Free Compass Math Test Practice Questions with Answers - Sample 1
Math questions, with answers, similar to the questions in the compass math test are presented. The questions are designed to reflect the major topics covered in the compass test: Numerical skills/pre-Algebra, algebra, college algebra, geometry and trigonometry. The answers are at the bottom of the page and the solutions with full explanations to these questions are also included.
A - Numerical Skills/Pre-Algebra
In scientific notation, 3.0 x 10-5 + 0.0000022 =
A) 3.5 x 10-5
B) 3.22 x 10-5
C) 5.2 x 10-6
D) 3.5 x 10-6
E) 5.2 x 10-11
is calculated and the fraction obtained reduced to simplest form, then what is its numerator?
A shop owner increased the selling price of a shirt from $20 to $26. By what percentage was the price increased?
Tom worked for 6 hours and was paid $5.50 per hour. He then went shopping and bought two magazines at $9.50 each and a pen at $8.25. How much money does Tom have left?
Bill bought 1(3/4) pounds of Cheddar cheese, 3.75 pounds of blue cheese and 4(1/2) pounds of goat cheese. How many pounds of cheese did Bill buy?
In a certain school, 40% of all students are 8 years old or younger. The number of the remaining students is 120. How many students are 8 years old or younger?
1/5 of students in a school have no brothers or sisters. Of the remaining students, 40% have 1 brother or sister. What percent of all students have more than 1 brother or sister?
A car hire company offers two plans A and B. In plan A, a customer pays a flat fee of $20 for the day plus 5 cents for each kilometer. In plan B, a customer pays a flat fee of $15 for the day plus 7 cents for each kilometer. For how many kilometers would a customer pay the same amount for the two plans?
Joe worked part time for x hours and earned y dollars. How much does he earn if he works z hours?
In a science test, a class of 30 students had an average of 80. The 20 girls in the class had an average of 85. What is the average of the 10 boys in the class?
Find y if y / 5 = 10 / 25.
√(32 + 42) =
B - Algebra
If a = -2 and b = -2, what is the value of (a3 - 1) / (b - 1)
If -2(x + 9) = 20, then - 4x =
x is a variable such that if 20% of it is added to its fifth the result is equal to 12 subtracted from seven tenths of x. Find x.
The area A of a trapezoid is given by the formula A = 0.5(b + B)h, where b and B are the sizes of the bases and h the size of the height of the trapezoid. Express B in terms of A, b and h.
A) 0.5Ah - b
B) 2A/h - b
C) (2A - b)/h
D) 2A/h + b
E) (2A + b)/h
Tom, Linda and Alex have $120 dollars. Alex has the third of what Tom has and Linda has twice as much as Alex. How much money, in dollars, does Linda have?
Which of the following is equivalen to 6x2 - 11x - 2?
A) (6x - 1)(x + 2)
B) (3x - 1)(2x + 2)
C) (3x + 1)(2x - 2)
D) (6x + 1)(x - 2)
E) (x + 1)(6x - 2)
Which of the following is a factor of x2 - 7x - 8?
A) x + 1
B) x + 8
C) x + 7
D) x - 1
E) x - 7
In a standard rectangular system of axes, point A has the coordinates (2 , 1). What must be the coordinates of point B if M(3 , 2) is the midpoint of the segment AB?
A) (1 , 1)
B) (4 , 3)
C) (3 , 4)
D) (3 , 2)
E) (2 , 3)
C - College Algebra
What is the value of X in the following geometric sequence
X , 64 , ___ , ___ , 8
For what value of K will the system of equations given below have no solution?
2x + 5y = 9
-3x - K y = 4
If f(x) and g(x) are two functions defined by
f(x) = √(x + 1)
g(x) = | x - 1 |,
then what is the value of f(g(9))?
B) | √10 - 1 |
The range of
f(x) = x2 -2x + 1
is given by the interval
A) [0 , +infinity)
B) (-infinity , 1]
C) [1 , +infinity)
D) (0 , + infinity)
E) (1 , + infinity)
If f(x) is a linear function such that f(-1) = 11 and f(2) = 5, then f(0) =
Which of these functions is(are) always increasing?
(I) f(x) = -x2 + 2x + 1
(II) f(x) = 2x - 1000
(III) f(x) = |x - 4| + 255
(IV) f(x) = -e-x,
A) (I) and (II) only
B) (II) only
C) (II) and (IV) only
D) (I) and (III) only
E) (III) and (IV) only
i is the imaginary unit such that i = √-1. What is the value if i99?
Find a, b and c.
A) 2 , -1 , 3
B) 1 , 2 , 3
C) 3 , -2 , 1
D) 1 , -2 , 3
E) 1 , 2 , -3
In an arithmetic series, the 3rd term is equal to 114 and the last term is equal to -27. The sum of all terms in the series is equal to 2325. What are the last three terms in the series?
A) -13 , -20 , -27
B) -7 , -17 , -27
C) -25 , -26 , -27
D) 27 , 0 , -27
E) -21 , -24 , -27
D - Geometry
In the figure below, line T1 is parallel to line T2 and line L1 is parallel to line L2. The pair of lines T1 , T2 are not perpendicular to L1,L2. Which of the set of angles below has all 4 angles equal in measurement?
A cube with edge length x and a right cylinder with circular base have the same volume. Find x ,in cm, if the radius of the cylinder is 5 cm and its height is 5 cm.
Find, in square cm, the area of an equilateral triangle of side 20 cm.
The two circles shown below have diameters AB and BD and are tangent at B. ABC and BDE are isosceles triangles inscribed inside the circles. What is the measurement, in degrees, of angle CBE?
In the figure below, EB and FC are both perpendicular to AC and x is the length of AB. If the length of AC is 11, what is x?
ABC is a right triangle such that the length of BC is 5 units. The legs have length x and 2x. Find x.
AB is tangent to the circle with center O and radius 10 cm. The length of OA is 15 cm and the length of OB is 20 cm. Find the area, in square cm, of triangle ABO.
C) 100√5 + 50√3
D) 100(√5 + √3)
E) 25√5 + 50√3
The area of the trapezoid shown below is 128 square cm. Find x in cm.
C1, C2 and C3 are three tangent circles with their centers on the same line. If R is the radius of the large circle and the diameter of circle C1 is twice the diameter of circle C3, then what is the area of the shaded region?
E - Trigonometry
If x is a positive angle smaller than 90° and cos(x) = 1/3, then sin(x) =
B) 2√2 / 3
Convert 135° into radians.
The measurement of an angle of a right triangle is 40° and the leg opposite to this angle is 5 cm long. What is the length, in cm, of the other leg?
Which of these graphs is the graph of y = cos(2x)?
What is the smallest positive value of x for which y = cos(3x) has a minimum value?
If you put 6 equilateral triangles together as shown below, you can make a regular hexagon. What is the area, in square units, of a regular hexagon of side lenght 6 units?


Proficiency in the Theme Writing Strategy: Narrative Writing The parts of a plot can be tricky! Who ever heard of the protagonist, antagonist, and foils, plus the rising action, climax, and falling action? What makes a story interesting? How can a plot be built so that the reader is held in suspense until the very […]
What’s one of the toughest skills to teach? Writing advanced themes! State and national writing standards not only require students to write themes consisting of several paragraphs, but they require themes in several genres. The latest additions to the Learning Strategies Curriculum can be used to teach students to write short and long informative research papers and persuasive & argumentative papers.


Cats make wonderful companions in homes. Cats can be very independent; however will often form strong bonds with certain people or pets that are within their environment. There are many ways that we can help make their home entertaining, help support natural behaviors such as scratching, and ways to help ensure continued use of their litter boxes.
Cats can have normal instincts to chase and play with anything that moves! To help prevent unwanted behaviors, it is imperative that their environments are enriched as much as possible. This can include “hunting” for food or use of food-balls, having at least 3-4 toys always available (and rotate different toys monthly), and regular playtime with their human companions. Being able to look outside windows (perhaps at a bird feeder) or having a kitty tv can further make their homes entertaining. It is important to encourage play with acceptable toys or substrates. It is best to avoid using your hands or feet as “toys” so they do not inadvertently scratch or bite anyone in the house.
Scratching is a natural behavior for all cats; it is done for nail maintenance, scent marking and visual marking. The location of the post is extremely important, as cats may prefer to scratch on something near the front of a couch rather than behind the couch. Sometimes, just a change in where a scratching post is located can make a cat very happy and safe while preventing any unwanted furniture scratching. Cats can also be very particular about substrate preference and you may need to try a variety of scratching posts (different substrates, horizontal and/or vertical) options to determine their individual preference. Sometimes, adding feliway or cat nip to the desired scratching post can help attract cats to use that particular area. Double sided tape may also be needed to deter cats from using any loved furniture if they have already started to scratch at it. Remembering to regularly trim nails can also be important in helping minimize unwanted destruction, and sometimes soft paws can be used as well. If there are any persistent problems with unwanted scratching, let us know so we can help!
It is important to provide easy access to litter boxes for all kittens and cats. If a cat that is previously trained to use the litter suddenly starts to have inappropriate urination or defecation, let us know as this may indicate that we need to evaluate your cat. There are many medical reasons that can cause inappropriate elimination in adult cats as well as behavioral causes. Remember, if there are multiple cats in a home, it is best to have one more litter box then the total number of cats. Any trained cat may stop using a litter box that is too small, dirty or in an area that lacks privacy. We recommend scooping daily, changing litter weekly and scrub/disinfecting the box on a regular basis.


Automotive keys aren’t simply just keys anymore. Car keys have become more advanced over the last two decades. Vehicle manufactures have implemented an electronic security immobiliser system into their cars which needs to be linked to a transponder chip inside the head of your car keys.
This transponder chip was programmed into the original set of car keys and has a unique code for each vehicle. Therefore, for the engine to start, the code on your keys, has to be linked with the vehicles immobiliser system.
If the transponder breaks or is lost, your vehicle will not start without that chip. The vehicle will need another transponder chip diagnostically programmed to its immobiliser system.
As a result, replacement car keys became more expensive and stealing vehicles became harder. If you only have one key to start your vehicle. It is a wise decision to have a spare key cut and programmed, to avoid the inconvenience of losing all the keys to your car. Having a spare key created is significantly cheaper than creating a new one, when no working keys are available.


