today, then what is to say we are not part of that already?”
That’s one of the common threads that runs through most of the arguments in favor of the simulation theory: Why not? If we have the ability to create virtual worlds and artificial intelligence, than how do we know we’re the first? If our virtual and robotic creations can think, than how are they different than us, and how to we know we’re not the creations of some higher species? (Again: mind pretzel.) According to Terrile, it’s simple physics.
“Even things that we think of as continuous – time, energy, space, volume – all have a finite limit to their size. If that’s the case, then our universe is both computable and finite. Those properties allow the universe to be simulated,” Terrile said. “Quite frankly, if we are not living in a simulation, it is an extraordinarily unlikely circumstance.”
Rather than disturbing, Terrile calls the idea that we’re living in a simulated universe “beautiful and profound,” and looks forward to the near future in which we will be able to create – and populate – our own simulations. In fact, the idea that we’re not living in a simulation is actually more disturbing according to some, including Bostrom.
If we’re not living in a simulation created by a more advanced civilization, he argues, it’s not because we’re the first and only intelligent civilization – it’s that no other civilization has lasted long enough to create a simulated universe of intelligent virtual beings. In other words, we’re not the first to develop this kind of technology, but the the beings that got to this point before we did were destroyed somehow – maybe by their own technology. If that’s the case, the future doesn’t look great for us, does it?
If that’s the case, we should listen to Stephen Hawking and proceed with extreme caution. But if we are simulations in a simulated world, then the simulations we create will add one more layer to what could be a massive Russian nesting doll of a universe: the beings simulating us have in turn been simulated by another civilization before them, and so on. I hope you’re not reading this right before you go to bed, and if so, I apologize for any mind-twisting insomnia that may ensue. I blame Nick Bostrom. Discuss in The Matrix forum at 3DPB.com.[Source: The Guardian]
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View our broad assortment of in house and third party products. | <urn:uuid:07d3fde8-6c69-4f66-b751-7c635fa6c96c> | {
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Photo: idban secandri (Flickr)
A group of researchers at Yale University has published an eye opening study that shows how much our society’s gender biases against women don’t stop on the playground. In fact, they extend all the way to our universities’ science departments.
Inside The Study
The researchers took a new approach to the question of why so many fewer women than men pursue careers in biology, chemistry and physics. Their project was pretty straightforward: 127 science professors evaluated an application from a made up undergraduate student who was seeking a position as a lab manager.
All of the applications were identical, except for one thing: on half of them, the student’s name was marked “John,” and on the other half, it was labeled “Jennifer.”
The responses revealed a lot about how long standing negative stereotypes still shape professors’ attitudes toward women in the sciences. Even though “Jennifer” received higher likability ratings, “John” received higher scores for competence and hire ability from both male and female evaluators.
Suggested starting salaries were higher for “John’s” application, and professors who read “John’s” application also indicated a greater willingness to offer the student mentorship and career development opportunities. Basically, what it came down to was this: with all other factors being equal, it was “John” over “Jennifer”–male over female.
That conclusion isn’t particularly heartening for women in the sciences. But remember, although the findings seem bleak, research like this is an important first step toward increasing public awareness.
After all, it’s only once we recognize our own subconscious biases that we can begin to combat them. | <urn:uuid:852e0131-202d-4811-9f5e-fdfe314280c4> | {
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Pathologically mesothelioma is a difficult diagnosis to make. A combination of rarity of mesothelioma combined with the resemblance of this cancer to lung cancer results misdiagnosis of many cases that may be mesothelioma. Pathological opinion of same tumor may different as seen by different pathologist especially when litigation and compensation issues are involved. It is to be emphasized that a substantial fraction of mesothelioma occurs in people who were never been exposed to asbestos, and malignancies other than mesothelioma is common in those who have been exposed to asbestos. A diagnosis of mesothelioma may not be suspected in a person who has no history of exposure to asbestos, and a diagnosis of mesothelioma may be over-zealously explored in a person who gives history of significant exposure to asbestos. A diagnosis of mesothelioma should not be assumed just because of an exposure history to asbestos is present. It is very important to exclude other less aggressive diseases before making a diagnosis of mesothelioma because in general these may be more amenable to treatment than mesothelioma. Non-cancerous diseases like inflammatory and reactive processes can cause changes in the mesothelial cells and can resemble mesothelioma. Accurate diagnosis of mesothelioma is also very important in cases where litigation and attorneys are involved for compensation issues.
Several factors including measuring the levels of hyaluronic acid, hemopoietic growth factors, c-reactive protein, alpha one acid glycoprotein, fibronge and IL-6 have been suggested as useful tests in the diagnosis of mesothelioma. These tests may be added help in making the distinction between mesothelioma and lung cancer. These tests by itself are not specific for diagnosis of mesothelioma, but may be helpful together with biopsy, pathological examination, and imaging techniques.
Repeated biopsies of the pleura may yield negative results despite the presence of active mesothelioma. With the usual microscopic examination alone it may be difficult to distinguish mesothelioma from adeno-carcinoma of the lung. Electron microscopic examination may establish the diagnosis of mesothelioma. Bronchoscopy may help to locate a small occult primary lung cancer and may be thereby excluding the diagnosis of mesothelioma. Establishment of diagnosis of mesothelioma may require pathological examination of a biopsy of the pleura or e pleural fluid. Adeno-carcinoma originating in other parts of the body can involve pleura by metastatic spread, and it is important to exclude malignancies in these sites before making a definite diagnosis of mesothelioma. These sites from which an adeno-carcinoma can arise include lung, breast, ovary, pancreas, stomach, kidney, prostate, and gall bladder. It may be impossible to distinguish between adeno-carcinoma with extensive involvement of pleura and mesothelioma after extensive investigation. This condition where the adenocarcinoma of the lung causes extensive pleural involvement and mimic mesothelioma is termed as pseudo-mesothelioma. It may also be difficult to distinguish mesothelioma from fibrosarcomas, malignant fibrous histiocytomas, malignant swhannomas, hemangio-pericytomas, synovial sarcomas, and carcino-sarcomas. | <urn:uuid:cae89ebf-4f75-4d92-89ba-f9b8af3c514d> | {
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This is a counting activity for 3/4 year olds. Insha'Allaah, when/if I am able to post about lesson planning I will refer back to this post when discussing the topic of checking to make sure you have the materials you need ...ahead of time. This activity was an important reminder to self to always check to make sure your stock of paper has not been exhausted and the only colour paper you have left is.....pink. This oversight set the tone (colour wise) for the math activities and trying to move it away from pink was....interesting. Imagine trying to explain to your male students why the math centre activities are pink *smile*.
Using the book of buttons and number cards (numbers 10 - 20), students practice matching the number card that shows how many buttons are on the page and also reinforce their knowledge of the sequential order of the numbers 10-20.
Students count the number of buttons on each page and then find the card that shows the correct amount.
They place the correct card in the white pocket on the opposite page.
Extension activities for the button book and number cards:
1. Using Painting Tape/Masking Tape, make a number line on your classroom/home floor. Write the numbers 10-20 on the tape (each number evenly spaced). Invite children to match the cards to the numbers on the number line.
2. Early graphing skills activity: Gather various small/child safe objects and place one object beneath each number on the number line. Giving each child a turn, ask the child to go to a certain number and tell you what object they find at the number you said. (This also falls under the preK/kindergarten strand: listens to and follows simple directions).
3. Pair work: Take the button book apart. Place each of the pages around the classroom (on your circle time rug for example). Invite the children to go to a card, count the buttons and put their card on the correct number. The self-correcting element is: if a child has counted the buttons incorrectly and placed his/her card on the wrong number when the second child has a card with that number and he/she tries to correctly place it, he/she will already find a card in the spot and this will alert the child who misplaced the card to his/her error.
4. Small Group Gross Motor Skill Activity: Using the number line, have the children line up behind the number 10. The teacher/parent will say "Go!" and the child skips, walks fast, tip-toes, etc. until the teacher calls "Stop!". The child must stop and tell the class which number he/she is standing on. If he/she correctly informs the class, the teacher gives him/her the corresponding number card and the child returns to the end of the line. Play continues this way until the teacher has no more cards left to hand out. The child who has the most cards gets to be the next caller (i.e. the one who says, Go! and Stop!).
Your students/children may also enoy playing a game of Button in the Box.
The game (and the rules) pictured was modified for group play.
You can also invite children to do a cupcake worksheet using buttons.
|A sample of a child's completed work|
When you are moving about the room, aside from making sure that no student is putting any buttons in his/her mouth, you can note each child's skill with picking up the buttons using the pincer grasp. This may help you identify children who may need more practice in this area. You also have the opportunity to listen to students counting to themselves as they work to get the cupcakes in the right order. You may very likely hear students counting to themselves: some start from the beginning (i.e. the number 10) each time they have to place the next cupcake in the sequence and count on aloud; others start from the beginning and count on silently but you see their finger moving from cupcake to cupcake as they count in their minds; some may surprise you and already have developed the skill of counting on! (i.e. they have 8 cupcakes placed already so they are at number 17 and should place the number 18 next). You may see this student look at the number 16 and then say aloud "16, 17....18" and then place the number 18 on the page, instead of starting over at number 10. Others may just place the cupcakes randomly as they pick them up (i..e they are in the correct order in the end but they did not glue 10 first, 11 next, 12 after and so on). When they picked up 18 they glued it to the page and if they picked up 11 next they glued it to the page. You may also have a few students who have glued their numbers in random order and out of sequence. This lets you know that these students may benefit from a mini-lesson to help them in their journey of learning to count the numbers 10-20 in sequential order.
Students can also complete a puzzle that reinforces sequential counting for the numbers 10-20. | <urn:uuid:46033218-df90-437f-9c91-e7089365a864> | {
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Here is some of Jason Lisle. I'm not sure if this is what Humphries proposes, but it does use accepted science as an explanation. Before you criticize too much, just remember the big bang has a horizon problem that had to be answed with hypotheses which are not able to be proven. Lisle uses the theory of relativity to explain how light may not be rigidly fixed in "our" time.
Hi, This "Hypothesis" is similar to what Humphries proposes, but both could easily proven wrong.
Both set the earth or our Solar system in the center of the universe in a big gravitational well. It is true that according to general relativity time in gravitational wells runs slower than in free space unaffected by gravitation. This is measurable: For 20,000 km above earth surface thats about 40 ms per day. So if this proposal is true you should see it depending on the form of the gravitational well. Things should happen faster in space than calculated here on earth, for example rotation around gravitational centers of galaxies, star clusters, planets etc. We don´t see that at least not in a very big measurable amount. Second, light arriving from things outside of that gravitational well should be very much blue shifted. The characteristical frequencies of electron excitations should be blue shifted. We don´t see that either. And very important at last, mass rotates around gravitational centers, so we should see everything rotationg around us and that in different speeds depending on the distance to us.
It is easy to propose a hypothesis, but you have to think about the consequences and check them against reality. So the hypotheses of these two guys have no basis in reality. | <urn:uuid:deaec052-d0b3-4432-8aca-b47395220675> | {
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The intention to both memorise and understand: Another approach to learning?
- Cite this article as:
- Kember, D. High Educ (1996) 31: 341. doi:10.1007/BF00128436
- 703 Downloads
In distinguishing deep and surface approaches, an important determinant is the intentions to understand and memorise respectively. A student adopting a surface approach does not seek understanding and, therefore, relies upon memorisation. Understanding and memorising are, then, seen as almost mutually exclusive as far as intent is concerned, although those seeking understanding may make some strategic use of memorisation for particular tasks. This paper reviews emerging evidence of an approach which combines memorising and understanding. The research has been conducted in the Asian region, and so provides part of the explanation for the “paradox” of the Asian student. There has been widespread anecdotal evidence of “rote-learning” and yet Asian students are often high achievers. Several plausible explanations for the occurrence of the approach are advanced. These include limited ability in the language of study leading to a narrow systematic pattern of study, cultural traditions respecting order and diligent study, and the need for children to learn the language characters. | <urn:uuid:f3a751e4-7764-452b-952e-aa07416f09e9> | {
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The combustion in a conventional stove will emit more greenhouse gases (GHG) which contribute to
climate change. Besides that, the fuel utilization from wood will decrease the forest quality, and the
fuel utilization from fossil fuel will decrease the natural resources which is not a renewable
The implementation of the energy efficient stove has provided two concrete benefits two the
- It has reduced the production cost in fuel utilization, increasing overall productivity and
- It has improved air quality by reducing deforestation activities.
The efficient stove technology has a strong potential for replication and scaleability in throughout
Indonesia. It improves the performance of the conventional stove through a total saving of 44.64% from
business-as-usual or 440 m3 wood per month. | <urn:uuid:4fd4866f-95ac-47ff-8c93-76a2e2298d06> | {
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What is Big Data?
I want to learn Big Data. I have no clue where and how to start learning about it.
Does Big Data really means data is big?
What are the tools and software I need to know to learn Big Data?
I often receive questions which I mentioned above. They are good questions and honestly when we search online, it is hard to find authoritative and authentic answers. I have been working with Big Data and NoSQL for a while and I have decided that I will attempt to discuss this subject over here in the blog.
In the next 21 days we will understand what is so big about Big Data.
Big Data – Big Thing!
Big Data is becoming one of the most talked about technology trends nowadays. The real challenge with the big organization is to get maximum out of the data already available and predict what kind of data to collect in the future. How to take the existing data and make it meaningful that it provides us accurate insight in the past data is one of the key discussion points in many of the executive meetings in organizations. With the explosion of the data the challenge has gone to the next level and now a Big Data is becoming the reality in many organizations.
Big Data – A Rubik’s Cube
I like to compare big data with the Rubik’s cube. I believe they have many similarities. Just like a Rubik’s cube it has many different solutions. Let us visualize a Rubik’s cube solving challenge where there are many experts participating. If you take five Rubik’s cube and mix up the same way and give it to five different expert to solve it. It is quite possible that all the five people will solve the Rubik’s cube in fractions of the seconds but if you pay attention to the same closely, you will notice that even though the final outcome is the same, the route taken to solve the Rubik’s cube is not the same. Every expert will start at a different place and will try to resolve it with different methods. Some will solve one color first and others will solve another color first. Even though they follow the same kind of algorithm to solve the puzzle they will start and end at a different place and their moves will be different at many occasions. It is nearly impossible to have a exact same route taken by two experts.
Big Market and Multiple Solutions
Big Data is exactly like a Rubik’s cube – even though the goal of every organization and expert is same to get maximum out of the data, the route and the starting point are different for each organization and expert. As organizations are evaluating and architecting big data solutions they are also learning the ways and opportunities which are related to Big Data. There is not a single solution to big data as well there is not a single vendor which can claim to know all about Big Data. Honestly, Big Data is too big a concept and there are many players – different architectures, different vendors and different technology.
What is Next?
In this 31 days series we will be exploring many essential topics related to big data. I do not claim that you will be master of the subject after 31 days but I claim that I will be covering following topics in easy to understand language.
- Architecture of Big Data
- Big Data a Management and Implementation
- Different Technologies – Hadoop, Mapreduce
- Real World Conversations
- Best Practices
In tomorrow’s blog post we will try to answer one of the very essential questions – What is Big Data?
Reference: Pinal Dave (http://blog.sqlauthority.com) | <urn:uuid:1c5ba5cd-f95d-4c62-a2f1-710a1284219c> | {
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The World Bank’s Book on PPP in Education (Patrinos,Barrera-Osorio, & Guáqueta, 2009)
Education is widely believed to be critical for any nation’s economic, political, and social development. It is widely believed to help people escape from poverty and participate more fully in society and in the market place. These are a few of the reasons why governments around the world assume the responsibility for providing and ?nancing education, especially basic education. But this responsibility is a large and complex one for any government to meet adequately, which is why it is important for governments to explore diverse ways of ?nancing and providing educational services.
This book presents the results of the ? rst phase of a multi-year program to examine the role of public-private partnerships in education. It focuses on contracting models at the primary and secondary education levels. It reviews the conceptual underpinnings for why such partnerships might contribute to achieving a country’s education goals, reviews empirical evidence, and offers some guidelines for operations. The next phase of this agenda will focus on international and multi-stakeholder partnerships, including philanthropic initiatives on the one hand and for-pro?t activities on the other.
The book examines ?ve ways through which public-private partnership can help countries meet education goals.
- First, public-private partnerships can increase access to good quality education for all, especially for poor children who live in remote, under-served communities and for children in minority populations.
- Second, lessons for innovative means of ?nancing education can be particularly helpful in post-con?ict countries undergoing reconstruction.
- Third, lessons about what works in terms of public-private partnerships contribute to the development of a more differentiated business model especially for middle-income countries.
- Fourth, the challenge of meeting the education Millennium Development Goals in less than a decade is a daunting one in the poorest countries. Understanding new partnership arrangements within a broad international aid architecture in education can help bring us closer to those goals.
- Fifth, some very innovative public-private partnership arrangements are happening in Arab countries, and lessons can be drawn from their experience. | <urn:uuid:a59f3492-4198-4c32-879d-f447feadee12> | {
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A new warning from the U.S. government has renewed fears for the catastrophic destruction of thousands of Iraqi heritage sites in an event that would dwarf any damage already inflicted by the Islamic State.
The security message, posted on February 29th by the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad, urges citizens in Iraq to prepare for a possible collapse of the Mosul Dam, located about 37 miles (60 kilometers) north of the city of the same name.
The U.S. government is urging people to prepare for the collapse of Iraq's largest dam.
An accompanying fact sheet states that the dam — the country's largest — "faces a serious and unprecedented risk of catastrophic failure with little warning," which would result in an "in-land tidal wave" rushing 174 miles (280 kilometers) south along the Tigris River to the city of Samarra, a UNESCO World Heritage site. Approximately 500,000 to 1.47 million people would die in the inundation unless they evacuate the flood path in time.
While the potential for a massive humanitarian disaster is abundantly clear, the scenario described will also wipe out thousands of archaeological and cultural sites along the Tigris River, including many that have already been damaged or destroyed by the Islamic State (commonly known as ISIS).
"The Most Dangerous Dam in the World"
The structural integrity of the Mosul Dam (formerly the Saddam Dam) has been a concern ever since it went online 30 years ago. The hydroelectric dam is built on a “very poor” foundation of water-soluble minerals that requires continuous grouting to support the 2.8-mile (3.7-kilometer) long, 370-foot (113 meter) high structure, which holds up to 2.7 cubic miles (11.1 cubic kilometers) of water.
In 2006, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers called it “the most dangerous dam in the world,” and predicted that a structural failure could inundate Mosul in more than 70 feet (21 meters) of water within three or four hours.
While the Mosul Dam is currently under control of the Iraqi government, the city of Mosul has been occupied by ISIS since 2014. Preparations to retake Mosul, and associated concerns over airstrikes or an attempt to "weaponize" the dam, may have prompted the recent public warning from the U.S. State Department.
