text
stringlengths 198
630k
| id
stringlengths 47
47
| metadata
dict |
|---|---|---|
The 7th International Conference Buddhism & Australia
Chinese Buddhist Encyclopedia Illustrations
|Articles by alphabetic order|
|Please consider making little donation to help us expand the encyclopedia Donate Enjoy your readings here and have a wonderful day|
The Life of Siddhartha Gautama by Dr. C. George Boeree Shippensburg University
There was a small country in what is now southern Nepal that was ruled by a clan called the Shakyas. The head of this clan, and the king of this country, was named Shuddodana Gautama, and his wife was the beautiful Mahamaya. Mahamaya was expecting her first born. She had had a strange dream in which a baby elephant had blessed her with his trunk, which was understood to be a very auspicious sign to say the least.
As was the custom of the day, when the time came near for Queen Mahamaya to have her child, she traveled to her father's kingdom for the birth. But during the long journey, her birth pains began. In the small town of Lumbini, she asked her handmaidens to assist her to a nearby grove of trees for privacy. One large tree lowered a branch to her to serve as a support for her delivery. They say the birth was nearly painless, even though the child had to be delivered from her side. After, a gentle rain fell on the mother and the child to cleanse them.
It is said that the child was born fully awake. He could speak, and told his mother he had come to free all mankind from suffering. He could stand, and he walked a short distance in each of the four directions. Lotus blossoms rose in his footsteps. They named him Siddhartha, which means "he who has attained his goals." Sadly, Mahamaya died only seven days after the birth. After that Siddhartha was raised by his mother’s kind sister, Mahaprajapati.
King Shuddodana consulted Asita, a well-known sooth-sayer, concerning the future of his son. Asita proclaimed that he would be one of two things: He could become a great king, even an emperor. Or he could become a great sage and savior of humanity. The king, eager that his son should become a king like himself, was determined to shield the child from anything that might result in him taking up the religious life. And so Siddhartha was kept in one or another of their three palaces, and was prevented from experiencing much of what ordinary folk might consider quite commonplace. He was not permitted to see the elderly, the sickly, the dead, or anyone who had dedicated themselves to spiritual practices. Only beauty and health surrounded Siddhartha.
Siddhartha grew up to be a strong and handsome young man. As a prince of the warrior caste, he trained in the arts of war. When it came time for him to marry, he won the hand of a beautiful princess of a neighboring kingdom by besting all competitors at a variety of sports. Yashodhara was her name, and they married when both were 16 years old.
As Siddhartha continued living in the luxury of his palaces, he grew increasing restless and curious about the world beyond the palace walls. He finally demanded that he be permitted to see his people and his lands. The king carefully arranged that Siddhartha should still not see the kind of suffering that he feared would lead him to a religious life, and decried that only young and healthy people should greet the prince.
As he was lead through Kapilavatthu, the capital, he chanced to see a couple of old men who had accidentally wandered near the parade route. Amazed and confused, he chased after them to find out what they were. Then he came across some people who were severely ill. And finally, he came across a funeral ceremony by the side of a river, and for the first time in his life saw death. He asked his friend and squire Chandaka the meaning of all these things, and Chandaka informed him of the simple truths that Siddhartha should have known all along: That all of us get old, sick, and eventually die.
Siddhartha also saw an ascetic, a monk who had renounced all the pleasures of the flesh. The peaceful look on the monks face would stay with Siddhartha for a long time to come. Later, he would say this about that time:
When ignorant people see someone who is old, they are disgusted and horrified, even though they too will be old some day. I thought to myself: I don’t want to be like the ignorant people. After that, I couldn’t feel the usual intoxication with youth anymore.
When ignorant people see someone who is sick, they are disgusted and horrified, even though they too will be sick some day. I thought to myself: I don’t want to be like the ignorant people. After that, I couldn’t feel the usual intoxication with health anymore.
When ignorant people see someone who is dead, they are disgusted and horrified, even though they too will be dead some day. I thought to myself: I don’t want to be like the ignorant people. After than, I couldn’t feel the usual intoxication with life anymore. (AN III.39, interpreted)
At the age of 29, Siddhartha came to realize that he could not be happy living as he had been. He had discovered suffering, and wanted more than anything to discover how one might overcome suffering. After kissing his sleeping wife and newborn son Rahula goodbye, he snuck out of the palace with his squire Chandara and his favorite horse Kanthaka. He gave away his rich clothing, cut his long hair, and gave the horse to Chandara and told him to return to the palace. He studied for a while with two famous gurus of the day, but found their practices lacking.
He then began to practice the austerities and self-mortifications practiced by a group of five ascetics. For six years, he practiced. The sincerity and intensity of his practice were so astounding that, before long, the five ascetics became followers of Siddhartha. But the answers to his questions were not forthcoming. He redoubled his efforts, refusing food and water, until he was in a state of near death.
One day, a peasant girl named Sujata saw this starving monk and took pity on him. She begged him to eat some of her milk-rice. Siddhartha then realized that these extreme practices were leading him nowhere, that in fact it might be better to find some middle way between the extremes of the life of luxury and the life of self-mortification. So he ate, and drank, and bathed in the river. The five ascetics saw him and concluded that Siddhartha had given up the ascetic life and taken to the ways of the flesh, and left him.
In the town of Bodh Gaya, Siddhartha decided that he would sit under a certain fig tree as long as it would take for the answers to the problem of suffering to come. He sat there for many days, first in deep concentration to clear his mind of all distractions, then in mindfulness meditation, opening himself up to the truth. He began, they say, to recall all his previous lives, and to see everything that was going on in the entire universe. On the full moon of May, with the rising of the morning star, Siddhartha finally understood the answer to the question of suffering and became the Buddha, which means “he who is awake.”
It is said that Mara, the evil one, tried to prevent this great occurrence. He first tried to frighten Siddhartha with storms and armies of demons. Siddhartha remained completely calm. Then he sent his three beautiful daughters to tempt him, again to no avail. Finally, he tried to ensnare Siddhartha in his own ego by appealing to his pride. That, too, failed. Siddhartha, having conquered all temptations, touched the ground with one hand and asked the earth to be his witness.
Siddhartha, now the Buddha, remained seated under the tree -- which we call the bodhi tree -- for many days longer. It seemed to him that this knowledge he had gained was far too difficult to communicate to others. Legend has it that Brahma, king of the gods, convinced Buddha to teach, saying that some of us perhaps have only a little dirt in our eyes and could awaken if we only heard his story. Buddha agreed to teach.
At Sarnath near Benares, about one hundred miles from Bodh Gaya, he came across the five ascetics he had practiced with for so long. There, in a deer park, he preached his first sermon, which is called “setting the wheel of the teaching in motion.” He explained to them the Four Noble Truths and the Eightfold Path. They became his very first disciples and the beginnings of the Sangha or community of monks.
King Bimbisara of Magadha, having heard Buddha’s words, granted him a monastery near Rahagriha, his capital, for use during the rainy season. This and other generous donations permitted the community of converts to continue their practice throughout the years, and gave many more people an opportunity to hear the teachings of the Buddha.
Over time, he was approached by members of his family, including his wife, son, father, and aunt. His son became a monk and is particularly remembered in a sutra based on a conversation between father and son on the dangers of lying. His father became a lay follower. Because he was saddened by the departures of his son and grandson into the monastic life, he asked Buddha to make it a rule that a man must have the permission of his parents to become a monk. Buddha obliged him.
His aunt and wife asked to be permitted into the Sangha, which was originally composed only of men. The culture of the time ranked women far below men in importance, and at first it seemed that permitting women to enter the community would weaken it. But the Buddha relented, and his aunt and wife became the first Buddhist nuns.
The Buddha said that it didn’t matter what a person’s status in the world was, or what their background or wealth or nationality might be. All were capable of enlightenment, and all were welcome into the Sangha. The first ordained Buddhist monk, Upali, had been a barber, yet he was ranked higher than monks who had been kings, only because he had taken his vows earlier than they!
Buddha’s life wasn’t without disappointments. His cousin, Devadatta, was an ambitious man. As a convert and monk, he felt that he should have greater power in the Sangha. He managed to influence quite a few monks with a call to a return to extreme asceticism. Eventually, he conspired with a local king to have the Buddha killed and to take over the Buddhist community. Of course, he failed.
Buddha had achieved his enlightenment at the age of 35. He would teach throughout northeast India for another 45 years. When the Buddha was 80 years old, he told his friend and cousin Ananda that he would be leaving them soon. And so it came to be that in Kushinagara, not a hundred miles from his homeland, he ate some spoiled food and became very ill. He went into a deep meditation under a grove of sala trees and died. His last words were...
Impermanent are all created things;
Strive on with awareness. | <urn:uuid:90bc79cd-57d1-4b5a-91ab-e7c3e67c44d5> | {
"date": "2017-10-20T19:44:01",
"dump": "CC-MAIN-2017-43",
"file_path": "s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2017-43/segments/1508187824325.29/warc/CC-MAIN-20171020192317-20171020212317-00056.warc.gz",
"int_score": 3,
"language": "en",
"language_score": 0.990138828754425,
"score": 2.734375,
"token_count": 2433,
"url": "http://www.chinabuddhismencyclopedia.com/en/index.php/Siddhartha"
} |
February 6th, 2013
Lately, there’s been a lot of talk about STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics) education in our community. It’s not just the latest buzz word– data now shows that STEM learning helps our students to be more successful in college and as they enter the workforce, our citizens to find better paying jobs, and our country to compete on the global stage.
Did you know that the library provides opportunities for everyone in the community to expand their STEM knowledge? From after school and Summer Reading programs for children and teens, to Science Cafes and 24/7 access to 21st century technology, there’s something for everyone. Check out this amazing infographic from Edutopia to get a few ideas of just how big the STEM impact really is.
This Saturday, the Elkton Central Library will host In the Spirit of Ron McNair: Astronaut, American Hero. US Army Aerospace Engineer Mark Thomas will tell us more about one of the world’s first African American astronauts and the ill-fated Challenger mission in this special all-ages program, presented in conjunction with the Iota Nu Chapter of the Omega Psi Phi Service Fraternity.
Teens have the opportunity to explore basic science principles while participating in Valentine’s Day-themed activities and experiments at the Chesapeake City branch’s I Heart Science program on Tuesday, February 12th at 3:30pm, and teens at the Perryville branch will experiment with Food Scientists on Thursday, February 21st at 3pm. Be sure to check out the details on Cecilwood 2013, our annual short film festival where teens have the opportunity to create and produce a 5-minute film around the theme “In a Word.”
We’ll be celebrating National Engineering Week (February 17th-23rd) with some fun engineering programs for children on Wednesday, February 20th at 3:30pm, including LEGO Club Afternoon Fun at the Perryville Branch and a special challenge presented by engineers from the US Army Research Lab at APG. The Port Deposit branch will also host a LEGO Club on Saturday, February 9th at 11am. Look for more exciting LEGO programs throughout our branches this spring!
Be sure to mark your calendars for our next Science Café at 7pm on Tuesday, March 26th at the Elkton Central Library! Lynne Gartenhaus of Companions 4 Heroes will lead participants in a discussion of the science behind how the unconditional love of a pet can heal wounded veterans. Never been to a Science Café before? It’s a great opportunity for all members of the community to engage in discussions of STEM-related topics with local experts in an informal setting. | <urn:uuid:2e5de7de-151c-433d-8f85-ec69cfb33d8f> | {
"date": "2014-03-09T04:47:52",
"dump": "CC-MAIN-2014-10",
"file_path": "s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2014-10/segments/1393999673133/warc/CC-MAIN-20140305060753-00006-ip-10-183-142-35.ec2.internal.warc.gz",
"int_score": 3,
"language": "en",
"language_score": 0.9352240562438965,
"score": 2.8125,
"token_count": 554,
"url": "http://www.cecil.ebranch.info/blog/?tag=stem"
} |
Magnesium recipe & ingredients
Magnesium major sources, magnesium importance, magnesium effet of shortage, foods high in magnesium shared on page.
Major sources: Wholegrain cereals, wheatgerm, nuts and seeds, shrimps, winkles, okra, chard, soya beans, tofu and dried apricots. The absorption of magnesium is reduced when large amounts of calcium, protein or phosphate are eaten at the same time.
Importance: Mainly present in the bones and essential for their growth, magnesium is also needed in every cell and for the functioning of some of the enzymes required for energy use. It is also required for normal calcium function.
Effects of shortage: No signs at first, at magnesium is withdrawn from the bones for other uses. Later, shortage leads to muscle weakness, poor nerve-muscle interaction, lethargy, depression, irritability and, in extreme cases, heart attack. Some researchers believe that a low intake contributes to heart attacks, but this is not established.
Foods high in magnesium: Almonds, spinach, soybeans, cashews, avocados, potatoes, brown rice, sesame seeds, spearmint, watermelon seeds, pinenuts, sunflower seeds, dill, broccoli, okra, pumpkin seeds, brazil nuts, cacao, chives foods rich in magnesium.
You can look our other all minerals article too! | <urn:uuid:c2d0122a-169c-4f73-bcd9-9848305a9e90> | {
"date": "2019-06-25T18:34:26",
"dump": "CC-MAIN-2019-26",
"file_path": "s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2019-26/segments/1560627999876.81/warc/CC-MAIN-20190625172832-20190625194832-00376.warc.gz",
"int_score": 3,
"language": "en",
"language_score": 0.8782604932785034,
"score": 2.6875,
"token_count": 292,
"url": "https://saladrecipe.net/magnesium/"
} |
Recycling also helps create well-paying jobs in the United States. The Southeast Recycling Development Council determined in 2010 that over 200 key Southeastern manufacturers look to recycled feedstock to develop new consumer goods. These manufacturers collectively support more than 47,525 employees and see a sales volume towering more than $29.4 billion. In Georgia alone, over 120 businesses use recycled content in manufacturing new products. When communities invest in local recycling collection programs, they support local and regional manufacturers who depend on recycled materials to make new consumer goods and help contribute to our economy.
“When we reduce, reuse, and recycle materials, we are ensuring a strong economic and environmental future” said Stan Meiburg, Acting Regional Administrator for the Region 4 of the Environmental Protection Agency. “A sustainable approach to managing materials ensures a better future for generations to come.”
EPA also estimates 35- 45% of the 250 million tons of municipal waste is generated at the workplace. This is a great opportunity for increasing recycling. The Georgia Recycling Coalition is promoting the new Keep America Beautiful initiative: Recycling at Work (www.recyclingatwork.org). The program is designed to increase recycling in the workplace by asking these entities to pledge to strive for a 10% increase over two years for recycling beverage containers, paper and cardboard, electronics and other recyclable materials generated in the workplace through a variety of actions. An array of resources and incentives are provided to those who take the pledge and participate.
"Atlanta has embraced America Recycles Day, today and every day,” said Abbey Patterson, Atlanta Recycles Executive Director. “With the City's aggressive recycling goals, Atlanta Recycles has developed a toolbox to help citizens and businesses alike to recycle where they live, work and play. Information about starting a program or enhancing a recycling program at your home, work or dining venue can be found at www.AtlantaRecycles.com."
Recycling conserves natural resources and prevents pollution by reducing the need to collect new materials. This helps save energy and reduces greenhouse gas emissions that contribute to climate change. Americans create 250 million tons of trash a year, recycling 34 percent of it. A large portion of the country’s trash that ends up in landfills can be recycled or composted. Our recycling and composting efforts in 2011 saved enough energy to power 10 million households for a year, and eliminated the equivalent of the annual emissions of 34 million passenger vehicles on our roads.
Recycling items such as cans, bottles, and paper are just the first step to making a difference. This America Recycles Day, consider getting involved in your community to help make an impact on the environment and those around you. Holding an electronics recycling drive, starting a free community tool-shed to share tools, or donating wholesome food and unwanted items to those in need are just some ways you can give back to your community while preventing precious materials from ending up in a landfill.
For ideas on what you can do: www.epa.gov/waste/wycd
For more information on reducing, reusing, and recycling: www.epa.gov/recycle
Find or hold an America Recycles Day event near you: www.americarecyclesday.org
Connect with EPA Region 4 on Facebook: www.facebook.com/eparegion4
And on Twitter: @USEPASoutheast | <urn:uuid:48905ec2-6a6f-4bdd-aa80-3ae4936e3234> | {
"date": "2014-07-26T16:09:29",
"dump": "CC-MAIN-2014-23",
"file_path": "s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2014-23/segments/1405997902579.5/warc/CC-MAIN-20140722025822-00032-ip-10-33-131-23.ec2.internal.warc.gz",
"int_score": 3,
"language": "en",
"language_score": 0.9156059622764587,
"score": 2.8125,
"token_count": 709,
"url": "http://yosemite.epa.gov/opa/admpress.nsf/d0cf6618525a9efb85257359003fb69d/0f9a6996c5045b0f85257c23006fb250!OpenDocument"
} |
According to the Gospel of Matthew (2:1-16), the wise men or Magi followed a star to the birth place of Christ. It was written that they were from the east and that they brought three gifts to Christ; gold, frankincense, and myrrh. Since there were three gifts, it has been inferred that there were three Magi.
In Latin tradition dating from the seventh century,(from a greek manuscript) their names are given as Gaspar (or Caspar/Jasper), Melchior and Balthasar. According to one tradition, the Magi were baptized by the Apostle Thomas, and became bishops. The Church commemorates the Magi as saints; the Eastern feast day of the Magi is December 25.
There are numerous variations of the names of the Magi in Greek, but the most common variation is for the name Gaspar which in Greek is Γιάσπερος (Iasperos) which is Anglicized as Jasper.
Star of Bethlehem
In the Orthodox Church, the Star of Bethlehem is not interpreted as an astronomical event, but rather as a supernatural occurrence, whereby an angel was sent by God to lead the Magi to the Christ Child. This is illustrated in the Troparion of the Nativity:
Apolytikion: (Fourth Tone)
Your birth, O Christ our God,O Lord, glory to You.
dawned the light of knowledge upon the earth.
For by Your birth those who adored stars (i.e. Magi)
were taught by a star
to worship You, the Sun of Justice,
and to know You, Orient from on High.
In Orthodox icons, the Star of Bethlehem is often depicted not as golden, but as a dark aureola, a semicircle at the top of the icon, indicating the Uncreated Light of Divine grace, with a ray pointing to "the place where the young child lay" (Matt 2:9). Sometimes the faint image of an angel is drawn inside the aureola.
- "Hymns of the Feast". Feast of the Nativity of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America. 2009.
- Drum, W. (1910). Magi. In: The Catholic Encyclopedia (New Advent). New York: Robert Appleton Company. | <urn:uuid:6e1a7a63-5e43-497d-99b7-c3dd9f02b36e> | {
"date": "2016-07-25T08:36:35",
"dump": "CC-MAIN-2016-30",
"file_path": "s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-30/segments/1469257824217.36/warc/CC-MAIN-20160723071024-00208-ip-10-185-27-174.ec2.internal.warc.gz",
"int_score": 3,
"language": "en",
"language_score": 0.9549506306648254,
"score": 3.390625,
"token_count": 494,
"url": "https://orthodoxwiki.org/index.php?title=Magi&direction=prev&oldid=97014"
} |
Compacfoam is a thermoplastic foam based on polysterene, a polymer with a density ranging from 100 to 400 kg/m3. Its physical and chemical structure corresponds entirely to that of the more familiar expanded polysterene (EPS).
Tiny closed-cell foam balls of less than a millimetre in diameter are welded thermically into a compact block by their cell walls.
Compacfoam’s innovation was to improve the performance of this well-established technology, allowing it to reach considerably higher densities. This results in unique material properties combined with the safety of a time-tested and proven material.
How to use Compacfoam
Compacfoam is used where characteristics such as
- high strength
- good insulation
- good workability, ductility
- threadability / bondability
- and lightweight
Structural elements that avoid cold bridges in construction engineering represent one large field of application.
- highly resistant and strong insulation bearings that support and insulate stressed structural elements such as concrete components, staircases, ceilings, steel consoles, etc.
- elements used in the cold-bridge-free installation of railings, marquees, AC-units on roofs, windows, facade parts, etc. in all the insulated areas of exterior walls.
Also, Compacfoam delivers components for lightweight constructions in those industrial applications where high strength and good workability at low weight are essential.
- core material for composite panels in furniture construction
- composite components for aircraft and shipbuilding
- components in window construction
A large new field of application are the components for cold storage cells and cold storage warehouses, the efficiency of which can be greatly increased with no need for expensive special solutions by simply avoiding the formation of heat bridges.
- cold storage floor systems with excellent insulation properties at minimum structural heights
- substructure of insulated door sills that are accessible by vehicle
- mounting elements | <urn:uuid:da4c7172-aea5-4a58-96bd-26d2f88d7566> | {
"date": "2018-02-21T20:58:52",
"dump": "CC-MAIN-2018-09",
"file_path": "s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2018-09/segments/1518891813803.28/warc/CC-MAIN-20180221202619-20180221222619-00456.warc.gz",
"int_score": 3,
"language": "en",
"language_score": 0.9154691696166992,
"score": 2.625,
"token_count": 400,
"url": "https://www.frontale.de/en/ausstellerprodukte/fenst18/product-9926800/compacfoam"
} |
Rich and poor countries are still unprepared for many threats posed by climate change and extreme weather, a United Nations assessment of global warming will warn.
Scientific authors and government representatives from around the world have spent the weekend negotiating the final text of the report by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change at a meeting in Yokohama, Japan.
Several leaked drafts of the report indicate the panel will warn that observed impacts of climate change are substantial. The drafts say changes in climate have already affected all continents and the oceans.
The drafts also identify significant risks - and limited benefits - in coming decades as the planet warms and weather becomes more extreme. The risks include death and injury in low-lying coastal communities, extreme heat and food insecurity.
The final report, the first of its kind since 2007, will be released on Monday morning with the wording of the key 29-page summary almost certain to change from the leaked draft versions. The report is the second part of the IPCC's fifth big assessment of climate change.
Key projections in the leaked drafts, including a March 25 version, include impacts on hundreds of millions of people of coastal flooding; crop reduction; and trillions of dollars in global economic losses.
The draft stresses that climate change risks become much greater with continued high emissions of greenhouse gases than if ambitious action is taken to cut them, saying ''unchecked emissions increase the likelihood of severe and pervasive impacts that may be irreversible or unanticipated''.
The draft also says the impact of recent climate-related extremes, such as heatwaves, droughts and floods, reveal significant vulnerability of some ecosystems and many human systems.
''For countries at all income levels these impacts are consistent with a significant lack of preparedness for current climate variability in some sectors,'' the draft says.
The draft stresses that ''adaptation'' work, to adjust to the climate change, can help build a richer and more resilient world.
Professor Jean Palutikof, director of the National Climate Change Adaptation Research Facility, said Australia had the money and experience to adapt to many aspects of climate change, but there was a risk it would not be realised. Key areas were coastal flooding threats, increased biosecurity and bushfire risks from climate change.
Some senior scientists fear a contraction of national climate adaptation research, pointing to a recent decision by CSIRO to close a dedicated flagship (high-priority research project) on the issue. CSIRO spokesman Huw Morgan said adaptation research would continue to have a significant profile at the organisation.
NCCARF was saved from the scrapheap by the Abbott government, albeit with reduced funding of $9 million for three years. It was asked by the government to focus on coastal flooding, with a spokesman for Environment Minister Greg Hunt saying it was ''because there is a lack of a consistent national approach''.
Professor Palutikof said Australia had been a leader in climate change adaptation research but with the closure of the CSIRO flagship and other losses it risked falling behind.
Associate Professor Richard Eckard, director of the Primary Industries Climate Challenges Centre, said industry had neither the capacity nor interest in always doing adaptation research, and without a national approach Australia risked missing out on the gains and protections climate change adaptation measures would provide. | <urn:uuid:a690e7a0-c844-4ff5-8fd9-70643ae05515> | {
"date": "2015-06-30T03:49:25",
"dump": "CC-MAIN-2015-27",
"file_path": "s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2015-27/segments/1435375091587.3/warc/CC-MAIN-20150627031811-00126-ip-10-179-60-89.ec2.internal.warc.gz",
"int_score": 3,
"language": "en",
"language_score": 0.9562409520149231,
"score": 2.984375,
"token_count": 660,
"url": "http://www.smh.com.au/national/leaked-un-report-warns-of-climate-change-risks-20140330-35ruv.html?rand=1396223102445"
} |
The instrument to the right is called a viol. Introduced into England early in the sixteenth century, the viola da gamba--a fretted instrument of six strings played with a boy--became extremely popular among both professional and amateur musicians. Audiences enjoyed the shimmering sounds produced by the instrument and it was also relatively easy to learn. Viols were the staple of domestic music-making.
In the nineteenth century, viols were often converted into violins, violas or cellos, with new necks, fingerboards, pegboxes, and scrolls suitable for four strings.
Follows the links below to make your own musical instruments:
To make a Rubber Band Box Guitar, click here .
To make Tube Horns, click here .
To make a Styrocello, click here .
Click here to continue to the next activity.
Click here to return to the main games and activities page. | <urn:uuid:fa2bc74f-4548-40f5-9153-08181e73c29e> | {
"date": "2014-10-26T02:57:07",
"dump": "CC-MAIN-2014-42",
"file_path": "s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2014-42/segments/1414119654194.47/warc/CC-MAIN-20141024030054-00028-ip-10-16-133-185.ec2.internal.warc.gz",
"int_score": 4,
"language": "en",
"language_score": 0.9456959366798401,
"score": 3.609375,
"token_count": 189,
"url": "http://www.folger.edu/template.cfm?cid=2082"
} |
Parashat Ki Tavo
Love Is Not The Opposite Of Hate; Law Is
Law is essential to Judaism, establishing an external set of moral guidelines.
Provided by the Ziegler School of Rabbinic Studies, which ordains Conservative rabbis at the American Jewish University.
Human beings never seem able to express all their hatred for each other. Men and women war against each other; blacks and whites, gay and straight, liberals and conservatives, city-folk and suburbanites--there is no end to stereotypes, hostility and mistrust. In response to this propensity to hate, Nobel laureate Elie Weisel organized an international conference on hate in Oslo, Norway. The glittering list of invited participants included four presidents, and 70 writers, scientists and academics.
The two questions which shaped their deliberations were, "Why do people hate?" and "Why do people band together to express hatred?" Although the speeches were beautiful and the resolutions were firm, the entire event was fairly predictable, except for their primary conclusion, which seems so at odds with common sense. Ask anyone what the opposite of hate is, and they will tell you it's love. But the consensus of these most accomplished, powerful and thoughtful people was that, "Only the belief in and execution of the law can defeat hatred."
In other words, the opposite of hate is law. The Prime Minister of Norway even bolstered that claim by quoting from the statesman/philosopher Edmund Burke (18th century England) that, "When bad men combine, the good must associate, else they will fall one by one." While this insight might be news to the largely-Christian west, it merely confirms the age-old conviction of Judaism that law is the indispensable expression of love and decency. A people abandons law at the peril of their own character, justice and survival.
The Need for Law
Our Torah portion understands that need for law, for mitzvot, insisting that, "The Lord your God commands you this day to observe these laws and rules; observe them faithfully with all your heart and soul." Why is law essential to Judaism? Without clear standards of communal behavior and individual rectitude, each person is forced to fall back on their own sense of right and wrong. Without external guidelines, that sense can all too easily become simply a way to excuse ones own predilections and to overlook one's own weakness.
Halakhah (Jewish Law) provides a "second opinion," integrating the claims of conscience with the will of God and the wisdom of the sages. In addition to establishing a context for moral decision, halakhah also allows for communal cohesion. Without a binding structure for maintaining consensus, Judaism rapidly dissolves into a combination of nostalgia, good intentions and contemporary politics. No longer able to hold together a people, each individual fashions their own faith out of the inherited remains of the past, and then everybody calls their own hodgepodge, "Judaism."
Did you like this article? MyJewishLearning is a not-for-profit organization. | <urn:uuid:579733fd-44c5-4204-8005-1ef24be84088> | {
"date": "2014-10-21T02:12:12",
"dump": "CC-MAIN-2014-42",
"file_path": "s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2014-42/segments/1413507443869.1/warc/CC-MAIN-20141017005723-00218-ip-10-16-133-185.ec2.internal.warc.gz",
"int_score": 3,
"language": "en",
"language_score": 0.9568151831626892,
"score": 2.9375,
"token_count": 624,
"url": "http://myjewishlearning.com/texts/Bible/Weekly_Torah_Portion/kitavo_artson5762.shtml"
} |
Britain creates world's largest marine reserve
Protected area includes the Chagos Islands and the area that surrounds them, about a quarter of a million square miles of ocean.
Thu, Apr 01, 2010 at 05:41 PM
PROTECTION NEEDED: Shark poaching in the Chagos Islands is one of many threats. (Photo: MRAG)
Britain announced today its creation of the world’s largest marine reserve, a move that will protect the Indian Ocean’s Chagos Islands and the quarter of a million square miles of waters that surround them. The Chagos Islands, which have belonged to Britain since 1814, provide a safe haven for dwindling populations of sea turtles and more than 175,000 pairs of breeding sea birds, as well as an extraordinary diversity of deep water habitats. The creation of this Marine Protected Area (MPA) in the British Indian Ocean Territory will include bans on commercial fishing, coral collection, and the hunting of turtles.
Foreign Secretary David Miliband, who announced the creation of the reserve, stated that the “territory offers great scope for research in all fields of oceanography, biodiversity and many aspects of climate change,” and some supporters have claimed that it will become as important for research as the Great Barrier Reef or Galapagos Islands. The Chagos Islands and their surrounding waters cover an area that is twice the size of the U.K., and pollution levels in the water and marine life found there are remarkably low, making the region an appropriate global reference baseline that is ideal for study.
Conservation groups and scientists have welcomed the British government’s move to protect these waters, which contain the world’s largest coral reef structure, and are home to 220 species of corals and more than 1,000 species of reef fish.
While marine scientists and conservationists are celebrating the move to protect the rich diversity of life found in the Chagos, native Chagossians, who were exiled 40 years ago to enable construction of a U.S. military base, are decrying the decision. Chagos refugee groups are accusing Britain of creating this protected area partly in an attempt to prevent Chagossians from ever returning home. About 1,700 U.S. military personnel, 1,500 civilian contractors, and about 50 British personnel currently inhabit Diego Garcia, the primary island in the Chagos archipelago, while the remaining 4,000 native islanders are scattered throughout a diaspora that includes the U.K. and Mauritius.
Miliband anticipated this response from the displaced Chagossians, saying, “the creation of the MPA will not change the UK's commitment to cede the Territory to Mauritius when it is no longer needed for defense purposes.” | <urn:uuid:61831358-5105-48db-8049-16e14e7d6069> | {
"date": "2015-05-27T22:19:22",
"dump": "CC-MAIN-2015-22",
"file_path": "s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2015-22/segments/1432207929171.55/warc/CC-MAIN-20150521113209-00319-ip-10-180-206-219.ec2.internal.warc.gz",
"int_score": 3,
"language": "en",
"language_score": 0.9345041513442993,
"score": 3.4375,
"token_count": 566,
"url": "http://www.mnn.com/earth-matters/wilderness-resources/stories/britain-creates-worlds-largest-marine-reserve"
} |
by liberal japonicus
Fun weekend at the LJ house. Looking at Xu Bing's artwork, a modern Chinese artist who has constantly wrestled with the relationship between words and the world, and came across this. Before I explain, see if you can read it. (explanation below the fold)
Square Word Calligraphy by David B Kelley
Article 1 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights
All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. They are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood.
Huh? Xu Bing came up with a calligraphy for English letters and each word is made into a single character. From http://www.xubing.com/index.php/site/texts/xu_bings_square_work_calligraphy/
When Xu Bing exhibits Square Word Calligraphy, he installs a calligraphy classroom in the art gallery, with the aim of introducing visitors to a world previously considered too obscure and elitist to bear trespassing by the uninitiated (figure 12). Desks set for use with Square Word Calligraphy copy books, ink stones, brushes, and other writing utensils fill the gallery. When visitors take up the brush and begin working on a page of the red-line copy book, the process of demystifying Chinese calligraphy begins. Eventually, when they realize that they are writing English language nursery rhymes rather than unfathomable excerpts from the Chinese classics, they realize it is not necessary to feel intimidated by Chinese calligraphy.
The illustration is from the Omniglot page about Square Word Calligraphy
David's version of Square Word Calligraphy differs from the original system by creating a different set of symbols from the 214 radicals, thus forming a different Sino-Roman alphabet. David's alphabet uses different symbols because he thought that ten of Xu Bing's original Sino-Roman alphabetic symbols could be improved by replacing them with more Chinese-like ones, specifically the symbols for "A", "D", "E", "H", "K', "M", "Q", "R", "V" and "Z". David's goal is to aim for a more consistently Chinese-like appearance to SWC words.
Both Xu Bing's and David's versions initially appear indecipherable to English speakers; however, once they see the alphabet chart, they can read everything easily. Yet, many people say they feel really strange because of the sudden complete awareness of comprehension, after being so sure it was unreadable. Use the Sino-Roman alphabet chart below and see for yourself whether you can read the example text, and how quickly.
One thing that was mentioned in some of the accounts of Xu Bing's work in general was that some Chinese felt offended by Xu Bing's art, because he seems to be poking fun at Chinese history and learning. My (Japanese) wife, interestingly, had a similar reaction, and wasn't too pleased that my daughters and I were writing our names and any other English words that came to mind as Square Word Calligraphy. Fun stuff. | <urn:uuid:b4bd00cd-7416-4dba-959f-45416131957b> | {
"date": "2014-11-01T06:46:33",
"dump": "CC-MAIN-2014-42",
"file_path": "s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2014-42/segments/1414637904722.39/warc/CC-MAIN-20141030025824-00067-ip-10-16-133-185.ec2.internal.warc.gz",
"int_score": 3,
"language": "en",
"language_score": 0.9594195485115051,
"score": 2.578125,
"token_count": 649,
"url": "http://obsidianwings.blogs.com/obsidian_wings/2012/12/can-you-read-this.html"
} |
product description page
13 Skyscrapers Children Should Know (Hardcover) (Brad Finger)
about this item
This newest addition to Prestel's acclaimedseries, which introduces children to importantworks of art and architecture, takes youngreaders around the world to investigate howtall buildings are constructed and what makesthem so appealing. There's something irresistible about a skyscraper. It can reshapean entire city skyline, and from the building's top floors, peoplecan see the world from a different perspective. Travellingfrom New York City to Dubai, from London to Shanghai, andfrom Kuala Lumpur to Chicago, this colorful book featuresdouble-page spreads for each of the skyscrapers it profiles.Each chapter includes photographs, information on thebuilding's architect and history, and interesting facts about itsconstruction and use. For instance, why is the Chrysler Buildingso admired, even though it doesn't stand nearly as tall as otherskyscrapers? How do you measure the height of a building andhow do you make sure it doesn't topple over in strong winds?How has skyscraper technology changed from the steel frameskeletons that supported the earliest towers to the advancedcomputer programs that are now needed to design buildingsmore than 100 stories high? How has city life changed sincethe first skyscrapers were built? Written in a style that will drawin young readers, this fascinating tour of the world's tallestbuildings will satisfy even the most curious minds. | <urn:uuid:cbe458dc-f292-447a-b5db-e16c819a2e95> | {
"date": "2018-04-26T12:01:50",
"dump": "CC-MAIN-2018-17",
"file_path": "s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2018-17/segments/1524125948126.97/warc/CC-MAIN-20180426105552-20180426125552-00416.warc.gz",
"int_score": 3,
"language": "en",
"language_score": 0.9298914074897766,
"score": 2.640625,
"token_count": 299,
"url": "https://www.target.com/p/13-skyscrapers-children-should-know-hardcover-brad-finger/-/A-50951091"
} |
South Africa is to unveil plans this week for what it claims will be the world's biggest solar power plant – a radical step in a coal-dependent country where one in six people still lacks electricity.
The project, expected to cost up to 200bn rand (£18.42bn), would aim by the end of its first decade to achieve an annual output of five gigawatts (GW) of electricity - currently one-tenth of South Africa's energy needs.
Giant mirrors and solar panels would be spread across the Northern Cape province, which the government says is among the sunniest 3% of regions in the world with minimal cloud or rain.
The government hopes the solar park will help reduce carbon emissions from Africa's biggest economy, which is still more than 90% dependent on coal-fired power stations. In April, the World Bank came in for sharp criticism from environmentalists for approving a $3.75bn (£2.37bn) loan to build one of the world's largest coal-fired power plants in the country.
Energy is already a high priority in South Africa where, at the end of racial apartheid, less than 40% of households had electricity. Over 16 years the governing African National Congress has undertaken a huge national expansion, with a recent survey showing that 83% are now connected, but power outages are still not uncommon in both townships and middle-class suburbs.
An estimated 200 foreign and domestic investors will meet this week in Upington, Northern Cape, with a view to funding the hugely ambitious solar project. A master plan will be set out by the US engineering and construction group Fluor. This follows a viability study by the Clinton Climate Initiative, which described South Africa's "solar resource" as among the best in the world.
Jonathan de Vries, the project manager, said today: "I'd hate to make a large claim but yes, this would be the biggest solar park in the world."
De Vries said the park, costing 150-200bn rand, would aim to be contributing to the national grid by the end of 2012. In the initial phase it would produce 1,000 megawatts, or 1GW, using a mix of the latest solar technologies.
An initial 9,000 hectares of state-owned land have been earmarked for the park, with further sites in the "solar corridor" being explored.
De Vries, a special adviser to the energy minister, said the Northern Cape had been chosen for insolation readings (a measure of solar energy) that rank among the highest in the world. "It hardly ever rains, it hardly has clouds. It's even better than the Sahara desert because it doesn't have sandstorms."
The Orange River would provide water for the facilities, he added, while existing power transmission lines would be closer than for similar projects such as in Australia.
Northern Cape, which contains the historic diamond-rush town, Kimberley, is South Africa's biggest province and one of its poorest. But it is hoped that the park would create a "solar hub" and regenerate the local economy with fresh opportunities in manufacturing.
South Africa currently consumes 45-48GW of power per year. It is estimated this will double over the next 25 years. "In South Africa over 90% of our power comes from the burning of coal and we need to reduce this because of our international obligations on climate change," de Vries said.
"If this proves to be cost competitive with coal and nuclear, the government will roll out more solar parks. This is a very bold attempt."
He added: "Solar power isn't a panacea that will cure all but it's a part of the solution, and a very important part. There are zones in the world that are ideally suited to it, often those with low population density." | <urn:uuid:29417009-dbc3-4c57-8c80-398a629bd168> | {
"date": "2015-03-02T12:48:59",
"dump": "CC-MAIN-2015-11",
"file_path": "s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2015-11/segments/1424936462762.87/warc/CC-MAIN-20150226074102-00287-ip-10-28-5-156.ec2.internal.warc.gz",
"int_score": 3,
"language": "en",
"language_score": 0.960675835609436,
"score": 2.84375,
"token_count": 780,
"url": "http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2010/oct/25/south-africa-solar-power-plant"
} |
The National Council of Juvenile and Family Court Judges issued a technical assistance brief: Seven Things Juvenile Courts Should Know About Learning Disabilities, that is helpful for all who are involved in the juvenile system. The seven things are:
- The definition of a learning disability under federal law: “a disorder in one or more of the basic psychological processes involved in understanding or in using language, spoken or written, that may manifest itself in an imperfect ability to listen, think, speak, read, write, spell, or do mathematical calculations.”
- Youth with learning disabilities are more likely to be involved in the juvenile justice system.
- No one knows for sure why youth with learning disabilities are overrepresented in the justice system (though researchers are working on it).
- There are laws to protect the rights of youth with learning disabilities.
- Youth with identified learning disabilities are entitled to receive special consideration in schools and court.
- The juvenile justice system can and should coordinate with the school system throughout a youth’s adjudication process.
- There are strategies that the juvenile justice system can use with youth with learning disabilities.
One of the suggested strategies for intake/probation personnel include implementing an initial learning disability screening tool for children who do not have an existing Individual Education Plan (IEP), but for whom a learning disability is suspected. A suggested tool is the Children’s Nonverbal Learning Disabilities Scale by David B. Goldstein. If the parent completes the tool and there are deficiencies noted in motor-skills, visual-spatial skills,and interpersonal skills, a referral to a neuropsychologist may be appropriate for a more in-depth evaluation. For an overview of Nonverbal Learning Disabilities, see this article from the New York University, School of Medicine, Child Study Center. Additional resources about nonverbal learning disabilities are available here. | <urn:uuid:05993a86-9152-4f33-9472-0ec33fe0d91d> | {
"date": "2019-01-16T00:02:54",
"dump": "CC-MAIN-2019-04",
"file_path": "s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2019-04/segments/1547583656530.8/warc/CC-MAIN-20190115225438-20190116011438-00056.warc.gz",
"int_score": 4,
"language": "en",
"language_score": 0.9203494191169739,
"score": 3.765625,
"token_count": 380,
"url": "https://indianajuvenilejustice.com/2014/02/12/seven-things-juvenile-court-participants-should-know-about-learning-disabilities/"
} |
12 December 1995
The Australian: Renewable Energy
Networks could generate cure for global crisis
By James Compton
A SUSTAINABLE solution to the world's energy crisis should include grid technology or linking generators to networks combined with generating power from renewable resources, according to an international non-government organization.
The vice-president of Brisbane based Global Energy Network International. Dr. Edwards believes that although renewable energy is being assessed as a necessary viable alternative to fossil fuels decision makers are missing the big picture.
Dr. Edwards said there was a fundamental explanation for the lack of an overview when considering the energy needs of a projected world population of eight billion in 2020. "Environmentalists, development organizations and energy producers all have different perspectives — there are not many people looking at it from an integrated quality-of-life angle." he said.
The concept for GENI emerged in 1986 when the president and founder, Mr. Peter Meisen, came across the work of American philosopher and architect of the geodesic dome, R. Buckminster Fuller.
Fuller's book, Critical Path posed the question of how to raise the world's standard of living without disadvantaging anyone and without destroying the planet. His solution was to develop a worldwide electricity network but two years after presenting his concepts to the United Nations in 1969, it was put in the too hard basket.
When Mr. Meisen examined Fuller's thesis, he was struck by its undeniable logic and subsequently has garnered enough support to continue FUller's research. GENI was set up under charter in the US in 1991 and is a United Nations accredited NGO.
Dr. Edwards attended the World ENergy Council Congress in Tokyo in October and the Distribution 2000 conference in Brisbane last month. Mr. Meisen, an engineer, was at the State of the World Forum in San Francisco in October, attended by the likes of former Soviet president Mr. Mikhail Gorbachev and former United States Secretary of State Mr. James Baker.
To achieve GENI's objectives, Mr. Meisen and Dr. Edwards believe the world needs a quantifiable assessment of the economic political and environmental costs of networking renewable energy resources.
"Renewable energy is being assessed but it's very fragmented." Dr. Edwards said. "
According to Dr. Edwards, there are two levels of assessing the energy crisis: generation of energy and networking of the electricity produced. He argues that generating renewable energy from wind, sun, tides, geothermal sources and biomass can only become a viable alternative if the sources are linked efficiently into a network.
"The network gets the electricity from where it can be produced efficiently to where the people want to work and live. You can't have one without the other: networks of generators are important both on a local scale and worldwide, where the interconnected networks form the grid system."
At the Brisbane conference, Dr. Edwards was impressed that distributors realized they had the technology at their fingertips to enable small renewable sources to feed on to and take from the grid.
A big stumbling block in the past has been reliably linking small renewable energy generators to a network. "What we need is a stable grid so we can get power when we want it, not when the wind's blowing, or the sun is shining, or there's enough water in the dams, or when the crops are being harvested." he said. "By networking together multiple generators you then increase reliability."
Networking allows generators to be run at optimum efficiency. When a generator feeds a reliable output, it is not being overtaxed and its output is not being wasted.
"By having a grid system it actually decreases the total amount of electricity-generating capacity you need just to meet your demands," Dr. Edwards said.
Efficient grid technology would allow more small, medium and what Dr. Edwards calls "appropriately sited" large-scale renewable sources of energy to come into play.
Vested interests in the traditional fossil fuel economy are still hindering the implementation of renewable alternatives. Research and development of cleaner, more efficient methods of burning coal, oil and natural gas may be a worthy cause, but it obscures the real problem of developing a sustainable energy system. | <urn:uuid:0352c000-cb8e-4431-a580-317c2055b360> | {
"date": "2018-05-22T02:34:56",
"dump": "CC-MAIN-2018-22",
"file_path": "s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2018-22/segments/1526794864622.33/warc/CC-MAIN-20180522014949-20180522034949-00616.warc.gz",
"int_score": 3,
"language": "en",
"language_score": 0.9543680548667908,
"score": 2.765625,
"token_count": 850,
"url": "https://www.geni.org/globalenergy/library/media_coverage/the-australian/global-crisis/index.shtml"
} |
In May The Oxford Centre for Comparative Criticism and Translation, and St Anne’s College hosted a discussion between two of the best-known novelists writing in Spanish today, Javier Cercas and Juan Gabriel Vásquez. Beginning as an introduction to their recent publications, the conversation evolved into an exciting reflection on the role of storytelling in a post-truth age…
Javier Cercas gave an insight into his 2014 novel, El Impostor (The Impostor), which tells the story of Enric Marco Battle, a trade unionist who became famous in Spain as a survivor of the concentration camps Mauthausen and Flossenbürg. Battle became a spokesperson for Spanish survivors of the Holocaust and was a prominent voice against Fascism. However, in 2005 it was revealed that Battle had deceived the public about his experience of the war and had never been held in a concentration camp. He was, in effect, an impostor.
Vásquez introduced his 2015 novel, La forma de las ruinas (The Shape of the Ruins), which traces two political assassinations in Colombia’s history: that of General Rafael Uribe Uribe, a senator and civil war veteran killed in 1914; and that of Jorge Eliécer Gaitán, a leader of the Liberal party and presidential candidate at the time of his murder in 1948. Vásquez’s novel includes a character called Carlos Carballo, a conspiracy theorist who believes the two crimes are linked, not only to one another, but also to the assassinations of John and Robert Kennedy.
Both novels, then, might to some degree be considered historical fiction, taking their storylines from history but marrying this with the imagination to create a version of the past that is closer to what we might expect from fiction. However, the two writers use their novels to problematise this genre, questioning the role fiction can play in an era of alternative facts.
The writers consider the figure of the fantasist, asking what motivates a fantasist to invent alternative scenarios and why such figures are believed. This begs the question, is the novelist a kind of fantasist? And if you can have a factual novel, what is it that makes it a novel, a work of the imagination?
Vásquez suggests that fantasists are fascinated by stories, by creating narrative out of the past as a way to meet their personal objectives. They are detectives of a kind, and the novel is a means of probing reality and humanity. As Ford Madox Ford said, the novel is a ‘medium of profoundly serious investigation into the human case.’ Cercas, meanwhile, draws a distinction between the different fantasists presented in the two novels: on the one hand, Battle, who distorts history to amplify or falsify his own role within it; on the other, Carballo, who cannot accept that history doesn’t make sense and is ‘a tale told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing’ (a reference to Shakespeare’s Macbeth), and therefore looks endlessly for connections in an effort to find the meaning in history.
What do both fantasists tell us about our relationship to narratives of the past though? Perhaps that history becomes more palatable when it is presented in the form of a story. Between the lack of a story and a lie, we prefer the lie and, to go a step further, when we are dealing with the worst elements of history, we try to mask it with narrative.It is for this reason, Cercas suggests, that General Charles de Gaulle aimed to convince French people that they had all been ‘résistants’ during the war, for, he said, ‘Les Français n’ont pas besoin de la vérité’ [French people do not need the truth].
In the current climate, we find other words for lying, referring to distortions of the truth as ‘alternative facts’. Social media allows us to create alternative chains of events and, for the first time, we have the impression of being able to choose the version of reality we want to hear. Consequently, people who are adept at manipulating storytelling have power. Vásquez points out that the German writer and philosopher Novalis asserted that ‘novels arise out of the shortcomings of history.’ The novel goes where history cannot, reframing history as a narrative that can be edited, manipulated, and used to dominate the political moment. This is because, in the words of the poet T. S. Eliot, ‘humankind cannot bear very much reality.’
It seems, therefore, that our present moment is defined by narratology, by storytelling. What do you think – are we facing a battle for the story? | <urn:uuid:bd34e41f-7537-4a42-b69a-28705d944bf9> | {
"date": "2019-08-26T07:55:09",
"dump": "CC-MAIN-2019-35",
"file_path": "s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2019-35/segments/1566027331228.13/warc/CC-MAIN-20190826064622-20190826090622-00176.warc.gz",
"int_score": 3,
"language": "en",
"language_score": 0.9647396802902222,
"score": 2.53125,
"token_count": 995,
"url": "https://bookshelf.mml.ox.ac.uk/2018/06/13/2545/"
} |
Often this passage is used to teach that God speaks in still, small voices. And though that may be true at times, if we look deeper into this passage, we will see that God was trying to show Elijah, and us, something very different.
1 Kings 19:9-14
Then He said, “Go out, and stand on the mountain before the Lord.” And behold, the Lord passed by, and a great and strong wind tore into the mountains and broke the rocks in pieces before the Lord, but the Lord was not in the wind; and after the wind an earthquake, but the Lord was not in the earthquake; 12 and after the earthquake a fire, but the Lord was not in the fire; and after the fire a still small voice. 13 So it was, when Elijah heard it, that he wrapped his face in his mantle and went out and stood in the entrance of the cave. Suddenly a voice came to him, and said, “What are you doing here, Elijah?”
It might be helpful for me to explain this passage a little. After making a big scene where he called down fire from heaven and then had over 400 evil prophets killed, Elijah gets terrified when the king’s wife threatens him. God instructed him to run to this place where he decides to hide in a cave, and then the conversation begins.
Now, the first question is this: did Elijah need to learn how to hear God’s voice? I would say he seemed to be pretty good at it. Secondly, notice that it says “Suddenly a voice came to him”, not “the still small voice said”. It would seem that the Bible here is making a distinction between the still small voice and the voice of the Lord speaking to Elijah.
Thirdly, we must look at the conversations God has with Elijah before and after this event. When God asks Elijah what he is doing, what does he say? “I am all alone. There are no more prophets but me. There’s no body who cares about God like I do. There’s no one who serves God like I do. I am the only prophet.” But was that true? Let’s look at a few verses in the previous chapter:
I Kings 18:7-13 NKJV
Now as Obadiah was on his way, suddenly Elijah met him; and he recognized him, and fell on his face, and said, “Is that you, my lord Elijah?” 8 And he answered him, “It is I. Go, tell your master, ‘Elijah is here.’” 9 So he said, “How have I sinned, that you are delivering your servant into the hand of Ahab, to kill me? 10 As the Lord your God lives, there is no nation or kingdom where my master has not sent someone to hunt for you; and when they said, ‘He is not here,’ he took an oath from the kingdom or nation that they could not find you. 11 And now you say, ‘Go, tell your master, “Elijah is here”’! 12 And it shall come to pass, as soon as I am gone from you, that the Spirit of the Lord will carry you to a place I do not know; so when I go and tell Ahab, and he cannot find you, he will kill me. But I your servant have feared the Lord from my youth. 13 Was it not reported to my lord what I did when Jezebel killed the prophets of the Lord, how I hid one hundred men of the Lord’s prophets, fifty to a cave, and fed them with bread and water?
Here Elijah runs into King Ahab’s right hand man who happens to fear the Lord. Obadiah tells Elijah that there are at least 100 other prophets still alive! So if Elijah wasn’t alone, why would he tell God he was? Have you ever felt alone even though there were people around you?
Elijah felt alone because he disqualified everyone who didn’t do things like he did. He was a fire, wind, earthquake kind of prophet. He didn’t value the voices of the prophets hiding out in the cave. They should have been bold like he was. They should have been on the front lines with him. But they weren’t. They left him to do all the dirty work. So here he is, alone.
But God tries to show Elijah that he is not alone. In verse 18, He tells Elijah that he has seven thousand people on His side. Elijah was far from alone. He just had to learn to value voices that were not as loud as his own. He had to value people who were not like him and didn’t do things the fire-wind-earthquake way.
There are several lessons we can learn from this story once we see it from the right perspective, but the one that jumps out right away is the lesson God was trying to teach Elijah, and, of course, us as well:
Just because someone isn’t like you or doesn’t do things like you, doesn’t mean God is not using them.
Though it’s okay to not enjoy someone’s personality, style, or methods, it’s NOT okay to assess someone’s value based on how much you like them. Elijah didn’t believe the 100 prophets qualified as prophets because they weren’t out here with him.
Here is the scary part. Because Elijah didn’t get what God was trying to teach him, God had to remove him. He was replaced by Elisha shortly after this conversation with God. It is possible to be too big for God to use you!
Chime in below: Are there people in your life who you have devalued or judged for not being like you or doing things the way you do? Have you ever been devalued like that? Have you ever felt alone like Elijah did? What do you think caused it and how did you get out of your ‘cave’? | <urn:uuid:e2f3fda4-24cd-4d65-833d-718100a82843> | {
"date": "2018-11-17T02:36:46",
"dump": "CC-MAIN-2018-47",
"file_path": "s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2018-47/segments/1542039743248.7/warc/CC-MAIN-20181117020225-20181117042225-00296.warc.gz",
"int_score": 3,
"language": "en",
"language_score": 0.9846447706222534,
"score": 2.703125,
"token_count": 1290,
"url": "http://www.chrispettit.org/are-you-too-big-to-be-used-by-god/"
} |
Sir William Dargie
The Archibald Prize
John Feltham Archibald, or as he was later known, Jules Francois Archibald, was born in 1856 at Kildare in Victoria.
He was educated at Warrnambool, apprenticed to the local newspaper, the Examiner and later, to the Standard.
He moved to Melbourne, where he worked for the Herald. He later worked for the Daily Telegraph, and with John Haynes, founded The Bulletin in Sydney in 1880. He employed many of Australia's leading young artists as illustrators for The Bulletin, including George Lambert, Norman Lindsay and B. E. Minns.
When Archibald died in 1919, he left an estate valued at 89,061 pounds. Shares comprising one-tenth of the value of the estate were left to provide a prize each year for the best portrait painted by an Australian artist, 'preferably of some man or woman distinguished in art, letters, science or politics.'
Anna Waldmann, notes in her article 'The Archibald Prize', Summer 1982 edition, Art and Australia, that 'One of the governing factors in deciding the direction of the bequest was said to have been the portrait of Henry Lawson, commissioned by J.F.Archibald from Longstaff in 1900 for fifty guineas'.
Waldmann also noted in her article, that the Archibald Prize 'aroused from the beginning, legal challenges, rivalries and animosities that had never been envisaged by the donor, whose intentions, be they to perpetuate the memory of great Australians, to improve the quality of portrait painting or to help artists, have never been quite fulfilled.'
Under the terms of the bequest, the prize is judged by the Trustees of the Art Gallery of New South Wales. The rules stipulate that 'the painting must be painted during the twelve months, preceding the date fixed by the Trustees, who may then exhibit the winning picture in the Gallery for two months after the award and who do not have to award the prize if "no competing picture shall in the opinion of the Trustees be painted worthy of being awarded a prize". - Note, no Prize was awarded for 1964.
Competitors were further informed in 1922, that 'Portraits should be as far as practicable painted from life and may be of any size. No direct copies from photographs will be considered eligible. Miniatures are admissible.'
The Archibald Prize commenced with an award for 1921, which was won by W.B.McInnes for his portrait of Desbrowe Annear, the well-known Melbourne architect. When McInnes again won the prize for 1922, with his 'Portrait of a Lady', the critics suggested that he was now the 'winner in perpetuity' and the prize should be renamed the 'McInnes Endowment'.
This suggestion was further supported when McInnes again won the prize for 1924, 1926. 1930 and 1936.
It is interesting to note that in the first eleven years of the Archibald Prize, the two Victorian born artists, W.B.McInnes and John Longstaff won every year, except for 1927, which was won by the Russian born, George Lambert. Then for 1932, another Victorian born artist, Ernest Buckmaster, won the prize.
There was little joy in New South Wales among their 'state of origin' artists, and the interstate rivalry would have been fuelled by the success of the Victorian artists.
At least the Art Gallery of New South Wales should have felt themselves privileged and fortunate that Victorian born, Archibald had not left his Prize bequest to the National Gallery of Victoria.
The success of the Victorian artists continued in the 1930's, Longstaff again won, this time for 1935, McInnes again won, with the prize for 1936, and the Victorian-based artists, Charles Wheeler of New Zealand won for 1933, and Max Meldrum of Scotland won for 1939 and 1940.
By the 1940's, the younger 'modern' artists, especially those in Sydney, were becoming more vocal in their frustration with the same old, predominantly male, 'conservative' choices made by the trustees, and the critics, especially those in New South Wales were fuelling these frustrations with harsh criticisms of the prize-winning paintings.
Enter another Victorian, William Dargie, who between 1941 and 1956, was to dominate the Archibald with eight prize-winning works.
It is not surprising that the young artists in New South Wales and the press in New South Wales gave Dargie such harsh treatment. It was not just that he won, but the fact that he was seen as another 'conservative' Victorian, out to steal the coveted New South Wales - Archibald Prize- was, for many, just too much to bear.
In the history of the Archibald Prize, five Victorian born artists between them have won the prize twenty-six times. These five outstanding portrait painters are William Dargie, who still holds the record with eight wins, William McInnes who achieved seven, John Longstaff who won five and Clifton Pugh (a student of Dargie) and Eric Smith who won three each.
Controversy nearly always surrounds the prize-winning work, and critics are seldom kind to the winning artist, or in agreement as to whom should have won.
The New South Wales critics were particularly harsh on Dargie, although equally harsh on Meldrum and Dobell.
Dobell came in for tremendous criticism when his work 'Portrait of the artist (Joshua Smith) was awarded the Prize for 1943. It certainly was a departure from the type of work that Dargie produced, however many considered it merely a caricature - and should not be eligible for the prize.
What Dargie calls
'an absurdist trial' followed, because 'Dobell exaggerated the body of
his subject, the naturally elongated Joshua Smith.'
Sixty years later this work of 'Joshua Smith' by Dobell, because of the controversy and the trial, is one of the best known of the Archibald Prize works, and still generates media attention.
There are many books and articles that have covered various aspects of the Archibald Prize, and still more which have devoted lengthy discussions to particular works. Two that I would recommend are 'The Archibald Prize' / Anna Waldmann Art and Australia vol.20, no.2, Summer 1982, pp.213-236; and 'Let's Face It: The history of the Archibald Prize' / Peter Ross Sydney: Art Gallery of New South Wales, 1999.
In his interviews, Sir William Dargie, when asked about the Archibald Prize, has often commented that it was sad that Archibald in his bequest did not make the prize acquisitive. This would have ensured the life of the prize-winning works within a major gallery collection, rather than having the works scattered as they are today, and it could have provided the solid base for a National portrait collection.
In 1990, Dargie in an interview with Lawrence Money for the article 'Meeting an angry artist' published in The Age, admitted that 'on four of the eight occasions that he won the Archibald, he did not deserve it. (Mind you, he adds that there were other years when he thought he should have won and didn't.).'
Following, are notes on Sir William Dargie's eight Archibald prize-winning works, including a brief biography of each of his eight male subjects.