Humans are releasing planet-warming carbon dioxide at about 10 times faster than the most rapid event of anytime in at least the past 66 million years. This leaves us without a historical analogue to guide predictions for how climate change will affect the world in coming years, a new study has found.
The study, published Monday in the journal Nature Geoscience, comes about a week after news broke that the level of carbon dioxide in the Earth’s atmosphere spiked by the largest amount on record in 2015, and on the heels of the hottest year and mildest first two months of 2016 on record.
February, for example, had the highest temperature departure from average of any month on record since at least 1880, NASA and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration found.
To reach their conclusions, the researchers examined ancient sediments off the coast of Millville, New Jersey, looking at the chemical composition of sediment layers that were laid down millions of years ago, containing clues about the planet’s climate history. Specifically, they researched trends in carbon and oxygen isotopes.
The carbon isotopes represent new carbon coming into the climate system, and the oxygen isotopes represent the climate's response to this pulse of excess carbon.
The study focuses on what the isotope ratios reveal about what occurred during a time period in Earth’s geological history known as the Paleocene-Eocene Thermal Boundary, or PETM. The PETM took place about 56 million years ago.
The isotopes changed in virtual lockstep with each other, indicating that the carbon release during the PETM was more likely to have taken place over a long period of time, due to what is known about the lag effects in the climate system and how the climate responds to sudden, massive injections of carbon dioxide.
There has been a long-running debate in the scientific community about just what caused the massive climate change and sizable species extinctions at the PETM boundary, and how quickly carbon was released into the atmosphere, thereby warming the air and seas while also acidifying the oceans.
While mass extinctions of marine creatures occurred during the PETM, there was not widespread species loss on land, according to study co-author Richard Zeebe of the University of Hawaii at Manoa.
During the PETM, the total amount of carbon released was about equal to all the fossil fuels thought to be currently left on Earth. This period likely saw the largest carbon release in at least the past 66 million years, according to the study.
“I think to me it’s completely clear we have entered a completely new era in terms of what humans can do on this planet”
The study also used computer model simulations of Earth’s climate and carbon cycle in order to estimate rates of change from the record without needing precise knowledge of the precise ages of each sediment layer in the record.
The global temperature increase during the PETM is thought to be between 4 and 8 degrees Celsius, or 7.2 to 14.4 degrees Fahrenheit, according to Scott Wing, a paleobiologist and curator at the Smithsonian Museum of Natural History in Washington, who did not contribute to the new study.
“As far as we know the PETM, the Paleocene-Eocene boundary is the event in the last 66 million years with the largest carbon release and most likely also the fastest, and that’s why we have studied this event,” Zeebe told Mashable.
Zeebe and his colleagues found that the maximum emissions rate during the beginning of the PETM was likely on the order of about 1.1 billion tons per year. Overall, the PETM onset is thought to have lasted more than 4,000 years.
This compares to today’s emissions rates of closer to 10 billion tons per year during a period of just a few centuries.
In other words, the study concludes that the current global emissions rate is about 10 times as fast as what occurred during the PETM.
Specifically, the study shows that the temperature increase associated with the first jump in carbon emissions when the PETM began was synchronous rather than instantaneous. This means they evolved together during the course of several thousand years, which suggests a relatively slow rate of carbon emissions spread out across a long period of time.
A more rapid increase in emissions would have produced more of a lag between the carbon release and temperature increase, since the climate system does not respond instantaneously to a sharp rise in greenhouse gases, given that it takes time to cycle carbon through the planet’s oceans and land-based carbon sinks, like forests.
We are now operating with no analogue
One of the biggest implications of the study’s findings is that the impacts of modern-day climate change on the seas and land will be more severe than what was seen during the PETM.
The impacts of modern-day climate change on the seas and land will be more severe.
This is especially the case in the oceans, where carbon is being absorbed at rapid rates, making the waters more acidic and interfering with the ability of species that rely on calcium carbonate to make their shells, such as scallops and oysters, to function normally.
Zeebe said the ocean acidification lessons of the study are particularly significant.
“... Unfortunately because we’re doing it so fast, our conclusion is that the rate of acidification will be much more severe in the future, and also that the effects on the calcifiers are likely to be more severe than what we see during the PETM,” he told Mashable.
A high rate of warming can overwhelm the ability of many marine and land species to adapt to climate change.
Zeebe said ecosystems on land will also see larger changes than what occurred during the PETM because the pace of climate change is now more rapid than it has been even during that time.
Wing said the study is important for providing new insight into an important question: “We want to know how fast the PETM happened because the rate of carbon addition is critical to determining its effects on everything."
“If the rate of PETM addition was 10 billion tons per year, then it is very much like current human addition, and we might expect the future to look like the PETM in many ways," he said.
"If the rate of PETM carbon addition was a tenth of our rate, then the future will likely be much more extreme than the PETM in many ways,” Wing said.
More evidence of the 'anthropocene'
Zeebe has conducted numerous studies on the planet’s climate history using chemical signatures contained in various marine organisms, known as foraminifera.
This has given him a unique perspective on the Earth’s geological history, and how to place modern-day climate change within a long-term perspective.
Zeebe is one of many researchers who favor naming the period starting with the industrial revolution as a new geological epoch, known as the Anthropocene.
“I think to me it’s completely clear we have entered a completely new era in terms of what humans can do on this planet,” he said.
“... If you look at the past and if you study the geologic record, every time when there was massive carbon release there were major changes on the planet and there were significant, large changes in climate."
Experts who did not participate in the new study said it helps to shed insight on a critical question concerning the PETM and modern climate change, although there are some questions about how the study's authors arrived at their conclusions.
Paul Pearson, a researcher at Cardiff University in Wales, who was not involved in this research, said the study shows that the carbon input into the Earth’s atmosphere during the PETM, as well as the climate’s response to those emissions, were likely gradual over thousands of years.
“This means that the rate of carbon input was probably much lower than the modern anthropogenic [man-made] rate,” he told Mashable. “This makes anthropogenic change a 'no-analogue state' in their jargon - in other words we are now changing the Earth much faster than ever before.”
Peter Stassen, a postdoctoral fellow at the University of Leuven in Belgium who wasn't involved with the new research, said the study does imply that we’re entering a time period for which we have no historical guide.
“We are probably entering a new era of climate alteration (Anthropocene) that is unknown from the deep-time geological history in respect to the rate of variations in atmospheric CO2 levels,” he wrote in an email.
"We’re still underestimating the long-term consequences of our fossil fuel burning"
The study does come with important caveats.
For example, precisely dating the age of sediment during the PETM is difficult, although Zeebe and his colleagues tried to get around this by using statistical approaches to estimate the emissions rate rather than pinpointing the exact years at which emissions and climate responses occurred.
Pearson, of Cardiff University, said the study adds valuable insight to climate science.
“I think the conclusion is valid, although I am concerned about one aspect: whether the isotope shifts, especially oxygen, are a primary record of environmental change or if there could be some other explanation,” he said.
“Other cores in the New Jersey area show quite [a] different magnitude of shift… which is currently difficult to understand.”
Wing said the study is important in that it addresses a nagging question about the PETM, but he is not yet sure that it’s methods and conclusions are completely robust.
“What I have to figure out is how sensitive Zeebe’s analysis is to the assumptions that they have to make about rate of ocean warming, and how good the data are, since the dissolution of carbonate is a problem in most marine records,” he told Mashable. “It will take some time to evaluate these factors.”
According to Zeebe, it would be an error to assume that we currently know by how much the world will warm during the next few centuries based on emissions rates and historical climate records.
If anything, he says, past climate data, such as that revealed in the new study, shows that warming may be on the upper end of projections.
“We should be careful, in terms of the long-term consequences of our fossil fuel burning,” Zeebe warns, “because it is possible, and this is what these records tell us, that we’re still underestimating the long-term consequences of our fossil fuel burning.”


The Hayden Planetarium is betting $2 million on black.
The stars and galaxies projected onto the museum’s massive dome may seem spectacular, but to the engineers behind the space shows, they’ve seemed as gray and washed out as the skies over Midtown.
But that’s about to change.
The Post was given a sneak peek of a system being installed this month that not only has significantly higher resolution but, unlike nearly all digital projectors in existence, can display true black.
Incorporating military technology designed to allow pilots to wear night-vision goggles in flight simulators, the stunning new projectors can display the darkest blackness of space, as well as its brightest lights, said Benjy Bernhardt, audiovisual director of the Rose Center at the Museum of Natural History, which includes the planetarium.
“This trumps every other planetarium in the world,” Bernhardt said. “The contrast adds a tremendous richness and realism that you can’t get from a standard digital projector.”
The contrast between the darkest darks and lightest lights is now 500,000 to 1. To put that in perspective, the contrast on a typical digital cinema showing “X-Men: First Class” is 2,000 to 1.
To demonstrate the $2 million effect, Jeff Galitzer, the chief video engineer, used the old projectors on one half of the planetarium’s dome and the new ones on the other.
“On this side, you see a rich-looking image of the Milky Way. It’s totally glorious,” said Galitzer, pointing to the half of the dome using the new setup. “This side, on the other hand, we’re in space sort of, I think.”
Much of the lush detail in the space show were invisible to viewers on the old system.
“See all these stars?” Galitzer asked, pointing to the better half of the dome. “Well, the same number of stars are over here, you just can’t see them. These were great projectors, but the new ones are far greater.”
When the Rose Center opened in 2000, the planetarium set the standard for the rest of the world, but despite incremental improvements, it was clear by 2005 that its operators needed to look to newer technology.
“In our mind’s eye, we knew what our content was capable of, but we had to wait for the technology — and the rest of the world — to catch up,” Galitzer said. “What we’re really looking forward to is our next production, when we create a show with this new palette in mind.”