An "Unprecedented Loss"
The Assyrian sites of Nimrud, Nineveh and Khorsabad, once capitals of one of the world's first true empires in the first millennium B.C., are in projected path of a deluge resulting from a dam failure. All of these sites, as well as the Mosul Museum and countless religious sites, have been targets for damage and destruction by ISIS since it took Mosul in 2014.
One of our best tools for doing investigation would be completely taken away from us.
But while the damage wrought by ISIS on the cultural sites of Iraq and Syria has been a focus of global concern, researchers are struggling to calculate the destruction that would result from a failure of the Mosul Dam.
"It's hard for me to come up with estimates other than thousands of archaeological sites and heritage sites would essentially be wiped away," says Michael Danti, professor of archaeology at Boston University and co-director of the Syrian Heritage Initiative at the American Schools of Oriental Research, which is documenting the deliberate destruction of cultural heritage in Iraq and Syria. "It would be an unprecedented loss."
Jason Ur, professor of anthropology at Harvard University, observes that a focus on the great Assyrian cities means that many other large sites along the Tigris River have not yet been properly investigated. "We don't know exactly what we would be losing," he says.
Furthermore, he notes that archaeologists in the region often rely on surface artifacts to roughly determine the age and size of a site without excavation. An enormous flood sweeping across the landscape would jumble the surface record. "One of our best tools for doing investigation would be completely taken away from us. It would make work in the future extremely difficult."
Even worse, he says, would be a massive deposit of silt across the Tigris River basin. "Then we wouldn't even have access to that surface jumble."
Shaping Future Identities
While many researchers feel uncomfortable discussing the potential damage to heritage sites when millions of lives are also at risk, they stress the importance that historical knowledge will play in shaping future generations of Iraqis.
"The Kurds are asking 'What was our past like?' and the Sunnis and Shiites are doing the same," says Ur. "People form their national identities based on what came before them, so archaeology is going to be a part of that."
Thousands of archaeological sites and heritage sites would essentially be wiped away.
For Danti, who tracks the destruction of cultural sites by the Islamic State, the sad irony of the potential loss of Iraqi heritage on a much, much bigger scale is not lost.
"It's not very often that I think in terms of things being worse than what [the Islamic State] has done," he says. "They have destroyed hundreds of sites. But this would take everything."
Follow Kristin Romey on Twitter. | <urn:uuid:8a4a743f-800a-47ca-af9b-c5249db07bc2> | {
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Myrtilla MinerArticle Free Pass
Myrtilla Miner, (born March 4, 1815, near Brookfield, N.Y., U.S.—died Dec. 17, 1864, Washington, D.C.), American educator whose school for African Americans, established against considerable opposition, grew to a successful and long-lived teachers institution.
Miner was educated at the Clover Street Seminary in Rochester, New York (1840-44), and taught at various schools, including the Newton Female Institute (1846-47) in Whitesville, Mississippi, where she was refused permission to conduct classes for African American girls. The experience made Miner receptive to the suggestion that she open a school for African Americans; encouragement from the Reverend Henry Ward Beecher and a contribution from a Quaker philanthropist allowed her to establish such a school.
In 1851 Miner opened the Colored Girls School in Washington, D.C. Within two months the enrollment grew from 6 to 40, and, despite hostility from a portion of the community, the school prospered. Contributions from Quakers continued to arrive, and Harriet Beecher Stowe gave $1,000 of her Uncle Tom’s Cabin royalties. The school was forced to move three times in its first two years, but in 1854 it settled on a 3-acre (1.2-hectare) lot with house and barn on the edge of the city. In 1856 the school came under the care of a board of trustees, among whom were Beecher and Johns Hopkins. Although the school offered primary schooling and classes in domestic skills, its emphasis from the outset was on training teachers. Miner stressed hygiene and nature study in addition to rigorous academic training. By 1858 six former students were teaching in schools of their own. By that time Miner’s connection with the school had been lessened by her failing health, and from 1857 Emily Howland was in charge. In 1860 the school had to be closed, and the next year Miner went to California in an attempt to regain her health. A carriage accident in 1864 ended that hope, and Miner died shortly after her return to Washington, D.C.
Granted a congressional charter as the Institution for the Education of Colored Youth in 1863, Miner’s school reopened after the Civil War. From 1871 to 1876 it was associated with Howard University, and in 1879, as Miner Normal School, it became part of the District of Columbia public school system. In 1929 it became Miner Teachers College, and in 1955 it merged with Wilson Teachers College to form the District of Columbia Teachers College.
Do you know anything more about this topic that you’d like to share? | <urn:uuid:6d6308fb-8031-46d7-a12e-8a0e4798b9c9> | {
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During the peak of what has been dubbed the Great Recession, the unemployment rate for young adults (16 to 24 years of age) as a whole rose to above 27 percent. The unemployment rate for black young adults was almost 50 percent, but for young black males, it was 55 percent.
Even and Macpherson say that it would be easy to say this tragedy is an unfortunate byproduct of the recession, but if you said so, you'd be wrong. Their study demonstrates that increases in the minimum wage at both the state and federal level are partially to blame for the crisis in employment for minority young adults.
Their study focuses on 16-to-24-year-old male high school dropouts, understandably a relatively inexperienced group of labor market participants. Since minimum wage laws discriminate against the employment of the least-skilled worker, it shouldn't be surprising to find 16-to-24-year-old male high school dropouts its primary victims.
Among the white males, the authors find that "each 10 percent increase in a state or federal minimum wage has decreased employment by 2.5 percent; for Hispanic males, the figure is 1.2 percent.
"But among black males in this group, each 10 percent increase in the minimum wage decreased employment by 6.5 percent."
The authors go on to say, "The effect is similar for hours worked: each 10 percent increase reduces hours worked by 3 percent among white males, 1.7 percent for Hispanic males, and 6.6 percent for black males."
Even and Macpherson compare the job loss caused by higher minimum wages with that caused by the recession and find between 2007 and 2010, employment for 16-to-24-year-old black males fell by approximately 34,300 as a result of the recession; over the same time period, approximately 26,400 lost their jobs as a result of increases in the minimum wage across the 50 states and at the federal level.
Why do young black males suffer unequal harm from minimum wage increases? Even and Macpherson say that they're more likely to be employed in low-skilled jobs in eating and drinking establishments. These are businesses with narrow profit margins and are more adversely affected by increases in minimum wage increases. For 16-to-24-year-old men without a high school diploma, 25 percent of whites and 31 percent of blacks work at an eating and drinking establishment. Compounding the discriminatory burden of minimum wages, not discussed by the authors, are the significant educational achievement differences between blacks and whites.
The best way to sabotage chances for upward mobility of a youngster from a single-parent household, who resides in a violent slum and has attended poor-quality schools is to make it unprofitable for any employer to hire him. The way to accomplish that is to mandate an employer to pay such a person a wage that exceeds his skill level.
Imagine that a worker's skill level is such that he can only contribute $5 worth of value per hour to the employer's output, but the employer must pay him a minimum wage of $7.25 per hour, plus mandated fringes such as Social Security, unemployment compensation and health insurance. To hire such a worker would be a losing economic proposition. If the employer could pay that low-skilled worker the value of his skills, he would at least have a job and a chance to upgrade his skill and earn more in the future.
Minimum wage laws have massive political support, including that of black politicians. That means that many young black males will remain a part of America's permanent underclass with crime, drugs and prison as their future. | <urn:uuid:356dbce9-086f-46e6-8bbe-c3032770cd5a> | {
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(Oregon State University) Two monkeys grooming each other about 20-30 million years ago may have helped produce a remarkable new find - the first fossilized red blood cells from a mammal, preserved so perfectly in amber that they appear to have been prepared for display in a laboratory.
Original Article: Monkey business produces rare preserved blood in amber fossilsNEXT ARTICLE
Blood is a specialized bodily fluid that delivers necessary substances to the body's cells (in animals) – such as nutrients and oxygen – and transports waste products away from those same cells. In vertebrates, it is composed of blo... | <urn:uuid:db15349b-78c7-4a91-985b-d3ce4ca54421> | {
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Libby Riddles (1956- )
American dogsledder and first woman to win the Iditarod, 1985
The Iditarod is a grueling 1152-mile trans-Alaska dogsled race in which male mushers dominated until 1985 when Libby Riddles became the first woman to win the annual race. She was named 1985 Sports Woman of the Year by the Women’s Sports Foundation and honored by the Iditarod veterinarians with the 1985 Leonhard Seppala Humanitarian Award for her humane treatment of her dogs. In addition, her two lead dogs, Dugan and Sister, won the 1985 Golden Harness Award that year.
Riddles was born in Madison, Wisconsin and grew up in St. Cloud, Minnesota. After graduating from high school, she and a boyfriend decided to move to Alaska as homesteaders; her only preparation for dogsled mushing was a love of animals.
Four years after moving to Alaska, Riddles had a team of dogs and entered her first Iditarod. She did not place very highly in the ranking in 1980 or the following years, meaning that she had no ability to raise money through sponsors. However, raising dogs is expensive, so Riddles came up with ways to earn money while still working with her dogs. She made and sold fur hats to tourists and also charged for exhibitions of her sled dogs.
Some consider that the Iditarod is held to commemorate the “race of mercy” that took place in 1925 when a relay of dog sled owners carried medicine to Nome when the children of the city were dying of diphtheria. But in essence, the Iditarod symbolizes much more than this one trip. The route of the current race follows a path that was taken by miners and settlers who were intent on reaching the gold fields of Alaska. Teams usually consisted of twenty or more dogs, and they could pull half a ton or more of supplies. The average distance traveled each day was 50-70 miles.
To understand the importance of dog sleds and mushers, it is important to realize that until the snowmobile was invented, the only way to reach the inland parts of the state during the winter months was by dog sled.
The Race of 1985
The weather that year was particularly brutal. Temperatures plunged to -50 degrees Fahrenheit and twice during the race, the officials halted the competition so that the mushers and their dogs could seek shelter. That year the race was officially halted for a total of 87 hours and emergency rations for the dogs had to be flown in.
Riddles took her lead because of the bad weather. All the teams had stopped in Shaktoolik. Riddles awoke and took a calculated risk her that the storm was such that her dogs could make it through, and she and her team headed out onto the sea ice of Norton Sound. The forty-knot winds exhausted the team, so Riddles stopped for twelve hours for them all to rest, and after the break, the team was ready to go. Riddles ultimately covered the 1152-mile trail in 18 days, 20 minutes, and 17 seconds—three hours faster than the second place finisher.
Today Riddles still raises dogs in Alaska talks and writes about her life. In a children’s book, Storm Run: The Story of the First Woman to Win the Iditarod Sled Dog Race, she writes: “We moved into the blackest of nights. I couldn’t make out any runner tracks. In fact, I could barely see the trail. I was either lost—or in first place.”
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Hispanics, Health Insurance and Health Care Access
Six-in-ten Hispanic adults living in the United States who are not citizens or legal permanent residents lack health insurance, according to a new analysis by the Pew Hispanic Center of a survey it conducted in 2007.1 The nationwide survey offers a detailed look at the health insurance and health care access of an immigrant subgroup that has become a focus of attention in the current debate over health care reform.
The share of uninsured among this group (60%) is much higher than the share of uninsured among Latino adults who are legal permanent residents or citizens (28%), or among the adult population of the United States (17%).
Hispanic adults who are neither citizens nor legal permanent residents tend to be younger and healthier than the adult U.S. population and are less likely than other groups to have a regular health care provider. Just 57% say there is a place they usually go when they are sick or need advice about their health, compared with 76% of Latino adults who are citizens or legal permanent residents and 83% of the adult U.S. population.
Overall, four-in-ten (41%) non-citizen, non-legal permanent resident Hispanics state that their usual provider is a community clinic or health center. These centers are designed primarily as “safety nets” for vulnerable populations and are funded by a variety of sources, including the federal government, state governments and private foundations, as well as reimbursements from patients, based upon a sliding scale (U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, 2008).
Some 15% of Latino adults who are neither citizens nor legal permanent residents report that they use private doctors, hospital outpatient facilities, or health maintenance organizations when they are sick or need advice about their health. Traditionally, patients in these settings are required to pay for their care, either via insurance or out of pocket.
An additional 6% of Latino adults who are neither citizens nor legal permanent residents report that they usually go to an emergency room when they are sick or need advice about their health. Most emergency rooms are required by law to provide care to all patients. Patients are responsible for payment for emergency room services, but in some instances the Federal government partially reimburses hospitals for expenses the patients cannot afford.
Some 37% of Latino adults who are neither citizens nor legal permanent residents have no usual health care provider. More than one-fourth (28%) of the people in this group indicate that financial limitations prevent them from having a usual provider—17% report that their lack of insurance is the primary reason, while 12% cite high medical costs in general. However, a majority—56%—say they do not have a usual provider because they simply do not need one. An additional 5% state that difficulty in negotiating the U.S. health care system prevents them from having a usual provider.
Undocumented immigrants and their children comprise 17% (Passel & Cohn, 2009) of the estimated 46 million Americans who lack health insurance (U.S. Census Bureau, 2009).2 According to Pew Hispanic Center estimates, 11.9 million undocumented immigrants were living in the U.S. in 2008. Three-quarters (76%) of these undocumented immigrants were Latinos (Passel & Cohn, 2009).
Overall, about one-quarter of all adult Latinos are undocumented. Pew Hispanic Center analyses of Current Population Survey data indicate that approximately 98% of Hispanic immigrants who are neither citizens nor legal permanent residents are undocumented. So, while the survey classification used in this report does not line up exactly with the Latino undocumented population, the two groups are nearly identical.
The Latino population in the U.S. is relatively young, and Latino adults who are neither citizens nor legal permanent residents are younger still. Some 43% of adult Latinos who are not citizens or legal permanent residents are younger than 30, compared with 27% of Hispanic adults who are citizens or legal permanent residents and 22% of the adult U.S. population. The youthfulness of this population contributes to its relative healthiness. Among adult Latinos who are neither citizens nor legal permanent residents, just over one-third (34%) report that they either missed work, or spent at least half a day in bed over the past year, due to illness or injury. The rate rises to 42% among adult Latinos who are citizens or legal permanent residents and to 52% among the U.S. adult population.
Experiences in the Health Care System
Three-fourths (76%) of Latino adults who are neither citizens nor legal permanent residents report that the quality of medical care they received in the past year was excellent or good. This is similar to the proportion of adult Latino citizens and legal permanent residents (78%) who express satisfaction with their recent health care.
However, when asked a separate question—whether they had received any poor medical treatment in the past five years—adult Latinos who are neither citizens nor legal permanent residents are less likely (16%) to report any problems than are Latinos who are citizens or legal permanent residents (24%).
Among those Latinos who are neither citizens nor legal permanent residents who report receiving poor medical treatment in the past five years, a plurality (46%) state that they believed their accent or the way they spoke English contributed to that poor care. A similar share (43%) believed that their inability to pay for care contributed to their poor treatment. More than one-third (37%) felt that their race or ethnicity played a part in their poor care, and one-fourth (25%) attributed the unsatisfactory treatment to something in their medical history.
When asked about their most recent medical appointment, three-fourths (76%) of Latino adults who are neither citizens nor legal permanent residents report that they felt comforted or relieved by the visit, and 69% report feeling reassured. Much smaller proportions left their most recent medical visit feeling frustrated (31%) or confused (27%).
- Except where noted, results are based on the 2007 Pew Hispanic Center/Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Latino Health Survey, in which a nationally representative sample of 4,013 Latinos were surveyed from July 16 to Sept. 23, 2007 (see Livingston, Minushkin and Cohn, 2008). ↩
- March 2009 Current Population Survey data show that 15% of American adults and children lack health insurance. ↩ | <urn:uuid:fe81b8f7-c245-4360-b27c-142fcc30f962> | {
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March 26, 2017
By Lewis Shupe, Contributor, FFOA News Network
On October 24, 1945, the United Nations officially came into existence upon ratification by the five permanent members of the Security Council – France, the Republic of China, the Soviet Union, the United Kingdom and the United States – and by a majority of the other forty-six signatories. The United Nations was founded as a successor to the League of Nations, which was considered to have been ineffective in its role as an international governing body since it had been unable to prevent World War II. That was the ostensible reason, but the primary reason was that the United States had never supported the League of Nations and was not a member and therefore the League of Nations was a toothless tiger. Apparently in the 1920s the people elected to run the United States government were a lot smarter than they were in 1945.
The United States initially enjoyed a certain amount of control since the initial fifty-one members usually sided with the United States but that all changed beginning in the mid fifties when new members began being added rapidly until the number of members grew to 185 member-states by 1995. Coupling that with the dubious Uniting for Peace resolution (whereby a veto in the Security Council would mean the General Assembly would assume the powers of the Security Council) meant that the United States had absolutely no control over any U.N. actions even though it was paying on average over the years about 30 percent of the total cost of the operation.
The net result of all these actions is that the United Nations is nothing more than another third world country. It is a place for various kinds and types of satraps from numerous elitist controlled dictatorships to come and rest and collect a big salary for doing little or nothing. Furthermore, these countries pay almost nothing to have a forum to rant about the United States, Israel, or any other successful country that makes their tin-horn fourteenth century dictatorships seem paltry by comparison. The fact that the United Nations keeps its budget shrouded in secrecy further complicates any meaningful analysis of how money is spent. The largesse of the United States and certain other western world countries is the only reason it continues to exist financially.
Personnel costs are estimated to consume at least 75 percent of the U.N. operating budget and the number of employees has increased from 1,500 to in excess of 100,000 worldwide. The salary and benefits packages of U.N. employees in New York City are incredibly lucrative. The average U.N. employee makes about twice as much as is paid for an equivalent position in New York City itself. The United States is supporting another welfare program not documented as such.
The U.N. is what it has always been for the last fifty years – a rotting carcass which has been propped up by various socialist run governments (including often the United States) and left-wing dictatorships and displayed as a vibrant living being. It is time for the final denouement and it can come none too soon.
If the U.N. wants to survive in the 21st Century it must come to grips with the realities of geopolitics in the present world and try to solve world problems rather than pressing for the globalist agenda favored by so many. To do this it must reorganize itself.
The USFA offers the following suggestion:
#1 Break the world into 9 regions: A. United States & Canada; B. Central & South America: C. Russia; D. China; E. Sub-Saharan Africa; F. Europe; G. Mediterranea; H. Sub Asian Continent; I. Oceania.
#2 Give each region exactly one vote and 9 votes are required before the U.N may act. Each region contributes 1/9th of the total amount required to operate the U.N.
It is helpful to have a forum where world problems may be discussed but in its present format the U.N. cannot be allowed to continue to exist and attempt to impose its socialist agenda upon the entire planet. Barring some sort of makeover the U.N. must be scuttled.
Drain the Swamp
March 12, 2017
It took about 85 years to build the swamp and, as America is finding out, it will not be drained in 85 days and almost certainly not in 850 days either. My contacts in Washington D.C. tell me that the entire Executive Branch of government is almost completely operated and controlled by Socialist Party operatives and without them the entire apparatus of government would cease to function. These people need to be phased out slowly and replaced by responsible patriots who care about America, but that will take a long time. This at least can be done slowly and methodically and has a long-term chance of success. This, however, is not the biggest problem in the swamp.