Left: Arthur Streeton
- Above Us The Great Grave Sky, 1890 | <urn:uuid:a0a6596e-707e-4ed8-95c8-872b22ed486f> | {
"date": "2017-03-29T09:16:57",
"dump": "CC-MAIN-2017-13",
"file_path": "s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2017-13/segments/1490218190236.99/warc/CC-MAIN-20170322212950-00521-ip-10-233-31-227.ec2.internal.warc.gz",
"int_score": 3,
"language": "en",
"language_score": 0.9759383797645569,
"score": 2.53125,
"token_count": 1587,
"url": "http://artistsfootsteps.com/html/Dargie_archibald_history.htm"
} |
Gymnasts are known for their ability to perform many tricks and stunts on beams, in the air and on the ground. In order to execute such tricks, gymnasts need to be in top physical shape. Successful gymnasts go through intense training to fulfill the top five components in gymnastics such as muscle strength, cardiovascular endurance and flexibility to ensure their safety and an optimal performance. Without these fitness components, gymnasts will most likely struggle while executing routine gymnastic moves.
It's no secret that flexibility is essential to a gymnast's ability to perform certain stunts such as splits and backbends. Flexibility refers to the ability to move or bend joints in a wide range of motion with ease and without injury. It may also be an asset to improving coordination and balance. Because flexibility is such an important part of the sport, many gymnasts are often tested to determine the level of their flexibility. According to USA Gymnastics, flexibility is determined via the ability to perform forward kicks, side kicks, leaps and splits. Should gymnasts not rank highly on their flexibility tests it is suggest they try to enhance flexibility by stretching frequently. Once common stretch is holding the leg straight up for about 30 seconds. In the event a gymnast doesn't have a high range of flexibility she is at risk for injuries such as pulled muscles.
High Strength Levels
Strength is the ability of a muscular unit or combination of muscular units to apply force, according to Crossfit Journal. Adequate strength levels are a fitness component that forms the foundation for learning new skills in gymnastics. Without building up high levels of strength, gymnasts would be unable to execute correct technique when demonstrating skills such as handstands. If a gymnast didn't have enough strength, she would have difficulty performing new skills and would need to spend significant amounts of time relearning them. As a result, gymnasts commit to consistent special training to increase muscle size to build up strength so they can lift their own body weight when practicing tumbles and be able to use proper technique. Regimens consisting of pushups, rope climbs and pulls up are often practiced to increase strength.
Agility refers to the ability to transition between several positions efficiently and quickly -- important for completing floor routines and exercises on the balance beam, such as back flips and somersaults. A timed test is often administered to gymnasts to determine their agility level. During these tests, gymnasts are usually asked to run diagonally across a room within a certain time frame. Failure to meet certain time requirements means a gymnast needs to work on improving, says a 2012 study published by the "International Journal of Sports Physical Therapy." Gymnasts can develop agility by practicing sprints in the shape of a figure eight or jumping from side to side very quickly.
Endurance, or a muscle's ability to continuously perform without growing tired, is a fitness component that is challenged routinely during training. Gymnasts rely on endurance so they can repeat various movements repeatedly without losing momentum. Their ability to run through routines or training regimens during practice consistently may directly correlate with their ability to perform. Because a lack of power or endurance may hinder the execution of stunts, gymnasts may spend a great deal of time honing strength endurance by doing situps or other similar training exercises.
Ideal Body Composition
A precise body mass measurement of fat and muscle is a fitness component that is crucial to gymnasts. Too much body fat would make it difficult for gymnasts to move freely while having too much muscle would increase weight greatly and hinder the gymnasts ability to carry out various exercises correctly. As a result, gymnasts are weighed and measured frequently to monitor their composition. In order to perform at high levels, gymnasts strive to have compatible muscle, fat and bone ratio. This means that gymnasts work hard to make sure they do not have too much body fat in correlation to their weight. By following detailed nutrition plans and workout regimens, a gymnast will be able to control her weight while making sure she is fit enough to limit the amount of unwanted fat. | <urn:uuid:e2b9343a-7d47-4552-8b72-84ada4403770> | {
"date": "2017-05-24T08:16:47",
"dump": "CC-MAIN-2017-22",
"file_path": "s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2017-22/segments/1495463607806.46/warc/CC-MAIN-20170524074252-20170524094252-00637.warc.gz",
"int_score": 4,
"language": "en",
"language_score": 0.967593789100647,
"score": 3.5,
"token_count": 826,
"url": "http://www.livestrong.com/article/497802-5-components-of-fitness-in-gymnastics/"
} |
Uncovering America's Heritage... Coin by Coin
2005 Kansas Quarter
Allow me to present to you the Kansas quarter.
Most of Kansas lies in the Great Plains, a vast flat and dry area east of the Rocky Mountains that stretches from Texas to Canada. The state's quarter uses sunflowers and a bison (also called a "buffalo") to stand for this prairie state.
Bison and the prairie go together. Here's what I mean:
But bison were eventually replaced with cattle. In 1822, the Santa Fe Trail brought hundreds of wagons full of settlers through and into Kansas. Kansas became a state in 1861. Cattle drives and railroads changed the state even more, and Dodge City became the world's largest cattle market...as well as a rough cowboy town.
Kansas is nicknamed the Sunflower State because of the sunflowers that grow wild there, but it is also known as the Midway State (the exact middle of the 48 states that touch each other is in Kansas) and the Wheat State (Kansas grows more wheat than any other state in the Union). Cattle, corn, and soybeans are also part of the state's agricultural economy.
As for a famous September in Kansas history? Let's see...How about 1806? That's when they say the American flag was raised in Kansas for the first time. According to the story, a Pawnee Indian chief lowered the Spanish flag and raised the American flag at the insistence of explorer Zebulon Pike. | <urn:uuid:7a942434-41b3-480b-95bc-0e1963cced02> | {
"date": "2016-05-31T21:51:10",
"dump": "CC-MAIN-2016-22",
"file_path": "s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-22/segments/1464053209501.44/warc/CC-MAIN-20160524012649-00026-ip-10-185-217-139.ec2.internal.warc.gz",
"int_score": 3,
"language": "en",
"language_score": 0.9644733667373657,
"score": 2.953125,
"token_count": 313,
"url": "http://www.usmint.gov/kids/CoinNews/coinOfTheMonth/2005/09.cfm"
} |
1315 “Now when the apostles at Jerusalem heard that Samaria had received the word of God, they sent to them Peter and John, who came down and prayed for them that they might receive the Holy Spirit; for it had not yet fallen on any of them, but they had only been baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. Then they laid their hands on them and they received the Holy Spirit” (Acts 8:14-17).
1316 Confirmation perfects Baptismal grace; it is the sacrament which gives the Holy Spirit in order to root us more deeply in the divine filiation, incorporate us more firmly into Christ, strengthen our bond with the Church, associate us more closely with her mission, and help us bear witness to the Christian faith in words accompanied by deeds.
1317 Confirmation, like Baptism, imprints a spiritual mark or indelible character on the Christian’s soul; for this reason one can receive this sacrament only once in one’s life.
1318 In the East this sacrament is administered immediately after Baptism and is followed by participation in the Eucharist; this tradition highlights the unity of the three sacraments of Christian initiation. In the Latin Church this sacrament is administered when the age of reason has been reached, and its celebration is ordinarily reserved to the bishop, thus signifying that this sacrament strengthens the ecclesial bond.
1319 A candidate for Confirmation who has attained the age of reason must profess the faith, be in the state of grace, have the intention of receiving the sacrament, and be prepared to assume the role of disciple and witness to Christ, both within the ecclesial community and in temporal affairs.
1320 The essential rite of Confirmation is anointing the forehead of the baptized with sacred chrism (in the East other sense-organs as well), together with the laying on of the minister’s hand and the words: “Accipe signaculum doni Spiritus Sancti” (Be sealed with the Gift of the Holy Spirit.) in the Roman Rite, or “The seal of the gift that is the Holy Spirit” in the Byzantine rite.
1321 When Confirmation is celebrated separately from Baptism, its connection with Baptism is expressed, among other ways, by the renewal of baptismal promises. the celebration of Confirmation during the Eucharist helps underline the unity of the sacraments of Christian initiation.
- A two year process, which requires the candidate to be class six and above.
- Be baptized catholic and take part in the sacramental life of the church
- Be willing to commit to active involvement in the parish confirmation catechesis
- To register download the form and fill in and return to the parish office.
- Classes are available for adults who desire to receive the Sacrament of Confirmation or would like to learn more about their Catholic Faith. Candidates for adult confirmation should be actively participating in their faith and have received First Communion. | <urn:uuid:e6db629d-2d29-4495-98c1-f74ecf99f55a> | {
"date": "2018-10-22T13:06:35",
"dump": "CC-MAIN-2018-43",
"file_path": "s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2018-43/segments/1539583515041.68/warc/CC-MAIN-20181022113301-20181022134801-00256.warc.gz",
"int_score": 3,
"language": "en",
"language_score": 0.9547716975212097,
"score": 2.515625,
"token_count": 625,
"url": "http://st-annecatholicchurchkibiko.com/sacraments/confirmation/"
} |
A) Quincy, Massachusetts, right before he and his father left on their trip.
B) They are very close to an Indian village.
C) The family is on a boat on their way to America.
D) The wilderness, just after his father left him alone.
A) He has a stomach bug because he ate a poisonous plant.
B) He is very hungry.
C) His pants are too small and they hurt his stomach.
D) He is kind of nervous and scared.
A) a watch
B) a garden tool
C) a map
D) a gun
A) It is an agreement between two people.
B) It is a type of tool used for hunting.
C) It is small light for a cabin.
D) A treaty is a sign in the forest.
A) his mother at home.
B) he would to a policeman.
C) his teacher at school.
D) his minister back home.
A) He was cleaning out his living room.
B) He was waiting for his supper to cook.
C) He was playing Guitar Hero on his Xbox.
D) He was tending to the garden.
D) eggs and bacon
A) a small animal found in Maine
B) a man who works in a bank
C) a leader in a church
D) a small bird
A) a kind of rifle
B) tool used for gardening
C) a bow
D) a gut feeling
A) looking for a friend
B) running very quickly
C) going without it
D) find things easily
A) Matt neglected to bar the door.
B) The bear climbed down through the chimney.
C) The bear broke the window and came in.
D) Matt accidentally left the door open.
A) the Indians
B) the colonists
C) the Mexicans
D) no one really knows
A) a lot
B) not at all
C) just once or twice
D) maybe three times
A) his fishing rod
B) his Playstation 2
C) his gun
D) his boot
A) small jobs
A) shoes made by an Indian
B) shoes made out of an animal's hide
C) shoes made out of an animal's hoof
D) shoes made out of wood
A) Rhode Island
D) New York
1.D 2.D 3.D 4.A 5.C 6.D 7.B 8.A 9.C 10.D 11.C 12.A 13.A 14.B 15.C 16.D 17.A 18.B 19.B 20.B | <urn:uuid:96f5050b-d3cc-4269-aa6a-a38239e54036> | {
"date": "2016-05-06T11:07:27",
"dump": "CC-MAIN-2016-18",
"file_path": "s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-18/segments/1461861754936.62/warc/CC-MAIN-20160428164234-00076-ip-10-239-7-51.ec2.internal.warc.gz",
"int_score": 3,
"language": "en",
"language_score": 0.9165554642677307,
"score": 2.53125,
"token_count": 568,
"url": "http://www.thatquiz.org/tq/previewtest?D/Q/P/A/87111208269883"
} |
Kyrgyzstan drew international attention in March 2005 when it became the first Central Asian country in which popular disaffection had forced the post-Soviet regime out of office. The anger of large segments of the population had been growing for many years; there was a widespread conviction that the millions of dollars of international aid that had been given to the country to counter the effects of the post-1991 economic collapse and resulting poverty had been siphoned off by corrupt relatives and cronies of Kyrgyzstan’s first president, Askar Akayev.
A parliamentary election was held on February 27, preceded by a campaign in which Akayev accused the political opposition of trying to destabilize the country. Prime Minister Nikolay Tanayev called on international organizations not to try to import revolution to Kyrgyzstan, and other top officials warned of the possibility of a civil war. Opposition rallies and the independent media were severely harassed. Election authorities disqualified a number of popular candidates, including former foreign minister Roza Otunbayeva, sparking demonstrations in various parts of the country. The day after the election, large-scale protests against alleged vote rigging began in Bishkek and in the south.
On March 4 some 300 protesters stormed the regional administration building in the southern city of Jalal-Abad, while 2,000 protesters in the main square called on the president to resign. Akayev reacted by asserting that “irresponsible politicians” were fomenting unrest. On March 18 protesters in Osh, the country’s “southern capital,” set up an alternate administration headed by a prominent opposition member. On March 24 protesters in Bishkek stormed government buildings; Akayev and his family fled the country. The unrest in Bishkek and other cities was accompanied by massive looting and a number of fatalities; Kurmanbek Bakiyev, a former prime minister and head of the opposition People’s Movement of Kyrgyzstan, took over as interim leader with the blessing of the Constitutional Court. He formed an interim government of prominent opposition figures. Opposition leader Feliks Kulov was released from prison and entrusted with responsibility to restore order.
A presidential election was set for July 10, at which Bakiyev received almost 89% of the vote. In a preelection deal with his most credible rival, Bakiyev had promised the premiership to Kulov. Stresses appeared in the new government within a few months, however, and in September the parliament elected in February rejected several of Bakiyev’s ministerial appointees, sparking rumours that Kulov too would be forced to resign. | <urn:uuid:9ce577cb-7bd3-43df-bd6c-be31d5d5ba6b> | {
"date": "2017-06-27T20:02:05",
"dump": "CC-MAIN-2017-26",
"file_path": "s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2017-26/segments/1498128321536.20/warc/CC-MAIN-20170627185115-20170627205115-00657.warc.gz",
"int_score": 3,
"language": "en",
"language_score": 0.9828928112983704,
"score": 2.671875,
"token_count": 541,
"url": "https://www.britannica.com/place/Kyrgyzstan-Year-In-Review-2005"
} |
Inter-annual variations can affect global and regional atmospheric and oceanic circulation. Many of these variations are recurrent and are usually depicted with well known climatic patterns such as the El Niño Southern Oscillation (ENSO), the North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO), etc. They correlate significantly with the departures from the mean state of climate parameters at monthly, seasonal and annual time scales and with the onset of extreme weather and climate events leading to direct and indirect consequences on lives, goods, properties and the well being of societies. Droughts, heat waves, cold waves, flooding, extreme wind storms, land slides, bush and forest fires, costal erosions to list just these are the most popular induced impacts which may be triggered by one or several of such anomalies. In the context of global warming these extremes are expected to become in the future more frequent, more severe and gaining more geographical extend than usually known. Some of the observed increase in climate extremes already fit in these projections.
To this effect, National Meteorological and Hydrological Services (NMHSs) should be adequately equipped and prepared to continuously monitor and assess the state of the climate, evaluate available long range forecasts, and where conditions warrant provide to the users concise and understandable climate early warning information at weekly, 10-day, monthly, and seasonal time scale. A climate advisory as an output of a Climate Watch System has the following characteristics:
- Issued to heighten awareness in the user community concerning a particular state of the climate system;
- Disseminated to serve as a mechanism for initiating preparedness activities by users and/or a series of events that affect user decision making;
- Based on real-time monitoring (current status) of conditions and on climate outlooks;
- Issued by individual NMHSs, perhaps in coordination with other NMHSs or regional Climate Centers in the region or beyond;
- Developed as a result of continuous and iterative collaboration with users | <urn:uuid:29a08bd8-9ff1-4d2c-bde3-2412b896639b> | {
"date": "2014-07-29T21:24:19",
"dump": "CC-MAIN-2014-23",
"file_path": "s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2014-23/segments/1406510267865.20/warc/CC-MAIN-20140728011747-00336-ip-10-146-231-18.ec2.internal.warc.gz",
"int_score": 4,
"language": "en",
"language_score": 0.9476196765899658,
"score": 3.515625,
"token_count": 402,
"url": "http://www.wmo.int/pages/prog/wcp/wcdmp/CWS_1.php"
} |
NOAA's Science On a Sphere Opens at The Tech Museum in CaliforniaMarch 17, 2006
View from Space, the newly installed Science On a SphereŽ (SOS) exhibit, opens on March 31st at The Tech Museum of Innovation located in downtown San Jose, California. During the week of March 6th, a team from the Global Systems Division's Technology Outreach Branch installed the exhibit. This was made possible through the support of an Environmental Literacy grant awarded by NOAA's Office of Education.
The Tech is a science and technology showcase that attracts nearly 400,000 school children and visitors annually. Their Vice President of Operations and Technology, Greg Brown, said, "The exhibit brings both the beauty and fragility of our environment to life. Our mission is to inspire our visitors and View from Space will certainly do that."
Initial SOS presentations at The Tech will focus on Earth's climate and topography. For example, the globe will visualize how the Pacific Plate slides past the North American Plate along the San Andreas Fault Line. One hundred years ago, the result of this movement was the devastating San Francisco Earthquake.
The Tech is an appropriate location for the NOAA Exhibit since Dr. Alexander MacDonald, Acting Director of the Earth System Research Laboratory in Boulder, Colorado, received a Tech Museum award for his work developing Science on a SphereŽ in 2003. The awards are given to innovators who develop technology benefiting humanity.
Science On a SphereŽ is a unique visualization technology that was invented by Dr. Sandy MacDonald, Acting Director of the Earth System Research Laboratory in Boulder, CO. In August of 2005 NOAA received a patent for Science On a SphereŽ. Using computers coupled with video projectors, the system presents NOAA's global science in an engaging three-dimensional representation of the Earth's features as if they were viewed from space. It is currently being installed at museums and science centers throughout the United States.
One of NOAA's main mission goals is "Serve Society's Needs for Weather and Water Information" and its performance objective is to enhance environmental literacy and improve understanding, value, and use of weather and water information and services. Science On a SphereŽ maps directly into that goal. This innovative technology is intended to educate multigenerational audiences about ongoing NOAA research being conducted at many laboratories and to inspire students so that they might investigate scientific career paths. To view details about the exhibit at the Tech Museum of Innovation go to their Web site. | <urn:uuid:ab472154-47f4-4a17-95e1-30b78e08cdf0> | {
"date": "2015-11-30T07:01:04",
"dump": "CC-MAIN-2015-48",
"file_path": "s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2015-48/segments/1448398461113.77/warc/CC-MAIN-20151124205421-00352-ip-10-71-132-137.ec2.internal.warc.gz",
"int_score": 3,
"language": "en",
"language_score": 0.9476081132888794,
"score": 2.9375,
"token_count": 498,
"url": "http://www.esrl.noaa.gov/news/2006/gsd060317.html"
} |
- Water/air disinfection or decontamination using novel photocatalysis technology.
The proposed research concerns the improvement of commercially available titanium dioxide (TiO2) photocatalysts for applications such as purification and disinfection of water and air contaminated with organic, heavy metal and microbiological species, and generation of hydrogen from water using solar energy.
- Hydrogen production, storage and conversion using Fuel Cells.
Exploring the new and novel alternative energy sources is vital for replacing the depleting fossil fuels. Hydrogen is such a secondary source of energy that can be produced from solar PV and PEC technologies and routinely used in Fuel cells to generate electricity. A reversible storage of hydrogen in solid form is needed for on-board vehicles. The proposed research will design and develop novel solid state complex hydrides, polymeric nanostructures for storing hydrogen at practical temperature and pressure conditions.
- Carbon sequestration and Capture by solid electrolytic cells
The rapid increase in the concentrations of atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO2) as a result of anthropogenic activities have captured global attention for the past decade, with governments and private sectors working hand-in-hand on different solutions capable of mitigating increasing carbon dioxide (CO2) concentration in the atmosphere. The primary objective of this work is to develop an electrochemical system which utilizes carbon dioxide (CO2) as a feedstock for chemical synthesis. The holistic approach and global advantages offered by this project through the utilization of carbon dioxide (CO2) as chemical synthesis feedstock to reduce pollution by greenhouse gases is enormous. More also, the development of such system will ultimately provide a vista to the long-term search for carbon dioxide (CO2) sequestration methods. Preliminary studies have shown that the overall Faradaic efficiency can be up to 120% with net energy output of about +1.06V. The entropy and enthalpy of the system depict a spontaneous process, since the reaction is highly exergonic. Specific objectives include:
- The development of an electrolytic cell/apparatus which consists of inlet and outlet gas monitoring and control systems that operate between 120-145 oC.
- Evaluate and design catalytic materials for the formation of reaction electrodes.
- Investigate solid membranes with good conductivity and durability under the electrochemical reaction conditions.
- Pyrolysis behavior of organic materials for production of biochar and other materials
Wide spread utilization of biochar in carbon sequestration applications and in enhancing soil health and quality have created a large interest in the development of new technologies for the production of biochar from biomass, and the characterization and evaluation of such biochar materials. The focus of this project is to explore novel methods and techniques for the synthesis, analysis, and characterization as well as different applications of biochar.
- Advanced corrosion studies on ferro-chromium steels under extreme conditions for simulation and development of Generation IV nuclear reactor materials.
Ferro-chromium steels are candidate materials to be used extensively in the next generation (Generation IV) of nuclear reactors. Such applications involve extreme operating conditions such as high pressures and temperatures. This research project involves the investigation of the corrosion and degradation resistance of structural materials, such as carbon steel and stainless steel that are potential candidate materials for Generation IV nuclear reactors. The project employs state-of-the-art corrosion measurement equipment and techniques such as electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS).
- Water Treatment methodologies for the removal of arsenic and other contaminants in water using Fenton's reagent | <urn:uuid:4753c0d3-d503-42ab-b563-19cb8623550f> | {
"date": "2015-01-31T08:35:33",
"dump": "CC-MAIN-2015-06",
"file_path": "s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2015-06/segments/1422118108509.48/warc/CC-MAIN-20150124164828-00056-ip-10-180-212-252.ec2.internal.warc.gz",
"int_score": 3,
"language": "en",
"language_score": 0.9069131016731262,
"score": 2.828125,
"token_count": 721,
"url": "http://www.tuskegee.edu/academics/colleges/ceps/chemical_engineering/energy_and_environmental_research_unit/research_review/summer_2010.aspx"
} |
One of the hallmarks of deuterstome development is that early cleavage divisions are radial. In contrast, protostomes typically display spiral cleavage. While these classifications are certainly huge generalizations, they nevertheless point to some of the fundamental differences between different phyla regarding early development. Play the movie at the below right to get a sense for the difference between these two cleavage patterens in two generalized embryos.
Differences in cleavage orientation in idealized spirally and radially cleaving embryos | <urn:uuid:724398a5-c340-4d5d-8592-825a406a3a18> | {
"date": "2016-10-27T08:48:39",
"dump": "CC-MAIN-2016-44",
"file_path": "s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-44/segments/1476988721174.97/warc/CC-MAIN-20161020183841-00263-ip-10-171-6-4.ec2.internal.warc.gz",
"int_score": 3,
"language": "en",
"language_score": 0.9015589952468872,
"score": 2.765625,
"token_count": 105,
"url": "http://worms.zoology.wisc.edu/frogs/cleavage/clea_radspir.html"
} |
1944 October 23, THE HUNTING SEASON (Eretz-Israel)
Also known as "the season" in which the Jewish Agency and Haganah leadership began a campaign directed at ending Irgun activities. Eliyahu Golomb demanded that the Irgun take its directives only from the Haganah. Begin replied that while he respected Ben Gurion as the leader of the Yishuv, he rejected both the policy of havlagah (restraint), and the hands-off policy regarding the British. He predicted that the Haganah would eventually come around to the Irgun's way of thinking. The Haganah gave the British direct information, as well as assisting in arresting over 700 Irgun activists, including financial supporters. Several hundred of them were deported to Eritrea, Africa. Although at this stage the decision was made to dismember the Irgun without overt cooperation with the British, this changed dramatically after the assassination of Lord Moyne by the Lehi in November, 1944. | <urn:uuid:b5df39b6-40d9-4221-9cab-adf15174a671> | {
"date": "2017-12-17T02:14:55",
"dump": "CC-MAIN-2017-51",
"file_path": "s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2017-51/segments/1512948592846.98/warc/CC-MAIN-20171217015850-20171217041850-00256.warc.gz",
"int_score": 3,
"language": "en",
"language_score": 0.9786094427108765,
"score": 2.921875,
"token_count": 205,
"url": "http://www.jewishhistory.org.il/history.php?id=5970"
} |
This is a highly unusual step in the scientific publication process, but it reflects extensive review and investigation that revealed that both major ethical flaws in the data collection as well as scientific flaws in the methods.
Beford and Elliman wrote a very thoughtful editorial in the British Medical Journal on this issue highlighting the importance of educating the public. The note that health professionals were reluctant to engage in public debate on this topic. They write,
"If future debacles are to be prevented, professionals must enter the public arena, even though there can be unpleasant ramifications (both the authors of this editorial have received hate mail and an American researcher has even received death threats). However uncomfortable this may be, we must be firm advocates of what is best for children’s health, even if this seems to run contrary to 'patient choice'."They also suggest ways that professionals can talk with parents about controversial issues stating,
"For these parents, providing clear and accurate information on the benefits and risks of the vaccine as well as the dangers of the diseases is only part of an effective approach. The nature of the communication with parents is crucial. They are more likely to respond to a professional who listens carefully and respectfully to their individual concerns, answers their questions honestly and openly, and acknowledges when information is lacking about a particular matter. With this approach, and repeated opportunities to talk, parents who at first decline immunisation may be willing to reconsider."In short, it is not just the information that matters, but how we communicate the information. There are many important lessons to be learned from this controversy over the link between vaccines and autism. See other comments about the autism-vaccine issue. | <urn:uuid:a976ca03-5be5-474d-9b1a-865b6698acd2> | {
"date": "2018-03-23T09:08:13",
"dump": "CC-MAIN-2018-13",
"file_path": "s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2018-13/segments/1521257648205.76/warc/CC-MAIN-20180323083246-20180323103246-00256.warc.gz",
"int_score": 3,
"language": "en",
"language_score": 0.968437671661377,
"score": 2.59375,
"token_count": 335,
"url": "http://open2learn.blogspot.com/2010/02/vaccine-autism-link-professionals.html"
} |
Edinburgh to Salvador: Twentieth Century Ecumenical Missiology by T.V. Philip
T. V. Philip, born in India and a lay member of the Mar Thoma Church, has worked and taught in India, Europe, USA and Australia. He is a church historian, and a former Professor at the United Theological College, Bangalore, India. This book was published jointly by CSS and ISPCK, 1999, Kashmere Gate, Delhi, India. This material was prepared for Religion Online by Ted and Winnie Brock.
Chapter 1: The Missionary Background of the Modern Ecumenical Movement
Evangelical Awakening and the Missionary Movement
The immediate background of the modern Protestant missionary movement was the evangelical awakening in the protestant churches in the West in the eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries. The evangelical awakening had its roots in the earlier German Pietism. Pietism was a movement in the Lutheran church in Germany which arose towards the end of the 17th century and continued in the first half of the 18th century as a reaction to the sterility of the then prevailing Lutheran Orthodoxy. Philip Jacob Spener (1635-1705) and Herman Franke (1663-1727) were progenitors of the movement and for them, Christianity was far more a life than an intellectual assent to a doctrine. An insistence upon the personal, individualistic and subjective element in religion was characteristic of their teaching. Because they believed that the much needed reforms of the Lutheran church could not come from those in authority, they recommended that in every congregation those who were earnest about the soul’s salvation should form cells within the church (ecclesiola in ecclesia) for Bible study, for fellowship and Christian experience.
One of the notable features of Pietism was the zeal for mission It aroused. Franke made the University of Halle in Germany the centre for missionary zeal and training. When Frederick IV of Denmark wanted to send the first protestant missionaries to India in 1705, he found them among the students in Halle. The Moravian Brethren provided Pietism’s most effective missionary outreach. The remnants of the persecuted Moravians built a village in Herrenhurt and Zinzendorf (1700-1760), a Lutheran pietist, who was educated at Halle, became their leader. Under his leadership Herrenhurt became a hive of missionary activity. The Moravian church was the first among the protestant churches to accept missionary work as being a responsibility of the church as a whole, instead of leaving it to the societies of especially interested persons.
The Moravians were willing to go to any place in the world in the service of Christ. Their foreign mission was started in 1732. Together with their families, they went abroad as self-supporting units and within a decade the Moravian missionaries could be found from Greenland to the Cape of Good Hope.1
The Moravians were noted not only for their dedication to Christian mission, but also for their concern to foster Christian unity. W. A. Visser’t Hooft points out that it was Zinzendorf who first used the word Oikoumene in the sense of the world-wide Christian church.2 The unity he envisaged was not the organic unity of various denominations, but the spiritual unity of all those who had been "washed in the blood of Christ", and who were dispersed throughout the world. The true church of Christ remains invisible. Unity for him was not a matter of the intellect, creed, ritual, or of order, but of the heart. To be a member of a Christian denomination was not the same thing as being one "of the flock of the lamb".3 Pietism exerted a powerful force in the modern missionary movement and many of the nineteenth century missionaries were pietists. Speaking of the influence of Pietism on the missionary movement, Keith R. Bridston observes:
The Pietist movement, one of the most dynamic and creative movements in modem Church history, with its strong emphasis on the inner life and personal commitment, was the source of renewal in many churches, not least in arousing missionary concern within them. The powerful impact of Pietism on the missionary movement, as both an energizing force and a continuing ideological influence, is well known. In a real sense, Pietism made the protestant missionary enterprise.4
The origins of the evangelical revival differed in different countries. In Germany, as mentioned earlier, the evangelical revival can be traced to Pietism. In Britain, its impulse came largely through the evangelical efforts of the Wesleys and Whitefield, the rise of Methodism and the creation of the evangelical party in the Church of England. The first outstanding leader of the awakening in the USA was Jonathan Edwards. The awakening continued throughout the nineteenth century. The form of Christianity practiced and preached by the founding fathers of the evangelical revival was intensely personal and experiential; they described it as ‘vital religion’. The important characteristics of the religious revival as a whole were a concern for vital religion and a large number of philanthropic and charitable activities. They fought against vices, moral and social, in their efforts to convert the nation. There was also an intense concern for mission to the heathens.
According to Ian Bradley5, most important of the humanitarian ventures of nineteenth century England had evangelical inspiration and leadership. Their evangelizing interest took them naturally into those places where humanity was least regenerate - into prisons, brothels, the factories and slums. The cruelty and misery they saw there angered and appalled them and made them devote themselves to fighting for reforms and improvements. The basis of their response to poverty and suffering was emotional rather than ideological. The sight of a half-starved child brought tears of compassion and led them to dig deep in their pockets, not to ponder over the economic and social order, which had brought it about. Elizabeth Fry’s work in prisons, Josephine Butler’s crusade on behalf of the prostitutes, Barnardo’s mission to deprived children, Edward Rudolf’s establishment of the Society for Waifs and Strays, Shaftesbury’s movement for the reform of factory system, and the efforts to uplift the condition of the working class, all had evangelical inspiration and leadership. It is said that the evangelical movement made philanthropy a major industry in Victorian England.
The Evangelicals were drawn to philanthropic activities by a variety of motives. In part they were simply obeying Christ’s command to feed the hungry and clothe the naked. In part, they also undertook it as preliminary to attempts at conversion. Above all they were devoted to good works because they were profoundly moved by human want and suffering. However, all of them agreed that sin was at the root of human misery and that religion alone offered a lasting remedy to it.6
The Nineteenth Century Missionary Movement
The chief outcome of the evangelical awakening was the rise of the modern missionary movement. The great passion of the Evangelicals was evangelism, both at home and to the ends of the earth. This resulted in the birth of a number of societies, voluntary movements, and organizations in which Christians of different denominations and nations banded together to win the world for Christ. The evangelical awakening both caused, and decisively influenced, the character and course of the missionary movement.
The missionary societies, which came into being during this period, sent out a large number of missionaries to different parts of the world. The upsurge of the missionary interest that developed in the latter part of the eighteenth century continued to grow throughout the nineteenth century. The colonial outreach of Protestant European powers broadened the horizons of the people just as the colonial expansion of Spain and Portugal had done for the Roman Catholics of Europe in the sixteenth century. The political and cultural power of European nations aided the missionaries in penetrating all parts of the globe, as did also the development of communication and the relative prevalence of peace.
The missionary movement in its early period was led by a number of famous missionary pioneers who followed the example of William Carey, the first Baptist missionary in India. Carey is often spoken of as the ‘father of modern missions’. His pamphlet, "An enquiry into the obligation of Christians to use the means for conversion of the natives", (1972) is considered to be the ‘charter to modern missions’.
Apart from the evangelical awakenings, there were other forces that influenced the missionary movement. The French Revolution in 1789 had a part in molding the character and outlook of many of the missionaries. The spirit of liberty, fraternity and equality which found expression in the French Revolution had a profound influence on many people in England. William Carey was one of those who watched the French Revolution with sympathy. Pearce Carey, his biographer, points out that William Carey greeted the revolution as "God’s answer to the recent concerted praying of his people". For Carey, the French Revolution was "a glorious door opened, and likely to be opened much wider, for the Gospel, by the spread of civil and religious liberty, and by the diminution of papal power". According to Fuller, the secretary of the Baptist Missionary Society at that time, Carey’s mind was very much pre-occupied with the ideals of the French Revolution. "Indeed, like other young bloods, he hotly became republican - not drinking to the king’s health". Rousseau’s doctrine of the people’s sovereignty and their equal rights had a powerful effect on the missionary conception of other peoples and races who were thought to be backward and barbarous. Max Warren observes that Carey’s world-mission programme was Rousseau ‘made practical’ .7 Convinced about every truth of ‘common and equal rights of all men’, Carey yearned to share with every man his affluent inheritance in Christ. As we noted earlier, the Evangelicals were social reformers, and Carey, like Wilberforce and others of the Clapham sect, was an emancipationist and fought against the slave trade. Among the British Evangelicals there arose a feeling of the moral responsibility of the British towards the people in their colonies and the need to compensate for the wrong done to them by colonial exploitation.
The Separation of Church and Mission
The great missionary enterprise of the twentieth century created its own instruments and organizations. Most of the missionary agencies that developed during this period, with the exception of some societies in the USA, were voluntary societies, independent of the ecclesiastical machinery of the church. Speaking of the separation of Church and Mission in the early period of the missionary movement, Wilhelm Anderson observes:
The missionary enterprise regarded itself as a separate institution concerned with Christian operations overseas within, on the fringe of, in certain cases even outside, the existing Christian bodies; and, in accordance with its understanding of its nature, it developed its own independent organizational structure within or alongside of the organised churches.8
As a result, the missionary movement remained, to a large extent, marginal to the life of most of the churches. How did this separation between church and mission come about? What were the consequences of this separation? Some historians have located the reason in the theology of the evangelical movement which largely disregarded the denominational and ecclesiastical lines and emphasised the salvation of the individuals. For Evangelicals who were really influenced by pietism, the true church of Christ remained invisible; and when they spoke of Christian unity, the unity they envisaged was not the organic unity of the various denominations, but the spiritual unity of all those who had been "washed in the blood of Christ".
The individualist bent in evangelical theology was characteristic of nineteenth century thinking in general. According to K.S. Latourette,
The prominence of private enterprise in the spread of the faith was closely associated with the outstanding features of the nineteenth century private initiative in business, laissez faire economics with a minimum of government control and growth of democracy.9
Protestantism, especially Anglo-Saxon Protestantism, had strong kinship with democratic movements and the individual enterprise of the nineteenth century. It was not surprising, therefore, that the surging new life in Protestantism found expression in multitudes of associations for the propagation of the faith. Latourette points out that the prominence of private enterprise in the propagation of Christianity in the nineteenth century was only a phase of the multiplicity of organizations privately organised to attack the evils of society.10 Evangelical theology and the emphasis on private initiative in the nineteenth century were two contributory factors to the separation of Church and Mission. But they were not the main reasons.
Stephen Neill is certainly right when he says that it was the failure of the established churches to develop a missionary spirit that drove certain missionary societies to adopt positions and policies which were unrelated to the church.11 According to Alec. A. Vidler, in eighteenth century England, the spirit of religion, in general, was one of formality and coldness. Churchmen were more interested in rationalistic thought than in the spiritual life of its members. The principal effect of the French Revolution in the latter part of the century was to stiffen the conservatism of the church and so postpone the pressure for reform within the church. "Bishops rivaled one another in denouncing subversive teaching, the spirit of democracy, and the blasphemous character of the evangelical movement".12 In such a situation, any evangelical movement or missionary enthusiasm was suspect. Moreover, the churches in England and Europe were the immediate heirs of a vast fatigue resulting from the religious conflicts of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, and had no energy or spiritual resources left for missions.13 In 1796, a speaker in the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland said that, "to spread abroad the knowledge of the Gospel among barbarians and the heathen nations seems highly preposterous, so far as it anticipates, it even reverses, the order of nature"14
The evangelical revival when it took place was largely a layman’s movement. The laymen who were awakened by the revival expressed their life and faith in organising voluntary societies for service and mission both at home and abroad. Max Warren points out that the missionaries from England in the first part of the 19th century belonged, in a large measure, to a distinctive class in society, that of the skilled mechanics. They were skilled craftsmen, small traders, shoe makers, printers, shipbuilders and school teachers. Many of them were ‘inner directed’ men. To be inner directed is to feel an overwhelming compulsion to follow some course of action which, to others, seems inappropriate. There was no search for an authority to tell a person what he ought to do. "The LMS sent its first mechanics primarily as evangelists and as such accepted their sending as ordination.15
Not only were churches indifferent to mission, but in several cases they opposed it. In England, the Church Missionary Society (CMS) was confronted with opposition from the bishops of the Anglican church. There were instances when bishops refused to ordain candidates presented by the society.16 The result was that almost all the early missionaries of the Society were Germans, who had come through the mission houses in Basel or Berlin and who were not sufficiently conscious of the denominational differences to be troubled by working for an Anglican Society. As missionaries they had no connection with the Church of England.17
The separation between the institutional church and its missionary agency was perhaps even greater on the continent of Europe. In Germany, Holland, and Switzerland, the care of missions was left to the circles of ‘ friends of missions’, privately organised missionary societies for which the churches took no responsibility and with which, in many cases, they had little contact. In most cases the missionary had been trained in a special institution which was not officially recognized by the church. He was then ordained, not by the church but by the missionary society. When on leave he could not preach in any church as his ordination did not carry with it any right of ministry in his home country. Stephen Neill observes that such a missionary was simply the employee of a large concern in Europe, submissive to its directors, dependent on it for financial support, responsible to it alone, without direct dependence on, or responsibility to, any church body. Naturally, "the mission filled his thoughts and his horizon, and ‘the Church’ seemed to be a distant and not very important problem of the future."18
The separation of the church and mission was unfortunate and had serious consequences. A built-in mutual suspicion and opposition developed between the two. When, in 1876, Reginald Stephen Copleston arrived in Ceylon as the Anglican bishop, he set himself to re-organise the work of missionaries, chaplains and others in relation to the church. His proposals were immediately resisted by the missionaries; their resistance was so strong that the bishop withdrew from them all the Episcopal license without which they could not officiate as clergy men. This created great problems in the Anglican church in Ceylon till l880.19 This controversy makes clear the kind of difficulties that can arise when a mission is not recognized from the beginning as being an instrument of the church. However it was in the relationship between the missionary societies (and their missionaries) and the churches in the mission field that this separation became a serious issue.
The nineteenth century missionary movement manifested itself not only in the missionary societies, but also in individual missions. The individual mission was represented in two forms. The primary form was an independent missionary, with perhaps a few collaborators who looked to him for leadership; the second form was a number of independent missions banded together. William Norman Heggoy, a missionary scholar who studied the evangelical missionary movement in North Africa from 1881-1931 says that the ‘individual mission’ remained the only type of mission among the Muslims in North Africa until 1908. He points out that the looseness of organization became laxity and cites instances of missionaries who reported converts here and there, and then suddenly packed up and moved away in the hope of finding greener pastures elsewhere, seemingly leaving these converts as lambs among wolves.20 The sad part, of course, was that there was nobody to carry on the abandoned work. Heggoy writes:
It may be questioned whether the fragmentary character of the church of Christ represented by the individual type could convey any correct picture of the church to the Muslim mind. As the individual mission represented the most subjective form of Christianity, it may be questioned whether the Muslims could understand that Christianity was much more than individual salvation. It may further be questioned whether faithfulness in witnessing the Gospel of Christ is faithfulness to the complete Gospel where elements like the Church and the Sacraments are neglected. 21
The question of the relation between church and mission was seriously faced only in the 20th century. This was a central concern in the International Missionary Conferences, especially from Edinburgh 1910 to Madras 1938.
The Ecumenical Results of the Missionary Movement
The separation of church and mission in the thinking of Protestant missionary movement at its beginning led to theological and practical problems in the sending centers as well as in the mission field. However, there were positive results of the evangelical, and resultant, missionary movements. The movements that arose out of the evangelical awakening -- both missionary and lay -- were unconscious pioneers of the movement for Christian unity which was to come.
They were not ecumenical in objective. Each had some specific aim of its own - missionary or social reform - but, though not ecumenical in aim, they were ecumenical in result. They were not called into existence to promote Christian unity as such, they were built on no theory of Christian unity, but they created a consciousness of that unity, ‘a sense of togetherness’ amongst Christians of different Churches. Christians of different nations as well as of different Churches found fellowship with each other in the service of Christ and became conscious of their oneness in him.22
Co-operation in Mission
The missionary movement came out of the evangelical awakening. In its first exhilarating phase, the suddenness of the awakening, the sense of millennial expectation it aroused, the freshness of the evangelical experience, the revival movement, all served to create a powerful sense of fraternity among those who were awakened. Armenians and Calvinists, Churchmen and Dissenters, achieved an unprecedented level of unity. The distinctions between theologies, parties or even between social classes seemed trivial compared to those between the regenerate and damned. As Joseph Miller, the great Evangelical Anglican remarked, "Insignificant indeed are all the distinctions of another kind compared with these, converted or unconverted... heirs of heaven or heirs of hell".23 The ecumenical spirit of the Evangelicals is seen clearly in the following statement of an Anglican priest:
I confess, though a clergy man of the Establishment, I see no evil in joining in public worship or social intercourse, with any of the denominations of Christians. I hear what passes with candor, join where I approve, and reject whatever appears contrary to Scripture, and the plain dictates of sound reason and common sense. I am well aware this comes not up to the full standard of orthodoxy. But if such conduct constitutes a bad churchman, I feel not anxious to be accounted a good one?24
Evangelicals realized that they shared an experience that marked them off decisively from all others and gathered them together in the fellowship of an invisible church of Christ to which all ‘vital’ Christians belonged. The evangelical experience was not a matter of theological reflection, but rather a general experiential crisis rooted in a deep seated sense of sinfulness and spiritual insufficiency and a thirst for assurance of personal salvation. Non-conformists and churchmen alike rejoiced to find that others had fought through the same spiritual and temporal conflicts as themselves. For them, "If the theologies could divide, experience could unite". 25
Even in doctrine, the Evangelicals sensed that they were chosen together. They held in common not only the Bible but also the leading doctrine they believed it contained, including original sin, justification by faith, and illumination and sanctification by the Holy Spirit. The central doctrine that transcended in importance all the others, was justification by faith. Here the Anglican Evangelicals felt more in common with the Methodists or the Dissenters than with the High Church Anglicans. They had experienced the same salvation as the others. Though Episcopalians, they did not hold with the high church Anglicans that episcopacy was the esse of the church. It was ancient, apostolical and beneficial, but not of dominical authority. Many of the Evangelical Anglicans experienced a conflict of mind and heart. They knew in their hearts and minds that they were respectable and loyal members of the national church; but they also knew in their hearts that they were Evangelicals sharing with other Evangelicals a common faith and experience that transcended denominational boundaries and theological parties.
The most important area in which the Evangelicals co-operated was in the area of mission. For the Evangelicals, the principal task was to preach the Gospel to the heathen; and one of the greatest evils of the time was denominational bigotry that needed to be destroyed. Roger Martin mentions that in 1794, Melville Home, in his letter on Missions addressed to the Protestant ministers of British churches, observed that a missionary should be far removed from narrow bigotry and possess a spirit that was truly catholic. He said:
It is not Calvinism, it is not Arminianism, but Christianity that he is to teach. It is not the hierarchy of the Church of England, it is not the principle of Protestant Dissenters that he has in view to propagate. His object is to serve the Church Universal.26
Unfortunately, this dream of the Evangelicals did not materialize in the mission field and hence, a major concern of the ecumenical movement today remains the issues of faith and order.
The protestant missionary enterprise was characterized in the beginning by co-operation across national and denominational lines. In certain cases people from different denominations co-operated in founding missionary societies. The London Missionary Society (LMS) was a common effort of British Evangelicals from four or more denominations. At the general meeting of the Society in 1795, David Bogue declared:
We have now before us a pleasing spectacle. Christians of different denominations, although differing in points of Church government, united in forming a society for propagating the Gospel among the heathen. This is a new thing in the Christian Church ... Here are Episcopalians, Methodists, Presbyterians, and Independents all united in one society, all going to form its law, to regulate its institutions, and manage its various concerns. Behold us here assembled with one accord to attend the funeral of bigotry. And may she be buried so deep that a particle of her dust may ever be thrown up on the face of the earth. 27
In the ‘fundamental principles’ of the society, adopted in 1796, it was stated:
That its design is not to send Presbyterianism, Independency, Episcopacy, or any other forms of Church order and government (about which there may be difference of opinion among senior persons), but the glorious Gospel of the blessed God, to the heathen; and that it shall be left (as it ought to be left) to the minds of the persons whom God may call into the fellowship of 1-us Son for them, to assume for themselves such forms of Church government as to them shall appear most acceptable to the word of God. 28
There was also co-operation between different societies in the early period of the missionary movement. R. Pierce Beaver in his book, The Ecumenical Beginnings, gives a detailed account of the early efforts in co-operation.29 The Church Missionary Society (CMS) and the London Missionary Society (LMS) employed Germans, Swiss and Swedes, both Lutheran and Reformed. Janikes’ Seminary in Germany supplied missionaries for British and Dutch societies. The Basel Missionary Society (1815) not only sent its people directly, but also supplied missionaries for the CMS and LMS and pastors for Reformed, Lutheran and Evangelical Churches in the USA. The Swedish Missionary Society despite its solidly Lutheran constituency, appointed Moravian and English Wesleyans to its governing board and for more than a decade made grants to the Basel, London, Wesleyan and Moravian societies. 30 The SPCK (the Anglican society) supported German Lutheran clergy in several missions in India.31 Each missionary society published news about the activities of others in its magazine.
Thus according to Beaver, the early Protestant missionary enterprise was drawn together, influenced and supported one another, and felt a sense of unity and fellowship not known to many in the Church in a time of denominational loyalty and exclusiveness. The very battle against indifference, inertia, and official opposition, which they had to wage for the recognition of missionary privilege and obligation, sharpened their sense of unity and common purpose.32
But as years passed, as mission boards grew in strength, and as denominationalism asserted itself, this noteworthy development almost wholly disappeared. The LMS, which was started as a non-denominational society, eventually became principally a Congregationalist Board. Similarly, in America. the American Board of Commissonaries for Foreign Missions, at first a non-denominational agency, later became an organ of the Congregational Church.33 Questions were raised in the mission field regarding the creed, ministry and order that should be given to a congregation in Africa or Asia. The answer was the creed or the ministry of the missionary’s ‘home church’. Thus denominational churches arose in the mission field. In several instances, this slowed down the early co-operation in mission. The period between 1820 and 1830 was to be a turning point for Anglo-Lutheran collaboration in India. In those years an almost full anglicanization was carried out throughout the South Indian missions of the SPCK and CMS. Bishop Middleton of Calcutta insisted that Anglican societies should send out to India only men with Anglican ordination. In 1825, Bishop Heber in India re-ordained three German Lutheran missionaries.34 From the history of the missionary movement of this period we must note that mission certainly raises the question of unity, but unity cannot avoid serious consideration of ecclesiological issues. That is, unity, if it is to last, cannot be kept at the pragmatic and practical level of co-operation and comity in missions.
By the middle of the nineteenth century, Protestant missionary organizations in most countries were pursuing their own courses independently of other societies. Earlier examples of co-operation largely disappeared as each missionary society advanced its own program and sent its own denominational missionaries. The missionaries in the field were the first to feel the tragedy of division among the churches.
Even as early as 1906, Gustav Warneck, the German mission historian had suggested that instead of establishing new missionary societies, an endeavor should be made towards the union of missionary societies. "We have diffusion more than enough," he wrote, "If it is still carried further upon principle, it must ultimately lead to the breaking up of the evangelical missions to atoms ... separation is weakness, conciliation is strength."35
The Serampore missionaries in India were strict Baptists. When the Baptist society was formed in England, it was a denominational society; William Carey himself felt that it should be so considering the denominational situation of the time. They had kept the non-Baptist away from the Lord’s table. However, in India, under the insistence of William Ward who was one of the three original missionaries, they resolved to be ‘Catholic’. "We could not doubt," wrote Ward, "that Watts, Edwards, Brainard, Dodridge, and Whitefield, although not Baptists, had been welcomed to His table by our Lord. On what grounds should we exclude such? Rather than engage in a furious controversy about baptism, to the gratification of Satan, while people perish, we rejoice to shake off this apparent moroseness that has made us unlovely to our fellow Christians."36
Thus, the resolution of the Serampore missionaries was to be ‘Catholic’. The word ‘Catholic’ is very often a misunderstood and misused term. Unfortunately it has been claimed and used by racial, denominational and sectarian churches. The word really speaks of openness, wholeness and ecumenism rather than a quality of separation. It has nothing to do with the structure of ministry in the church, or the practice of baptism. The Serampore missionaries also raised a very fundamental question. What right have we to prevent people from the Lord’s table, when the Lord welcomes them. It must be stressed that in the history of the Church, it has been the people engaged in mission in the world who have often raised fundamental questions about the nature of the church, its catholicity and unity. This was so in the case of the early church. It is in this sense that mission was the originator of the modern ecumenical movement.
Conferences in the Mission Fields
In 1806, William Carey proposed to the Baptist Missionary Society in England that a World Missionary Conference be held in the Cape of Good Hope in 1810, to be repeated every ten years. He pointed out that, "We should understand better in two hours than by two years of letters". To this proposal, Fuller, the Secretary of the society replied:
I admire Carey’s proposal, though I can not say that I approve. It shows an enlarged mind, and, I have heard them say that great men dream differently from others. This is one of Carey’s pleasing dreams. But, seriously, I see no important object to be attained by such a meeting, which might not quite well be realized without. And in the gatherings of all denominations there would be no unity, without which we had better stay at home.37
If William Carey’s dream was not realized immediately on a world scale, it found partial and significant fulfillment on a national, regional and /or local basis. From 1825 onwards gatherings of missionaries of various nationalities and denominational allegiances were held in India, Japan, China and Latin America. They were concerned with the needs and problems of the missionary enterprise in their particular areas. They did much to foster, as well as express, a unity which over arched denominational differences.38 Japan’s first Missionary Conference was held in 1872 in Yokohama. Recognizing that denominational divisions ‘obscure the oneness of the church’, the Conference unanimously resolved to work for the advent in Japan of a United Church of Christ. There were several missionary conferences in Shanghai, China, from 1877. At the third conference held in Shanghai in 1907, Christian Unity was an important consideration. The missionaries urged that the most immediate pressing step was the unification of the Chinese churches holding the same ecclesiastical order.
The most prominent motif running through all these regional and national conferences was co-operation in mission. Theirs was a pragmatic approach to Christian co-operation for the sake of evangelistic efficiency. The central purpose of such meetings was the exposition and discussions of the facts and problems of missionary work. The meetings also provided opportunity for special fellowship and social intercourse. It helped dissipate suspicion, prevent misunderstandings and create an atmosphere of friendliness and co-operation. There was no questioning of denominational ecclesiology as such, instead they felt that there was sufficient spiritual unity among them to co-operate in missions. However in grappling with missions and co-operation, it began to dawn on many of them that disunity was a source of weakness for the spread of the Gospel and some expressed the need for church unity. The result of such conferences was the establishment of several union institutions such as colleges and hospitals. Another result was the acceptance of ‘comity’ in missionary work. Comity meant basically the division of territory and assignment of spheres of occupation including delineation of boundaries on the one hand, and non-interference in another mission’s affairs on the other. Non-interference involved more than avoidance of competition; it also involved mutual recognition and common agreement in the employment of workers, their salaries, standards of membership in the churches, transfer of membership, the adoption of similar standards of discipline and respect for each other’s discipline.
The missionary conferences in the mission field not only acknowledged that disunity was a source of weakness for the spread of the Gospel, but also asked whether or not it was the aim of all missionary work to plant, in each non-Christian nation, one undivided Church of Christ. The World Missionary Conference in Edinburgh stated that throughout the mission field there was an earnest and growing desire for closer fellowship, and for the unity of the broken Church of Christ. It said:
While we may differ from one another in our conception of what unity involves and requires, we agree in believing that our Lord intended that we should be one in a visible fellowship, and we desire to express our whole hearted agreement with those who took part in the great conference of Shanghai, in holding that the ideal object of missionary work is to plant in every non-Christian nation one united Church of Christ. ... The Church in Western lands will reap a glorious reward from its missionary labours, if the church in the mission field points the way to a healing of its divisions and to the attainment of that unity for which our Lord prayed.39
Behind all practical schemes of union in the mission field, there were two divergent approaches to union. One approach emphasized the things which are common to all Christians. Those who believed in God the Father of Jesus Christ, who worshiped and obeyed Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior, who believed in the Holy Spirit, in the forgiveness of sins, and the life everlasting, and who accepted the Christian Scriptures as their authority and guide, appeared to be already united by their own faith and experience in a fellowship so intimate and real that the matters on which they differed must sink to a subordinate place. In the face of non-Christian systems of life and thought, the things which separated Christians from one another were nothing when compared with those which separated Christians from those who had not apprehended God in Christ. Those who held this view were inclined towards forming a federation of Christian churches. The other approach placed greater emphasis on those things which divided Christians. According to them some of the things which divided Christians were essential aspects of divine revelation or essential means of Grace. To surrender them would equate with being unfaithful to a sacred trust, a failure to pass on unimpaired to future generation of Christians, great necessaries of faith and life which have been committed to their safekeeping. Their approach was one of organic unity of the church. To achieve such a unity, agreement on ecclesiological issues would be necessary.40 The discussions of unity in the missionary conferences in the mission fields rightly anticipated the future discussions in the Faith and Order Movement in the twentieth century.
There were also efforts to unite, in a close and organic union, churches belonging to the same ecclesiastical polity. The first instance of a union of Presbyterian churches in the mission field took place in Japan in 1877. Similar unions took place in China, India, Korea, British Central Africa and several other countries. In 1907, the Congregational and Presbyterian churches in South India came together to form the South India United Church. and the Centenary Missionary Conference in Shanghai in 1907 resolved to work towards the formation of a Christian Federation of China.
Contribution of ‘Younger’ Churches
Although the missionary conferences were mainly concerned with the co-operation of missionaries and societies in the mission field, their discussions led to the wider question of the unity of the church. One of the most important reasons for such a development was the pressure exerted by ‘younger’ churches for unity. The Edinburgh report made this clear.
Not only is the ideal of a United Church taking more and more definite shape and color in the minds of foreign missionaries at work in non-Christian lands, but it is also beginning under the influence of the growing national consciousness in some of these countries, to capture the imagination of the indigenous Christian communities; for whom the sense of a common national life and a common Christianity is stronger than the appreciation of the differences which had their origin in controversies remote from the circumstances of the Church in mission lands. The influence of the national feeling is most powerful in China. 41
The Edinburgh Conference was certainly right when it said that it was under the instigation of the national movement that Christians from the younger churches, especially Christians from Asia, began to develop a sense of a common national life and a common Christianity. "The first impulse for ecumenism in Asia had its origin in Asian nationalism in the second half of the 19th century. In its origin, the Asian ecumenical movement arose as a protest movement against missionary paternalism and Western denominationalism."42 From the middle of the 19th century, when nationalism developed in China, India, and in other places in Asia, Christianity came to be suspected as a denationalizing influence and the acceptance of Christianity as a surrender to colonialism. Under the impact of nationalism there was a growth of several indigenous movements within the churches protesting against western denominationalism and trying to build up indigenous and united churches.
With regard to the unity of the church, the Chinese Christians were much ahead of the foreign missionaries. "The best and most intelligent Chinese leaders are ahead of the average missionary in desiring one Church of Christ in China", wrote E. W. Bert of the English Baptist Mission in China.43 J.C. Garritt of the American Presbyterian Mission in Nanking pointed out, "If the missionaries fail to come up to the mark, I believe the Chinese will speak out for union with no uncertain sound."44 Bishop Roots, who, after referring to the resolution of the Shanghai Conference regarding the desire to plant on Chinese soil one undivided Church, wrote:
The alternative to this requirement seems to be that we forfeit our position of leadership among the Christian faces of China; because the rising national spirit is largely imbued with a kind of religious enthusiasm, and the most serious patriots among the Chinese undoubtedly look to the Christians of China as furnishing a strong support to their efforts for the development of the Chinese national unity. On the other hand, the leading Christians of China undoubtedly believe that one reason why they should be Christians and propagate Christianity in China is that they will thereby render the greatest service to their country; and therefore Christian zeal has come to many as a matter of patriotic obligation. These two forces work together irresistibly, demanding one Church for China which the missionaries of the Centenary Conference declared it their purpose to establish. And if the missionaries can not supply this demand for leadership in the practical development of Christian unity amongst the Chinese Christians, that leadership will undoubtedly arise outside the rank of the missionaries, and perhaps even outside the ranks of the duly authorised ministers of the Christian Church in China.45
What is said of China is also true of India. About the situation in India, J.N. Faraquhar wrote in 1906, that "the rise of national feeling throughout India and the desire to prove the capacity of the Indians as such is one of the most remarkable features of public life today. Passions and convictions are quite as strong within the Church as outside."46 It was not surprising that the initiative for church union in India came from Bengal where national stirrings were felt more strongly than in other places. In Bengal, a group of Christians, under the leadership of Kali Charan Banerjea (who was very active in the Indian National Congress) formed the Christo Samaj in 1887. The purpose of Christo Samaj was to propagate Christian truth and promote Christian unity. They hoped to gather all Indian Christians within it, thereby eliminating denominationalism. They accepted only the Apostle’s creed as a doctrinal basis, which for the organizers provided the broadest basis possible. They were critical of the Western missions for transplanting the theological and ecclesiastical differences of the West to India, thereby dividing the Indian Christians into numerous groups. At the Bombay Missionary Conference in 1892, K.C. Banerjea said that the Indian Church should be one, not divided, native not foreign. He made a distinction between substantive and adjective Christianity. Substantive Christianity consisted of the essentials of Christian faith as expressed in the Apostle’s creed. The essential should never be changed. Adjective Christianity was all that developed in the course of time for the purpose of protecting and conserving the basic truths such as confessional statements and organizational forms. It could change from place to place.47
Not only in Bengal but also in other places there were protest movements against Western denominationalism. A Western India Native Christian Alliance was founded in Bombay in 1871, with the same objective in view as Christo Samaj. In 1886. a group of Christians in Madras, under the leadership of Parani Andy formed a Native Church of India. Their intention was to build up a national church comprising all Christian denominations and sects. For them, since Christianity was Asiatic in origin, it was unreasonable for Indian Christians to adhere to different Western denominations which were the products of political revolution and dissentions in Europe. The extent to which the tragedy of Western denominationalism occupied the minds of the Indian Christians was shown in 1879 when the Synods of the Church Missionary Society and the American Presbyterian Church in India met in Amritsar and Lahore respectively. At both these Synods, the Indian clergy frankly expressed the opinion that the difficulties which stood in the way of the establishment of a national church, were caused solely by Western missionaries.