The topics selected may or may not relate to that week’s reading but will be related to economics.
This is to gauge your general understanding of the current economic events that take place every day in our lives. It is to force you to think out of the box; broaden your horizon and to do some research besides reviewing your textbook.
Write 1-2 pages on the given topic.
You can include addendums but that will not be considered as a part of the report.
Please use 12 font size.
The U.S. economy is about to get an injection of rocket fuel.
Many economists have argued that “this is as good as it gets” for U.S. economic growth. But President Trump’s $1.5 trillion Tax Cuts and Jobs Act could kick economic growth into high gear and give a further boost to the long, strong stock market rally.
Now in the ninth year of an underwhelming recovery, the economy was long held back by an overhang of debt and speed bumps from China to the oil patch. It’s finally hit its stride and seems set to step up its pace in 2018.
“We’ve got a global synchronized boom with low inflation,” said strategist Ed Yardeni, president of Yardeni Research. He called it an ideal “Goldilocks scenario” for investors, with the economy neither too hot or too cold.
If it continues until June 2019, the U.S. economic expansion will break the record 120-month run of the 1991-2001 expansion.
Review the news clip given above then answer the following questions:
If you are an investor, do you think this is the right time for you to invest say hypothetically, $100,000? If yes, why and if no why not?
What will be the impact of this act on employment in the coming years?
As a student of economics, give 5 steps as a “suggestion plan” to sustain economic growth.
Delivering a high-quality product at a reasonable price is not enough anymore.
That’s why we have developed 5 beneficial guarantees that will make your experience with our service enjoyable, easy, and safe.
You have to be 100% sure of the quality of your product to give a money-back guarantee. This describes us perfectly. Make sure that this guarantee is totally transparent.Read more
Each paper is composed from scratch, according to your instructions. It is then checked by our plagiarism-detection software. There is no gap where plagiarism could squeeze in.Read more
Thanks to our free revisions, there is no way for you to be unsatisfied. We will work on your paper until you are completely happy with the result.Read more
Your email is safe, as we store it according to international data protection rules. Your bank details are secure, as we use only reliable payment systems.Read more
By sending us your money, you buy the service we provide. Check out our terms and conditions if you prefer business talks to be laid out in official language.Read more