As we are seeing, the Socialist Party is trying to use their functionaries in the Judicial Branch of government to usurp the constitutional duties of the Executive Branch. If Judge Gorsuch is confirmed as the next Supreme Court Justice (which he should be) what will you have in that Court? You will have four socialist judges who always vote in lockstep (Breyer, Ginsburg, Kagan and Sotomayor) and three conservatives (Alito, Thomas and Gorsuch). You will also have two justices (Roberts and Kennedy) who are unpredictable and apparently have no judicial philosophy whatsoever (see John Roberts and the Affordable Care Act). The notion that with the appointment of Gorsuch you will now have a conservative Supreme Court is simply not substantiated. Judge Kennedy is considering retirement so if you can replace him with a conservative and replace one of the socialist judges (Ginsburg has been sleeping through some sessions) with a conservative judge then perhaps some good things will happen in the Supreme Court.
It is now obvious that the entire federal court system is riddled with socialist judges who are only interested in their socialist agenda and could care less what the Constitution says. There is a big opportunity here since many of the positions in the Federal Courts are unfilled and they should be filled as quickly as possible by the new administration.
We all know about the liberal media and their lies and I will not go into detail on that matter here. Suffice it to say that the forces of socialism are petrified that all their hard work of 85 years is about to be undone and they are reacting violently to everything. The continuous promulgation of lies will work on some people who, after much repetition, will begin to believe the lies. Combine this with the Senate filibusters, the protestors (who is paying these people?), the Federal Reserve (which since 1913 has been controlled by socialists) and the many illegal acts of the socialists and their stooges and you can see why it will not be so easy to drain the swamp.
Lewis Shupe, Founder
U.S. Freedom Army
February 28, 2017
“A democracy is always temporary in nature; it simply cannot exist as a permanent form of government. A democracy will continue to exist up until the time that voters discover they can vote themselves generous gifts from the public treasury. From that moment on, the majority always votes for the candidates who promise the most benefits from the public treasury, with the result that every democracy will finally collapse due to loose fiscal policy, which is always followed by a dictatorship." Attributed to Alexander Tytler, explaining what had destroyed the Athenian Republic more than 2,000 years before.
“Charity is no part of the legislative duty of government.” James Madison
A few examples before we get into the heart of the problem:
On May 10, 1940 Winston Churchill was named Prime Minister of Great Britain following the resignation of Neville Chamberlain. Winston Churchill was the one person primarily responsible for saving Great Britain from being taken over by Nazi Germany and was rightly regarded as the savior of the British people. What was his reward? When he ran for reelection in 1945 the British people voted him out and, in a landslide victory, elected Clement Attlee, a Fabian Socialist who proceeded to nationalize large parts of the British economy. The British voters in effect said: “We won the war and suffered, now it’s time for some free stuff.”
As a condition for getting another bailout in 2012 the Greek people agreed to certain austerity measures imposed by their conservative government that were necessary to avoid a default and the certain destruction of their economy. The austerity measures caused most of the citizens some pain and so at the next opportunity they voted the conservatives out and voted in a socialist government. The socialist government removed all the austerity measures and the economy of Greece came within a week of collapsing because of having no money in their banks. Fortunately for the people of Greece another bailout was hastily restructured (the European Central Bank (ECB) is run by socialists and they hate to see socialism fail) in 2015 and the inevitable was delayed again. It looks like some time in the next year or so another bailout will be required. How long before the ECB stops rewarding bad behavior?
People always want problems solved but they want to experience no pain personally. If they experience pain they will vote out the people who gave them the pain and replace them with people who tell them what they want to hear.
At some point in time, and hopefully soon, America’s national debt will need to be addressed. If it is not addressed the subsequent rampant inflation will eventually cause massive pain. If it is addressed the pain will come from entitlement programs that will need to be cut or eliminated. Either way there will be pain. The wild drunken spending of the last 25 years (plus) will eventually come home to roost. Either way there will be pain and the people identified as causing the pain will be tossed out and the people who promise to return to the wild spending spree will be put back in power.
The problem is completely traceable to our present voting system which, as it is structured, is a recipe for disaster. This is the same voting system that has been copied by many free countries around the world and is sowing the seeds of disaster worldwide. So long as the people who take from the society have as much to say about who runs the society as the people who contribute to the society you will get trouble. In the early days of America you had to be the head of the household and a landowner to vote – not everyone could vote. While I do not advocate going back to that system some other system that gives the power to responsible citizens needs to be implemented. Voting should be an earned privilege and not a right.
As it stands right now the socialists have the voting system exactly the way they want it and they are holding all the cards in this respect. This does not bode well for the long term future of America.
Lewis Shupe, Founder
The United Nations, Agenda 21, and Socialism
February 16, 2017
By Lewis Shupe, Contributor, FFOA News Network
The United Nations has evolved into a bureaucratic mess whose main goal is to work toward a world government (which they want to control) and to try to find clever ways to get money from America and use the U.S. Armed Forces to help them achieve their ends. When the United States veto in the Security Council was diluted beginning in the 1950s the United States should have left the U.N. immediately. There are numerous small nations that are members of the U.N. and pay no money into their budget (the USA currently pays about 22%) and have almost as much power as the USA. Without a complete restructuring of the U.N. to properly reflect the realities of world geopolitics the United States should exit immediately and help countries directly as the need arises without using the U.N.
During the administration of Barack Obama, the U.N. gained a large foothold in the United States and attempted to install something called Agenda 21. In this they almost succeeded. A Hillary Clinton victory in 2016 would have brought the U.N to your doorstep.
The 6 Agenda 21 points of emphasis are:
1. Global Warming/Climate Change
2. Fear of over population
3. Goal to Destroy the Free Market system
4. Cheap Energy is the enemy of the Earth
5. Common Core Indoctrination
6. Government Healthcare
Agenda 21 is nothing more than an orchestrated attack on the free market system using Marxist principles to achieve the goals of socialism. It uses manufactured crises to intimidate people and to achieve control over their lives so they can be manipulated into thinking that free markets are the cause of all these problems and will accept the thinking that a world government is the only solution to these problems. Agenda 21 is Marxism in action.
Communism and socialism share the same goals and only differ as to tactics. Communists want to overthrow a government by violent means while socialists want to overthrow a government by infiltration. In free societies, a communist revolution is extremely difficult so the socialist method has been adopted to break down free market countries. The primary goal of all socialists is a world government built upon socialist principles. The fact that socialist systems always fail and always lead to dictatorship does not occur to those committed to the cause since they always believe the next time socialism will work. Socialism’s goal in a free market system is to build up the welfare state until the nation’s economy collapses and then rush in to seize control and install their socialist agenda.
You know you are hearing a socialist when he continuously (but often cleverly) plays on these themes: centralization of power; class warfare; redistribution of wealth; the evils of the free market. When you confront a socialist and tell him what he is you will hear a denial and then he will hide under another name – liberal; statist, progressive; (or whatever) – and say he is only trying to help people and make America better. In spite of what they may say, these people do not care one whit about anyone else – their goal is to achieve power and topple the capitalist system. They hate capitalism and want to see it eliminated.
A socialist world government would ultimately turn the entire world into North Korea – everyone except the people in power would be starving. A very small percentage of the American public that is militant, well-funded, politically active and committed to their cause is working hard to see that Americans lose their freedom and will stop at nothing to achieve their goals.
February 4. 2017
“The last 30 years we have lived off the future, and the bill is coming due.” Tom Coburn, former Senator from Oklahoma
In November of 2016 my car battery died so I called AAA. They came to my home and replaced my battery and charged me $149. I decided to look up the old invoice from several years prior to see how much they had charged me the last time this happened and it was done in January of 2011 and the cost was $113. In actuality, these numbers are a reasonably good reflection of the inflation rate for the last 6 years.
This is called inflation folks! The exact same service was $36 dollars more than it was about 6 years prior. Do not let anyone, and particularly the federal government, tell you that prices are not going up. At present the rate of inflation is running at about 6% per year and, if nothing is done, this will only get worse. This is a major consequence of the national, state and local debt that is crushing this nation (see www.usdebtclock.org).
People on fixed incomes who rely almost solely on Social Security or other fixed retirement benefits are being slowly but systematically starved to death because their cost-of-living increases are not being accurately reflected in the Consumer Price Index (CPI) as calculated by the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS – or, more accurately, BS). Ask yourself, for every $113 you were receiving in 2011 are you receiving $149 now? If the answer is yes you are extremely fortunate.
The repayment of the debt and the interest on that debt is a major problem in and of itself but the greater problem is the printing of money by the Federal Reserve to buy the debt that no one is purchasing. If nothing is done soon this problem will become irreversible and the value of money will be destroyed. The question I often ask people is what will you do when money is worthless? In my wallet I carry a Zimbabwe $100 trillion bill to remind me of where this nation is headed.
When Franklin D. Roosevelt, in 1933, through a series of Executive Orders (does this sound familiar), took the nation off the gold standard in direct violation of the U.S. Constitution (see Article I, Section 8, Part 4 of the U.S. Constitution; and see our www.usfreedomarmy.com post “To coin Money”), and instituted fiat money as the standard for America this was the beginning of the end for freedom. Your children and grandchildren will pay a terrible price for the drunken spending spree this country has been on for the last 84 years. If the U.S. Constitution were being followed scrupulously during that period many of the nation’s problems would not be with us today.
This is one primary reason the U.S. Freedom Army exists. Unless these financial problems are attacked directly and solved soon the nation will continue its financial spiral downward and the results of that spiral will be the greatest economic catastrophe in world history.
Lewis Shupe, Founder
U.S. Freedom Army
January 22, 2017
The Federal Government has developed an interesting method that they use to make the States obey them. They extort the States with money. In other words, they develop some sort of federal program (usually unconstitutional) that they want the States to adopt and then say that if the States adopt the program they will give them money to support it but if they do not adopt the program they will get no money. These are usually things like school lunch programs, Common Core, the Affordable Care Act or whatever other social program the Federal Government wishes to impose upon the States. The Federal Government also uses money to bail out failing States that support their political agenda and help create the illusion that these States are not having any financial problems.
The Founding Fathers never envisioned how the Federal Government would become such a massive money collection apparatus and never foresaw that it would use this apparatus to impose its will upon the States and abort the constitutional provisions for limited government. The ability to control State operations through this apparatus has given rise to the massive federal government operation we see today that seeks to control all aspects of life in America. If we are ever to return to a limited federal government this constitutional oversight must be addressed.
Ideally, we would want a Constitutional Amendment that would address this situation. That Amendment should have the following provisions:
--- The Federal Government may not send any Federal Funds to any governmental entity below the State level.
--- The Federal Government may only send money to the States in the form of a block grant with no spending restrictions attached. The States may spend the money block granted to them in any manner they so desire.
--- The Federal Government may not send money to the States as loans, may not buy their bonds, or send money in any other form other than the block grants mentioned above.
--- When the Federal Government remits money to any State they must send an equivalent amount of money to all the other States in like kind based upon population.
--- The only exceptions to these rules occur when a State has a natural disaster, in which case separate federal legislation may apply.
So, for example, if California has 40 million people and Wyoming has ½ million people and the federal government sends California $40 million they must also send Wyoming $500,000 and every other State an equivalent amount based upon their population. The federal government may say that this money is for education (or anything else) but the State may spend it on anything they wish. This is in effect like a rebate program and if the States feel that the Federal Government is being too stingy they now have certain recourses more readily available.
January 13, 2017
“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.” James Madison, Federalist Papers #45
The United States Constitution is a limiting document. It gives the federal government vast powers in foreign affairs but very limited powers in domestic affairs. This was done for a reason, to the greatest extent possible to protect the people from tyranny. Or, as the Founding Fathers put it, we just got rid of one King and we do not want another.
The correct procedure when the federal government wishes to assume a power it has not been given by the Constitution is for a Constitutional Amendment that allows the federal government to assume that power. Since the Amendment process was made very difficult (for a reason) by the authors of the Constitution this process is never followed. The federal government simply and illegally takes over the power and no one even attempts to stop them. This has led to the gigantic leviathan known as the federal government that wants to control all aspects of your life and that will ultimately eliminate your freedom. It is almost a certainty that well over 95% of the people in America believe that the federal government can pass any type of law they may desire and that that law overrules State law – this is simply not true.
I will give you below a short list of some things the federal government does that are unconstitutional and are therefore illegal. Some of these things are not necessarily bad and perhaps it would be best if the federal government continue doing some of them but the fact remains that they have never received the proper constitutional authority to do them. This is only a short list so you may get the flavor of it, it is not all encompassing.
*** Almost all the functions of the Department of Education including (but not limited to) Student Loans, Pell Grants, Stafford Loans, Perkins Loans, the “No Child Left Behind” Act, etc., etc., etc.
*** Almost all of the functions of the Department of Health and Human Services including (but not limited to) Medicare, the Affordable Care Act (unconstitutional in spite of what the Supreme Court said), etc., etc.
*** Almost all of the functions of the Department of Housing and Urban Development. The federal government has almost no authority here whatsoever. The federal government has no authority to loan people money to buy houses and urban development is a function of the State involved.
*** The federal minimum wage is unconstitutional.
*** The Federal Aviation Administration.
*** The Wilderness Act of 1964.
*** Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.
*** The National Labor Relations Board.
I have given you just a few examples to highlight the enormity of this problem. Suffice it to say that any business that operated like the federal government would quickly go bankrupt.
Lewis Shupe, Founder
U.S. Freedom Army
December 23, 2016
Just my opinion but here goes …
Barring some sort of extraordinarily unusual fraud at the Electoral College, on Friday, January 20, 2017, Donald Trump will be sworn in as the next President of the United States. The departure of Barack Obama can come none too soon for me personally and for millions of other Americans. President Obama still has a little time left to pardon some felons, award the Medal of Freedom to his pals in Hollywood (he forgot Jane Fonda – so far) and illegally get as many Middle Eastern refugees into the country as he can accommodate but the best two words to describe his departure will be “good riddance.” Whether the nation can survive the damage wreaked upon it by Barack Obama and his Marxist cohorts remains to be seen.
What is so frightening is that approximately ½ of the nation voted for Barack Obama twice and Hillary Clinton once. This says to me that ½ of the people prefer a country run under the principles of the Communist Manifesto rather than the U.S. Constitution. The U.S. Freedom Army still seems to have quite a lot of work to accomplish and particularly regarding education since it seems that our socialist universities and socialist media operatives are succeeding in the mind control that they employ so effectively.
Donald Trump has said some things that I agree with wholeheartedly (and some I disagree with) but rest assured his task will not be easy in any area. The left-wing media, his enemies in Congress (of which there are many) and the courts (of which there are many) will use everything at their disposal to thwart him and will make his life a misery for his entire presidency if he attempts to do anything at all they dislike. His current attempts to cooperate with his own party and members of the opposition will only be successful if he does exactly what they want and nothing less. Once he tries to do what he wants to do they will turn on him as they did with George W. Bush.
Redirect your anger. Black Lives Matter does not care about black lives. La Raza does not care about Latinos and Latino immigration. NOW does not care about women. These and other similar organizations are all front organizations for the forces of socialism and they are bought and paid for by the forces that want to see America changed into a socialist country. These organizations exist to foment anger and class envy and to make America appear to be an unfair society that persecutes the downtrodden. Redirect your anger to the people in America who want to see our freedom destroyed and replaced by a new (and consistently failed) system that rewards failure and punishes success.
Obamacare. I am willing to bet some money that the Affordable Care Act (ACA) will never be repealed. I hope I am wrong about that but we shall see. The ACA is the crown jewel of socialism. Centralized control of healthcare is the number one priority of socialism and they will fight tooth and nail to save it. In the beginning they will filibuster in the Senate and then if that fails they will try other tactics but the end game is to get it “modified.” This will leave the law in place so when the socialists are back in power they can change it to the single payer system they so desire. The ACA is unconstitutional – period! All President Trump needs to say is that the law is unconstitutional and he will not enforce it but he probably does not have the political courage to take that step. I find this “Repeal then Replace” mantra laughable since whatever you replace it with is almost certainly also going to be unconstitutional. The only way for the federal government to have a health care law is to amend the Constitution.
Illegal Immigration. We think President Trump will do some good work here even if he does nothing else than enforce the laws that are on the books. I have a few suggestions to help him along. Harboring an illegal alien is a felony punishable by (I think) 5 to 10 years in prison. Round up a few of these sanctuary city mayors and prosecute them and all that will stop. Find a way to get a law passed that one must be a citizen for at least five years before one can vote. Require a government issued photo-id and a social security card before one can vote. The social security card can ultimately be tied in to the social security system and a lot of fraud can be prevented (for example, social security usually knows who is alive and who is dead).
Jobs and tariffs. This is a tricky one. No matter what people may think, many of these manufacturing jobs are lost. Americans will not work for $2.00 per hour (or so) and other people around the world are prepared to do so. The only thing that tariffs will accomplish is to raise prices in America for many of these manufactured goods. When Americans are prepared to work for $5.00 per hour (or so) then these jobs will return but the $30.00 per hour that some Americans were receiving for manufacturing work will in many cases no longer be available. Tariffs are dangerous because other countries will then counter with tariffs of their own and make our products unsalable. If you recall the secession of the Southern States and the subsequent Civil War was initially caused by the Southern States reaction to tariffs on foreign manufactured goods (see our website post “The United States Civil War” for more details).
The three branches. The victory election night now gives the Republicans control of two branches of government. People forget about the Courts. The court systems are riddled with Socialists, Marxist, Progressives and Communists of various ilks who do not give a darn about what the U.S. Constitution says and they are appointed for life. These people make up 20% to 40% of the members of our courts yet socialists are less than 5% of the U.S. adult population. This is why Harry Reid invoked the nuclear option, so he could load the courts up with his people as much as possible before the disaster struck. These people have a goal and it is not to interpret the law, it is to destroy the Free Market System (Capitalism) and the American way of life. In this respect they are succeeding on a massive scale. The Supreme Court is just the tip of the iceberg and major changes need to be made here to save the Republic from the socialists in the legal profession.
Debt and inflation. The Federal Reserve will continue to print money because otherwise the government will shut down. The Socialists will fight tooth and nail for every government program and unless the Republican Party suddenly grows a spine nothing will be done. Ultimately the subsequent inflation and unfunded debt, if left unaddressed, will destroy the U.S. economy. Look for a national debt of approximately $20 trillion when BHO leaves office.
The trap. I write about this after every election and I have seen this so many times in my lifetime it is now comical. The Socialist (Democrat) Party loses. They then say they are ready to cooperate. Cooperating with the Socialists means doing exactly what they want. The Socialists then ask for the exact same things they wanted before and if the opposition party doesn’t give it to them they claim the opposition is being uncooperative. The Main Stream Media ably assists them in this farce. Do not go to Washington D.C. and expect the opposition to cooperate with you and particularly do not sacrifice your principles for cooperation. Saul Alinsky: “Accuse your opponent of what you are doing yourself.”