The Western missionary historians have often forgotten the contributions made by the ‘younger churches’ in Asia to unity movements. They speak almost exclusively of the Western missionary movement in the 19th century as the originator of the modern ecumenical movement and ignore, or forget, the contributions made by Asian Christians. As noted earlier, the missionary conferences in the mission field were concerned mainly with the co-operation in mission for the sake of evangelistic efficiency and not with unity as such. The real impetus for unity came from the Asian Christians who, under the inspiration of the national movement, took the Initiative for Christian unity and for the building up of indigenous churches. In fact it was the protest of the Asian Christians against Western denominationalism and missionary paternalism which led to church unity discussions in some of the missionary conferences. The Asians not only initiated ecumenical ventures in Asia, but also contributed, through the missionary movement, to the ecumenical developments in the West. It is this contribution of Asian Christians to the emergence of the 20th century ecumenical movement that is often ignored by western ecumenical historians. About this Kaj Baago writes:
It has often been pointed out that it was first and foremost the situation in the ‘mission fields’ in Asia and Africa which gave rise to the ecumenical movement, also in the West. Transplanted to another soil outside Europe, the denominational differences suddenly seemed not only absurd, but harmful. Generally the missionaries at the end of the 19th century have been given credit for seeing this and having started the discussion which led to the Ecumenical Movement. It is a question, however, whether the credit should not go to the Indian, Chinese, and Japanese Christians who started the protest movements against western denominationalism. Seen in that perspective, the Christo Samaj in Calcutta and the National Church in Madras are not without historical significance.48
The Chinese and the Indian Christians were eager to establish one united indigenous Church in their respective countries, but not in opposition to the Western Churches. Nor were they interested in the unity of the church for its own sake. Their ecumenical efforts were directed towards two objectives: to help in the unity of their nation and to help in the spread of the Gospel. As we noted earlier, many Chinese undoubtedly looked to the Christians of China to furnish support for their efforts in developing Chinese national unity. Many Christians in China wanted to propagate Christianity because that would render the greatest service to their country. Ecumenism in Asia, in its origin, was a search to discover Asia and the Christian Gospel for each other.
Missionary Conferences In The West
The conferences in the mission field, the criticism raised against western denominationalism, and the attempts made to organize united churches by the Christians of ‘younger churches’, had their repercussions on the missionary societies and churches in the West. The Edinburgh Conference noted:
It is evident that the growth of the Christian Church in Japan and China and India and Africa is producing a profound change in the religious situation, and is presenting problems of great complexity and gravity. The burden of these problems presses with special weight on those who are in the most immediate contact with the new situation. But they are problems which deeply concern also the Home Church. ...The Churches in the mission field may lead the way to unity; but they cannot move far and move safely without the co-operation of the Church at home. The great issues which confront us in the modern situation are the concern of the whole Church of Christ; the spiritual resources of the whole Church will be required to deal with them. 49
The missionary societies and the churches in the West were frightened of the new developments for unity in the mission field. They saw the possibility of churches in the mission field cutting off relations with the sending societies and churches in the West. They were also afraid of the possibility of younger churches rejecting the ecclesiastical traditions and polity of the western churches. The World Missionary Conference at Edinburgh expressed it thus:
It is true that, in the matter of unity, the mission field is leading the way; but it does not seem that the movement can advance far with safety, apart from the co-operation of the Church at home. It is undesirable that the links that bind the Churches in the mission field to their parent Churches should be severed at too early a date, or that a Church should grow up in Japan or China or India that has not intimate relations with the Church at home, to which it owes its origin. It is surely the duty of the home Church to study carefully the developments that are taking place in the mission field, to guard jealously against placing any obstacle in the way of attaining that unity which is being sought, and to watch carefully that it does not fall too far behind in leading the way It is hardly possible to secure these results unless the societies having their head quarters in Europe and America are more closely linked together than they are at present. It is essential, therefore, that there should be hearty and effective cooperation between Missionary societies at home. 50
This fear of the developments in the younger churches was a strong factor in pushing the missionary societies in the West to consider the question of co-operation and unity. Thus, as a result of the criticism of western denominations by the younger churches, their efforts to organize united churches, the discussions of church unity at missionary conferences in the mission field and the fear of the missionary societies and the churches in the West of the possibility of younger churches breaking away from the western traditions and western control, led the way to a number of conferences in the West to discuss ‘hearty and effective co-operation between missionary societies’. These conferences were forerunners of the first World Missionary Conference at Edinburgh, 1910.51
There was a series of international conferences and consultations on missions in the United States, England and Europe, beginning in Germany in 1846 and culminating in New York in 1900. Questions such as the scriptural basis of mission, co-operation and unity in the mission field and missionary training were discussed at these meetings. The Conference in New York in 1900 was called an ecumenical conference, thus introducing the term ‘ecumenical’ to its contemporary usage.
The World Missionary Conference at Edinburgh 1910 was the logical conclusion of missionary conferences in the mission field and in the West. It was also a new beginning. The Edinburgh Conference was of decisive importance in the coming into being of the modern ecumenical movement. Historians often speak of Edinburgh as the beginning of the ecumenical movement. The period after Edinburgh saw the development of three major streams of the 20th century ecumenical movement, which later joined to form the World Council of Churches: The International Missionary Council, the Life and Work Movement, and the Faith and Order Movement. If the 19th century is known as the missionary century, then the 20th century must be called the ecumenical century.
1. See A.J. Lewis, Zinzendorf, The Ecumenical Pioneer, London, SCM Press, 1962 p. 79.
2. W.A. Vissert Hooft, The Meaning of the Ecumenical Movement, London, SCM Press, 1953. p. 18.
3. A.J. Lewis, Op. cit., p.99
4. Keith R. Bridston, Mission, Myth and Reality, New York, Friendship Press, 1965. p.43.
5. Ian Bradley, The Call to Seriousness, London, 1976.
6. Ibid. p. 120.
7. S.P.Carey, William Carey, London 1926, p.7.
8. Wilhelm Andersen, Towards a Theology of Mission, London, SCM Press, 1955. p. 15.
9. K.S. Latorette, The Unquenchable Light, New York, Harper & Brothers, 1941. p. 118.
10. Ibid., p.119.
11. Stephen Neill, Creative Tension, London, Edinburgh House Press, 1959. p. 84.
12. Alec H. Vidler, The Church in the Age of Revolution, Baltimore, Penguin Books. 1965. p. 34.
13. M.A.C. Warren, "Why Missionary Societies and not Missionary Churches"?. History’s Lessons for Tomorrow’s Mission, Geneva, WSCF, 1960. p. 152.
14. Vidler, Op. cit., p. 248.
15. Max Warren, Op. cit., p. 37.
16. Eugene Stock, The History of the Church Missionary Society, London, Church Missionary Society, 1899, vol.1. p.90. At an earlier period, John Wesley was compelled to ordain ministers for the mission field in America, when the Anglican bishop of England refused to ordain candidates presented by him..
17. Stephen Neill, Op. cit., p. 84.
18. Ibid., p. 84.
19. One Hundred Years: Short History of the Church Missionary Society, London, CMS, 1899. pp. 122-123.
20. William Norman Hoggoy, Fifty Years of Evangelical Missionary Movement in North Africa 1881-1931. Unpublished Ph.D. Thesis, Hartford Seminary Foundation, pp. 273-274.
21. Ibid., p. 151.
22. Ruth Rouse, "Voluntary Movements and the Changing Ecumenical Climate" in A History of the Ecumenical Movement, p. 310.
23. Roger H. Martin, Evangelicals United: Ecumenical Stirrings in Pre-Victorian Britain 1775-1830.
26. Roger H. Martin, Op. cit., p. 31.
27. Richard Lovett, The History of London Missionary Society, London, Oxford University Press 1899 vol. 1. p. 35.
28. Ibid. Vol. II. pp. 747-748.
29. Pierce Beaver, The Ecumenical Beginnings in Protestant World Mission, New York, Thomas Nelson & Sons, 1962.
30. Ibid., p. 51.
31. Richy Hogg, Ecumenical Foundation, New York, Harper & Brothers, 1952, p.3.
32. Beaver, Op. cit., p. 22.
33. See Fred Field Goodsell, You Shall be My Witness, Boston, American Commissioners for Foreign Mission, 1959. The denominations who had co-operated with the Congregationalists established their own missionary societies.
34. Hans Cnattingus, Bishops and Societies, London, SPCK, 1952, pp. 122-130.
35. Gustav Warneck, Outline of a History of Protestant Missions, New York, Flemington H. Revell Co., 1906. p. 151.
36. S.P. Carey, William Carey, p. 249.
38. Not all missions co-operated in these meetings. From most of these conferences the Anglican Society for the Propagation of the Gospel remained aloof. Similarly some of the so-called ‘faith missions’ and strongly individualistic societies did not join.
39. The Report of the Commission VIII on Co-operation and Promotion of Unity of the Edinburgh Conference 1910. p. 131.
40. Ibid., pp. 133-137.
41. Ibid.. p. 84.
42. T.V. Philip, Ecumenism in Asia, Delhi ISPCK 1994, p. 139.
43. Report of the Commission VIII, Op. cit., p. 84.
45. Ibid., pp. 84-85.
46. Harvest Field (New series), 17, 1906. p. 59.
47. Kaj Baago, Pioneers of Indigenous Christianity, Madras, CLS, 1960. pp. 1-12.
48. Kaj Baago, "First Independence Movements", Indian Church History Review, 1 (1967), p. 78.
49. Report of the Commission VIII., Op. cit. p. 138.
50. Ibid., p. 143.
51. Apart from missionary movement, there were other areas of Christian activity in which a sense of unity in fellowship and purpose was being experienced, such as the Evangelical Alliance(formed in 1846), the Bible Society, the YMCA, the YWCA and the Student Christian Movement. The youth movements not only supplied future missionaries but they also provided a training ground for the leaders of the ecumenical movement. | <urn:uuid:cf8c2bea-b576-4f18-a084-9ffcac4890cb> | {
"date": "2015-04-19T22:54:11",
"dump": "CC-MAIN-2015-18",
"file_path": "s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2015-18/segments/1429246642012.28/warc/CC-MAIN-20150417045722-00034-ip-10-235-10-82.ec2.internal.warc.gz",
"int_score": 3,
"language": "en",
"language_score": 0.9696799516677856,
"score": 3.03125,
"token_count": 11636,
"url": "http://www.religion-online.org/showchapter.asp?title=1573&C=1518"
} |
Part of what makes professional basketball appealing, for kids who love to play as well as fans, is the idea that a person can come from humble beginnings and become a star. The players on the court, the narrative goes, are ones who rose to fame as a result of incredible dedication and extraordinary talent. Basketball, then, is a way out of poverty, a true equal opportunity sport that affirms what we think America is all about.
Seth Stephens-Davidowitz crunched the numbers to find out if the equal opportunity story was true. Analyzing the economic background of NBA players, he found that growing up in a wealthy neighborhood (the top 40% of household incomes) is a “major, positive predictor” for success in professional basketball. Black players are also less likely than the general black male population to have been born to a young or single mother. So, class privilege is an advantage for pro ball players, just like it is elsewhere in our economy.
The richest Black men, then, are most likely to end up in the NBA, followed by those in the bottom 20% of neighborhoods by income. Middle class black men may, like many middle class white men, see college as a more secure route to a successful future. Research shows that poor black men often see sports as a more realistic route out of poverty than college (and they may not be wrong). This also helps explain why Jews dominated professional basketball in the first half of the 1900s.
LeBron James was right, then, when he said, “I’m LeBron James. From Akron, Ohio. From the inner city. I am not even supposed to be here.” The final phrase disrupts our mythology about professional basketball: that being poor isn’t an obstacle if one has talent and drive. But, as Stephens-Davidowitz reminds us, “[a]nyone from a difficult environment, no matter his athletic prowess, has the odds stacked against him.”
Cross-posted at Pacific Standard.Lisa Wade is a professor of sociology at Occidental College and the co-author of Gender: Ideas, Interactions, Institutions. You can follow her on Twitter and Facebook. | <urn:uuid:aae829bb-fea4-478a-b6c5-71b4e646db55> | {
"date": "2015-07-30T16:11:04",
"dump": "CC-MAIN-2015-32",
"file_path": "s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2015-32/segments/1438042987402.78/warc/CC-MAIN-20150728002307-00109-ip-10-236-191-2.ec2.internal.warc.gz",
"int_score": 3,
"language": "en",
"language_score": 0.9712826609611511,
"score": 2.703125,
"token_count": 450,
"url": "http://thesocietypages.org/socimages/2014/01/02/wanna-be-in-the-nba-it-helps-to-grow-up-rich/"
} |
ANN ARBOR—Nisin, a naturally occurring food preservative that grows on dairy products, delivers a one-two punch to two of medicine's most lethal maladies: cancer and deadly, antibiotic-resistant bacteria.
A new University of Michigan study found that feeding rats a "nisin milkshake" killed 70-80 percent of head and neck tumor cells after nine weeks and extended survival, said Dr. Yvonne Kapila, a professor at the University of Michigan School of Dentistry.
Kapila has studied nisin in cancerous tumors and as an antimicrobial to combat diseases of the mouth. After nine weeks of nisin treatment, tumors were comparable to tumors at three weeks.
Kapila's group has published positive results with less potent nisin, but the highly purified nisin ZP used in the present study nearly doubled its effectiveness.
Nisin, a colorless, tasteless powder, is typically added to food at the rate of .25 to 37.5 mg/kg. Many foods contain nisin, but nowhere near the 800 mg/kg needed to kill cancer cells.
Several products available to consumers also contain nisin—creams and pharmaceuticals to fight infection and mastitis, and a sanitizer in lactating cows.
While promising, the results are small and in mice only, so it's too early to say if nisin will act the same way in humans, Kapila said.
Nisin also fights deadly bacteria such as antibiotic-resistant MRSA. In a recent review paper, Kapila's group looked at experimental uses of nisin to treat 30 different types of cancer; infections of the skin, respiratory system and abdomen; and oral health.
"To date, nobody had found bacteria from humans or living animals that is resistant to nisin," Kapila said.
Nisin is lethal to bacteria for two reasons: 1) it binds to a static area of bacteria, which gives nisin the opportunity to work before bacteria changes into an antibiotic-resistant superbug, and 2) nisin kills biofilms—colonies of bacteria that group together into a fortress that thwarts antibiotics.
Another positive is that nisin has withstood the test of time, Kapila said.
"Mother Nature has done a lot of the research for us, it's been tested for thousands of years," she said.
The next step for Kapila's lab will be to test nisin in a clinic setting.
"The application of nisin has advanced beyond its role as a food biopreservative," Kapila said. "Current findings and other published data support nisin's potential use to treat antibiotic resistant infections, periodontal disease and cancer."
The study, "Biomedical applications of nisin," is scheduled to appear in the Journal of Antimicrobial Chemotherapy.
- Study: Biomedical Applications of Nisin
- Yvonne Kapila
- School of Dentistry
- Related study: Antimicrobial nisin acts against saliva derived multi-species biofilms without cytotoxicity to human oral cells
- Related study: Nisin ZP, a Bacteriocin and Food Preservative, Inhibits Head and Neck Cancer Tumorigenesis and Prolongs Survival | <urn:uuid:2bb8d7c7-a6b4-426d-9a1c-986d21762aee> | {
"date": "2016-05-25T05:19:51",
"dump": "CC-MAIN-2016-22",
"file_path": "s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-22/segments/1464049274119.75/warc/CC-MAIN-20160524002114-00116-ip-10-185-217-139.ec2.internal.warc.gz",
"int_score": 3,
"language": "en",
"language_score": 0.9407455921173096,
"score": 2.75,
"token_count": 672,
"url": "http://ns.umich.edu/new/releases/23399-magic-mold-food-preservative-kills-cancer-cells-superbugs"
} |
In these cases the base may give off lateral stipulary processes, as in Allium and Alyssum calycinum.
Unio, liberally unity, oneness, applied to a large pearl and to a species of onion), Allium Cepa (nat.
In this connection, it is interesting that in the east of England with the lowest summer rainfall of this country, many common sciophytes are absent or rare in the woods, such, for example, as Melica uniflora, Allium ursinum, Lychnis dioica, OxalsY Acetosella, and Asperula odorata.
RAMSONS, in botany, the popular name for Allium ursinum, a bulbous plant 6 to 18 in.
It contains 22 genera, the largest of which Allium has about 250 species-7 are British; Agapanthus or African lily is a well-known garden plant; in Gagea, a genus of small bulbous herbs found in most parts of Europe, the inflorescence is reduced to a few flowers or a single flower; G.
The Welsh Onion or Ciboule, Allium fistulosum, is a hardy perennial, native of Siberia.
The Tree Onion or Egyptian Onion, Allium Cepa var.
The Potato Onion, Allium Cepa var.
Knoblauch), Allium sativum, a bulbous perennial plant of the natural order Liliaceae, indigenous apparently to south-west Siberia. | <urn:uuid:f41e8a97-dfa9-49b0-9cc8-38da67182a05> | {
"date": "2017-03-28T14:32:28",
"dump": "CC-MAIN-2017-13",
"file_path": "s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2017-13/segments/1490218189771.94/warc/CC-MAIN-20170322212949-00171-ip-10-233-31-227.ec2.internal.warc.gz",
"int_score": 3,
"language": "en",
"language_score": 0.87347412109375,
"score": 3.125,
"token_count": 324,
"url": "https://www.all-dictionary.com/sentences-with-the-word-allium"
} |
Acai, pronounced "Ah-SIGH-ee," is a popular Brazilian fruit that is harvested from the Amazon rain forest. About the size of a small grape, only the very outer layer and pulp are made into juice. How much you drink usually depends on the reason you are drinking acai and the potency of the juice.
Acai has been harvested by the people of the Amazon tribes for centuries, but in recent years has become a health food phenomenon. In 2000, Jeremy Black and his brother Ryan are credited for sparking the current popularity of acai when they brought it back with them from Brazil. The brothers formed a successful company called Sambazon and began marketing acai in juice and powdered acai because the berry is too perishable to transport.
The juice's popularity gained more momentum when Dr. Mehmet Oz, professor of cardiac surgery at Columbia University and author of "Healing from the Heart," appeared on Oprah and discussed the potency and benefits of acai.
Acai is sold as a superfood that contains high amounts of antioxidants, which are vitamins that benefit our heart, skin, digestion and almost every other system and function in our body. Concentrated levels of anthocyanins, a type of antioxidant, is found in acai and helps in neutralizing the harmful effects of free radicals, according to MonaVie.com.
Acai berries also contain omega-3 fatty acids, which are nutritionally important in our diet. In 2006, the Journal of Agriculture and Food Chemistry published a study which indicated that acai contained beneficial quantities of fatty acids and antioxidants, but that further study was needed.
The common recommended amount of acai juice to drink is 2 to 4 ounces a day. That amount is based on good quality and concentrated juice. The serving size you drink can be based on your individual size; larger people need to consume more nutrients. It is also depends on your overall health.
If you are sick, antioxidants are recommended for improving immune function and for fighting off infection. Drinking a little more juice during illness can be helpful.
Antioxidant-rich foods like acai are known to help skin appear somewhat younger and healthier, according to Dr. L. Baumann at the Cosmetic Medicine and Research Institute, Miller School of Medicine, University of Miami. Drinking 2 to 4 ounces of acai a day would provide an ample amount of antioxidants for skin benefits. The same is true for heart health. The manufacturer's recommended 2 to 4 ounces would provide a decent quantity of antioxidants for heart and circulation concerns.
Acai is also sold as beneficial for weight loss, however no studies proving the effectiveness in dieting has been done.
Acai is available in supplement form as well as juice. The body absorbs the antioxidants either way.
On Oprah.com, Dr. Mehmet Oz recommends five servings of antioxidant fruits a day and suggests a 500 milligram per day supplement of acai if you choose this form. Some practitioners recommend higher amounts, anywhere from 1,000 to 4,000 milligrams a day. Your doctor can suggest what is right for you.
Every product sold with acai juice should list individual ingredients as well as the amount of antioxidants and other nutrients on the label. Juices that are listed as concentrates will usually have the highest amount of antioxidants, while blends can be watered-down versions. Juice concentrates are the best form of acai juice for the money.
Beware of potential scams and false expectations of what acai can do. One product can't and shouldn't be relied upon to provide essential vitamins. Your health care practitioner can recommend a specific daily or weekly quantity of acai juice based on your individual needs. Even Oprah and Dr. Oz clarify on Oprah.com that while they acknowledge the benefits of acai, they do not personally endorse any products marketed to sell acai juice or supplements.
- Photo Credit Photo courtesy of borderlys
How to Drink Acai Juice For Weight Loss
Knowing how to drink acai juice for weight loss will keep you thin and healthy. Acai berries are very high in antioxidants...
How to Use Acai Berry for Weight Loss
I learned of a new superfood called acai berry that is used for weight loss. Since I'm always wary of big weight...
How Much Cherry Juice Should You Drink Per Day?
How Much Pomegranate Juice Should One Drink a Day?. How Much Acai Berry Should You Drink? ... How Often Should You Drink...
How to Take Acai Berry Powder
Acai berry powder is a supplement powder made from acai berries. It is a common version of acai, as it is portable... | <urn:uuid:7264d64f-8afa-4ade-8d5e-51c91cfb31e2> | {
"date": "2016-09-27T20:43:22",
"dump": "CC-MAIN-2016-40",
"file_path": "s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-40/segments/1474738661213.28/warc/CC-MAIN-20160924173741-00082-ip-10-143-35-109.ec2.internal.warc.gz",
"int_score": 3,
"language": "en",
"language_score": 0.946774423122406,
"score": 2.671875,
"token_count": 957,
"url": "http://www.ehow.com/about_5297093_much-acai-berry-should-drink.html"
} |
|Hillsborough||town and county seat, central Orange County on Eno River. Alt. 543. John Lawson visited the Indian town of Occaneechi there, 1701. Appears on the Moseley map, 1733. In 1754 the site came to be known as Corbinton for Francis Corbin, colonial official. Est. as Childsburgh, 1759, in honor of Thomas Childs, attorney general of the province. Name changed to Hillsborough in 1766 in honor of Wills Hill, Earl of Hillsborough (1718-93), president of the Board of Trade and Plantations, and secretary of state for the colonies. The spelling later changed unofficially to Hillsboro, but the original spelling was restored in 1965. The legislature met there in 1778 and 1782-84.|
|Hillsborough District||was composed of Caswell, Chatham, Granville, Orange, Randolph, and Wake Counties at the time of the 1790 census.|
|Hillsborough Lake||See Ben Johnson Lake.|
|Hillsborough Township||central Orange County.|
|West Hillsborough||unincorporated outskirts of town of Hillsborough, central Orange County.|
This content is from the North Carolina Gazetteer, edited by William S. Powell and Michael Hill. Copyright © 2010 by the University of North Carolina Press. Used by permission of the publisher. For personal use and not for further distribution. Please submit permission requests for other use directly to the publisher.
Have a comment about the North Carolina Gazetteer? Tell us! Send NCpedia staff a message. | <urn:uuid:2be8aebf-ade8-46bf-a32c-5a4fbe170b68> | {
"date": "2015-05-24T05:38:31",
"dump": "CC-MAIN-2015-22",
"file_path": "s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2015-22/segments/1432207927843.59/warc/CC-MAIN-20150521113207-00119-ip-10-180-206-219.ec2.internal.warc.gz",
"int_score": 3,
"language": "en",
"language_score": 0.8555288314819336,
"score": 2.546875,
"token_count": 334,
"url": "http://ncpedia.org/gazetteer/search/Hillsborough"
} |
You are here
Link students’ career aspirations with their educational goals.
- Increase percentage of students with a personal education plan that includes some form of education beyond high school.
- Increase the number of opportunities available for students to explore career options through career fairs, job shadows, internships or other career-related learning experiences.
- Increase the number of businesses and community partners that collaborate with the school.
Provide opportunities for students to learn about a wide array of careers.
- Utilize Oregon Career Information System or similar resources to create personal education plans for each student that include postsecondary options.
- Partner with community partners, businesses and professionals to offer a career fair or guest speaker series, or attend a career fair.
- Offer service-learning and work-based learning opportunities.
Build on youths’ interests and passions to tap into intrinsic motivation for college, helping them see the value of learning for its own sake and for the purpose of pursing interesting work later.
- Ensure that all students understand early what courses are necessary to prepare them for college-level work needed to fulfill career goals.
- Help students draw a connection between their interests /passions and college-going.
- Provide a balanced set of reasons why young people would want to go to college, e.g., finding interesting work, financial stability, meeting others with similar interests, quality of life, making positive contributions to their community, etc.
- Provide opportunities for youth to hear from their peers or near peers about how their future goals align with their cultural traditions and values. | <urn:uuid:bfc148ff-3a35-4801-b052-cbb51c8e3c23> | {
"date": "2018-06-23T07:51:34",
"dump": "CC-MAIN-2018-26",
"file_path": "s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2018-26/segments/1529267864953.36/warc/CC-MAIN-20180623074142-20180623094142-00536.warc.gz",
"int_score": 3,
"language": "en",
"language_score": 0.952065110206604,
"score": 3.078125,
"token_count": 322,
"url": "http://oregongearup.org/our-model/relevance"
} |
Health Tip: Eating a Healthy Vegetarian Diet
-- A vegetarian diet doesn't have to lack nutrients or variety. There are plenty of delicious and nutritious meat substitutes to include in a vegetarian diet.
The United States Department of Agriculture offers these suggestions:
- Choose low-fat proteins, such as beans, lentils or rice.
- Replace meat with vegetables in dishes such as pasta, pizza and stir-fry.
- Consider serving soy sausage substitutes, veggie burgers, bean burgers or soy hot dogs.
- Avoid high-fat dairy drinks and substitute with soy beverages.
- Ask for meat substitutes or no meat in dishes at restaurants.
- Ethnic menus -- such as Asian or Indian -- tend to offer a variety of vegetarian dishes.
Posted: December 2008
Recommended for you | <urn:uuid:685249d0-114d-43c7-b1bc-5dc67e7e6667> | {
"date": "2016-07-30T05:33:31",
"dump": "CC-MAIN-2016-30",
"file_path": "s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-30/segments/1469257832939.78/warc/CC-MAIN-20160723071032-00288-ip-10-185-27-174.ec2.internal.warc.gz",
"int_score": 3,
"language": "en",
"language_score": 0.8883049488067627,
"score": 3.046875,
"token_count": 162,
"url": "https://www.drugs.com/news/health-tip-eating-healthy-vegetarian-diet-15076.html"
} |
Doug Leppard ([email protected]
Benjamin Leppard ([email protected])
This is the eight in a series of articles outlining the steps I have taken to build my robot. These articles are focused on a robot that may compete in the Fire Fighting contest, be able to roam around the house, but mostly be a fun learning tool. The 68HC912B32 is the processor, so these articles will be on interfacing to the B32 various mechanical devices and sensors using SBasic as the programming language.
Note, I renamed my robot from Onesimus to HC12. Onesimus is from the Bible, someone that was useless and became useful. I thought this would be symbolic of my robot. But people had a hard time pronouncing Onesimus and when I got my voice board going the robot had a hard time pronouncing its name. So its new name is HC12, named after its MCU. Plus HC12 is a robot sounding name.
"Setting the Stage for Building a Robot," we set goals for the robot and did research. From the goals and research we will make fundamental decisions on what our robot will be like.
"Choosing the CPU, Language and Basic Shape," using our goals we choose what microprocessor, language and what the fundamental shape of the robot.
"Motorolas S-Record" looking at the S-Record format that Motorola uses to load data and programs.
"Booting up the 68HC912B32 for the first time" described in detail how to boot the B32 up and run a program.
"State of the Union" gives an overview of what state the robot was in August 1999.
"Multiplexing Five Sonar Modules" goes into how to and the reasons of putting five Polaroid sonar transducers and wiring them together.
"Drivers for Sonar & Mapping" shows the software to drive the sonar units, and how it can map a room when tied to a PC.
"Using B32's Interrupts IRQ and XIRQ" using the B32 interrupts to count the robots wheel encoders.
Early on I knew there must be a way to communicate to the robot while it was in operation. The number one reason for telemetry is for testing and debugging. As the robot is doing its thing and it is in error, you need to have data what it is happening in its program. I can't imagine trying to debug the robot's program without having some idea what is happening with its program. Secondly, you may want to allow the robot to communicate to the world. For instance, in one of my previous articles, (Drivers for Sonar & Mapping), the HC12 transmitted back to the PC its sonar readings. The PC then drew a map of the room. Also, I can give commands to the robot via the PC and modem
As a side benefit, it made the downloading of the robot's program much easier. Before the radio modem, each time I wanted to load a new program I had to hook up a serial cable to the MCU, which by design was located in the second layer of the robot and hard to get to. But, using the radio modem I was able to load the data without having to hookup the serial cable to the robot. In fact the only connection I need to make to the robot is the programming voltage needed to program flash memory.
By far the most important use of the radio modem is for testing. When I was making the Fire Fighting program, I would put debug statements in the program. I would make a run and collect on the PC the debug data. It was invaluable in knowing what went wrong and what corrections to make. Programming in Sbasic, all I needed for debug statements was simple print statements.
Early on in my robot plans I knew I needed to have telemetry on the robot. I knew it would be absolutely necessary for testing and just for being a cool thing to have. But, it was months before the robot got off the bench, so it was never important because the serial cable was always connected. But once the robot got off the bench I saw I had to have something. A Nuts and Volts article talked of the Ming transmitters and receivers. I bought two pair to transmit and receive both directions. I soon realized that I needed the transmitters working on different frequencies if the data was going to be passed both ways.
So I hooked up one pair of Ming TX99 and RE99 to transmit data back to the PC. It worked pretty good at 1200 baud (1.2kb). But that was slow in getting across the data wanted. Also the data would often drop out. I found I could run at 4800 baud and get the data at closer the speed I wanted, but that was still slow for the amount of data I wanted to transmit and the drop out rate was even greater at the higher speed.
The Ming transmitters and receivers are fine for small applications at slower speeds and short distances. See www.rentron.com for Ming and other remote control devices.
But I wanted rock solid data transmitted at higher speeds. So I stated looking for other solutions.
Last summer on the SRS list server, Karl Lunt mentioned he got a pair of radio modems from Innomedia. The specifications sounded good, and if it was good enough for Karl it was good enough for me. I happened to be in San Jose at the time and picked up a pair from Frys for about $150 (on sale at Frys, and as far as know they no longer have them).
The modems were designed to remotely connect a printer or two computers. My unit had one serial and one parallel port. It came with Windows software to run the base station. It operates with 900mhz spread spectrum transmitters receivers.
I was so excited to bring them home to HC12 and hook them up. The first thing I discovered was that the modems worked with Windows software and I couldn't use it with the software, I wanted to use, some of which was DOS based. I contacted the manufacturer Innomedia and ended up talking with Adam the tech. He was extremely helpful and said he had heard many people have used these modems for robotics.
Note this was taken from Innomedia's web page on this modem. See www.innomedia.com/wireless/products/infowave_specs.html for complete details. I have an older version of this modem but they are basically the same. Below also talks about the 2.4 Ghz version, which I am not sure are available here in the USA.
InfoWave is a direct-sequence spread-spectrum data modem. It can be customized to operate in 902-928 MHz or 2.4-2.4835 GHz at data rates of 85, 96, or 250 kbps. An 85 kbps version of InfoWave has been certified by FCC and Industry Canada for unlicensed operations in the ISM frequency (902-928 MHz) band.
902-928 MHz or 2.4-2.4835 GHz ISM Bands
Digital direct-sequence spread-spectrum technology
Serial port (RS-232) for easy host interface
Point-to-point or point-to-multipoint applications
Simple command set for fast system integration
Air data rate at 85, 96, or 250 Kbps
Auto-scan to select clearest channel
Auto-channel change in the presence of interference
Programmable PN code
HDLC-like data link protocol for error control and flow control
Adjustable packet size for optimum throughput
|Model||IW9208-85 / -96 / -250||IW24208-96 / -250|
|Frequency Band||902 ~ 928 MHz||2.4 ~ 2.5 GHz|
|Output Power||100 mW||100 mW|
|Data Rate||85 / 96 / 250 Kbps||96 / 250 kbps|
|Number of Channels||10 / 9/ 4||29/ 12|
|Sensitivity@ BER=1*10-5||-98 /-98 / -93 dBm||-98 / -93 dBm|
|Distance (open space)||1000 / 1000 / 800 feet||1000 / 800 feet|
|Host Interface Type||RS-232 Async. Serial|
|Host Interface Flow Control||RTS/CTS Hardware|
|Host Interface Data Rate||Up to 115.2 kbps|
|Host Interface Auto Baud||Yes ( 9600 ~ 115200 )|
|Host Interface Command Set||WM Command Set|
|Power Supply||DC 4.7 V ~ 5.5 V|
|Power Consumption||Transmit||250 mA|
|Size||120mm x 83mm x 15mm|
|Operating Temperature Range||-10°C ~ +60°C|
|Storage Temperature Range||-40°C ~ +80°C|
I tested the modem's distance by writing a program that sent data to the PC that I could watch for errors on the screen. While the robot sat on the floor of my two story house, I walked until the modem gave up. I was over 200 feet away, it had to transmit through several walls of the house, with the bottom floor of the house being made up of concrete blocks.
Never once did the modem send bad data, it would slow then get through and send chunks of data. When I moved out of range it lost its connection and stopped. So what I have seen is that the modem does not send bad data even when on the fringe of connection, it has a buffer built in and will catch up if possible when it has a better connection.
I did not test the open air abilities of the modem.
It's dimensions without the case are 3 7/8 inches wide, 4 3/4 inches long (with antenna sticking out 5 1/2) and 5/8 inches deep.
I have step by step instructions on how to set up the modem to be used with your PC and robot. They are all contained in the document "Infowave setup instructions.pdf". Go to Egroups.com and the group SeattleRobotics and look in the Files section under InfoWave Modem to see if there are any updates of these files. The helpful files are:
|Infowave setup instructions.pdf||Contains my step by step instructions in setting up the modem to work with your robot.|
|CommandSet-C0.pdf||Gives details for the WM command set. For version VCO, which is my modem.|
|CommandSet-C5.pdf||Gives details for the WM command set. For version VC5.|
|InfoWave.PDF||Gives details for the WM command set. For version VG0.|
|InfoWaveRS232.PDF||Shows how to set up Infowave 9208, 9210 as RS232 replacement|
|IW9208UserManual.pdf||User manual for modem 9208, which is the one I recommend.|
|IW9209&10UserManual.pdf||User manual for modem 9209 and 9210, which I have no experience with. Both are designed to work as a serial cable replacement. I imagine they have less flexibility and certainly you can not have more than one robot talking to base.|
|Pn_table.txt||Pin table. See Infowave WM commands to control the modems.doc for explanation.|
There are three types of modems described above. I use the 9208 version (or at least an older versions of that). Adam Huffman of Innomedia has been very helpful in working out how these modems work. Below is his description of each of the modems:
"The model 9208 is a multi point connection. You can have one master (home) unit and up to 254 remote (clients) units. The master can only connect to one remote unit at a time. There are no simultaneous connections between the master and multiple units. You can have up to 3 masters in close proximity. This model requires a command set to establish connections and disconnect. Then you have to provide you own software or commands to execute or retrieve data to the remote units.
The model 9209 is a PC to PC connection. This unit does not require software. It makes a connection to the other unit when powered on. This becomes an RS232 cable replacement and connects two PC's or PC like devices (DCE to DCE). You can install networking software and create a network between the two computers or you can make a direct connection using laplink or HyperTerminal. This is a point to point connection and does not allow multiple units. (Author's note, it may not allow you to change the baud rate on the fly which was important to me. My boot loader is stuck at the baud rate of 9600 but my programs run at 38400 so once my program is run the robot sets its baud rate at 38.4kb and the modem adjusts. The 9209 may or may not do this, so check it out before buying.)
The model 9210 is a PC to peripheral connection. This unit is also a point to point connection and does not support multiple links. This is a connection between a PC and a modem device (DCE to DTE). This becomes an RS232 cable replacement. This too makes a connection when powered on and does not require software. (Author's note, your robot can be wired up as a peripheral device or as a PC connection, so it may not matter which one you buy, but again look into it.)"
I will not go into detail here on hooking the robots to the modem software wise, for the document, Infowave setup instructions.pdf, handles that. But some following points will be helpful:
|This is the modem connected to my notebook computer. The modem is
powered off the notebook using the keyboard connector that has a 5 volt supply on it.
It makes the whole operation portable.
|You can see the modem mounted on the robot. I have taken off the
plastic case to save room.
There are four switches to the left of the modem. Switch 1 controls the MCU to tell if it is to program the flash or to run a program. Switch 2 controls if the MCU and associated electronics runs off the onboard power supply or the external supply. Switch 3 controls the the power going to the modem, whether it is supplied by the onboard battery or external voltage. Switch 4 keeps signals from getting to the modem until it is ready for them.
Hooking the modem to the PC was a piece of cake. Just plug in the cable and make sure your program had the right com port. I just changed notebook computer which I do most of my robotics on. It has no serial port and I have a Xercom USB to serial converter and that works great.
Hooking to the robot is slightly more complicated. The document "Infowave setup instructions.pdf" goes into that with some detail. Biggest thing is you get a short course in RS232 (serial) line definitions. My recommendation is to wire your modem to your robot in the DCE mode. Only difference between DTE and DCE is the transmit and receive lines are switched. See the detail in the modem documentation for how it should be wired.
|As you can see in this picture to the left, I just got a male serial
connector to connect to the modem and ran wires to the appropriate places on the
robot. Note, I did have the RXD line go through a switch so I could keep
signals going to the modem until it went through its boot process to solve its problem of
getting data before it was ready. Again this is because of a flaw in the modem
because if it gets signals before it is ready it hangs.
See the table in "Infowave setup instructions.pdf" for wire connections.
For power I just got the appropriate size power connector from Radio Shack.
Most of the time I have the antenna laying down so that it will not block the rear sonar. I have modem mounted on the board so I can see the lights and it seems better protected that way.
I use the Sbasic print and outch commands to output data to the modem that goes to the PC. The same way I did when the I had a cable hooked up. I use the inkey() command to get data from the modem. It is great because I can send commands to the robot via my remote PC which made it more fun and testing was so much easier. When testing a routine like PID where you had to adjust variables, I would run the routine have it stop, from my PC type in changes in the variables and have it run the routine again. All without reprogramming the robot and only changing the variables found in RAM.
Steps in setting up the program to use the modem:
'--------------- following code run in initialization routines ----------
'Set up the port speed
poke sc0bdh, 13 'sets port speed, 13 for 38400 26
for 19200 baud, 52 for 9600, 417 for 1200
pokeb sc0cr2,$0c ' Enable transceiver
'above is in my Rinit.lib file that runs first as part of the robot boot up
'-------------- this is code found in Rmodem.lib and is called by main
'routine for setting up modem
connect_modem: 'connect modem with ws1 command and wait until OK (sent by modem itself)
'note this must be in the text mode, if not run the
'wmen command to reprogram into text mode. See WM command document for details.
temp_lib6=0 'temporary variable to say what phase we are in
'note modem_status uses temp_lib6
if usr(modem_status)=1 'wait until modem ready, does this by checking DTR/DSR
wait_lib=intcnt 'check if it is still on 100ms later since once it is
'turned on it has a pulse on for a short time
do loop until usr(compare_intcnt,wait_lib)>100 'this is a delay subroutine that waits 100ms
if usr(modem_status)=1 'wait until modem ready
loop until temp_lib6=1
gosub modem_command 'phase is 0 give it the WMS1 command to connect to other modem
ch=inkey() 'now we will look for the OK
wait_lib=intcnt 'as long as there is input, keep looking
ch = ch AND $ff
if ch='O' 'O of the OK found move to find K
if ch='K' 'K of the OK is found then ready, else any other letter reset to phase 1 to look for O
if usr(compare_intcnt,wait_lib)>800 'try again if taking too long
loop until temp_lib6=3 'phase 3 must have found OK
modem_status: 'usr(modem_status) returns 1 if ready 0 if not ready
if peekb(portdlc) and %01000000>0
outch 'w' 'wms1 connects to base of radio modem
outch lf 'not needed, only makes it look cleaner when testing
'--------------- end of Rmodem.lib --------------------------
Using the software in a program:
gosub initialize 'run the initialization portion
gosub connect_modem 'run the connection routine
print "hello world" 'all ready to communicate,this is sent via the modem to the PC
Problem with this modem is that this technology is no longer needed for the public sector. Serial ports are falling to USB. Therefore Innomedia USA has stopped offering the modem and has no USA supplier. In contacting Innomedia I have found that they are offering the modems through their Taiwan office.
I had hoped by the time of the publishing of this article I could have worked out a deal. Steve from Acroname has been working with Innomedia to see if they can carry the modems. But he was not able to work out the deal with them before the time the article needed to go to print. Steve was doubting that there was enough margin for a business to carry the modems without buying a huge number of the modems.
I will post to the SRS list what we eventually find out on the buy. Also look to the Egroups.com file area under the file BuyModem.txt for current information. | <urn:uuid:0bd0de1a-563c-4223-bb9c-093da9d57b85> | {
"date": "2014-10-22T04:47:55",
"dump": "CC-MAIN-2014-42",
"file_path": "s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2014-42/segments/1413507445886.27/warc/CC-MAIN-20141017005725-00122-ip-10-16-133-185.ec2.internal.warc.gz",
"int_score": 3,
"language": "en",
"language_score": 0.9317734837532043,
"score": 2.765625,
"token_count": 4355,
"url": "http://www.seattlerobotics.org/encoder/200011/modem.htm"
} |
Eco fashion is a term used to describe clothing and accessories that have been manufactured in an environmentally and socially conscious way. Organic, upcycled and recycled clothing, as well as garments made from the wide range of eco fabrics now available, all fall under the category of eco fashion.
New developments in the textile sector has meant that environmentally friendly textiles are now a viable alternative to conventional fabrics. Look out for garments made from organic cotton, tencel and bamboo.
Tencel and Modal are made from eucalyptus and beech wood. However German manufacturers produce these fabrics in an environmentally sustainable way to ensure minimal impact on the environment.
Organic cotton is a positive and more sustainable alternative to conventional cotton. Organic cotton, is made from non genetically modified plants, that are grown without the use of any synthetic agricultural chemicals such as fertilizers or pesticides. It is altogether better for the environment, the climate and the people involved in it’s production, and feels much nicer next to your skin.
Bamboo is frequently considered an eco fabric. It is soft, creates beautiful draping and is made from a crop which grows quickly without the use of pesticides and fertilisers.
Ethical fashion refers to a moral outlook on the preparation, production and distribution of clothing and simultaneously creating a minimal impact on the environment.
It can refer to the treatment of those physically producing the clothing, and it can also refer to the environmental impacts and possible health implications surrounding the fabrics. It also refers to the way in which the clothing is produced and how it has reached the consumer.
Generally speaking, we would expect an item of ethical clothing to have been produced lawfully, non-exploitative towards those who made it, and with minimal environmental impacts with regards to production and transportation.
Be it clothing classed as fair trade, sustainable, non-exploitative, non-toxic, vegan, recycled or upcycled, all these keywords adhere to a common goal or belief: the production of fashion with a direction towards less harmful and exploitative practises, and contributing to a healthier and more harmonious world.
We can all make a contribution. By choosing ethical and eco friendly clothing, you are helping to reduce poverty and environmental damage.
Look at what you are wearing, right now. Where has it come from? How did it get to be in your possession? What is it made of? Who made it? How much energy was used to make it? What kinds of chemicals were used?
Our own individual contributions begin with awareness, you can increase your knowledge of ethical terms here. The decisions we make in our fashion purchases all have consequences.
When you buy a new item of clothing, consider it to be a long-term investment. Focus on timeless, classic garments to make additions to your wardrobe, rather than a dispensable, one-season fashion item. Wear it for as long as it is functional. Customise existing items in your wardrobe. Re-use, recycle clothing, breathe new life into tiresome old garments. Swap clothes with friends and donate unwanted items to charity. | <urn:uuid:d82f527b-e08a-494a-8cb3-965dbaac87fa> | {
"date": "2018-09-20T16:09:13",
"dump": "CC-MAIN-2018-39",
"file_path": "s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2018-39/segments/1537267156524.34/warc/CC-MAIN-20180920155933-20180920180333-00176.warc.gz",
"int_score": 3,
"language": "en",
"language_score": 0.9610942602157593,
"score": 3.140625,
"token_count": 634,
"url": "http://heloeco.com/eco-rules/"
} |
In the early twentieth-century United States, to speak of “mother love” was to invoke an idea of motherhood that served as an all-encompassing identity, rooted in notions of self-sacrifice and infused with powerful social and political meanings. Sixty years later, mainstream views of motherhood had been transformed, and Mother found herself blamed for a wide array of social and psychological ills. In Mom, Rebecca Jo Plant traces this important shift through several key moments in American history and popular culture.
Exploring such topics as maternal caregiving, childbirth, and women’s political roles, Mom vividly brings to life the varied groups that challenged older ideals of motherhood, including male critics who railed against female moral authority, psychological experts who hoped to expand their influence, and women who wished to be defined as more than wives and mothers. In her careful analysis of how motherhood came to be viewed as a more private and partial component of modern female identity, Plant ultimately shows how women’s maternal role has shaped their place in American civic, social, and familial life. | <urn:uuid:05f5297b-4419-45cc-93ee-f2caf952c5cb> | {
"date": "2017-09-26T15:15:08",
"dump": "CC-MAIN-2017-39",
"file_path": "s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2017-39/segments/1505818696182.97/warc/CC-MAIN-20170926141625-20170926161625-00656.warc.gz",
"int_score": 3,
"language": "en",
"language_score": 0.9707466959953308,
"score": 2.78125,
"token_count": 223,
"url": "https://www.cheaptextbooks.org/9780226670201"
} |
The Mayo Clinic defines Whiplash as “a neck injury due to forceful, rapid back-and-forth movement of the neck”. Whether playing high contact sports such as football, enjoying a favorite summertime pastime of riding roller coasters or having been involved in a car accident, you are at risk of whiplash injury.
When the neck is whipped back and forth, a number of things can happen to the spine and the surrounding soft tissues. In turn, this can lead to a wide variety of symptoms including headaches, neck pain, joint dysfunction, disk herniation, chronic pain and cognitive dysfunction.
In order to avoid the above, we need to be able to identify a Whiplash injury so we can seek immediate attention. There are several key indicators that you need to be aware of:
- Blurred Vision
- Neck/Shoulder Pain
- Arm Pain
- Low Back Pain
- Neck Stiffness
- Reduced Range of Motion
If you have recently been injured and are experiencing any of the above indicators or symptoms, it is recommended to get your spine checked as soon as possible.
The sooner you begin treatment, the less chance you have of developing chronic issues. Read more about this in our 3 Reasons to See a Chiropractor Following an Auto Accident (Link to Blog) | <urn:uuid:a7f06460-0c76-4579-b974-d16d1c29dd08> | {
"date": "2019-12-16T13:29:09",
"dump": "CC-MAIN-2019-51",
"file_path": "s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2019-51/segments/1575540565544.86/warc/CC-MAIN-20191216121204-20191216145204-00056.warc.gz",
"int_score": 3,
"language": "en",
"language_score": 0.9511198401451111,
"score": 2.53125,
"token_count": 272,
"url": "https://osbornechiropractic.com/how-do-i-know-if-i-have-whiplash/"
} |
No organ in the human body is as resistant to study as the brain. Whereas researchers can examine living cells from the liver, lung and heart, taking a biopsy of the brain is, for many reasons, more problematic.
The inability to watch living human brain cells in action has hampered scientists in their efforts to understand psychiatric disorders. But researchers have identified a promising new approach that may revolutionize the study and treatment of conditions such as schizophrenia, autism and bipolar disorder. A team led by researchers at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies in La Jolla, Calif., took skin cells from a patient with schizophrenia, turned them into adult stem cells and then grew those stem cells into neurons. The resulting tangle of brain cells gave neuroscientists their first real-time glimpse of human schizophrenia at the cellular level. Another team, from Stanford University, converted human skin cells directly into neurons without first stopping at the stem cell stage, potentially making the process more efficient. The groups published their results recently in Nature (Scientific American is part of Nature Publishing Group).
Scientists have used the disease-in-a-dish strategy to gain insight into sickle-cell anemia and heart arrhythmias. But the Salk team, led by neuroscientist Fred H. Gage, is the first to apply the approach to a genetically complex neuropsychiatric disorder. The group found that neurons derived from patients with schizophrenia formed fewer connections with one another than those derived from healthy patients; they also linked the deficit to the altered expression of nearly 600 genes, four times as many as had been previously implicated. The approach may eventually improve therapy, allowing psychiatrists to screen a variety of drugs to find the one that would be most effective for each patient, Gage says.
Whereas the research is still preliminary, many neuroscientists are excited by it. “This study opens up a whole new area of work,” says Daniel Weinberger, director of the Genes, Cognition and Psychosis Program at the National Institute of Mental Health. It is unclear what answers the stem cells approach can provide, but by making the inaccessible accessible, it opens up questions that until now could not have been asked. | <urn:uuid:02c70c1c-baf8-4939-9afd-9a900fa35357> | {
"date": "2014-07-29T04:42:13",
"dump": "CC-MAIN-2014-23",
"file_path": "s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2014-23/segments/1406510265454.51/warc/CC-MAIN-20140728011745-00312-ip-10-146-231-18.ec2.internal.warc.gz",
"int_score": 3,
"language": "en",
"language_score": 0.9569385647773743,
"score": 3.328125,
"token_count": 444,
"url": "http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/mental-illness-in-a-dish/"
} |
Transmission of melodies over the WWW
The complexity of most folk melodies is such that the entirety of the musical
notation can be expressed by a few hundred bytes of information. However,
when converted to a digital sound file most folk melodies require a few hundred
kilobytes of information. This expansion factor of 1000 makes it much
more reasonable to ship a machine-readable description of the tune than
to ship a machine-playable audio file over the network. This is especially
true to low-bandwidth sites such as PCs at home using modems.
abc: a folk tune notation system
A format known as
abc was developed by
The input format is extremely simple and
can be typed in directly from sheet music by anyone with rudimentary
musical literacy. This format was originally designed to be used as
input to a C program abc2mtex which produces TeX output. The
result is beautifully typeset folk tunes. An example of the
typesetting can be seen in this gif file.
playabc: a sound player which reads abc format
Shortly after abc2mtex appeared, Don Ward ([email protected])
created another program
which can take the input format for the typesetter and produce sound files
suitable for playback on most computers. This C program is playabc,
and it uses yacc and lex to build the parser. All of the tools necessary
to build this program are also available for Unix, DOS, and Mac computers.
The source code for playabc can be found as a
compressed tar file at Stanford
abc for any CPU/OS
abc appears to have become the most common format for electronic
interchange of folk music. It is routinely included in e-mail and
USENET postings. A cadre of developers have ported or created abc
applications to typeset and play music on any platform, and
there are even abc/MIDI converters. Chris Walshaw is maintaining
an index of all these
abc and WWW: teaching your WWW browser to recognize abc
The beauty of all this technology is that it is possible to define the abc
format as a new Metamail (MIME) datatype. Tunes can then be automatically
encoded into email messages and played for the recipient. WWW browsers such
as Mosaic can use these MIME definitions to play and/or typeset tunes
which are archived on the WWW merely by following a hyperlink.
Here's how I did it.
Here is a
library of more than 100 morris tunes
in abc format which is tailored for WWW browsers.
Actually, this gets kindof scary when you think about it. While constructing
this page I clicked on one of the archived abc files that Chris Walshaw
uses as examples, and my home machine started making music. That's
exactly what I wanted it to do, but I'm still not used to it.
As can be seen by my library of more than 50 morris
tunes the abc format does a great job of encoding simple melodies. However,
there are other protocols for encoding music into plaintext which are better
suited to multi-part score. Whichever one
ends up being used on the WWW will have to be one whose specification is
publicly available. A good reference on the possibilities is the
FAQ on Music Notation Programs which is posted to the USENET monthly.
The first notation system in use on the Morris Dancing Discussin List
Leeds University has numerous
references which are
relevant to electronic music, especially to the MIT Media Lab's
(Csound looks like a good contender for a universal WWW music format.)
However, as of 1995 the
FAQ on musical notation programs announces a new format called NIF which
promises to solve everyone's computer music notation problems. Also see the
Computer Music Journal archives from MIT Press.
Neil Jennings <[email protected]> has a program called
HARMONY with notation copied from the ACCU music system; he has
a library of morris music, but it is only available on Compuserve.
Steve Putz, the creator of the original WWW interface for the
Digital Tradition Folk Song Database, notes that MIDI may
become the WWW standard as software interpreters for MIDI become commonplace.
(But now there is a
He has some documents about
Csound format, the origin of the
SongWright format, and a
converter from SongWright to Csound. I have a (buggy but mostly
effective) gawk script that translates SongWright to
Chris Walshaw's abc format.
I would be happy to hear about other possible protocols.
Back to the WWW Morris Music page.
Steve Allen <[email protected]> | <urn:uuid:6c0fbeb1-b43c-41ad-a2e3-121bab16d658> | {
"date": "2018-01-21T00:38:51",
"dump": "CC-MAIN-2018-05",
"file_path": "s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2018-05/segments/1516084889798.67/warc/CC-MAIN-20180121001412-20180121021412-00456.warc.gz",
"int_score": 3,
"language": "en",
"language_score": 0.9075600504875183,
"score": 3.046875,
"token_count": 1035,
"url": "http://www.ucolick.org/~sla/morris/music/wwwmusic.html"
} |
Twelve to eighteen months were found to be the ideal length of time between giving birth and getting pregnant again, stated new research from the University of British Columbia and the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health.
In a study published in JAMA Internal Medicine, researchers found that getting pregnant less than 12 months after delivery is associated with risks for women of all ages.
‘Risks to the mother were found only for women over the age of 35, while risks to the infant were found for all women, but were greatest for women between the ages of 20-34.’
"Our study found increased risks to both mother and infant when pregnancies are closely spaced, including for women older than 35," said the study's lead author Laura Schummers, a postdoctoral fellow in the UBC department of family practice who carried out the study as part of her dissertation at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health. "The findings for older women are particularly important, as older women tend to more closely space their pregnancies and often do so intentionally."
The study is the most extensive evaluation of how the role of pregnancy spacing could be impacted by maternal age. It is also the first investigation of pregnancy spacing and maternal mortality or severe morbidity--rare but life-threatening complications of pregnancy, labour and delivery--in a high-income country.
For the study, researchers examined the relationship between risks for mothers and babies associated with pregnancy spacing among 148,544 pregnancies in B.C. The data was pulled together from birth records, billing codes, hospitalization data, prescription data for infertility information, and census records.
Among women over 35 who conceived six months after a previous birth, the researchers found a 1.2 per cent risk (12 cases per 1,000 pregnancies) of maternal mortality or severe morbidity. Waiting 18 months between pregnancies, however, reduced the risk to 0.5 per cent (five cases per 1,000 pregnancies).
For younger women, the researchers found an 8.5 per cent risk (85 cases per 1,000 pregnancies) of spontaneous preterm birth--delivery before 37 weeks of pregnancy after labour that started on its own, for pregnancies spaced at six months. For younger women who waited 18 months between pregnancies, however, the risk dropped to 3.7 per cent (37 cases per 1,000 pregnancies).
Among older women, the risk of spontaneous preterm labour was about six per cent (60 cases per 1,000 pregnancies) at the six-month interval, compared to 3.4 per cent (34 cases per 1,000 pregnancies) at the 18-month interval.
Although the causes of poor pregnancy outcomes at short intervals among older and younger women were not examined in this study, the findings suggest different risk profiles for each age group.
"Short pregnancy spacing might reflect unplanned pregnancies, particularly among young women," said Dr. Sonia Hernandez-Diaz, professor of epidemiology at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health. "Whether the elevated risks are due to our bodies not having time to recover if we conceive soon after delivering or to factors associated with unplanned pregnancies, like inadequate prenatal care, the recommendation might be the same: improve access to postpartum contraception, or abstain from unprotected sexual intercourse with a male partner following a birth."
Senior author Dr. Wendy Norman, associate professor in the UBC department of family practice, said these findings of a shorter optimal interval are encouraging for women over 35 who are planning their families.
"Older mothers for the first time have excellent evidence to guide the spacing of their children," said Norman. "Achieving that optimal one-year interval should be doable for many women, and is clearly worthwhile to reduce complication risks." | <urn:uuid:c5fcabdf-7b2a-42ea-803d-615d669439ad> | {
"date": "2019-04-22T06:42:06",
"dump": "CC-MAIN-2019-18",
"file_path": "s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2019-18/segments/1555578544449.50/warc/CC-MAIN-20190422055611-20190422081611-00296.warc.gz",
"int_score": 3,
"language": "en",
"language_score": 0.9589688181877136,
"score": 2.78125,
"token_count": 768,
"url": "https://www.medindia.net/news/ideal-length-of-time-between-pregnancies-identified-183393-1.htm"
} |
History of Lakeland
Lakeland traces its beginnings to German immigrants who, fleeing from religious controversy in Europe, traveled to North America and eventually to the Sheboygan area where they settled in 1847. Even as they struggled for food and shelter, these pioneers thought in terms of higher education for their children.
In 1862, they built Missionshaus (Mission House), a combined academy-college-seminary. The school provided training in the liberal arts followed by a traditional seminary curriculum, as most of the early students were destined to become ministers. As the needs of its students changed, Mission House gradually broadened its purpose. By the end of the century, enrollment was no longer limited to pre-theological students and the college had developed strong programs of study in a wider number of disciplines. A talented, scholarly faculty set high standards for the college early in its existence; standards which have been maintained to this day. Known simply as Mission House for 95 years, the college adopted the name Lakeland in 1956 and the seminary moved to Minneapolis/St. Paul in 1962 to become United Theological Seminary of the Twin Cities. The era of Mission House had ended, but Lakeland became heir to its campus, tradition and educational mission. | <urn:uuid:f0eb8702-e245-4aaf-a6c8-c25fb8d60a61> | {
"date": "2015-01-27T16:56:33",
"dump": "CC-MAIN-2015-06",
"file_path": "s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2015-06/segments/1422115860277.59/warc/CC-MAIN-20150124161100-00152-ip-10-180-212-252.ec2.internal.warc.gz",
"int_score": 3,
"language": "en",
"language_score": 0.9812461733818054,
"score": 2.765625,
"token_count": 252,
"url": "http://www.lakeland.edu/About-Us/history-of-lakeland"
} |
Data reported by the weather station: 762580
Latitude: 27.4 | Longitude: -109.83 | Altitude: 70
|Main||Year 1974 climate||Select a month|
To calculate annual averages, we analyzed data of 361 days (98.9% of year).
If in the average or annual total of some data is missing information of 10 or more days, this is not displayed.
The total rainfall value 0 (zero) may indicate that there has been no such measurement and / or the weather station does not broadcast.
|Annual average temperature:||25.3°C||361|
|Annual average maximum temperature:||-||-|
|Annual average minimum temperature:||17.1°C||358|
|Annual average humidity:||50.5%||361|
|Annual total precipitation:||48.51 mm||358|
|Annual average visibility:||55.1 Km||359|
|Annual average wind speed:||10.9 km/h||361|
Number of days with extraordinary phenomena.
|Total days with rain:||5|
|Total days with snow:||0|
|Total days with thunderstorm:||0|
|Total days with fog:||0|
|Total days with tornado or funnel cloud:||0|
|Total days with hail:||0|
Days of extreme historical values in 1974
The highest temperature recorded was 40°C on July 4.
The lowest temperature recorded was 1°C on November 25.