NR-1 - The US Navy's First Nuclear Powered,
Deep Submergence Submarine
Chapter 1 - Spook Mission
Our nuclear attack submarine, the USS Sargo, was two weeks out of Pearl Harbor, gliding easily at seventeen knots some four hundred feet beneath the surface of the Pacific Ocean and headed for the east coast of Russia. The white numbers on our sail had been painted dark gray to match the rest of the ship and prevent identification, the radio room was stuffed with new electronics, and we had taken aboard three mysterious “communications technicians,” ghostly figures who rarely left their equipment and spoke only to the captain. Once a day we rose to periscope depth to receive any radio messages, then immediately dove to again hide our transit in deep water. It was 1964, the world was awash in the Cold War, and after preparing the ship as if she were going into combat, we were on our way to do some serious snooping in the Tartar Straits.
The Sargo leaves Pearl Harbor with Diamond Head in the distance
as it heads for a mission in the western Pacific Ocean
The Cuban missile crisis only two years earlier was still fresh in everyone’s memory, and in the short span of time since, President John Kennedy had been assassinated, Nikita Khrushchev had been overthrown as the Soviet premier, and British Prime Minister Harold MacMillan was driven from office by a scandal. America was trying to catch up with the Soviet Union in the space race, Russian reconnaissance planes were flying over Alaska, East-West tension was tight along the Berlin Wall, the Soviet Navy was growing at an alarming rate, and American armed forces were being drawn into Vietnam.
The repercussions of such geopolitical events even reached even to the depths of the Pacific, where I was serving aboard the Sargo, a submarine that had already sunk once. Four years earlier, while tied up dockside at Pearl Harbor, a pressure hose carrying pure oxygen into the ship ruptured and an intense fire broke out. Flames shot a hundred feet into the air and the nightmare scenario of fire aboard a nuclear-powered submarine became a reality. As the inferno roared and with one sailor already dead, the captain made the drastic decision to sink his own ship. He sealed off the aft torpedo room, put the stern of the crippled boat on the floor of the harbor with a deck hatch left open, and flooded the compartment to keep the raging fire from reaching the ship’s nuclear reactor. The Sargo was later hauled up by a huge crane, refurbished for three months, and returned to active duty. Now she was my home, and as I was an unqualified "nuc" in training, my bunk during this four-month mission was a vinyl mattress right beside the warhead of a large torpedo.
My duty station was at the plotting table in the control room, noting the position of any ships or other contacts. It was an enviable job. Although I was one of the most junior people aboard, I was in the operational heart of the Sargo, just a step away from the dive station and the periscope stand. I knew where we were and what we were doing.
You lose track of the hours in a submarine, for there are no windows, and no matter where your ship may be, the clock is set at Zulu, the time on the prime meridian, the imaginary line of longitude that passes through Greenwich, England. So days and nights cease to have meaning to a submariner, for there is no sunrise or sunset, no stars or moon, just the ship’s bells to signal the time for meals, working, and sleeping. After two weeks at sea, we crossed the international date line deep in the Central Pacific, hundreds of miles from anywhere, far from friend and enemy alike, and constantly challenged by the tedium of routine tasks. But we stayed on our toes, because absolutely nothing is taken for granted aboard a sub.
After several hours on duty one quiet day with no contacts to plot, I sat listening to the machine in which we lived. There is a continual din inside any ship underway - the whine of the turbines and reduction gears, the whoosh of air conditioning, the squeal of hydraulic fluid moving through pipes and valves, the bleeps of electronic devices, the straining shakes and shudders as turning screws push the ship through the water. Everyone feels the comforting rhythm that gives a sense that all is well, and instantly recognizes any change. I watched the Fathometer send out periodic pulses that returned many seconds later and showed the ocean bottom was eighteen thousand feet - more than three miles - below us. It made me wonder what it would be like to fall that far, a thought I quickly pushed aside.
The intercom in the control room came on with a request from the engine room, where a minor leak had been discovered in the hydraulic plant. Permission was requested to shut a valve to stop the leak so a hose could be replaced. It was a logical, routine decision and Lieutenant Ted Ardell, the conning officer running the sub during that watch, gave consent.
As soon as the sailor closed the valve, it felt as if a giant hand had struck the boat. The nose of the Sargo pitched violently down and the calm shipboard tempo instantly changed to that of a ship in serious trouble. “The stern planes have gone to full dive!” cried out the planesman, who jumped to his feet and pulled back on the control stick with all his might. “I can’t get them back!” We tipped more sharply and felt the downward angle increase. I grabbed the tilting plotting table as everything that wasn’t tied down tumbled forward in a sudden avalanche. Some items rattled past around our feet while other objects launched themselves through the air and crashed against the compartment bulkhead that only moments before had been the wall in front of me. With the steep angle of the boat, that wall was now well below the stations to which we clung in order to keep from falling. “Switch to emergency plane control!” yelled Ardell.
The angle only grew steeper, passing forty-five degrees. “Still on full dive!” called the planesman. Neither our captain nor the executive officer could reach the control room because the sharp angle and force of the dive had pinned them against the walls of their cabins. I glanced at the large digital depth indicator, where the numbers were changing so fast that they were a blur. In a matter of seconds, the ship drove herself down several hundred feet and the bow angle was greater than ever. The Sargo was out of control and heading toward her crush depth, the point at which the outside water pressure would crumple the hull. Ted Ardell, a sandy-haired young officer not long out of the Naval Academy, had to act immediately and instinctively, for if he hesitated, we would all be lost.
“All back emergency! Blow all ballast tanks!” he called, and the Sargo shook violently as her machinery obeyed the command. The giant propellers reversed and a thunder of compressed air blew some of the water from our ballast tanks. Everyone held on tight as we listened and prayed that the straining boat would respond. Our only chance of survival was to use every means available to stop the plunge. Ardell did everything right, and it worked. In seconds that seemed like years, we felt the rapid descent slow, and the bow began tilting back up. The ship’s hull groaned under the tremendous strain, but held. Everyone in the control room looked at each other without speaking as the ship recovered. We had gone to the edge of eternity and back in less than two minutes.
The single valve turned by the sailor in the engine room had disabled both the normal and emergency steering and diving systems. It was an error in the ship's design. There were four other Skate-class submarines just like us, and although the problem had never before been encountered, it eventually would have happened to one of them. Luckily, we survived to pass along the warning.
We quickly put things back to normal and the Sargo resumed the mission as if nothing had happened. Responding to emergencies is part of life underwater.
* * *
Through the East China Sea, the Straits of Korea, across the Sea of Japan and we silently entered a long body of water between the Russian mainland and Sakhalin Island, a protected sea lane that the Soviet Navy considered to be its own private pond. It was an awkward place for an American warship. While the United States recognized only a three-mile limit, the Soviet Union claimed sovereignty of the seas to a distance of twelve miles from their shore. We would work the gray area in between those distances, a disputed zone where some American subs had been discovered by Soviet warships and slammed by “practice” depth charges, as the USS Gudgeon had been in 1957. Those boats often returned to Pearl Harbor with large dents in their hulls and superstructures, but neither side acknowledged such incidents. The rules of engagement would change if we entered the three-mile limit, where the enemy ships would have the right to capture or destroy our boat. The chart on my plotting table clearly marked that critically important territorial line.
Early cruise missile launch from the deck of a surfaced submarine
The Soviets were testing an early version of their cruise missiles on a range within the Tartar Straits, launching the antiship weapons from a submarine toward a group of target barges a hundred miles away. At night, we stayed well offshore, but each morning the Sargocrept in and waited near the supposed launch position. After a week of hearing nothing, our sonar picked up the sounds of several approaching ships, including a submarine. We moved closer after they came to a stop and were able to observe the complicated process of how they prepared the ship-to-ship missile for launch. Small, choppy waves helped hide our periscope during the short intervals when it was raised, and our captain, Lieutenant Commander Robert M. Douglass, settled down to watch.
The Sargo lurking just beneath the surface with periscopes and antennae up
(Courtesy of the author)
The Soviets had no idea that a large U.S. warship had joined their observation group, her ominous bulk hidden beneath just a few feet of seawater only a hundred yards away from their ships. When the missile was ready, the eyes of all the Soviet sailors focused on the launch. Douglass then boldly raised our entire package of periscopes, cameras, and antennae. A bright sun bathed the area, and when the rocket shot away from the Soviet sub, we probably got better photographs of the test than they did. We also captured and recorded the telemetry and launch signals from the ships and the missile itself. We picked them clean, grabbing a complete top secret Soviet launch profile while remaining undetected. Then the Sargo moved quietly away to await new orders.
As a reminder that this game was never easy, our luck turned bad a few weeks later when we were lurking at the far end of the missile test range, hoping to watch one of the weapons impact among a quadrangle of moored barges. When our spooks learned a shot was imminent, we worked into the area and once more settled down near the Soviet ships gathered to watch the incoming missile. But this time when the skipper raised the periscope, he saw a Soviet sailor on the bridge of one of the ships pointing right back at him and yelling something. Douglass, a tall man with a terrific command presence, simply said, “Uh, oh. I think they’ve spotted us. Lots of activity on deck. Down scope! Let’s get out of here!”
Soviet destroyer of the types that hunted us while we tried to take photos of their missile launches and landings
The Soviet surface ships scattered to make room for a Kashin-class destroyer that was charging toward us. She began pinging away with active sonar, and then took up a position across the path we would most likely have to take to reach undisputed international waters beyond the twelve-mile limit. We were now the prey instead of the stalker, but Douglass, whose calm in such situations was legend, did not intend to make things easy for the Russian destroyer. Instead of heading out on the direct route, he slid the Sargo slowly forward, between the target barges, which made a jumble of the destroyer’s sonar signals. When it became obvious that the Kashin did not have a fix on us, and was simply waiting for us to make a mistake, we angled out of the area, sticking close to the shoreline, and slipped into deeper waters.
* * *
The next item on our surveillance agenda was shadowing one of the newest Soviet missile-carrying submarines, a boat of their Echo II class, to determine if she was powered by standard diesel engines or a nuclear reactor. Intelligence sources informed us that one was leaving the shipyard at Komsomolsk-on-Amur and would be coming through the Tartar Straits to reach the ice-free port at Vladivostok, on the southern coast of Siberia.
We found a good spot and waited about a week before picking up the sounds of that sub moving cautiously on the surface behind an escorting patrol boat. A heavy mist blanketed the sea and hampered their ability to spot our periscope, and the submerged Sargo swung in smoothly behind both Soviet vessels, where the churning and turbulence of their own propellers masked any chance they might have of detecting us with sonar. They were making only eight knots through the fog, and we were tailgating at less than a mile, closing at ten knots and keeping the sound of their props centered dead ahead on our television-like passive sonar display. As we slipped up on them through their roiling wakes, we could hear the actual throb of their screws in the water around us.
The captain issued rapid-fire orders to maintain our speed, just two knots faster than theirs, and to start the radiation sensors, automatic cameras mounted on the periscopes, and sound-recording gear. As we overtook the Echo II, our fully extended periscopes were only ten feet beneath her hull. The Sargo surged ahead until she came even with the bow of the Russian sub, completing a clean sweep during which our equipment made the important discovery that the Russian boat was indeed nuclear powered.
We slowed and dove to begin our escape, and the submarine and patrol boat moved along to their new home port not knowing they had been electronically mugged. We had harvested exceptionally valuable intelligence and would add a complete set of photographs of the bottom of the submarine’s entire hull, a power plant radiation profile, and a transcript of their engine and propeller noises to the navy’s library of intelligence information. If an American sonar man ever detected that sound again, anywhere in the world, he would know exactly which ship it was. If we survived to relay it home.
A surfaced Soviet Echo-II submarine
* * *
Our final chore was yet another submarine chase. One of the Soviet Juliett-class diesel-powered submarines had become particularly quiet and hard to detect, a remarkable change for a type of sub that usually made quite a racket with her propellers. We had to find out why, and began our cat and mouse routine by parking off the big naval base at Vladivostok.
Soviet Juliett-class submarine
Since it was near the end of the tour, the crew of the Sargo had been honed to sharpness by the work of the past few months. One exception was the ship’s navigator, a lieutenant with a sour attitude about not having risen higher in rank. He was a large man who already had gray hair at the age of forty, and was known for trying to avoid even the simplest jobs. The crew nicknamed him Satchel Ass, for the way the seat of his unkempt khaki pants sagged behind him. The nickname conjured an image of sloth that suited him well, and soon everyone, including the other officers, took to calling him Satchel to his face, though he never figured out why. Unfortunately, we had to rely on this weak link to determine where we were in the ocean.
The Juliett appeared to be conducting some sort of tests as we spent days scouting her. The sub would emerge from port, operate for a short period then return to base. It was too risky for us to use the tactic we had employed against the Echo, for this Juliett boat moved too fast when she was on the surface, so we watched from a distance as her knife-edged bow threw water aside when she powered through her exercises. Every day we jockeyed for a better position, hoping the sub might loiter near us just long enough.
Satchel kept track of our location by taking bearings from the peaks of the snowy mountains along Cape Povorotny, and confirmed his position with readings provided by Loran Alpha radio signals, the only electronic navigation device we had that worked in the far reaches of the northern Pacific. His job became trickier as the weather changed and early summer fog obscured the view of the mountains, often for days at a time. When he could no longer see the peaks, he was forced to rely solely upon the Loran radio signals.
It came as a surprise to all of us when, on the first day of July, after taking the regular position fix, the navigator pinpointed our boat as being not a dozen miles off the Russian coast as we thought, but smack in the middle of the vast and dusty Gobi Desert. The captain immediately withdrew to deeper water to find out what was wrong. Electronic technicians swarmed over the Loran gear, calibrating and testing, and declared it to be working perfectly, only to have the Loran tell us over and over that we were a thousand miles inland, sailing beneath the Gobi sand. Meanwhile, we could only navigate by dead reckoning from the last fix the navigator made from the mountaintops, which were now hidden by the fog. Without a good position fix, we could only make rough estimates of how far the strong currents might have carried the Sargo along the coast, and soon had only an approximate idea of where we were.
At that moment, the Juliett gave us the opportunity for which we had been patiently waiting. She began her run back to port escorted by several ships, and all were moving slowly because of the fog. At that speed, we could catch her, extend our periscopes, photograph the hull, and figure out why she was so quiet. Captain Douglass studied the chart with Satchel and was assured that we could accomplish the mission before the enemy sub reached the protection of the three-mile limit. Using the available data, I plotted an intercept point that would allow us to come to periscope depth right behind our target.
From there, we would repeat the Echo maneuver, dive beneath the enemy sub, and raise our periscope until it was only a few feet below her hull as we moved forward. We caught up as planned and positioned the Sargo just beneath the Soviet sub. Our skipper got his first good look through the eyepiece and saw that the Juliett’s propellers were recessed in miniature wind tunnels, which shrouded them and greatly reduced the amount of noise leaving the ship. This was another exceptionally important find, and Douglass ordered the recording and photography to begin.
But luck again turned against us. Before we could complete the pass, the Juliett accelerated, which meant we would have to increase our own speed to overtake her. We went down to four hundred feet to reduce the noise of our own propellers, leveled off, and rushed forward at full speed, planning to rise up at the last moment and finish the job.
Without warning, we hit something unseen. The whole boat shuddered and the bow rocked up like she was sliding up a boat ramp. We were all flung forward by the impact even as the captain ordered, “All stop!”
Our momentum at high speed defied his order, and although the engines went to idle and the propellers stopped turning, the Sargo plowed along the seabed, scraping and shuddering. “I can hear gravel scattering,” called the sonar operator. We had run aground at full speed, bounced twice off the bottom, and skidded to an abrupt standstill, dead in the water. We had made so much noise that we believed it would have been impossible for the Russian ships not to hear us.
“Check the chart!” Douglass ordered. “There shouldn’t be any four-hundred-foot bottom out here!” Anger tinged his voice. Our captain did not like surprises while sailing beneath Soviet warships.
The quartermaster gave him the bad news. “We’re inside the three-mile limit, sir!” he said. The chart clearly showed the only four-hundred-foot depth charted in the Vladivostok area was less than two miles from shore, which made us a fair target. We were well within the forbidden zone in which the Soviets could attack us with full justification. We listened for pinging from the Juliett’s escorts, or the splashes of depth charges we expected to come raining down, but only silence surrounded us. So far, we were not being hunted.
“Sonar. What are the ships above us doing?” the skipper asked in a whisper.
“The ones I can hear are still headed into port, sir. But they may have left one up there sitting quiet and waiting.”
Damage reports came to the control room, the worst stating that seawater was leaking into the pump room and could not be halted while the ship was submerged. We could not just sit there idle in such dangerous waters.
“Ahead one-third, ten degrees up angle on the bow planes,” ordered the captain. He had to know immediately if the ship was still maneuverable, and somehow the Sargo struggled back to life and responded, although awkwardly. At least our hull was still intact and we had some control, but if they were going to find us, it would be now, and we braced for an attack. Once again, nothing happened.
Douglass seized the opportunity and pulled us out of the area to the open waters some miles away, where we surfaced and stanched the leak. Then we limped away toward safe harbor in Okinawa, staying well offshore and steering by compass headings.
Inspections would later show that all of the instruments had been raked off the underside of our boat, half of the big rudder was torn away, and the eighteen-inch-thick rudderpost was bent back at a thirty-degree angle. We would have been sitting ducks, virtually defenseless and without much ability to maneuver, had we been attacked.
As we made our way slowly back to port, the skipper ordered technicians to rip the Loran to pieces, clean and test every part, and put it back together. They did, and it still worked fine. Whatever the problem was, it wasn’t with the Loran set.
The lead electronics technician, baffled by the mystery, had an idea and hunted up copies of recent navigation publications. After only a few minutes of turning pages, he discovered why we had ended up in such jeopardy, sailing under a desert and slamming into the bottom a stone’s throw from the Russian coast. The fault was not mechanical, but human.
Clearly spelled out in bold text in a “Notice to Mariners” was that on the first day of July, all signals transmitted by the Loran stations in the western Pacific changed to new frequencies. That was the day our Loran “failed” for the first time. The lazy and disgruntled Satchel had not bothered to read the notice nor alter the charts for the new settings.
Captain Douglass was furious. He accepted the fact that he, the ship and his crew must work in an extremely perilous environment, but he would not tolerate incompetence compounding the risk. He ordered that the navigator be confined to his quarters for the rest of the long trip, and after that, Satchel’s only contact with the outside world was a sailor who served meals to him in the small compartment. The rest of us wanted nothing to do with him. Before we reached Okinawa, those passing through the corridor outside his cabin heard the lieutenant muttering and crying, in the middle of a nervous breakdown. When we finally tied up, Satchel was escorted topside and taken away in an ambulance. We never heard from him again.
* * *
Crew members on this mission of the Sargo were awarded medals for operating in a war zone. The official explanation was that we had passed through the dangerous waters off Vietnam during our journey. The truth is that the potential combat we faced on our mission had not been in the warm Gulf of Tonkin, but far away in the misty and frigid waters just two miles off the Russian coast.
Between 1963 and 1965 the Sargo earned three Navy Unit Commendations and flew the NUC ship's pennent on the left
In 1966, Commander Robert M. Douglass, United States Navy, was awarded the Legion of Merit for "exceptionally meritorious conduct in the performance of outstanding services to the Government of the United States as Commanding Officer, U.S.S. SARGO (SSN-583), during three related missions conducted in the period 17 July 1963 to 19 June 1965, which resulted in achievements of great value to the United States Government."