Dear President-elect Trump. The liberal media will now publicize and want you to solve every problem they have hidden from the public under the BHO administration. The Federal Reserve will raise interest rates to damage the economy and make you look bad. Every attempt will be made to blame you for the massive economic and social problems created by the previous administration. Gird your loins and get ready for the onslaught.
Lewis Shupe, Founder
December 3, 2016
This is the time of the year when the Nobel Prizes are awarded. Since the socialists took control of the Nobel Prize committee there have been some horrendous blunders made in the awarding of these prizes. These blunders usually occur in the awarding of the Prizes for Peace and Economics but occasionally occur in other fields of interest. I will document some of the most incredible below.
In 1994 Yasir Arafat was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. Yasir Arafat was a terrorist. He ordered the bombings of Israel and sent suicide bombers into Israeli cities for the purpose of killing innocent civilians. The award was primarily given because he entered into a peace treaty with Israel that seemed to indicate that Palestinian demands were finally over. Of course nothing could have been further from the truth. Arafat simply was an opportunist whose only goal was the destruction of Israel. In that regard he at least had some historical justification for his actions, since the Palestinians felt that their land had been stolen from them by the Zionists after the conclusion of World War II. Arafat signed the peace treaty because he got some concessions he desired – he knew he could, like Hitler, find a pretext later for breaking the treaty and then demanding more concessions. The continuous smirk which was a constant feature of Arafat’s face was even more evident at the ceremony as he took the money and ran. It was my understanding that in 2010 the committee considered giving the Peace Prize to Osama bin Laden for his body of work in helping to punish the “Great Satan” but they couldn’t find him to determine if he was still alive and therefore eligible.
In 2007 Al Gore was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for his work on alerting the world to the dangers of global warming. In his documentary film “An Inconvenient Truth” (more correctly called “A Convenient Lie”), he ginned up all kinds of moral outrage from his socialist friends and began, with the help of the liberal media, to scare the hell out of people under the age of twenty-five who began to believe that they were going to be destroyed in an inferno before their fiftieth birthdays. By falsely portraying normal actions of the planet as somehow being caused by global warming he encouraged the myth that carbon emissions into the air were causing massive weather changes. Strangely enough, assuming everything Mr. Gore said to be true, no one ever had a substantive solution to the problem other than going back to living in caves or seeking out solutions which were impractical with current scientific knowledge (wind power being a typical example). For some strange reason, when the planet was proven not to be getting warmer, the “Global Warming” crowd became the “Climate Change” crowd with all the usual inane arguments about controlling carbon emissions. Al Gore and his crowd were the worst thing that ever happened to this planet, because they distracted attention away from immediate short-term problems being caused by human activity that had solutions available if only time, attention, and funding had been directed in a proper way.
In 2008 Paul Krugman won the Nobel Prize in Economics for his treatise called “Neo-Keynesian Economics.” “Neo-Keynesian Economics” is an analysis of trade patterns and location on economic activity. What trade patterns and location have to do with Keynes is unclear at this point, but so long as you have the name Keynes in the title the Nobel committee will guarantee the prize. If Mr. Krugman had titled his treatise “Neo-Hayek Economics” I can assure you the Nobel Committee would have assigned his work to the dustbin of history, the New York Times would have canned him, and Princeton University would have revoked his tenure and he would be teaching at a junior college in Peoria, Illinois (if he was lucky). Mr. Krugman’s work starts with the assumption that all nations are Socialist States, should become Socialist States, or have a desire to become Socialist States. With that assumption one can prove great numbers of interesting things, such as it is economically efficient to build an airplane by building the pieces in several different countries so that various governments can share in the activity. One has only to look at samples of his political writings in the New York Times to ascertain what a muddleheaded thinker he is.
The award for the worst Nobel Prize goes to Barack Obama who won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2009. What were they thinking? Maybe a massive cold spell in Scandinavia froze everyone’s brain. Some members of the committee have recently asked him to give the prize back. Too late – he has your money and the stuff. Perhaps if Hillary Clinton is elected she could be awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 2017. Hillary may not be able to give her acceptance speech, however, since she may be incarcerated.
Lewis Shupe, Founder
November 11, 2016
By Lewis Shupe, Contributor, Freedom Fighters of America
“It depends on how you define “alone” … there were a lot of times we were alone, but I never really thought we were.” Bill Clinton’s Grand Jury testimony
William Jefferson Clinton, the 42nd President (1993-2001), would have ranked in the top tier of all time socialist presidents and massively accelerated the descent into socialism except he had a major problem. After his first two years in office, the Republicans controlled both houses of Congress for the remainder of his presidency and blunted his efforts to move the nation toward the left (you thought we were going to talk about something else, didn’t you!). That doesn’t mean that Bill Clinton didn’t do any damage, he did plenty of damage and particularly so in his first two years in office. Clinton, along with his wife and able co-conspirator Hillary, attempted to foist upon the American people a massive centrally controlled health care plan and that contributed mightily to the shellacking the Democrats took in the congressional elections of 1994, the first time in forty years that the Republicans controlled Congress. After 1994 Clinton pretended to be a centrist, which he was not.
It is not within the scope of this post to delve into the many personal problems of Bill Clinton – his draft dodging, sexual liaisons and various shady dealings while involved in Arkansas politics. Bill Clinton, like most people who rise to high office, was a very brilliant person and was a Rhodes Scholar. Clinton had a penchant for prevarication but was so intelligent he could seemingly remember who he had told what lies to – now that’s brilliant.
Upon taking office Clinton signed the Family and Medical Leave Act of 1993, which required large employers to allow employees to take unpaid leave for pregnancy or a serious medical condition. In his first address to the nation Clinton announced his plan to raise taxes to cap the budget deficit. Clinton signed the Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act (who comes up with these names) that cut taxes for fifteen million low-income families and raised taxes on the wealthiest taxpayers (redistribution of wealth). He expanded the Earned Income Tax Credit, a subsidy for low-income workers. Clinton bears more responsibility than any other single individual for the housing collapse in 2008. By instituting executive orders effective in January, 1995 he constructed the conditions that fomented the problem (see our previous post “Anatomy of a Disaster”). Clinton’s socialist thinking was instrumental in one of the largest financial collapses in American history. The Clintons were the driving force behind the legislation forming the State Children’s Health Insurance Program (SCHIP), the Adoption and Safe Families Act and the Foster Care Independence Act, all large government programs (SCHIP being the largest health care reform passed in the years of the Clinton Presidency).
One example of Bill Clinton in action should give you a clear view of why he had richly earned the nickname “Slick Willy.” Once in power in Congress in January, 1995 the Republicans passed the Welfare Reform Act. The welfare laws put in place by the Democrats had constructed a matching funds system whereby each dollar of state money spent on welfare was matched by a dollar of federal money. This system encouraged states to expand the welfare rolls since the more people they put on welfare, the more federal money they would receive. The huge numbers of people on welfare and the expanding welfare rolls were becoming a financial burden. The new law block granted fixed amounts of money to each state for welfare. Under the new law states could keep whatever of that amount they did not spend, thus encouraging states to get people off the welfare rolls. The new law was a disaster for the socialists for several reasons. First, it gave incentives to reduce the welfare rolls, something socialists want to see expanded. Second, it took control away from Washington and gave control to the states, reversing centralized political power, a fundamental requirement of socialism. Third, and most importantly, if successful it constructed a model whereby other federal functions could be returned to the states, a disaster in the eyes of socialists. On two occasions, in late 1995 and early 1996, the Welfare Reform Act was passed and sent to Clinton. He vetoed it both times. Then the Republicans decided to wait until September 1996 while Clinton was in a heated reelection campaign and sent him the bill again. Afraid that another veto could cost him the election, Clinton signed the bill, claiming (falsely) that it now had the correct provisions that he wanted. Within a year it was obvious the bill was working and by March 1999 the number of people on welfare had been cut in half. Once it was obvious that the bill was working, Clinton tried to claim credit for it saying that he had “ended welfare as we know it.” How do we know that signing the Welfare Reform Act was a political ploy by Clinton to help him get reelected? In early 2009 shortly after being elected Barack Obama modified the Welfare Reform Act that had worked so well and then continuously modified it even further to attempt to return the country to the old system. Bill Clinton offered not a single complaint – not a peep out of him.
Beginning in 1998 impeachment proceedings were begun against President Clinton thereby making him only the second President ever to be impeached (Andrew Johnson). They had Clinton on perjury and obstruction of justice, probably the same things they had Nixon on but the liberal media in this case rushed to his defense. The impeachment was a dumb move by the Republican Party. From a practical standpoint, they knew they did not have the votes to convict. The precedent it set, however, will be longer lasting since now they can pry into a President’s personal business and try to get the goods on him. They should have let the Starr report just sit there and hang over Clinton’s head. The Republicans got an “F” on their report card for this action.
October 24, 2016
THIS IS ABOUT THE ELECTION AND THE USFA POSITION ON THE ELECTION. PLEASE READ IT!
“I have vowed I will never vote for a Democrat again. No matter who they are. I don’t care if God becomes a Democrat. These Democrats are Communists. This is gangsterism. This is crazy.” Howard Stern
“There is no longer any reason for me to run as a candidate for President on the Socialist Party ticket. The Democratic Party has adopted our platform.” Norman Thomas, six-time candidate for President on the Socialist Party ticket. 1944.
Many of you have seen me use these quotes before but they bear repeating. I am not a big fan of Howard Stern and I realize that Norman Thomas is dead but when I see something that I feel is right on the money I use it.
The U.S. Freedom Army has repeatedly said it will not endorse any political candidates. We will now “unendorse” quite a few, however. In the few paragraphs that follow we will try to summarize our thinking on this matter.
A.B.C. = ANYBODY BUT CLINTON. Hillary Clinton will be a continuation of the disaster for America. HRC is a hard core Marxist who believes in the theories of Karl Marx and the tactics of Saul Alinsky. She will complete the destruction of America that has been so carefully crafted by Barack Obama and his closet financial supporters. Whether America can be saved or is too far gone is difficult to determine at this point in time but the election of Hillary Clinton will guarantee its ultimate demise. Globalists like BHO and HRC want to see a socialist world order and the destruction of America is the key to fulfilling their dreams. Clinton is straight out of the Fabian Socialism school of thought and believes in the gradualism of that theory. It is time to send her out of politics forever so that she can go home and hopefully not be heard from again. We are not against endorsing a woman for President – just not this one. Barack Obama was the first President who hates America and Hillary Clinton would become the second.
NEVER VOTE FOR A DEMOCRAT UNLESS THERE IS NO OTHER REASONABLE OPTION. There are many fine people who are members of the Democratic Party. The Democratic Party sometimes runs excellent candidates for office. The problem is that if you elect a Democrat, no matter how qualified or responsible, they always come under the sway of the extreme left wing of that party and the extreme left wing of that party now controls that party. That means that if a new electee of the Democratic Party does not do it the way the power structure wants they will ensure he is not reelected and they will be out in the next election. If a Democrat is elected and wishes to stay in office he must perforce become a socialist or his political career is over. The Democrats carefully select people who will toe the party line, even if it means scraping the bottom of the barrel (this goes for their judicial appointments also). The Republican Party is now very similar to the Democratic Party of about fifty years ago. I don’t understand why reasonable Democrats don’t now join the Republican Party but I suppose old habits die hard.
The future of a free America is at a tipping point. It is unclear if anyone can save it but it is a certainty that the Democratic Party cannot and probably does not even want to do so. The long term effects of 85 years of gradual socialism and socialist control of the media is now upon us.
Vote your conscience but PLEASE SHOW UP AND VOTE and please, if at all possible, help out at the polls. America needs you to participate.
Lewis Shupe, Founder
October 10, 2016
The situation in Venezuela is dire. The Main Stream Media is covering up the reality of what is taking place since they know it will be exposed as another failure of socialism. As I may have told you before, socialism always evolves into a dictatorship since it is the only way it can maintain itself. President Maduro is a clone of Hugo Chavez and is not the brightest bulb on the planet, causing him to create such things as a Ministry of Happiness.
There is almost no medicine, food shortages are rampant causing people to go into Colombia and raid villages, and mass starvation will soon ensue. The fundamental problem is a 500% rate of inflation. A 500% rate of inflation means that something that cost $10 on January 1, 2016 will cost $5,000 on December 31, 2016. There is absolutely no way people can get those kinds of pay raises to keep up with those kinds of cost increases and this is especially true when most businesses are failing causing most people to be put out of work.
The most important function of any government is to protect you but its second most important function is financial integrity. When you have governments going on wild spending sprees and creating massive debt you know that inflation is soon to follow since the integrity of the currency will soon be shattered. In spite of the reports from the government on the Consumer Price Index (doctored by the government to give a false picture) we have inflation here but it is not so great that it is yet noticeable by many people. If the wild government spending is not soon stopped people will soon begin to notice the price increases.
Venezuela is a blueprint for what will happen in the United States and many other nations around the world if nations do not get their financial houses in order and stop bailing out failing governments. Venezuela actually has certain short-term advantages that the United States will not enjoy if the United States continues to follow this path. Venezuela can be bailed out and can use other currencies. The United States is too big to be bailed out or use other currencies.
When people tell you that the debt is okay because we only owe it to ourselves do not listen to this nonsense. Venezuela has shown you how this debt will be paid and it is not a pretty picture that they are showing us. This is why other countries have reduced or stopped buying our debt instruments and the Federal Reserve has to print more and more fiat money to keep our government from defaulting.
Lewis Shupe, Founder
This is a short discussion about common sense, something that has clearly been lacking in the federal government for an extremely long time.
When I was a student at Stanford University (before the forces of liberalism took it over) I took an introductory course – the equivalent of Economics 101. During the first week the instructor showed (in U.S. dollars) a five-year graph of the cost per ton of sugar in Cuba and the cost per sixteen ounces of silver in Canada (I use these two arbitrarily since I do not remember the exact items he was comparing). Over the five-year period in question these costs matched almost exactly. The instructor said “one could therefore conclude that there is a correlation between the cost of these two items but common sense tells you there is none – it is merely a coincidence. Sugar does not affect silver and vice-versa.” Whenever someone tells you he has developed a correlation or relationship one should cast a wary eye.
The federal government spends about two hundred billion (yeah, that’s billion) dollars yearly on research and development projects with very little federal management or control. That is a heap of money being passed out to individuals who have little or no oversight and who only have to concoct some flimsy justification for what they are doing. This usually includes the requisite number of research assistants, statisticians, clerks, and other functionaries required to present a “thorough and complete analysis.” There is at least one criterion important for receiving research money namely you have to be able, without saying so directly, to demonstrate that you are a loyal socialist. This is fairly easy for most university professors.
Once you receive a grant the hard part begins – you must figure out a way to get the grant renewed. You let your assistants do all the research work while you concentrate on how to keep the money rolling in. The tried and true way to keep the money rolling is to “find something.” More specifically a relationship or correlation which intrigues people even though it probably has no basis in common sense. (I warned you to be wary!) So you get stuff like “two glasses of red wine per night makes you live longer” or “eating spinach reduces carpal tunnel syndrome” or whatever other coincidental correlation you can get publicized and get the public to buy into. But at least you “found something” so next year you get more money to “find something else.”
Have you ever seen these television documentaries where the scientists get all excited about something that doesn’t seem very exciting? They want to act like they are doing something profound so they can convince the government to give them some more money next year. The scientific community has evolved into a bunch of hucksters that are ready to sell their integrity for the right price. The few objective scientists that are still operating are shouted down by their liberal colleagues and are left out in the wilderness. Any scientific conclusion one wishes to reach is now available for the right price.
This is one reason this nation is in dire financial straits – we continue to spend the people’s money on garbage.
Lewis Shupe, Founder
September 14, 2016
By Lewis Shupe, Contributor, Freedom Fighters of America
In 1920, The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) was founded. The founders of the ACLU read like a Who’s Who of American Communism. Roger Baldwin (pictured) was the primary founder, but he had numerous associates of his same ilk. Baldwin, who headed the ACLU for many years, was a pacifist who joined the International Workers of the World in the 1920s. He conveniently renounced his Communist affiliations about the time of the 1939 German/Russian Non-Aggression (except against Poland) Pact.
Elizabeth Gurley Flynn was another founder who was the first woman to head the American Communist Party. Radicalized at a young age, she was so notorious she was actually kicked out of the ACLU by Roger Baldwin. After a nine-month trial in 1952 she was convicted under the Smith Act of conspiring to teach and advocate the overthrow of the United States government. She died on 9/5/64 on a trip to the Soviet Union and was honored in the Soviet Union in 1964 with a state funeral in Red Square.
The list of founders with major collectivist tendencies include: Eugene V. Debs (founded the Socialist Party of America); John Dewey (radical philosopher and a liberal darling for his Socialist writings); Norman Thomas (six-time Socialist Party candidate for President); Upton Sinclair (author who advocated Socialist communes); Crystal Eastman; Clarence Darrow; Jane Addams; Walter Nelles; etc.
The ACLU was, always has been, and remains a front for the American Communist Party. Its charter is to use the First Amendment to break down the fabric of freedom and help destroy American values. That is why the ACLU is generally uninterested in any part of the Constitution other than the First Amendment. President Bill Clinton nominated Ruth Bader Ginsburg to be a Supreme Court justice. Ruth Bader Ginsburg was a long-time attorney for the ACLU. Talk about a wolf in sheep’s clothing – and what does this tell you about the political philosophy of William Jefferson Clinton?
On January 10, 1963 Congressman Albert S. Herlong, Jr., D-Fla, read a list of 45 Communist goals into the Congressional record. I will list below some of the 45 Communist goals read by Congressman Herlong. Test yourself and see how many of the Communist goals listed are being implemented by the ACLU today in order to destroy America (Note: there is only one correct answer to this test).
16) Use technical decisions of the courts to weaken basic American institutions, by claiming their activities violate civil rights.
17) Get control of the schools. Use them as transmission belts for Socialism, and current Communist propaganda. Soften the curriculum. Get control of teachers associations. Put the party line in textbooks. (USFA note: In 1944 Earl Browder, the head of the Communist Party in the United States, stated that the ACLU functioned as “a transmission belt” for the Communist Party).
23) Control art critics and directors of art museums. “Our plan is to promote ugliness, repulsive, meaningless art.”
24) Eliminate all laws governing obscenity by calling them “censorship” and a violation of free speech and press.
25) Break down cultural standards of morality by promoting pornography and obscenity in books, magazines, motion pictures, radio and TV.
26) Present homosexuality, degeneracy, and promiscuity as “normal, natural, and healthy.”
27) Infiltrate the churches and replace revealed religion with “social” religion. Discredit the Bible and emphasize the need for intellectual maturity, which does not need a religious crutch.
28) Eliminate prayer or any phrase of religious expression in the schools on the grounds that it violates the principle of “separation of church and state.”
32) Support any socialist movement to give centralized control over any part of the culture – education, social agencies, welfare programs, mental health clinics, etc.
(USFA note: Bold Print is ours).
40) Discredit the family as an institution. Encourage promiscuity and easy divorce.