The maximum wind speed recorded was 59.1 km/h on April 30. | <urn:uuid:255d8f02-67e2-41ba-a831-0594bef4161e> | {
"date": "2014-03-11T05:13:36",
"dump": "CC-MAIN-2014-10",
"file_path": "s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2014-10/segments/1394011129529/warc/CC-MAIN-20140305091849-00006-ip-10-183-142-35.ec2.internal.warc.gz",
"int_score": 3,
"language": "en",
"language_score": 0.8591001629829407,
"score": 2.625,
"token_count": 347,
"url": "http://www.tutiempo.net/en/Climate/CIUDAD_OBREGON/1974/762580.htm"
} |
posted January 29, 2007
Did Martian Meteorites Come From These Sources?--- Researchers find large rayed craters on Mars and consider the reasons why they may be launching sites of Martian meteorites.
Written by Linda M. V. Martel
Large rayed craters on Mars, not immediately obvious in visible light, have been identified in thermal infrared data obtained from the Thermal Emission Imaging System (THEMIS) onboard Mars Odyssey. Livio Tornabene (previously at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville and now at the University of Arizona, Tucson) and colleagues have mapped rayed craters primarily within young (Amazonian) volcanic plains in or near Elysium Planitia. They found that rays consist of numerous chains of secondary craters, their overlapping ejecta, and possibly primary ejecta from the source crater. Their work also suggests rayed craters may have formed preferentially in volatile-rich targets by oblique impacts. The physical details of the rayed craters and the target surfaces combined with current models of Martian meteorite delivery and cosmochemical analyses of Martian meteorites lead Tornabene and coauthors to conclude that these large rayed craters are plausible source regions for Martian meteorites.
There are currently 34 Martian meteorites identified out of the 24,000+ that have been cataloged. The numbers are growing as a result of ongoing searches primarily in the world's deserts (for example see PSRD article: Searching Antarctic Ice for Meteorites). Cosmochemists have determined that these rocks came from basaltic igneous sources with young (by planetary standards) crystallization ages no more than 1.3 billion years (with the one exception: ALH84001 with an age of 4.5 billion years) and were ejected from Mars by impact cratering events between 600,000 and 20 million years ago. While these rocks provide invaluable direct 'ground truth' that scientists are using to help piece together the chemical and geological history of Mars, the question remains where exactly did these rocks come from? Knowing their provenance will add significant details to our understanding of how the planet formed, differentiated, and evolved geologically.
One approach to answering the question has been to search orbital multispectral datasets to find volcanic terrains on Mars that match the mineralogy and spectral properties of Martian meteorites. These locales must be sufficiently dust-free to allow spectral analysis of the surface compositions and must also have at least one impact crater of appropriate size and age that could have ejected rocks at greater than Mars' escape velocity of ~ 5 kilometers per second. Previous work by Vicky Hamilton (University of Hawaii) using data from the Mars Global Surveyor Thermal Emission Spectrometer (TES) pointed to Eos Chasma, a branch of the Valles Marineris canyon system, as a possible source for unique Martian meteorite ALH84001. Hamilton's work with Ralph Harvey (Case Western Reserve University) identified Syrtis Major as a possible source region of nakhlite/chassignite meteorites. This is exciting on-going work to find meteorite source regions.
Alternatively, an answer to Martian meteorite sources may well come from studies of some uncommon Martian craters that, until just a few years ago, had gone unnoticed. In 2003, using new Mars Odyssey Thermal Emission Imaging System (THEMIS) thermal infrared data, Alfred McEwen (University of Arizona) and colleagues reported the first discovery of a rayed crater, Zunil, in the southern Elysium region of Mars. More recently, Livio Tornabene and colleagues have identified an additional four large rayed craters and three more they deem probable. Their detailed observations of the craters combined with the known geochemistry of the meteorites and models of how meteorites are ejected off the planet add up to a compelling story that these rayed craters could have supplied Martian meteorites.
Tornabene and coauthors define a crater ray as filamentous (thread-like) elements in radial to subradial lineaments that spread out from a source crater like spokes from the center of a wheel. A ray contrasts with the surrounding, underlying surface. We are used to seeing crater rays on the Moon in visible-light images where this contrast is recognized as albedo. Lunar rays are brighter than the underlying surface. On Mars crater rays are not distinctive in visible light but are apparent in the thermal infrared because of a thermophysical (temperature-related) contrast with the surroundings. Martian rays appear brighter or darker than the underlying surface depending on the relative thermal properties of the materials when (day or night) the images were taken (see images below).
LEFT: Clementine images show albedo (reflectivity) variations on the nearside of Earth's Moon. Extensive bright ray systems surround craters Copernicus (upper left center) and Tycho (near bottom). Click the image for more information in a new window. Bright crater rays have also been observed on Mercury and the icy Galilean moons. RIGHT: Crater rays on Mars show up in the thermal infrared and can be dark or bright. This is a nighttime thermal infrared image of Gratteri crater and its dark rays. Rocky areas are brighter because they retained daytime warmth into the night. In contrast, the dark rays and patches show where finer-grain materials cooled after local sunset. Click the image for more information in a new window.
Pairs of images illustrate how Martian crater rays appear in different wavelengths of light. The left hand images are THEMIS nighttime thermal infrared images. TOP LEFT (a): Gratteri crater rays are revealed as dark streaks (see figure caption above for more explanation). BOTTOM LEFT (c): Warmer (brighter) Gratteri ejecta around the crater and colder (darker) rays are revealed. The right hand images are contrast-stretched MOC visible images of the same area. RIGHT (b and d): Crater rays are not easily seen. There is very little albedo difference between rays and the surrounding plains.
In their global survey for rayed craters, Tornabene and colleagues studied both THEMIS nighttime and daytime thermal infrared (TIR) brightness temperature images derived from band 9 (wavelength of 12.57 micrometers). This wavelength is used because it has the highest signal to noise value and is relatively transparent to atmospheric dust. Image resolutions ranged from 32 to 256 pixels per degree. They found that daytime TIR images are not as useful as nighttime TIR images for identifying rays. The effects of albedo, surface slope, and time of day all affect daytime surface temperatures more than at night. Moreover, the survey focused on latitudes specifically between 45 oN and 45 oS (see map below) because surface radiance and diurnal (a single daily cycle) thermal contrast generally decrease poleward of the equator. They note that lower surface radiance translates as lower signal to noise detected at the spacecraft's instrument, which generates poor quality images (especially at night when temperatures are much colder) making it more difficult to recognize rays with certainty at the higher latitudes. Their survey resulted in an additional four, and another three probable, rayed craters.
The five known rayed craters (black circles with white name lables) and three probable rayed craters (white circles) are located on this MOLA shaded relief map of Mars. The rayed craters cluster in two groups; two craters are located south of Tharsis (the largest volcanic region on the planet) and the other six, including the probables, are in or near Elysium Planitia (the second largest volcanic region).
Characteristics of Martian Rayed Craters
Tornabene and colleagues found that the eight identified rayed craters all lie within lava plains or adjacent to the two major volcanic regions (Tharsis and Elysium Planitia, see map above). The table below summarizes what is known about Martian rayed craters. Each is shown in THEMIS nighttime infrared images, with North to the top. Crater locations are listed in latitude, longitude. Crater diameters and the longest ray length measured for each crater are listed in kilometers.
|Martian rayed crater characteristics|
Crater Location: 7.7 oN, 166 oE
southeast of Cerberus Planum within Elysium Planitia
in Amazonian-aged lava plains
Crater diameter: 10.1 km
Ray Length: 927 km
Crater Location: 16.27 oN, 125.9 oE
southwest of Elysium Mons
in Hesperian-aged ridged volcanic plains
Crater diameter: 7.4 km
Ray Length: 668 km
Crater Location 17.7 oS, 199.9 oE
near Memnonia Fossae southwest of Tharsis
in Noachian-aged volcanic plateau
Crater diameter: 6.9 km
Ray Length: 595 km
Crater Location 28.65 oS, 226.9 oE
in Hesperian-aged lava flows
Crater diameter: 3.3 km
Ray Length: 240 km
Crater Location 13.27 oN, 157.23 oE
Cerberus Planum within Elysium Planitia
in Amazonian-aged volcanic terrain
Crater diameter: 2.0 km with an elliptical shape
Ray Length: 50 km
Crater Location 14.9 oN, 123.25 oE
near Tomini crater
in Hesperian-aged volcanic plains
Crater diameter: 4.2 km
Ray Length: 220 km
Crater Location 18.1 oN, 155.5 oE
near Zunil and Dilly craters
in Amazonian-aged volcanic terrain
Crater diameter: 5.7 km
Ray Length: 86 km
Crater Location 15.5 oN, 159.2 oE
near Zunil and Dilly craters
in Amazonian-aged volcanic terrain
Crater diameter:1.5 km
Ray Length: 42 km
Table Notes: The four new rayed craters have International Astronomical Union approved names of Gratteri, Tomini, Zumba, and Dilly named after small towns or villages in Italy, Indonesia, Ecuador, and Mali, respectively. The three crater names in italics are probable rayed craters. Probable rays were identified by Tornabene and coauthors after they used digital image processing to stretch the contrast on the nighttime thermal infrared images. The technique of contrast stretching reveals the subtle tonal differences in the images that represent faint temperature signatures of the rays. The white boxes in some of the images refer to close-up images in Tornabene and coauthor's published research article.
The researchers found that Martian rays, like their lunar counterparts, are comprised of densely concentrated and clustered chains of small secondary impact craters (tens to hundreds of meters in diameter), ejecta, and surge deposits from the primary and secondary craters. Their detailed work shows that the rays have two characteristic thermal signatures: colder areas and warmer small spots. The different signatures are attributed to different particle sizes and induration (or hardness) of the materials. The colder areas (darker streaks in the THEMIS nighttime thermal infrared images shown in the table) are interpreted to be fine-grained, loosely-packed debris. This material cools quickly after sunset. On the other hand, the warmer (brighter) spots are interpreted to be fresh secondary craters (formed from ejecta blocks originating from the source crater), which excavated courser, rocky materials upon re-impacting the surface. Rocks or indurated sediments cool more slowly and consequently appear warmer (brighter) than their surroundings at night. A variety of other Mars data sets (such as THEMIS visual, Mars Orbiter Camera (MOC) narrow-angle images, TES-dervied thermal inertia, albedo, and dust cover maps) were compared to the THEMIS thermal infrared data to corroborate the interpretations made by Tornabene and his colleagues.
The research team identified rayed craters in volcanic plains that are specifically characterized by intermediate values of albedo, thermal inertia, and dust cover index (previously defined as "thermophysical Unit C" by Michael Mellon, University of Colorado, Boulder, and colleagues). Only about 20% of the Martian surface appears to have this optimal combination of thermophysical properties needed to recognize crater rays. This suggests that other rayed craters may be present on Mars, but cannot be readily detected by means of THEMIS thermal infrared images. For example, if ray debris lies on top of surfaces that have dark nighttime TIR signatures, such as dust-mantled surfaces, then the rays are not discernable because there is no thermal contrast. Hence, a surface covered with a thick dust mantle obstructs our view of crater rays. Conversely, regions with little to no dust cover would not be able to produce the cold ray material that we so readily observe in THEMIS nighttime thermal infrared images. As a consequence, other (more rigorous and difficult) means may be necessary to detect additional rayed crater systems on Mars such as linking far-field secondary crater populations to a single source crater. High-resolution visible images from cameras like HiRISE (High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment) or CTX (Context Camera) on NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter may be very useful in future ray surveys.
Rays are evidence of high-velocity ejecta. The fact that Martian rayed craters are among the freshest craters of their size and are found in young volcanic plains makes some people wonder if some of the ejecta from these impacts could have escaped from Mars to become Martian meteorites on Earth. The Mars rock would have to reach the escape velocity of 5 km/sec. During an impact event the kinetic energy of the incoming projectile causes shock deformation, heating, melting, and vaporization, as well as excavation of the crater and ejecta material. However, Martian meteorites show low to only moderate degrees of shock. To address this question Tornabene and coauthors examined the ray patterns to better understand the formation process.
Elliptical crater shapes, forbidden zones (wedge-shaped zones lacking crater ejecta), and "butterfly wing" ray patterns in four definitive rayed craters (the exception is Zunil) and all three probables are cited as evidence that the Martian rayed craters formed by moderately oblique impact events. During oblique impacts it is possible that some of the ejecta is released at high velocities but low shock pressures. This is a process known as spallation and it is likely responsible for creating some of the ray-forming secondaries. Spallation is also currently the favored mechanism for ejecting relatively low-shocked rocks off Mars. Models also show increases in spallation volumes when oblique impacts strike volatile-rich subsurfaces. This is significant because Tornabene and colleagues observed fluidized ejecta blankets around the primary craters or around nearby larger craters--commonly recognized as evidence for subsurface volatiles (water ice). They concluded the ray formation process is consistent with spallation models of Martian meteorite delivery.
Cosmochemical analyses show that Martian meteorites came from basaltic igneous sources (by crystallization from cooling magma) with young (<1.3 billion year) crystallization ages (with the one exception of 4.5 billion year old ALH84001) and were blasted off Mars by impact cratering events 600,000 to 20 million years ago. Taking into account the uncertainties in ages derived by crater counting for Martian terrains (e.g. see review by William Hartmann, Planetary Science Institute, Tuscon), Tornabene and coauthors have suggested matches between certain rayed craters (based on surface ages) and the crystallization age groupings of the Martian meteorites. Based on their studies, Tornabene and colleagues suggest rayed craters within Elysium are possible sources for the shergottites and the two rayed craters outside of Elysium (Zumba and Gratteri) are possible sources for nakhlites, chassignite, and ALH 84001. Specifically, Zumba is in late Hesperian-age volcanic terrain and could be a source crater for the nakhlites and chassignites, which are about 1.3 billion years old. Gratteri, which is in older volcanic terrain (Noachian-age), is suggested as a possible source for the oldest Martian meteorite known, ALH 84001.
As the research by Tornabene and coauthors shows, observations of the rayed craters and target surfaces combined with current models of Martian meteorite delivery and cosmochemical analyses of Martian meteorites suggest these large rayed craters are plausible source regions for Martian meteorites. Finding meteorite source regions will continue to pique our interest as researchers look further into the spectral signatures of the surfaces where rayed craters have been identified to help define and compare the compositions to the only field samples we have.
LINKS OPEN IN A NEW WINDOW.
[ About PSRD |
[ Glossary | General Resources | Comments | Top of page ] | <urn:uuid:5bfe77c6-b2da-4227-b85d-6010ab6b7cf4> | {
"date": "2014-10-31T03:58:23",
"dump": "CC-MAIN-2014-42",
"file_path": "s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2014-42/segments/1414637898844.3/warc/CC-MAIN-20141030025818-00169-ip-10-16-133-185.ec2.internal.warc.gz",
"int_score": 4,
"language": "en",
"language_score": 0.90729820728302,
"score": 3.875,
"token_count": 3575,
"url": "http://www.psrd.hawaii.edu/Jan07/MarsRayedCraters.html"
} |
The Magic of the Flambé
Capriccio has long been famous for are our tableside preparations. While the delicate tableside deboning of our signature Dover Sole and carvings of Beef Wellington and Racks of Lamb entrance patrons, it is the magic of our classic tableside flambés, such as Steak Diane, Crepes Suzette, and Scampi dancing in its pan, that take center stage.
The word “flambé” is derived from the French word for flamed. In this method of cooking, alcohol is added to the pan in which the food sautés in a sauce. This catches fire in a dramatic presentation. Because the fire is short lived, the flambé does not burn the food, as is imparts a smoky flavor to the food and a savory or sweet flavor to its sauce.
While the art of the flambé is supposed to have originated in the 14th century around the Moors, it gained prominence only by the late 19th century. Another variation to its origins is believed to have been more sudden. It is told that Henri Carpentier, a waiter, accidentally set fire to a pan of crepes being prepared for Edward VII, the future king of United Kingdom. Though this theory has not been proved, it seems the safest assumption of the start of flambé in recent times.
Flambé cooking is art in the hands of a skilled dining room captain. It requires experience, a deft hand and a special kind of skillet or flambé pan with a long handle. The food to be flambéed should be warm, as cold food will not allow the alcohol, typically a brandy, to catch fire. It’s also necessary to ensure that the poured liquor is warm. The process of flambéing lasts less than a minute. But, done correctly, the drama and the delicious result will linger on the palate and the memory long after. | <urn:uuid:b2904ce2-ebcc-42e0-8b59-7f687a755736> | {
"date": "2020-01-29T00:25:39",
"dump": "CC-MAIN-2020-05",
"file_path": "s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2020-05/segments/1579251783342.96/warc/CC-MAIN-20200128215526-20200129005526-00536.warc.gz",
"int_score": 3,
"language": "en",
"language_score": 0.9379896521568298,
"score": 2.578125,
"token_count": 406,
"url": "https://capriccios.com/capriccio-blog/122-the-magic-of-the-flambe"
} |
Explore an active geothermal mountain with coloured rocks and native plants that are unique to geothermal environments. Climb to the summit for a huge view of this fascinating part of the world.
Rainbow Mountain's Maori name is Maungakakaramea, meaning 'mountain of coloured earth'. The mountain top is an unusual rounded knob, known as Tihi-o-Rua - 'the owl's perch'.
Although it has a very volcanic past, Rainbow Mountain has cooled over recent years, allowing the native vegetation to slowly begin regenerating. Some plant species found on the mountain are very rare and grow only in geothermal areas. An information panel highlights special features of the vegetation at the start of two fascinating walking tracks.
The Crater Lakes Walk offers great views of two volcanic craters set against a backdrop of bare brown, orange and red steaming cliffs. The Summit Track leads you up through regenerating native vegetation and past steaming rainbow-coloured rocks. The climb to the summit is rewarded with magnificent 360-degree views of the surrounding Rotorua lakes, forests and mountains. You can also see south to distant Lake Taupo and the towering volcanic peaks of Tongariro National Park.
Immediately across the highway from the entrance to Rainbow Mountain lies Lake Ngahewa, home to a variety of birdlife. Native tui, bellbirds, waxeyes and kingfishers are abundant in the vegetation, while many kinds of waterfowl can be found on the lake. | <urn:uuid:66a2d8ed-6c31-45dc-a6a6-161b728de536> | {
"date": "2019-07-22T06:11:05",
"dump": "CC-MAIN-2019-30",
"file_path": "s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2019-30/segments/1563195527531.84/warc/CC-MAIN-20190722051628-20190722073628-00056.warc.gz",
"int_score": 3,
"language": "en",
"language_score": 0.942830502986908,
"score": 2.796875,
"token_count": 310,
"url": "https://www.newzealand.com/de/feature/rainbow-mountain/"
} |
In a new report, the U.N.'s Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) stressed the need to transform agriculture and adopt “climate-smart” practices. No news there. The real surprise is what "climate-smart" ag does not mean for FAO.
With all the relentless hype from Monsanto & Co. around ag biotech's supposed role in feeding the world and providing the answer to climate change, I expected to find plugs for increasing investments in “biotechnology” or “GMOs” sprinkled throughout the entire report. I was wrong. The report simply and consistently stressed that “significant transformation” is required in agriculture; that effective “climate-smart” practices already exist and that an ecosystem approach with coordination across sectors and institutions is crucial to achieving meaningful climate change responses. Although FAO was a co-sponsor of the landmark International Assessment of Agricultural Knowledge, Science and Technology for Development (IAASTD), its commitment to IAASTD’s call for radical change has been less than impressive at times—to say the least. Yet this latest report contains solid findings that, as an agroecologist, I can agree with.
Water, soil & genes
FAO’s new website gives examples of production systems that are “climate-smart,” many of which are described in the FAO publication 'Climate-Smart' Agriculture: Policies, Practices and Financing for Food Security, Adaptation, and Mitigation.
“Climate-smart” agriculture is defined by FAO as “agriculture that sustainably increases productivity, resilience (adaptation), reduces/removes GHGs [greenhouse gases] (mitigation), and enhances achievement of national food security and development goals.” The emphasis throughout the report is very much on agroecological approaches to soil, nutrient, water and ecosystem management with explicit attention to the importance of preserving genetic resources of crops and animals—including wild relatives, which are critical in developing resilience to shocks. The report warns of the ecological damage, public health harms and unsustainable nature of industrial agricultural practices and technologies, and highlights the advantages of diversified agroforestry and urban and peri-urban agricultural systems.
Moving beyond the farm-gate, the report calls for policy and institutional change to create an enabling environment for climate-smart agriculture. One compelling example of institutional innovation is the evolution of farmer field schools in Indonesia (a highly regarded approach to ecological pest management based on farmers’ active participation in ecological field assessments) into “climate field schools.” Collective resource management activities are also highlighted, as well as the importance of improving farmers—particularly women’s—access to and control over resources, including property rights to land, water and genetic resources. The report argues for the establishment of financial mechanisms to support small-scale farmers in adopting “climate-smart” agriculture, such as credit, insurance, social safety nets and payments for ecosystem services. Finally, the report assesses various national and international financing options, favoring transparent approaches with mechanisms for greater accountability and ability to link financing directly to farmers’ beneficial practices on the ground.
Seems like quite a while since we've had a solid contribution—free of hype or political favors to industry—from a major U.N. organization regarding the future of agriculture. In the wake of USDA's recent bad behavior, there is some comfort in knowing that public agencies' fealty to Monsanto doesn't always extend all the way to Rome. | <urn:uuid:2b3e0584-b264-4f2f-8347-0d9f234d87c0> | {
"date": "2016-07-26T20:02:48",
"dump": "CC-MAIN-2016-30",
"file_path": "s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-30/segments/1469257825124.22/warc/CC-MAIN-20160723071025-00322-ip-10-185-27-174.ec2.internal.warc.gz",
"int_score": 3,
"language": "en",
"language_score": 0.9278855919837952,
"score": 2.734375,
"token_count": 723,
"url": "http://www.panna.org/blog/climate-smart-agriculture?quicktabs_1=1"
} |
Steamtown National Historic Site is an industrial heritage site dedicated to the role that steam railroad transportation played within America's Industrial Revolution. The park is located in the middle of downtown Scranton, in northeastern Pennsylvania.
Remember the sound of chuff-chuff from the smokestack? Our Steamtown NHS train pewter ornament brings back memories of this special era in America's industrial history!
This product has not yet been reviewed. | <urn:uuid:47f6bef3-802d-49d4-bf70-e33ffbd50e9a> | {
"date": "2019-10-16T12:25:57",
"dump": "CC-MAIN-2019-43",
"file_path": "s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2019-43/segments/1570986668569.22/warc/CC-MAIN-20191016113040-20191016140540-00496.warc.gz",
"int_score": 3,
"language": "en",
"language_score": 0.940868616104126,
"score": 2.5625,
"token_count": 90,
"url": "https://www.eparks.com/product/65464/Steamtown-National-Historic-Site-Ornament/"
} |
Doctors aren't certain what causes aortic coarctation. For unknown reasons, mild to severe narrowing develops in part of the aorta. Although aortic coarctation can occur anywhere along the aorta, the coarctation is most often located near a blood vessel called the ductus arteriosus. The condition generally begins before birth.
Rarely, coarctation of the aorta may develop later in life. Traumatic injury may lead to coarctation of the aorta. Rarely, severe hardening of the arteries (atherosclerosis) or a condition causing inflamed arteries (Takayasu's arteritis) may narrow your aorta, leading to aortic coarctation.
Coarctation of the aorta usually occurs beyond the blood vessels that branch off to your upper body and before the blood vessels that lead to your lower body. This often means you'll have high blood pressure in your arms, but low blood pressure in your legs and ankles.
April 20, 2012
- Coarctation of the aorta. American Heart Association. http://www.heart.org/HEARTORG/Conditions/CongenitalHeartDefects/AboutCongenitalHeartDefects/Coarctation-of-the-Aorta-CoA_UCM_307022_Article.jsp. Accessed Feb. 7, 2012.
- Keane JF, et al, eds. Nadas' Pediatric Cardiology. 2nd ed. Philadelphia, Pa.: Saunders Elsevier; 2006. http://www.mdconsult.com/books/about.do?about=true&eid=4-u1.0-B978-1-4160-2390-6..50001-5&isbn=978-1-4160-2390-6&uniqId=322245209-3. Accessed March 9, 2012.
- Agarwala BN, et al. Clinical manifestations and diagnosis of coarctation of the aorta. http://www.uptodate.com/index. Accessed Feb. 7, 2012.
- Agarwala BN, et al. Management of coarctation of the aorta. http://www.uptodate.com/index. Accessed Feb. 7, 2012.
- Wilson W, et al. Prevention of infective endocarditis: Guidelines from the American Heart Association. Circulation. 2007;116:1736.
- Kenny D, et al. Coarctation of the aorta: From fetal life to adulthood. Cardiology Journal. 2011;18:487. | <urn:uuid:28680c7d-3120-4662-bd26-6cb6cbf99a4f> | {
"date": "2015-07-04T15:45:21",
"dump": "CC-MAIN-2015-27",
"file_path": "s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2015-27/segments/1435375096773.65/warc/CC-MAIN-20150627031816-00006-ip-10-179-60-89.ec2.internal.warc.gz",
"int_score": 3,
"language": "en",
"language_score": 0.803641140460968,
"score": 3,
"token_count": 574,
"url": "http://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/coarctation-of-the-aorta/basics/causes/con-20031772"
} |
Some modern phenomena, which seem to be a product of the 21st century, may not be as modern as you might think.
‘History repeats itself’ may be one of the most overused phrases you’ll ever hear – and rightly so. It’s amazing as to the extent that humanity repeatedly recycles the same concepts and ideas over time (then brands them as ‘new’).
Below is a list of five concepts that most people would consider as modern phenomena. We are confident that this list will surprise you.
Contrary to popular belief, the ‘self- portrait photograph’, or ‘selfie’, has been around much longer than smartphones. Of course, it has become easier to snap a selfie with the innovation of the front camera and ‘selfie sticks’. However, the selfie has existed just as long as the camera has. In fact, the first light picture ever taken was in 1839 by Robert Cornelius (in the photo above) – a pioneer in photography – and it was of himself.
You would be hard-pressed to find a teenager in today’s age that doesn’t take selfies. Undoubtedly, though, the very first teenager reportedly to do so was the Russian Grand Duchess Anastasia Nikolaevna at the age of 13. In 1914, she took a photo of herself using a mirror and sent it to a friend. In the accompanying letter, she wrote “I took this picture of myself looking at the mirror. It was very hard as my hands were trembling.”
4. Car Navigation
Satellite navigation revolutionised the driving experience. It is an example of how technology has unanimously benefitted all of the mankind. Long before the use of satellite technology, though, there existed a navigation device called the TripMaster Iter Avto. This is widely believed to be the first on board direction guide and was positioned on the dashboard. It came with a set of paper maps that scrolled depending on the speed of the car.
Common sense dictates that fridges only came about once humanity had electricity. However, civilizations as far back as 2,500 years ago had invented a genius way to keep food chilled in the scorching desert heat – the “Yakhchal”, a Persian type of evaporating cooler. Literally meaning ‘ice pit’ in Persian, the Yakhchal is a domed structure with a subterranean storage space which kept even ice cool all year around. They remain standing today in various locations across Iran.
2. Ridiculously overpaid sportsmen
It’s no secret that sports personalities across the globe have handsome salaries. In fact, in some sports, simply turning up to a match guarantees a salary multiple times higher than the average salaryman. While in our time the sheer size of the sports industry is somewhat justifiable – considering the millions of job prospects it provides – it is not exclusive to this side of the millennium.
Back in the 2nd century, a Roman chariot racer by the name of Gaius Appuleius Diocles participated in as many as 4,200 big money races. Over a career spanning 24 years, he had an average success rate of around 50%, netting himself an impressive 36 million Roman sesterces – today’s equivalent of $15 billion. His wealth was enough to pay every Roman soldier over a period of two months.
1. Text messaging
Back in 1890, two telegraph operators on opposite sides of America communicated via messaging. They got to know each other and developed a friendship without ever meeting. Additionally, they messaged in shorthand – the peculiar ‘abbreviations’ mentioned in the above text. Here is a sample of their conversation, which clearly proves that shorthand texting was around long before the 21st century:
“Hw r u tsmng?”
“I’m ptywl; hw r u?”
“I’m ntflgvywl; fraid I’ve gt t mlaria.”
Judging from these, it’s safe to say that many modern phenomena and concepts we considered were reliant on today’s technology were long since conceived in the miracle that is the human brain. Truly, humankind has always had the keen ability to solve problems and invent solutions using whatever means were available at the time.
Do you have in mind other modern phenomena that in reality are old? Share in the comments below!
Copyright © 2012-2019 Learning Mind. All rights reserved. For permission to reprint, contact us. | <urn:uuid:0b359c53-314c-4104-8cd8-b41722e5229a> | {
"date": "2019-04-19T07:26:47",
"dump": "CC-MAIN-2019-18",
"file_path": "s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2019-18/segments/1555578527148.46/warc/CC-MAIN-20190419061412-20190419083412-00456.warc.gz",
"int_score": 3,
"language": "en",
"language_score": 0.9693660736083984,
"score": 2.53125,
"token_count": 957,
"url": "https://www.learning-mind.com/modern-phenomena-old/"
} |
Torpedo shell. (Ordnance)
A shell longer than a deck-piercing shell, with thinner walls and a larger cavity for the bursting charge, which consists of about 130 pounds of high explosive. It has no soft cap, and is intended to effect its damage by the powerful explosion which follows on slight resistance. It is used chiefly in 12-inch mortars.
© Webster 1913 | <urn:uuid:e4ff8925-43fa-4a65-bf94-5789e510e1f3> | {
"date": "2017-08-17T22:12:12",
"dump": "CC-MAIN-2017-34",
"file_path": "s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2017-34/segments/1502886104160.96/warc/CC-MAIN-20170817210535-20170817230535-00536.warc.gz",
"int_score": 3,
"language": "en",
"language_score": 0.961675763130188,
"score": 2.5625,
"token_count": 82,
"url": "https://everything2.com/title/Torpedo+shell"
} |
“I know I’m supposed to eat five servings of fruits and vegetables every day. Which are the best summertime fruits and vegetables to eat?”
You can’t go wrong with vegetables, but certain fruits and vegetables just scream summertime: Fresh corn on the cob. Colorful heirloom tomatoes. Juicy, drip-down-your-chin peaches. Crunchy Kirby cucumbers.
Hot weather calls for light fare, and if you’re looking for a simple way to get your recommended five servings a day of fruits and vegetables, boost overall health, and possibly drop a few pounds in the process, head to your local farmers’ market, roadside stand, or neighborhood grocery store to stock up on summer produce.
Many studies have confirmed that a diet rich in fruits and vegetables helps reduce the risk of chronic illnesses, such as high blood pressure, stroke, high cholesterol, cardiovascular disease, macular degeneration, diabetes, brain aging, cancer, and obesity.
But how much produce do we actually eat? Unfortunately, not much. A recent study in Nutrition Journal reported that we Americans over-exaggerate how much we eat because of social-approval bias: We know we’re supposed to be sticking to five servings a day, but we often bend the truth to make ourselves feel better.
In fact, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) report that 90 percent of Americans don’t meet the daily recommendation for fruits and vegetables. (Ketchup and French fries don’t count, even if they’re organic.)
Thankfully, easy access to great summer fruits and vegetables makes it easier to get them into your diet.
There’s been a lot of talk in recent years about eating locally grown foods. There are many reasons for this — everything from supporting local agriculture to using less fuel for transporting goods.
From a nutritional standpoint, in-season, locally grown produce makes a lot of sense: It packs more nutrients than what you’ll find year-round in grocery stores. Produce grown close to home is harvested when ripe or just beforehand, so vitamins, minerals, and antioxidants are at their peak.
Here’s a quick rundown of the season’s best produce.
Why they’re so good: Just two of these little fruits boast nearly 50 percent of your daily vitamin A (great for vision) and are high in vitamin C. Their stash of beta-carotene and the antioxidant lycopene help ward off disease risk and may lower LDL cholesterol. And two apricots are just 35 calories.
How to pick: Look for apricots that are a rich, golden orange rather than a pale yellow.
How to eat: Grill them and pair with chicken or pork, toss them into cereal, or eat them fresh.
Why it’s so good: Bring on the folate and vitamin K! Just 1 cup of diced asparagus spears (about four spears) has 115 percent of your daily recommended intake for vitamin K and 65 percent for folate. Folate-rich foods play an important role in cardiovascular health and preventing birth defects. Asparagus is also high in vitamins A and C.
How to pick: Both thick and thin spears are fine. Keep asparagus in the fridge to ensure freshness and nutrient quality; break off woody bottoms before preparing. Spears should be crisp and have a natural breaking point. If spears are thick, peel them for a more vibrant shade of green and quicker cooking time. Thin spears require no peeling.
How to eat: Steam, parboil, roast, sauté, or grill. Serve with vinaigrette or a simple squeeze of fresh lemon juice, toss into a salad, pasta dish, or stir-fry, or nibble plain.
Why they’re so good: Berries and cherries are antioxidant powerhouses fending off cancer, heart disease, and the aging process. They’re also loaded with fiber and vitamin C. Blueberries, raspberries, and cherries contain anthocyanins, antioxidants that give them their red and red-blue hues.
How to pick: Look for rich, bright colors and a firm plumpness; softness means they’re overripe.
How to eat: However you wish! Pop them plain for a quick sweet snack, toss into cereal or yogurt at breakfast, liven up a salad or side dish, or bake into a summery fruit crisp or crumble.
Why it’s so good: Summer just isn’t the same without a fresh ear of sweet corn rounding out your plate. Often shunned as a “starchier carb,” corn actually has a lot of health to offer.
A single serving provides nearly 20 percent of your daily recommended intake of vitamin B1 (also known as thiamine), which plays a role in your body’s energy production and memory function. Corn’s also a good source of folate and fiber.
How to pick: When picking an ear, look for a fresh husk and pull it back just a bit to check that the kernels haven’t gone bad or browned. Kernels should be yellow or white. Store in a cool place or refrigerate.
How to eat: Steamed right off the cob; grilled with a smidge of cotija cheese and fresh lime; or boiled and cut off the cob into salads and salsas.
Why they’re so good: “Cool as a cucumber” is certainly an appropriate phrase for this crunchy, refreshing veggie. Cucumbers have a high water content, so they cool us down when the weather heats up. They also contain vitamin C.
How to pick: Tasty, crunchy cukes should be firm to the touch — no bumps or bruises — and kept refrigerated.
How to eat: Sliced raw; paired with tomatoes, feta, and red onion for a summery side dish; diced into salads, salsas, and gazpacho; or pickled with vinegar and white onions.
Why they’re so good: Peaches are loaded with vitamins A and C as well as fiber and potassium. Rich in antioxidant plant compounds called flavonoids, peaches also assist in disease prevention. They’ve got a high water content (87 percent) and, at 38 calories a pop, they’re a satisfying, low-calorie snack.
How to pick: Ripe peaches are slightly soft to the touch. Take a quick sniff; if a peach is particularly fragrant, it’s generally a great indicator of major flavor.
How to eat: Drizzled with balsamic vinegar and paired with arugula and Parmesan or feta cheese in a light summery salad; grilled and served with roasted or grilled chicken; tossed into whole-grain cereal, muffins, or plain yogurt; atop low-fat ice cream or as the main feature of peach pie; or on their own, plain and simple.
Why it’s so good: Summer squash (zucchini, yellow squash, patty pan, crookneck, and other local varieties) is a good source of vitamin C, A, fiber, and potassium. The antioxidants in vitamin C and the beta-carotene in vitamin A help decrease inflammation and lower the risk of heart disease and cancer.
How to pick: Squash should be firm to the touch. Store in the refrigerator or a plastic bag for up to a week.
How to eat: Cut up raw with hummus, guacamole, or a yogurt dip as a snack; shaved into ribbons (using a mandoline) for a refreshing side dish with fresh mint, walnuts, ricotta salata, lemon, and olive oil; grilled, sautéed, or steamed; tossed into pasta sauces and salads; or added to your favorite bread, pancake, or muffin recipe for a healthy twist.
Why they’re so good: This summer fruit is widely known for its health benefits. In peak season (July through September), tomatoes are rich in vitamins A, K, and C (just 1 cup contains over 55 percent of your daily recommendation for vitamin C). Tomatoes are also jam-packed with lycopene, an antioxidant pigment that gives tomatoes their red coloring and appears to play a significant role in lowering the risk of certain cancers like prostate and breast. Cook ‘em up to release the lycopene, which is easier for us to absorb when tomatoes are cooked or canned.
How to pick: The more vibrant the color, the more lycopene content and often the greater the flavor. Sweet-smelling ripe tomatoes should give just a little when pressed and shouldn’t be bumped or bruised.
How to eat: Sliced or diced; paired with fresh basil and buffalo mozzarella as a tasty appetizer; tossed into salads and pastas; incorporated into sauces; and roasted or grilled as a side dish, topping, spread, or salsa. Test out our Fresh Tomato and Basil Summer Pasta Salad.
Why it’s so good: Closely associated with summertime eats, watermelon is incredibly refreshing and thirst-quenching thanks to its high water content. It’s also rich in lycopene and vitamins A and C.
How to pick: For maximum juiciness and taste, scout out a watermelon that’s fairly heavy and has a smooth rind. The flesh should be bright pink-red (or bright yellow if you’re checking out a yellow watermelon). If your melon’s seeded, the seeds should be dark.
How to eat: Straight up! Also tossed into salads like our Watermelon Feta Salad with Fresh Mint or into side dishes and salsas; grilled and served with seafood or chicken; or blended into drinks and coolers.
Marissa Lippert is a registered dietitian and nutrition consultant in New York City.
Want more? Comb the archives.
A father’s legacy
The vegetarian-cooking pioneer
Barbecue, tamales, cocktails, and more
Good on everything | <urn:uuid:e817ca6a-f2c0-40e2-8a59-2b0f709db9a0> | {
"date": "2014-08-02T02:29:09",
"dump": "CC-MAIN-2014-23",
"file_path": "s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2014-23/segments/1406510276250.57/warc/CC-MAIN-20140728011756-00444-ip-10-146-231-18.ec2.internal.warc.gz",
"int_score": 3,
"language": "en",
"language_score": 0.9065553545951843,
"score": 2.609375,
"token_count": 2133,
"url": "http://www.culinate.com/columns/health+food/summer_produce_is_rich_in_nutrients"
} |
Today’s image of the week comes from the files of the Joint Committee on Atomic Energy (JCAE). In February 1953, the JCAE got their first briefing from the Atomic Energy Commission about the success of Operation Ivy, where the first hydrogen bomb prototype was detonated just a few months earlier. This was given in a Top Secret Executive session, which was only declassified in 2009, and thus is only available at the Legislative Archives in downtown Washington, D.C., so I was excited to get my hands on it on my most recent research trip.
In order to explain to the gathered Congressmen the effects of the hydrogen bomb, Brig. Gen. Kenneth E. Fields, the AEC’s General Manager at the time, showed three charts to them, illustrating the yields of the Nagasaki bomb (20 kilotons), a current stockpile fission bomb (83 kilotons), and a hypothetical hydrogen bomb (5 megatons):
From the transcript:
Gen. Fields: Now, briefly, just to put perspective on the effects of the weapons that we have had and do have, the growth in the yield, the maximum yield obtainable. Here are three charts that show the effects of different weapons. The Hiroshima or Nagasaky [sic], approximate yield of this weapon. One of our very prominent members of our present stockpile of fission weapons, the 83,000-ton TNT equivalent. And we have just selected 5 million tons as a possibility in the thermonuclear field.1 You can see the differences in the areas covered.
Rep. Cole: Is that a map of Washington?
Gen. Fields: Yes. The zero point is over the White House.
Rep. Van Zandt: Not the Capitol?
Gen. Fields: Not the Capitol.
Rep. Van Zandt: Well, all right. (Laughter.)2
What’s the laughter about? As always from these kinds of transcripts, it can be hard to discern tone. What is the joke in determining whether the White House or the Capitol should be the transcript, for a bunch of people currently sitting in the Capitol? Is it an expression of gratitude (they are not, strictly, the target), or a question about the true seat of power (who really ought to be the target)? Fields himself probably just wanted them to understand the relative distances in terms any Washingtonian would understand — the length of the National Mall — but the result is, of course, that they are learning about their new weapon’s effects by seeing themselves through the bombsight.
A number of historians and commentators have discussed the fact that in studying how your weapons would effect an enemy, one quickly moves the cross-hairs to your own cities. That is, the United States almost immediately went from studying the effects of an atomic bomb centered over the city of Hiroshima (e.g.) to studying the effects over New York and Washington, DC. Peter Galison calls this the “bombsight mirror,” after Lacan’s notion of the mirror stage:
Here stands a new, bizarre, and yet pervasive species of Lacanian mirroring. Having gone through the bomb-planning and bomb-evaluating process so many times for enemy maps of Schweinfurt, Leuna, Berlin, Hamburg, Hiroshima, Tokyo, and Nagasaki, now the familiar maps of Gary, Pittsburgh, New York City, Chicago, and Wichita began to look like them.3
This bombsight mirroring happened continuously throughout the nuclear age, when the enemy was assumed to be, in technological terms, symmetrical. We have nukes, they have nukes. We have ICBMs, they have ICBMs. It’s also the essence of game theory: we are both rational; we infer that they infer much like we do. This mirroring is a big part of the Cold War, and had interesting historical outcomes. It superficially looks like empathy, but it’s really likely just fear.
So I enjoy that there is some hesitation on the part of the Congressmen to have DC be the center of the scopes, as they sit in DC discussing these new weapons. I enjoy that they feel the need to make some nervous laughter about whether the Capitol (where they sit) or the White House (where Eisenhower sits) is the primary target. In that fleeting moment of laughter is a recognition, I think, of the terrifying world they played no small part in creating.
- 5 Mt is of course less than half of the Ivy Mike yield. But as the transcript makes clear, even by early 1953 they were not certain what the Mike yield actually was — they put it at 8Mt (+/- 2Mt) — because their standard radiological methods of assessing yield were complicated by the fact that so much of the yield was from fission of the uranium-238 tamper, which they lacked previous experience analyzing. It’s also the case that Mike was not a finalized stockpile weapon at all, and they were not yet sure that the lithium-fueled designs that would be tested in Operation Castle would work, or what yields they would have. So 5Mt is not a horrible guess for what a stockpile H-bomb might look like, despite being less than the Mike experiment. [↩]
- Source for images and quotes: Executive Session of the Joint Committee on Atomic Energy (18 February 1953), in Records of the Joint Committee on Atomic Energy, RG 128, National Archives and Records Administration, Washington, D.C., Declassified Executive Session Transcripts, Box 12. [↩]
- Peter Galison, “War Against the Center,” Grey Room, no. 4 (Summer 2001), 5-33, on 30. [↩] | <urn:uuid:27215d40-d910-4fc4-a15b-1418ffdaca97> | {
"date": "2015-03-29T06:03:27",
"dump": "CC-MAIN-2015-14",
"file_path": "s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2015-14/segments/1427131298228.32/warc/CC-MAIN-20150323172138-00118-ip-10-168-14-71.ec2.internal.warc.gz",
"int_score": 3,
"language": "en",
"language_score": 0.9553423523902893,
"score": 2.78125,
"token_count": 1189,
"url": "http://blog.nuclearsecrecy.com/2011/12/30/friday-image-bullseye-on-washington-1953/"
} |
Quick academic help
Don't let the stress of school get you down! Have your essay written by a professional writer before the deadline arrives.
Writing a Good Conclusion Paragraph | Time4Writing
Introductions can be tricky. Because the introduction is the first portion of your essay that the reader encounters, the stakes are fairly high for your introduction to be successful. A good introduction presents a broad overview of your topic and your thesis, and should convince the reader that it is worth their time to actually read the rest of your essay. Below are some tips that will make writing an introduction a little less daunting, and help us all to write essays that don’t make our professors want to bang their heads against the wall.
The introduction part of any essay is the most important element in the essay. This is necessary for proper essay writing and the first paragraph would either develop the interest of the reader or lose it. In a proper essay the individual paragraph should begin with topic sentences and should support the thesis. Try to express your ideas clearly to make your work more sensible. In other words, try talking the essay instead of just writing the essay.
Tips on good paragraph writing for the IELTS writing test, part 2.
A proper essay structure requires an outline before you start writing. It’s better to use single line sentences that describe the paragraphs as well as bullet points that describe the contents of every paragraph. One must ensure that the paragraphs are unified and is appropriate. The proper way to write an essay requires a good introduction. The introduction should be good enough so that it grabs the attention of the reader. The introduction is the essential component of the essay that pushes the reader further to read the whole essay.
Here is the concluding paragraph of George Orwell's famous essay, "Politics and the English Language." If you would like to read the entire essay from which this conclusion is taken (and check out, especially, the beginning), click .
Good introduction paragraph for a comparison essay
to wrap up your essay in a tidy package and bring it home for your reader. It is a good idea to recapitulate what you said in your in order to suggest to your reader that you have accomplished what you set out to accomplish. It is also important to judge for yourself that you have, in fact, done so. If you find that your thesis statement now sounds hollow or irrelevant that you haven't done what you set out to do then you need either to revise your argument or to redefine your thesis statement. Don't worry about that; it happens to writers all the time. They have argued themselves into a position that they might not have thought of when they began their writing. Writing, just as much as reading, is a process of self discovery. Do not, in any case, simply restate your thesis statement in your final paragraph, as that would be redundant. Having read your essay, we should understand this main thought with fresh and deeper understanding, and your conclusion wants to reflect what we have learned.
Second, the conclusion is no place to bring up new ideas. If a brilliant idea tries to sneak into our final paragraph, we must pluck it out and let it have its own paragraph earlier in the essay. If it doesn't fit the structure or argument of the essay, we will leave it out altogether and let it have its own essay later on. The last thing we want in our conclusion is an excuse for our readers' minds wandering off into some new field. Allowing a peer editor or friend to reread our essay before we hand it in is one way to check this impulse before it ruins our good intentions and hard work.
Why choose our assistance?
As soon as we have completed your work, it will be proofread and given a thorough scan for plagiarism.
Our clients' personal information is kept confidential, so rest assured that no one will find out about our cooperation.
We write everything from scratch. You'll be sure to receive a plagiarism-free paper every time you place an order.
We will complete your paper on time, giving you total peace of mind with every assignment you entrust us with.
Want something changed in your paper? Request as many revisions as you want until you're completely satisfied with the outcome.
We're always here to help you solve any possible issue. Feel free to give us a call or write a message in chat.
How to Write an Essay Introduction (with Sample Intros)
On the other hand, using it at the start of the first sentence of a paragraph is a good way to introduce your next topic. The transition words will act as a bridge to let the readers ‘cross’ from one paragraph to another. And they can effectively guide the readers and prevent them to get lost in the middle of your paper.
How to Write an Essay Introduction
A. How to Write an Introduction. The introduction of a persuasive essay or paper must be substantial. Having finished it, the reader ought to have a very clear idea of the author's purpose in writing. To wit, after reading the introduction, I tend to stop and ask myself where I think the rest of the paper is headed, what the individual paragraphs in its body will address and what the general nature of the conclusion will be. If I'm right, it's because the introduction has laid out in clear and detailed fashion the theme and the general facts which the author will use to support it.
How to Write a Good Introduction | The Writing Center at MSU
Never apologize for or otherwise undercut the argument you've made or leave your readers with the sense that "this is just little ol' me talking." Leave your readers with the sense that they've been in the company of someone who knows what he or she is doing. Also, if you promised in the introduction that you were going to cover four points and you covered only two (because you couldn't find enough information or you took too long with the first two or you got tired), don't try to cram those last two points into your final paragraph. The "rush job" will be all too apparent. Instead, revise your introduction or take the time to do justice to these other points.
Five-paragraph essay - Wikipedia
In Sarah's introduction paragraph it is clear that there are three areas of good writing to be discussed in the essay: 1) the importance of background in grammar and vocabulary, 2) the writer's skills in writing essays, and 3) the writer's skills in editing.
How it works
You submit your order instructions
We assign an appropriate expert
The expert takes care of your task
We send it to you upon completion
Average quality score
"I have always been impressed by the quick turnaround and your thoroughness. Easily the most professional essay writing service on the web."
"Your assistance and the first class service is much appreciated. My essay reads so well and without your help I'm sure I would have been marked down again on grammar and syntax."
"Thanks again for your excellent work with my assignments. No doubts you're true experts at what you do and very approachable."
"Very professional, cheap and friendly service. Thanks for writing two important essays for me, I wouldn't have written it myself because of the tight deadline."
"Thanks for your cautious eye, attention to detail and overall superb service. Thanks to you, now I am confident that I can submit my term paper on time."
"Thank you for the GREAT work you have done. Just wanted to tell that I'm very happy with my essay and will get back with more assignments soon." | <urn:uuid:167cec1f-871b-45d6-be36-2bc3bcceb2a6> | {
"date": "2018-03-20T15:15:42",
"dump": "CC-MAIN-2018-13",
"file_path": "s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2018-13/segments/1521257647498.68/warc/CC-MAIN-20180320150533-20180320170533-00456.warc.gz",
"int_score": 3,
"language": "en",
"language_score": 0.9480655193328857,
"score": 2.890625,
"token_count": 1551,
"url": "http://7800kirkwood.com/good-introduction-paragraph-for-essay.html"
} |
Funding Our Values
Budgets are moral documents. Where we allocate our resources determines what we value. What we spend becomes who we are.
It’s no question, then, that the state of Texas, from its lawmakers to its taxpayers, values education. Public K-12 education is the number one line item in the state’s budget year after year. And the majority of every homeowner’s property tax bill is collected by his or her local school district.
But is what we’re spending truly “adequate,” as our Texas Constitution prescribes? Is it adequate for all students, or just some? And are Texans satisfied simply with adequacy, or should we instead strive for greatness? If we want to truly answer these complex questions, we have to go beyond simply calling for “more money” and determine what it is within our education system that we value the most.
Determining the values of our current public education budget is difficult because our funding formulas are incredibly complicated. They’re complicated for a reason, and each idiosyncrasy points toward a set of shared values. State lawmakers recognize low-income and English language learning students require additional resources, so they assign them weights that increase funding. They acknowledge that a student’s zip code shouldn’t determine the amount of resources he or she can access and equalize funding through the use of recapture. Extra niceties like football stadiums aren’t seen as necessary and as such aren’t formula funded; local voters must approve of them in bond elections.
Nowhere in our current funding system is any value whatsoever placed on student achievement. We have an accountability system that assigns an A-F grade to every campus and district, but these accountability measures have no direct impact on state spending. An A school receives the same amount per student as an F school. And, except for in a handful of districts, a highly effective teacher is paid the same amount as an ineffective one with the same amount of experience.
This runs counter to the values of Texans. In a recent Raise Your Hand Texas poll, nearly 93% of respondents believed “education programs receiving taxpayer dollars must be academically and financially accountable and transparent to taxpayers,” the closest to a unanimous response achieved in the survey. And the “greatest concern about Texas schools” was “poor teaching,” surpassing “standardized testing” and even “lack of funding.”
Texas taxpayers and lawmakers want academic accountability for their spending. In a state and government that value fiscal conservatism, any new investment must necessarily have a projected return. When it comes to public education, that return is an increase in academic outcomes for all our students.
We already do this in higher education. Since 2014, we’ve provided millions of dollars to our state’s community colleges for achieving “Student Success Points,” such as credential completion or transfer to a university. When it was first proposed, these schools opposed the measure. In every legislative session since its adoption, they have advocated for its continuation and expansion.
That’s because outcomes based funding allows for a steady increase in available resources without difficult adjustments to funding formulas. Which is why the Texas Commission on Public School Finance has recommended $800 million, a fraction of their multi-billion dollar reform package, go toward encouraging school districts to prioritize student outcomes on third grade reading and college, career, or military readiness.
Every single district across the state of Texas will see new money as a result of this program. Furthermore, the funding will be distributed equitably, which means that districts that improve literacy among low-income and English language learning students will see even more benefits as a result. Combined with the rest of the Commission’s recommendations, historically overlooked campuses will see a remarkable influx in funding. They’ll also see an incentive to direct these new resources to improving early literacy rates and postsecondary readiness.
This is not meant to increase our over-reliance on high stakes standardized testing. The fact is, early literacy and postsecondary readiness has and always will be extraordinarily high stakes for every student. And by emphasizing the importance of 3rd grade literacy, we can incentivize our schools to place their most effective educators in K-2, where they traditionally aren’t placed because those grades are not tested. Moreover, college, career, and military readiness is determined by a host of factors, of which a standardized test is only one. You'll be hard pressed to find anyone in the legislature or otherwise who believes STAAR and SAT are perfect. But it is imperative we measure student success because we can’t impact what we don’t understand.
Only four in ten Texas students are literate by third grade. Less than three in ten receive a postsecondary credential. And it only gets worse for low-income students, English language learners, and students of color. These numbers are unconscionable. They’re also changeable if we provide the financial resources to make change possible.
Our budget determines our values. If we want to improve outcomes for every Texas student, we must, quite literally, assign value to this important goal. Otherwise, we’ll continue paying into a system that simply doesn’t see the difference between failure and success. | <urn:uuid:e2c45d48-2f71-4732-a12b-122d06cf483d> | {
"date": "2019-05-25T15:05:35",
"dump": "CC-MAIN-2019-22",
"file_path": "s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2019-22/segments/1558232258120.87/warc/CC-MAIN-20190525144906-20190525170906-00496.warc.gz",
"int_score": 3,
"language": "en",
"language_score": 0.9470325112342834,
"score": 2.5625,
"token_count": 1098,
"url": "https://www.investedtx.org/blog/2019/1/31/funding-our-values"
} |
scorpion, any arachnid of the order Scorpionida with a hollow poisonous stinger at the tip of the tail. Scorpions vary from about 1/2 in. to about 6 in. (1–15 cm) long; most are from 1 to 3 in. (2.5–7.6 cm) long. They are predominantly tropical or subtropical, but some species live in temperate regions. During the day they hide in crevices or under objects, emerging at night to feed, mostly on other arthropods. The body is composed of a prosoma (head) covered by a solid protective covering, or carapace, and a segmented opisthosoma (body) divided into a broader mesosoma and a narrower metasoma, which ends in a sting. There are six pairs of appendages located on the prosoma: short, pincerlike appendages called chelicera, which are used to tear up food for swallowing; large appendages called pedipalps, equipped with powerful pincers used to grasp prey (which is then immobilized by stinging if necessary); and four pairs of walking legs. The first segment of the opisthosoma has vestigial appendages in the form of a genital opening (operculum), and the second segment bears unique, comblike sensory appendages known as pectines. The next four opisthosomal segments each bear a pair of respiratory structures known as book lungs, which open into the body by way of a hole, or spiracle. The metasoma is carried high in the air, in preparation for a quick stinging thrust. Although scorpion stings are painful, they are not usually dangerous to humans. Exceptions are the greatly feared scorpion Androctonus australis of the Sahara Desert, whose sting causes death in 6 to 7 hr if the victim is not treated with antivenin, and several species of the genus Centruroides, found in Mexico, which have been responsible for the deaths of a number of persons, mostly children. The scorpion neurotoxin causes convulsions; death results from respiratory or cardiac failure. Complex courtship rituals precede mating. The young scorpions are born alive and are carried for a time by the mother, leaving her after the first molt. About a year is required to reach maturity. Scorpions are classified in the phylum Arthropoda, class Arachnida, order Scorpionida.
The Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia, 6th ed. Copyright © 2012, Columbia University Press. All rights reserved.
See more Encyclopedia articles on: Zoology: Invertebrates | <urn:uuid:9c4d7c06-cca6-4c6a-8157-98961e5d7d28> | {
"date": "2017-01-17T09:40:01",
"dump": "CC-MAIN-2017-04",
"file_path": "s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2017-04/segments/1484560279650.31/warc/CC-MAIN-20170116095119-00276-ip-10-171-10-70.ec2.internal.warc.gz",
"int_score": 4,
"language": "en",
"language_score": 0.9322205781936646,
"score": 3.671875,
"token_count": 550,
"url": "http://www.infoplease.com/encyclopedia/science/scorpion.html"
} |
New Fabrication Technique Allows More Control Over Electrical Properties
With increasing scientific and medical interest in communication with the nervous system, demand is growing for biomedical devices that can better record and stimulate the nervous system, as well as deliver drugs and biomolecules in precise dosages.
Researchers with the University of Houston and Pennsylvania State University have reported a new fabrication technique for biocompatible neural devices that allows more precise tuning of the electrical performance of neural probes, along with improved properties for drug delivery.
“For years, scientists have been trying to interact with the nervous system, to diagnose Parkinson’s disease, epilepsy, multiple sclerosis, brain tumors and other neural disorders and diseases earlier,” said Mohammad Reza Abidian, associate professor of biomedical engineering at UH and lead author of a paper describing the fabrication technique in the journal Advanced Materials. “In our laboratory we create micro- and nano-devices to communicate with neurons.”
Abidian said the new fabrication method allows researchers to precisely control the surface morphology of conducting polymer microcups, improving performance. They used electrojetting and electrodeposition methods for fabricating conducting polymer microcups on the surface of bioelectronics.
“We found that by varying the amount of electrical current and the length of deposition time of these conducting polymers, we can change the size, thickness and roughness, which is related to the electrical properties of the polymer,” he said. “We show that conducting polymer microcups can significantly improve the electrical performance of the bioelectrodes.”
Typical polymers are often used as an insulating material because they don’t generally conduct electricity. The discovery of electronically conducting polymers in the 1970s was recognized with the Nobel Prize in chemistry in 2000.
“The primary requirement of neural devices is to provide high density electrodes that are biologically compatible with neural tissue, efficiently transduce biological signals to electronic signals, and remain functional for long periods of time,” the researchers wrote.
But current technology still relies upon metallic materials, which are highly conductive but incompatible with neural tissue. The miniaturization required for the devices also limits the electrical performance, Abidian said.
Conducting polymers, in contrast, better mimic biological tissue in four ways: their soft mechanical properties simulate those of biological structures; their mixed electronic/ionic conductivity promotes efficient signal transduction; their transparency allows the simultaneous use of optical analysis techniques; and their facile functionalization with biomolecules helps tune biological responses.
The new fabrication method involves the electrospraying of monodisperse poly microspheres on gold substrates, followed by an electrochemical polymerization process. Then the researchers control the applied electrical field for the fabrication of conducting polymer microcups, Abidian said, which in turn allowed them to control the surface morphology.
Additional authors on the paper include Martin Antensteiner and Milad Khorrami both with UH, and Fatemeh Fallahianbijan and Ali Borhan with Penn State. | <urn:uuid:911ad841-3609-4d14-8df4-94e5ad166459> | {
"date": "2019-07-17T12:40:54",
"dump": "CC-MAIN-2019-30",
"file_path": "s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2019-30/segments/1563195525187.9/warc/CC-MAIN-20190717121559-20190717143559-00296.warc.gz",
"int_score": 3,
"language": "en",
"language_score": 0.9085026383399963,
"score": 3.015625,
"token_count": 628,
"url": "https://www.egr.uh.edu/news/201708/researchers-report-better-way-create-organic-bioelectronics"
} |
In the fall of 2005, the Dalai Lama gave the inaugural Dialogues between Neuroscience and Society lecture at the Annual Meeting of the Society for Neuroscience in Washington, DC. There were over 30,000 neuroscientists registered for the meeting, and it seemed as if most of them attended the talk. The Dalai Lama’s address was designed to highlight the areas of convergence between neuroscience and Buddhist thought about the mind, and to many in the audience he clearly achieved his objective. There was some controversy over his being invited to deliver this lecture insofar as he is both a head of state and a religious leader, and for that reason he largely stuck to his prepared text. But he strayed from the text at least once, reminding the audience that not only was he a Buddhist monk but also an enthusiastic proponent of modern technology.