“The Czech Republic is one of the worst countries in gender equality due to the pay differences and the conditions of mothers”, said the Foreign Minister Lubomír Zaorálek at a conference yesterday.
The pay differences between Czech men and women rank among the deepest in Europe: women’s pay is 22% lower (approx. 6,700 crowns a month) on average than men’s. “It is a shame and I feel ashamed of it,” he told the conference.
He added that the causes of the Czech approach to gender equality originate back in the period of the communist regime.
The management positions in the Czech Republic are mostly held by men: on the top positions such as CEO there are less than 4% women in the country.
Based on its overall gender gap index, which measures how women fare relative to men on various measures (including economic participation, educational attainment, health and survival, and political empowerment), the Czech Republic ranked 96 out of 142 countries in the world.
Gender equality in the Czech Republic has declined over the past ten years—it had been ranked 53rd in 2006 but dropped to 75th by 2011. Alarmingly, the Czech Republic fell 13 places between 2013 and 2014.


A heart bypass surgery redirects blood flow around a blocked or narrow section in the arteries supplying blood and oxygen to the heart.
A heart bypass surgery redirects blood flow around a blocked or narrow section in the arteries supplying blood and oxygen to the heart. The procedure is also called an Off-Pump Coronary Artery Bypass (OPCAB) and is performed while your heart is still beating. In modern times, the procedure does not require a heart-lung machine. A stabilisation device is used to immobilise the heart during the course of the bypass operation. However, some traditional techniques of Cardiopulmonary Bypass (CPB) use a heart-lung machine which involves stopping the heart temporarily and replacing the work of the heart with the machine.
If you want to know the bypass surgery cost in India or have any other questions regarding the surgery, please feel free to contact our doctors and they will give you all the details about medical tourism for heart disease in India.
Just like the other organs in our body, the heart also requires a constant supply of blood and oxygen. It is the job of the left and right coronary arteries to supply this blood and oxygen without any interruptions. However, sometimes a condition called atherosclerosis can cause the arteries to become narrow due to fatty acid build up around them. This is known as a coronary heart disease.
A severe case of atherosclerosis interferes with the supply of oxygen-rich blood to the heart, causing chest pain and an ailment called angina. A cardiologist will suggest an open heart bypass surgery in the following cases:
If you have been through a previously failed angioplasty, a surgery might be the only option.
Your surgeon will guide you through the necessary lifestyle changes, medications and diet changes required ahead of your surgery. The following pre-surgical tests must be conducted to determine your overall health and wellbeing and also to check the status of artery blockages:
Make sure you discuss all your queries with your surgeon during this time so that you are relaxed and at peace during your surgery.
A bypass surgery in India can last between three to six hours, based on the heart blockages and their severity. An experienced cardiac surgeon along with his trusted team will perform your operation under general anaesthesia.
In the CBP procedure, the heart stops temporarily while in the CABG procedure, the heart continues to beat. Speak to your surgeons to understand the pros and cons of both treatment methods.
Post a heart surgery in India, you will be moved into the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) to monitor your health and heart. Based on your response to the procedure, you will then be moved to a normal room where you might have to stay for about a week. After a bypass surgery, it can take you three to four weeks to resume to your normal routines. Many surgeons recommend attending a cardiac rehabilitation programme for faster recovery through exercise and education therapy. Make sure you don’t miss any follow-ups as directed by the surgeon since this will monitor your progress and determine any unexpected relapse in the treatment.
Since this is an open heart surgery, the risks and complications are comparatively higher. Though you can be assured that doctors and surgeons will do their best to deliver a successful operation, you must be aware of the risks before you make your decision. The complications largely depend on the status of your health before the surgery and the chance of risks are higher when the surgery is an emergency procedure. Some of the possible risks include:
Many clinical studies have shown that a beating heart CABG procedure offers comparatively lesser complications and a shorter hospital stay compared to the conventional CPB.
The approx. cost of bypass surgery in Mumbai would be $6,500 - $ 11,000 and approx. duration will be 7-14 days based on your preference of hospital, surgeon and room requirements. You can be assured of the best surgeons performing your operation at affordable costs. A number of citizens from around the world are choosing India as their destination for bypass due to the medical advancements in the country, the ease of travel and the affordable prices.
We invite you to speak to our surgeons and assure hassle-free arrangements for all our medical needs. Contact us on +91-9999950957 today.
India Health Help is a holistic medical tourism platform that offers to patients from around the world a chance to access some of best medical services in India. With access to the best hospitals, diagnostic centres, multi-speciality facilities and super-specialist medical expertise, we channel the right patient to the right medical solution for quick, effective and affordable recovery.


High blood pressure doesn’t discriminate. It affects men and women of all ages, sizes, and backgrounds.
Long-term high blood pressure can lead to serious health problems such as stroke, heart disease, and death. Fortunately, a new study has found that there are simple steps anyone can take to maintain their health even when struggling with high blood pressure. Maintaining good fitness levels through balanced nutrition and regular exercise is one key step in reducing the negative impacts associated with this condition.
The new study recently published in the European Journal of Preventive Cardiology was the first to evaluate the joint efforts of blood pressure and fitness on the risk of dying from cardiovascular disease.
It included 2,280 men aged 42 to 61 living in eastern Finland enrolled in the Kuopio Ischaemic Heart Disease Risk Factor Study. Blood pressure and cardiorespiratory fitness were measured through maximal oxygen uptake while riding a stationary bicycle. All participants’ blood pressure measurements were classified as low, medium, or high.
Baselines were taken between 1984 and 1989, and all participants were followed until 2018. During this follow-up time, there were 644 deaths due to cardiovascular disease. The outcomes were adjusted for risk factors such as cholesterol levels, age, body mass index, smoking status, alcohol consumption, type 2 diabetes, coronary heart disease, physical activity, and socioeconomic status.
It was found that participants with high blood pressure and low fitness had a more than doubled risk of cardiovascular death compared to those with normal blood pressure and high fitness.
Study author Professor Jari Laukkanen concluded, “Getting blood pressure under control should remain a goal in those with elevated levels. Our study indicates that men with high blood pressure should also aim to improve their fitness levels with regular physical activity. In addition to habitual exercise, avoiding excess body weight may enhance fitness.”
High blood pressure or hypertension affects many adults globally, with almost 1.3 billion individuals aged 30 to 79 years suffering from the condition. The implications of hypertension are dire, as it is a significant risk factor for heart attack and stroke, leading to premature deaths worldwide. The importance of monitoring blood pressure levels cannot be overstated, as hypertension is often asymptomatic and may go unnoticed until it causes serious health complications.
As this study shows, taking proactive steps toward managing and treating the condition is crucial to adopting a healthy lifestyle and prioritizing regular check-ups with healthcare professionals.
By maintaining healthy blood pressure, you can help to reduce the risk of cardiovascular disease and help support overall heart health. Human clinical studies have shown Healthy Blood Pressure Support to help support healthy blood pressure, making it an excellent choice for those looking to support and promote healthy blood pressure. In addition, Healthy Blood Pressure Support also supports healthy cholesterol levels and cardiovascular health.