Test yourself again and see how many of the goals listed above are being utilized by Socialist members of Congress to destroy America’s culture and traditions and to push us gradually to a Socialist dictatorship. (Note: Once again, there is only one correct answer to this test and it is the same answer as the one above.)
September 2, 2016
“Charity is no part of the legislative duty of government.” James Madison, the Father of the Constitution and the author of the U.S. Constitution and the Bill of Rights.
In nature you will observe that often creatures prefer to steal from other creatures rather than do the work themselves because it is so much easier. So when a cheetah races after and kills an antelope and a few hyenas see that occur the hyenas will go over and take the kill away from the cheetah. The cheetah did all the work but the hyenas end up with dinner.
It is the same way with people also. It is much easier to take something from someone else than to work for it yourself. That is why in organized society we have rules against this sort of behavior and why there are penalties involved for people that engage in it. If you go to someone with a gun and take their wallet the end often is that you (the perpetrator) will end up with a bad result. The fact remains, however, that there are still people who prefer to take from others rather than work for it themselves and if they can find a clever way to do that they will proceed.
So the question then becomes how does one get someone else’s wallet and do it legally. The answer becomes to use the government to take someone else’s wallet and then hand it to you. So if you go up to someone with a gun and demand their wallet you go to jail but if the government goes up to someone with a gun (figuratively) or a law (literally) and demands their wallet and then hands it to you it is all perfectly legal. The liberals have a fine sounding name for this and it is called “Social Justice.” What social justice is, in actuality, is a legalized form of theft
It is necessary for everyone to become acutely aware of what words are being used to describe a product because often those words are extremely inaccurate and do not represent reality. (See for example: Affordable Care Act).
Lewis Shupe, Founder
Anatomy of a Disaster
August 25, 2016
In 1948, for the sixth consecutive and final time, Norman Thomas ran for President of the United States on the ticket of the Socialist Party. The socialists ran another candidate in the next two presidential elections but after receiving less than 3,000 votes nationwide in the 1956 election the Socialist Party disappeared. The party of Eugene V. Debs was gone. Where did the members go?
The 1956 elections made it obvious to the socialists that the American people do not like socialism and that the party could never make progress by calling themselves what they really were. From its founding in 1901 until its disappearance in 1956 it became more and more obvious to the socialists that to succeed in America they had to follow the principles of Fabian Socialism and go undercover. As more and more socialists began the process of hiding they hid under various names (populist, progressive, liberal, yellow-dog Democrat, etc.) but generally gravitated toward the left wing of the Democratic Party. During this transformation they were able to assist in the process of centralizing power while pretending to be doing it only to help others or to react to a “crisis.”
Socialists are true believers that hate capitalism and free market systems. Like all true believers they require a cause to give their lives meaning and when the cause is identified they are willing to die for it. They are willing to die because without the cause their life has no meaning. This makes them extremely committed to the cause and dangerous to anyone who stands in their way. It is because of their intensity that they have been so successful – this intensity is unmatched by people who love freedom and the American way of life – and because of this fervor we have seen less than five percent of the American adult population almost succeed in aborting the U.S. Constitution and turning this country into a socialist dictatorship. This maniacal devotion to installing a failed system is something I leave to psychiatrists to evaluate and explain.
To increase and expand their power the socialists have hijacked various parts of American society. It is nothing more than the old communist re-education camps but with a new twist – they are now updated with modern new names and made to appear legitimate. The old mechanisms still apply, however: Lies; distortions; rewriting history; the end justifies the means; destroying religion and morals; well, we all know the rest. These are the same tactics that construct a compliant populace so the socialists can maintain their power once they have achieved it.
The Democratic Party debates between Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders I found to be interesting in one respect. These debates essentially consisted of two socialists arguing about who could give away the most free stuff to the citizenry and was therefore the best candidate for the American people. Bernie had a leg up on Hillary since he admitted that he was a socialist while Hillary continues to pretend she is not one.
The mechanisms of Fabian Socialism are quite evident in everyday America to anyone who takes the time to look. Centralize power and build up the welfare state until the nation’s economy collapses and then use that as an excuse to seize control. If Hillary Clinton is elected President you are assured that these mechanisms will continue to be expanded upon and utilized for the ultimate control of the American people. This would in short order signal the end of your freedom.
Lewis Shupe, Founder
August 18, 2016
By Lewis Shupe, Contributor, Freedom Fighters of America
IF YOU WISH TO SEE THE KINDS OF THINGS THAT HAPPEN WHEN THE CLINTONS ARE IN THE WHITE HOUSE PLEASE READ THIS.
In 1947 the Housing and Home Finance Agency was established under the watch of President Harry S. Truman. This was the beginning of the disaster. Housing is not a function of the federal government (see Tenth Amendment) and Home Finance is not a function of the federal government (look under “Bank” in the dictionary). The seed had been planted but it would take sixty years for the tsunami to appear.
In 1949 President Harry S. Truman signed the Housing Act of 1949 which was passed by the Congress to help eradicate slums and promote redevelopment. Eradicating slums and promoting redevelopment are not functions of the federal government (see Tenth Amendment) and thus this act was illegal. Not a single state or local government agency had the courage to challenge this act in court and the cavalcade of illegal acts would continue to follow.
In 1959 President Dwight D. Eisenhower signed the Housing Act of 1959 allowing funds for elderly housing. When you’ve done something illegal once, the next time it is easy.
In 1965 President Lyndon B. Johnson creates HUD as a cabinet level agency by signing the Department of Housing and Urban Development Act. We now have a cabinet level department created to administer and control illegal acts of the federal government.
In 1968 the (illegal) government mortgage-related agency Federal National Mortgage Association (Fannie Mae) is converted from a federal government entity to a stand-alone government sponsored enterprise (GSE) which purchases and securities mortgages to facilitate liquidity in the primary mortgage market. The move takes the debt of Fannie Mae off the books of the government. There are at least two illegal acts here.
In 1969 the Brooke Amendment (named after the RINO Senator from Massachusetts, Edward Brooke) establishes that low-income families only pay no more than 25 percent of their income for rent. Another small step in the march to socialism because you know who pays the other 75 percent (or whatever is left) – you the taxpayer.
In 1970 the Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corporation (Freddie Mac) is created by the Congress as a GSE to buy mortgages on the secondary market, pool them, and sell them as mortgage-backed securities to investors on the open market. Now we have two illegal enterprises, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.
In 1974 the Equal Credit Opportunity Act imposes heavy sanctions for financial institutions found guilty of discrimination on the basis of race, color, religion, national origin, sex, marital status, or age. This is the only legal act in this entire sordid affair, and it was the only act that was necessary. All the previous housing acts of the federal government were not only illegal but also unnecessary. This one act covers all the bases. Socialists cannot stop there, however, since the process of redistributing wealth must be completely institutionalized.
In 1974 the Housing and Community Development Act of 1974 allows community development block grants and help for urban housing. Let the federal government coercion begin. You, the states, act in a certain way, and we’ll ship you some money – otherwise we will not.
In 1977 President Jimmy Carter signed the Community Reinvestment Act (CRA). This illegal act and the illegal GSEs were the machinery used to eventually destroy the United States housing market. This act was justified by the Socialists (and some RINOs) to stop the process of “redlining.” The Equal Credit Opportunity Act, properly enforced, had already accomplished that task, however. What it actually did was to give the federal government power to coerce banks to loan money to unqualified applicants with specific penalties for those financial institutions that did not comply. The CRA also offered up the GSEs as support for this activity. This act was laxly enforced until 1993, when Socialist President Bill Clinton took the reins.
When a good Socialist sees an opportunity to redistribute the wealth, he usually acts expeditiously. In 1993, after forty-six years of illegal acts, the establishment of illegal government corporations, and the creation of an illegal cabinet department, the machinery was set for the biggest Socialist redistribution of wealth in United States history. In early 1993, shortly after taking office, President Bill Clinton ordered new regulations for the CRA that would increase access to mortgage credit for inner city and distressed rural communities. On January 31, 1995, another “date which will live in infamy,” the new rules went into effect.
The new rules required strictly numerical assessments to get a satisfactory CRA rating: using federal home loan data broken down by neighborhood, income group, and race; encouraging community groups to complain when banks were not loaning enough to a specified neighborhood, income group, or race; allowing community groups that marketed loans to target groups to collect a fee from the banks. The new rules substantially increased the number of risky mortgages. Related rule changes gave the GSEs extraordinary leverage, allowing them to hold just 2.5 percent of capital to back their investments, vs. 10 percent for banks.
Banks were forced to set up CRA departments, a CRA consultant industry was created and new financial-services firms “helped” banks invest in packaged portfolios of CRA loans to ensure compliance. Established and new community groups began marketing such mortgages. The Senate Banking Committee estimated that as a result of CRA in 2000, these groups nationwide had received 9.5 billion (yeah, that’s billions) in services and salaries. As of that time such groups also had received tens of billions (yeah, that’s billions) of dollars in multi-year commitments from banks including ACORN Housing $760 million; Boston-based Neighborhood Assistance Corporation of America $3 billion; a New Jersey Citizen Action coalition $13 billion; etc, etc. The number of CRA mortgage loans increased by 39 percent between 1993 and 1998, while other loans increased by only 17 percent.
Bill Clinton was somewhat fortunate in two respects. He got this all done just as the Republicans were taking control of the House and Senate in 1995, and the Republicans were not paying attention. Note: some Republicans are Socialists, too. Even if they had been paying attention, they didn’t have enough votes to overcome a veto, so perhaps they looked elsewhere to make progress.
God could have sent us more White House interns in Clinton’s first term and possibly spared us this disaster. Perhaps this is proof that God does not meddle in the affairs of man.
By 2000 Socialist President Bill Clinton had a raging forest fire started, but no one wanted to put it out. In 2001 the U.S. Federal Reserve, under Chairman Alan Greenspan, lowered the federal funds rate 11 times, from 6.5 percent to 1.75 percent. The justification for this action was to get us out of a recession. We had a new Federal Reserve policy – the way to put out a fire is to throw gasoline on it.
In 2002 President George W. Bush set a goal of increasing minority home owners by at least 5.5 million by 2010 through billions of dollars in tax credits, subsidies, and a Fannie Mae commitment of $440 billion (yeah, that’s billions) to establish Neighbor Works America with faith-based organizations. We need more gasoline to get this fire out.
In 2003 the Bush Administration recommended what the New York Times (does this look familiar) called “the most significant regulatory overhaul in the housing finance industry since the savings and loan crisis a decade ago.” Socialist representative Barney Frank of Massachusetts, soon to become head of the House Banking Committee claimed of the two GSEs-“These two entities … are not facing any kind of financial crisis, the more people exaggerate these problems, the more pressure there is on these companies, the less we see in terms of affordable housing.” For the first and only time (until it was too late) the Bush Administration tried to act on this crisis (USFA Note: When you see liberals use the term “affordable” rest assured that some type of redistribution of wealth is on the way).
In 2004 HUD ratcheted up Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac affordable housing goals for the next four years from 50 percent to 56 percent. From 2004 to 2006 the GSEs purchased $434 billion (yeah, that’s billions) in securities backed by subprime loans (for subprime loans substitute the terms “junk bonds” or “worthless garbage”). Liberal doses of gasoline required to extinguish the fire.
By 2007, the GSEs owned or guaranteed nearly half of the $12 trillion U.S. mortgage market. When the lid blew off this problem starting in early 2007, almost every major country in the world was affected. Suddenly no one wanted to buy “worthless garbage” – what a surprise.
The three biggest villains in the 2008 housing crisis in order of importance:
President Bill Clinton: He unleashed this nightmare on the planet and then, in 2008 when the results came in, acted as if he had no culpability.
President George W. Bush: He perpetuated the nightmare and, except for a few token efforts at reform, allowed it to fester until the infection set in. He then followed that up with the wrong remedy in 2008.
The Federal Reserve: Went in lockstep with both administrations and provided the key interest rate reductions that magnified the problem.
US Freedom Army
August 10, 2016
A large headline in my daily newspaper read: Man hit by car at bus stop sues. Without going into a lot of detail 4 years ago this man was sitting in a bus stop shelter and a drunken driver jumped the curb and hit him and he lost his leg. A terrible tragedy but this is something that is entirely the fault of the drunken driver. Now, 4 years later, the man has decided to sue the bus company because of this accident. Why? Because the bus company probably has some money and the drunken driver did not.
Every day in my newspaper I see articles about lawsuits against various entities that did absolutely nothing wrong and the only reason for these lawsuits is to extort money from that entity. The idea is to make one think that this is absolutely normal behavior on the part of our judicial system. It is in actuality legalized extortion.
So with apologies to the thousands of outstanding attorneys in this nation I now present an excerpt below from my first book to give you a little of the flavor of the situation and to remind you of one reason why this behavior on the part of our legal system takes place. Remember Democratic Party = Socialist Party.
“The first thing we must do is kill all the lawyers.” Shakespeare - Henry VI
If Franklin Roosevelt is the father of modern Socialism, if Amendment XVI gave Socialists the weapon, if the liberal media gave the Socialists the indoctrination power, then who are the foot soldiers in the Socialist Army? The trial lawyers. One thing you can say about most Socialists, they have good intentions. Unlike all the other Socialists, however, the trial lawyers have very little altruism. The driving force behind the trial lawyers is greed. The Socialists use this greed as a motivation to spur their army to action.
Sometime about forty years ago the Socialists grabbed control of the American Bar Association and used their lobbying influence to forge a bond with the Socialist Party. The deal, although never verbalized, went something like this: You (the Socialist Party) don’t pass any laws that will constrain our ability to litigate and win judgements, and we (the American Bar Association) will motivate our members to destroy the capitalist system for you. You don’t hinder us in our ability to litigate and win judgements against government entities, and we will help you redistribute wealth (all, of course, after we take our percentage).
The trial lawyers are the Brown Shirts of the United States of America. Instead of using clubs and fists to break in, steal merchandise and intimidate, they use writs and judgements to break in, steal merchandise, and intimidate. The result is the same. Find someone with money and confiscate it. What the trial lawyers have never grasped, however, is that just like Hitler’s Brown Shirts, they will become obsolete when the Socialist revolution no longer needs them. The trial lawyers, by their excesses, are sowing the seeds of their own destruction. Hitler had to make a choice to obtain power between the Brown Shirts and the German Army - he chose the latter and purged Ernst Roehm and his organization. Such is the inevitable fate of all lawyers once the Socialist takeover is complete.
If we are to be a nation of laws we need lawyers and lots of them. The excesses of the trial lawyers must now be addressed, however, if we are to survive as a free nation with a free market system.
Lewis Shupe, Founder
US Freedom Army
August 1, 2016
By Lewis Shupe, Contributor, Freedom Fighters of America
Woodrow Wilson - Our First Socialist President
Thomas Woodrow Wilson (1856-1924) was the 28th President of the United States serving from 1913 to 1921. 1913 was a bad year for freedom. In 1913 Amendment XVI (Income Tax) was ratified as well as Amendment XVII (Popular Election of Senators). The Federal Reserve Act was also passed in December 1913 but the worst event of 1913 was the inauguration of Woodrow Wilson on March 4, 1913. Were it not for the rift in the Republican Party and Theodore Roosevelt running on the Bull Moose Party ticket Wilson would have had no chance of winning and would have become a mere footnote in history. This nobody who had become a Democratic Prince was now crowned a King and no one ever elected President before or since did it with the same level of arrogance and smugness. Wilson, the former President of Princeton, had a PhD and he was going to use his superior knowledge to lead the poor ignorant masses to a new vision for America (sounds like Barack Obama, doesn’t it).
In his first term as President, Wilson persuaded a Democratic Congress to pass major progressive reforms. Wilson pushed through in his first term a legislative agenda that few presidents have equaled including the Federal Reserve Act, the Federal Trade Commission Act, the Clayton Antitrust Act and the Federal Farm Loan Act among many. If this was all he had done it would be exceptional, but he had bigger ideas in his theoretical head, ideas that would be used to destroy constitutional principles and give a theoretical basis for the descent into socialism.
Wilson, in his inaugural Address, used clever rhetoric to disguise the fact that he fundamentally disliked the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence and wanted to see the Constitution altered to agree with socialist principles. Wilson ushered in the modern view that the Constitution is a “living document” which enabled activist judges to rewrite the Constitution according to the progressive notions of the day. Wilson cynically took the oath of office and agreed to “support and defend” the Constitution of the United States and then, once he had lowered his raised right hand, began the process of dismantling the very document he had sworn to uphold.
That Wilson would act in this way should have been no surprise to anyone who had read his writings carefully. Wilson challenged the relevance of the Declaration of Independence and claimed that the Declaration “is of no consequence to us unless we can translate its general terms into examples of the present day.” Instead of opposing the tyranny of intrusive government, Wilson wished to redirect the Declaration against the tyranny of corporations. The practical consequences would be increased government oversight of economic activities and peoples’ daily lives.
In Socialism and Democracy (1887), Wilson asserts that there is no essential difference in principle between socialism and democracy and that both rest on the absolute right of the community to determine its own destiny and that of its members. In it he claims that both assert that “ … men as communities are supreme over men as individuals.” In it Wilson makes the astonishing claim that democracy, including American democracy, has no inherent regard for individual rights, whether natural or political, and therefore contains no principled limits on government power over individuals. He then assumes that “no line can be drawn between private and public affairs which the State may not cross at will” and proceeds to develop a progressive philosophy that takes from socialism “that all ideas of a limitation of public authority by individual rights be put out of view.” Wilson, believing that all political thought is controlled by the circumstances of the time in which it is developed, calls for a constitutional revolution to meet the “radically different” conditions of his time. Socialism and Democracy could easily be inserted into the Communist Manifesto - Karl Marx couldn’t have said it better!
Wilson, in his 1912 “New Freedom” speeches, defined progressivism as the belief that the laws need to keep up with changes in economic circumstances. He asserts that the progressive wants to adjust laws to the “facts of the case” since the law is ultimately an expression of the facts in legal relationships. Wilson views the future as the more glorious time and applauds the “modern idea” of leaving the past and pressing on to something new (USFA note: Socialists always look to the future since they are always convinced that the next time it will work – they hate to look to the past because they then must see the wreckage caused by their past social experiments). In his essay “Leaders of Men” Wilson says “(A true leader) must inflame their (the masses) passions with little heed for the facts. Men are as clay in the hands of a consummate leader.” (USFA note: Dictatorship 101).
In 1916 Wilson narrowly defeated Charles Evan Hughes in one of the closest elections in American history. It never occurred to Wilson that he did not have a mandate to govern even though as a sitting president he had barely won and in his first try it had required a third party candidacy to allow him to be elected. Wilson had campaigned for his second term under the slogan “He kept us out of war.” One month after being sworn in for his second term Wilson asked Congress to declare war. After the declaration of war, Wilson ushered in the most repressive regime in U.S. history. The internment of Japanese born U.S. citizens during World War II was minor compared to the actions against U.S. citizens by Wilson during World War I. During WWI Wilson passed the Espionage Act of 1917 and the Sedition Act of 1918 which allowed him to shut down newspapers at an astounding pace. Any criticism of the government could earn a prison sentence and it is estimated that over 150,000 Americans were arrested during his second term.