Elaborating, he shared a confidence with the audience, telling the audience of scientists that meditating was hard work for him (even though he meditates for 4 hours every morning), and that if neuroscientists were able to find a way to put electrodes in his brain and provide him with the same outcome as he gets from meditating, he would be an enthusiastic volunteer. It turns out that a recent set of experiments, from researchers at MIT and Stanford, moves us a step closer to making his wish a reality.
The Dalai Lama’s interest in neuroscience has been reciprocated by at least some members of the neuroscience community. Reasoning that studying the brains of people who meditate might lead to novel insights about the human brain, investigations of long-term meditators has been fertile ground for scientific investigation, with some of the more rigorous work emerging from Richard Davidson’s laboratory at the University of Wisconsin. From the perspective of neuroscience, meditation can be characterized as a series of mental exercises by which one strengthens one’s control over the workings of their own brain. The simplest of these meditation practices is ‘focused attention’ where one concentrates on a single object, for example one’s breath. When expert meditators practiced focused attention meditation, demonstrable changes were seen using fMRI in the networks of the brain that are known to modulate attention. A second set of experiments studied long-term meditators practicing ‘open monitoring meditation’, a more advanced meditation practice which in many ways is a form of metacognition: the objective is not to focus one’s attention but rather to use one’s brain to monitor the universe of mental experience without directing attention to any one task. The unexpected result of this experiment was that the EEG of long-term meditators exhibited much more gamma-synchrony than that of naive meditators. Moreover, normally human brains produce only short bursts of gamma-synchrony. What was most remarkable about this study was that long-term meditators were able to produce sustained gamma-activity in a manner that had never previously been observed in any other human. As such, sustained gamma activity has emerged as a proxy for at least some aspects of the meditative state.
But what causes gamma rhythm? And are there any potential benefits of sustained gamma-activity? The strongest hypothesis for the cellular mechanisms underlying generation of the gamma rhythm is that it is due to the activation of fast-spiking interneurons in the cerebral cortex. In two new papers to be published in Nature, the laboratories of Christopher Moore and Li-Huei Tsai at MIT and Karl Deisseroth at Stanford tested this hypothesis directly. The experimenters utilized optogenetics, developing custom-designed viruses to infect only the fast-spiking interneurons of either the prefrontal or barrel cortex in mice with genetically engineered, light-sensitive cation channels. Then, they inserted fine optical fibers into the relevant region of the cortex, allowing light to be delivered to the infected neurons and thereby activating only the fast-spiking interneurons. (In essence, this allowed them to switch particular brain cells on and off.) In both experiments, selectively stimulating the fast-spiking interneurons evoked gamma oscillations, thereby confirming the hypothesis that these neurons drive the gamma rhythm. | <urn:uuid:87f47178-ed82-4e5e-8f65-e0ccb7a172fc> | {
"date": "2013-06-18T22:53:14",
"dump": "CC-MAIN-2013-20",
"file_path": "s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368707435344/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516123035-00000-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz",
"int_score": 3,
"language": "en",
"language_score": 0.9582889676094055,
"score": 2.84375,
"token_count": 854,
"url": "http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=meditation-on-demand"
} |
Copyright © 2005-2012 Ion Gaztanaga
Distributed under the Boost Software License, Version 1.0. (See accompanying file LICENSE_1_0.txt or copy at http://www.boost.org/LICENSE_1_0.txt)
Table of Contents
Boost.Interprocess simplifies the use of common interprocess communication and synchronization mechanisms and offers a wide range of them:
Boost.Interprocess also offers higher-level interprocess mechanisms to allocate dynamically portions of a shared memory or a memory mapped file (in general, to allocate portions of a fixed size memory segment). Using these mechanisms, Boost.Interprocess offers useful tools to construct C++ objects, including STL-like containers, in shared memory and memory mapped files:
There is no need to compile Boost.Interprocess, since it's a header only library. Just include your Boost header directory in your compiler include path.
Boost.Interprocess depends on Boost.DateTime, which needs separate compilation.
However, the subset used by Boost.Interprocess
does not need any separate compilation so the user can define
BOOST_DATE_TIME_NO_LIB to avoid Boost from
trying to automatically link the Boost.DateTime.
In POSIX systems, Boost.Interprocess uses
pthread system calls to implement classes like mutexes, condition variables,
etc... In some operating systems, these POSIX calls are implemented in separate
libraries that are not automatically linked by the compiler. For example,
in some Linux systems POSIX pthread functions are implemented in
librt.a library, so you might need to add that
library when linking an executable or shared library that uses Boost.Interprocess. If you obtain linking errors related
to those pthread functions, please revise your system's documentation to
know which library implements them.
Boost.Interprocess has been tested in the following compilers/platforms:
Last revised: June 25, 2013 at 22:24:01 GMT | <urn:uuid:d1a3bbd2-3e35-45c0-9c03-ea3aeae3c345> | {
"date": "2015-04-01T11:37:39",
"dump": "CC-MAIN-2015-14",
"file_path": "s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2015-14/segments/1427131304444.86/warc/CC-MAIN-20150323172144-00226-ip-10-168-14-71.ec2.internal.warc.gz",
"int_score": 3,
"language": "en",
"language_score": 0.8354740142822266,
"score": 2.703125,
"token_count": 418,
"url": "http://www.boost.org/doc/libs/1_54_0/doc/html/interprocess.html"
} |
Fairy tales are an old and influential form of cultural transmission. They reveal to us what people throughout the ages have deemed significant, what ideas they wanted to preserve and communicate. By examining fairy tales, not only can we learn a great deal about human nature, we can uncover beliefs we hold about each other.
One facet of fairy tales I find fascinating is that of the animal spouse, and all the complexities of gender and sexual politics that go along with it. Almost every culture around the world has at least one, sometimes many, iterations of fairy tales about animal grooms and/or animal brides. And this particular story element is old, very old – the precursors to Beauty and the Beast for instance can be traced back some 4,000 years. The animal forms themselves range from mammals, to birds, to amphibians, to unrecognizable but disgusting creatures, and the elements of these stories vary to an extent. However, there are similarities and recurrent themes that appear to transcend regional, cultural or linguistic differences.
Stories of animal spouses were, and remain to this day, very popular. Like so many young women, I found Beauty and the Beast particularly enthralling. At the time, Belle seemed to me a likable and relatable protagonist, who was intelligent, devoured books and unlike her Disney predecessors actively rejected the pressure to get married. Then there was the Beast, a dark and brooding anti-hero, who because of his flaws not in spite of them, was far more attractive than the forgettable “Prince Charmings” of other fairy tales, who were devoid of any personality or characteristics beyond handsome. To many girls, the Beast is passionate and animalistic in a way we are drawn to—he is the Byronic hero: Mr. Rochester, Edward Scissorhands, Severus Snape and so on. It seems only pertinent to take a deeper look at fairy tales so many of us ingested in our youth.
I think it is also worth pointing out that the idea that fairy tales were intended for children is a relatively modern notion. Originally, adults were the audience of fairy tales just as often. Furthermore, fairy tales were historically dominated by women. Perault collected and developed his tales with female peers of the French salons and the Grimms procured many of their tales from female German peasants. In pre-industrialized communities, folk tales were a way of disseminating knowledge and life lessons. Often lessons for women, by women.
While fairy tales have undergone a process of “sanitization” when they were collected into literary forms, or adapted for children, traditionally they were overflowing with the same dark and intriguing concepts we humans find ourselves preoccupied with: danger, violence, taboo, sex, etc. Throughout human history cultural lessons are often taught through metaphor and allegory, because symbols and themes that fit together into an archetype are easier to understand and remember, especially in non-literate cultures. It is a manner of lesson through comparison. Rather than speak about sexuality and other problematic parts of the human experience (incest, abuse, neglect, etc) directly, we approach them symbolically. As C.S. Lewis put it, “Myth makes what was merely a principle imaginable. That is the beauty of the myth; it makes use of symbols and conveys psychological facts and truths in a tangible manner.”
And so now we dive into the symbols of these stories, that we might uncover whatever psychological facts they contain.
One of the defining characteristics of an animal groom is that his beastliness is immediately apparent and is an obstacle that must be overcome for the tale to end in happily ever after. He is painted as tragic and sympathetic, yet there is almost always a caution and danger in their courting. Animal grooms are to be pitied and yet not trusted, at least not while they remain in their beastly forms. The sometimes implicit, sometimes explicit, threat of physical and sexual violence in these tales reminds us of the intimidation women feel all too often in relation to men.
As for the female character promised to a beast, when confronted with an arranged marriage to a monster she usually resigns herself to her fate and bravely submits. Rarely ever is there resistance on her part. It is only after she comes to love her animal husband is his true human form revealed.
It may appear that the moral of these stories is to refrain from judging on appearances alone and to love the person inside, yet it also serves a more insidious function. It implores women to patiently accept beastliness on the part of their partner, for it is presumed that inside there is a man worthy of compassion and love. The animal husband is allowed to be complex, flawed and redeemable, though often the female protagonist is not. This doesn’t come as much of a surprise when you consider that all of us have been conditioned to empathize with male characters, frequently in spite of their wrong-doings.
Why would we need to teach such lessons and keep these archetypes alive in our cultural awareness? Maybe to teach women to be cautious and wary, to tread lightly, but ultimately to find the man inside the beast they are bound to, and to ensure both of their happiness, as well as the success of their marriage, with her love. That is an amazing amount of pressure to put on one person, and where there is pressure there is anxiety.
Not that long ago it was common for women everywhere to share an anxiety about arranged marriages they were powerless to control or prevent. A woman did not have a choice in the matter and could end up as easily with a husband who was cruel as one who was kind. These fairy tales of animal husbands can be viewed as are a form of indoctrination, meant to encourage a woman to accept and play her role as dutiful wife, with the hope that her love will soothe and satisfy any man’s “beastly” nature, or his intimidating sexual presence.
As others have put it:
“The tales in the Beauty and the Beast group number among the most eloquent testaments to women’s struggles, against arranged marriage, and towards a definition of the place of sexuality in love. The enchantments and disenchantments of the Beast have been a rich resource in stories women have made up, among themselves, to help, to teach, to warn.” -Marina Warner, From the Beast to the Blonde
“The grooms in arranged marriages may well have been perceived as noxious by their young brides, who, full of anxieties about marrying, are taught their culture’s lessons about the sacrifice of female desire and/or the transforming power of love. Older versions of these tales stress female acceptance of male sexuality and the civilizing effect of female virtues on brute desire.” -Donald Haase, The Greenwood Encyclopedia of Folktales and Fairy Tales
As for animal brides, they tend to fall into two types: tricksters or captives. This dichotomy fits into a larger trend of the roles women are permitted to play in all fairy tales, not just the ones with animal spouses. “When it comes to female roles the message [fairy] tales convey is that there are only two types of women: the helpless and the malicious.” Thus we end up with either animal brides who are malicious in their active desire to seduce or trick a man into a relationship, or those who are helpless captives of a forced marriage.
In contrast to animal grooms, the beastliness of trickster animal brides is a secret that is discovered later, after she has tricked or seduced an innocent man. Popular examples of this type of tale are the kitsune “fox spirits” or crane wives of East Asia. Usually when her true nature is discovered she leaves, abandoning the marriage despite whatever love or children she might leave behind. These stories portray active women with sexual agency as untrustworthy and manipulative, teach us to be wary of cunning women, to be suspicious of their secrets.
Much more common though than trickster animal brides are tales of captive ones, such as selkies, the swan bride, or even mermaids. In tales like these the beastliness of the animal bride is stolen from her, often represented by a magical piece of clothing, so that she can be captured, possessed and domesticated by a besotted man. In some tales she actively tries to escape her abduction, but more often she passively accepts the forced marriage. Either way, when the opportunity to escape is presented to her, or when she regains whatever item allows her to transform back into her beastly form, or when the husband breaks a taboo (strikes her, is unfaithful, spies on her, etc) she returns to her true form and former life.
I find it odd that these stories are presented in such a way that encourages us to sympathize with a protagonist who falls in love with a creature not meant for them and who seeks to capture and possess the target of their desire. Based on the narrative of these stories, we are led to feel sorry for them when their animal wives abandon them. This oddity is likely a product of other anxieties or psychological facts we hold in our cultural awareness, “Tales of animal brides […] may embody women’s desires for autonomy and equality in marriage; they may reflect male fantasies of domesticating and subduing female power; and they may reflect male anxiety about desertion by females.” Fairy tales reflect back to us our own anxieties, insecurities and fears. All the while they are bolstered with our cultural ideals, even if those ideals uphold stifling gender roles, or other forms of oppression.
As long as we’ve had language people have used stories to seek an understanding of ourselves and the world around us. The themes, archetypes and concepts found within these tales evolved over the generations to teach cultural norms, as well as characterize beliefs about human nature. What then does it say about our beliefs, this dichotomy? We portray animal grooms as men trapped in the form of a beast – creatures who look and act like monsters, but to everyone’s relief, are actually human after all; while we portray animal brides as beasts trapped in the form of a beautiful, human woman – creatures who look like women, but to the dismay of everyone, especially the men who desire them, are actually monsters.
“Myth Became Fact,” in The Grand Miracle, C.S. Lewis
Henal Patel, Gender Roles Indoctrinated Through Fairy Tales in Western Civilization
Donald Haase, The Greenwood Encyclopedia of Folktales and Fairy Tales
Photo Credit: “Beauty and the Beast” by toolkitten | <urn:uuid:11840757-d9c7-4eb0-b328-ccf6e8df2ad4> | {
"date": "2017-12-12T17:37:58",
"dump": "CC-MAIN-2017-51",
"file_path": "s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2017-51/segments/1512948517845.16/warc/CC-MAIN-20171212173259-20171212193259-00456.warc.gz",
"int_score": 3,
"language": "en",
"language_score": 0.9624354243278503,
"score": 2.75,
"token_count": 2213,
"url": "https://transmundanepressblog.wordpress.com/2016/10/31/animal-spouses-beastly-husbands-and-monstrous-wives-by-clara-lawryniuk/"
} |
This book is designed to enable practitioners to help children whose emotional wellbeing is being adversely affected by troubled parents. These are children who live with the burden of having to navigate their parent's troubled emotional states, often leaving them with a mass of painful feelings about a chaotic and disturbing world. They can feel alarmed by their parent rather than experiencing them as 'home', and a place of safety and solace.
The author explores the fact that when parents are preoccupied with their own troubles, they are often unable to effectively address their child's core relational needs, e.g. soothing, validating, attunement, co-adventure, interactive play. As a result, children are left self-helping, which all too often means drugs, drink, self-harm, depression, anxiety, eating disorders or problems with anger in the teenage years.
This guidebook offers readers a wealth of vital theory and effective interventions for working with these children and, specifically, the key feelings such children need help with. Particular focus is given to the effects on children of: family breakdown, separation and divorce, witnessing parents fighting, and parents who suffer from depression or anxiety, mental or physical ill-health, alcohol or drug addiction. Readers will learn:
- the complexity of children's feelings about their troubled parents
- how to enable children to address their unspoken hurt, fear, grief, rage, and resentment about their troubled parent in order to move forward in their lives
- how to empower children to find their voice when they have been left in the role of impotent bystander
- effective parent-child intervention when parental troubles are adversely affecting the child
- and how to help a parent and child 'find' each other again. | <urn:uuid:5b091460-f91b-41fa-a78f-3575f1668da0> | {
"date": "2018-12-12T10:32:09",
"dump": "CC-MAIN-2018-51",
"file_path": "s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2018-51/segments/1544376823817.62/warc/CC-MAIN-20181212091014-20181212112514-00296.warc.gz",
"int_score": 3,
"language": "en",
"language_score": 0.9579364061355591,
"score": 2.609375,
"token_count": 352,
"url": "https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/helping-children-with-troubled-parents-margot-sunderland/1125985629"
} |
I like doing this with language 'rules' too. I want to check out for myself whether they are really reliable enough to be useful. I've certainly found some that weren't.
y to i
In English spelling, we often hear, "If a word ends with y, change it to i before adding a suffix". This is generally true but there are, of course, exceptions. If there is a vowel before the y, it doesn't usually change. And there are irregular instances such as say and said.
posts was about letters not found at the end of native English words. It contained a PowerPoint presentation in it called Never-Ending Letters in which I identified i as one of those letters (except of course for the pronoun I). While I was writing it I noticed that it might be a good idea to turn this so-called 'rule' about y changing to i on its head - turn it upside down in other words.
i to y?
What if we said: "Don't write i at the end of a word - change it to y? In other words we're changing i to y (at the end of a word) instead of changing y to i (in the middle of a word). In a compound word we also keep the 'rule' about no i at the end of each part. As well as this, we need to change i to y before a suffix beginning with i, to avoid a double i like we get in the (non-native) word skiing.
So we write tries, tried and trial, but we can't write
Let's look at more examples, to test it out:
We write babies, but baby (end of word), babysit (compound word) and babyish (avoiding double i).
We write happier, happiest, happiness and happily, but happy (end of word), and happyish (avoiding double i).
We write reliable, reliance, and relied, but rely (end of word) and relying (avoiding double i).
We write beautiful, beautify and beautician, but beauty (end of word).
We write said, but say (end of word) and saying (avoiding double i).
OK, it works ... but I'm trying to decide if this is a better way to look at it or not. There are pros and cons.
There are fewer (if any) exceptions. As long as we are talking about native English words, they don't finish in i (except the pronoun I).
The fact that a vowel before a y stops it changing to i becomes irrelevant. If there's already a y, we don't need to change anything.
The base forms that end with y aren't usually the problem when it comes to spelling. It's the longer forms that are usually more tricky. These usually contain i.
When we teach, we usually start with base forms and later deal with inflections and suffixes.
Turning this rule on its head is probably more accurate and easier to understand but would involve teaching words in an unnatural order. So I probably wouldn't use it with low level students, but at a higher level, if students were having difficulty, I might well point it out.
So has this little experiment been a waste of time? No, I don't think so, because it's always useful to question what's generally accepted as true. Another perspective is always useful.
What do you think?
I would love to hear your comments on this. | <urn:uuid:513885dc-86f5-4007-9c0e-881f11df3e59> | {
"date": "2016-05-05T02:50:15",
"dump": "CC-MAIN-2016-18",
"file_path": "s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-18/segments/1461860125857.44/warc/CC-MAIN-20160428161525-00072-ip-10-239-7-51.ec2.internal.warc.gz",
"int_score": 3,
"language": "en",
"language_score": 0.9649622440338135,
"score": 2.921875,
"token_count": 722,
"url": "http://thespellingblog.blogspot.com/2012/12/change-y-to-i-or-change-i-to-y.html"
} |
The man who discovered PSA — prostate-specific antigen — says most men who get tested for it are thinking about it the wrong way.
"It cannot do what it's been purported to do. It can't detect prostate cancer," says Dr. Richard Ablin of the University of Arizona. "And it's resulted in a public-health disaster."
Can't detect cancer? That's the very reason millions of men and their doctors pay close attention to their PSA number.
It's why a PSA that creeps up from, say, 3.8 to 4.2 causes men sleepless nights — and sends them to the urologist, who will often respond to an "elevated" PSA by sticking a needle into their prostate gland to retrieve tissue samples, looking for cancer cells.
High PSA Not Always A Problem
But wait, Ablin says. Many conditions can cause PSA to go up — prostate infection, the benign enlargement that occurs in most men of a certain age, even sex within 48 hours of a PSA test.
And when PSA leads to biopsy and biopsy turns up cancer, many if not most of those men will soon find themselves undergoing surgery to remove the prostate, or radiation to kill the cancer.
Most of the time, that's totally unnecessary, Ablin says, because many prostate cancers found this way are so slow-growing they would never have caused a problem.
Think of the prostate gland as an open box, Ablin says. Most prostate cancers are like a turtle that slowly crawls around that box but never gets out.
"We can think of an aggressive cancer as a rabbit that jumps out of the box and spreads," Ablin says. "But we don't know which cancers are turtles and which are rabbits."
Treatment Can Cause Impotence And Incontinence
Many men who get treated for "turtle" cancers end up with lifelong impotence and urinary or fecal incontinence. That's the "disaster" part.
A large European study published a year ago found that for every man whose life is saved by PSA monitoring and early treatment, "there are 48 others who may not have died but had the treatment," says Dr. Craig Redfern of Portland, Ore. "A number of those are impotent, and some of them are incontinent."
Redfern knows one such patient. "He was about 66, had a 1- to 2-millimeter area of cancer on his pathology. I think he had one core biopsy, which was positive," Redfern said. The pathologist assessed his cancer's aggressiveness as borderline.
"He probably did not need the surgery," he continues. "He's suffering quite a bit from urinary incontinence. He needs to wear a pad. So he's one who has done poorly."
If Redfern had been the man's doctor at the start, he would have counseled him to hold off doing surgery and monitor the situation closely — an approach that some call "active surveillance."
The American Urological Association is pushing "active surveillance" rather than immediately treating every prostate cancer that is found.
But Dr. Michael Phillips, a Washington, D.C., urologist, says it's the unusual man who's comfortable with watching and waiting.
"Even if a man says, 'Well, if I have this low-grade cancer, it might not cause any problems during my natural lifetime, maybe I'll forego surgery,' " Phillips says. "It's hard to lie in bed at night and look at the ceiling and think, 'I have this cancer inside of me.' "
Phillips disagrees with Ablin that PSA blood testing is a disaster. But he says there is a rethinking going on about how to use PSA in a way that does men more good than harm.
More Men Die With Prostate Cancer Than From It
He agrees with Ablin on one big thing: "We're 'curing' a lot of men with prostate cancer who don't need to be cured," Phillips says. "There are probably way too many PSAs being done. And in some areas, there are probably way too many biopsies being done. I've been around long enough to know that you can get burned either way by the PSA — by picking it up too quickly or by missing it altogether and finding cancer too late."
In fact, Craig Redfern, the Portland doctor who is a PSA skeptic, cites one case that proves the value of the test — if it's interpreted the right way.
That patient is Brad Baugher, a 55-year-old teacher. Baugher and Redfern met in high school and have been best friends ever since.
Baugher got his first PSA test at age 44, before he was Redfern's patient. When he turned 50, he asked his friend to do a PSA test, just to see if there was any change. The results showed nothing to worry about.
But a few years later, Baugher began having the urinary problems that plague many men beginning in middle age. "I had a few symptoms at night, getting up to go to the bathroom," he says. "My wife was bugging me about going to the doctor, getting my PSA measured, getting checked out. So I did."
PSA Test Can Help Save Some Men's Lives
This time Baugher's PSA was 5.5 — above the 4.0 cutoff that has traditionally been considered a potential marker for cancer but not necessarily a worry.
Still, Redfern says, "since he was my friend and I didn't want any potential conflict of interest over decision-making, I suggested he just see the urologist and decide whether to proceed with the biopsy."
The urologist suggested a course of antibiotics in case Baugher's PSA reflected a minor prostate infection, followed by a repeat PSA. Two months later, that PSA test showed Baugher's level had gone up to 7.2. That triggered a biopsy, which found cancer in four out of five tissue samples.
A pathologist assessed Baugher's cancer as potentially aggressive, which convinced him to have a radical prostatectomy — surgical removal of the entire prostate gland. Fortunately, that surgery, done in October 2008, has not caused the side effects that men and their doctors dread.
So Baugher is happy he watched his PSA. "I think maybe the test did save my life," he says.
Redfern agrees: "In a couple of years, [the cancer] would have come to light in other ways and probably wouldn't have been curable."
Ablin agrees that Baugher represents the right way to use and interpret PSA — get a baseline test in middle age, check it periodically, don't rush to biopsy or treatment when the PSA level goes up.
But still, the 69-year-old Ablin has never asked his doctor to do a PSA test to screen him for cancer. And neither has Redfern.
"I think the decision in my mind is really whether it's worth it to screen or not," the Portland doctor says. "And my assessment is the burden of harm outweighs the potential benefits, and I don't want to step onto that slippery slope. Every man has to make his own decision." | <urn:uuid:c3aa84d2-a55c-4b92-ae66-8613e404c36a> | {
"date": "2015-04-26T17:37:06",
"dump": "CC-MAIN-2015-18",
"file_path": "s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2015-18/segments/1429246655589.82/warc/CC-MAIN-20150417045735-00018-ip-10-235-10-82.ec2.internal.warc.gz",
"int_score": 3,
"language": "en",
"language_score": 0.9827468991279602,
"score": 2.625,
"token_count": 1545,
"url": "http://www.mprnews.org/story/npr/124834445"
} |
Community on Yoga, Meditation, Ayurveda and Spirituality
Most of us are well aware of the commonly oft-given advice that the drinking of the Tea is not good for the health. Nevertheless, is there any type of the Tea that does not lead to the harm to the shareer since millions and billions of us Maanavas in different parts of the world are unable to give up the habit of drinking the Tea?
The various reasons cited for the advice against drinking the Tea include such as the presence of the harmful caffeine in the Tea leafs that may damage the proper functioning of the shareer and the decay of the teeth.
Some scientists claim that the combination of the sugar and the milk added to the Tea-Brew leads to the unhealthy effects.
The presence of the sweet element invites bacteria of various types to makes caves called CAVITIES deep inside the teeth and finally destroy them. This often proves economically costly in terms of the Root-Canal treatment done to save such damaged teeth by the dentist.
The commonly prepared Tea-Brew consists of a boiled combination of the Tea leafs/dust, sugar, water and milk in various quantities. The harms discussed so far pertain to this type of the common Tea only.
However, the Herbal Tea-Brew does not cause any perceptible and serious damage to the teeth.
Dr Swaamee Aprtemaanandaa Jee’s scientific theory and explanation
It is true that the common Tea-Brew does cause the damages to the teeth and the shareer for the reasons already described above.
In addition, the addiction to or the drinking too much of this type of the Tea may harm the brain and its cells/nerves that in turn may lead to the persisting uneasy feelings of the fatigue and dryness in the skull/head. Further, it may cause the disorientation, distraction, lessened focus and reduced productivity.
The drinking of the Herbal Tea-Brew in reasonable quantity fully avoids the harms discussed so far.
The Herbal Tea-Brew typically consists of the boiled combination of the crushed/mashed form or powder of the cardamom, clove, and dry/wet ginger plus the black pepper in addition to the Tea leafs/dust, sugar, water and milk in various quantities.
The lovers of the Herbal Tea-Brew popularly call it the MASAALAA CHAI (मसाला चाय) or the SPICY TEA, also.
The medicinal properties of the cardamom, clove, dry/wet ginger and the black pepper present in the Herbal Tea-Brew protect both the gums and the teeth besides leading to the healthy ameliorating effect on the shareer and the mind. The black pepper leads to the enhanced and better digestive process.
Some people add turmeric nods/powder also to the Herbal Tea-Brew to get the benefit of the anti-septic properties of the turmeric. The presence of the turmeric in the Tea-Brew helps cure internal injuries such as that caused by ulcers, or lesions in the intestines or other parts of the shareer.
THE CASE STUDY
A few years ago, a habitual drinker of the common Tea-Brew continued drinking this common type without cleaning his teeth with the water after such a sip for nearly two months after which he lost his one tooth. Thereafter, he ensured to clean his teeth with the water each time he had a cup of the common Tea-Brew. His teeth remained intact.
However, a few years later, he again got into the habit of not cleaning his teeth with the normal water (at normal temperature) after drinking the common Tea-Brew. Again, he lost teeth, this time around two teeth due to the aggravated bacterial activity inside the teeth-caves.
Nevertheless, when he started drinking the Herbal Tea-Brew then he was pleasantly surprised to notice that his all teeth were intact even when he forgot to clean his teeth with the water after drinking a cup of the Tea-Brew!
This happened primarily due to the protective medicinal properties of the following ingredients present in the Herbal Tea-Brew - cardamom, clove, dry/wet ginger and the black pepper.
THE NOTE: More and further scientific research may help understand fully and beyond doubt, the comprehensive healthy medicinal effects of the Herbal Tea-Brew discussed in the present scientific research paper.
~ Dr Swaamee Aprtemaanandaa Jee
(Fotos: Courtesy the Google, the Shutter Stock) | <urn:uuid:1d71e408-c54c-4a42-88f2-f2b85bc4c248> | {
"date": "2018-10-20T02:27:28",
"dump": "CC-MAIN-2018-43",
"file_path": "s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2018-43/segments/1539583512501.27/warc/CC-MAIN-20181020013721-20181020035221-00376.warc.gz",
"int_score": 3,
"language": "en",
"language_score": 0.9391462802886963,
"score": 2.546875,
"token_count": 949,
"url": "https://my.yoga-vidya.org/profiles/blogs/which-type-of-the-tea-does-not-damage-the-teeth"
} |
Imagine your high school student getting behind the wheel of your family car. What if the student has NO driver’s education, not from the family, not from a driver’s education course or school, not even understanding the regulations that surround driving a car. She knows how to start the car. He knows the difference between the accelerator and the brake. She knows that turning the steering wheel to the right turns the car to the right and turning it to the left turns the car to the left.
The student gets out on the road and, not knowing to watch for pedestrians, hits and severely injures someone. The driver, the family, the pedestrian, the pedestrian’s family, the police and the lawyers are all affected. Trauma ensues among all these parties and the tale can take a long time to end. The student learning the rules of the road first might have prevented all this.
What does this have to do with cybersecurity education, ethics or even etiquette? Posting something on offensive, abusive or provocative on a social network is a similar cybersecurity issue. All of a sudden, you have hurt feelings. Police and lawyers could become involved. People might actually cause physical harm to your child, another child or an adult. Trauma and emotional if not bodily harm is inflicted. It is not driving a multi-ton vehicle, but the damage could be very real. | <urn:uuid:643e3810-4496-4b6a-a397-4e912d58492e> | {
"date": "2017-01-16T21:40:18",
"dump": "CC-MAIN-2017-04",
"file_path": "s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2017-04/segments/1484560279368.44/warc/CC-MAIN-20170116095119-00166-ip-10-171-10-70.ec2.internal.warc.gz",
"int_score": 3,
"language": "en",
"language_score": 0.9650891423225403,
"score": 2.75,
"token_count": 282,
"url": "http://www.brighthubeducation.com/teaching-methods-tips/129278-cybersecurity-ethics-education-for-students/"
} |
The American Independence Day carries such an important message that even in the Hymn to Liberty by Dionysios Solomos, which is the Greek National Anthem, there is a reference to the “heartfelt joy of Washington’s land” that “remembered the irons that bound it as well”.
Και του Βάσιγκτον η γη,
Και τα σίδερα ενθυμήθη
Που την έδεναν κι αυτή.
Little is ever said, however, about the culinary history that accompanies the Founding Fathers. Thomas Jefferson, in particular, is on the list of people who changed the way American people eat.
Here you can find some recipes from the Presidents’ Kitchen to help you celebrate Independence Day in the appropriate fashion.
Happy 4th of July!
Food for thought
I can’t help thinking how differently the American Revolution would be viewed today. History is always written by the winners and we take a lot of things for granted as a result. But something tells me that if this were to happen today, the opposing propaganda would look like this: | <urn:uuid:2c42a790-4366-44ec-870e-56bbf227f76c> | {
"date": "2018-11-18T06:30:32",
"dump": "CC-MAIN-2018-47",
"file_path": "s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2018-47/segments/1542039743968.63/warc/CC-MAIN-20181118052443-20181118073814-00020.warc.gz",
"int_score": 3,
"language": "en",
"language_score": 0.937359631061554,
"score": 2.59375,
"token_count": 285,
"url": "https://cookatude.wordpress.com/2013/07/04/to-everyone-in-the-states-happy-independence-day/"
} |
Old timers recall Roosevelt’s trip to the SmokiesWritten by Becky Johnson
The Great Smoky Mountains National Park staged a reenactment this week of President Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s dedication of the newly created park nearly 70 years ago.
Roosevelt’s trip to the region in 1940 is still remembered by many. Throngs of people lined the main streets of Waynesville, Bryson City and Cherokee for a chance to see the heroic President roll by en route to Newfound Gap, where he would speak at a dedication ceremony for the new park.
“President Roosevelt was next to God,” said Henry Foy, who watched from the side of Main Street in Waynesville. “He was in the backseat and held up his hat and waved it out both sides.”
As is often the case with big milestones, anyone alive at the time seems to remember where they were when Roosevelt’s entourage drove through town.
“That was the biggest day of my life,” said J.C. Freeman, 81, who watched from the roadside in Bryson City. “He was in an open topped car. They roped the roads off. I was holding the rope as close as I could get. I thought that was one of the greatest things that could happen to a boy.”
Joyce Patton of Canton, just 7 years old at the time, was most excited at the prospect of seeing Roosevelt’s black Scottish Terrier pup named Fala.
“[Roosevelt] was waving with his cigarette in the holder. I saw right away that he didn’t have the dog,” Patton said, recalling her disappointment. Patton’s parents, who were park supporters, made the long car trip up to Newfound Gap to hear his speech. They were seated near the front, close enough to see Roosevelt getting out of his car into a wheelchair.
“At that time nobody knew he was paralyzed. They lined the ramp going up to the lectern with Secret Service and Park Rangers so most people couldn’t see him in the wheelchair,” Patton recounted.
While the park was officially created in 1934, Roosevelt’s dedication happened six years later on Sept. 2, 1940. By then, the Civilian Conservation Corps had carved trails, campgrounds and roads into the park, including the overlook at Newfound Gap. There Roosevelt stood with one foot in each state while delivering his speech in front of the newly finished Rockefeller Memorial, erected as an homage to the family that donated $5 million for the park’s creation.
Commodore Casada, 99, caught a ride up the mountain from Bryson City to witness the big event. Although like many, his interest was in seeing Roosevelt — not honoring a park he resented.
“I hadn’t accepted the park yet. It just always seemed to me like somebody was taking something that was mine,” said Casada, who grew up on land seized for the park. Although he added, “Now I’m glad we gave it.”
Roosevelt’s speech was laden with references to the brewing war in Europe, calling for the need to protect America’s great landscapes and natural history as well as the nation’s freedom.
Latest from Becky Johnson
- Waynesville handcuffed from running off carousing squatters occupying town park
- Meadows addresses grant workshop
- For Russ Avenue redesign, Waynesville wants a Cadillac, DOT counters with a Buick
- Mission Health expands footprint in Haywood
- Wandering elk in Nantahala falls victim to wildlife ‘stand your ground’ rule | <urn:uuid:287f3029-e91e-4612-b024-7bcb2d6f9736> | {
"date": "2015-09-05T16:50:21",
"dump": "CC-MAIN-2015-35",
"file_path": "s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2015-35/segments/1440646313806.98/warc/CC-MAIN-20150827033153-00109-ip-10-171-96-226.ec2.internal.warc.gz",
"int_score": 3,
"language": "en",
"language_score": 0.976456880569458,
"score": 2.546875,
"token_count": 779,
"url": "http://www.smokymountainnews.com/archives/item/1723-old-timers-recall-roosevelt%E2%80%99s-trip-to-the-smokies"
} |
Learning how to meditate involves a process of graduated steps much like learning to ride a bike when you were a kid. It is through these steps that you move from training wheels to riding the actual bike with ease. What is important is that through the use of graduated steps is that it gives you confirmation that you are going about it correctly. The method or style you choose or what\’s considered the best meditation techniques for learning to meditate can greatly differ between individuals. That is why there are such a multitude of styles to learn meditation.
Learning the best meditation techniques can improve and create a unique ability of internal observation. This ability to be an internal observer will help you notice certain reactions that occur within your body, such as clenching and tension of your jaw, when you feel stressed out. The best meditation techniques help raise your awareness of this. When you start to observe this behavior, and you\’ve determined that it is not desirable, you can release the tension.
Just reading about it once is not going to create a great leap to having the presence of mind enough to notice such body reactions. But over time beginners meditation techniques will help you to be to be more in the present moment. That will allow you to remove prolonged anxiety as an unwanted experience.
If you are seeking to learn the best meditation techniques then a good deal of exploration must be done. When you explore various techniques you will notice drastic differences in how each affects your mind and body. Here are more ways beginners meditation techniques.
Hemi-sync Meditation CDs :Hemi-sync Meditation CD\’s one of the best meditation techniques the novices similar to bicycle training wheels. This is a small field of meditation technology to show you what meditation feels like. It won\’t be long before you can achieve levels of success with meditation that would usually take months.
The Experience Meditation Today CD\’s: With this series these cds use a passive, more cerebral way to learn how to meditate. The process they use is called hemispheric synchronization that helps both sides of the brain get in concert with each other. The cds play music or relaxing white noise, while in the background you hear calming tones or hums that are heard by the brain. Those hums or tones then create a third tone that naturally guides you to a meditative state.
Yoga:A very well-known method in how to learn to meditation is yoga. Yoga was originally conceived as a way to prepare your body to meditate by relieving body tension and leading it to a natural relaxed state. As one of the best meditation techniques for beginners I go on in further detail in my writings to describe the wonders that yoga has done for my mental state and self-awareness.
Learning beginner meditation techniques does not have to be stressful or unproductive. Meditation cd\’s, focused breathing exercise, can all help you achieve meditation. Learn more about how effective these breathing and relaxation techniques are and how they can help you relieve stress and anxiety. | <urn:uuid:84878715-6842-4243-a976-08ca8a654fe1> | {
"date": "2017-08-17T03:55:44",
"dump": "CC-MAIN-2017-34",
"file_path": "s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2017-34/segments/1502886102891.30/warc/CC-MAIN-20170817032523-20170817052523-00016.warc.gz",
"int_score": 3,
"language": "en",
"language_score": 0.94333815574646,
"score": 2.53125,
"token_count": 620,
"url": "http://learnaboutmeditation.com/the-best-beginners-meditation-techniques-to-eliminate-anxiety/"
} |
March 1, 2011
CDE Analysis Shows Achievement Data An Indicator of College Readiness From As Early as Sixth-Grade
The Colorado departments of education and higher education jointly released a study today that shows students who need remediation or who were on track toward postsecondary readiness could have been identified by looking at student achievement results from as early as sixth grade.
In a first analysis that bridges student performance data from the K-12 system to higher education, the analysis looked at the remediation needs of 17,500 students who graduated from Colorado high schools in the spring of 2009 and who then entered Colorado postsecondary institutions in the fall of the same year. Most of these students attended Colorado middle schools in 2003 (sixth-grade: 15,079) and 2005 (eighth-grade: 15,979).
The authors of the research concluded that there was “a high degree” of agreement between sixth-grade student assessment results and the need for remediation in the first year of college. Remediation is the process colleges use to bring basic skills—such as in reading, writing and mathematics—up to college levels so students stay on track to complete standard degree requirements.
The report, “Shining a Light on College Remediation in Colorado,” concludes that the combination of results from the ACT, a college entrance exam, and 10th-grade CSAP (Colorado Student Assessment Program) “clearly identified most of the students who needed remediation” in their first year of postsecondary education.
“By examining assessment results from as early as the sixth-grade,” the report states, “it was also clear that if students were not proficient on the state assessment at that time they were very likely to require remediation later when they entered college.”
The report urges use of the data to make adjustments for students who are behind. “If middle schools were to use the state assessment data to identify low performers, they would better know which students would be very likely be postsecondary ready and which students would not. The assessment results could also be used to target the academic skills of struggling students early in middle school to focus on preparing them to be postsecondary ready. Likewise, the eighth-grade results could be used to gauge how successful middle and K‐8 schools had been in moving students toward PWR, and high schools could use the data from the middle school years to target incoming ninth-graders who were not yet proficient on the state assessment,” the report states.
Dianne Lefly, director of research & evaluation at the Colorado Department of Education, said the analysis confirms the validity of CSAP and ACT as reliable indicators of student performance in college. “We have known for a long time that ACT and CSAP results are highly correlated,” said Lefly. “This analysis confirms that those assessments are useful and can be used accordingly by educators.”
Co-authors of the report include Cheryl D. Lovell, chief academic officer for the Colorado Department of Higher Education, and Jo O’Brien, assistant commissioner, CDE. The report is available in full at http://bit.ly/fRDCJ8.
Lefly noted the study would not have been possible without Senate Bill 08-212, the Colorado Achievement Plan for Kids (or CAP4K). Under that bill, CDE and the Colorado Department of Higher Education jointed developed and adopted a description of “postsecondary and workforce readiness” that defines the essential knowledge, skills and behaviors common to high school graduation, college entrance and workforce readiness.
One core idea of the legislation was to create a seamless experience for students transitioning out of high school. To that end, the legislation directed postsecondary institutions to use the same state-assigned student identification number that’s used in the K-12 system as an alternate identifier to their own numbers, allowing for data to be shared. “Colorado educators have never been in a position until now to examine how well the CSAP results are predictive of college remediation needs,” the report states.
In 2009, the Colorado Commission on Higher Education reported that 29.3 percent of students who enrolled in a postsecondary institution in Colorado for the first time required remediation in basic content areas of reading, writing and mathematics. Students attending two-year institutions needed considerably more remediation (52.7 percent) than did students attending four-year schools (19.9 percent).
The report analyzes results from what’s known as the ACT for Colorado—which all high school juniors complete under the state’s assessment system. The report also follows students who scored proficient or above—and those below proficiency—on the 2003 sixth-grade CSAP. In reading, for instance, there were 1,199 students as sixth-graders who applied and were accepted six years later to two-year institutions of higher education and who also required remediation. Of those students, 66.3 percent (795 students) scored below proficiency in sixth-grade reading while 33.7 percent (404 students) did not.
Looking at the same group of sixth-graders who were bound for two-year institutions but those who did not require remediation, 14.7 percent (330 students) scored below proficiency on CSAP while 85.3 percent (1,913 students) scored at proficiency or above.
A similar trend was apparent for the sixth-grade students who took CSAP in sixth-grade and were bound for a four-year institution. Here, students who ended up needing remediation in college were drawn almost equally from those who scored below proficiency (47.8 percent) and those proficient or above (52.2 percent) but 93.7 percent of students (10,431 in all) who needed no remediation also scored at proficient or above on the sixth-grade reading assessment.
The report also analyzes similar results for mathematics and across various subgroups by gender, ethnicity, among English learners and non-English learners and among students with disabilities and those with no disabilities. | <urn:uuid:d752957b-c2d5-4d50-a2f8-225520b3b3ba> | {
"date": "2014-10-02T07:03:35",
"dump": "CC-MAIN-2014-41",
"file_path": "s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2014-41/segments/1412037663718.7/warc/CC-MAIN-20140930004103-00260-ip-10-234-18-248.ec2.internal.warc.gz",
"int_score": 3,
"language": "en",
"language_score": 0.9733852744102478,
"score": 2.578125,
"token_count": 1254,
"url": "http://www.cde.state.co.us/Communications/Releases/20110301remediation.html"
} |
When a company or organization wants to combine all of their information and resources into one stockpile for easier analysis and research, they use the OLAP cube to comprehensively link and find the information that they need. OLAP cubes allow you to add fact sheets of information to a specific product or project and then access all information that you have for any of your products or projects with a click of your mouse. OLAP cubes have shown to be a successful upgrade for many businesses and organizations in the past. In this article, we will go over OLAP cubes, how they work, and the various aspects of the technology.
What is an OLAP Cube
As mentioned above, OLAP cubes are used to organize information into fact sheets for later use. OLAP cubes use OLAP, or Online Analytical Processing, technology to perform various tasks which generally revolve around processing and displaying information. OLAP cubes are good for sales reports, marketing, management reporting, business process management, budgeting, forecasting, financial reporting, and database analysis. Software that uses OLAP cubes allow you to search for information about a specific event, product, service, or project and receive results quickly without having to manually search for it. It also allows you to enter specific types of information about the item into separate fact sheets so that it can easily be modified.
How Does It Work
OLAP cubes are rather complex but easy to use at the same time. The main idea of an OLAP cube is to allow the user to view data from multiple perspectives that he or she can get the best use out of that information. OLAP cubes are kind of like spreadsheets that you can cross-reference with other spreadsheets to see exactly how the data interlinks with each other. Facts that you enter into an OLAP cube are called "measures" and are grouped into layers called "dimensions". OLAP cubes are ideal for putting ideas on "paper" because it allows for you to show others exactly what you see in your mind's eye. There are two main aspects of OLAP cubes that make up the whole software. These two aspects are hierarchy and interlinking cubes. Both are explained below.
OLAP cubes are very dependent on a structured hierarchy. This hierarchy involves a series of parent and child documents that make up a long list of directories. Think of this as creating a folder on your computer and then creating another folder within that folder and then another within that one. Each folder is a parent of the folders and files that it contains and yet it is also a child of the folder that it is in. In the business world, facts and situations must be broken down into parent and child relations so that business leaders can figure out how and why a certain event took place. Because OLAP cubes are also designed this way, data is easier to find.
Much like hierarchy, OLAP cubes are also dependent on interlinking cubes. Interlinking cubes allow the user to not only see the information about a specific product, event, or situation but also the other data that interacts with the initial cube. Think of interlinking cubes as an OLAP version of how Wikipedia allows you to click on various keywords that have something in common with what you are looking for and view that information. In business, this is very effective.
OLAP Cube Writer
The OLAP Cube Writer is a user friendly program that allows you to design your own OLAP cubes. All you have to do to design your own OLAP cube database is create a new cube and then add parent labels that you would like to organize your data by. Once that is done, simply input your information under any one of these labels. OLAP Cube Writer even allows you to separate labels into smaller categories. For example, you can categorize your information by locations, names, and numbers, but then break location down into regions, countries, states, counties, cities, etc.
OLAP Cube Reader
OLAP Cube Reader is just a simple program that allows you to analyze your OLAP cubes. It includes a search feature, reports, diagrams, charts, and a number of other data presentation methods. OLAP Cube Reader is more comprehensive and "cleaner" for viewing your OLAP cube information than OLAP Cube Writer, although you could access your information from there as well. OLAP Cube Reader is also good for presenting your data to others, such as a board of officials. | <urn:uuid:bc6e73e2-2189-4a6d-bd45-2d4299e1db77> | {
"date": "2017-11-22T01:43:24",
"dump": "CC-MAIN-2017-47",
"file_path": "s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2017-47/segments/1510934806447.28/warc/CC-MAIN-20171122012409-20171122032409-00056.warc.gz",
"int_score": 3,
"language": "en",
"language_score": 0.9352168440818787,
"score": 2.515625,
"token_count": 896,
"url": "http://www.tech-faq.com/olap-cube.html"
} |
A few months ago, I ordered a copy of Inspiring Active Learning by Merrill Harmin. It has become one of my most used resources for effective teaching strategies and inspiration. My copy of the book is slowly being filled with highlighting, underlining, and notes in the margins. This book has opened my eyes to how students perceive my actions. I wish this is what was taught in my teacher education program.
Convicting Quotes on Caring
"High expectations are signs that you strongly care. When you give up on students or accept halfhearted work, you tell students that you do not care about their welfare all that much."
Guilty. Last week, I covered parallel and perpendicular lines with my Algebra 1 students. We discussed what parallel and perpendicular lines looked like. We discovered the relationships between their slopes. We practiced identifying parallel and perpendicular lines by looking at their equations. We used the slope formula to find the slopes of various lines in order to determine if they were parallel, perpendicular, or neither. Two of the last problems on the worksheet asked students to determine if a given pair of lines was parallel, perpendicular, or neither. However, they gave the students the lines in standard form instead of slope-intercept form. My students are really struggling with converting lines in standard form to slope-intercept form. I mean REALLY STRUGGLING. The majority of my students came to me with little to no background in integer operations or inverse operations. I have tried to fill as many gaps as possible, but some of my students are still struggling. This makes rearranging equations frustrating for them and for me. As I helped some students work through these challenging problems, other students were listening. They weren't listening for the solution process, but for the final answer. Oh, number 14 is parallel. I knew this was going on, and I did nothing to stop it. When I graded those worksheets, I felt terrible. These students were getting a grade for work they didn't do. I was rewarding them for cheating. High expectations were not present that day in my classroom... And, it's this sort of thing that makes me want to adopt standards based grading in my classroom.
"When we can radiate our best selves in the classroom each day, we naturally elicit the best response from students...This inspiring power is especially intertwined with our ability to be caring."
After reading this passage, I wrote the following in the margin: "Convicted. No more bad days. Ever." I am human. I have great days and not so great days. I am guilty of getting frustrated with one of my class periods and letting that frustration carry over into later class periods. This is not right. My students deserve me at my best each and every day. It shouldn't matter how I feel, what day of the week it is, or how my 3rd hour acted. I don't have the answer for how to make this happen, but I'm taking the first step by reflecting on and making myself aware of the problem. After several conversations with one of my students, I have started forcing myself to smile some days when I don't feel like it. And, you know what? Sometimes that simple act is all it takes to start changing my attitude and outlook on the rest of the day. | <urn:uuid:0d914481-7779-4b05-a6d3-28aa01010c51> | {
"date": "2014-09-17T11:30:19",
"dump": "CC-MAIN-2014-41",
"file_path": "s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2014-41/segments/1410657123284.86/warc/CC-MAIN-20140914011203-00044-ip-10-196-40-205.us-west-1.compute.internal.warc.gz",
"int_score": 3,
"language": "en",
"language_score": 0.9796969890594482,
"score": 2.703125,
"token_count": 674,
"url": "http://mathequalslove.blogspot.com/2012/12/conviction-on-caring.html"
} |
Greenpeace Germany made claims in a report that it believes that the western bean cutworm is a “new plant pest” that was “caused by genetically engineered corn.” Refuting the claim is an article from the Journal of Integrated Pest Management. Authors of the JIPM article say Greenpeace Germany’s results showed a “surprisingly simplistic conclusion” about the spread of the WBC over the past decade.
In "Genetically Engineered Bt Corn and Range Expansion of the Western Bean Cutworm (Lepidoptera: Noctuidae) in the United States: A Response to Greenpeace Germany," corresponding author William Hutchison, professor and chair of the University of Minnesota Department of Entomology, and his co-authors maintain that the Greenpeace report fails to consider broader ecological and agronomic factors which explain why the WBC's range has expanded. These additional factors include insect biology, synchrony of insect and corn phenology, reduced insecticide use, increases in conservation tillage, soil type, glyphosate-resistant crops, insect genetics, insect pathogens, pre-existing insect population densities, and climate change.
In addition, Greenpeace’s claim that WBC is a new pest is just wrong. According to the authors, “the WBC was documented throughout the western Great Plains from Mexico to Alberta where it was found in the mid 1950s.”
The WBC was originally collected in Arizona in the 1880s.
The authors explain some of the reasons for the spread of WBC include:
- Increasing use of conservation tillage favors larvae survival in the soil
- Reduced or eliminated use of insecticide applications as a result of increased use of Bt hybrids.
- Climate change. | <urn:uuid:8a281e7a-0da5-436f-8438-7918e1839e1c> | {
"date": "2015-08-02T03:27:19",
"dump": "CC-MAIN-2015-32",
"file_path": "s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2015-32/segments/1438042988930.94/warc/CC-MAIN-20150728002308-00162-ip-10-236-191-2.ec2.internal.warc.gz",
"int_score": 3,
"language": "en",
"language_score": 0.9534500241279602,
"score": 3.15625,
"token_count": 358,
"url": "http://www.agprofessional.com/news/Greenpeace-claims-biotechnology-created-new-insect-136969243.html"
} |
Imagine this: you get sick after eating at a local restaurant. You go to the doctor for help, but after learning the circumstances that led to your illness, the doctor refuses to offer a diagnosis or treatment advice. When pressed for an explanation, the doctor says he doesn’t want to tarnish the restaurant’s reputation.
Most of us would consider that scenario outrageous and a complete violation of a doctor’s sworn duty, but it’s happening — and on a much more life-threatening scale — in Canada. According to a report prepared by Dr. Margaret Sears, an Ottawa-based PhD who specializes in toxicology and public health, doctors have refused to care for local residents who complain that emissions from local tar sands operations are making them sick.
In 2011, Baytex Energy, a company that “cooks” tar sands bitumen in above-ground tanks to extract oil, purchased almost four dozen oil wells in the Alberta area. According to PriceofOil.org, that’s about the time local residents started complaining about serious symptoms, “such as severe headaches, dizziness, sinus problems, vomiting, muscle spasms and fatigue, amongst others.”
When visiting their local doctors, residents often correlated the symptoms with the ”powerful, gassy smells” coming from the Baytex operation, a dangerous association that seems to have spooked the medical community.
In the report, co-authored by Sears, researchers note that, “Physician care was refused … and that analytical services were refused by an Alberta laboratory when told that the proposed analysis was to investigate exposure to emissions related to bitumen extraction.”
“Sears concludes that doctors’ reluctance stems from a lack of information about environmental health — but also from a troubling history of perceived retribution for speaking out against oil developments in Canada,” reports Al Jazeera.
Tar sands and fracking are the hot button issues for the fossil fuel industry right now, but one can’t deny that we’ve seen a similar situation play out before — with coal — and we’re still paying the penalties of inaction. Thanks to decades of allowing coal miners and coal-fired power plants to operate with little accountability for pollution, thousands of Americans have suffered negative health effects.
In a 2010 report titled “The Toll of Coal” [PDF], the Clean Air Task Force linked power plant pollution to 13,200 premature deaths that year. It also estimated that coal pollution contributes to 9,700 hospitalizations and more than 20,000 heart attacks per year. In 2011, a Harvard Medical School study found health costs due to air pollution from coal power plants total around $187 billion per year, and that’s not even including the intangible cost of what coal waste is doing to the nation’s drinking water.
Obviously, the oil and gas industry has learned a lot from its buddy Big Coal, and it’s doing whatever it can to discourage doctors from admitting that these toxic fumes can have a negative impact on public health.
“Communications with public health officials and medical professionals revealed a universal recognition that petrochemical emissions affect health; however, this was countered by a marked reluctance to speak out,” writes Sears in the report, citing past examples of attacks on doctors who sound the alarm.
According to the Edmonton Journal, Sears will get the chance to present her findings about health impacts and doctor intimidation at an upcoming local hearing into complaints about emissions from the Baytex oilsands operation.
Image via Peter Blanchard
Disclaimer: The views expressed above are solely those of the author and may
not reflect those of
Care2, Inc., its employees or advertisers. | <urn:uuid:da35f591-489b-49e0-b3c0-cc514614ae29> | {
"date": "2014-12-20T14:27:06",
"dump": "CC-MAIN-2014-52",
"file_path": "s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2014-52/segments/1418802769894.131/warc/CC-MAIN-20141217075249-00011-ip-10-231-17-201.ec2.internal.warc.gz",
"int_score": 3,
"language": "en",
"language_score": 0.951806902885437,
"score": 2.625,
"token_count": 763,
"url": "http://www.care2.com/causes/are-canadian-doctors-ignoring-patients-to-protect-big-oil.html"
} |
This species is thought to be one of the first mammals to have colonised sweden and finland following the last ice-age thick fur, large fat reserves, specialised ' heat- retaining' circulatory systems in their feet and an ability to lower their metabolic rate to endure periods of starvation have allowed the arctic fox to colonise. The decline of a population of arctic foxes isolated on a small russian island may be due to mercury pollution from their diet of seabirds and seals 0 comments · image: arctic's menacing melt arctic's menacing melt by beth marie mole | december 7, 2012 a new assessment reveals that the arctic's environment is rapidly. Special issue on arctic fox biology and management a special issue on arctic fox biologi and management is now out in polar research, volume 36, 2017 with 5 papers from coat researchers read more. One of the great things about studying camouflage in color molting species, is that one gets to follow them to the 'coolest' sites on earth part of my dissertation work focuses on describing color molts and camouflage mismatch in arctic foxes and i was so fortunate to spend last semester in sweden where the research takes. This thesis is written as the final paper of the master program in natural management at the norwegian university norwegian institute of nature research (nina): “the arctic fox captive breeding program” and “the national supplementary food by arctic foxes and the potential effect supplementary feeding may have on.
The arctic fox (vulpes lagopus), also known as the white fox, polar fox, or snow fox, is a small fox native to the arctic regions of the northern hemisphere and common throughout the arctic tundra biome it is well adapted to living in cold environments, and is best known for its thick, warm fur that is also used as camouflage. General information about arctic fox in alaska such as description, life history, range, habitat and more. Since the 1940s, several papers have sporadically related seasonal migrations of arctic foxes from the tundra to the sea ice after spending the winter the bylot island research station conducts a long-term monitoring of all animal populations, vegetation and climate of the arctic tundra photo: sandra lai. Abstract this study compared competition capacity and dominance relations between arctic foxes (alopex lagopus) and red foxes (vulpes vulpes) experiments were carried out in semi-natural earthen floor enclosures using farm -bred colour types of both species (blue fox and silver fox) as subjects results of the.
Free essay on a free essay on the arctic fox available totally free at echeatcom, the largest free essay community. The results show that the arctic fox in midlatitude europe became extinct at the end of the pleistocene and did not track the habitat when it shifted to the an ancient dna laboratory (madrid, spain), physically isolated from the post-pcr laboratory, where no work with modern fox samples had taken place.
Department of zoology, stockholm university, s-106 91 stockholm, sweden, † norwegian institute for nature research, tungasletta arctic foxes have a high dispersal rate and often disperse over long distances, suggesting that there was probably little population differentiation within a status report and action plan. This pin was discovered by jessica serrano discover (and save) your own pins on pinterest. To research authored by university of manitoba biologists james roth, john markham, tazarve gharajehdaghipour and paul fafard in a paper published earlier this spring in the academic journal scientific reports, the u of m biologists call arctic foxes ecosystem engineers because their dens support.
For the first time to our knowledge, we report a tibetan link to the arctic fox in our discovery of the oldest fox from the early pliocene of the himalaya and financial support is provided by the strategic priority research program of the chinese academy of science (xdb03020104), major basic research. Collection of papers published in the supplement offers an excellent representation of current research dealing with arctic fox biology and management keywords biodiversity mammal predator tundra vulpes lagopus wildlife this collection of papers was prepared in parallel with the 5th international. My students were arctic animal experts at the end of our arctic animals research project but we're not done yet it's not just about research and writingit's also about fun and art so for each of the arctic animals we study, we do an art project arctic animals the artic fox is a paper plate and white tissue. | <urn:uuid:e7cab959-56a5-4a8f-90c5-2db9d671178a> | {
"date": "2018-02-23T10:48:32",
"dump": "CC-MAIN-2018-09",
"file_path": "s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2018-09/segments/1518891814566.44/warc/CC-MAIN-20180223094934-20180223114934-00256.warc.gz",
"int_score": 3,
"language": "en",
"language_score": 0.9324616193771362,
"score": 3.40625,
"token_count": 980,
"url": "http://qocourseworkoitw.n2g.us/arctic-fox-research-paper.html"
} |
New Approach to Protecting Prion Protein from Altering Shape, Becoming Infectious
Important step toward pharmacologic development of treatment for fatal brain disorders
Embargo expired: 18-Jul-2013 12:00 PM EDT
Source Newsroom: Case Western Reserve University
Newswise — A team of researchers from Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine have identified a mechanism that can prevent the normal prion protein from changing its molecular shape into the abnormal form responsible for neurodegenerative diseases. This finding, published in the July 18 issue of Cell Reports, offers new hope in the battle against a foe that until now has always proved fatal.
Prion diseases include Creuzfeldt-Jakob disease and fatal familial insomnia. Unlike other transmissible diseases, the infectious agent is not a virus or bacteria, but an abnormally shaped prion protein. Scientists believe it self-replicates by binding to normal prion proteins and forcing them to change shape to become an abnormal, and thus diseased, protein.