Where to Learn the Ukulele
How to Play Ukulele: The Ultimate Guide to Learn to Play Ukulele Today
This short article will certainly help you discover how to play the Ukulele if you’re considering acquiring one. Where to Learn the Ukulele
Before I begin, let me provide you a brief history of the ukulele. The origins of the ukulele are from Hawaii in the 19th century. Ukuleles are among the most enjoyed instruments recognized to mankind. The ukulele is very closely related to Hawaiian society. It is an essential part of mostly all Hawaiian performances that are revealed to the general public. Ukuleles are known for their one-of-a-kind noise as well as one-of-a-kind design. This tool is a duplicate from the “machete”, which was introduced to Hawaiians in early 19th century.
Ukuleles are miniature guitars that produce special sounds. Since they have only 4 strings, these are much easier to make use of than guitars. Because the ukulele has 4 strings, it is much easier to find out the notes. Although the noise of the strings is really similar to that of a guitar, it is additionally unique. It is softer than the guitar, and this special noise has been associated with the tranquil Hawaiian Islands.
This tool is additionally among the easiest tools to master. It is lighter than a lot of other instruments, and has more strings.
Ukuleles are frequently connected with Hawaiian society. They can be found anywhere. Since music is so diverse and also taken into consideration a universal language by the human race, many people make use of the ukulele to create the songs they want.
Ukuleles are likewise used in several songs categories. In spite of being a smooth instrument, the ukulele is still preferred. Nevertheless, it has been utilized in several various other songs categories, such as sluggish jazz and pop. Eva Cassidy’s ” Someplace over the Rainbow” is one of one of the most popular songs to include a ukulele. You can hear the audio of the ukulele throughout the tune, providing it a more vibrant and calmer feel.
Ukuleles are incredibly popular today because they are very easy to discover therefore convenient to lug around. Ukuleles are a smaller version than the guitar however have a unique noise. Because it generates a comforting and also soothing noise, the ukulele is commonly related to Hawaiian culture. It is the Hawaiian culture’s pillar because it advertises peace and also leisure.
It becomes part of the guitar family. The only distinction is that it has 4 strings, while the guitar has six.
There are four sizes of the Ukulele: show, treble as well as tone. The tone and quantity of the Ukulele will certainly vary depending on its size. It originated in Hawaii as well as spread around the globe, with the United States being the very first to present the soprano-ukulele. Where to Learn the Ukulele
Right here are some pointers for playing the ukulele now that you have a basic understanding of the tool.
Idea No. 1:
The Ukulele can be played by tweezing the strings. You have two alternatives: you can use your fingers or a pick to tweeze the strings. Ukulele choices are frequently felt-covered and also extra comfy than guitar choices. Individuals can establish calloused fingers from tweezing the strings. I suggest that you make use of a felt choice.
People that are familiar with playing the guitar may choose to strumming as opposed to plucking the strings. It might spend some time to learn just how to tweeze the strings of the ukulele, but once you do, you’ll be able to appreciate hrs of playing it.
Pointer No. 2:
The ukulele just has four strings in contrast to the 6 of the guitar. It is for that reason much easier to discover once you have actually found out the notes.
Tuning the tool is needed before you can start. You can make use of an electronic receiver or ask your ukulele educator for aid. An digital tuner can be bought for a really reasonable rate. You can additionally ask buddies with music skill to tune your ukulele.
Tip No. 3:
After your ukulele has ended up being tuned, you can start to play the instrument by selecting the strings. To discover just how to play the ukulele correctly, I recommend that you employ a teacher. After you have actually understood these methods, you can go solo to trying out the tool and also play your preferred tracks.
When you fit with the essentials of playing the ukulele you require to proceed practicing. You can enhance your abilities by practicing on a daily basis. You will certainly quickly have the ability to play the ukulele with the help of an skilled instructor. Where to Learn the Ukulele
What Ukulele Should a Beginner Purchase?
You’ve currently selected the tool you wish to play. The Ukulele! It’s a terrific option! You might now be asking which ukulele is best for newbies. The type of gamer will identify the rate of your very first ukulele.
Are you wanting to become a pro at the ukulele? Or will it simply be a leisure activity? Some people buy one to require to the coastline, while others like to maintain one in your home. Are you seeking a ukulele with terrific sound high quality that is made by a specialist brand?
It behaves to have both. A ukulele you can play all of the moment that you more than happy to require to the coastline, as well as one you won’t mind if it obtains damaged (ie also loud). You can get a low-quality one here, however you will still have a top quality ukulele for performing or at home.
There are numerous types of ukuleles, however it is best for beginners to start with a 4-string ukulele. Then you can go up as you come to be a far better uke gamer.
The Makala, Lanikai, as well as Oscar Ukuleles are some of the most effective brands. Get the most fundamental sort of plastic ukulele for your youngster. If they are interested, after that you can update to a standard/beginner ukulele.
Since it is cost effective, the Makala is terrific option for outright newbies. Makala Ukuleles can additionally be bought in pastel colors with dolphins on.
The Lanikai Ukuleles are a bit a lot more expensive however terrific for beginners. You may consider acquiring a extra expensive ukulele such as the Oscar if you mean to make playing the ukulele your major pastime.
This short article must have aided you decide which beginner ukulele is best for you and some tips to begin understanding it. Your new ukulele will certainly bring you pleasure and uniqueness. You will certainly discover it to be a fascinating, entertaining as well as enjoyable tool.


Mouse acceleration is an ergonomic feature on Windows. For many Windows users, mouse acceleration is a useful feature. It allows them to cross the entire computer screen with one short and quick motion.
For gamers mouse acceleration can be a problem. This is especially true for first-party shooters (FPS). When you turn off mouse acceleration, only raw mouse input data is used. The result is greater accuracy and a much-improved gaming experience.
What is mouse acceleration?
Let’s face it if you use a PC today, it hard to avoid using a mouse. The mouse is an especially critical part of any gaming PC. Mouse speed plays an important role when aiming in your favorite game. With a smooth and speedy mouse, you can improve your aim and reaction time to opponent players.
How does mouse acceleration work?
When you turn on mouse acceleration, the faster you move the mouse, the further the mouse cursor travels on the PC screen. Mouse acceleration is a useful feature in office environments, but the limited mouse space can be detrimental for gamers. Gaming requires accurate mouse movements.
Why should gamers should turn off mouse acceleration?
Gamers need mouse accuracy. When you turn off mouse acceleration, your mouse will only move as much as you move your mouse. Turning off mouse acceleration results in accurate cursor movement. Once acceleration is turned off, the mouse will only travel at a 1:1 ratio regardless of how fast you move the mouse.
By turning off mouse acceleration, you improve the consistency of mouse movement. It will help you train your muscles more effectively. This is the reason professional gamers turn off mouse acceleration.
What is the difference between mouse acceleration and mouse smoothing?
Mouse acceleration and mouse smoothing are not the same. In fact, they are completely different. Mouse smoothing is critical for preventing jerky in a low-resolution mouse. Mouse acceleration, on the other hand, is a way to customize cursor distance, which is critical for times when you quickly shift the mouse.
How to turn off mouse acceleration in Windows 10?
The first step in turning off mouse acceleration in Windows 10 is to click start. Then, you need to press the Settings icon. But the fastest way to open settings is by the Windows shortcut when you press the Windows and I keys simultaneously. You can also open Settings using the command line. Open the command line window by typing “cmd” in the bottom left search window. Then, type “start ms-settings:” and press the enter key on your keyboard.
The second step for turning off mouse acceleration is to select devices from there. Then select Mouse from the left-hand side of the Devices window.
The next step is to click Additional mouse options. In the mouse property area, click the Pointer Options tab.
On the Pointer Options tab uncheck the box that says Enhance pointer precision.
Once you have clicked OK, you have turned off mouse acceleration on your Windows 10 PC or laptop.
How to turn off mouse acceleration in Windows 7?
The first step in turning off mouse acceleration in Windows 7 is to open the control panel on your PC. You can do this from the start menu located in the bottom left corner of your screen.
The next step is to type mouse in the search bar located in the top right corner of the control panel window. Click on mouse next, then click on the pointer options tab.
Now you can uncheck the box in front of Enhance pointer precision.
Finally, click Apply and then click OK to turn off mouse acceleration in Windows 7.
Do pro gamers use mouse acceleration?
Only a select few professional gamers use mouse acceleration.
Do any pros use mouse acceleration?
Most professional gamers don’t use mouse acceleration.
Is mouse acceleration good for Fortnite?
Mouse acceleration is disabled in Fortnite. Fortnite uses raw input even if, in Windows, mouse acceleration is turned on.


or Swinburne moments of vision or epiphany often take the form of moments of loss. "The Triumph of Time" dramatizes the mind of one who experiences the loss of his beloved, and "Hymn to Proserpine" presents the experience of a Roman of the fourth century A. D. who is losing his gods, the old pagan deities, now that Christianity has become the official religion of the state. This poem dramatizes the thoughts and emotions of a person experiencing the destruction of an entire culture and its beliefs. Like Browning and Tennyson, Swinburne employs dramatic monologues in which historically reconstructed characters serve as Emersonian representative men. The characters in Tennyson's "Tithonus" (1860) and "Ulysses" (1842), however, are, strictly speaking, not historical embodiments of different periods of culture but mythic dramatizations of possible answers to problems troubling the poet. Tithonus, the mythic figure who has gained immortality without retaining his youth and vitality, responds, like the Struldbrugs in Swift's Gulliver's Travels, to the question, what if human beings lived forever? Ulysses, on the other hand, responds to the question, how should human beings confront death?
Unlike Tennyson, Browning and Swinburne employ not new versions of well-known mythic figures but imagined characters who represent a certain historical situation. The speakers in Browning's "Cleon" (1855), "Karshish" (1855), and "The Bishop Orders His Tomb at St. Praxed's" capture what the poet considers the essential ideas and attitudes of a particular lost age, though of course each is also relevant to the poet's readers because he can tell them something of importance about themselves as well. For example, Cleon's intellectual pride, like the bishop's materialism, helps Browning's reader understand an earlier age's spiritual problems and his own, for each in its own way instantiates the Victorian crisis of faith.
In "Hymn to Proserpine" Swinburne also concerns himself to embody specific historical conditions by means of a fictional character who thus becomes a representative man. Furthermore, again like Browning, he chooses a figure living in an age of transition from one religion to another. However, when Browning looks at men of late antiquity to learn what they can tell his contemporaries about the needs and difficulties of the human spirit, he conducts his investigations from the vantage point of a Victorian Protestant. He wishes to demonstrate, for example, what the experience of life in these earlier times can tell his audience of man's essential, defining need for religious faith. Moreover, Browning looks at the transition from the pagan to the Christian world as an essentially good thing, but Swinburne, who had little sympathy with Christianity, does not. As one might expect, "Hymn to Proserpine" and similar poems identify with the position of the imagined historical character far more than do Browning's analogous works. Whereas Browning's "Cleon" takes the form of high intellectual satire, as do many of his other poems such as "Caliban upon Setebos" (1864) and "The Bishop Orders His Tomb at St. Praxed's Church," Swinburne's poem both makes us understand the pagan's point of view and suggests that it is one suitable for the nineteenth century. In particular, "Hymn to Proserpine," which questioned contemporary beliefs in both Christianity and progress, makes us realize that change is not always improvement. To the refined pagans of the fourth century, Christianity came as a form of barbarism, and the passion with which Swinburne invests his speaker's objections against the new religion makes them seem credible. The poet enforces his historical pessimism by having this embodiment of a dying age turn prophet and warn that Christian gods, too, will in their turn find themselves submerged beneath the waves of time.
Last modified 29 November 2004


This site doesn't support Internet Explorer. Please use a modern browser like Chrome, Firefox or Edge.
"How To Help Your ChildCope With A Painful Stress or Anxiety Disorder WithoutWaisting Money OnExpensive Medication..."
(Let him/her experience a peaceful night's sleep)
Anxiety disorders affect 25.1% of children between 13 and 18 years old. Research shows that untreated children with anxiety disorders are at higher risk to perform poorly in school, miss out on important social experiences, and engage in substance abuse. Watch the video below by Psych Hub to learn more.


