Editor: Jane Villa-Lobos
FIRES IN MEXICO AND CENTRAL AMERICA
Wildfires in Mexico and Central America have been burning
for months, devastating millions of acres of forest and grassland
in the region and blanketing parts of the United States with
smoke that has created health emergencies. The fires have been
caused by a variety of sources, including the practice of slash-
and-burn, when farmers, developers, and loggers clear the land.
These fires have been exacerbated by the worst droughts and some
of the highest temperatures of the century as a result of El
According to Mexico's environmental ministry, more than 700,000 acres of national forests, fragile jungle, grassland and farmland have been consumed by fire this year in Mexico. In Guatemala, Honduras and Nicaragua, an estimated 2,146 square miles have burned. In the state of Michoacan, a forest that is part of the wintering ground of the monarch butterfly has been threatened as well as some of the Mayan ruins in Guatemala. Many birds, mammals and rare plants in some of Mexico's fragile ecosystems have also suffered. The fires have followed much the same pattern as those that devoured farmlands across South East Asia last year and sent smoke billowing into Japan, Singapore and Thailand.
BRAZIL PROTECTS AMAZON FORESTS
On April 29 the president of Brazil announced plans for the
creation and implementation of 25 million hectares (about the
size of the United Kingdom) of new protected areas in the Amazon
rain forest by the year 2000. Brazil is the first country to join
the alliance between the World Bank and WWF for the protection of
at least 10% of the world's forests by the year 2000 (see
December 1997 Biological Conservation Newsletter).
Four new protected areas will be created, two in the Amazon region and two in the Atlantic Forest. These new areas total about seven times more than the area of parks and reserves created in Brazil since 1992. This will almost triple the area under protection in the Amazon rain forest.
NEW U.S. NATIONAL WILDLIFE REFUGE
On May 16 the Waccamaw National Wildlife Refuge in South Carolina was dedicated, making it the 514th refuge in the United States National Wildlife Refuge System. The refuge covers approximately 49,800 acres of wetland and upland forests that provide habitat for numerous wildlife species including the red- cockaded woodpecker, bald eagle and wood stork, all federally- listed and endangered species. The shortnose sturgeon, another endangered species, inhabits the area's waterways. In addition, the refuge provides valuable breeding habitat for wood ducks and wintering grounds for migratory waterfowl and is recognized as a key area in the North American Waterfowl Management Plan.
UNITED STATES SIGNS DOLPHIN PACT
On May 21, the U.S. Secretary of State, Madeleine Albright,
and representatives from eight other nations (Mexico, Panama,
Ecuador, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, Venezuela, Honduras, and Vanuatu)
signed on to the Agreement on the International Dolphin
Conservation Program. The agreement allows depleted dolphin
stocks to recover, prevents and minimizes bycatch of other marine
life, conserves tuna stocks and tuna fishery, and promotes more
effective tracking of tuna to differentiate between dolphin-safe
and unsafe tuna. According to Roger McManus, president of the
Center for Marine Conservation (CMC), "this is a significant step
toward finally resolving a 25-year conflict about dolphins
drowning in tuna nets. After years of hard work in bringing about
this agreement, the Center for Marine Conservation will now focus
its efforts on making sure the agreement is fully implemented and
The Center for Marine Conservation, established in 1972, is the leading non-profit organization dedicated to the protection, research, advocacy, and public education of marine conservation issues in the United States and worldwide. It seeks to protect ocean environments and conserve global marine diversity. For more information on CMC, visit its Web site at http://www.cmc-ocean.org.
In July, Blackwell Science Ltd., in association with the
Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, is launching a new
journal, Ecology Letters, a forum for the very rapid
publication of original research in ecology. Manuscripts relating
to the ecology of all taxa, in any biome and geographic area,
will be considered, and priority will be given to those papers
exploring or testing clearly stated hypotheses. The journal aims
to publish concise papers that merit urgent publication by virtue
of their originality and general interest and their contribution
to new developments in ecology. Purely descriptive papers or
those that merely extend observations firmly established in one
species to another will not be accepted unless there are strong
reasons for doing so.
Three types of articles will be published in Ecology Letters: 1) letters, exciting findings in fast-moving areas; 2) ideas, very short essays expressing novel ideas or correspondence with respect to previous work; and 3) reports, more lengthy research findings or reviews of subjects of general interest. For instructions for authors and subscription information, contact: Blackwell Science, Ltd., Osney Mead, Oxford OX2 0EL, England; Tel.: (44) 1865 206206; Fax: (44) 1865 206096; Internet: http://www.blackwell-science.com.
The first Atlas of Australian Birds (1984) was a landmark
event in the history of Australian ornithology. From 1977-81,
over 3,000 birdwatchers collected a total of 3 million records
for the first comprehensive survey of the distribution and
relative abundance of every Australian bird species in a given
period of time. In the first atlas project birdwatchers compiled
species lists for every one-degree latitude/longitude grid block
across the continent. This atlas remains the largest and most
comprehensive wildlife database in Australia.