“Once heretical, the notion that proteins alone can act as self-propagating infectious agent is now becoming accepted as a new paradigm in biology and medicine. However, the mechanism by which prion protein changes its shape remains largely unknown and highly controversial, hindering efforts to develop drugs for prion diseases,” said Witold Surewicz, PhD, professor of physiology and biophysics and senior author of the study. “A heated debate continues as to which part of the prion protein undergoes the change and what is the three-dimensional structure of the infectious form of the protein.”
The researchers generated a variant of prion protein designed to stabilize the normal shape of one specific part of the protein. They accomplished this goal by replacing just one out of more than 200 amino acid residues, the building blocks of the protein. In a series of experiments, the researchers found that the modified prion protein was highly resistant to changing its shape. In other words, this approach may be successful in blocking the coercive action of the abnormal prion protein.
The team then created transgenic mice that produced this “superstable” human prion protein and infected them with Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease prions. The mice did eventually develop symptoms, but the signs did not emerge for more than a year – in fact, it took about 400 days. In contrast, mice without the modified prion protein showed symptoms within 260 days.
“Our discovery that a tailor-made mutation in one specific region of prion protein can prevent it from changing shape to a disease-associated conformation helps resolve the ongoing major controversy in the field regarding the mechanism by which infectious prions self-replicate,” said Qingzhong Kong, PhD, associate professor of pathology and first author on the paper.
With no effective treatments currently available for these fatal diseases, this finding has also important implications for the development of new drugs. It suggests a novel pharmacologic strategy in which scientists can either identify or design a molecule that binds to prion protein and stabilizes its normal shape, thereby preventing propagation of the disease.
The study is a result of a collaborative effort between the laboratories of Surewicz, Kong, Pierluigi Gambetti, MD, professor of pathology at Case Western Reserve School of Medicine, and Frank Sönnichsen, PhD, professor at the University of Kiel in Germany.
The study was supported by National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke and National Institute of Aging grants including: NSO44158, NS038604, NS052319, and AG014359.
About Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine
Founded in 1843, Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine is the largest medical research institution in Ohio and is among the nation’s top medical schools for research funding from the National Institutes of Health. The School of Medicine is recognized throughout the international medical community for outstanding achievements in teaching. The School’s innovative and pioneering Western Reserve2 curriculum interweaves four themes--research and scholarship, clinical mastery, leadership, and civic professionalism--to prepare students for the practice of evidence-based medicine in the rapidly changing health care environment of the 21st century. Nine Nobel Laureates have been affiliated with the School of Medicine.
Annually, the School of Medicine trains more than 800 MD and MD/PhD students and ranks in the top 25 among U.S. research-oriented medical schools as designated by U.S. News & World Report’s “Guide to Graduate Education.”
The School of Medicine’s primary affiliate is University Hospitals Case Medical Center and is additionally affiliated with MetroHealth Medical Center, the Louis Stokes Cleveland Department of Veterans Affairs Medical Center, and the Cleveland Clinic, with which it established the Cleveland Clinic Lerner College of Medicine of Case Western Reserve University in 2002. http://casemed.case.edu | <urn:uuid:f162df6c-af6a-4f64-9972-fb9e5035b933> | {
"date": "2015-10-07T02:35:32",
"dump": "CC-MAIN-2015-40",
"file_path": "s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2015-40/segments/1443736680773.55/warc/CC-MAIN-20151001215800-00180-ip-10-137-6-227.ec2.internal.warc.gz",
"int_score": 3,
"language": "en",
"language_score": 0.9464635252952576,
"score": 3.3125,
"token_count": 1011,
"url": "http://www.newswise.com/articles/new-approach-to-protecting-prion-protein-from-altering-shape-becoming-infectious"
} |
Pedersen, Senior scientist Hanne Lindhard and Bertelsen, Senior scientist Marianne (2002) Lower nitrogen supply gave better fruit quality in organic apples. In: NJF website: www.njf.dk, NJF.
Online at: http://www.njf.dk
The use of scab resistant apple varieties is the best way to prevent infections of apple scab (Venturia inaequalis). In 1995 the then 10 most promising resistant apple varieties for Denmark where planted at Research Centre Årslev, Denmark in an organic production system. Tree different cover crops where established in the allyways. Weed cleaning in the tree row was done mechanically and the trees were kept unfertilised.
The annual shoot growth, nutrients in leaf sample, mineralised nitrogen in soil, content of water in the upper 50 cm soil, fruit yield and fruit quality were assessed.
The best fruit quality due to colour, pest and disease damage was obtained in trees grown in permanent grass alley way system which gave a nitrogen sypply in the lower end of the optimum range. The resistance to apple scab was broken in most varieties. The varieties: 'Florina', 'Vanda', 'Redfree' and 'Retina' were less infected by apple scab.
|EPrint Type:||Conference paper, poster, etc.|
|Type of presentation:||Paper|
|Keywords:||apple, nitrogen, fruit quality|
|Subjects:||Crop husbandry > Production systems > Fruit and berries|
|Research affiliation:||Denmark > DARCOF II (2000-2005) > I. 2 (ORGAPP) Sustainable production systems for apples|
|Deposited By:||Fjord, Miss Camilla|
|Deposited On:||27 Oct 2003|
|Last Modified:||12 Apr 2010 07:28|
Repository Staff Only: item control page | <urn:uuid:8e6e70f0-3979-4d74-aece-5fccdb52f55d> | {
"date": "2014-03-11T05:12:11",
"dump": "CC-MAIN-2014-10",
"file_path": "s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2014-10/segments/1394011129529/warc/CC-MAIN-20140305091849-00006-ip-10-183-142-35.ec2.internal.warc.gz",
"int_score": 3,
"language": "en",
"language_score": 0.8439406156539917,
"score": 2.921875,
"token_count": 403,
"url": "http://orgprints.org/1718/"
} |
N'djamena Travel Guide, Chad
N’djamena, Travel guide – Location
The capital city N’djamena is the largest city in Chad, located at the border with Cameroon on the banks of Chari River. N’djamena travel guide will offer a short description of the city and its main natural and economic features.
N’djamena, Travel guide – Geography
With an almost monotone topography N’djamena’s landscape is dominated only by the Chari River and its sandy banks. The reddish soils, savannah vegetation, gallery forests and the muddy waters of the river create unique scenery typical for N’djamena.
The climate in the city is semi arid with two seasons: a rainy one from June to September and a long dry one form October to May. The temperatures are high throughout the year with an average of about 36ºC and rainfalls are scarce, the wettest month being August with 320mm or precipitations.
Chari River is the natural border between Chad and Cameroon, between N’djamena and Kousseri. In N’djamena the river receives its tributary Logone River and their combined waters will flow afterwards into the Lake Chad, one of the largest in the world.
N’djamena, Travel guide – Flora and Fauna
Though the climate is harsh in N’djamena, flora adapted and developed quite well especially near the river or other wetter areas. Cultivated plant species and trees can be found along the roads, small green areas or along other access ways. The dominating tree species are the Guanacaste trees which are also the symbol of the country, fig trees, silk cotton trees, pochote trees, coyol palms and cenizaro trees. Among the cultivated species one could find many fruit trees like the papaya, coconut, citrus, bananas and mangoes.
Besides the numerous cows, sheep, goats and donkeys found here one can also admire few hippopotamus species, crocodiles, baird’s tapir and more. The waters of the river also abound in fish and reptiles, some species being used as common food by the locals.
N’djamena, Travel guide – Transport
Transportation to N’djamena is quite difficult due to the poor road infrastructure, only some of the roads being paved thus influenced by the various climate changes, especially sudden rains. Railroads are completely absent in Chad and the water transportation is possible only from the city to Lake Chad. The capital city has its own airport, the N’djamena International Airport collaborating especially with African airlines.
Within the city there is no public transportation system, tourists having only the option to hire a taxi or travel by minivans. Taxi fees are negotiable while for the minivans there is a fix tax paid by everyone.
N’djamena, Travel guide – Population and Economy
With a population of almost one million people, Chad’s capital still looks more like a small town than a modern capital city. The large number of locals is due to the migration of important number of people from rural areas to the city, looking for a job and a better life. Most of the people from this class of the society live in mud houses and work the fertile lands nearby Chari River like they would in their hometowns. The dominating religion here is Islam, people taking this aspect very seriously; as a consequence the city houses several mosques and educational centers. The official language spoken in N’djamena is French and Arabic, still numerous dialects are spoken in the city especially by the immigrants arriving from other parts of the country.
N’djamena, Travel guide – Cuisine
Traditional cuisine in N’djamena is a mixture between local dishes and French and Arab cuisine. Among the main ingredients is the millet, sorghum, rice, different types of fish especially perch, eel and carp, meats like the mutton and chicken, vegetables like the locally found okra and cassava leafs and many spices. Desserts usually have as ingredients local fruits like the bananas, mangos, raisins, guavas, nuts and more.
Some of the most popular dishes in the city are the aloco, a kind of street food made with fried bananas and vegetables, njamma-jamma, a delicious vegetables stew with cayenne pepper and mfumbwa which is a combination of peanut paste with mfumbwa, a local vegetable. Local beverages are alcoholic like the beer and wine or nonalcoholic like the juices obtained from different fruits or vegetables combined with sugar and are much appreciated by the city’s inhabitants.
Things about N'djamena you may be interested inBe the first who requests a site listing for this page.
Read our members' reviews about N'djamena
No reviews have been added yet for this category. Be the first to add a new one.
Read our members' travel tips about N'djamena
No travel tips have been added yet for this category. Be the first to add a new one. | <urn:uuid:5703d1c7-cfd1-4af5-b9fc-5c06a6686664> | {
"date": "2018-02-23T23:58:58",
"dump": "CC-MAIN-2018-09",
"file_path": "s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2018-09/segments/1518891814872.58/warc/CC-MAIN-20180223233832-20180224013832-00656.warc.gz",
"int_score": 3,
"language": "en",
"language_score": 0.9444643259048462,
"score": 2.578125,
"token_count": 1087,
"url": "http://www.travelgrove.com/travel-guides/Chad/N-djamena-Travel-Guide-c1887182.html"
} |
|Baltimore Sit-In Victory (Jan)|
|Rev. George Wesley Lee Murdered (May)|
|The "Brown II," "All Deliberate Speed" Decision (May)|
|Lamar Smith Murdered (Aug)|
|Emmett Till Lynched (Aug)|
|John Earl Reese Murdered (Oct)|
|Montgomery Bus Boycott (Dec 1955-Dec 1956)|
The four-story, Read's drug store at Howard and Lexington Street in the heart of Baltimore's downtown shopping district is the flagship of the Read's chain throughout the region. Black customers are encouraged to buy items and spend their money — but not at the lunch-counter, that's for "Whites Only." The same is true for other Read's branches in the metro area including the one in the Northwood Shopping Center adjacent to Morgan State College (today, Morgan State University) whose student body is almost entirely Black.
Formed in late 1952 and early 1953, the Baltimore chapter of the Congress of Racial Equality (CORE) convinces Kresage (now Kmart) and other chain stores to desegregate their lunch counters in the Baltimore area. But not the Grant's or Read's chains. After protests at Grant's annual stock-holder meeting and it's flagship stores in Baltimore and Harlem, Grant's also ends segregation at many of its Border-South outlets in May of 1954. That leaves Read's. In January of 1955, CORE and Morgan State students commence a direct-action campaign at the downtown and Northwood stores. Ben Everinghim, leader of Baltimore CORE, Dean McQuay Kiah of Morgan State, Dr. Helena Hicks, and a group of student activists sit-in at the Howard & Lexington lunch counter while other Morgan students stage of demonstrations at the Read's store at the Northwood Shopping Center.
Their efforts win a quick victory. An article in the Baltimore Afro American titled "A True Story," describes a conversation between Dean George Grant of Morgan State and a Read's manager:
Read's: Please call your students off. They're staging a showdown here in our Northwood store. We're losing business.
Grant: We teach our students here they must practice democracy and help others to understand it. I don't think you want us to tell them what they're doing is wrong.
Read's: Yes, but we're losing business with them sitting at our counters.
Grant: Well, there are several things you can do.
Read's: What's that?
Grant: Why not put a sign up in your store saying dogs, cats and colored people are not allowed?
Read's: Well, we couldn't do that.
Grant: Well, why not put an ad in the Afro saying that Read's wants colored people to shop there but they can't eat there; and you know you have another alternative, you can say to all your customers everyone can be served at our lunch counters.
Read's: Well, we are in sympathy with this thing — we'll see what can be done.
Two hours later a Read's official calls back to say that their Baltimore
area stores will desegregate. The headline of the January 22, 1955,
Now Serve All and the article quotes a
statement by Read's President Arthur Nattans Sr.:
We will serve all customers throughout our entire stores, including the fountains, and this becomes effective immediately.
See Baltimore Sit-ins & Protests for subsequent events.
For more information:
Web: Baltimore & Maryland
Rev. George Wesley Lee is an NAACP leader and one of the first Black men registered to vote in Humphreys County in the heart of the Mississippi Delta. He uses his pulpit and his printing press to urge others to vote. To the great consternation of the White Citizens Council and the KKK, he manages to get almost 100 Blacks registered. White officials offer Lee "protection" on the condition he remove his name from the list of registered voters and end his voter registration efforts. He refuses.
On May 7, 1955, Lee attempts to vote in the Democratic primary. Though he is a legally registered voter, he is prevented from casting his ballot because the Mississippi Democratic Party is "white-only." Only whites are allowed to vote in party primaries or participate in party meetings or activities. On his way home he is shot to death. No one is ever arrested for this murder.
Witnesses describe how whites in another vehicle had fired a shotgun into Lee's car. The local sheriff declares his murder to be "death by unknown cause" and he claims that the lead shotgun pellets in Lee's face were "dental fillings." He has no explanation for the shot-out tires that brought Lee's car to a halt. The Governor refuses to allow the state to investigate any further. No one is ever arrested or charged in his murder.
See "Massive Resistance" to Integration for preceding events.
In a decision known as "Brown II," the Supreme Court rules that
school integration should procede with "
all deliberate speed."
In real life, this means that Southern states and school districts can
resist, delay, and avoid significant integration for
years and in some cases for a decade or more. It permits a
wide range of outright evasions such as closing down school systems and
using state money to finance segregated "private" schools, stalling tactics
such as the
"Nashville Plan," and subterfuges such
as "token" integration where a few Black children are admitted to "white"
schools but the vast majority are forced to remain in underfunded, unequal
The "Massive Resistance" to school integration permitted by "Brown II" continues until 1964 when:
...the time for mere 'deliberate speed' has run out," and that the county must provide a public school system for all children regardless of race.
With Senator Byrd's "Massive Resistance" strategy no longer possible, segregationists in the South then adopt what might be called a "Massive Evasion" strategy to maintain separate and unequal school systems for white and Black.
See Clinton, Tennessee — First White School Desegregated and Prince Edward County, Virginia, Closes It's Public Schools for continuation.
For more information on school desegregation:
Books: Schools and School Desegregation
Web: School Desegregation
On August 13, Lamar Smith, a voting rights activist in Brookhaven, MS, is shot dead on the Lincoln County courthouse lawn by a white man in broad daylight while dozens of people watch. The killer is never indicted because no one will admit they saw a white man shoot a Black man.
Emmett Louis Till is a 14-year-old boy from Chicago. Over summer vacation, he and his cousin Curtis Jones visit relatives in Money Mississippi (just north of Greenwood). He somehow offends the racial sensabilities of local whites — some of them claim he "whistled at" or "sassed" or "flirted" with Carolyn Bryant, a white woman who runs a local store catering to Blacks, others say that he showed around a photograph of himself and a white girl who he claimed as his girlfriend back in Chicago.
We went into this store to buy some candy. Before Emmett went in, he had shown the boys round his age some picture of some white kids that he had graduated from school with, female and male. He told the boys who had gathered round this store — there must have been maybe ten to twelve youngsters there — that one of the girls was his girlfriend. So one of the local boys said, "Hey, there's a white girl in that store there. I bet you won't go in there and talk to her." So Emmett went in there. When he was leaving out the store, after buying some candy, he told her, "Bye, baby." — Curtis Jones.
On the night of August 28, a few days later, Carolyn Bryant's husband Roy and his half-brother J.W. Milam drag Till from his bed, savagely beat him, shoot him in the head, tie his corpse to a piece of heavy machinery with barbed wire, and dump his body in the nearby Tallahatchie River.
Everyone knows who the killers are — they brag about it to friends and reporters. After national news media runs the story, they are arrested on charges of kidnapping and murder. An all-white jury finds the men innocent.
Lynching Black men (and boys) for "crimes" against segregation, white supremecy, and the "purity of white womanhood," is a traditional part of the "southern way of life." What makes the Emmett Till case different are the angry public protests by Mississippi Blacks and the courage of Mamie Till, Emmett's mother, who refuses to remain silent out of fear. She publicizes the lynching, insists on an open coffin at Emmett's funeral, and allows Jet magazine and the Chicago Defender to publish photos of his mutilated corpse so that the world can see the horrific brutality that was inflicted on her 14-year old son.
I understand the order came from the sheriff's office to bury that body just as soon as you can. And they didn't even allow it to go to a funeral parlor and be dressed. He was in a pine box. Well, we got busy. We called the governor, we called the sheriff... We called everybody we thought would be able to stop the burial of that body. I wanted that body. ... We were able to stop the burial. After the body arrived [in Chicago] I knew that I had to look... That was when I decided that I wanted the whole world to see what I had seen. There was no way I could describe what was in that box. No way. And I just wanted the world to see. — Mamie Till.
In September, Bryant and Milam are tried for murder by an all-white, all-male jury. Moses Wright, with whom Emmett had been staying, courageously testifies on the stand, identifying the two guilty men. As does Wille Reed, another poor Black sharecropper. The jury takes barely an hour to acquit the two killers. In November, a grand jury in Greenwood refuses to indict them for kidnapping. In an article written for Look magazine by William Bradford Huie, Milam later brags about his crime.
With their lives in danger for daring to accuse white men of murdering a Black child, Wright and Reed have to be smuggled out of Mississippi to Chicago. Medgar Evers and other NAACP leaders publicize and organize around the case, raising awareness not only in the U.S. but internationally. Blacks boycott stores owned by the Milam and Bryant families, driving them out of business.
In later years, many of the young activists who lead the Movement in the 1960s say that it was reading about the lynching of Emmett Till a boy their own age that began the process of motivating their courage and committment. Joyce Ladner of SNCC later refers to herself and other young Mississippians as the "Till generation."
I can name you ten SNCC workers who saw that picture [of Till's body] in Jet magazine, who remember it as the key thing about their youth that was emblazoned in their minds. — Joyce Ladner.
For more information:
Web: Emmett Till Murder
In the summer of 1955, Kilgore Junior College (KJC) serving Gregg and Rusk Counties, Texas, is under federal court order to desegregate. To intimidate Blacks and keep them from enrolling, white terrorists shoot at Black grade schools and threaten retaliation against anyone who dares integrate KJC.
On October 23rd, John Earl Reese, 16, is dancing with his sister and cousins in a Gregg County cafe. As they drive past at high speed, two white men open fire on the cafe, killing Reese and wounding Joyce and Johnnie Nelson.
Joe Simpson and Perry Ross are arrested for the crime. Their lawyer explains to the court that they wanted to "make a raid" out of frustration with "uppity blacks," and that they "wanted to scare somebody and keep the niggers and the whites from going to school together." District Attorney Ralph Prince describes the crime as "A case of two irresponsible boys attempting to have some fun by scaring niggers." Ross, the shooter, is given a suspended sentence (no jail time). Simpson is never indicted at all.
See also Montgomery Bus Boycott 1955-1956 for additional articles and original documents.
Straws in the Wind
Day of Days
The Trial of Rosa Parks
Mass Meeting at Holt Street Baptist Church
Long Walk to Freedom
The City Strikes Back
Challenging Segregation in Federal Court
The Violence of Desperate Men
Walk Together Children, Don't You Get Weary
Hold On, Hold On
In the 1950s, it's a point of pride among the good white folk of Montgomery Alabama that their city was once the "Cradle of the Confederacy" — the original capitol of a slave-holder society dedicated to the proposition that all white men had a God-given right to own and hold all Black folk as property. Montgomery whites also take quiet comfort in the tranquility of their city's race-relations — white and Black both happy and content in their appropriate place.
Blacks, however, see things quite differently:
In the mid-1950s, life was most difficult for all poor people, but it was much better for poor white people than for black people in the South. Blacks were permitted to hold only the menial jobs, domestic workers and common and ordinary laborers. The only professional jobs that were open to blacks were the field of pastoring a black church and the schoolteaching profession, which was open because of segregated schools. White teachers didn't normally teach black students. In the whole state of Alabama we had probably less than five black doctors. And we didn't do anything but dig ditches and work with some that told us everything to do. We were the last to be hired and the first to be fired. All of the restaurants were segregated. ... Even in the public courthouse, blacks could not drinl water except from the fountain labeled "Colored." You could not use a filling station that was not designated with a restroom for colored. You had a restroom for white males and a restroom for white women, and you had a restroom for colored. ... And the janitor never would clean up the restroom for the colored people. — Rev. Ralph Abernathy.
In 1952 when I was nine years old, one Sunday my grandmother brought me into Liggett's Drug Store at Court Square right behind the fountain. The soda jerk called me a pickaninny. I knew that was a bad word and deliberately spilled water on the counter where I was standing. It was my first conscious protest. They knew at nine that I was going to be a militant, and by 1956 I was automatically dispatched to the Montgomery Improvement Association during the bus boycott. "Go get me, go fetch me," whatever the elders wanted. I wrote my eighth-grade paper on the Montgomery bus boycott — wish I still had that piece. Dr. Gwen Patton.
Almost two-thirds of Black women in Montgomery work as domestic servants for white families, and almost half of all Black men are low-paid casual laborers or domestic workers. In 1950, the median annual income for whites is $1,730 (equal to $16,500 in 2012), for Blacks it is just $970 ($9,200). Of 30,000 Black men and women of voting age in 1954, only 2,000 (7%) have been allowed to become registered voters.
Economically, Montgomery at this time is dominated by Maxwell and Gunter Air Force bases. One out of every 14 civilians works for the military, and one out of every seven families residing in the city is associated in some way with the Air Force. In compliance with President Truman's 1948 desegregation order, the two bases are completely integrated, but off-base all aspects of life for the city's 64,000 white and 43,000 Black residents are rigidly segregated.
Montgomery is segregated by race, and the Black community is stratified by class. The great majority are at the bottom, low-paid laborers and domestics. In the middle are Air Force employees, small entrepreneurs, and the few blue-collar and service workers with steady paychecks above the poverty line (such as a Pullman Car porter, for example). On top is a thin, but highly influential strata of ministers, college professors, and business leaders.
Churches are the foundation of Black society and among those that play key roles in civic life are Rev. Ralph Abernathy's First Baptist — a brick-a-day institution founded in 1867, the first formally-recognized Black church in the city — Pastor A.W. Wilson's Holt Street Baptist, Trinity Lutheran with a Black congregation and an outspoken white minister named Robert Graetz, the Mount Zion AME Church of L. Roy Bennet and Solomon Seay Sr, Rev. Edgar French's Hilliard Chapel AME Zion Church, and Dexter Avenue Baptist, the Black community's elite church with a new — and largely unknown — minister by the name of Martin Luther King Jr.
Not all of Montgomery's Black leaders are preachers. Most prominent is E.D. Nixon, a dedicated fighter for justice, Pullman Car porter, union leader, NAACP officer, and Voters League organizer. Another is Alabama State College (ASC) football coach Rufus Lewis, head of the Citizens Committee, and a man with significant influence among ASC students. ASC professors Mary Fair Burks and Jo Ann Robinson lead the Womens Political Council, an organization of middle-class and professional woman struggling against racial injustice.
And racial injustice is everywhere in Montgomery. Particularly on the buses. Few Blacks can afford a car, so for most the public transportation is essential for getting to work, school, and shopping. According to Montgomery City Lines, 75% of their riders are Black, but many believe that the actual number is higher. Montgomery law requires racial segregation on all buses, but the manner of that segregation is (in theory) determined by the company and its drivers — and the system they impose is extreme even by southern norms. Under their rules, the front is reserved for whites, and Blacks are sent to the back of the bus as is commonly the case throughout the South. But in Montgomery, Black passengers have to board and pay their fare at the front and then, not permitted to walk through the white section, they must get off and walk to the rear door to reenter. Some drivers close the doors and depart before Blacks who have paid their dimes can get back on board. As the bus fills up, whites from the front, Blacks from the rear, Blacks are not allowed to sit if it means that a white person has to stand. If the white section is full, the entire front-most row of Blacks must surrender their seats to create a new "white row." This often means that Blacks have to stand in the rear while one white rider occupies a row with three empty seats. Whites assume that this is the natural order of life. Blacks do not share that view, which is why the police stand ready to arrest "troublemakers."
[BACKGROUND: The Supreme Court's 1946 ruling in Morgan v Virginia blocked enforcement of local segregation ordinances in regards to inter-state commerce facilities such as train stations and bus depots. But municiple bus systems that did not cross state lines were not covered by that ruling. And regardless of what the Justices might say in Washington, any Black person who tried to implement the Morgan ruling in the Deep South faced mob violence and arrest as the Freedom Riders discovered in 1961.]
In the aftermath of the previous year's 1954 Brown decision, Black hopes for an immediate end to segregation soar, only to be dashed by adamant white resistance. As Black leaders view it, the Supreme Court has ruled that school segregation is not only morally wrong but unconstitutional, so therefore all other forms of segregation must be equally illegal and come to an end — particularly Montgomery's hated and humiliating system of bus segregation. But how?
For local NAACP leaders the answer is clear — challenge the constitutionality of the bus law and appeal it to the Supreme Court. Montgomery whites, however, are already enraged over Brown. They comfort themselves with the illusion that Brown was an atrocity of Yankee meddling, and that "their" colored population, happy and content as they are, have no sympathy or support for "race-mixing" of any sort. If Montgomery Blacks shatter that illusion by attempting to over-turn the bus segregation laws, the full fury of white anger will come smashing down. And to challenge the law in federal court, there has to be a defendant who has been arrested for refusing to obey it — a defendant able to withstand economic, political, social, and quite possibly violent retaliation from whites. And also a defendant that all strata of Montgomery's Black community will support and rally around.
Other Black leaders ponder a less confrontational approach — convince the Montgomery City Lines or city government to mandate a less oppressive and humiliating manner of segregation as was done by the 1953 Baton Rouge Bus Boycott just two and a half years earlier. Baton Rouge is the capitol of Louisiana as Montgomery is the capitol of Alabama, and if a bus boycott can force an improvement there, why not here? The Brown case took several years to reach the Supreme Court, but a change in the rules of segregation could be accomplished immediately. And by not challenging segregation itself, the risks of white anger and retaliation might be reduced.
In March of 1954, the Womens' Political Council (WPC) meets with Mayor
Gayle. They request that the bus rules be changed to eliminate the
'pay-in-front-enter-at-rear' system and that Blacks not be required to stand
while seats are empty. No response is forthcoming. In the initially heady
days immediately after Brown, WPC President Jo Ann Robinson writes
him a letter warning that: "
... there has been talk from twenty-five
or more local organizations of planning a city-wide boycott of
On March 2nd, 1955, all seats are full when whites board a Dexter Avenue bus at the Court Street stop. The driver orders a row of four Black women to stand so that whites can take their seats. Claudette Colvin, 15 years old and a student at Booker T. Washington high school, refuses to give up her seat. The cops are quickly summoned. Colvin defies them. She's attended meetings led by NAACP Youth Council President Rosa Parks, and knows that by the strict letter of the bus law she's entitled to keep her seat. She's arrested, dragged off the bus and handcuffed.
Within the Black community there's outrage at such treatment of a young girl. But Black leaders are unsure if hers is the case to challenge the law — many of the Black witnesses are fearful and could be pressured to change their testimony. Colvin is pregnant and unwed, which means that the more socially conservative and "respectable" elements of the Black community are unlikely to identify with her cause. And she herself is vulnerable to Alabama's ruthless system of so-called juvenile justice that allows state incarceration of "wayward girls" on flimsy "morals" charges. A vindictive judge could conceivably jail her without hope of appeal until she turned 19.
Rosa Parks is secretary of the Montgomery NAACP and a registered voter. In the words of Dr. King: "Her character was impeccable and her dedication deep-rooted. All of these traits together made her one of the most respected people in the Negro community." In July of 1955, she attends a two-week workshop at the inter-racial Highlander Folk School in Tennessee (today the Highlander Center). The program on "Racial Desegregation: Implementing the Supreme Court Decision" includes discussions of nonviolent tactics and strategies for resisting racism and overcoming discrimination. She later describes her experience: "That was the first time in my life I had lived in an atmosphere of equality with members of the other race. ... it could be done without the signs that said "White" and "Colored" — without any artificial barriers of racial segregation."
In October, a white woman boards the Highland Avenue bus. There are no seats in the "white" section so she asks the driver to remove Mary Louise Smith. Smith refuses to give up her seat. She is arrested, convicted of violating the segregation ordinance, and fined nine dollars. Again Black leaders consider using her case to challenge the law, but she comes from an impoverished rural family and the community considers her father to be an alcoholic (even though her father, a widower, built a brick home for his family and sent his children to St. Jude, a Black Catholic private school, which was also the last campsite of the 1965 Selma to Montgomery Voting Rights March). E.D. Nixon knows it might be hard to rally the full range of community support behind her, and they are vulnerable to white pressure, so her case is not appealed.
Late in the afternoon of Thursday, December 1st, 1955, Rosa Parks leaves work at the Montgomery Fair department store and boards a Cleveland Avenue bus for home. She's tired after a long day, but she knows she has to begin preparing for an NAACP youth meeting she's to lead over the weekend. The bus fills up. A white man boards — but with no seats available he has to stand in the aisle. The bus driver orders the four front-most Blacks to surrender their seats so he can sit. Mrs. Parks recalls:
At his first request, didn't any of us move. Then he spoke again and said, "You'd better make it light on yourselves and let me have those seats." ... When the [other] three people ... stood up and moved into the aisle, I remained where I was. When the driver saw that I was still sitting there, he asked if I was going to stand up. I told him, no, I wasn't. He said, "Well, if you don't stand up, I'm going to have you arrested." I told him to go on and have me arrested. He got off the bus and came back shortly. A few minutes later, two policemen got on the bus, and they approached me and asked if the driver had asked me to stand up, and I said yes, and they wanted to know why I didn't. I told them I didn't think I should have to stand up. After I had paid my fare and occupied a seat, I didn't think I should have to give it up. They placed me under arrest then and had me to get in the police car, and I was taken to jail... — Rosa Parks.
For any Black person, particularly a Black woman, jail in the South holds both terror and shame, terror because white authorities know they can mete out abuse and degradation to Black prisoners without the slightest concern of consequences, and shame because in this era of the mid-1950s arrest for defying segregation has not yet evolved into a badge of honor.
From jail, Mrs. Parks calls her mother who immediately contacts E.D. Nixon. The cops refuse to give him any information. Nixon calls white attorney Clifford Durr who learns that Mrs. Parks has been charged with violating the bus segregation law. Durr and his wife Virginia are among the few Alabama whites who dare cross the color line by working for racial justice and forming friendships with Blacks. For those crimes against the "southern way of life" they are ostracized from Montgomery white society.
See White Support of the Montgomery Boycott for more information on the Durrs.
E.D. Nixon and the two Durrs quickly head to the city jail, and by evening they manage to have Mrs. Parks released on bail. Nixon tells her, "Mrs. Parks, this is the case we've been looking for. We can break this situation on the bus with your case." As an NAACP activist herself, she well knows the pressures and dangers challenging a segregation law up to the Supreme Court entails. She tells him she first has to discuss it with her mother and husband as they too will be in the cross-hairs of white retaliation. Her husband Raymond (a barber with white clients) pleads with her to just pay her fine and let it go, "The white folks will kill you, Rosa," he warns her. Rosa Parks did not seek this challenge, but now that the duty has fallen to her, she knows she cannot shirk it. "If you think it will mean something to Montgomery and do some good," she quietly tells Nixon and the Durrs, "I'll be happy to go along with it."
Fred Gray, a young Black attorney just a year out of law school, agrees to represent Mrs. Parks. Nixon and Gray immediately begin mobilizing support for Mrs. Parks and the struggle they know lies ahead.
Word soon reaches Jo Ann Robinson of the Womens Political Council and in the dark of a Thursday night the council women gather on the ASC campus. By midnight they are coordinating with E.D. Nixon over the phone and drafting a leaflet calling on the community to boycott the buses on Monday, the day of Rosa's trial. All through the night they crank the school mimeo, knowing they must finish and be gone by dawn. If they're caught, they'll certainly be fired and risk the college losing its state funding.
As president of the main body of the Women's Political Council, I got on the phone and called all the officers of the three chapters. I told them that Rosa Parks had been arrested and she would be tried. They said, "You have the plans, put them into operation." We had worked for at least three years getting that thing organized. I didn't go to bed that night. I cut those stencils and took them to the college. ... I ran off 35,000 copies. I talked with every member [of the Women's Council] in the elementary, junior high and senior high schools and told them to have somebody on the campus. I told them that I would be there to deliver them [the leaflets]. I taught my classes from 8:00 to 10:00. When my 10:00 class was over, I took two senior students with me. I would drive to the place of dissemination and a kid would be there to grab them. — Jo Ann Robinson.
See Organizing Before the Boycott for more information.
In the morning hours of Friday, E.D. Nixon sets in motion a meeting of ministers and community leaders at King's Dexter Avenue Church to build support for Mrs. Parks trial, the court challenge, and the bus boycott — though he himself won't be able to attend because he has to leave on his Pullman Car porter run to New York City and back. One of his last calls is to tip off an editor at the Montgomery Advertiser about, "The hottest story you've ever written."
On Sunday, Abernathy, King, Graetz, Wilson, Bennet, and other ministers urge their congregations to support the boycott and attend a community mass meeting at Holt Street Baptist after work on Monday evening. And the front-page story in the Sunday Advertiser inadvertently spreads the word to those who have not yet seen any of the leaflets or heard about the boycott from their church. In typical heavy-handed fashion, the Montgomery police proclaim that police will follow the buses to prevent Black "goon squads" from enforcing the boycott against those who wish to ride, and on Monday shotgun-toting cops in riot helmets prowl the lines. Of course, it never occurs to them that timid souls wavering over whether to support the boycott might be more frightened by heavily armed white cops than imaginary Black "goon squads."
Monday morning, December 5, 1955, dawns cold and dank.
At 5:30 Monday, December 5, dawn was breaking over Montgomery. Early morning workers were congregating at corners. There, according to plan, Negroes were to be picked up not by the Montgomery City Lines, but by Negro taxis driving at reduced rates of ten cents per person, or by some two hundred private cars which had been offered free to bus riders for Monday only. The suspense was almost unbearable, for no one was positively sure that the taxi drivers would keep their promises, that the private car owners would give absolute strangers a ride, that Negro bus riders would stay off the bus. And then there was the cold and the threat of rain. — Jo Ann Robinson.
Dr. King remembers:
The first bus was to pass around six o'clock. And so we waited through an interminable half hour. I was in the kitchen drinking my coffee when I heard Coretta cry, "Martin, Martin, come quickly!" I put down my cup and ran toward the living room. As I approached the front window Coretta pointed joyfully to a slowly moving bus: "Darling, it's empty!" I could hardly believe what I saw. I knew that the South Jackson line, which ran past our house, carried more Negro passengers than any other line in Montgomery, and that this first bus was usually filled with domestic workers going to their jobs. Would all of the other buses follow the pattern that had been set by the first? Eagerly we waited for the next bus. In fifteen minutes it rolled down the street, and, like the first, it was empty. A third bus appeared, and it too was empty of all but two white passengers.
All day long it continued. At the afternoon peak the buses were still as empty of Negro passengers as they had been in the morning. Students of Alabama State College, who usually kept the South Jackson bus crowded, were cheerfully walking or thumbing rides. Job holders had either found other means of transportation or made their way on foot. While some rode in cabs or private cars, others used less conventional means. Men were seen riding mules to work, and more than one horse-drawn buggy drove the streets of Montgomery that day.
During the rush hours the sidewalks were crowded with laborers and domestic workers, many of them well past middle age, trudging patiently to their jobs and home again, sometimes as much as twelve miles. They knew why they walked, and the knowledge was evident in the way they carried themselves. And as I watched them I knew that there is nothing more majestic than the determined courage of individuals willing to suffer and sacrifice for their freedom and dignity. — Martin Luther King.
On that same Monday morning, while uncounted thousands of Black citizens boycott the Montgomery buses, Rosa Parks is quickly tried, convicted, and fined $10 plus $4 court-costs for violating the bus segregation ordinance. E.D. Nixon (who has returned from his porter run) recalls:
I'd been in court off and on for twenty years, hearing different peoples, and very seldom, if ever, there was another black man unless he was being tried. But that particular morning, the morning of December the fifth, 1955, the black man was reborn again. I couldn't believe it when they found her guilty and I had to go through the vestibule down the hall to the clerk's office to sign her appeal bond. ... People came in that other door, and that door was about ten feet wide, and they was just that crowded in there, people wanting to know what happened. I said, 'Well, they found her guilty. Now, I'm gon' have to make another bond for her. As soon as we can get her bond signed, we'll bring her right out.' They said, 'If you don't hurry and come out, we're coming in there and getch-ya.' I couldn't believe it. When we got outside, police were standing outside with sawed-off shotguns, and the people all up and down the streets was from sidewalk to sidewalk out there. I looked around there, and I bet you there was over a thousand black people — black men — on the streets out there. — E.D. Nixon.
The white power-structure doesn't realize it, but they've just made a huge tactical blunder. By arresting Mrs. Parks (and Claudette Colvin and Mary Louise Smith) for violating the segregation ordinance instead some generic law like Failure to Obey a Police Officer or Disorderly Conduct they open the door to appealing the constitutionality of Montgomery's segregated bus system. In years to come, during lunch-counter sit-ins and freedom rides they rarely make that error again.
That afternoon, E.D. Nixon, Rosa Parks, Rufus Lewis, Jo Ann Robinson, preachers and other community leaders meet to decide how to proceed and what to present at the mass meeting that evening. They agree on a modest list of demands, and to push for those demands they form a new coalition organization representing all the rival factions. They name it the Montgomery Improvement Association (MIA).
[Montgomery Improvement Association Constitution]
There is great pride in the success of the boycott, but fear as well. Some of the ministers want the group to operate clandestinely, keeping the names of the MIA leaders secret, with plans circulated anonymously so that whites have no target for their rage. E.D. Nixon retorts:
What the hell you people talkin' 'bout? How you gonna have a mass meeting, gonna boycott a city bus line without the white folks knowing it? You guys have went around here and lived off these poor washwomen all your lives and ain't never done nothing for 'em. And now you got a chance to do something for 'em, you talkin' about you don't want the white folks to know it. Unless'n this program is accepted and brought into the church like a decent, respectable organization, ... I'll take the microphone and tell 'em the reason we don't have a program is 'cause you all are too scared to stand on your feet and be counted. You oughta make up your mind right now that you gon' either admit you are a grown man or concede to the fact that you are a bunch of scared boys! — E.D. Nixon.
Arriving late at the meeting, Dr. King hears Nixon's challenge and responds: "Brother Nixon, I'm not a coward. I don't want anybody to call me a coward." He strongly agrees with Nixon that leaders must have the courage to stand forth in public. Rufus Lewis then nominates Dr. King — just 26 years old and only in Montgomery for a year — as President of the MIA and the person to give the major address at the mass meeting in a couple of hours. No one else is nominated or volunteers.
In later years some will say that King was chosen for of his self-evident talent, others will claim it was because he was not aligned with the Nixon, Lewis, or other factions and therefore a compromise candidate that all could agree on. Nixon himself later says it was because "He had not been here long enough for the city fathers to put their hand on him," (coopt or intimidate him). And those more cynical than others opine that the senior preachers chose not to contest his election out of reluctance of themselves becoming the target and lightening rod of white retaliation.
Other officers are then elected, Rev. Bennet as Vice-President (later to be replaced by Rev. Abernathy), E.D. Nixon as Treasurer, Rev. French as Corresponding Secretary and Rev. Fields as Recording Secretary. The hour is now getting late, the mass meeting will start soon, but there is still the question of what to do about the boycott. Some argue that given the community's astounding support it should be continued. Others argue that it should be ended that evening as a one-day protest. Some of the ministers, uneasy at mass-action and fearful of white anger, say that continuing it may provoke white recalcitrance, and that it's better to hold the possibility of some future boycott in reserve while they negotiate. No conclusion is reached, and the decision is put off until they see how many turn out for the mass meeting and how strong support continues to be.
King rushes to arrive at the mass meeting on time, but his car can make no forward progress — Holt Street Baptist is surrounded by a huge and enthusiastic crowd, by some estimates more than 5,000. Though the building is large, it can hold only a fraction of the number, so loudspeakers are hurriedly set up for those flooding the streets and adjoining yards. Inside, the church is jam packed, and along with Montgomery's Black citizens are Black leaders from Birmingham, Mobile, Tuscaloosa, and elsewhere. There are also a few white faces — some reporters and TV crews, the Commissioner of Police — and Rev. Gaetz, the only white supporter in the crush (the Durrs are outside, unable to enter). The program begins with "Onward Christian Soldiers" and "Leaning on the Everlasting Arms," a prayer, and a reading of Scripture (Psalm 34). Pastor Wilson then calls King to the pulpit.
With little time to prepare, King speaks extemporaneously from the heart in the traditional call and response of the Black church:
... My friends, we are here this evening for serious business. (Audience: Yes) ... we are here in a specific sense, because of the bus situation in Montgomery. (Yes) We are here because we are determined to get the situation corrected. This situation is not at all new. The problem has existed over endless years. (That's right) For many years now Negroes in Montgomery and so many other areas ... have been intimidated and humiliated and oppressed because of the sheer fact that they were Negroes. (That's right!) ...
Just the other day, ... one of the finest citizens in Montgomery (Amen) — not one of the finest Negro citizens (That's right), but one of the finest citizens in Montgomery — was taken from a bus (Yes) and carried to jail and arrested (Yes) because she refused to get up to give her seat to a white person. (That's right) ....
And you know, my friends, there comes a time when people get tired of being trampled over by the iron feet of oppression. [great applause] There comes a time, my friends, when people get tired of being plunged across the abyss of humiliation, where they experience the bleakness of nagging despair. (Keep talking!) There comes a time when people get tired of being pushed out of the glittering sunlight of life's July and left standing amid the piercing chill of an alpine November. (That's right!) — There comes a time! (Teach!) [applause] ....
We are here this evening because we're tired now. (Yes) And I want to say that we are not here advocating violence. (No) We have never done that. (Repeat that, Repeat that) ... The only weapon that we have in our hands this evening is the weapon of protest. [applause] ....
There is never a time in our American democracy that we must ever think we're wrong when we protest. (Yes sir) We reserve that right. When labor all over this nation came to see that it would be trampled over by capitalistic power, there was nothing wrong with labor getting together and organizing and protesting for its rights. (That's right)
We, the disinherited of this land, we who have been oppressed so long, are tired of going through the long night of captivity. And now we are reaching out for the daybreak of freedom — and justice — and equality. [applause] ....
Right here in Montgomery, when the history books are written in the future (Yes), somebody will have to say, "There lived a race of people (Well), a black people (Yes sir), 'fleecy locks and black complexion' (Yes), a people who had the moral courage to stand up for their rights. [applause] And thereby they injected a new meaning into the veins of history and of civilization. ...
And we are not wrong. We are not wrong in what we are doing. (Well) If we are wrong, the Supreme Court of this nation is wrong. (Yes sir) If we are wrong, the Constitution of the United States is wrong. (Yes) If we are wrong, God Almighty is wrong. (That's right!) If we are wrong, Jesus of Nazareth was merely a utopian dreamer that never came down to earth. (Yes) If we are wrong, justice is a lie. (Yes) Love has no meaning. And we are determined here in Montgomery to work and fight until justice runs down like water (Yes), and righteousness like a mighty stream. (Keep talking!) [great applause] — Martin Luther King.[The above quotes are excerpts. For the full text and audio recording go to: MIA Mass Meeting at Holt Street Baptist Church (King Research & Education Institute ~ Stanford Univ.)]
Looking back later, Dr. King recalled:
As I sat listening to the continued applause I realized that this speech had evoked more response than any speech or sermon I had ever delivered, and yet it was virtually unprepared. I came to see for the first time what the older preachers meant when they said, "Open your mouth and God will speak for you." — Martin Luther King.
And in Parting the Waters, America in the King Years 1954-1963, author Taylor Branch later writes:
The applause continued as King made his way out of the church, with people reaching to touch him. Dexter members marveled, having never seen King let loose like that. ... King would work on his timing, but his oratory had just made him forever a public person. In the few short minutes of his first political address, a power of communion emerged from him that would speak inexorably to strangers who would both love and revile him, like all prophets. He was twenty-six, and had not quite twelve years and four months to live.— Taylor Branch.
Rev. Abernathy reads a resolution to continue the bus boycott until a just settlement is reached and that no violence or intimidation be used in the boycott. The motion is carried with thunderous applause. The boycott is transformed from a one-day protest into a peoples' mass movement — an all-out struggle for justice and human dignity.
After the exaltation of Monday comes the daunting reality of Tuesday. A protest has to be transformed into a movement and an organization capable of sustaining that movement, and as President of the Montgomery Improvement Association the responsibility falls most heavily on Dr. King. The MIA Executive Board has to be expanded to broaden its base and involve and represent all sectors of the Black community. Working committees have to be established to coordinate the boycott and perform the daily labor that effective social struggle requires.
Most important is the Transportation Committee chaired by Rufus Lewis. On an average workday, 17,500 Blacks normally ride the buses for 35-40,000 trips, to and fro. Some can walk, some can catch rides with friends who own cars, but many thousands still need a way to get to and from work, school, and essential errands. At first they rely on the "taxicab army," the 18 Black cab companies who volunteer to reduce their normal rate to a dime each trip — the same as the bus fare. But the cops crack down, invoking a long-ignored minimum-fare law of 45 cents. They threaten to arrest cabbies who charge less. King seeks advice and practical guidance from his good friend Rev. T.J. Jemison who led the Baton Rouge Bus Boycott. As advised by Jemison, Lewis and King then organize a carpool system and by December 13 more than 150 volunteers (ultimately rising to well over 300) are picking up and dropping off passengers at 48 dispatch stations in Black neighborhoods and 42 pickup points in white areas.
But it's not easy. Running the carpool system is a massive coordination task — mobilizing cars and drivers, meeting urgent transportation needs, matching riders, rides and destinations. Most of the actual day-to-day work is done by women who volunteer for thankless, unsung labor. Ownership of a car is a prestige status-symbol, and many who volunteer their vehicles are fussy about maintaining a pristine appearance that as a practical matter is at odds with transporting loads of strangers through rain-soaked and muddy streets. Inevitably, there are complaints and conflicts, frayed nerves and frustrated emotions that require soothing.
Day after day, week after week, month after month the boycott holds solid through the cold drenching rains of winter, the thunder squalls of spring, and the sweltering heat of summer. Men and women walk for hours to get to and from work, leaving before sunrise, reaching home long after dark. Children walk to school and students to college. Others catch rides with the volunteer drivers of the carpools, many of whom are ministers or professionals, others are housewives, the self-employed, and un-employed laborers, and a few are whites including some from the two Air Force bases. Some white employers, unable to do without their Black servants, furtively use their own cars to drive them to and from work. And some of the carpool drivers are college students. Yancy Martin recalls:
I came home from college in 1955 in December for Christmas holidays and the boycott had already begun when I got home. ... I talked with an old friend of the family, Ralph Abernathy, ... and he told me the best thing I could do was organize some people to do some driving along the bus stop route and to pick up people. 'Cause what they were doing was they were telling folk just to stand on their regular bus stop route, but as the bus would come by, just to step back. And so all the guys who were on my street whose parents had cars, we'd all get up in the morning and we'd drive that route. And what we had to do was we had to know the names of everybody in there or else the police would stop and try to charge you with operating an illegal jitney service. And so what we would do is, by knowing everybody's name, we'd just say that these are my cousins or these are friends of mine I'm giving a lift. There's no law against giving anybody a ride.
And of course, [the Black maids] was just tellin' Miss Ann, "We not ridin' the bus, and you can come pick me up, or you can find somebody else to get the job done, or you can quit yo' job and stay at home and keep your house and baby yourself." A lot of white folks were picking up their domestic workers and bringing them to the house and taking 'em home, because they had their job to get to and they needed the money. But the few who tried to fire, or did fire, or release, black folk couldn't find replacements who were going to be any better.
By early January, the boycott was going well, but it had become heavily dependent on its cadre of young drivers whose college holidays were ending. So about four or five of us said, "Well, why do we have to go back? It's important that we get a college education, but it's important that we win this thing now that we've gotten into it. ..." So some of us went home and talked to our parents, who went up in arms, but who allowed us to stay at least till the end of the semester. I thought it wasn't a symbolic gesture on the parts of the few that I know who stayed. It was just a realization of the fact that there was a need and there was nobody to fill that need. I could not guarantee that my daddy would find somebody who would be able to drive that car every day like I was driving it every day. So I went on and stayed. Fortunately we got credits for it anyway. Most of us had to write a paper on why it was important for us to stay in Montgomery during that period of time. — Yancy Martin.
Gas, oil, tires, and vehicle repairs have to be provided, leaflets run off, an office set up, postage & phones paid for, and all of that costs money. MIA expenses soon grow to $5,000 a month (equal to almost $42,000 a month in 2012). The Black community digs deep, but they don't have much to start with and it's not enough. Rev. R.J. Glascoe, Director of the Baptist Center, chairs the Finance Committee, reaching out to churches, NAACP chapters, labor unions, and individuals across the country for donations. Enough comes in to keep the boycott barely alive, but never enough to meet all the demands. Even finding an office to rent is difficult, three times the threat of economic retaliation by whites forces the MIA to move before it finally finds a safe home in a building owned by the Black-led Bricklayers Union.
Twice-a-week mass meetings in various churches explain developments and keep up spirits. A mainstay of those meetings are the personal tales and testimonies from all sectors of the community.
I walked because I wanted everything to be better for us. Before the boycott, we were stuffed in the back of the bus just like cattle. And if we got to a seat, we couldn't sit down in that seat. We had to stand up over that seat. I work hard all day, and I had to stand L up all the way home, because I couldn t have a seat on the bus. And if you sit down on the bus, the bus driver would say, "Let me have that seat, nigger." And you'd have to get up. A lot of times that we'd go to the front, he wouldn't let us in the front. He'd take our money at the front, and then before we could come on through the back door he'd drive off and leave us standing there. He done took our money and gone. That's how it was and that's why I walked. I wanted to cooperate with the majority of the people that had on the boycott. I wanted to be one of them that tried to make it better. I didn't want somebody else to make it better for me. I walked. I never attempted to take the bus. Never. I was tired, but I didn't have no desire to get on the bus. — Gussie Nesbitt (53) domestic worker and NAACP member.
In his book Stride Toward Freedom, Dr. King relates one such story of how an old domestic, an influential matriarch to many young relatives in Montgomery, is asked by her wealthy employer "Isn't this bus boycott terrible?" The old lady responds: "Yes, ma'am, it sure is. And I just told all my young'uns that this kind of thing is white folks' business and we just stay off the buses 'till they get this whole thing settled." And the oft-quoted words of an ancient woman known to all as "Mother Pollard" become the underlying motif of the entire movement: "My feets is tired, but my soul is rested."
Fearing white retaliation, or that the white power-structure would let the bus company go bankrupt rather than completely eliminate bus segregation, some on the MIA Executive Board are reluctant to directly challenge segregation itself. And if public bus service is ended, it is Blacks who will suffer the most. King, Nixon, Abernathy, Jo Ann Robinson, Fred Gray and others are willing — for now — to focus the boycott demands and negotiations on the manner of segregation because they believe that the appeal of Rosa Parks' conviction will eventually reach the Supreme Court and result in overturning bus segregation laws, not just in Montgomery but everywhere, in the same way that the Brown case eliminated segregated school systems nationwide (in theory, at least).
So by any standards, the MIA boycott demands are modest. Different issues are put forward at different times within the MIA, the mass meetings, and at the negotiations, but none of the points directly challenge segregation itself, rather they ask for a more humane implementation of it:
On Thursday, December 8, four days into the boycott, the MIA negotiating committee sits down with the city officials and bus company representatives at a meeting convened by the Alabama Council on Human Relations. Montgomery is governed by three co-equal elected commissioners known as the "city fathers." Because Commissioner W.A "Tacky" Gayle administers City Hall he is often referred to as Montgomery's "Mayor," though officially he has no more authority than the other two — Frank Parks and Police Commissioner Clyde Sellers.
Dr. King is the MIA spokesman. He presents, explains, and defends the boycott demands. Jack Crenshaw, the bus company attorney, takes the lead in opposing them. He dismisses the demand for courtesy as irrelevant because (he claims) city bus drivers are always courteous to all passengers regardless of race. And since the hiring of drivers is a matter of "private enterprise" that too is not a subject for negotiation. On the central matter, he contends that any change in the current system violates city and state segregation laws. The city fathers echo the bus company position.
MIA negotiators counter that they're misstating the facts. The Montgomery ordinances say nothing about Blacks having to give up their seats so that whites can sit, or requiring Blacks to board at the back of the bus after paying their fare in the front. And since they are asking for the same system that is currently in effect in Mobile Alabama it is obviously not in violation of any state regulations. In fact, both the Montgomery and Mobil bus lines are owned by the same national firm headquartered in Chicago, so they have to be aware that the MIA proposals are legal under Alabama law.
The bus company is suffering serious economic pain. By their own admission the boycott is 99% effective among Black riders and service on two heavily Black routes has already been discontinued. Yet at a second negotiating session on December 17, company representatives continue their adamant opposition to every MIA proposal, the three city commissioners support them jot and tittle, and no progress at all is made. Though the Montgomery commisioners claim it is the company who determines the precise manner of segregation within the law, the line's license is coming up for renewal by the city, and some are convinced that the company's position is actually being dictated by the city fathers — or the political powers behind them.
The recently formed Montgomery White Citizens Council (WCC) urges whites to ride the buses as a form of white solidarity, but most whites own cars and while they support segregation in principle they have no desire to forego the convenience of a private automobile. At the third negotiating session on December 19, Mayor Gayle abruptly adds WCC leader Luther Ingalls to the 8 whites and 8 Blacks who had been appointed as a working sub-committee to recommend a settlement. Dr. King objects to this unilateral addition.
White members of the committee lash out at King in a concerted attack, accusing him of intransigence and implying that if it were not for King an acceptable agreement could easily be reached. Rev. Abernathy rises to King's defense, he makes it clear that King speaks for the entire Black community. The other Black members of the committee stand firm. Unable to divide the Black negotiators, the white chairman ends the session. Though the MIA tries to reopen negotiations through other avenues, their efforts are blocked by the city fathers. No further negotiations over bus segregation are ever held between Black leaders and the bus company or city officials.
When their effort to end the boycott at the negotiating table fails, the white power-structure moves to break it by other means. The day after negotiations break down, rumors suddenly begin to swirl through the Black community. Dr. King recalls:
False rumors were spread concerning the leaders of the movement. Negro workers were told by their white employers that their leaders were only concerned with making money out of the movement. Others were told that the Negro leaders rode big cars while they walked. During this period the rumor was spread that I had purchased a brand new Cadillac for myself and a Buick station wagon for my wife. Of course none of this was true. ... there was also an attempt to divide the leaders among themselves. Prominent white citizens went to many of the older Negro preachers and said: "If there has to be a protest, you should be the leaders. It is a shame for you, who have been in the community for so many years, to have your own people overlook you and choose these young upstarts to lead them." Certain members of the white community tried to convince several of the other protest leaders that the problem could be solved if I were out of the picture. "If one of you," they would say, "took over the leadership, things would change overnight. — Martin Luther King.
Police harassment of the carpools intensifies. Black maids waiting at pickup points in white neighborhoods are dispersed for loitering and threatened with arrest for "vagrancy." Drivers are given traffic tickets for imaginary offenses — for going too fast, and then when they slow down far below the speed limit, for going too slow, for signaling a turn too late, and then for signaling a turn too soon. People who have never gotten a ticket in a lifetime of driving are not only cited, but arrested and taken to jail where they are booked as criminals. White-owned insurance companies raise rates on "bad drivers," and threaten to cancel policies altogether. Fearing that the cops might suspend their licenses or confiscate their cars, some carpool drivers drop out, making it harder for people to find a ride to work or school.
Every black person would get a traffic ticket two and three times a week. Everybody had been told, "Drive carefully, don't speed. Stop." One time, I stopped at the corner right above the college where I lived, and a policeman drove up and said, "Well, you stayed there too long that time." And the next day or two I'd come up, "Well, you didn't stay quite long enough this time." There was no need of arguing, we just took them. We just paid them. I got thirty tickets, and there were other people who got I don't know how many. When the buses were finally put out of business, and the bus drivers were out of work, they were employed as policemen. So they had a continuation of income. And many of those policemen would give just hundreds and hundreds of tickets every day to black people who were not violating any traffic laws, but they were doing it to help to raise the salaries they had lost. ...
About two weeks after they had broken my picture window, I heard a noise on the side where my car was, a — new Chrysler parked under the carport — and I went and looked out the window in the dark, and there were two policemen scattering something on top of my car, on the hood of the car. I didn't know what it was. I saw them when they went back and got in their car and drove away. The next morning my car was eaten up with acid. I had holes as large as a dollar, allover the top of the car, all over the hood and the side of the car — that body was just eaten up with those holes. At first I thought it was a terrible tragedy. I cried, and then I said, "Well, you know, these are beautiful spots." Everybody wanted to know what ate that car up, and I had pleasure in saying, "Well, the police threw the acid on it and burned it up, but it became beauty spots. — Jo Ann Robinson.
But though some drivers waver and many of the students return to college, the boycott holds strong. The bus line is on the economic ropes, and in the first week of January, 1956, they have to obtain an emergency fare increase from the city fathers so that service can be continued for those few whites who use the system. Meanwhile, at a rally of the Montgomery chapter of the White Citizens Council that draws 1,200 people, Police Commissioner Sellers publicly joins the organization and pledges his allegiance to their creed of white-supremacy.
On Saturday evening, January 21, a northern reporter tips off Dr. King that a front-page article in next morning's Montgomery Advertiser is going to claim that un-named "prominent" Black leaders have settled the boycott on company terms and that all Blacks are to resume riding the buses Monday morning. King summons the MIA to an emergency meeting. It immediately becomes clear that the story is a hoax engineered by the city fathers who reason that if some Blacks can be fooled into breaking the boycott all the others will follow like sheep. Quickly they begin working the phones, notifying every Black minister of the lie and requesting that they inform their congregations that the boycott continues. But not all Blacks attend church, so Dr. King and others go out into Saturday night to crawl the bars, dives, and country "jook joints" to reach those who may not hear a message delivered from the pulpit.
On Monday morning the buses remain empty of Black riders. The boycott holds.
Furious at the failure of their hoax and embarrassed at looking like fools, the city fathers issue a "get tough" statement accusing the MIA of being "... a group of Negro radicals who have split asunder the fine relationships between whites and Blacks, and "... what they are after is the destruction of our social fabric." They declare that the city has "... pussy-footed around with the boycott long enough," and that "... until they end [the boycott] there will be no more discussions." Mayor Gayle tells the press that he and Commissioner Parks are following Sellers into the White Citizens Council to make it unanimous — all of Montgomery's elected leaders are now members of an organization committed to maintaining white-supremacy in a city that is 40% Black.