In 1942, at the age of 20, Robert “Bob” Max left a comfortable college life at Ohio University to enlist in the United States Army. He was one of the many American Jewish soldiers who signed up to help defeat the Nazis. Bob fought in three major battle campaigns across Europe before he was captured during the climactic Battle of the Bulge and was forced into slave labor. His recent book, The Long March Home, tells the story of his ordeal as a Nazi slave laborer.
Join the Jewish Federation of Greater MetroWest NJ
and the Holocaust Resource Center of Kean University for our Yom HaShoah Commemoration:
The Greatest Generation
Wednesday, May 1 • 7 p.m.
Wilkins Theatre for the Performing Arts
1000 Morris Ave., Union
FREE and open to the public. Registration is strongly encouraged.


History of Linkwood whisky distillery
Linkwood is a whisky distillery in Elgin, in the Speyside region of Scotland. The distillery was built in 1821 by Peter Brown by the banks of the river Lossie and surrounded by woodlands. Mr Brown was an ingenious farmer who wanted to make his land more productive. His idea was barley grown on his land could be distilled to make whisky, the used up husks of the barley fed the cattle, and the cattle fertilized the land; now thats what we call a whisky based ecosystem!
Production started in 1825 with two stills giving a capacity of 4,500 litres per year. The distillery was operated by James Walker until Browns death in 1868, when it was then taken over by his son William Brown.
Between 1872 and 1873 William Brown designed and built a new distillery with help of architect Methven, replacing the old one on the same location. The new distillery had a capacity of 227,000 liters per year. After William Browns death, the Linkwood-Glenlivet company was created by Browns family in 1898 and brought to the stock exchange. The distillery was then further extended to a capacity of 454,000 liters per year.
In 1902 Innes Cameron joined the Linkwood-Glenlivet company and became managing director of the Linkwood distillery until 1932. By that time he was the largest shareholder of the company. The company was sold to Scottish Malt Distillers, which itself was bought by United Distillers.
After temporary closure between 1941 and 1945 as a result of barley shortage during World War II, the distillery reopened in 1945 under Roderick Mackenzie, who led the distillery until 1963. Mackenzie believed that all things in the distillery contributed to the final product. In 1962, Scottish Malt Distillers decided the distillery needed to be completely refurbished. Mackenzie oversaw the rebuilding of the distillery in his last year as general manager. The distillery was electrified, replacing the steam engine and water wheel that powered the distillery before, and all stills were replaced with exact replicas of the former stills.
In 1971 a second distillery was built alongside the first, which became known as Linkwood B, with steam heated stills. The stills of the first distillery were converted to being heated by steam as well. With the build of Linkwood B the two distilleries reached their current combined capacity of 2.5 million liters per year.
The distillery was mothballed between 1985 and 1990, and is currently owned and run by Diageo.
Whisky from Linkwood
As one of one Diageo's work horses, much of the whisky distilled at Linkwood is not typically bottled under its own branded. We have had the pleasure of securing some single cask Linkwoods, and have taken pleasure in bottling these as unique single malts.
Linkwood distillery character is fine, smooth, medium bodied and complex, with typical Speyside fruit and flowery notes and just a hint of smoke.
Buy a cask of Linkwood whisky
The Single Cask has some great Linkwood casks in our warehouses. If you're interested in buying a cask of Linkwood, please contact us today for a free, no obligation quote. We can also offer a range of bottling services, making the whole process of creating your very own whisky easy.
Sell a cask of Linkwood whisky
The Single Cask has a great history of buying and bottling single cask Linkwood whisky. Often we buy our casks direct from the distillery, but we are also pleased to buy Linkwood casks from private individuals. If you have a Linkwood cask that you're looking to sell, please contact us today for a free, no obligation, quote on how much we could pay you for your cask.
Linkwood distillery details
Address: Linkwood Distillery, Linkwood Road, Elgin, Moray, IV30 8RD
Telephone number: +44 1343 547004


November 17, 2000
click on small images for full images with captions
Mary and George Bloch (Hong Kong) have accomplished a collector's dream. They have, within the relatively short period of fifteen years, assembled an extensive and valuable collection of one of the finest crafts of Chinese artisans - ornamental containers used for snuff tobacco during the era of the Chinese monarchy. It is perhaps one of the most important collections of these small works of art assembled since the imperial age itself.
The Mary and George Bloch collection of miniature snuff bottles (1 ½ to 4 inches in height approx.) shows the wealth and taste of the last Imperial dynasty of China: from the blatantly luxurious enameled glass bottles to the understated elegance of a plain double gourd, to the jewel-like imperial yellow glass designed for the emperor only. It is truly a microcosm of Chinese art in all possible material: quartz, inside-painted glass, carved glass, jade, porcelain, and hard stone (turquoise, amethyst, aquamarine or agate). Dragons, symbolizing imperial power, homonyms for good wishes, rebuses, and calligraphic symbols of success, wealth, and longevity reflect the wishes and ambitions of the owners, "A happy life is one spent in learning, earning and yearning..." (fig. 2) The most fascinating objects in the collection of snuff bottles are those that have been painted on the inside. The painting was done on the interior surface of the piece. Glass and quartz (rock crystal) were the two chief materials, but other substances were sometimes inside-painted: agate, amber and tortoise shell. These pieces are truly amazing as it is beyond one's imagination that an artist could produce such fine work through the tiny neck of a bottle.
The origins of the themes and styles represented in the decoration of the snuff bottles go back many centuries. The inclusion of a traditional poem by the Tang dynasty poet Du Fu ( 712 - 770 AD) or a painting by the Northern Song dynasty painter Mi Fu (11th cent.) bring specific associations and meanings to the objects. As it was said, "Whoever was man was a poet and an artist." For example, symbols depicting a mythical phoenix surrounded by a crane, a pair of mandarin ducks, and other birds function as a rebus of the "Five Human Relationships" in traditional Confucian ideology.
The classic art of Ni Tsan (fig. 3) portrays the grandeur of nature, its rugged strength and tranquility; through his artistic skill he sought to unite man's being with nature, to fit the human form into the scheme of things. A painting of fish swimming lazily in a flowing stream will bring back the thought of a famous dialogue from the Warring States period Taoist Classic Zhuangzi. The dialogue between the emancipated Taoist Zhuangzi and the narrow-minded Confucian Huizi celebrates the freedom of the fish as a symbol for spiritual freedom unencumbered by intellectual and emotional baggage. Artists, such as Li Ch'eng and Lu Chih (fig. 4) sought to penetrate below the surface appearances and show that in all things we are united with the entire creation.
During the Manchu period dynasty, 1644 - 1912, the reigns of two emperors stand out as high points of artistic development- Kangxi (1662 - 1722) and Qianlong (1736 - 1795). In 1680 there were about thirty workshops that were established within the walls of the Forbidden City of Peking with the official task of producing works of art for the enjoyment of the emperor and his court. (fig. 5) The palace workshops produced magnificent artifacts - scroll paintings, silk screens, porcelain, carvings in ivory and jade, and snuff bottles crafted in various materials. (In addition, outside the confines of the palaces, there were many private workshops crafting similar objects). This continued through the Yongzheng (1723 - 1735) and Qianlong reigns, but was greatly curtailed during the reign of the Jiaqing emperor (1796 - 1820) who fell prey to the wave of foreign imperialism which brought in its wake economic, social and political ruin.
The emperors of China were avid collectors of snuff bottles. Both the emperor Qianlong and his chief advisor Heshen were known for their collections: Heshen amassed a collection of 2390 glass, hardstone and jade snuff bottles before his demise on the execution block for corruption in 1799 by the following Jiaqing emperor. Naturally, the effect that such prominent collectors would have on the production and collection of snuff bottles was immediate and powerful. The production of fine snuff bottles in all materials greatly increased to satisfy the demand by the imperial families and the numerous officials of the court - glass being the predominant material as it brilliantly exhibited artistic skill. This demand, in turn, was emulated by the upper and middle classes in China - amplifying the effect many times over.
Such bottles even became appropriate, during their time, as a type of bribe. Someone interested in an audience with a lower official would "give" him a fine snuff bottle of glass or silver; whereas in order to procure an interview with a higher official, a finely carved snuff bottle from jade, turquoise, amethyst, aquamarine or agate had to change hands.
Snuff bottles, mainly crafted in glass work, continued up to the late nineteenth century. Although the bottles are, generally, of a lesser quality, there were exceptions to the rule. Thus, there are extremely fine inside-painted glass bottles, as well as beautifully crafted enameled and porcelain snuff bottles, produced in private workshops from this period. (fig. 6)
2) Inside-painted Snuff Bottles and Classical Traditions of Chinese Painting (Catalogue - The World in a Bottle) - Stephen L. Little, Pritzker Curator of Asian Art, Art Institute of Chicago.