Wilson’s two primary allies during his presidency were Colonel Edward M. House and Walter Lippmann. In 1912 House had written Phillip Dru: Administrator in which he promotes “socialism as dreamed of by Karl Marx”. Even more insidious was the long time New York Times writer Walter Lippmann. On January 8, 1918 Wilson made his famous speech articulating America’s war aims and delineating his Fourteen Points. This speech was authored by Walter Lippmann and included a framework for the beginnings of an international government (socialist, of course) under the League of Nations. Lippmann continued to assault freedom with his socialist columns from the New York Times until he finally retired in 1967 to much praise from his collectivist soul brothers.
In September and October 1919 Wilson suffered a series of debilitating strokes and was rarely seen in public. His second wife, Edith Galt, controlled his life and decided what he would and would not address. Fortunately in 1919 the Republicans controlled the Senate and did not ratify the League of Nations, primarily due to its notorious Article X, which would have allowed the League to send the U.S. into war without the approval of the U.S. government. In 1945, when the United Nations was approved, no such wisdom prevailed.
Wilson seemed to regard himself as a school headmaster whose pupils (the populace) were to be controlled, educated and punished if they misbehaved (disagreed with him). He never grasped the fact that there were millions of Americans just as smart as he and they did not want to be controlled and educated nor did they much agree with his view of the world. The massive changes wrought by Wilson could have qualified him to be considered as the father of modern socialism except for one fact - during the next administration (1921-1929) many of his changes were reduced in scope and a few overturned or severely modified.
Wilson had many massive contributions to the descent into socialism but the major one was the notion that the Constitution is a living document. This myth has been promoted and institutionalized by socialist writers for the past 100 years and is considered standard fare for any liberal interpretation of the Constitution. It seems that Wilson had a Constitutional Convention in his own brain and decided that the correct version of the Constitution was the one he had concocted in his own imagination, not the one adopted in 1788. It was therefore easy for him to swear to “support and defend” the Constitution since he was referring to the Constitution that existed in his mind, not that other “obsolete” one that existed on paper. There were many presidents to come after Wilson that agreed to “support and defend” the Constitution that existed somewhere in Woodrow Wilson’s mind and that was established by Wilson’s imaginary Constitutional Convention.
US Freedom Army
July 22, 2016
The British exit (Brexit) from the European Union (EU) was a breath of fresh air. Even though 52% to 48% is hardly a large margin of victory at least it gives us hope that some people in the world are beginning to wise up to the corrosive effects of global socialism and how they are being taken in by the Globalists whose primary goal is a world government based upon socialist (Marxist) principles. The Globalists, whose only interest is in political power, could care less about the continuous failures of socialism and only want to create a world where they are in charge. As I have said before, a socialist world government would turn the entire planet into one gigantic North Korea and would be a disaster for mankind.
You cannot have a political union without a central government and a military supporting that government. You cannot have a currency without a central government and a military supporting that government that can enforce discipline on the members (I realize that Britain does not participate in the Euro currency system). These setups are destined to fail and it is only a matter of time until they do so. These setups are an attempt by the Globalists to backdoor their way to achieving a world government under their domination and when these setups fail they will create tremendous hardships for millions of people.
Great Britain now has a chance to escape from the dictates of unelected bureaucrats who tell them how to behave and Britain can now possibly get their financial house in order and begin the process of returning to the financial and political powerhouse they once were. Only time will tell if they can make that a reality. They can also begin the process of reestablishing their sovereignty and controlling their borders. There have to be some in Britain who are now wondering if the Chunnel was a big mistake.
The United States should learn a lesson from this and disentangle itself from these situations where unelected citizens of other countries control our destiny and dictate to us how we can act and what we should be doing. Perhaps one day soon enough people in the United States will also wise up and this process can begin.
Lewis Shupe, Founder
US Freedom Army
July 15, 2016
Below is a letter to the editor from my local newspaper that I keep in my wallet to remind me of how much wrong-thinking there is about the U.S. Constitution. In the interest of keeping all you patriots enlightened about how the Constitution is to be viewed I present that letter with my comments after it. If I do nothing else with the U.S. Freedom Army I want to ensure that all of you know your Constitution and how it is to be interpreted.
Founders would have liked Health Care Plan
In regard to health care, xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx’s letter (“Obama’s Trojan Horse rolling in,” Op-Ed March 22) says “A right? I just reread my Constitution … (and) the Founding Fathers did not put anything in there about a God-given right to health insurance. Not even the right to good health.”
In my copy of the Constitution, the first sentence states “We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defence, promote the general Welfare … .” So, one of the main reasons for establishing the Constitution was to promote general welfare. I would assume that would include keeping its citizens healthy. I think the Founding Fathers would have approved of a single-payer health system.
Most of you that have been reading our material and studying the Constitution know why the letter above is completely inaccurate. We believe the individual above sincerely believed what he had written was true but that individual is one of many that have been completely taken in by the false interpretations of our Constitution repeated by the Main-Stream Media ad nauseam until eventually people believe these falsehoods to be the truth.
The Welfare Clause (“promote the general Welfare”) is limiting. I could give you numerous quotes here from the people who wrote the Constitution but suffice it to say that the Founding Fathers said that just because we told you to provide for the general welfare does not mean you can have any powers we have not already given you. In other words, you cannot use the Welfare Clause as an excuse to exceed the enumerated powers in the Constitution (found generally in Article 1, Section 8). The Welfare Clause is not a catchall that can be used to circumvent the Constitution’s limiting powers.
There is absolutely no authority whatsoever in the Constitution given to the Federal Government to control healthcare in any way, shape or form. The Affordable Care Act is unconstitutional, any changes to the ACA are unconstitutional and any replacement for the ACA is also unconstitutional. The only way the Federal Government can legally control healthcare is to amend the Constitution and that amendment has not been forthcoming.
The Center for Disease Control is a good example of the Federal Government providing for the general welfare as long as the CDC does not tell the States or the people what to do. There is a difference between offering suggestions to help and establishing control to issue edicts.
Lewis Shupe, Founder
This post was submitted to the U.S. Freedom Army by enlistee Jim Delaney of Rochester, NY. Jim is a former U.S. Army Captain and a Vietnam veteran with two Bronze Stars and he is the author of the book “A Patriot’s Call to Action: Resisting Progressive Tyranny & Restoring Constitutional Order.”
Leftist Bullies & America's Future
May 16, 2016
Amidst the presidential campaign maelstrom, the relentless Progressive violations of our liberties, traditional values, religious freedom, free enterprise, and constitutional underpinnings continue. Now this:
Until I recently read about the 16 Attorneys General--all Progressives, of course--who are promising to target any company that challenges Liberalism's climate change RELIGION, I honestly thought I was beyond being shocked by the Left's propensity for tyranny and bullying.
Reminiscent of the excesses of the Spanish Inquisition of 1478, these fascist high priests intend to vigorously pursue corporate "climate change deniers" to the "fullest extent of the law"--whatever contrived law that might be.
Asserting that "climate change deniers" are committing "fraud" and are, therefore, unprotected by that pesky First Amendment, these modern-day inquisitors--New York State's AG Schneiderman being among them--plan to impose huge fines against anyone who declines to blindly submit to their scientifically unproven man-made global warming religious dogma. ("I am the Lord thy God; thou shalt have no other gods before me." Schneiderman and his co-collaborators have clearly forgotten this divine admonition.)
This undisguised attempt to stifle core political speech and vigorous SCIENTIFIC debate should be roundly condemned by all Americans! AG Schneiderman, among other inquisitors, should not only apologize for his loathsome thuggery; he should either resign or be removed from office.
Is it any wonder the citizens of this deeply divided country are in the throes of despair, uncertainty and anger? Is it any wonder that desperate Americans are turning to "outsiders" like Donald Trump? Is it any wonder that secessionist movements, most notably the Texas Nationalist Movement, are gaining in strength, support and determination?
Make no mistake, folks. Our Founders would NEVER EVER have tolerated the tyranny which now assails us at every turn and from every direction. To a man, they would have full-throatedly counseled civil disobedience, State nullification and, if all else fails, either secession or outright rebellion.
And this: NOTHING--absolutely NOTHING--the British did to Americans in the 18th century which convinced American colonists to secede from England can in any way compare to the awful intensity of today's Progressive assault on our unalienable rights to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. And in this terrible light, is it really a stretch to reasonably suggest that this union of sovereign States (as originally conceived anyway) has, in fact, finally outlived its usefulness. (Personally, I believe that our societal, political and economic problems are now so severe and so embedded as to be effectively irremediable. No Pollyanna I.)
So, we can either continue to submit to or otherwise accommodate the intolerable, or we can exercise our unalienable rights to appropriately resist. In any event, I urge all patriots to look solemnly to our Founders for wisdom and direction in these extremely troubling times. And remember this: unalienable rights are unalienable only to the extent we are determined to defend them.
"The chasm between conservatives and liberals grows wider by the day. We live in a house divided. This profound difference between people on the Right and Left will have to be managed with diligence if our country is not to fragment and fall apart. Great leadership will be required. This, not income inequality, is the moral issue of our time." Ed Kline, Writer/Reporter (2015)
"Given that the rise of Sanders theatens to extirpate the last vestiges of classical liberalism in the Democratic Party, there has never been a time in my life when limited and accountable government in the United States is under great threat...classical liberalism will continue to decline." John O. McGinnis, Writer & Professor of Constitutional Law, Northwestern University (2016)
"...any people, anywhere, being inclined and having the power, have the right to rise up and shake off the existing government, and form a new one that suits them better." Congressman Abraham Lincoln on the floor of Congress (1847)
"Whenever the people shall grow weary of the exiting government, they can exercise their constitutional right of amending it or their revolutionary right to dismember or overthrow it." Pres. Abraham Lincoln, Inaugural Address (1861)
The Baseline Budgeting Scam
By Lewis Shupe, Contributor, Freedom Fighters of America
May 11, 2017
Baseline budgeting is a method whereby automatic increases in spending are built into each year’s budget through a baseline – a complex system known legally only in general terms that allows the Office of Management& Budget (OMB) and the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) to essentially determine and “score” the level of increase for each department.
This system creates a built in bias that always causes federal spending to increase. Even more deceitful is the way this is presented to the public. So, for example, let us say that the baseline for the Department of Education was 8%. This would mean that in the next fiscal year the Department of Education budget would increase by 8%. If the Department of Education only received a 4% increase from Congress it would be “scored” that the government had “saved” 4%. If the Department of Education budget was $100 billion in year 2001 and should have gone to $108 billion in 2002 but only received $104 billion, it was called a budget reduction and a “savings” of $4 billion.
Even more incredible is the outcry when supposedly responsible legislators call these results “budget cuts in education” and assert that people who sponsored and supported such cuts “want to cut funding for education and damage our children’s education.” The level of deceit in such rhetoric is beyond reprehensible.
The baseline budgeting scam works something like this. Phase one is to load up the OMB and CBO with people you can control and share your vision that more government is the answer to all problems. Phase two is to be certain that the rules are so muddled that no one understands how the baseline is computed. Phase three is to get the baselines set as high as can possibly be justified with some pseudo-rational explanation based upon some mind-numbing technical jargon that no one understands. Phase four is to come in just slightly under the total increase so you can claim you are cutting the budget. Phase five is to whine about the budget cuts and pretend you are fighting for “the children” or “the poor” or “old people” or any other group that arouses sympathy while you are still claiming to be fiscally responsible. Phase six is to demand more spending next year since we will all be suffering because of these “cuts.”
I have said this before but I’ll say it again. Do not believe any number that comes from this administration. People that support and administer such a system are either delusional or are intending to deceive. Since most Congressmen are not delusional you can say with reasonable certainty what they are intending.
April 14, 2016
By Lewis Shupe, Contrtibutor, Freedom Fighters of America
Economics is not only inexact, but economic theories depend upon assumptions about what people will do under certain sets of conditions. When people do not “behave” as assumed, economic theories break down. One thing you can say with reasonable certainty, however, is that when the government interferes in the pricing mechanisms of the free marketplace, problems are bound to follow.
John Maynard Keynes (1883-1946) is indisputably the most influential economist of the 20th century. He is one of the principal founders of modern macroeconomics and a proponent of massive government spending to cure economic ills. If John Dewey is the favorite philosopher of Socialists, Keynes is by far their favorite economist. Keynes is idolized by the left because he intellectualized and gave theoretical support for the Socialist takeover of government. Since the Socialists were unable for practical reasons to follow Karl Marx and convert capitalist countries into socialist states, Keynes was the next best thing. In his magnum opus, “The General Theory of Employment, Interest, and Money” (1936), Keynes laid the foundation for macroeconomics.
If the federal government followed Keynes exactly perhaps their meddling in the private sector would be manageable. Socialists are interested in economic theory only insofar as it gives them what they want – centralized political power. Keynes legitimatized the federal government’s takeover of the States and helped foster the notion that whenever someone has a problem, the federal government is supposed to step in with a solution. This notion created a culture of dependency that has led to the development of a class of people depending on the government either for their work or their survival. This class of people is called the Socialist ”critical mass” and now helps control elections for them.
For those of you unwilling to read Keynes’ magnum opus, we will summarize it for you in Washington D.C. terms. This is not what Keynes said, but what Washington does. There is a “magic button” somewhere in Washington that, if pushed, will correct all the economic problems of the country. Just keep trying things and pushing buttons and eventually you will push the “magic button” and all your problems will go away. If you have to spend two or three trillion dollars trying buttons it is fine because eventually you will push the “magic button.” The “magic button” causes people to want to work harder, makes corporations more profitable, encourages hiring, and eliminates high interest rates and inflation. Of course no one knows which button is the magic one, so we just go ahead and push every button we see.
Keynes wrote in The Economic Consequences of the Peace: “Lenin is said to have declared that the best way to destroy the capitalist system was to debauch the currency. By a continuing process of inflation, governments can confiscate, secretly and unobserved, an important part of the wealth of their citizens. There is no subtler, no surer means of overturning the existing basis of society than to debauch the currency. The process engages all the hidden forces of economic law on the side of destruction, and does it in a manner which not one man in a million is able to diagnose.”
Winston Churchill was quoted as saying: “If you put two economists in a room you get two opinions, unless one of them is Lord Keynes, in which case you get three.”
In the 1980s the Nobel Prize committee was captured by Socialists and since that time it is no longer politically correct to award a Nobel Prize in certain categories (Peace and Economics in particular) to anyone who is not a committed Socialist. Prior to that time, however, Conservatives did win a few times including Milton Friedman in 1976 for Economics.
In 1974 the Austrian economist Friedrich August Von Hayek (1899-1992) won the Nobel Prize for Economics. He and Keynes had been battling for over 40 years and finally Hayek received his due recognition.
In the big debate (which continues to this day) over the impossibility of socialist calculation and “market socialism” in the 1930s, with Mises and Hayek on one side and Keynes, Lange, and H.D. Dickinson on the other, Hayek contributed a number of essays which refuted the socialist approach to economic planning. They are collected in his Individualism and Economic Order (1948). Hayek’s The Road to Serfdom (1944) made him world famous overnight and aroused heated discussions. In this best seller of the immediate post-war years, since translated into numerous languages, he showed that Socialism carries with it no adequate provision for the preservation of freedom.
Hayek took the elitist Socialists to task in his Nobel Prize lecture on December 11, 1974 “The pretence of knowledge.” This may be why no Conservatives win this prize anymore; the Socialists on the Committee don’t want to hear anything like this again. It almost sounded like Socrates in “The Apology”, letting them have it. A few excerpts follow.
“We have good reason to believe that unemployment indicates that the structure of relative prices and wages has been distorted (usually by monopolistic or governmental price fixing) and that to restore equality between the demand and supply of labour in all sectors changes of relative prices and some transfers of labour will be necessary.”
USFA translation: Government meddling in the pricing structure causes unemployment.
“This is particularly true of our theories accounting for the determination of the systems of relative prices and wages that will form themselves on a well functioning market. Into the determination of these prices and wages there will enter the effects of particular information possessed by every one of the participants in the market process – a sum of facts which in their totality cannot be known to the scientific observer, or to any other single brain. It is indeed the source of the superiority of the market order, and the reason why, when it is not suppressed by government, it regularly displaces other types of order … ”
USFA translation: The free market works best when left alone.
“ … the very measures which the dominant “macro-economic” theory has recommended as a remedy for unemployment, namely the increase of aggregate demand, have become a cause of a very extensive misallocation of resources which is likely to make large-scale unemployment inevitable. The continuous injection of additional amounts of money at points of the economic system where it creates a temporary demand which must cease when the increase of the quantity of money stops or slows down, together with the expectation of a continuing rise of prices, draws labour and other resources into employments which can last only so long as the increase of the quantity of money continues at the same rate - or perhaps even only so long as it continues to accelerate at a given rate. What this policy has produced is not so much a level of employment that could not have been brought about in other ways, as a distribution of employment which cannot be indefinitely maintained and which after some time can be maintained only by a rate of inflation which would rapidly lead to a disorganisation of all economic activity. The fact is that by a mistaken theoretical view we have been led into a precarious position in which we cannot prevent substantial unemployment from re-appearing … ”
USFA translation: Macroeconomics does not work and causes unemployment and large scale inflation. There is no “magic button”.
Who are these socialists?
April 13, 2016
By Lewis Shupe, US Freedom Army
“The permanent misfits can find salvation only in a complete separation from the self; and they usually find it by losing themselves in the compact collectivity of a mass movement.” Eric Hoffer
Before we take up this topic we need to make a few points. Socialists and communists have the same goal namely a world government based upon Marxist principles. They only differ as to method. Communists prefer revolution while socialists prefer gradual infiltration. The Social Democrats are nothing more than a group that split off from the Communist Party because they prefer the more gradual approach. Other than that there is little difference and no difference as to what they want to accomplish. The United States with its emphasis on freedom stands in the way of these Marxists achieving their goals and so the United States must be converted into a socialist nation as rapidly as possible.
The hard core socialists are a very small percentage of the U.S. population, probably less than two percent. Socialism does an excellent job of packaging their product and so it attracts many to their cause and those numbers are increasing, particularly among younger people who are not wise enough yet to see through the smoke screen that socialism throws around their message. The indoctrinated people form a certain percentage of the socialist following and some prime examples of indoctrinated socialists are Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton and of course Bernie Sanders, who is the only one of those three with the courage to describe accurately what he actually believes in.
There is also a large group of people that follow the message because it is in their best interests to do so since they depend on the government for either their work or their survival. Lenin called members of this group “useful idiots.”