Three days later, on January 26, Dr. King is driving a carload of passengers. When he leaves the dispatch station, cops follow him. Knowing they're behind him, he slows to way under the speed limit. When he stops to let a passenger out, they arrest him for driving 30 miles an hour in a 25mph zone. He's taken to the city jail, booked, and shoved into a filthy cell crowded with other prisoners, some of whom are other carpool drivers. The steel doors clang shut behind him — it's the first of some 30 arrests he is to endure over the next 12 years.
Abernathy rushes to the prison, desperate to get him released on bail as quickly as possible. He and Dr. King's wife Coretta are well aware that "uppity" Blacks risk brutal beatings in jailhouse backrooms, and sometimes they're "shot while trying to escape." The police refuse to accept a standard property bond. But by now word is flashing through Montgomery's Black community and supporters are converging on the jail — deacons and trustees of Dexter Avenue Church, MIA officers and supporters, and ordinary folk determined to keep King safe. Soon the building is almost surrounded by an angry, restive crowd. The police abruptly decide to release him on his own recognizance, no bail required.
The mass meeting that night is packed. People are furious at King's arrest and they want assurance he is unharmed. Unable to squeeze into the church, a growing crowd gathers outside. Fearing they may erupt in violence if provoked by the cops who prowl the perimeter, MIA leaders arrange for a second mass meeting at a nearby church and direct the throng there. But that one also quickly fills, so a third, and then a fourth is started. Before the night ends, seven different mass meetings are held to accommodate determined boycott supporters.
With negotiations stalled and the boycott coming under increased attack, the MIA faces difficult choices. They can try to keep the boycott going indefinitely in the hope that the city fathers will be forced back to the table, but how long can the people endure? They can call off the boycott and wait for Rosa Parks' appeal to reach the Supreme Court, but that requires going through the entire Alabama appeals system before it even gets to into the lowest-level federal court — a process that could take years — and what if a federal judge simply dismisses the charges against her without overturning the law on constitutional grounds?
Down to their last resort, they ponder Fred Gray's proposal for suing in federal court to declare the Montgomery and Alabama bus laws unconstitutional and in violation of the Civil Rights Act of 1871. They know that the boycott and the publicity surrounding it will make it harder for the segregationists to stall and delay the proceedings, so a decision might not take three years the way that Brown decision did. But given the visceral fury that Brown provoked, they know whites will react to a federal lawsuit as if it were the social equivalent of an atom bomb. It will forever end any chance of a negotiated settlement, and bring down on upon them intensified white wrath — both state and local.
The first hurdle is to find Black plaintiffs who have been arrested or mistreated on the buses, plaintiffs who can stand firm against white retaliation. Gray is unable to find any Black men, but five Black women step forward — Aurelia Browder, Claudette Colvin, Susie McDonald, Mary Louise Smith, and a fifth women who is later forced by whites to withdraw. (For reasons of legal strategy and tactics, Rosa Parks cannot be included.) The MIA leaders discuss, debate, and delay a final decision. Finally, on January 30, they take the fateful step, they order Fred Gray to file Browder v Gayle in federal court.
By mid-January the MIA office, Dr. King, E.D. Nixon and other boycott leaders are receiving 30 to 40 threatening calls and letters a day: Get out of town, or else! Nigger, we've taken all we want from you! Before next week you'll be sorry you ever came to Montgomery." In addition to being viciously racist, many are obscene, particularly those directed at Coretta King when she answers the phone which rings all day and long into the night. But they can't leave it off the hook because the next call might be related to coordinating the boycott. Rumors circulate about plots to assassinate King. Day after day the barrage of hate and threats wear down movement leaders and takes emotional toll on their families. Dr. King tells a mass meeting: "If one day you find me sprawled out dead, I do not want you to retaliate with a single act of violence. I urge you to continue protesting with the same dignity and discipline you have shown so far."
On Monday evening, January 30, a bomb is thrown at the King home on Jackson Street, exploding on the porch. Inside are Coretta King, Mrs. Mary Williams, and the King's baby daughter Yolanda. Though the house is damaged they are not injured. Dr. King rushes home from the mass meeting at First Baptist where he is speaking. An angry crowd has gathered, some brandishing guns and knives, some verbally taunting the cops. Boys are carrying broken pop bottles as if for a fight. Mayor Gayle, Police Commissioner Sellers, the fire chief, and white reporters are all present. King ignores them and goes immediately to his wife and daughter.
After making sure that his family is safe, King returns to where the officials are waiting. Gayle and Sellers mouth platitudes of regret for "this unfortunate incident." That's too much for Dexter trustee and Washington High School principal C.T. Smiley. Though his job is totally dependent on the white-power structure, he retorts: "Regrets are fine, but you created the atmosphere for this bombing with your 'get tough' policy.' You've got to face that responsibility." The white officials make no reply.
The mass of people outside King's home is growing larger as word of the bombing spreads through Montgomery's Black community. They are on the flashpoint of violence and the cops, caught by surprise, are vastly outnumbered and completely unprepared. The white reporters in King's living room need to file their stories, but they hesitate to walk through the furious crowd. Even Gayle and Sellers look pale. King walks out onto the damaged porch and the people give him immediate, respectful attention. He tells them his family is unharmed and urges them to maintain discipline and nonviolence:
If you have weapons, take them home, if you do not have them, please do not seek to get them. We cannot solve this problem through retaliatory violence. We must meet violence with nonviolence. I did not start this boycott. I was asked by you to serve as your spokesman. I want it to be known the length and breadth of this land that if I am stopped, this movement will not stop. If I am stopped, our work will not stop. For what we are doing is right. What we are doing is just. And God is with us. — Martin Luther King.
Two nights later another bomb is thrown at E.D. Nixon's home.
As a student, Dr. King read works by Thoreau, Niebuhr, A.J. Muste, and the Mahatma Gandhi:
I had grown up abhorring not only segregation but also the oppressive and barbarous acts that grew out of it. I had passed spots where Negroes had been savagely lynched, and had watched the Ku Klux Klan on its rides at night. I had seen police brutality with my own eyes, and watched Negroes receive the most tragic injustice in the courts. All of these things had done something to my growing personality. I had come perilously close to resenting all white people. I had also learned that the inseparable twin of racial injustice was economic injustice. ...
Like most people, I had heard of Gandhi, but I had never studied him seriously. As I read I became deeply fascinated by his campaigns of nonviolent resistance. I was particularly moved by the Salt March to the Sea and his numerous fasts. ... As I delved deeper into the philosophy of Gandhi my skepticism concerning the power of love gradually diminished, and I came to see for the first time its potency in the area of social reform. — Martin Luther King.
Dr. King's interest in nonviolence is intellectual, not a force that he expects to shape his future.
In 1954 ... I had merely an intellectual understanding and appreciation of the position, with no firm determination to organize it in a socially effective situation. When I went to Montgomery as a pastor, I had not the slightest idea that I would later become involved in a crisis in which nonviolent resistance would be applicable. I neither started the protest nor suggested it. I simply responded to the call of the people for a spokesman. When the protest began, my mind, consciously or unconsciously, was driven back to the Sermon on the Mount, with its sublime teachings on love, and the Gandhian method of nonviolent resistance. As the days unfolded, I came to see the power of nonviolence more and more. Living through the actual experience of the protest, nonviolence became more than a method to which I gave intellectual assent; it became a commitment to a way of life. Many of the things that I had not cleared up intellectually concerning nonviolence were now solved in the sphere of practical action. — Martin Luther King.
As the boycott continues, activists with experience and training in Nonviolent Resistance come to Montgomery to lend a hand. One of these is Bayard Rustin — a Quaker, a homosexual, for a brief time a Communist, an aide to A. Philip Randolph, a disciple of A.J. Muste, a pacifist who served prison time for resisting the draft, a founder of the Congress of Racial Equality (CORE), and an organizer of the 1947 Journey of Reconciliation (Freedom Ride) on which he was arrested and served time on a North Carolina chain-gang for violating a bus segregation law.
Now, quite contrary to what many people think, Dr. King was not a confirmed believer in nonviolence, totally, at the time that the boycott began. On my second visit there the house was still being protected by armed guards. In fact, when I went in, I went in with a chap whose name was Bill Worthy ... As Bill went to sit down in the King living room, I said, "Hey, Bill, wait! There's a gun in that chair." And he might have sat on it. But it was gradually over several weeks that Dr. King continuously deepened his commitment to nonviolence, and within six weeks, he had demanded that there be no armed guards and no effort at associating himself in any form with violence. ... I take no credit for Dr. King's development, but I think the fact that Dr. King had someone around recommending certain readings and discussing these things with him was helpful to bring up in him what was already obviously there. That's how we met.
In fact, when the Ku Klux Klan marched into Montgomery and we knew they were coming, Dr. King and I sat down and thought it over. And we said, "Ah! Tell everybody to put on their Sunday clothes, stand on their steps, and when the Ku Kluxers come, applaud 'em." Well, they came, marched three blocks, and unharassed, they left. They could not comprehend the new thing. They were no longer able to engender fear. — Bayard Rustin.
A week after Fred Gray files Browder v Gayle, his draft board retaliates by revoking his minister's deferment. (When the Selective Service director in Washington overrules their effort to induct Gray into the Army, many Alabama draft board members — all white, of course — resign to protest what they see as federal "political interference.") Meanwhile, the five Black plaintiffs in the case are subject to intense pressure and threats. One is unable to hold. She is forced to deny that she agreed to challenge the bus segregation law in federal court. Based on that flimsy pretext, Gray is then arrested on a bogus charge of "barratry" (falsely claiming to represent a client).
In mid-February, a rally at the Montgomery Coliseum is organized by the White Citizens Councils of Alabama and Mississippi. It draws some 10,000 people to applaud the three city commissioners for their adamant defense of white-supremacy in all its forms. Senator James Eastland of Mississippi lauds them: "I am sure you are not going to permit the NAACP to control your state." Three days after the rally, a Grand Jury is set up to investigate the boycott and issue indictments for violating an Alabama law against conspiracies that interfere with private businesses — a law that has never been invoked against Citizens Council boycotts of Black businesses. More than 200 Blacks are compelled by subpoena to endure an inquisition into their thoughts, beliefs, and actions — an inquisition backed by the explicit threat of jail, and implicit threats of economic retaliation and Klan violence. The city fathers and business leaders representing the white power-structure then issue an ultimatum to the Black community: end the boycott immediately on the city's terms — or face the consequences.
MIA leaders meet to confront the crisis. If the leaders and carpool drivers are jailed, can the boycott continue? Few, if any of them, have ever been in jail and the prospect is daunting. Rev. Seay rises to the point: "I say let's all go to jail! The mass meeting that night at St. John's AME Church is huge. An estimated crowd of 4,000 people vote to reject the white ultimatum — only 2 vote to accept it. Speaking the Black community's defiance, Rev. Abernathy tells reporters: "We have walked for eleven weeks in the cold and rain ... Now the weather is warming up. Therefore we will walk on ..."
On Tuesday, February 21st, a judge issues an injunction against the boycott and the Grand Jury indicts 89 MIA leaders and carpool drivers for violating the anti-boycott law.
E.D. Nixon understands that fear has to be confronted. Upon hearing of the indictment he goes to the sheriff's office in the county courthouse and declares: "Are you looking for me? Well, here I am" Word of his bold courage spreads like wildfire. As Nixon is being released on bail, others start coming forward. A growing crowd of Blacks applaud them as they march into the courthouse and proudly endure arrest. A few are caught by the police dragnet before they can turn themselves in, but most of the cops come up empty-handed — the prey they thought to find cowering in fear are already down at the sheriff's office. When E.D. Nixon, Jo Ann Robinson, Rosa Parks and Dr. King are booked they are photographed with the jail numbers 7021, 7042, 7053, and 7089. It is King's second arrest.
Now at risk of being declared in violation of the anti-boycott injunction, the twice-weekly mass meetings are canceled. In their place are substituted twice-weekly "prayer meetings" at the same churches, the same times, and with the same speakers. The "prayer meeting" that night at Abernathy's church is large and spirited. When the 89 arrestees are brought forward in honor they are given a standing ovation that rolls on and on. Bayard Rustin later recalled, "In the Black community, going to jail had been a badge of dishonor. Martin made going to jail like receiving a Ph.D." Abernathy declares the next day to be a day of prayer and pilgrimage — "Double-P Day" — when everyone is to walk, no carpools, no taxis, no private cars. It is a public show of solidarity, and it also gives MIA leaders time to plan carpool strategy in response to the injunction.
With the mass indictment and arrests, the bus boycott begins to emerge as an important national and international story. In addition to the local reporters and camera crews who have been covering boycott events, representatives of the major national media are now on the scene and with them are reporters from India, Japan, Italy, France, England, and elsewhere. And in the North, Bayard Rustin, Ella Baker, and Stanley Levison organize a coalition of religious, labor, and political groups to support southern freedom struggles. They name it "In Friendship," and soon it is sending desperately needed funds to Montgomery and other embattled communities in the South.
As winter fades into spring the struggle continues. Each morning men, women and children wake before dawn for the long walk to work or school, each weary evening they return after sunset. Traffic tickets and insurance cancellations take their toll on the carpool drivers, boycotters face firings and evictions. Though the daily grind is wearing, they understand they are walking for their fundamental human dignity. This is not just a boycott, it's a nonviolent revolt — a revolt for political and social power, the power to resist oppression, and the power to win a better life for those who come after.
Rather than go to the expense of trying all 89 defendants and then fighting their appeals through state court, Alabama prosecutors try Dr. King as a test case on March 19, 1956. Boycott supporters from Montgomery and elsewhere in the nation, including Congressman Charles Diggs (D-MI), pack the courtroom, as do local, national, and international journalists. Hundreds are unable to squeeze inside and they stand in the halls and streets around the courthouse. Despite four days of testimony, the facts are largely irrelevant — everyone understands that the real issue is the power of white authority to suppress Black demands for change. On Thursday, March 22, both sides rest their case. Judge Eugene Carter wastes no time on re-reading the briefs or reviewing evidence. He takes not a moment for deliberation. He immediately convicts Dr. King of violating the anti-boycott law and fines him $500 (equal to $4,200 in 2012). King's defense files an appeal: State of Alabama v. Martin Luther King, Jr. (When attorneys miss a filing deadline in 1957, the appeal is dismissed on that technicality and the fine is paid, but by this time the boycott has been won and bus segregation ruled unconstitutional.)
Dr. King later recalled:
Ordinarily, a person leaving a courtroom with a conviction behind him would wear a somber face. But I left with a smile. I knew that I was a convicted criminal, but I was proud of my crime. It was the crime of joining my people in a nonviolent protest against injustice. It was the crime of seeking to instill within my people a sense of dignity and self-respect. It was the crime of desiring for my people the unalienable rights of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. It was above all the crime of seeking to convince my people that noncooperation with evil is just as much a moral duty as is cooperation with good. — Martin Luther King.
On April 23rd, the U.S. Supreme Court rules in Fleming v South Carolina Electric & Gas that bus segregation laws in Columbia SC are unconstitutional. The next day bus segregation ends in more than a dozen southern cities. Montgomery City Lines attorney Jack Crenshaw sees the hand-writing on the wall and advises the company to settle the boycott by ending segregation. But the city fathers are adamant — this is a struggle over white-supremacy, not a question of who sits where on a bus. Police Commissioner Sellers declares that bus drivers who fail to enforce segregation will be arrested. The buses remain segregated and the boycott carries on.
In May, Montgomery's spirit of nonviolent revolt spreads 180 miles south when Florida A&M students and the Black community launch the Tallahassee bus boycott. Now there are two simultaneous boycotts, and what began as a local issue in Montgomery when one woman refuses to give up her seat is stirring winds of change across multiple southern states. To the white power-structure these are storm warnings that require prompt retaliatory action.
Though local NAACP leaders and members are active in the boycott, the national NAACP leadership in New York is ambivalent. Their strategy is litigation, and they've always been deeply uneasy over any form of mass action. Eventually they agree to help fund the appeal of Browder v Gayle and the defense of those arrested, and but they are tailing rather than leading the campaign.
The white power-structure, however, seems things differently. In their view, only dark conspiracies and outside agitators can explain this revolt by Montgomery's "happy and contented Colored population." On June 1st, as part of a south-wide attack on the NAACP, Alabama Attorney General (and later Governor) John Patterson obtains an utterly unconstitutional court order outlawing the NAACP everywhere in the state on grounds that they are "...organizing, supporting, and financing, an illegal boycott by Negro residents of Montgomery." A fine of $100,000 (equal to almost $843,000 in 2012) is levied against the organization. NAACP offices are shut and records seized.
With the NAACP driven underground throughout the state, Alabama's white power-structure is confident that they have met — and mastered — a dire threat to the "southern way of life." But they forget that the law of unintended consequences has never been repealed. Across the state, former NAACP leaders and members set up new organizations, and to old ones they bring an influx of new activists and energy. Proclaiming that "They can outlaw an organization, but they cannot outlaw the movement of a people determined to be free," Rev. Fred Shuttlesworth forms the Alabama Christian Movement for Human Rights (ACMHR) in Birmingham. In Mobile, Rev. Joseph Lowery builds the Alabama Civic Affairs Association with bus segregation as its target. And these groups are no longer restrained by the national NAACP's distaste for mass action and civil disobedience.
Meanwhile, relentless efforts by the power-structure to defeat the boycott continue. They can't stop people from walking, but if they can suppress the organized carpools they believe some Blacks will be forced back onto the busses in order to get to work, and they're convinced that once some return, others will surrender to inconvenience and follow. Police harassment of drivers and riders waiting at pickup points ratchets upwards. The White Citizens Council increases its pressure on insurance providers to cancel policies on cars and drivers participating in the carpool. The state threatens to suspend the drivers licenses and impound the cars of those cited for multiple traffic offenses.
Boycott supporters in the North raise enough funds to buy 19 station wagons and give one to each Montgomery church actively supporting the boycott. These "rolling churches" are soon running regular routes throughout the day to pick up and drop off boycotters. Drivers can be rotated so that no individual collects too many tickets, and impounding a car owned by a church is legally more difficult than doing so to one owned by an individual. The Citizens Council labors to block them, four times the insurance policies on the church cars are canceled. King family friend T.M. Alexander recalls:
I was in the insurance business. ... And the bus boycott started in Montgomery. Well, immediately in the insurance industry the word passed around, 'Don't nobody insure Martin Luther King's [station wagons] that were given to him.' ... Because if they couldn't get the public liability and property damage insurance, they couldn't drive [them]. If they couldn't drive [them], they couldn't take these domestics and these employees to their various jobs. Naturally the people having to work, they woulda had to go back on the buses. So this was one way that they were hoping to break the bus boycott. Well, King couldn't get any insurance anywhere ... so he called me and asked if I could help him get some liability insurance. Well, then I called some of the companies that I was dealin' with here in Atlanta, knowing that I was giving 'em thousands of dollars' worth of premiums. They said, 'Alexander, we'd do anything in the world for you. You give us a lot of business. But the word has been passed 'round throughout the Southeast: Anybody that insures those station wagons in Montgomery will be kicked out of the insurance field.' [Alexander contacts an agent in Chicago with connections to Lloyd's of London.] I convinced this man to give us a binder, and he cabled Lloyd's and got me a binder on nineteen station wagons, and the policy read like this: "Nineteen Christian churches, nineteen station wagons, Montgomery, Alabama. Signed 'Lloyd's of London.' — T.M. Alexander.
As they've been doing for six long months, on Monday, June 4, the men, women, and children of Montgomery's Black community wake with the sun and begin their long walks. The carpool drivers top off their tanks and start transporting those assembled at the dispatch stations. But on this Monday in a downtown federal courtroom, a panel of three federal judges rule 2-1 in Browder v Gayle that the city's bus segregation laws are unconstitutional. City attorneys immediately appeal the ruling. While their appeal is pending, the buses remain segregated and the boycotters have to keep walking in the stifling heat and humidity of an Alabama summer, but now they are filled with optimism and pride — they have held on, refused to bow, and victory is in sight.
On August 25, dynamite explodes in the front yard of the Trinity Lutheran parsonage, home of Rev. Robert Graetz and his family, who are among the few whites who support the boycott. Using their "investigation" as a pretext, the police seize his personal papers and letters and then grill the minister as if he were the criminal. Mayor Gayle, still vainly seeking the mythical white agitators who have stirred up his happy and contented Colored folk, publicly accuses Graetz of bombing his own home as ".. a publicity stunt to build up interest of the Negroes in their campaign."
On November 13, Alabama state judge Eugene Carter convenes court to issue an injunction shutting down the carpool system on which the boycott depends. Under its terms, Blacks are forbidden to gather on street corners to wait for rides, and anyone who is merely accused of operating a carpool can be summarily jailed for Contempt of Court without trial. Despair almost overwhelms the boycotters who fill the seats, and in the words of Dr. King: "The clock said it was noon, but it was midnight in my soul." Suddenly, while the judge is still reading his order, word reaches the Montgomery courtroom that without wasting time on useless arguments the United States Supreme Court has decisively rejected the city's appeal and affirmed the ruling that bus segregation is unconstitutional. Jubilation breaks out among the Black spectators as Carter pounds his gavel and futilely shouts for order.
Like petulant children, the city Commissioners stubbornly refuse to acknowledge the Supreme Court decision as communicated to the world by radio, telephone, telegraph, television and newsprint. They are determined to enforce bus segregation until the ruling is physically delivered to them on a piece of paper. With the carpools now shut down, this means that Montgomery Blacks have to walk on through chill Fall rains for another five weeks as the Court's sluggish bureaucracy takes their leisure time to generate the necessary paperwork and deliver it to Montgomery.
Finally, on Thursday, December 20, U.S. marshals personally serve notice on city officials. That night a giant mass meeting declares victory after 381 days — the boycott is ended. The next day at dawn, Blacks begin boarding the buses, sitting wherever they please.
We had won self-respect. We had won a feeling that we had achieved, had accomplished. We felt that we were somebody, that somebody had to listen to us, that we had forced the white man to give what we knew was a part of our citizenship. If you have never had the feeling that this is the other man's country and you are an alien in it, but that this is your country, too, then you don't know what I'm talking about. But it is a hilarious feeling that just goes all over you, that makes you feel that America is a great country and we're going to do more to make it greater. — Jo Ann Robinson.
For more information:
Montgomery Bus Boycott & Rosa Parks books
Martin Luther King books
Montgomery Bus Boycott 1955-1956
Martin Luther King
Dr. King's address to first boycott mass meeting (King Papers Project, Stanford University)
Documents: The Montgomery Story (Comic Book)
1. I've Got the Light of Freedom: The Organizing Tradition and the Mississippi Freedom Struggle, Charles Payne. 2. On the Road to Freedom, Charlie Cobb. 3. My Soul is Rested: The Story of the Civil Rights Movement in the Deep South, Howell Raines. 4. Stride Toward Freedom, Martin Luther King. 5. Parting the Waters, America in the King Years 1954-1963, Taylor Branch. 6. Documentary History of the Modern Civil Rights Movement, by Peter Levy. 7. Voices of Freedom: An Oral History of the Civil Rights Movement, by Hampton & Fayer. | <urn:uuid:bb5f344c-c55b-4bed-91bb-ecaed8f0e0f8> | {
"date": "2015-07-03T15:35:15",
"dump": "CC-MAIN-2015-27",
"file_path": "s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2015-27/segments/1435375096156.35/warc/CC-MAIN-20150627031816-00036-ip-10-179-60-89.ec2.internal.warc.gz",
"int_score": 3,
"language": "en",
"language_score": 0.9735593199729919,
"score": 2.84375,
"token_count": 19779,
"url": "http://www.crmvet.org/tim/timhis55.htm"
} |
NNU’s new engineering program received an equipment grant from Hewlett Packard (HP) November 1, 2012 that allows for creation of a 3-D design, visualization and prototyping lab. This groundbreaking, high-tech lab will allow NNU students to incorporate HP’s leading-edge hardware and software into an innovative engineering curriculum.
This state-of-the-art test bed for applying HP’s latest computing, scanning and printing technology will be integrated into a truly modern engineering education at NNU. Features of the lab allow students to:
• Utilize Computer Aided Design (CAD) and Computer Aided Manufacturing (CAM), modeling, visualization and prototyping tools with a 3-D design theme throughout all four years of the BS in engineering degree program.
• Quickly and inexpensively translate their new creations from the realm of their own imagination to actual fabricated objects and products that can be tested and refined.
• Gain more in-depth learning and understanding of design through improved visualization, tactile manipulation and rapid turnaround prototyping of student designs.
• Give rise to new, innovative undergraduate research and design projects through collaboration with HP and other local and regional high-tech companies.
“Engineering design is an integral part of any engineering program,” said Dan Lawrence, chair of the NNU department of physics and engineering. “It is where we start and finish all our students. Whether learning the basics of computer-aided design or putting a senior design project together, this laboratory will give our students the best tools available to achieve excellence in their endeavors,”
The lab will roll out in two phases, the first of which will begin by the end of 2012 and the second for the 2013-14 school year.
Other highlights of the lab’s capabilities include:
• Open-source 3-D printers and rapid prototyping of plastic and metal parts to check form, fit and functionality
• 3-D scanning of objects for the purpose of replication and reverse engineering
• Large format engineering 2-D printing
• 3-D numerical modeling and finite element simulation
• 3-D video and solid model animation and rendering capability for fast design iteration
“Supporting growth and development of the engineering programs in our local universities and colleges is critically important to developing the technical talent pool in the valley, and it also creates more opportunities and options for our local high school graduates looking to pursue a technical career path,” said Jim Nottingham, vice president for HP, Boise. “We believe that providing these schools with world-class technology from HP will enhance the quality of education and ultimately the caliber of technical graduates from these programs.”
NNU students, as well as visiting K-12 student from the Treasure Valley, will be able to gain critical hands-on experience in sophisticated 3-D engineering technology. The learning lab will also contribute to NNU’s new engineering program achieving initial ABET accreditation in 2014. NNU currently offers engineering physics, electrical engineering and mechanical engineering specializations with over 60 students enrolled. | <urn:uuid:884323ce-214e-4148-900d-d4a6d674a9ff> | {
"date": "2014-07-24T03:51:28",
"dump": "CC-MAIN-2014-23",
"file_path": "s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2014-23/segments/1405997885796.93/warc/CC-MAIN-20140722025805-00136-ip-10-33-131-23.ec2.internal.warc.gz",
"int_score": 3,
"language": "en",
"language_score": 0.9215877056121826,
"score": 2.671875,
"token_count": 638,
"url": "http://www.nnu.edu/news/2012/11/01/northwest-nazarene-university-creates-advanced-3-d-design-lab-with-hewlett-packard-grant/"
} |
The pyramid of the Evil eye
The evil eye is thought to be a malevolent look cast upon a person because of envy or anger, and causing misfortune. Different cultures also have their own measures of protection against the evil eye. In many cases, protective talismans were made using the colour lapis lazuli, found in the background of Mona Lisa del Prado. (Signs & Symbols, 2008, pp. 107, 116, 175, 194, 339)
Image 15. The spiral pyramid in the background of Mona Lisa del Prado
In Mona Lisa del Prado, the spiral pyramid in the background is the pyramid of the Moon and of femininity. This is fitting, since Mona Lisa del Prado represents the Mother, the feminine, in the Trinity of Mona Lisas, as explained earlier. As the female refines the male seed into a child, this same symbolism is repeated with the pyramids. The masculine pyramid stands still (representing eternal Knowledge – never changing), whereas the feminine spiral represents the masculinity in motion (changing, refining, turning Knowledge into practical wisdom and application). In fact, without a pyramid there cannot be a spiral – just like a word cannot exist without a thought that precedes it.
As mentioned, ancient Egyptian scripture portrays the god Horus with the Sun and the Moon as his eyes. The hawk is the symbol of Horus. If we look closely, we can see the wing of Horus the Hawk on the left side of the painting (Image 11). As was concluded earlier, Mona Lisa del Prado is the Moon, which is visible in the colour of her skin. As opposite to the Louvre Mona Lisa with the all-seeing-eye, Mona Lisa del Prado is the evil eye, a concept known to many different cultures. | <urn:uuid:b406d31a-dcbf-437b-9b00-e67f6ac30cfa> | {
"date": "2018-12-13T06:05:48",
"dump": "CC-MAIN-2018-51",
"file_path": "s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2018-51/segments/1544376824525.29/warc/CC-MAIN-20181213054204-20181213075704-00536.warc.gz",
"int_score": 3,
"language": "en",
"language_score": 0.9180417060852051,
"score": 3.09375,
"token_count": 370,
"url": "https://houseoftruth.education/en/teaching/mona-lisa/the-pyramid-of-the-evil-eye"
} |
Learn Classical Chinese Music | Traditional Instruments | Audio Clips
Chinese music is basically pentatonic-diatonic, meaning that the basic pentatonic scale can be modulated within a diatonic context. The theory talks of 12-notes to an octave, but most of the compositions are overwhelmingly pentatonic with diatonic/chromatic passing tones.
The music is somehow related to the Chinese language. Unlike the western languages, Chinese language has tonality: the same pronunciation with different tones represents different meaning, depending on whether it is a flat tone, or sliding from a lower to higher pitch or from the higher to the lower, or a combination. The same thing for music, except that there are more possibilities in tonality which is more sensitive and subtle. Therefore, one phrase in Chinese classical music is not simply a string of notes; but each note has its own life and meaning, depending on how you play it in the context.
Classical Chinese music is closely related with Chinese poetry. Therefore, it is not surprising that most of the classical pieces have very poetic and sometimes philosophical titles. Traditional classical music in this sense is intimately linked to poetry and to various forms of lyric drama and is more or less poetry without words. In the same manner as poetry, music sets out to express human feelings, soothe suffering and bring spiritual elevation. Therefore, it is very important to understand the meaning and set the mind and the heart "in tune" with the music. The best performances should bring out harmony with one's surroundings, although at times a more aggressive tone is used. The intonation is very subtle, and generally similar to poetic recitation. The music itself is clearly designed to be an abstract complement to the highly-developed poetic genres, and bears similar titles. The prominence of poetry & the aphorism might help explain the restricted impact of vocal art music.
Solo instrumental performance is the most serious musical genre. There are rather few classical compositions, although each instrument has its own repertory. Some of these repertories are several centuries old, and musicians add to them only slowly, especially in some areas. Therefore many compositions will be repeated from CD to CD, mostly for the same instrument, but sometimes versions exist for more than one instrument. Also, a performance by a musician from a different lineage will often bring out different facets of the same piece.
Appreciating classical Chinese music can be likened to appreciating traditional Chinese painting. Take, for instance, the traditional painting for landscapes: there is no obvious focus in the picture, but each part seems to have its own focus in such a manner that the variety of local character is in harmony with the whole picture, including the empty parts. In traditional Chinese painting, the empty parts are very important too in order to give the whole painting life. The same is true with classical Chinese music. Each phrase is one sentence followed by a certain silence in such a way that the variety of sounds and the silences (and sometimes noise) are combined harmoniously in forming the sound poetry, creating a kind of dynamic link between the performer and the audience. A good performer can create such a link so that the listeners can experience the power and the beauty of the music in a way like enjoying a beautiful poem and painting. To achieve this, only technique is not enough. It is a heart-to-heart process.
~ Yiguang Zhang, Founder
[click here to learn more about traditional instruments] | <urn:uuid:a50ea60c-94d7-4157-a9de-aeaf2fe0cf58> | {
"date": "2016-12-03T02:25:04",
"dump": "CC-MAIN-2016-50",
"file_path": "s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-50/segments/1480698540804.14/warc/CC-MAIN-20161202170900-00008-ip-10-31-129-80.ec2.internal.warc.gz",
"int_score": 4,
"language": "en",
"language_score": 0.9557010531425476,
"score": 3.546875,
"token_count": 708,
"url": "http://www.dolphin.upenn.edu/cmusic/learnclassical.html"
} |
Dental disease is the most common disease in dogs and cats. Over 68% of all pets over the age of three have some form of dental or periodontal disease! Sometimes pets will show a few noticeable signs of dental disease such as bad breath, or other sings usually secondary to pain (loss of appetite, drooling, pawing, etc). If left untreated, the advanced stages of periodontal disease can lead to heart, liver, kidney, and lung disease, as well as a significantly reduced quality of life.
PREVENTION IS IMPORTANT! Please discuss preventative measures with our staff at your next appointment, such as dental chews, water additives, and teeth brushing, to ensure the healthiest teeth and gums possible for your pet.
Dental cleanings and surgery: Northern RI Animal Hospital provides comprehensive dental procedures, which are performed under general anesthesia and include a complete evaluation and therapeutic treatment of your pet's teeth and gums. The procedure involves probing, scaling, and polishing of teeth. Additionally, all of our dental surgery patients receive full-mouth dental radiographs, which can show disease progression and tooth integrity under the gum line (think of the tooth being like an iceberg... only the tip is visible, and most of the disease is unseen below the gumline!) In instances where dental disease has progressed, the veterinarian may choose to perform extractions so as to further prevent future infection, disease and pain.
All pets admitted for "dentals" are considered surgical patients. Please see our Surgical Services page to educate yourself as to what your pet's day in the hospital will entail. | <urn:uuid:33dd515c-5b34-4bd6-8a05-fda8f56e0d01> | {
"date": "2019-07-16T14:34:32",
"dump": "CC-MAIN-2019-30",
"file_path": "s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2019-30/segments/1563195524568.14/warc/CC-MAIN-20190716135748-20190716161748-00456.warc.gz",
"int_score": 3,
"language": "en",
"language_score": 0.946444571018219,
"score": 2.765625,
"token_count": 330,
"url": "https://www.nriah.com/dentalservices.pml"
} |
This false-color mosaic of the central part of the Andes mountains of South America (70 degrees west longitude, 19 degrees south latitude) is made up of 42 images acquired by the Galileo spacecraft from an altitude of about 25,000 kilometers (15,000 miles). A combination of visible (green) and near-infrared (0.76 and 1.0-micron) filters was chosen for this view to separate regions with distinct vegetation and soil types. The mosaic shows the area where Chile, Peru and Bolivia meet. The Pacific Coast appears at the left of the image-- Galileo captured this view as it traveled west over the Pacific Ocean, looking back at the Andes. Lakes Titicaca and Poopo are nearly black patches at the top and center, respectively; a large light-blue area below and to the left of Lake Poopo is Salar de Uyuni, a dry salt lake some 120 kilometers (75 miles) across. These lakes lie in the Altiplano, a region between the western and eastern Andes, which are covered by clouds. The vegetation-bearing Gran Chaco plains east of the Andes appear pale green. Light-blue patches in the mountains to the north are glaciers. | <urn:uuid:b279df62-9a3a-4854-954e-e864a63beca9> | {
"date": "2018-08-14T20:13:52",
"dump": "CC-MAIN-2018-34",
"file_path": "s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2018-34/segments/1534221209562.5/warc/CC-MAIN-20180814185903-20180814205903-00216.warc.gz",
"int_score": 4,
"language": "en",
"language_score": 0.9179939031600952,
"score": 3.640625,
"token_count": 251,
"url": "https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/spaceimages/details.php?id=PIA00133"
} |
What is voltage? - Definition from WhatIs.com
Pressures in the Body – College Physics - opentextbc.caConcave mirrors curve inward, creating a focal point in front of the mirror.
A group of adolescent boys then discuss how erections can be embarrassing, and their experiences of having a wet dream.Which of the following object distance should be chosen for this purpose.One common definition of up and down uses gravity and the planet Earth as a frame of reference.Lenses 7-26-00 Sections 23.9 - 23.10 Ray diagram for a diverging lens.
Physics Light Visible Light Reflection Curved Mirror Concave Mirror. Top. Concave Mirror.
asymptotic Definition in the Cambridge English DictionaryThis type of image is called a virtual image, because light waves do not actually pass through.A totally reflecting prism is that which has one of its angle equal to 90 degree and each of the remaining two angles equal to 45 degree here the phenomenon of total internal reflection is used.For an angle of incidence of 0 o, the angle of reflection is 0 o, and the angle of refraction is 0 o regardless of the relative values of n i and n t, as shown in Fig. 2 below.An erect image, in optics, is one that appears right-side up.Science is an intellectual activity carried on by humans that is designed to discover information about the natural world in which humans live and to discover the ways in which this information can be organized into meaningful patterns.
Uses of Convex Mirror Definition | Equation - Physics
BBC Bitesize - KS3 Biology - Erections and wet dreams
up - WordReference.com Dictionary of EnglishThe focal piont of a concave mirror is located in front of the mirror.The explanation with ray diagram is given in the saikirank answer.
Concave mirrors are often used as shaving mirrors to produce an erect, enlarged image.The lens equation states the way to find the magnification of an object.An example of hard is scoring a good grade on a test in a subject that one has neve.The ratio of the speed in vacuum to that in the material is called the index of refraction n.
For plane (flat) mirrors, light is reflected according to the law of reflection.Information about physique in the AudioEnglish.org dictionary, synonyms and antonyms.For understanding the concept of the mirror, we should know about the law of reflection which states that when a beam of light is passed through a surface then it is deflected at some angle.Professor Robert Winston describes the physiological changes that take place in the body when a man gets an erection.
Two different types of mirror are concave and convex mirror with different properties.The size of the image formed by a lens depends on the size of the object as well as the position of the object from the lens.Standard nomenclature is employed with respect to the anatomic position.Since there is a very noticeable force of gravity acting between the Earth and any other nearby object, down is defined as that direction which an object moves in reference to the Earth when the object is allowed to fall freely.
Uses of Convex Mirror Convex mirrors are often used in the hallways of buildings including stores, schools, hospitals, hotels and apartment buildings.Lakhmir Singh Physics Class 10 Solutions Reflection of Light.They are used in driveways, roads, and alleys to provide safety to all the bikers and motorists at curves and turns and other places where there is a lack of visibility.In addition, the image is erect and so does not need a separate inversion as with the astronomical design.
Erection dictionary definition | erection definedProper usage and pronunciation (in phonetic transcription) of the word physique.Diverging lenses come in a few different shapes, but all diverging lens are fatter on the edge than they are in the center.
Introduction to Physics for Life Sciences Flashcards
Link to This Definition Did you find this definition of BEARING helpful.The longitudinal axis of symmetry CO is called as the principal axis or the optical axis and F, which is the. | <urn:uuid:997b0aa5-63eb-45f3-9df3-984499d78cea> | {
"date": "2018-12-16T21:54:09",
"dump": "CC-MAIN-2018-51",
"file_path": "s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2018-51/segments/1544376827998.66/warc/CC-MAIN-20181216213120-20181216235120-00216.warc.gz",
"int_score": 4,
"language": "en",
"language_score": 0.9196129441261292,
"score": 3.5,
"token_count": 865,
"url": "http://cameraauctions.tk/judav/erect-definition-physics-3732.php"
} |
Mat is a common structure used in OpenCV to store two and higher dimensional data. It is a derivation of the internal Array structure. A relational operator can applied between two Mat objects or a Mat object and a scalar, and the result is a 8-bit single-channel Mat.
Any of these operations is nothing but a call to compare function. This results in a per-element comparison of the Mat. The key information to remember is that for every element whose result is true, the value in the result Mat is set to
0xFF, that is
255. If result is false, it is set to
0. This behavior is so that the resulting Mat can be used as a mask image if needed for other operations.
The operators that are supported are equal, not-equal, greater, greater-or-equal, lesser and lesser-or-equal.
Example usage of such operations:
cv::Mat m0, m1;
cv::Mat m2(m0 == 0);
m2 = m0 > m1;
m2 = m1 <= m0;
m2 = m1 != 1;
if i == j:
# Do something
if i is j:
# Do something
== operator checks the values behind the two names. It returns True if the two values are equal, False otherwise.
is operator checks the objects behind the two names. It returns True if both the names refer to the same object, False otherwise.
Tried with: Python 3.2
In Python, the
* (asterisk) character is not only used for multiplication and replication, but also for unpacking. There does not seem to be any name for this kind of
* operator and thus searching for it online is difficult. But, it is commonly called as the unpack or splat operator in this role.
* on any iterable object, by placing it to the left of the object, produces the individual elements of the iterable.
I imagine this operator as shattering the container that holds the items together, so they are now free and individual. The look of the asterisk character helps bolster this imagination.
def foo( x, y, z ):
print( "First is ", x, " then ", y, " lastly ", z )
a = [ 1, 50, 99 ]
foo( a )
# TypeError: foo() takes exactly 3 arguments (1 given)
foo( *a )
# First is 1 then 50 lastly 99
b = [ [55,66,77], 88, 99 ]
foo( *b )
# First is [55,66,77] then 88 lastly 99
For more info, see More Control Flow Tools.
Tried with: Python 3.2.2
The output redirection operators > and >> work in PowerShell just like they do in any other shell. > overwrites a file while >> appends to the file.
These output redirection operators are just aliases for the Out-File cmdlet. The equivalent invocations for > and >> are Out-File and Out-File -Append
Tried with: PowerShell 2.0 | <urn:uuid:214f203d-5517-4aea-8c03-038ef7f6dd9e> | {
"date": "2015-07-04T03:18:18",
"dump": "CC-MAIN-2015-27",
"file_path": "s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2015-27/segments/1435375096301.47/warc/CC-MAIN-20150627031816-00176-ip-10-179-60-89.ec2.internal.warc.gz",
"int_score": 4,
"language": "en",
"language_score": 0.8762840628623962,
"score": 3.78125,
"token_count": 664,
"url": "http://choorucode.com/tag/operator/"
} |
Nuclear power is galvanizing Japan, stirring up public discussions and outright dissent with demonstrations and all, a rare occurrence in Japan. It has divided the country in two: those who want nuclear power generation to resume so that a stranglehold can be lifted from the economy, and those who want a “nuclear-free” Japan.
Japan’s power nightmare wasn’t triggered by the March 11 earthquake and tsunami that resulted in the meltdowns at Fukushima Number One; power companies could have worked around the vacuum left behind by the four defunct reactors. But it was triggered by the Japanese people who finally had had enough. Nuclear contamination in unexpected areas, scandals of collusion between regulators and the omnipotent nuclear power industry, mounting evidence of negligence and even malfeasance, and a history of cover-ups have turned many Japanese against the nuclear power industry and its regulators. Read.... A Revolt, the Quiet Japanese Way.
As a result, each time one of the remaining 50 reactors was taken off line for scheduled maintenance, local opposition prevented power companies from bringing it back on line. Until March 11, 2011, nuclear power produced 30% of Japan’s electricity. By the evening of May 5 this year, it was zero. “Nuclear-free” Japan had arrived.
And so had an energy vacuum: during the demand peak this summer, Kansai, the Osaka area that is heavily dependent on nuclear power, is expected to be 15% short on electricity. Other service areas are impacted as well, but less so. The government issued “voluntary” power saving targets to cover the shortfalls. If insufficient, rolling blackouts will be the next step.
Companies are preparing. Power interruptions, rolling blackouts, and even “voluntary” power saving targets would strain resources and cause cascading problems in supply chains. Some companies are relocating production to less affected areas in Japan or to other countries. They will curtail the use of air conditioning while allowing Hawaiian shirts instead of the salaryman garb of suit and tie. Large manufacturers are increasing their own power generation capacity—at a price. TEPCO, the owner of Fukushima Number One, is being nationalized at taxpayer expense (the government may end up owning 76% of the voting rights), and it’s trying to push through a 17% rate hike for its corporate customers. As power generation has switched to natural gas, prices for imported liquefied natural gas (LNG), Japan’s only source, have jumped—causing nine out of Japan’s ten mega-utilities to spill red ink. This is going to be one heck of an expensive summer!
Under heavy pressure from the nuclear industry and Japan Inc. to get nuclear power back into the mix, the government has tried to overcome opposition with reactor “stress tests” and other shenanigans. And it has approved the restart of reactors number 3 and 4 of the nuclear plant in the city of Oi, Fukui Prefecture; they’d passed the “stress test” with flying colors.
But the people failed to bite. Osaka Mayor Toru Hashimoto, a popular youngish politician, along with Fukui Governor Issei Nishikawa, Oi Mayor Shinobu Tokioka, and a number of other municipal officials came out against restarting the reactors. And Hashimoto pronounced in the national media what so many had already lamented, that the central government had no way of guaranteeing the safety of the reactors; and he called for the creation of a nuclear regulatory agency that would be truly independent of government and industry alike.
The government, the nuclear industry, and Japan Inc. will continue to push their agenda to get the 50 still functional reactors back on line, one after the other, even if they sit on top of a major fault or are at the end of their design life. But those who strive for a “nuclear-free” Japan feel emboldened by their victory of sorts, and they’re unlikely to lie down. For a deeply cynical series of images, check out.... Nuclear Contamination as Seen by Japanese Humor.
Yet there cannot be a “nuclear-free” Japan. Not for a generation or two. Japan might succeed in weaning itself off nuclear power in record time, perhaps even this summer, through a mix of conservation, innovative technologies to wring power consumption out of production processes, and increased power generation from fossil fuels. And it might be able to add with record speed solar, wind, geothermal, and tidal power generation to its energy portfolio. Given the confiscatory prices Japan has to pay for natural gas ($15 per million Btu and up), renewables are an economic option. But what Japan won’t be able to do quickly is to decommission and get rid of its nuclear power plants.
It will take decades and many billions of dollars to decommission each plant. During that time, the plant will not generate electricity but will turn into a bottomless, radioactive money pit. While smaller reactors have been decommissioned at great expense, no one has yet fully decommissioned a large commercial reactor. The strategy has been to renew the licenses when they expire. The easy way out. For a time. And even after reactors are decommissioned, they remain in the landscape as contaminated concrete hulks. Nuclear power is expensive even if only the first part of its lifecycle—construction and power generation—are included. No power company can afford at current electricity rates to decommission its reactors. So the plan is to hand these expenses to the next generation.
Japan’s nuclear dilemma is not unique. Germany already made the decision to exit nuclear power, but in a methodical fashion so that alternative power generation can be brought on line. All countries with nuclear power plants will eventually have to deal with the costs of decommissioning them. And if Japan gets on the forefront, it might develop unique technologies and become the leader, as it has done so often, in a nascent industry. Meanwhile, whether its nuclear plants are generating power or not, they will remain nuclear facilities with all inherent risks and future expenses.
Japanese still reminisce about the bubble that blew up in 1989 when the Nikkei almost hit 40,000 and when the sky-high prices of real estate could only go up further. The slide down to reality was brutal, and a lot of people lost their shirts. But there has been one investment that has worked out phenomenally well for the otherwise hapless Japanese investor: Gold. Until now. Read.... The Japanese Are Dumping Their Gold.
But maybe these housewives or whoever they were got the timing wrong, once again. Some investors think so. Read.... “This Is the Bottom for Gold”- John Hathaway. | <urn:uuid:fe60ad72-1fb7-4bab-b19d-3617431025ea> | {
"date": "2015-03-29T06:44:50",
"dump": "CC-MAIN-2015-14",
"file_path": "s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2015-14/segments/1427131298228.32/warc/CC-MAIN-20150323172138-00118-ip-10-168-14-71.ec2.internal.warc.gz",
"int_score": 3,
"language": "en",
"language_score": 0.9603018760681152,
"score": 2.640625,
"token_count": 1398,
"url": "http://www.businessinsider.com/nuclear-free-japan-figment-of-the-imagination-2012-5"
} |
poems/prose written by me using irregular verbs as inspiration.
How could you use it in class?
01 Read it. Check understanding.
02 Present it as a gap fill with the verbs in infinitive at the top.
03 Do a Disappearing Sentence.
04 What's the question? After reading, present some answers that need questions. e.g. Last Thursday / President / He built bridges / He caught a cold
01 The President
(be, beat, become, begin, bite, blow up, break, build, buy, catch, could)
It was last Thursday
that I beat the competition
and became president.
I began changing the world,
bit my lip and blew up some enemies.
I broke down walls and built bridges between countries.
I bought presents for everyone.
I could do anything!
But then I caught a cold
and needed to stay in bed.
02 Two Pizzas
(choose, come, cost, cut, do, drink, drive, eat, fall, felt)
The pizza came with a free drink
and cost only €6
so I chose to order two
I cut them into eight slices
like I always did
and ate them (not with you)
I drank two cokes
and fell in love
with the taste of hot pepperoni
But then I felt sick
so dad drove me home
(Whose name by the way is Tony)
03 The Morning
(fight, fly, forget, get up, give, go, grow up, have, hear)
I got up at eight and had a shower.
I heard my mum CALL my name.
I flew to the kitchen, found my breakfast waiting
and then fought with my brother.
I heard my mum SHOUT my name.
I went to school in a hurry but I forgot my books.
I heard my mum YELL my name
She gave me the books.
I gave her a kiss.
I grew up with mornings just like this.
(give, hit, hold, hurt, keep, know leave, let, lose, make, meet)
She held the racquet tight
and HIT the ball
but she hurt her arm (badly)
She kept playing
She knew she could win
But then she lost her arm (sadly)
She left her arm with her mum
and let her other arm play
and she made history (gladly)
She met the King
who gave her the cup
The moral of the poem is...
never give up.
05 The Book
(pay, put, read, ride, ring, run, say, see, sell, send)
She said she saw it and read about it on the internet.
She said it was on a website that sold books.
She said her older sister paid for it.
She said the book was about a woman who rode a horse.
She said they sent it in the post.
She said when the doorbell rang she ran to the front door to get it.
She said she put the book on her shelf and said it looked shiny and great.
She said she hasn't read it because she doesn't like reading.
06 The Break up
(shut, sing, sink, sit, sleep, steal, speak, swim, spend, stand)
My heart sank
when you shut the door
You stole my happiness
When you swam from my shore
I stood alone at the window
I sat and slept on the floor
I could not be happy
I spent a long long time
not knowing what to do
Until at last one day
I met somebody new
We spoke of anything and everything,
and everything was true
and I sang and I sang and at last...
I forgot about you.
(take, teach, tell, write, think, understand, wake up, wear, win)
I woke up and wore the usual clothes to school
I took the usual route to school
They taught me things at school
They told me things at school
I wrote it all in my book at school
I thought I understood it all
Later I won a game of basketball
Then I went home and forgot it all
(Except the basketball) | <urn:uuid:5157a5b9-961b-4d16-9478-b1bb10b230bd> | {
"date": "2018-05-21T03:10:13",
"dump": "CC-MAIN-2018-22",
"file_path": "s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2018-22/segments/1526794863923.6/warc/CC-MAIN-20180521023747-20180521043747-00296.warc.gz",
"int_score": 3,
"language": "en",
"language_score": 0.9713291525840759,
"score": 3.109375,
"token_count": 901,
"url": "http://tefldust.blogspot.com/p/irregular-verse_8.html"
} |
By Michele Borba, Ed.D., author of The 6Rs of Bullying Prevention: Best Proven Practices to Combat Cruelty and Build Respect
“I don’t know why I bother,” the student told me. “Nobody at this school cares about me. Do you know how hard it is to sit by yourself and know the rest of the kids think you’re invisible?”
Oh, the pain of not fitting in or feeling excluded! After all, friends play an enormous role in our students’ lives. It’s tough to tune in to our lessons when kids are wondering: “Why won’t anyone sit next to me or choose me for their team?”
If peer exclusion continues, it not only diminishes self-esteem, but can also diminish academic achievement and be emotionally debilitating. Children who are bullied often lack social networks. And those who bully often realize which kids are less likely to have peers come to their aid. All this is why identifying and supporting marginalized students is part of effective bullying prevention and crucial to creating a safe school climate.
Here are a few strategies from my book, The 6Rs of Bullying Prevention, to help marginalized students feel less like outsiders and more like insiders.
Step 1. Identify Marginalized Students
Marginalized kids are easy to overlook. They often work quietly and hold in their pain. Here are three ways to discover which students may be prone to peer exclusion. Important: Kids must know that their responses will be kept confidential. Never share these findings with students.
- Use an index card sociogram. Ask each student to write the names of two to four peers they hope to play, work, or sit with in a cooperative learning group, during recess, for a game, or in the lunchroom. Collect the cards and identify names of students who appear on few or no cards. You will have a quick index of marginalized students.
- Map social networks. Provide a map of the school cafeteria or playground (or other locations where students congregate in large groups with few adults) and ask students to privately mark: “Where do you sit in the cafeteria (or play on the playground)?” “Who sits (or plays) around you?” Watch for students who have limited or no peers around them.
- Do a quick test. Suppose the bell is about to ring for lunch or recess and students are completing a worksheet. Ask one final question: “Write the name or names of peers you plan to play with or sit next to at lunch.” Then collect the papers. Which names are missing?
Once you identify your marginalized students, become their ally. Reach out and befriend them. Let them know you care, are available, and that your room can always be their safety net.
Step 2. Create Inclusiveness and Caring Peer Connections
Fact: Peer rejection and bullying are reduced in environments where respect and inclusiveness breed. Here are ways to nurture caring peer relationships so students are less likely to be bullied or rejected and more likely to feel welcomed and included.
- Try Mix It Up at Lunch Days. The cafeteria is often identified by students as a place where rejection is frequent. So once a month or week, encourage students to move out of their cliques and to eat with someone new at lunch. Or suggest that your staff implement “Mix It Up at Lunch Day,” a great way for all students to be more inclusive.
- Find one pal. Every child needs a buddy, so be on the lookout for peers who a marginalized student might befriend. School-age kids are more likely to choose friends with similar values or interests. So identify activities or interests that the student enjoys (like chess, art, guitar, skateboarding, basketball) and find a peer who shares one or more of those passions. Create ways to encourage their connection (like putting them on the same team or sitting near one another).
- Form clubs and hold class meetings. School clubs are opportunities for students to connect. Tune in to marginalized kids’ interests or passions and form clubs that address them. Hold class meetings, which help create a feeling of inclusiveness and caring. They can also set an expectation that “in this room, we support one another,” so students are more likely to include peers.
Step 3. Help Marginalized Students Fit In
Always being left out is downright painful and humiliating. Help kids be less likely to be rejected by coaching them to learn a few crucial social-emotional skills.
- Teach social skills. Some kids are rejected because they lack social skills. So watch the student in a social setting, such as in a cooperative group or on the playground. Would learning some friendship skills help him be rejected less? Taking turns, listening, losing gracefully, and using conversation openers are just a few. Friendship skills are learned best by seeing others exhibit them: “Watch. Jim is asking that group if he can play the game. See how he waits until there’s a break and doesn’t barge in? Now he asks the friendliest kid if he can play. That’s how you join a group.” Teach one skill at a time by modeling it yourself. Encourage the student to practice it until he can use it with peers, then teach him the next skill.
- Offer feedback. One long-term study of 400 students found that those who are frequently rejected often have no idea why peers won’t play with them. Help the child learn what she does that turns kids off by tactfully explaining her misstep. For example: “You shoved your way in line. How do you suppose it made the other kids feel? Will they want to play with you if you do that? What can you do instead?” Then help the student develop a healthy behavior alternative. Focus on one behavior at a time so the student won’t feel overwhelmed, and always give your feedback privately.
- Work with the parent. Have you figured out what is working to help a student fit in? Pass on your information to the parent. Are you practicing a social skill with a child? Let parents know how they can reinforce it at home. Do you feel that a student might need the help of a counselor or psychological services? Set up a parent conference. Working with parents is crucial to helping marginalized kids fit in.
Caring adults always play a pivotal role in creating the safe and welcoming environment that all students deserve. It’s up to us to ensure that all students feel as though they belong and know that they have our support.
Michele Borba, Ed.D., is an internationally renowned educator, award-winning author, and parenting, child, and bullying prevention expert. She appears frequently in national media, including on the Today show, Dr. Phil, Dateline, Anderson Cooper, and Dr. Drew, and in TIME, Washington Post, Newsweek, People, The New York Times, and many others. A sought-after motivational speaker, she has presented workshops and keynote addresses throughout the world and has served as a consultant to hundreds of schools and organizations including the Pentagon, who hired Borba to work on eighteen U.S. Army bases to train educators and counselors on bullying prevention. She offers realistic, research-based advice culled from a career of working with over 1 million parents and educators worldwide.
Her proposal “Ending School Violence and Bullying” (SB1667) was signed into California law in 2002. She was awarded the 2016 National Child Safety Award by the Child Safety Network. She lives in Palm Springs, California.
Michele Borba is the author of The 6Rs of Bullying Prevention: Best Proven Practices to Combat Cruelty and Build Respect
We welcome your comments and suggestions. Share your comments, stories, and ideas below, or contact us. All comments will be approved before posting, and are subject to our comment and privacy policies. | <urn:uuid:b23370d2-fdba-4c15-a5c3-b47be6dd33c3> | {
"date": "2017-05-25T12:23:42",
"dump": "CC-MAIN-2017-22",
"file_path": "s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2017-22/segments/1495463608067.23/warc/CC-MAIN-20170525121448-20170525141448-00052.warc.gz",
"int_score": 4,
"language": "en",
"language_score": 0.9599381685256958,
"score": 3.78125,
"token_count": 1653,
"url": "https://freespiritpublishingblog.com/2017/05/15/9-ways-to-boost-inclusiveness-and-help-marginalized-kids-fit-in/"
} |
In the sprawling concert venue that is our universe, black holes often collide to produce cosmic cymbal crashes known as gravitational waves. These collisions, along with other astronomical activity that generates these spacetime disturbances, occur frequently enough that a wave should be rippling through some part of the universe at any given moment. But because the waves quiet to a murmur by the time they reach Earth, astrophysicists only managed to hear their first one in 2015.
After researchers figured out how to listen, though, they made progress quickly. By the end of last year, their miles-long L-shaped detectors, located in Washington, Louisiana, and Italy, had picked up 11 gravitational waves in total. A decade or so from now, they’re hoping to detect about one gravitational wave per day. “We’re transitioning to the goal we originally had 30 years ago,” says physicist Fred Raab of Caltech, a member of the Laser Interferometer Gravitational Wave Observatory (LIGO), which detected the first gravitational wave in 2015. “We didn’t want to just discover one. We wanted to make measuring these things a routine tool.”
Their plans have begun to crystallize: Last Thursday, researchers affiliated with LIGO announced they’d secured a key piece of funding for upgrading their instruments. The National Science Foundation and its British analogue, UK Research and Innovation, have together promised them $35 million. These new funds, along with several international efforts to build more detectors, mean the scientists should be on track to drown in data in the next decade.
Researchers are hoping this gravitational wave data will help them map the universe in richer detail than ever before. That’s because the signals provide information about the universe that is inaccessible via telescopes. In fact, physicists often liken gravitational waves to sound: If telescopes are the eyes on the universe, gravitational wave detectors are the ears. With more sensory information about black holes, neutron stars, and supernovae, researchers have a new data stream with which to study the expansion of the universe and the nature of dark matter, for example.
LIGO plans to use the money to upgrade their Washington and Louisiana detectors into a new iteration, called Advanced LIGO Plus. LIGO senses gravitational waves by combining multiple infrared laser beams along their detectors’ L-shaped arms. Patterns in the laser beam change if a gravitational wave ripples through the arms to warp their length. But to make them even more precise, the LIGO team plans to control quantum properties of the laser light waves in a process known as “light squeezing.” These new detectors should be able to listen for rumblings in a volume of space five times bigger than before.
Another strategy to collect more signals is to build more observatories. Detectors in different locations that register the same signal help the researchers confirm that it’s from a gravitational wave. In addition, more detectors provide more coverage of the universe. Multiple detectors also allow the researchers to eke more information out of the data. For example, multiple signals of the same gravitational wave allow you to pinpoint more precisely where it originated, much like GPS uses multiple satellites to locate your position, says Jo van den Brand of VU Amsterdam, who leads an Italy-based gravitational wave observatory known as Virgo.