Baptists from around the nation are gathering in Birmingham for two meetings this month. Southern Baptists will convene here June 9 – 12. Cooperative Baptists follow June 17 – 21. Attendees will spend much of their time inside the Birmingham Jefferson Convention Center. But if they have time to explore the streets of downtown Birmingham, there are a number of Baptist historical sites of interest.
Birmingham was established in central Alabama’s Jones Valley in 1871. Powered by railroads, mining, and iron making, it grew quickly. The first parts of the city to be developed were near Twentieth Street and First Avenue North. The downtown area spread north from there to near the site of the present-day convention center. This guide focuses on downtown itself. It does not include the adjoining urban neighborhoods such as Southside, Avondale, Fountain Heights, and Titusville.
Downtown is a one square mile area bounded by the railroad tracks on the south, 11th Avenue North on the north, 14th Street on the west and US-31 on the east. Birmingham’s grid is aligned with Red Mountain. Village Creek, and Valley Creek, thus “east” for Birmingham residents is closer to east-north-east.
The convention center is separated from the rest of downtown by the site of Interstate 20 / 59. It is currently being rebuilt and is a messy construction site. But whether by foot, car, or Birmingham’s convenient Zyp Bikeshare, it is worth venturing across the mess to see Birmingham’s historic downtown. Here is a link to a Google map that marks the sites discussed.
In the 1870s, and for at least the next ninety years, Birmingham was a racially divided city and Baptists were no exception. White Baptists organized their first church in 1872. African American Baptists organized their first church the next year. This a guide to a variety of Baptist landmarks without regard to historic racial affiliation or later theological division, but as we will see race is a pivotal part of the story.
Sixteenth Street Baptist Church
Birmingham’s most famous religious site is Sixteenth Street Baptist Church because it was bombed by Klu Klux Klan members on the morning of Sunday, September 15, 1963. Four girls died in the blast, Addie Mae Collins, Cynthia Wesley, Carole Robinson, and Denise McNair, The church is still an active congregation. It is now a part of the Birmingham Civil Rights National Monument. It is located on the northwest corner of 16th Street and 6th Avenue North and offers tours from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Tuesday to Friday.
Founded in 1873, Sixteenth Street was the first African American Baptist church organized in Birmingham. The current building was designed by Wallace Rayfield, a prominent African American architect who trained at Tuskegee Institute. Completed in 1911, it is a unique combination of a Romanesque brick auditorium with Palladian and Georgian design features.
In terms of art, Sixteenth Street is most famous for the Wales Window for Alabama created by John Petts of Llansteffan, Carmarthenshire, Wales, and funded by many small donations from the people of Wales. Intended to express both sorrow and hope, It depicts the crucified Christ as an African American surmounted by a rainbow. One of Christ’s hand’s suggests struggle by pushing against the frame of the window. A circle suggests the world. Below it is Christ’s statement from the Gospel Matthew, “You do it to me.”
Petts initially intended to replace a window damaged by the bombing. However, the church decided to restore that window which depicted Christ as a white man, knocking at a door. The Wales Window was installed above the rear gallery over the front door of the church.
Kelly Ingram Park
Four Spirits Sculpture
The four girls are memorialized in the Four Spirits sculpture by Elizabeth MacQueen located diagonally across from the church on the corner of Kelly Ingram Park. Not all of them were Baptist. Denise McNair’s family attended St. Paul Lutheran Church, But she was attending with her friends for children’s day.
Kelly Ingram Park was one of three parks in the initial plan for Birmingham. It served the African American residential community that developed on the west side of downtown. It was here in May 1963 that Birmingham police confronted student demonstrators, arresting them and turning firehoses on them. It was rededicated in 1992 as “A Place of Revolution and Reconciliation.” From the park begin a number of civil rights march routes, that present walking tours through colorful signs. Many of the leaders and foot soldiers of the civil rights movement were Baptists, as were those who supported Jim Crow, so these too are Baptist sites.
Praying Ministers Sculpture
The four girls killed by the bombers are also represented by the four broken pillars surrounding a sculpture of three Baptist ministers praying at the far corner of the park.
The sculpture depicts Birmingham ministers Nelson H. Smith of New Pilgrim Baptist Church and John Porter of Sixth Avenue Baptist Church along with A.D. King of Mount Vernon Baptist Church in Newnan, Georgia. It represents their action at the conclusion of a civil rights march on Palm Sunday, 1963.
Martin Luther King, Jr. Statue
On the pathway between the two corners is a statue of Martin Luther King, Jr., Baptist minister and president of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference. King began his Letter from Birmingham Jail while in the jail over Easter weekend 1963.
To learn about the park’s many other statues, a good place to start is this article by Kathleen Logothetis Thompson.
Fred Shuttlesworth Statue
Across the street from King, in front of the Birmingham Civil Rights Institute, is a statue Fred Shuttlesworth, pastor of Bethel Baptist Church in Birmingham’s Collegeville neighborhood and Birmingham’s major civil rights leader of the 1950s and 1960s
Bethel was in many respects the center of the civil rights movement in Birmingham and is also included in the Birmingham Civil Rights National Monument. The block on which it stands is ringed with interpretative signs as part of Birmingham’s Civil Rights Trail. Located at 3233 29th St. N. it is well worth a visit. Folks flying into Birmingham should see the exhibit on him on the baggage claim level of the Birmingham-Shuttlesworth International Airport. For more information read the definitive biography A Fire You Can’t Put Out by Samford University and Southern Baptist Theological Seminary graduate Andrew Manis.
Birthplace of the Sunday School Board (LifeWay)
The Southern Baptist Convention met in Birmingham three times between 1891 and the 1941. The founding of the Southern Baptist Sunday School Board (now LifeWay) at the 1891 meeting is memorialized by a stone tablet in the sidewalk on the northwest corner of 1st Avenue North and 19th Street. The convention met in the O’Brien Opera House which stood here until 1915.
At the north end of the this block is the Pizitz building. Its food hall has many dining options. The Pizitz was a department store. It is now an apartment building. It may seem odd to say that the Pizitz and the rest of commercial Birmingham is is a Baptist site because many Baptists worked here and now some live here. But. as I argue in an essay forthcoming in the Oxford Handbook of Religious Space, for Baptists and other Protestants, a space takes on religious meaning whenever it is used for encountering God, enacting Christian community, forming Christians, or redeeming the world. Doubtless acts of Baptist fellowship and witness occurred over the jewelry counters here and do occur at its tables.
Woman’s Missionary Union
While the Sunday School Board became based in Nashville, the Woman’s Missionary Union moved from Baltimore to Birmingham in 1921. Initially it was based in what was then known as Comer Building, a 27-story neo-classical skyscraper on the northwest corner of 2nd Avenue North and 21st Street. The building is now known as the City Federal Building and contains apartments. In 1951 the WMU purchased and relocated to the Family Reserve Insurance Building at 600 20th Street North, a landmark Greek-revival office building designed by the Birmingham firm of Warren Knight and Davis. In 1984, the WMU relocated to a suburban site eleven miles to the southwest off US-280.
Sites of Previous Conventions
The sites used for the last Southern Baptist Convention in Birmingham still stand. The convention was held in the Civic Auditorium, built in 1924. It was later expanded and renamed for Birmingham mayor Albert Boutwell. Along with the Birmingham musuem of art, the city hall, the county courthouse, and the public library the auditorium is part of a classic twentieth century civic center complex surrounding Linn Park.
In 1941, the Southern Baptist Pastor’s Conference was held at First Methodist Church, downtown Birmingham’s largest church. Located on the southeast corner of 19th St. and 6th Ave. N., the building was designed by the prolific church architect George Washington Kramer of Akron, Ohio. Completed in 1891. It is a superb example of a Richardsonian Romanesque auditorium church. Such churches were very popular among Protestants at the close of the nineteenth century. Its fortress-like walls enclosed many modern conveniences including a system of forced-air ice-cooled air conditioning.
Former Site of First Baptist Church
First Baptist Church‘s 1905 building was built in the same style and located four blocks east on 6th Avenue North on the southeast corner of the intersection of 23rd Street. The congregation had met in buildings on this site since 1872. The Richardsonian Romanesque builing was designed by another prolific church architect, Reuben Harrison Hunt of Chattanooga, Tennessee. Hunt designed many churches across the South in the same basic form as First Baptist.
First Baptist exercised a pioneering role not only in the regular congregational activities of worship, education, and mission support, but also in establishing the Baptist Book Store and Baptist Health System in Birmingham.
In 1970, First Baptist divided over the admission of African Americans to church membership. The pastor and others in favor of admitting an African American mother and daughter left the church and formed Baptist Church of the Covenant. Its building is fourteen blocks south on southwest corner of University Boulevard and 23rd Street South. First Baptist remained downtown until 1984 when AmSouth Bank offered to buy their site for a parking lot and the congregation moved itself and its stained glass windows to a new Colonial Georgian Revival building four and a half miles south on Lakeshore Drive near Samford University.
Baptist Futures Downtown
First Baptist was by no means the only congregation to leave downtown. Among historically white religious congregations, Disciples, Congregationalist, and Jewish congregations also left. Roman Catholics, Episcopalians, Presbyterians, and United Methodists stayed in their historic buildings. Both staying and moving were difficult. Various specific factors shaped each congregation’s choice. But two characteristics that those which stayed share are connectional polity and a stronger attachment to the aesthetic qualities of historic houses of worship. Baptist congregations, like Disciples, Congregationalists, and Jews, have the freedom to decide their own future and sometimes less support from their denominations for persevering in difficult situations.
In recent years, several new congregations with Baptist ties have begun in urban neighborhoods just outside of downtown. These include Immanuel Church, the Church at Southside, and Iron City Church. Like Baptist Church of the Covenant which initially met in an building that was formerly a bank, each of these congregations has adopted a provisional attitude toward church buildings. For example, the Church at Southside meets in a parking lot. They also each seek to reach a diverse collection of people.
Urban neighborhoods are dynamic. More people are living in downtown Birmingham than in many decades and many more visit it for entertainment as well as work. It will be interesting to see what new Baptist sites emerge in the coming decades.
[Unless otherwise noted all photographs were taken by David R. Bains in 2018 or 2019. Last updated June 13, 2019.]


Scientists have developed a microfluidic platform that allows the direct visualization of how living insulin-producing islet cells in the pancreas respond to different concentrations of glucose and fatty acids. The technology, which uses no probes or fluorescent tags, has been devised by researchers at the Toronto General Research Institute (TGRI), who hope it could provide new insights into the role that excess nutrients play in causing islet cell dysfunction and type 2 diabetes.
A chronic excess in sugar and fats in the diet is thought to play a key role in causing beta-cell dysfunction and type 2 diabetes by a process known as glucolipotoxicity. In order to study the metabolism of these nutrients directly, the TGRI researchers have developed a platform developed that involves trapping islet tissues in a dam within the microfluidic device, and then passing solutions containing different concentrations of fatty acids and glucose over them. The stationary cells are imaged to detect autofluorescence given off by mitochondrial proteins as a result of changes in metabolic processes that are triggered by the different concentrations of nutrients.
Initial results by Jonathan Rocheleau, Ph.D., and colleagues showed that increasing the concentration of sugar in the system caused a reduction of fat metabolism within minutes. “We’ve created a new opportunity for tissue studies,” Dr. Rocheleau remarks. “Using our techniques, we’re looking at metabolism as it occurs and as naturally as possible ... The beta cell is exquisitely sensitive to glucose even with the availability of other nutrients; inreasing the time to turn off fat metabolism is critical to beta cell survival and a potential target for future therapies.”
The TGRI researchers report on their iplatform in Integrative Biology, in a paper titled “Quantitative imaging of electron transfer flavoprotein autofluorescence reveals the dynamics of liquid partitioning in living pancreatic islets.”