I wanted to talk today about the most dangerous group of all, the true believers. If you want to know precisely how true believers operate I suggest you get the book The True Believer by Eric Hoffer and read it over carefully. I will give you a brief synopsis here. A true believer is someone who believes that their life is spoiled and in order to give their life meaning they must have a cause. A true believer doesn’t really care what the cause is as long as he has one. For anyone that wants a cause socialism is always available to the true believer. A true believer easily accepts that America is evil and will do everything to bring down this system of government. A true believer will do anything in his power to see the cause come to a successful conclusion including violating any and all laws as required. Bill Ayres and Bernardine Dohrn are examples of true believers. These people are extremely dangerous and will stop at nothing to see that their cause is victorious and, if they are victorious, they will simply move on to the next cause!
by Lewis Shupe, Contributor, Freedom Fighters of America
"The Budget should be balanced, the Treasury should be refilled, public debt should be reduced, the arrogance of officialdom should be tempered and controlled, and the assistance to foreign lands should be curtailed, lest Rome will become bankrupt. People must again learn to work instead of living on public assistance." - Cicero, 55 BC
Every time I write about financial matters people quickly become bored. I have tried to stop giving speeches about financial matters because at the end I always get a lot of quizzical looks. At the risk of generating boredom and quizzical looks I venture forward because this is important since, if nothing changes, this will one day affect everyone. Stay with me here and I’ll try to make it as brief as possible.
The U.S. Government spends about 80-120 billion dollars a month more than it takes in. It gets the money it needs to cover this shortfall by issuing various debt instruments through the U.S. Treasury. This causes the U.S. debt to increase by the amount of these debt instruments which causes the interest on the debt to continue to rise. If this were the only problem it would be bad enough, but there is an even more devastating problem that this shortfall creates.
The primary problem is that the U.S. Government cannot sell all this debt to legitimate buyers (foreign governments, institutions, individuals, etc.) and so it buys the debt itself. It buys this debt using a variety of subterfuges but the net result is that the Federal Reserve has to print money in order to keep the government running. Approximately 30%-50% of the shortfall is financed in this way and those percentages continue to increase. As any businessman can tell you, when you have to buy your own products to continue to show sales you are in deep trouble. Ask yourself why the Social Security Administration, which claims to be going broke, holds three trillion dollars of our debt (note that China holds about 1.25 trillion dollars of our debt and Japan about 1 trillion dollars of our debt).
When you create money but do not create a corresponding amount of wealth the value of money deteriorates and price increases soon follow. The inflation that will follow on the heels of this money creation will soon become evident to all citizens, regardless of all the false information coming from the government. When it will become evident depends on the individual citizen but it will ultimately become evident to virtually everyone.
In my wallet I keep a Zimbabwe 100 trillion dollar bill to remind myself of where America is heading if nothing is done. You can purchase one on-line for about $3 which is probably the cost of the paper and shipping. When the forces of socialism succeed in breaking down America financially the Republic is gone and your freedom goes with it.
Lewis Shupe, Founder
The Beehive Mentality
March 14, 2016
by Lewis Shupe, Contributor, Freedom Fighters of America
Bees are social creatures. They bring food back to the hive and that food is shared commonly by all the hive members. Socialists love bee colonies. Bees have been around in the same form for at least 100 million years and are proof to socialists that communal living and sharing can bring to mankind the same long term success as has been enjoyed by the bees. The socialists, as is their wont, conveniently leave out an important fact. When the colony decides that a bee is not working hard enough they kill him and throw him out of the nest. They do not even want his DNA anywhere in the nest. This rarely happens to worker bees since a worker bee instinctively knows what fate awaits him if he doesn’t produce. It happens to the lazy drones a lot, though, and especially when food stores get low. The only reason the beehive tolerates any drones at all is because they are the only ones that can fertilize the queen. There are no sick days or retirement plans in a beehive – you must produce every day or you are eliminated. Maybe socialism might work if a mechanism were found to eliminate the slackers but an effective one has not been found to date.
This is the essence of collectivism. Everyone goes out and works and brings everything they have worked for to the hive (the federal government) and then the hive (the federal government) decides how much you get back. Since there is no mechanism available to the hive (the federal government) for eliminating slackers eventually people realize that they will get just as much back whether they work hard or not and so people stop working hard or simply do not work at all. This is why all these collectivist systems always fail and why they always evolve into dictatorships as the only way to protect themselves from complete destruction. This is why socialists want high tax rates, to get all the money into the hive (the federal government) so it can be redistributed. If the forces of socialism thought they could get away with a 100% tax rate they would advocate one. Don’t be fooled by “we only want to tax the wealthy at these high rates” because eventually they will come for you too. The 16th Amendment (Income Tax) passed and was enacted in 1913 because people were told “we are only going to tax the wealthy.”
March 6, 2016
by Lewis Shupe, Contributor, Freedom Fighters of America
In a previous post we exposed some of the problems with our current Constitutional definition of citizenship and showed some of the problems it poses for individuals who are having difficulty getting their eligibility. We discussed in that post some of the difficulties Ted Cruz is having with his eligibility to be President. We also believe Marco Rubio, although he is a citizen, is not at present under the Constitution a natural born citizen and is therefore not constitutionally eligible to be President since at the time of his birth neither of his parents were citizens. Having said all of this, we believe the peoples’ representatives now need to look at the Constitution and redefine citizenship in a way that is more appropriate for the modern world.
In 1787 when citizenship was defined a family was making great progress if they could travel 20 miles per day. In 1868 when Amendment XIV, which further redefined citizenship, was adopted, a family was making great progress if they could travel 50 miles in a day. Today a family can travel almost anywhere on planet Earth in one day. What made sense in 1787 and 1868 to lawmakers does not make as much sense today, particularly with the disintegration of the nuclear family that we now, unfortunately, see so often.
The Constitutional Amendment we are seeking should have as a minimum these four points included and specified in detail:
* The criteria for citizenship should to be changed. We will discuss this in more detail below.
* Dual citizenship should be made illegal. Dual citizens should declare for one country or another or their citizenship may be automatically revoked.
* A person’s citizenship may be revoked. This should only be in extreme cases and may require a jury trial. For example, the U.S. citizen that fought for the Taliban against the United States should have had his citizenship revoked.
* It should be reaffirmed that non-citizens are not necessarily guaranteed protection under the U.S. Constitution, particularly if they have acted illegally.
The general criteria for citizenship should be that if your mother (the female contributor of your DNA) is a citizen at the time of your birth then you are a citizen and a natural born citizen. At the time of your birth if you do not meet this criterion you are not a citizen. Without getting into all the complications (adoptions, naturalization, test tube babies, etcetera) that may arise later and may allow an individual to become a citizen this should be the fundamental rule for citizenship.
So why do we exclude the male contributors? It takes a female approximately 9 months to produce a child so a female is limited as to how many children she can produce in her lifetime. A male can produce several children in a 9 month period and, if he is a good talker, probably several more. Furthermore, it is much easier to determine who the mother is and often not as easy in today’s world to determine who is the father.
This is a fundamental problem with our political system namely that the Constitution is never updated to reflect conditions in the modern world and so we are always having to use rules that may be outmoded or obsolete. The only way to modify these rules is by amendment and because it is not easy to amend the Constitution our politicians try to sneak around the rules by ignoring the Constitution, writing laws that amend the Constitution, or by getting their ideological friends placed in the court systems to find clever legal ways (legal sophistry) to change the meaning of words and circumvent the rules. This is why we see chaos in government, why our system of government is out of control, and why we refer to it as a rogue government.
US Freedom Army
February 21, 2016
Administrative law. What is it and how does it come about? It is important that one understands this concept because it explains much of what is happening in America today.
In general Congress and State Legislatures write vague laws. The reasons for this are many but a main reason is that if they write specific laws they will lose voters and may not get reelected. What happens then is that when the vague law is written the power to determine what the law actually means is turned over to the Executive Branch of the legal body in question. In effect the Legislatures have given their power over to the Executive Branch in order to not be shackled with the specifics of a law so that they can always say they were not in favor of something or in favor of something as it becomes necessary. Administrative law occurs when the Executive Branch determines the specifics of what the law really means. The net effect of all this is that the Legislature ultimately loses its power and the Executive Branch becomes dominant while the Legislative Branch becomes meaningless.
The forces of socialism understand this perfectly and that is why they are not as disturbed when they lose control of a Legislature. They know that if they have control over the Executive Branch they have seized control of about 90 percent of the power. This is one reason Barack Obama can write Executive Orders to make law – in many cases the power has been given to him by administrative law. Certainly our current President has also shown himself to be adept at writing Executive Orders that contradict provisions of a law that are in fact quite specific.
In the coming national elections the Socialist (oops Democratic) Party knows that it must win the White House at all costs and they will do whatever it takes to accomplish that task. The legality or illegality of their efforts will not matter as they seek the ultimate prize. | <urn:uuid:31163597-642f-4563-b5c1-aa8befd97044> | {
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|Light micrograph of Fahrenholzia pinnata|
Louse (plural: lice) is the common name for members of over 3,000 species of wingless insects of the order Phthiraptera; three of which are classified as human disease agents. They are obligate ectoparasites of every avian and mammalian order except for monotremes (the platypus and echidnas), bats, whales, dolphins, porpoises and pangolins.
Most lice are scavengers, feeding on skin and other debris found on the host's body, but some species feed on sebaceous secretions and blood. Most are found only on specific types of animals, and, in some cases, only to a particular part of the body; some animals are known to host up to fifteen different species, although one to three is typical for mammals, and two to six for birds. For example, in humans, different species of louse inhabit the scalp and pubic hair. Lice generally cannot survive for long if removed from their host.
A louse's color varies from pale beige to dark gray; however, if feeding on blood, it may become considerably darker. Female lice are usually more common than the males, and some species are even known to be parthenogenetic. A louse's egg is commonly called a nit. Many lice attach their eggs to their host's hair with specialized saliva; the saliva/hair bond is very difficult to sever without specialized products. Lice inhabiting birds, however, may simply leave their eggs in parts of the body inaccessible to preening, such as the interior of feather shafts. Living lice eggs tend to be pale white. Dead lice eggs are more yellow.
Lice are optimal model organisms to study the ecology of contagious pathogens since their quantities, sex-ratios etc. are easier to quantify than those of other pathogens. The ecology of avian lice has been studied more intensively than that of mammal lice.
A few major trends
- The average number of lice per host tends to be higher in large-bodied bird species than in small ones.
- Louse individuals exhibit an aggregated distribution across bird individuals, i.e. most lice live on a few birds, while most birds are relatively free of lice. This pattern is more pronounced in territorial than in colonial—more social—bird species.
- Host taxa that dive under the water surface to feed on aquatic prey harbor fewer taxa of lice.
- Bird taxa that are capable of exerting stronger antiparasitic defense—such as stronger T cell immune response or larger uropygial glands—harbor more taxa of Amblyceran lice than others.
- Temporal bottlenecks in host population size may cause a long-lasting reduction of louse taxonomic richness. E.g., birds introduced into New Zealand host fewer species of lice there than in Europe.
- Louse sex ratios are more balanced in more social hosts and more female-biased in less social hosts, presumably due to the stronger isolation among louse subpopulations (living on separate birds) in the latter case.
A few effects of lice infestation upon the host
- Lice may reduce host life expectancy.
- Lice may transmit microbial diseases or helminth parasites.
- Ischnoceran lice may reduce the thermoregulation effect of the plumage; thus heavily infested birds lose more heat than other ones.
- Lice infestation is a disadvantage in the context of sexual rivalry.
The order has traditionally been divided into two suborders, the sucking lice (Anoplura) and the chewing lice (Mallophaga); however, recent classifications suggest that the Mallophaga are paraphyletic and four suborders are now recognized:
- Anoplura: sucking lice, occurring on mammals exclusively
- Rhynchophthirina: parasites of elephants and warthogs
- Ischnocera: mostly avian chewing lice, however, one family parasitizes mammals
- Amblycera: a primitive suborder of chewing lice, widespread on birds, however, also live on South-American and Australian mammals
It has been suggested that the order is contained by the Troctomorpha suborder of Psocoptera.
Lice in humans
Human lice and DNA discoveries
Lice have been the subject of significant DNA research in the 2000s that led to discoveries on human evolution. For example, genetic evidence suggests that our human ancestors acquired pubic lice from gorillas approximately 3-4 million years ago. Additionally, the DNA differences between head lice and body lice provide corroborating evidence that humans started losing body hair about 2 million years ago.
The mitochondrial genome of the human species of body lice (Pediculus humanus humanus), the head louse (Pediculus humanus capitis) and the pubic louse (Pthirus pubis) is fragmented into a number of minichromosomes. This fragmentation appears to have been present for at least 7 million years. The body louse evolved from the head louse ~107,000 years ago.
- Pest (organism)
- Use of DNA in forensic entomology
- Whale louse, unrelated crustaceans that live parasitically on marine mammals
- H. V. Hoell, J. T. Doyen & A. H. Purcell (1998). Introduction to Insect Biology and Diversity (2nd ed.). Oxford University Press. pp. 407–409. ISBN 0-19-510033-6.
- Rózsa L 1997. Patterns in the abundance of avian lice (Phthiraptera: Amblycera, Ischnocera). Journal of Avian Biology 28, 249–254.
- Rékási J et al. 1997. Patterns in the distribution of avian lice (Phthiraptera: Amblycera, Ischnocera). Journal of Avian Biology 28, 150–156.
- Felső B et al. 2006. Reduced taxonomic richness of lice (Insecta: Phthiraptera) in diving birds. Journal of Parasitology 92, 867–869.
- Felső B et al. 2007. Diving behaviour reduces genera richness of lice (Insecta: Phthiraptera) of mammals. Acta Parasitologica 52, 82–85.
- Møller AP et al. 2005. Parasite biodiversity and host defenses: Chewing lice and immune response of their avian hosts. Oecologia 142, 169–176.
- Møller AP et al. 2010. Ectoparasites, uropygial glands and hatching success in birds. Oecologia 163, 303–311.
- Rózsa L 1993. Speciation patterns of ectoparasites and "straggling" lice. International Journal for Parasitology 23, 859–864.
- Paterson AM et al. 1999. How Frequently Do Avian Lice Miss the Boat? Implications for Coevolutionary Studies Systematic Biology 48, 214–223
- MacLeod C et al. 2010. Parasites lost – do invaders miss the boat or drown on arrival? Ecology Letters
- Rózsa L et al. 1996. Relationship of host coloniality to the population ecology of avian lice (Insecta: Phthiraptera). Journal of Animal Ecology 65, 242–248.
- Brown CR et al. 1995. Ectoparasites reduce long-term surviviorship of their avian host. Proceedings of the Royal Society of London B 262, 313–319.
- Barlett CM 1993. Lice (Amblycera and Ischnocera) as vectors of Eulimdana spp. (Nematoda: Filarioidea) in Charadriiform birds and the necessity of short reproductive periods in adult worms. Journal of Parasitol. 79, 85–91.
- Booth DT et al. 1993. Experimental demonstration of the energetic cost of parasitism in free-ranging hosts. Proceedings of the Royal Society of London B 253, 125–129.
- Clayton DH 1990. Mate choice in experimentally parasitized rock doves: lousy males lose. American Zoologist 30, 251–262.
- Garamszegi LZ et al. 2005. Age-dependent health status and song characteristics. Behavioral Ecology 16, 580–591.
- David L. Reed, Jessica E. Light, Julie M. Allen & Jeremy J. Kirchman (2007). "Pair of lice lost or parasites regained: the evolutionary history of anthropoid primate lice". BMC Biology 5: 7. doi:10.1186/1741-7007-5-7. PMC 1828715. PMID 17343749.
- John Travis (August 23, 2003). The naked truth? Lice hint at a recent origin of clothing 164 (8). Science News. p. 118.[dead link]
- Shao R, Zhu XQ, Barker SC, Herd K (2012) Evolution of extensively fragmented mitochondrial genomes in the lice of humans. Genome Biol Evol
|Wikimedia Commons has media related to Phthiraptera.|
|Wikispecies has information related to: Phthiraptera|
|Look up louse in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.|
- National Pesticide Information Center – Understanding and Controlling Lice
- Bed-hopping led humans to 3 million-year itch
- Extensive scientific information at Phthiraptera Central
- body and head lice on the University of Florida/Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences Featured Creatures Web site
- crab louse on the University of Florida/Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences Featured Creatures Web site
- WebMD Lice Info
- Lice chapter in United States Environmental Protection Agency and University of Florida/Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences National Public Health Pesticide Applicator Training Manual
- Pediculus humanus capitis head louse facts, myths, life cycle at MetaPathogen | <urn:uuid:9fb0eb34-134e-46d0-ab0d-43fd4aa05dbb> | {
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FLU SHOTS FLU SHOTS
CENTER FOR DISEASE CONTROL
Who should get vaccinated this season?
Everyone 6 months of age and older should get a flu vaccine every season. Vaccination to prevent influenza is particularly important for people who are at high risk of serious complications from influenza. See People at High Risk of Developing Flu-Related Complications for a full list of age and health factors that confer increased risk.
Flu vaccination has important benefits. It can reduce flu illnesses, doctors’ visits, and missed work and school due to flu, as well as prevent flu-related hospitalizations.
Different flu vaccines are approved for use in different groups of people. Factors that can determine a person’s suitability for vaccination, or vaccination with a particular vaccine, include a person’s age, health (current and past) and any relevant allergies.
Flu shots are approved for use in pregnant women and people with chronic health conditions. There are flu shots that also are approved for use in people as young as 6 months of age and up.
The nasal spray vaccine is approved for use in people 2 years through 49 years of age.
More information is available at Who Should Get Vaccinated Against Influenza.
Who Should Not Receive a Flu Shot: People who cannot get a flu shot Children younger than 6 months old People with severe, life-threatening allergies to flu vaccine or any of its ingredients
Note: There are certain flu shots that have different age indications. For example people younger than 65 years of age should not get the high-dose flu shot and people who are younger than 18 years old or older than 64 years old should not get the intradermal flu shot. People who should talk to their doctor before getting the flu shot People who have an allergy to eggs or other vaccine ingredients People who have ever had Guillain-Barre Syndrome (GBS) People who are feeling ill Who Should Not Receive Nasal Spray Vaccine: People who cannot get a nasal spray vaccine Children younger than 2 years old Adults 50 years and older People who have a history of severe allergic reactions to any component of the vaccine or to a previous dose of any influenza vaccine People who are allergic to eggs Children age 2-17 receiving aspirin therapy Pregnant women People with weakened immune systems Children age 2-4 who have asthma or history of wheezing in past 12 months People who have taken flu antivirals drugs in the previous 48 hours People who care for severely immunocompromised persons who require a protective environment (or otherwise avoid contact with those persons for 7 days after getting the nasal spray vaccine). People who should talk to their doctor before getting the nasal spray vaccine People with Asthma People with a chronic condition People who have ever had Guillain-Barre Syndrome (GBS) People who are feeling ill People who have gotten other vaccines in the past 4 weeks When should I get vaccinated?
CDC recommends that people get vaccinated against flu soon after vaccine becomes available, if possible by October. It takes about two weeks after vaccination for antibodies to develop in the body and provide protection against the flu. | <urn:uuid:76bb4b66-5193-46d6-9e26-b94e52177f98> | {
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One of my favourite questions for parents is “What do we want most for our children?” The two most consistent and predictable responses I receive in my parenting workshops are that we want our children to be happy, and to be responsible, contributing members of a community.