Currently, three detectors exist in the world: LIGO’s two detectors and Virgo. But another one is soon coming online: Astrophysicists are about to test a new gravitational wave observatory, called KAGRA, located inside a cave about 200 miles west of Tokyo. They’re unveiling a new technology—mirrors cooled to about 20 degrees above absolute zero—that gravitational wave researchers think could be crucial to all future detectors. They plan to start observing in the fall of 2019, says physicist Takaaki Kajita of the University of Tokyo, who leads the collaboration.
LIGO has also begun constructing another gravitational wave observatory about 300 miles east of Mumbai, India, which is expected to go live in 2025. The team started planning this site as early as 2010, Raab says, and built most of the India detector at the same time as the Louisiana and Washington ones in anticipation of a future third facility abroad. Now that detector’s time seems to have arrived: Raab is currently figuring out how to ship “a few buildings’ worth” of some hundreds of thousands of lasers, photodiodes, mirrors, and loose components from Washington to India. When built, it should be nearly identical to LIGO’s observatories in the US.
These international teams will collaborate to squeeze the most science out of their signals. Members of LIGO and Virgo meet regularly already and have even merged their data analysis teams, and as soon as the Japanese detector demonstrates enough sensitivity, they plan to join.
Collectively, they’re working toward a swift protocol for alerting the community to interesting signals, Raab says. They hope to reach a point where a gravitational wave passing through Earth will get picked up by one detector, then the next, and then a third, all milliseconds apart. They’d feed these signals into an automated system for flagging false positives. Once the signal passes the test, within a minute the automated system would alert observatories around the world to look for the visual origins of the gravitational wave. They’d swivel their telescopes to watch—and try to catch the universe in action.
Update at 12:30 ET on 2/20/19 An earlier version of this article misstated why builders choose to orient detectors in a particular direction.
More Great WIRED Stories
- A scary map shows how climate change will alter cities
- Strava has a new way to build routes with a finger swipe
- What happens if Russia cuts itself off from the internet
- Ride with the guy who builds roller coasters in his yard
- Captain Marvel has the best movie site since Space Jam
- 👀 Looking for the latest gadgets? Check out our latest buying guides and best deals all year round
- 📩 Want more? Sign up for our daily newsletter and never miss our latest and greatest stories | <urn:uuid:80efb9b4-0e67-4e44-8610-f5144b4cdcf2> | {
"date": "2019-03-19T00:49:00",
"dump": "CC-MAIN-2019-13",
"file_path": "s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2019-13/segments/1552912201812.2/warc/CC-MAIN-20190318232014-20190319014014-00256.warc.gz",
"int_score": 3,
"language": "en",
"language_score": 0.938079833984375,
"score": 3.484375,
"token_count": 1289,
"url": "https://www.wired.com/story/get-ready-for-gravitational-waves-all-day-every-day/"
} |
For the 2017 corn harvest, a total of 642 samples sourced from 32 states were analyzed in 3 different labs (Romer Labs Inc., USA; Veterinary Diagnostic Laboratory at Iowa State University, USA; Activation Laboratories, Canada) to characterize the presence and potential risk posed to livestock animal production by six major mycotoxin groups: aflatoxins (Afla), zearalenone (ZEN), Type B Trichothecenes (B-Trich), fumonisins (FUM), Type A trichothecenes (A-Trich), and ochratoxin A (OTA). Samples included corn (388, 60%), corn silage and fresh corn chop (189, 29%), and corn byproducts (65, 10%).
A total of 91% of samples tested positive for mycotoxins compared to 96% in 2016. Type B trichothecenes such as deoxynivalenol continue to pose a major threat to livestock this year, with an occurrence at 78%, average contamination level of 1,027 ± 122 ppb (all values are presented as an average ± SEM), and maximum of 54,149 ppb. Both occurrence and average level are decreased for B-Trich compared to 2016 (85% occurrence with an average of 1682 ± 96 ppb, maximum of 30,440). FUM for the current sample pool is less than 2016 with a prevalence of 45%, an average contamination level of 2343 ± 294 ppb, and a maximum of 64,500 ppb. This is compared to 70% and an average of 3878 ± 410 ppb in 2016. However, the current sample pool is skewed towards Midwestern corn, and those in Southern areas should be mindful of FUM contamination of the 2017 crop from corn grown in these regions.
Table 1. Summary of mycotoxin analysis
|Positive samples (%)||78||45||32||4||<1||<1|
|Mean of positives [ppb]||1027||2342||247||12||114||600|
|SEM1 of positives [ppb]||122||294||36||334||*NA|
|Maximum contamination [ppb]||54,149||64,500||5,556||67||207||600|
1Standard error of mean
Figure 1. Prevalence (%) and average contamination level (ppb) of positive samples for Afla, ZEN, B Trich, and FUM from 2012 to 2017. OTA and A Trich are not represented due to low number of samples
The prevalence of ZEN in the 2017 harvest was 32%, with an average of 247 ± 36 ppb, and maximum of 5556 ppb. Average sample contamination level and prevalence is lower for ZEN compared to 2016 (2016: prevalence at 56% with a mean of 339 ± 62 ppb). Prevalence and average contamination levels of B-Trich, FUM are less than 2016, and appear similar to 2015 while prevalence of ZEN is greater than 2015. Contamination levels of B-Trich and FUM remain above 2015 levels. The overall trend has been increasing prevalence of B-Trich and ZEN contamination since 2013, with a decreasing trend of FUM. Afla prevalence in the sample pool appears to have decreased since 2012, but this year due to weather during the harvest and out-door storage of bumper crop corn, producers should remain vigilant of corn quality and storage conditions throughout the calendar year.
Figure 2. Threat of mycotoxin-related risks to livestock based upon threshold levels according to FDA and EU regulatory and guidance values. States from which samples with levels of contamination representing a high risk are illustrated in red. States with positive samples below high threshold levels are illustrated in pink, without positive samples are illustrated in dark grey, and without samples submitted are illustrated in light grey. State information was not available for all samples. The maximum level does not preclude specific, severe instances of mycotoxin contamination in farm or fields locally, nor does it account for the negative impacts of multiple mycotoxin presence. OTA and A-Trich maps are not included due to small number of positive sample
The contamination of samples with B-Trich above 900 ppb and FUM above 2000 ppb was observed in 16 and 19 states, respectively. Zearalenone levels exceeding 100 ppb were detected in samples from 21 states. The occurrence of samples above threshold levels for Afla, T-2 and OTA were sparse, and found in samples from single sources. Samples of Afla above 20 ppb were detected in South Carolina and Alabama, A-Trich at levels above 100 ppb was found in New York, and OTA above 100 ppb was found in Ohio.
Figure 3. Distribution of contaminated samples
Detected occurrence above the risk level of 100 ppb was 62% for ZEN (73% in 2016) while it was 29% for B-Trich above 900 ppb (51% in 2016), and 28% for FUM above 2,000 ppb (42% in 2016). This 2017 harvest, B-Trich, ZEN, and FUM present the main threats in the US corn, consistent with previous years.
With more than ten-years of experience monitoring the occurrence of mycotoxins in livestock feeds, BIOMIN has shown that co-occurrence of mycotoxins (the presence of more than one mycotoxin) is the rule and not the exception. As illustrated in Figure 4, 43% of US corn samples harvested in 2017 were contaminated with just one mycotoxin while 48% showed co-contamination with more than one mycotoxin, a decrease from 2016 and similar to 2015. Of the co-contaminated samples, 18% were positive for all three fusarium toxins (B-Trich, FUM, and ZEN), while co-contamination with B-Trich and FUM, and B-Trich and ZEN were 14% and 13%, respectively.
Figure 4. Co-occurrence of mycotoxins from 2012-2017.
Overall, B-Trich such as deoxynivalenol present the highest threat in the US corn harvest samples due to its high prevalence and number of samples above the FDA recommended level.
In terms of occurrence, FUM ranks second among the six major mycotoxins analyzed in these samples.
As a result of its co-occurrence with other toxins, ZEN continues to be a concern in US corn.
While occurrence and co-occurrence levels in 2017 have decreased compared to 2016, data suggests fusarium toxins in combination remain a threat to the livestock industry. | <urn:uuid:c8d0fc1b-d37f-4ffc-b397-b71f56a4d315> | {
"date": "2019-12-08T04:54:33",
"dump": "CC-MAIN-2019-51",
"file_path": "s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2019-51/segments/1575540506459.47/warc/CC-MAIN-20191208044407-20191208072407-00056.warc.gz",
"int_score": 3,
"language": "en",
"language_score": 0.9318151473999023,
"score": 2.84375,
"token_count": 1391,
"url": "https://www2.biomin.net/hu/cikkek/mycotoxin-survey-in-us-corn-may-2018-update/"
} |
Bladder cancer is a disease in which cells multiply and spread abnormally in the tissues of the bladder. Located in the pelvis, the bladder is part of the urinary tract that stores urine. Bladder cancer may spread to adjacent organs and lymph nodes prior to spreading through the blood stream to the lungs, liver, bones, or other organs.
The various types of bladder cancer include:
- Transitional cell carcinoma, which originates in cells lining the inside of the bladder. This is the most common form of bladder cancer, accounting for 97% of all cases
- Squamous cell carcinoma, which originates in thin, flat cells that are found on the surface of the skin
- Adenocarcinoma, which originates in cells that produce and release mucus and other fluids
Bladder cancers are classified (staged) by how deeply they invade into the bladder wall, which has several layers. Superficial bladder cancer is limited to the innermost linings of the bladder. Invasive bladder cancer penetrates the muscular layer of the bladder wall.
Bladder cancer develops in more than 50,000 Americans each year. According to the American Cancer Society, men are about three times more likely than women to develop bladder cancer, and older people are more likely to be affected by the disease.
Virtua Fox Chase Cancer Program
The Virtua Fox Chase Cancer Program provides each patient with an individualized treatment plan based on the stage of the cancer as well as the patient's age, health, and personal choices. Patients may obtain an outpatient second opinion with a Fox Chase Cancer Center specialist who comes to Virtua to meet with the patient and family.
Interdisciplinary care teams are staffed by oncology experts, including board-certified, fellowship-trained urologic oncologists who have completed advanced training at leading medical institutions such as Memorial Sloan-Kettering, Yale-New Haven Hospital and Duke University Medical Center.
The clinical staff also includes surgeons specially trained in pelvic surgery and reconstruction techniques that help improve surgical outcomes and minimize the potential effects of surgery to this sensitive area of the body. In addition, a team of oncology certified and advanced practice nurses provides expert treatment, education, and support to patients and their families.
Interdisciplinary clinical care teams may also include:
- Urologic oncologists
- Radiation oncologists
- Medical oncologists
- Oncology social workers
- Dietitians and physical therapists
Bladder cancer treatment requires a team of specialists because the care often includes:
- Drug therapy
- Nursing care
- Physical support
- Emotional support
The Virtua Fox Chase Cancer Program provides this full range of care – and additional services – in a coordinated and supportive environment.
Surgery is a common treatment option for people who have bladder cancer. The clinical staff at the Virtua Fox Chase Cancer Program includes surgeons specially trained in pelvic surgery and reconstruction techniques that help to improve surgical outcomes and minimize the potential effects of surgery to this sensitive area of the body.
The program also has outpatient chemotherapy and infusion centers at Virtua Marlton, Virtua Memorial and Virtua Voorhees hospitals.
Learn more about minimally invasive surgery through robotic-assisted surgery, which uses a state-of-the-art surgical system. The technology allows the doctor to perform complex procedures through just a few tiny openings. As a result, patients may be able to get back to life faster without the usual recovery following major surgery. | <urn:uuid:16ca04de-cd11-42a4-b3cf-abea9629c207> | {
"date": "2014-07-30T00:56:10",
"dump": "CC-MAIN-2014-23",
"file_path": "s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2014-23/segments/1406510268363.15/warc/CC-MAIN-20140728011748-00342-ip-10-146-231-18.ec2.internal.warc.gz",
"int_score": 4,
"language": "en",
"language_score": 0.9459580183029175,
"score": 3.53125,
"token_count": 715,
"url": "http://www.virtua.org/health/bladder-cancer/introduction.aspx"
} |
New medicines are being created all the time. It can be a long process and cost a lot of money but that’s because safety is important.
For as long as there have been bumped toes and tummy aches people have been coming up with medicines to make us better.
They wouldn’t have looked much like the medicines we have today. Someone in your family or village might have given you some ground up herbs – based on knowledge passed down over the years.
In fact, tablets weren’t even commonplace until around a 100 years ago. Henry Wellcome came up with the idea of packing medicine into tiny equally sized pellets so that you’d always get just the right amount.
Accidents are behind a few famous medicines, like penicillin – one of the most commonly used antibiotics. Alexander Fleming discovered it when he found some mucky dishes in his lab.
Although in some situations, accidents might by chance create a new medicine it usually takes much longer – with a lot more trial and error!
So who decides what medicines get invented?
Universities, hospitals, drug companies and even governments can all be behind new medicines, especially when there’s a disease that’s threatening a large number of people. They work together to create medicines to treat previously untreated diseases – or treat them better – or more cheaply.
New medicines can be scarily expensive to make – sometimes billions of pounds are spent!
Why does it cost so much to make a new medicine?
Most pills don’t look gold plated and the packets aren’t covered in diamonds.
It’s the testing process that can take the longest time. Drugs are firstly checked over and over again in laboratories to make sure that they do what they are supposed to do. After that, the drugs may be tested on some cells, and sometimes on animals to see how it works in living things, and whether or not they are safe.
Why is it so important?
Well, it’s better that medicines are very carefully checked – however long it takes.
Over the last century, a lot of babies were born with their arms and legs not properly formed – and that was because a medicine their mums had taken had not been tested on pregnant ladies.
You can hear Hallux’s Miraculous Medicine weekdays from 5pm on Fun Kids!
You can also subscribe to the Hallux Miraculous Medicine podcast for free in:
…or you can listen here:
Listen back to any episodes you’ve missed below!
Hallux’s Miraculous Medicine with support from Wellcome Trust and Central Manchester University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust.
Click here to find out more!
Click to find out more! | <urn:uuid:1a5e2034-45e5-40f8-a6b1-0109dbe2c2a8> | {
"date": "2019-02-22T06:48:04",
"dump": "CC-MAIN-2019-09",
"file_path": "s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2019-09/segments/1550247513661.77/warc/CC-MAIN-20190222054002-20190222080002-00416.warc.gz",
"int_score": 3,
"language": "en",
"language_score": 0.9634432792663574,
"score": 3.03125,
"token_count": 573,
"url": "http://www.funkidslive.com/learn/hallux/halluxs-miraculous-medicine/who-makes-medicines-and-why/"
} |
TODAY August 9th 2010, marks the 17th annual International Day of the World’s Indigenous Peoples. Established by the United Nations General Assembly in 1994, the International Day of the World’s Indigenous Peoples represents an effort to further strengthen international cooperation in solving the problems faced by Indigenous communities in areas such as culture, education, health, human rights, the environment, and social and economic development.
Indigenous Peoples are among the most disadvantaged and vulnerable peoples in the world. They continue to suffer persistent and widespread discrimination and other grave human rights violations. Past and ongoing colonization and land and resource dispossession have resulted in their impoverishment. The plight of indigenous peoples has most recently been captured in this beautiful photo exhibit created by Dana Gluckstein.
In the United States, nearly 24% of Indigenous persons live in poverty. And Native women in the U.S. are particularly vulnerable – more than one in three Native American and Alaska Native women will be raped in their lifetime and face rates of sexual violence 2.5 times greater than that of women in general in the U.S. Read Amnesty’s 2007 Maze of Injustice report for more information about the situation facing Native American and Alaska Native women in the United States.
The UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples is a non-legally binding human rights instrument which affirms universal minimum standards for the survival, dignity and well being of all Indigenous Peoples. It recognizes the right of Indigenous Peoples, as both a collective and as individuals, to fully enjoy their basic human rights – including Indigenous cultural rights and identity and the right to education, health, employment, and language. The UNDRIP publicly opposes discrimination against Indigenous Peoples and promotes their full and effective participation in all matters that concern them.
In 2007, the UNDRIP was adopted by the United Nations after a vote by the overwhelming majority of states. The United States was one of four countries, along with Australia, Canada and New Zealand, that voted against the Declaration. However, earlier this year the Administration announced that it was formally reviewing the U.S. position on the Declaration – voice your support and let President Obama know you want to see the U.S. endorse the UNDRIP now! | <urn:uuid:721890f8-f8b4-428a-9fc3-bbe0c8aacb28> | {
"date": "2017-03-30T06:40:15",
"dump": "CC-MAIN-2017-13",
"file_path": "s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2017-13/segments/1490218193284.93/warc/CC-MAIN-20170322212953-00206-ip-10-233-31-227.ec2.internal.warc.gz",
"int_score": 4,
"language": "en",
"language_score": 0.9549972414970398,
"score": 3.734375,
"token_count": 453,
"url": "http://blog.amnestyusa.org/tag/united-nations-declaration-on-the-rights-of-indigenous-peoples/"
} |
Multiple factors contribute to 'doah fish kills, including endocrine disruptors.
Vicki Blazer, the 2011 recipient of our Protector of the Potomac Award, recently published scientific research that suggests multiple factors contribute to fish kills in the Shenandoah Valley.
"Fish health is often used as an indicator of aquatic ecosystem health, and these findings raise concerns about environmental degradation within the Potomac River drainage. Unfortunately, while much information has been gained from the studies conducted to date, due to the multiple state jurisdictions involved, competing interests, and other issues, there has been no coordinated approach to identifying and mitigating the stressors."
The study concludes that "multiyear, interdisciplinary, integrative research" is needed "to identify the underlying stressors and possible management actions to enhance ecosystem health."
Jeff Kelble, our Shenandoah Riverkeeper, contributed to the study and is listed as an author. Jeff says that, while more research needs to be done, there is a connection between fish health and unsustainable agricultural practices.
"We are seeing higher instances of sick fish and fish kills in areas that are oversaturated with cattle and poultry. Hormones and chemicals like endocrine disruptors are used on the livestock are find their way into the river and the fish." | <urn:uuid:cae15db4-c1a1-4a55-a9a2-18a167959a40> | {
"date": "2014-04-24T03:17:29",
"dump": "CC-MAIN-2014-15",
"file_path": "s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2014-15/segments/1398223205137.4/warc/CC-MAIN-20140423032005-00499-ip-10-147-4-33.ec2.internal.warc.gz",
"int_score": 3,
"language": "en",
"language_score": 0.9545072913169861,
"score": 2.796875,
"token_count": 261,
"url": "http://potomacriverkeeper.org/updates/multiple-factors-contribute-doah-fish-kills-including-endocrine-disruptors"
} |
1 CABOTAGE REGULATIONS AND THE CHALLENGES OF OUTER CONTINENTAL SHELF DEVELOPMENT IN THE UNITED STATES Wakil Oyeleru Oyedemi * I.INTRODUCTION II.MEANING AND HISTORICAL BACKGROUND OF CABOTAGE IN THE UNITED STATES A. What is Cabotage? B. Why Cabotage? III.THE ORIGIN OF CABOTAGE IN THE UNITED STATES: THE 1789 TAX LAWS IV.THE JONES ACT OF A. What is Coastwise (The Geographical Extent of the Jones Act)? B. Coastwise Restriction and the Outer Continental Shelf V.ARE THE CABOTAGE REGULATIONS WORTH IT? A. Domestic Attempts to Repeal the Jones Act B. Efforts to Sustain the Jones Act and Other Cabotage Regulations * Wakil Oveleru Oyedemi, J.D., LL.M, is an associate attorney at the law firm O.J. Lawal & Associates in Houston, Texas. This paper is based upon research and speaking notes for Energy Law Seminar at the University of Houston Law Center, Houston, Texas in May The painstaking supervision of Professor Jacqueline Lang Weaver of the University of Houston Law Center is gratefully acknowledged, as is the financial help of Isaac Morakinyo Jolapamo, the research support of Tawa Oyedemi, and secretarial assistance of Vulate Hage. 607
2 608 HOUSTON JOURNAL OF INTERNATIONAL LAW [Vol. 34:3 VI.JONES ACT AND THE DEEPWATER HORIZON OIL SPILL DISASTER VII.FROM MACONDO: LESSON FOR THE ARCTIC VIII. CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS A. Both Economic and Strategic Reasons Support the Protection of the Jones Act (With Some Minor Amendments) B. The United States Build Requirement of the Jones Act Should be Sustained C. The Citizen-Owner Requirement of the Jones Act Should be Relaxed D. The Enforcement Framework of the Jones Act Must be Looked Into E. Congress Should Pass Legislation extending the Cabotage regulations to the Outer Continental Shelf F. The United States Should Stop Dragging Its Feet Regarding the Arctic Resources I. INTRODUCTION Marine cabotage regulations restrict transportation along the inland and coastal waters of a nation. The focus of this paper is on the marine cabotage of the United States. The Passenger Vessel Services Act of 1886; the Dredging Act of 1906; the Jones Act (Merchant Marine Act) of 1920; and the Towing Statute of 1940 collectively constitute the marine cabotage regulations of the United States. There are also government loan assistance and loan guarantee programs, as well as government cargo lifting programs to aid domestic ship owners and shipyards. These statutes and programs fulfill Congress s goal to restrict participation in the coastwise trade to American vessels and to boost domestic shipyards and the domestic shipping trade. The Jones Act of 1920, the focus of this paper, is the fulcrum of the cabotage regulations in the United States, and the lens through which the courts have interpreted other cabotage statutes.
3 2012] CABOTAGE REGULATIONS 609 Other statutes and programs related to them will not be discussed in detail.1 In Part Two, we look at the meaning, historical background, and the reasons adduced for having the cabotage regulations: national security and development of the domestic shipbuilding and shipping trade. Without a clear understanding of these concepts, the Jones Act and other cabotage regulations would make no sense to the reader going forward. Part Two also looks at the agencies tasked with enforcing the Jones Act and other marine cabotage regulations. To participate in the coastwise trade of the United States, the Jones Act requires a vessel to be constructed (repaired or rebuilt if needed) in the United States, owned by United States citizens, and crewed by United States citizens. 2 Failure to meet these requirements results in denial of the coastwise trade permit, forfeiture of any merchandize carried by the vessel, or forfeiture of the errant vessel itself.3 Part Three analyzes these requirements using the statutory, case law, and regulatory frameworks. Part Three also looks at the application of the Jones Act to the Outer Continental Shelf. Part Four looks at domestic legislation and attempts to repeal the Jones Act, as well as the efforts made to sustain it. Because the coastwise trade affects almost every facets of a nation s life, the Jones Act is a very attractive political issue on all sides of the political divide. There have been strong domestic and international attempts to amend, relax or repeal the Jones Act. These have been met with equally stiff and unrelenting 1. The Passenger Vessel Services Act prohibits a vessel that is not built and registered in the United States from transporting passengers between coastwise points of the United States, either directly or via a foreign port. 46 U.S.C (2006). The Dredging Act permits only qualified U.S. vessels to conduct dredging activities in the navigable waters of the United States. 46 U.S.C (2006). The Towing Statute allows only U.S. vessels to engage in towage between coastwise points of the United States. The only exception is a vessel in distress, which may be towed by a foreign vessel. 46 U.S.C , (2006). Any vessel to be used under the Strategic Petroleum Reserve Program must also be Jones Act compliant unless it secured a waiver. 10 C.F.R. app. 625 (2011). These regulations and subsidies are outside the scope of this paper U.S.C.A 12112, (2006) U.S.C.A (2006).
4 610 HOUSTON JOURNAL OF INTERNATIONAL LAW [Vol. 34:3 resistance, aided by supportive administrations and America s top military leaders. To date, the forces that support the Act have prevailed, and the Jones Act lives on. Part Five looks at the Jones Act in the aftermath of the Deepwater Horizon blowout (the Macondo disaster). The disaster led to the deaths of 11 people and left 27 others injured. Many were awed by the colossal damage to the environment, property, and businesses along the Gulf Coast, and blamed the Obama Administration for the delay in the cleanup efforts. The delay reignited the political powder keg surrounding the Jones Act. Senator John McCain and a host of other critics saw the Jones Act as the obstruction to a quick cleanup and renewed efforts and calls to repeal the Act.4 The bipartisan Commission on the Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill concluded the Jones Act was not to blame for any delay in the cleanup efforts.5 The bill to repeal the Act, using the delay as a reason, failed in Congress.6 Supporters of the Jones Act presented a bill aimed at bolstering the Jones Act restrictions in regards to the Outer Continental Shelf.7 It too was unsuccessful. Part Six takes a cursory look at the Arctic as the next big stage in the battle for oil and gas, and how lessons from Macondo could be of benefit in the Arctic. Part Seven makes recommendations regarding the Jones Act moving forward. Ultimately, it is recommended that the U.S. build requirement 4. Joseph Bonney, McCain Seeks Jones Act Repeal, J. OF COM. (June 25, 2010, 8:56 PM), 5. NAT L COM. ON THE BP DEEPWATER HORIZON OIL SPILL AND OFFSHORE DRILLING, DEEP WATER: THE GULF OIL DISASTER AND THE FUTURE OF OFFSHORE DRILLING (2011). 6. See S. 3525: Open America s Water Act, 111th Congress, us/congress/bill.xpd?bill=s (last visited Feb ) (showing that the bill never left the Congressional Committee to which it was assigned). 7. See Consolidated Land, Energy, and Aquatic Resources Act of 2010, H.R. 3534, 111th Cong. 1, (2010); see also Svend Brandt-Erichsen & Adam Orford, House Enacts Amendments to Oil Pollution Act, Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act; Measure Awaits Senate Action, MARTENLAW.COM (Aug. 2, 2010), newsletter/ house-enacts-amendments (explaining the effects of the Clear Act on The Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act); see generally Constantine Papavizas & Gerald A. Morrissey III, Does the Jones Act Apply to Offshore Alternative Energy Projects?, 34 TUL. MAR. L.J. 377, (2010) (explaining the common place use of Jones Act ).
5 2012] CABOTAGE REGULATIONS 611 contained in the Jones Act should be sustained for economic and strategic reasons. At the same time, it is recommended that the citizen-ownership provision should be relaxed for practical reasons. An extension of the Jones Act to the OSCLA and the U.S. part of the Arctic is recommended, as the only way to counter the injurious and vessel dumping practices of some nations. It is recommended that the U.S. should ratify the United Nations Law Of the Sea immediately. Finally, it is recommended that the country should fund the icebreaker oil spill response vessels that could be used in case there is an oil spill in the Arctic. II. MEANING AND HISTORICAL BACKGROUND OF CABOTAGE IN THE UNITED STATES Judge Kaufman captured the mentality surrounding cabotage regulations in clear terms when he said: Like all maritime nations of the world, the United States treats its coastwise shipping trade as a jealously guarded preserve. In order to participate in this trade, a vessel s credentials must be thoroughly American. The ship must have been built in an American shipyard and be owned by American citizens. Moreover, it must not have trifled with its American Heritage.8 The focus of Part Two is to trace how the United States arrived at making the coastwise business a guarded preserve. A. What is Cabotage? The word cabotage originates from the French word caboter.9 It means coasting-trade or navigating and trading along the coast between the ports thereof.10 A coastwise transportation takes place when merchandise or persons are loaded onto a vessel at one location and unloaded at another location.11 The coastwise laws encompass both locations, 8. Marine Carriers Corp. v. Fowler, 429 F.2d 702, 703 (1970). 9. THE AMERICAN HERITAGE DICTIONARY OF THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE 258 (4th ed. 2000). 10. BLACK S LAW DICTIONARY 215 (8th ed. 2004) U.S.C. app. 877 (1988); 9 C.F.R. 4.80b (1979).
6 612 HOUSTON JOURNAL OF INTERNATIONAL LAW [Vol. 34:3 regardless of the origin or ultimate destination of the persons or merchandise.12 Thus, cabotage regimes are laws regulating the transportation of persons and merchandise from one point to another along the coastal waters of a nation. Worldwide, there are approximately 50 cabotage laws, that dictate the pace of domestic waterborne commerce.13 The United States is not an exception. B. Why Cabotage? Shipping affects geographic distribution, economic activity and access to materials and markets. A viable merchant marine also remains an indispensable military asset. These factors make shipping a very attractive economic, strategic, and political topic. History abounds of nations doing all they can to protect their domestic shipping commerce against foreign incursions. The British showed an early awareness of the need to have a strong merchant marine with British subjects as crews. King Alfred rewarded English mariners who took three sea trips in their own vessels, in an attempt to encourage merchant shipping.14 Richard II decreed a statute that restricted British subjects to transporting their merchandise on the sea by English ships only.15 Henry VII prohibited importation of certain commodities by British subjects, other than in a ship owned by British subjects and manned in greater part by them.16 During the time of Henry VIII, large landholders were required to plant a certain amount of flax, used mostly for shipbuilding.17 In 1651, England passed the Navigation Acts, which totally closed the coasting trade to foreigners and permitted importation of merchandise into England or any of its colonies only goods carried on British Ships. As an exception, European goods were allowed only if carried from ships U.S.C. app. 877 (1988); 9 C.F.R. 4.80b (1979). 13. The Jones Act and Other U.S. Cabotage Laws, LCASHIPS.COM, (last visited Feb 2, 2011). 14. GRANT GILMORE & CHARLES L. BLACK, JR., THE LAW OF ADMIRALTY 751 (1957) (quoting LAWRENCE A. HARPER, THE ENGLISH NAVIGATION LAWS 19 (1939)) Rich. 2, c. 3 (1381). 16. GILMORE & BLACK, supra note 14, at (citing 4 Hen. 7, c. 10 (1487)). 17. Id. at 752 (citing 24 Hen. 8, c. 4 ( )).
7 2012] CABOTAGE REGULATIONS 613 belonging to the country of origin.18 The Navigation Acts remained in operation until It was the cornerstone of building and maintaining a strong colonial merchant marine that dominated the world.19 III. THE ORIGIN OF CABOTAGE IN THE UNITED STATES: THE 1789 TAX LAWS Starting with the First Congress, the United States government has focused on giving the United States maritime industry preferential treatment. On July 4, 1789, the first tax levied by Congress imposed protective tax on different items, with items arriving on American ships charged at a lower rate compared to those arriving on foreign ships. Titled An Act Imposing Duties on Tonnage, Section 1 of the Act provides that: On all ships or vessels built within the said States, and belonging wholly to a citizen or citizens thereof; or not built within the said States, but... belong wholly to a citizen or citizens thereof, at the rate of 6 per ton. On all ships or vessels hereafter built in the United States, belonging wholly, or in part, to subjects of foreign powers, at the rate of 30 per ton. On all other ships or vessels, at the rate of 50 per ton.20 The provision above referred to vessels entering the United States and bringing in merchandise from overseas. The statute specifically provides for higher tonnage duties on foreign-built and foreign-owned ships and vessels that wished to engage in coastwise business.21 Congress was not alone in seeking protection for the coastwise trade of the United States. In his second State of the Union Address on December 8, 1790, President George Washington referred to both national security and the need for a reliable domestic maritime industry while urging Congress to pass laws for the protection of both. He wrote: The disturbed situation of Europe, and particularly the 18. Id. (citing Act of Oct., 8, 1651 (F. & R. II, 559)). 19. Id. 20. Act of July 20, 1789, Ch. 3, 1, 1 Stat. 27 (repealed 1790). 21. Id.
8 614 HOUSTON JOURNAL OF INTERNATIONAL LAW [Vol. 34:3 critical posture of the great maritime powers, whilst it ought to make us the more thankful for the general peace and security enjoyed by the United States, reminds us at the same time of the circumspection with which it it becomes us to preserve these blessings. It requires also that we should not overlook the tendency of a war, and even of preparations for a war, among the nations most concerned in active commerce with this country to abridge the means, and thereby at least enhance the price, of transporting its valuable productions to their markets. I recommend it to your serious reflections how far and in what mode it may be expedient to guard against embarrassments from these contingencies by such encouragement to our own navigation and agriculture less dependent on foreign bottoms, which may fail us in the very moments most interesting to both of these great objects. Our fisheries and the transportation of our own produce offer us abundant means for guarding ourselves against this evil.22 What President Washington referred to were the wars in Europe, which boosted shipping as an industry and benefitted the United States built vessels due to the its neutrality.23 What he did not mention, however, were the strategic and economic exigencies of independence from Britain that warranted the need for the United States to urgently develop its own shipbuilding industry and an operative merchant marine industry. The American colonies had access to British ports before the Revolutionary War. Upon independence however, the British shut United States ships out of the British shipping business because of the Navigation Acts.24 Meanwhile, even though the Act of 1789 gave tax preferences to vessels owned and built in the United States and owned by Americans, it did not prohibit foreign ships from 22. George Washington, President, 1790 (no. 2) State of the Union Address, 2.html (last visited Feb. 2, 2011) (emphasis added). 23. Id. 24. Larry Sawers, The Navigation Acts Revisited, 45 ECON. HIST. REV. 262, 272 (1992).
9 2012] CABOTAGE REGULATIONS 615 participating in the coastwise trades along the waters of the United States. However, the Act made it economically impracticable for foreign vessels to operate in the coastwise business in the United States.25 The goal then was not to preserve the coastwise trade for American built and owned ships and vessels. Rather, the discriminatory taxes became important chiefly as weapons for negotiating the removal of similar taxes on American ships in foreign ports. 26 IV. THE JONES ACT OF 1920 The Jones Act, which is the cornerstone of the United States cabotage regulations, was passed as Section 27 of the Merchant Marine Act of Named after its sponsor, Senator Wesley L. Jones, the Act resulted from both the rude shock the United States experienced when the First World War started in Europe and the attempt to assure the domestic shipping industry that the Panama Canal Act of 1912 would not lead to a takeover of their business by foreigners.28 At the beginning of the First World War, the United States had enough vessels to transport its merchandise coastwise but it had to depend on foreign vessels for its international trade.29 The cost of shipping services became prohibitively expensive.30 Countries involved in the war used their vessels for the war effort and those that they did not remained ashore in the foreign countries to protect them from being captured or destroyed by the opposition belligerents.31 As technology advanced steel had 25. See Max Winkler, The Tariff Policy of Creditor Nations: With Especial Reference to the Tariff History of Leading Creditor Nations during the 19th Century, 141 ANNALS AM. ACAD. POL. & SOC. SCI. 175, 179 (stating the Tariff Act of 1979 was nonetheless protective in spirit... ). 26. GILMORE & BLACK, supra note 14, at Mark. D. Aspinwall, Coastwise Trade Policy in the United States: Does it Make Sense Today? 18 J. MAR. L. & COM. 243, 247 (1987). 28. Id. at ; but see Constantine G. Papavizas & Bryant E. Gardner, Is the Jones Act Redundant?, 21 U.S.F. MAR. L.J. 95, 106 (2008) (arguing that the history of the Jones Act did not show a reaction to the Panama Canal of 1912 as a motivation.). 29. See SAMUEL A. LAWRENCE, UNITED STATES MERCHANT SHIPPING POLICIES AND POLITICS 38 (1966). 30. Id. at ANDREW GIBSON & ARTHUR DONOVAN, THE ABANDONED OCEAN A HISTORY OF
10 616 HOUSTON JOURNAL OF INTERNATIONAL LAW [Vol. 34:3 replaced wood as the core material for shipbuilding, but U.S. shipyards could not build vessels at competitive prices because the steel in the United States was very expensive, in part because of the high tariffs imposed to protect the American steel industry.32 Having U.S.-flag vessels remained vital for the defense and war efforts of the nation in case of conflict. Before passing the Merchant Marine Act in 1920, the government tried other policies to encourage the shipping industry and develop a reliable merchant marine, leading to a free ship policy. Under the Panama Act of 1912, vessels that were less than five years old, regardless of where they were constructed were permitted to be flagged in the United States, but for foreign business only.33 In August 1914, the five-year requirement was repealed.34 The survey, inspection, and measurement requirements were also suspended.35 The Act of October 6, 1917 permitted vessels built in foreign countries to participate in the coastwise business during World War I with the approval of the U.S. Shipping Board.36 All these measures helped tremendously. The original reason for passing the Jones Act was to dispose of the more than 1,750 ships the government had acquired or built, halt further construction of vessels by the government, and to guarantee the profitable operation of the ships when acquired by the private sector.37 Furthermore, the country realized that it needed to do more in order to have the merchant marine available in case of war. To this end, the Purpose and Policy section of the Merchant Marine Act of 1920 stated: It is necessary for the national defense and for the proper growth of its foreign and domestic commerce that the United States shall have a merchant marine of the best equipped and most suitable types of vessels UNITED STATES POLICY 104 (2000). 32. PAUL MAXWELL ZEIS, AMERICAN SHIPPING POLICY 42 (1938). 33. Id. at 66 (citing 37 Stat. 560, 566 sec. 5 (1912)). 34. Act of Aug. 18, 1914, Pub. L. No. 175, 38 Stat. 699 (1914). 35. Id. 36. ZEIS, supra note 32, at H.R. REP. NO , at 2 (1919).
11 2012] CABOTAGE REGULATIONS 617 sufficient to carry the greater portion of its commerce and serve as a naval or military auxiliary in time of war or national emergency, ultimately to be owned and operated privately by citizens of the United States; and it is declared to be the policy of the United States to do whatever may be necessary to develop and encourage the maintenance of such a merchant marine.38 The Act created a coastwise monopoly to protect and develop the American merchant marine. It required that any vessel that transported merchandise by water, or a combination of land and water, between coastwise points in the United States, must be: (1) built in the United States, (2) owned by U.S. citizens, (3) documented ( flagged) under the laws of the United States and (4) crewed by United States citizens or immigrant aliens.39 A. What is Coastwise (The Geographical Extent of the Jones Act)? The Jones Act delineates the geographical boundary of the cabotage regulations by prohibiting foreign vessels from transporting merchandise by water, or by land and water, between points in the United States, including Districts, Territories, and possessions thereof embraced within the coastwise laws, either directly or via a foreign port, or for any part of the transportation. 40 The Court s decision in U.S. v. 250 Kegs of Nails led Congress to include the words either directly or via a foreign port in order to stop the practice of circumventing the Jones Act by breaking a voyage between two domestic ports into two, using a foreign port at interval, and employing foreign vessels in both legs of the trip.41 Coastwise regulations cover the coastal waters of the United States, which extend three nautical miles wide, seaward of the territorial sea baseline. 42 In cases where the baseline and App. U.S.C. 883, s. 861 (1981) U.S.C (2006); See also LAWRENCE, supra note 29, at U.S.C (2006). 41. Robert W. Gruendal, The Weakening Grip of United States Cabotage Law, 4 FORDHAM INT L L. J. 389, 399 (1980). 42. Douglas Burnett and Michael Hartman, The Jones Act One More Variable in
12 618 HOUSTON JOURNAL OF INTERNATIONAL LAW [Vol. 34:3 coastline differ, as well as all inland navigable waterways, cabotage regulation cover points located in internal waters, landward of the territorial sea baseline.43 Thus, cabotage regulation covers any point within the territorial waters of the United States and is out of bounds to foreign vessel participation.44 B. Coastwise Restriction and the Outer Continental Shelf Ordinarily, the United States is geographically defined as the 48 States in the continental United States, the District of Columbia, Alaska, Hawaii, Puerto Rico, Guam, and the Virgin Islands of the United States.45 Without more, the Jones Act as a federal statute would apply only to submerged lands three miles seaward of and beyond each State s coastline.46 The picture that readily comes to mind when mentioning the coastwise points is that of vessels docked at the harbors while merchandise are unloaded onto wharves. The Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act of 1953 (OCSLA), passed by Congress to encourage discovery and development of oil reserves beyond the immediate coastal waters of the nation and into the Outer Continental Shelf, has changed this picture. OSCLA, as amended, provides that: The Constitution and laws and civil and political jurisdiction of the United States are hereby extended to the subsoil and seabed of the outer Continental Shelf and to all artificial islands, and all installations and other devices permanently or temporarily attached to the seabed, which may be erected thereon for the purpose of exploring for, developing, or producing resources therefrom, or any such installation or other device (other than a ship or vessel) for the purpose of transporting such resources, to the same extent as if the outer Continental Shelf were an area of exclusive the Offshore Wind Equation, MANAGING RISK, Sept. 13, 2010, at Id. 44. Id. at U.S.C. 1 (1947); 8 U.S.C. 1101(a)(38) (1993). 46. See generally Burnett and Hartman, supra note 42.
13 2012] CABOTAGE REGULATIONS 619 Federal jurisdiction located within a state.47 By virtue of the OCSLA, the Jones Act will apply to artificial islands, mobile oil drilling rigs, and drilling platforms, as well as other devices attached to the Outer Continental Shelf for the purpose of resource exploration. In addition, floating, anchored warehouse vessels, when anchored on the Outer Continental Shelf with the intent of supplying drilling rigs, remain coastwise points of the United States, because the drilling rig cannot successfully function without the anchored warehouse.48 Moreover, mobile oil rigs, when they are secured or submerged unto the seabed of the Outer Continental Shelf, are considered part of coastwise points for the enforcement of the Jones Act.49 In short, as long as a device is permanently or temporarily attached to the Outer Continental Shelf, and the device is being used for the development or production of resources from the Outer Continental Shelf, such device is considered a coastwise point, and a foreign-owned or documented vessel cannot transport merchandise to or from the point from another coastwise point without violating the Jones Act.50 V. ARE THE CABOTAGE REGULATIONS WORTH IT? There have been many domestic as well as international attempts to get the Jones Act and other cabotage regulations repealed. This is based on the negative economic effects the opponents see in the regulations. This debate was rejuvenated in the aftermath of the Deepwater Horizon tragedy. This part will look at both the players in the attempts to repeal and the efforts to sustain the cabotage regulations, while also considering the economic and strategic reasons canvassed by either side of the debate U.S.C. 1333(a); see U.S. CUSTOMS AND BORDER PROTECTION, U.S. DEP T OF HOMELAND SEC., WHAT EVERY MEMBER OF THE TRADE COMMUNITY SHOULD KNOW ABOUT: THE PASSENGER VESSEL SERVICES ACT, U.S. Customs [hereinafter U.S. CUSTOMS]. 48. U.S. CUSTOMS, supra note Id. 50. See 19 CFR 4.80(b)(1979); see generally U.S. CUSTOMS, supra note 47, at 4 5.
14 620 HOUSTON JOURNAL OF INTERNATIONAL LAW [Vol. 34:3 A. Domestic Attempts to Repeal the Jones Act Supporters of cabotage regulation cite two key reasons for the need to have the Jones Act. First is to have a sufficient, trained and ready marine and shipbuilding base that can protect the nation s defense and economic interests.51 The second reason is to boost domestic commerce through the protection of shipping, shipbuilding, and general maritime business.52 Among the ranks of opponents to the Jones Act are free traders, travel and tourism agencies, agricultural interests, port authorities, port cities, businesses and entrepreneurs, foreign cruise interests, and moderate republicans Economic Defects of the Jones Act Critics of the Jones Act argue that there is no reasonable economic basis to sustain the Jones Act. They point to the high cost of building, rebuilding, or repairing vessels in the United States compared with other nations.54 They argue this comparatively high cost has led to a decline in shipbuilding in the nation because high cost means less demand.55 This, the opponents argue, has led to a boom in railroad use and investment in and preference for pipelines instead of vessels.56 Also, some industries prefer to import certain products from 51. See Industry Profile/Jones Act Domestic Shipping, TRANSP. INST. (2009), 52. See id. 53. Kathleen Magee, U.S. Cabotage Laws: Protective or Damaging?, MONTEREY INSTITUTE OF INTERNATIONAL STUDIES, available at org/ma_projects/magee2.htm (last visited Jan. 10, 2011). 54. See Industry Profile/Jones Act Domestic Shipping, supra note Theodore Prince, Spotlight Focuses Again on the Jones Act, J. OF COMMERCE, Mar. 16, 2000, at See Nicolas E. Piggott, Economic Impact of a Repeal of the Jones Act for North Carolina Soybean Producers, NC STATE ECONOMIST, Sept. 2001, at 1 2 (noting farmers claiming that the only competitive grain by water supply is from foreign cargoes and that most of their supply comes via rail transportation); Matt Kermode, The Oil Patch: Pipelines and Negotiation Benchmarks, CALGARY BUS. BLOG, calgarybusinessblog.com/articles/the-oil-patch-pipelines.html (last visited Feb. 27, 2012) ( The primary reason for the preference for pipelines is that they are generally the most cost effective mode of transportation. All other modes of transportation require shipping the containment vessel, which adds to the cost. ).
15 2012] CABOTAGE REGULATIONS 621 abroad instead of paying the prohibitive cost of domestic products engendered by the high cost of domestic coastwise shipping.57 Some regions of the United States claim that the Jones Act has a greater negative effect upon them than other regions and have called for the repeal of the Jones Act, or in the alternative, amendments that will make the Act inapplicable in their territories.58 It costs significantly more to build vessels in the United States than in foreign countries. A Congressional Budget Office report showed that prices of cargo ships built in Japan or Korea range as low as one-third of the prices of the same ships built in U.S. yards. 59 The cost of operating United States-owned vessels is also higher than that of foreign flag vessels, because of other expenses that are higher in the United States than for foreign vessels, especially crew costs.60 Moreover, most vessels built in the U.S. are powered by steam turbines, which make them great for military operations because they can move faster than diesel-powered vessels.61 But, that same factor makes them fuel guzzlers, further increasing their operating costs.62 A few examples from cases dealing with rebuilt vessels demonstrate this problem. For instance, in American Hawaii Cruises v. Skinner the owners saved $25 million by having part of the rebuilding done in Finland, instead of the United States.63 These high costs of building and operating a vessel in the U.S. translate into higher cost in chartering vessels in the coastwise trade by American businesses. As was said in American Maritime Association v. Blumenthal, an American-flag vessel capable of carrying 35,000 to 45,000 tons of cargo would 57. See PROMAR INT L, SOUTHEAST US FEEDSTUFF IMPORTS: CASUAL FACTORS AND RECOMMENDED RESPONSE, AMERICAN SOYBEAN ASSOCIATION 11 (2003). 58. See Malia Zimmerman, Businesses Hit Hard by Costly Jones Act Regulations, GRASSROOT INSTITUTE OF HAWAII (Mar. 2010), available at org/research/businesses-hit-hard-by-costly-jones-act-regulations. 59. Cong. Budget Office, U.S. Shipping and Shipbuilding: Trends and Policy Choices xx, (Aug. 1984). 60. Id. at Id. at Id. 63. See Am. Hawaii Cruises v. Skinner, 713 F. Supp. 452, 455 (D.C. Cir. 1989).
16 622 HOUSTON JOURNAL OF INTERNATIONAL LAW [Vol. 34:3 charge $6.16 per long ton, compared with $3.69 per long ton for a foreign-flag vessel.64 A larger American-flag crude carrier capable of carrying 200,000 to 300,000 tons of cargo would charge $24.90 per ton, while a foreign-flag vessel would charge $5.85 per ton for the same cargo.65 Thus, the cost to charter a United States-flag vessel can double or even quadruple that of a foreign flag-vessel; and the charter cost of a United States-flag vessel keeps going up as that of foreign-flag vessel goes down.66 This high charter rate for United States-flag vessel invariably means high cost for goods shipped by domestic vessels, especially in the coastwise business.67 This has affected certain sections of the economy very deeply. Those who ship their products in bulk, for example the scrap metal and road salt shippers, complain that it is easier to buy or sell from or in foreign nations because the shipping cost is cheaper.68 Some regions of the United States also feel a greater impact due to cabotage regulations than other regions. People of Hawaii, Alaska, and Puerto Rico for example, feel they are unfairly subsidizing the Jones Act while feeling the pain of the cabotage laws. A 2008 analysis by the U.S. Department of Agriculture shows there is an average of 30% increase in food cost between the United States Mainland and Hawaii.69 Also, a 1988 General Accounting Office (GAO) publication shows that an average Hawaiian family pays between $1,921 and $4,821 more than its mainland counterpart.70 Some have blamed this differential on the Jones Act.71 Representative Gene Ward of 64. See Am. Maritime Ass n v. Blumenthal, 590 F.2d 1156, 1159 n.12 (D.C. Cir. 1979). 65. Id. 66. See id. 67. See, e.g., Zimmerman, supra note 58 (discussing the high cost of doing business in Hawaii). 68. The Impact of U.S. Coastwise Trade Laws on the Transportation System in the United States: Hearing Before the Subcomm. on Coast Guard and Mar. Transp., Comm. on Transp. and Infrastructure, 104th Cong. (1996). 69. See Official USDA Alaska and Hawaii Thrifty Food Plans: Cost of Food at Home, USDA (2008), available at 70. See United States General Accounting Office, The Jones Act, Impact on Alaska Transportation and U.S. Military Sealift Capability, RCED-98-96R (1988). 71. See e.g. Daniel Brackins, The Negative Effects of the Jones Act on the Economy
17 2012] CABOTAGE REGULATIONS 623 Hawaii claimed that Hawaii residents subsidize the Jones Act by about $1 billion per year because of the high price of goods due to the Act.72 He then asserted that this amounts to about $3,000 per household in the State.73 Critics of the Act also point to the U.S. International Trade Commission report, which estimates that the Jones Act costs the United States economy between $3.6 billion and $9.8 billion per year, in The 1999 update of the report showed a repeal of the Jones Act would lead to about 20 percent reduction in the cost of shipping.75 In 2002, the International Trade Commission stated that there would be an annual positive economic gain of approximately $656 million, should the worldwide rates apply to the United States.76 Critics of the Jones Act use these reports to show that the Jones Act has a negative effect on the economy Attack On the National Defense Reason for the Jones Act Opponents of the Jones Act have also attacked the national defense reason often cited for keeping the Jones Act and other cabotage regulations. First, they point to the fact that instead of improving the global status of the United States in shipbuilding, the Jones Act and other cabotage regulations have led to a loss of shipbuilding requests and loss of jobs by trained merchant mariners.78 Critics regard the cabotage regulations as making American shipyards uncompetitive in the global sphere despite of Hawaii, HAWAII LIBERTY CHRONICLES, Jan. 29, 2009, available at hawaiilibertychronicles.com/?p= See Gene Ward, View Point: To Fix Economy, Junk the Jones Act, HONOLULU STAR-BULLETIN, Dec. 5, 1997, available at editorial/viewpointf.html. 73. Id. 74. U.S International Trade Commission, The Economic Effects of Significant U.S. Import Restraints, USITC Pub. 2422, Investigation No (Sept. 1991). 75. U.S. INT L TRADE COMM N, THE ECONOMIC EFFECTS OF SIGNIFICANT U.S. IMPORT RESTRAINTS 98 (2d Update, 1999). 76. U.S. INT L TRADE COMM N, THE ECONOMIC EFFECTS OF SIGNIFICANT U.S. IMPORT RESTRAINTS xviii (3d Update, 2002). 77. See, e.g., Zimmerman, supra note INDUS. COLL. OF THE ARMED FORCES SHIPBUILDING SEMINAR, INDUSTRY STUDY REPORT: SHIPBUILDING (2005), available at academic/industry/reports/2005/pdf/icaf-is-report-shipbuilding-2005.pdf.
18 624 HOUSTON JOURNAL OF INTERNATIONAL LAW [Vol. 34:3 government efforts. Even ardent supporters of the regulations acknowledge this argument. In his testimony before the Subcommittee on Coast Guard and maritime Transportation, Maritime Administrator David T. Matsuda said, [t]he state of the U.S. Flag fleet in foreign trade has decreased over time, from 980 ships in 1947 to just 115 today.... U.S. flag operations [are] more expensive than foreign operations. Investors who are considering the costs and benefits among the various vessel registry alternatives can find better opportunities using international and open registries. 79 The criticism has historical backing. In 1920, The American merchant fleet was 22.2 percent of the world s gross tonnage.80 One of the reasons for the passing of the Jones Act was to dispose of excess government-owned ships.81 Today, American shipyards account for only 1 percent of international commercial tonnage construction.82 Critics believe that competition from foreign vessels will drive prices down as well as improve the competitive ability of the shipyards and their employees and make for the ready merchant marine the United States desires. Finally, critics of the Jones Act believe that mandating vessels be built in the United States and owned by its citizens to prosecute war is nonsensical. It has been suggested that when war beckons, the United States could commandeer vessels registered under its flag, regardless of where it was built or nationality of the owners, as such is permitted under international law.83 Further, contemporary military theories regard aircraft and not ships as the most vital component of the armed forces in the modern era, especially in flying combatants and their gear and ammunition.84 In addition, the nature of 79. State of the United States Merchant Fleet in Foreign Commerce: Hearing Before the H. Subcomm. on Coast Guard and Mar. Transp., 111th Cong. 1 2 (2010) (statement of David T. Matsuda, Mar. Adm r, Dep t of Transp.). 80. SIC 3731: Ship Building and Repairing Market Report, HIGHBEAM BUSINESS (2012), available at 81. Id. 82. Id. 83. Ruling the Waves, THE ECONOMIST, March 23, 1991, at Id.
19 2012] CABOTAGE REGULATIONS 625 today s warfare, which involves the use of remote controlled stealth fighters, diminishes the need for a ready merchant marine at the same levels as past conflicts.85 Critics then point to the fact that airline cabotage has been relaxed, and argue that the same should be done for maritime cabotage.86 Finally, the praises for the Jones Act in recent war efforts is regarded as bogus, because foreign vessels, rather than Jones Act vessels are actually used, as most Jones Act vessels are not fit for war efforts Domestic Repeal Efforts In May 1996, Senator Jesse Helms introduced the Coastal Shipping Competition Act. 88 The Bill aimed at repealing the Jones Act as we now know it and sought to allow a vessel to participate in the coastwise trade as long as it is documented with coastwise endorsement or certification.89 The requirements of the Jones Act that the vessel be built in the United States, owned by American citizens, and crewed 75 percent by American citizens or resident Aliens were to be repealed.90 Similar requirements were introduced regarding the Passenger Vessel Act, Towing Act, and the Dredging Act.91 In his introduction, Senator Helms called the Jones Act an unwise lid on the United States as the breadbasket of the world. 92 The Bill died 85. See id. 86. Id. 87. James Bovard, Kamikaze Shipping Rules, WASH. TIMES, Dec. 13, 1991, at F Coastal Shipping Competition Act, S. 1813, 104th Cong. 4 (1996). 89. Id. 4 (a). 90. Id. 4(b). 91. Id Cong. Rec. S5589 (daily ed. May 23, 1996) (statement of Sen. Jesse Helms) ( Mr. President, the Jones Act is simply not fair. It s not fair to farmers in the Midwest and it is unfair to countless producers in my own State and in other States. Those who may protest this legislation are likely to claim that it will somehow destroy American shipping. That simply is not so. Moreover, if the status quo is maintained, my farmers will have no choice but to purchase their foreign grain from Canada, Argentina, and other countries and all of it will be shipped on foreign flagged vessels. According to a December 1995 report by the U.S. International Trade Commission, The economy wide effect of removing the Jones Act is a U.S. economic welfare gain of approximately $2.8 billion. This figure can also be interpreted as the annual reduction in real national income imposed by the Jones Act. A primary reason for the large gain in welfare is a
20 626 HOUSTON JOURNAL OF INTERNATIONAL LAW [Vol. 34:3 in the Senate after being read twice before the Senate Committee on Commerce. It was never voted on.93 A similar bill by Senator Sam Brownback and Senator Jesse Helms in 1998 suffered a similar fate International Attempts to Repeal the Jones Act Attempts to repeal or amend the provisions of the Jones Act are not limited to domestic ones. The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), World Trade Organization (WTO), and the North America Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) have yet to succeed in their efforts to repeal, relax, or amend the Act. a. OECD In 1989, the United States encouraged the Commission of the European Union, Finland, Japan, South Korea, Norway, and Sweden to negotiate at the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development level, with the aim to curb unfair pricing and dumping practices in shipbuilding.95 This culminated in the 1994 Shipbuilding Agreement, termed Agreement Respecting Normal Competitive Conditions in the Commercial Shipbuilding and Repair Industry. 96 The Agreement aimed at restricting direct and indirect government support, and prohibited a comprehensive list of financial, administrative and regulatory support. The list included direct subsidies, loans and loan guarantees, forgiveness of debts, and provision of equity capital not consistent with usual investment practices.97 decline of approximately 26% in the price of shipping services formerly restricted by the Jones Act. Mr. President, isn t it ironic that the United States the breadbasket of the world has such an unwise and unfair lid on that bread basket? That lid, Mr. President, is the Jones Act. ). 93. Coastal Shipping Competition Act, S. 1813, 104th Cong. 4 (1996). 94. Freedom to Transport Act of 1998, S. 2390, 105th Cong. (1998). 95. Constantine G. Papavizas, The OECD Shipbuilding Agreement and its Effects on U.S. Law, 26 J. MAR. L. & COM. 385, 392 (1995). 96. Id. at OCED, Agreement Respecting Normal Competitive Conditions in the Commercial Shipbuilding and Repair Industry Annex I(B) (1994), available at | <urn:uuid:6897b83a-ed36-48e6-a940-1ed18c62718e> | {
"date": "2017-08-24T09:09:21",
"dump": "CC-MAIN-2017-34",
"file_path": "s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2017-34/segments/1502886133447.78/warc/CC-MAIN-20170824082227-20170824102227-00496.warc.gz",
"int_score": 3,
"language": "en",
"language_score": 0.9269229769706726,
"score": 3,
"token_count": 9683,
"url": "http://docplayer.net/494406-Cabotage-regulations-and-the-challenges-of-outer-continental-shelf-development-in-the-united-states.html"
} |
The application of science and innovation to business processes influences the strength and competitiveness of industry by providing a basis for innovative change and encouraging economic growth and development.
Australia has a range of statistics relating to science and innovation, many of which are compiled by the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS). The key indicators relate to Australia's research and development effort. Australia's statistics in this field are based on international standards, particularly the Frascati Manual developed by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, which is the basic international source of methodology for collecting and using research and development statistics.
A number of additional indicators on science and innovation, not included in this chapter, are compiled by the Australian Government Departments of Industry, Tourism and Resources, and Education, Science and Training. | <urn:uuid:a1cc6715-3860-409e-84cd-b5afa2dcbdca> | {
"date": "2016-10-20T21:51:43",
"dump": "CC-MAIN-2016-44",
"file_path": "s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-44/segments/1476988717954.1/warc/CC-MAIN-20161020183837-00489-ip-10-171-6-4.ec2.internal.warc.gz",
"int_score": 3,
"language": "en",
"language_score": 0.944946825504303,
"score": 2.578125,
"token_count": 156,
"url": "http://www.abs.gov.au/Ausstats/[email protected]/0/8CC41F71932CE4B4CA256F7200832FDE?opendocument"
} |
- Disaster »
Scene of Great Tooley St Fire
Scene of the great Tooley Street Fire in 1861
In 1861 the Great Fire of Southwark destroyed a large number of buildings between at Cottons Wharf, around Tooley Street and the Thames. Many buildings from Hays Wharf, where Hays Galleria was later built, and blocks to the west almost as far as St Olave's Church were affected.
The fire caused damage worth more than £2 million (around £100 million in current prices) and claimed the life of James Braidwood, head of the London Fire Engine Establishment. | <urn:uuid:3af1f974-e7e7-4a14-b192-1ce9c882cb80> | {
"date": "2017-11-20T05:57:20",
"dump": "CC-MAIN-2017-47",
"file_path": "s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2017-47/segments/1510934805914.1/warc/CC-MAIN-20171120052322-20171120072322-00456.warc.gz",
"int_score": 3,
"language": "en",
"language_score": 0.9670001268386841,
"score": 2.84375,
"token_count": 125,
"url": "http://londonadventurer.com/location.php?loc=356"
} |
Subsets and Splits
No community queries yet
The top public SQL queries from the community will appear here once available.