Sadly, and in spite of our nation’s prosperity, far too many of our children and youth are struggling with both wellbeing and adjustment. At least 10% of our children and youth suffer from serious mental health problems, and a further 10% experience mild to moderate mental health concerns. Too many of our youth are disengaged or even hostile.
Increasingly children are being diagnosed with internalising disorders (where negative emotions are directed toward themselves) such as anxiety and depression. While we care deeply about these issues, they rarely make the news except when a child or teen takes his or her life. We are also witnessing growing rates of externalising disorders (where negative emotions are directed outwardly towards others), such as children who are overly oppositional, or defiant and aggressive, or who lack self-regulation (ADHD). These children and youth garner nationwide attention through their fighting, vandalism, and the harm they cause to others.
If we wish to improve outcomes for children, we must understand why these mental health problems occur. While some cases involve great complexity, and while these issues can be caused by biological, temperamental, or psychological variables, research clearly tells us that parenting practices are heavily implicated in many of these concerning challenges.
In short, many parents are overwhelmed and too many lack the skills and knowledge to parent effectively. Importantly and sadly, some also lack the desire to love their children enough to raise and socialise them appropriately.
Some parents (and parenting experts) argue that there is no one right way to raise children. This is a furphy. Research tells us with remarkable (but often ignored) clarity that we will dramatically and significantly improve our children’s wellbeing and adjustment if we practice three central pillars of practically perfect parenting.
They are affiliation, structure, and autonomy support.
Affiliation means we are caring, kind, and warm. It reflects a nurturing approach to our children where they feel loved, accepted, and that they belong. (Note, it does not suggest permissiveness. We can have behavioural boundaries and maintain them in a caring, kind manner.)
The opposite of affiliation is rejection, and this is characterised by parents who are cold and harsh. In my parenting training I see far too much of this rejection, harshness, and mean-spiritedness. Parents call their children names, hurt them, and derogate them – often while trying to instil limits and boundaries. Sometimes some parents simply ignore or abuse their children because they may be inconvenient. Such an approach leads to the worst outcomes.
Structure means we set clear and consistent expectations for behaviour. We make it clear what our expectations are. Note that this may be done harshly (a lack of affiliation) or warmly. The latter promotes healthy outcomes in children. The former invites resistance and rebellion. The opposite of structure is to be laissez-faire, or permissive.
3. Autonomy Support
This is the trickiest part for parents. Autonomy support means that we are empathic and mindful of our children’s feelings, preferences, ideas, and initiatives, and we work with them to help them achieve what they want. We aim to give our children agency (or choice) in making their own decisions within the structure (or boundaries) that we have set. And we consistently invite them to become increasingly autonomous and make their own decisions as they age. We give them their wings, bit by bit.
The opposite of autonomy support is controlling parenting which is seen in pressure, intrusion, and power assertion, where parents make overt threats and shame their children, or where they offer love conditionally, and invalidate their children when they get things wrong.
Balancing affiliation with structure and autonomy support is a challenge. Too much structure and focus on boundaries stymies affiliation and autonomy. Too much autonomy can hamper a willingness to comply with structure. When affiliation is king, children become little emperors and empresses. But most distressing is a lack of all three. It is the parents who fail to give their children either love, structure, or support who fail their children and the community the most. And it is they who need the greatest support.
The earlier we start, the better the outcomes. Investments in children’s relationships with their parents through schemes that encourage and allow parents to be actively involved in raising them rather than delegating the responsibility to others will pay significant dividends in the long term, by reducing the social costs associated with lower wellbeing, and poor socialisation and adjustment. | <urn:uuid:eae293fa-4244-4e67-bd51-11928ff37f7e> | {
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We at the Natchez Police department are concerned about your safety with the easy access of the Internet. The Internet can be a fun and safe place to surf. However, there are those individuals that are out there that may wish to do harm to yourself as well as your children and that is why we have created this section for computer/Internet safety.
Parents make sure you know what sites and the kind of sites that your children are visiting. Remember in chat rooms the person you are talking to may not be the person he/she says he/she is. It is best never to give out any type of identifying information in the chat room. such as your home address, school name, telephone number, email address, or information that can lead that person to you.
Be extremely cautious about anyone wanting to meet with you and play it safe. Meet that person in a public place and have some friends with you for your safety. NEVER let your children make actual contact with a person they have met over the Internet without supervisor and other people present.
Be cautious of anything on social media & e-commerce sites. That age old saying "if it sounds too good to be true, chances are its not".
Report to your Internet service provider any threatening or obscene suggestive messages that you get, contact the police department if you feel the message is strange or weird.
Set some rules and guidelines for the computer and make a little reminder sheet and post near the computer. Also think about using a program to limit access to certain types of sites.
Place your computer in a room where you are able to see the screen while your child is on the computer. Monitor the time your child is on the Internet.
If you receive anything that you feel is weird or strange do not hesitate to notify the police department.
Safety Tips from the FBI
- Never give out identifying information such as Name, Home Address, School Name, or Telephone Number in a public message such as at a chat room or on social media sites. Never send a person a picture of you without first checking with your parent or guardian.
- Never respond to messages or social media items that are:
- Make You Feel Uncomfortable
- Be careful when someone offers you something for nothing, such as gifts and money. Be very careful about any offers that involve your coming to a meeting or having someone visit your house.
- Tell your parent or guardian right away if you come across any information that makes you feel uncomfortable.
- Never arrange a face to face meeting without telling your parent or guardian. If your parent or guardian agrees to the meeting, make sure that you meet in a public place and have a parent or guardian with you.
- Remember that people online may not be who they seem. Because you can't see or even hear the person it would be easy for someone to misrepresent him- or herself. Thus, someone indicating that "she" is a "12-year-old-girl" could in reality be an older man.
- Be sure that you are dealing with someone that you and your parents know and trust before giving out any personal information about yourself via Email.
- Get to know your "online friends" just as you get to know all of your other friends. | <urn:uuid:ed0d0916-2bda-464f-8ee7-461dcdd3bc1c> | {
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Sitting in, shutting it down
In the early days of the of the unrest, hundreds of the protesters showed up during the day to help clean up after nights of unrest or to hold peaceful sit-ins shutting down the street to traffic. The images of community coming together, marching, praying, demonstrating for justice would be overshadowed by dramatic images of unrest. The sun would set, the mood would change. In the shadow of darkness the police often deployed tear gas on the crowds when the crowd would refuse to leave. | <urn:uuid:6dd52149-8464-47bd-9d05-f58f4a99742f> | {
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ERIC Number: ED241378
Record Type: Non-Journal
Publication Date: 1980
Reference Count: N/A
Drawings from Space.
Ten diagrams and step-by-step instructions for an art activity in which middle school students practice drawing in perspective are provided. Students practice basic rules of perspective such as (1) determining the horizon line or disappearing point, (2) drawing parallel lines and drawing above and below eye level. A brief test of teacher effectiveness and student comprehension conclude the activity. This document is one of a series of materials from the Iowa Area Education Agency 7 Teacher Center project. (LP)
Publication Type: Guides - Classroom - Teacher
Education Level: N/A
Audience: Teachers; Practitioners
Authoring Institution: Area Education Agency 7, Cedar Falls, IA. | <urn:uuid:44bc9bc3-7fc0-4dbc-9e02-6f4bd6476900> | {
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Sunday, 22 January 2012
Wax and Feathers
Wax and Feathers An ancient Greek tragedy in which Icarus learns his last lesson when he ignores the advice of his father, the famed craftsman Daedalus.
Yes, my son?
Why are we confined here?
Because King Minos has said so.
What happened, Father; I thought you worked for him?
It was my fault: I did some things; some regrettable things; things which displeased the king.
I don’t like it here, can’t we just escape?
We’d have fly out of here, like birds.
Why can't we just go down to the harbour and take a boat?
I'm afraid it's not that simple; the king has the favour of Poseidon; he knows all who pass to and from the island by the sea.
Icarus, where are you?
Ah! I see you have brought more feathers.
Yes, I found some big ones by the high tide mark.
These are very good; perfect for the second tier; you have done well.
Thank you Father.
Now, if you could stir the pot of wax; I don't want it to boil; the bubbles will set in its matrix and weaken the joins.
It helps to have something to do, doesn't it?
Yes, Father, but…
I was just wondering, do you think they will really work?
They don't call me the cleverest artisan in all the civilized world out of mere flattery.
But nobody has ever made such things work before.
They will work. We don't have the best materials to work with, but they should hold if we are careful.
If they do, will be the greatest thing ever. Just think: flying, up over the houses, flying away from here.
Aye, away from here...stir it, don't spill it lad!
…I’ll just tighten the shoulder harness here...Now, how does that feel?
A bit precarious! I feel like the breeze is trying to push me away.
That’s good, that’s what we want. Today the wind is our friend; it will help to keep us in the air. Praise Aeolus. Praise Zephyr.
I’m afraid, Father.
Don’t worry lad, even Theseus was afraid before he entered the labyrinth.
But, how did he overcome it, the fear, I mean.
He didn’t. The trick is to use your fear to keep you alive, not to rob you of your sense. Without fear you overreach, make mistakes.
I don’t think the Minotaur was afraid.
Exactly my point Icarus. Look what happened to him.
Now lad if you could…just help me do up my wings.
A bit higher.
Is that right?
Perfect! We’re ready to fly.
Now, do like I said, face into the wind and move your arms slowly, or you’ll tire. Let the air do the work.
Father, I can feel it, my toes are barely touching the ground!
You’re doing well lad. Now remember not to fly too low or the water will clog the feathers and you’ll fall into the sea.
Am I flying Father, am I actually flying?
And one more thing: don’t go too high; if you get too close to the sun, Helios will scorch your wings!
Yes, but isn’t this tremendous, we are actually flying!
Icarus, listen to me; don’t get carried away. Now stay close behind me.
See the shepherds Father, they are cowering in fear; they think we’re gods!
Don’t mock the gods, boy!
Look at all the boats in the harbour below, like toys!
We need to head West whilst the…
We’ve escaped Father. We’re free; free as birds.
Icarus, enough, we need to fly straight, if we are to reach Sicily by nightfall.
That’s Lebynthos below, we’ve done well.
Don’t be so serious Father. Look, I can rise up just on the winds!
Icarus, stay close now.
I am like a god; I can touch the heavens!
Fool, do not get carried away.
I can see…
COME BACK DOWN HERE AT ONCE!
What’s happening Father? The feathers!
Icarus, no! You’re going to…
The wings, the wax, it’s melted!
What did I tell you!
Father, I can’t…
Wax and Feathers was written and edited by Simon Cornish @UnforgivingMuse | <urn:uuid:7b8a2270-b37b-4927-a368-49fc0619ada8> | {
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By measuring mass rather than volume, many problems associated with fluid expansion can be avoided. Most mass flow meter designs only satisfy specialized applications. Three classes of mass meter techniques can be found.
'Hybrid' meters use two meters, one measuring velocity and the other kinetic energy. Many possibilities exist, but most are specialized curiosities.
Two principles of 'Inferential' meters can be found, the most popular being the combination of a volume meter and a densitometer. This technique is popular and uses proven technology, but it suffers from the uncertainties associated with two measurements.
A critical flow (sonic) nozzle accelerates gas to the speed of sound within the nozzle. At this point, mass flow is proportional to the gas properties and upstream pressure. This provides very accurate measurement (and control) of mass flow of gas, albeit with a high pressure drop.
'True' mass meters utilize four principles. The first makes use of the momentum of the fluid by imparting swirl to the fluid, then the force generated by removing it is measured. A driven rotor followed by a fixed measuring rotor is one design example. Other momentum measuring techniques are also used.
The second principle uses Differential Pressure, usually produced by forcing unbalanced flow through Orifices or Venturis. Problems involving the provision of a steady unbalanced flow however allow very few practical flow meters.
Thermal meters measure the energy removed from a heated element. Heat loss and temperature rise techniques, although dependent on the heat capacity of fluids, provide good metering results, especially for low flows of gas.
The fourth true mass flow meter principle depends on the Coriolis force. This force is produced by a moving body subjected to an angular acceleration. In this case, the moving body is the flowing fluid while the angular acceleration is provided by a vibrating element oscillating within the fluid. The resulting Coriolis force reacts on the vibrating element in the same direction of the flow. This causes the vibrating element to bend slightly. This bending is detected by the resultant phase differences. Normally a tube is anchored at each end and vibrated in the center. Sensors between the anchors detect the phase difference, which is proportional to mass flow. Twin tubes increase noise rejection, and bending the tube into loops or a 'U' shape improves sensitivity. A computer provides control, makes corrections and calculates mass flow and density. Future designs may replace the vibrating tube with 'tuning fork arrangements.'
The Coriolis meter design is the first practical, accurate, true mass flow meter with a variety of uses for many different fluids. | <urn:uuid:57a442bb-b88b-4fa0-9960-b9a11e5edd15> | {
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Australia is home to more than a quarter of the world's shark and ray fauna. These species contribute to healthy oceans as top predators in the marine ecosystem, but many of them are declining. We provide knowledge and advice to help manage the many threats to shark and ray populations.
The facts about white sharks
Answers to the questions we are most often asked about white sharks, such as where they are, how many there are, how we tag and track them, and why they need protecting.
Protecting vulnerable white sharks
The white shark is listed as vulnerable and migratory under the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999.
Can white shark numbers be estimated?
There are no reliable estimates of white shark population sizes or trends in Australian waters.
Does berleying affect white shark behaviour?
Seal colonies regularly visited by white sharks can be ideal for shark viewing tourism. In Australia, white shark cage diving occurs only at the Neptune Islands Group Marine Park.
What is the purpose of shark nets?
Shark nets operate by entangling sharks that swim into them by chance.
What happens when sharks and people meet?
An understanding of shark movements and behaviour, however, is important to better understand the risk of encounters with sharks. Our research does not relate directly to shark attacks.
Where do white sharks go in Australian waters?
White sharks occur in coastal, shelf, and continental slope waters around Australia, from north-western Western Australia and south around the coast to central Queensland.
In collaboration with various partners and funding agencies, we’ve deployed some 250 electronic tags on 210 different white sharks since 2000 (some sharks are tagged with more than one type of electronic tag).
Our scientists are using genetic and statistical analyses, electronic tagging and aerial survey techniques to develop the first estimates of how many white sharks there are in Australia, and whether their numbers are rising or falling. | <urn:uuid:fc2baa36-3359-47aa-aac6-db40aac0a9cd> | {
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The majority of Atlantic Flyway waterfowl are raised in the Boreal Forest and Arctic of eastern Canada as well as in the Prairie Pothole Region, Great Lakes region, and northeastern United States. In the eastern survey area (eastern Ontario, Quebec, Atlantic Canada, Maine, and northern New York), the most common ducks (in order of abundance) were ring-necked ducks, black ducks, mallards, goldeneyes, mergansers, and green-winged teal. Among these species, populations of ring-necked ducks and goldeneyes were up significantly this year, while those of other species were similar to last year's estimates.
Approximately 1.28 million breeding ducks were surveyed in the northeastern United States from New Hampshire to Virginia, similar to last year's total of 1.31 million birds.
In Atlantic Canada, DU Canada Conservation Programs Specialist Nic McLellan reports that despite dry summer weather, typical waterfowl production is expected in this region. "Broods of many waterfowl species were observed on the landscape this summer. Water levels range from normal to slightly below normal, but the availability of wetland habitat remains good for waterfowl brood rearing. Based on long-range forecasts, water levels should remain average throughout the summer," McLellan says.
The outlook for Atlantic Flyway goose populations is mixed. While aerial breeding ground surveys of Atlantic Population Canada geese were not conducted in 2013, biologists expected these birds to have below-average gosling production, based on weather data observed on Quebec's Ungava Peninsula and along the Hudson Bay coast. Farther north, in the eastern Canadian Arctic, weather conditions were generally more favorable for breeding geese, and average production was expected among greater snow geese and Atlantic brant.
Forecast by Flyway:
Pacific Flyway | Central Flyway | Mississippi Flyway | Atlantic Flyway | <urn:uuid:4a743deb-488f-4c98-a8dc-db5af76f53e2> | {
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Natural Disasters: How to Help
Please Note: By clicking a link to any resource listed on this page, you will be leaving the TeensHealth site.
Emergency Preparedness and Response
This link contains information from the CDC on preparing for and handling a natural disaster or severe weather emergency. Events covered include tornadoes, earthquakes, landslides, wildfires, as well as severe heat and cold.
The Y also offers camps, computer classes, and community service opportunities in addition to fitness classes.
Save the Children
This non-profit organization works to create positive, lasting change for disadvantaged children in the United States and 41 other nations.
American Red Cross
The American Red Cross helps prepare communities for emergencies and works to keep people safe every day. The website has information on first aid, safety, and more.
Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA)
FEMA helps teach people how to get through a disaster.
UNICEF is a leading advocate for children's rights. | <urn:uuid:5ae3c30b-2e08-4bd5-8a49-472485f6adb6> | {
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A single mutation in one gene can trigger autoimmune arthritis in mice, according to research in this week's Nature (Vol. 426, No. 6965, 27 Nov 03; pp. 454-460). The study may help us to understand the causes and molecular mechanisms of some forms of human rheumatoid arthritis.
Shimon Sakaguchi and colleagues studied SKG mice, a strain of mice that spontaneously develop chronic arthritis. The animals have a mutation in the ZAP-70 gene that affects T-cell signalling. Reactive T cells that would normally be lost during development remain, triggering joint inflammation.
Rheumatoid arthritis afflicts about 1% of the world population. Four out of 160 human patients tested positive for similar mutations. This suggests that ZAP-70 mutations may trigger rheumatoid arthritis in 2.5% of cases. The cause of the disease at large remains unknown. The study highlights the complex nature of autoimmune diseases. Genetics and the environment are likely to contribute to disease progression, the authors speculate.
Kyoto University and RIKEN, Japan
Tel +81 7 5751 3888
(C) Nature press release.
Message posted by: Trevor M. D'Souza
Bookmark and Share this page (what is this?)
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Use the links below to share this article on the social bookmarking site of your choice.
Read more about social bookmarking at Wikipedia - Social Bookmarking | <urn:uuid:96c530d2-1a0e-42de-88b7-4612982df765> | {
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Smartphones could be charged in 60 seconds with new battery
Posted @ 4/7/2015 9:37 AM
An iPhone 6 takes around two hours to charge but could be full of power in a minute if fitted with a new aluminium battery
Read Original Article
While we continue to make great strides in technology, the power supporting our devices seems unable to keep up. Our batteries deplete throughout the day, then take hours to recharge. What good are our devices if they don't even power on? This may all be about to change, thanks to scientists at Stanford University. New battery technology, using aluminum batteries instead of lithium-ion, can recharge in less than a minute and withstand up to 7,500 charge cycles. Along with these benefits, the new batteries are also safer, and better for the environment. Currently, the batteries only produce half the voltage of lithium-ion batteries, but researchers say they expect to increase that over the next few years. | <urn:uuid:46c88f70-0f6b-4339-b504-750273ebf501> | {
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