Over the past 15 years, about 10 million hectares of native vegetation have been cleared in Australia and at least 150 species and races of birds are threatened with extinction. This land clearance and other changes have prompted the updated assessment of the status and distribution of birds, particularly threatened species, identification of areas of high biodiversity and conservation importance, and development of conservation strategies.
Workshops to define methodology and coordinate participation among birdwatchers were held earlier this year with additional data collection to begin soon, which will continue for five years. For more information, contact Birds Australia National Office, 415 Riversdale Rd., Hawthorn East, Victoria 3123, Australia. Tel.: 61 3 9882-2622; Fax: 61 3 9882 2677; Web site: http://avoca.vicnet.net.au/~birdsaus.
Coastally Restricted Forests, edited by Aimlee D.
Laderman, is the first book to assemble and compare information
on widely dispersed coastal forests of the Northern Hemisphere.
Authorities on each system explore the properties of these
unusual trees and their habitats, and formulate guidelines for
their appropriate management and protection. The thirty-six
contributing authors include natural resource managers and
regulators, ecologists, lumbermen, geneticists, botanists, and
paleontologists. The book draws from work on three continents,
eight countries, and 23 states of the United States. One-half of
the volume is devoted to the seven highly-prized commercially
valuable Chamaecyparis species.
The book is available for $79 (plus $4 for shipping) from Oxford University Press, 2001 Evans Road, Cary, NC 27513; Tel.: 1-800-451-7556.
August 2-6. The American Institute of Biological Sciences' (AIBS) annual meeting will be held at the Baltimore Convention Center in Baltimore, Maryland. This year's theme is "Managing Human-Impacted Systems." For more information, visit the AIBS Web site at: http://www.aibs.org, or contact Marilyn Maury, AIBS Meetings Director, Tel.: (703) 834-0812; Fax: (703) 834-1160; E- Mail: firstname.lastname@example.org.
INFORMATION HIGHWAY HI-LITES
By Gene Rosenberg and
In February and March, the Smithsonian Institutions's Botany Department premiered two World Wide Web sites, on algae and lichens. Both are accessible from the department's home page (http://www.nmnh.si.edu/botany). The new Web sites represent significant advances in the department's efforts to make information from the Smithsonian's plant collections and databases available to users around the world.
The algae site is located at http://www.nmnh.si.edu/botany/projects/algae. The Smithsonian holds one of the largest collections of algae in the world, including over 183,000 pressed specimens, and 61,600 specimens on microscope slides, in boxes, or preserved in liquid. The collection includes algae from marine, estuarine, freshwater, terrestrial (including caves), and airborne habitats, with principal holdings of green, brown and red marine macroalgae, diatoms and cyanobacteria. The collection has a strong representation from the Gulf of California, Pacific Mexico, southern and central California and the Channel Islands, the Galapagos Islands, Aldabra Atoll, and the Caribbean (especially Florida, Belize, the Bahamas, and Panama).
The algae Web site currently allows searches and data retrieval for brown algae (Phaeophyta) in the Type Collection. Efforts are underway to expand direct access to all of the algal type holdings. Data for the main collection (including the complete Type Database) can be obtained from in-house staff. Research interest profiles and regularly updated lists of publications (including many abstracts) by the staff are included.
Basic information is also provided on the different algal groups, their economic uses, collecting and preserving algae, references for published marine floras, and hypertext links to other algal sites on the World Wide Web. The new Web site was developed by Robert Sims and other botany staff. Comments and suggestions may be sent to Sims or James Norris (email@example.com or firstname.lastname@example.org).
The new lichen Web site (http://www.nmnh.si.edu/botany/projects/lichens) provides an introduction to the lichen collection and associated research at the U.S. National Herbarium. The lichen collection, estimated at 250,000 specimens, is the largest in North America and one of the ten largest in the world. The collection is worldwide in coverage, and especially rich in North America, emphasizing Parmeliaceae and Cladoniaceae.
The site was designed to provide electronic access to databases, keys, descriptions, maps and illustrations that will be produced in a five year NSF PEET project, Monographic Studies in the Cladoniaceae, centered at the Smithsonian. Currently, the site provides abstracts and descriptions of this and related projects, a biographical sketch and selected bibliography for Paula DePriest, and links to the Web sites of other researchers. A link to a sister site maintained by Samuel Hammer at Boston University will be added.
Currently, there are links to a number of existing electronic databases, including the type specimen register and type holdings from Bouly de Lesdain's Lichens du Mexique (1922). A database of species epithets in the parmelioid genera will be added in the near future. The site also provides links to checklists and keys to lichens of the Guianas produced by Harrie Sipman that reside on the Biological Diversity of the Guianas Program Web site (http://www.nmnh.si.edu/biodiversity/bdg.htm). The page "What is a lichen" answers basic questions about lichens. The Web site was designed by Ellen Farr from materials provided by Paul DePriest. Comments are welcome: contact email@example.com.
Anon. 1997. A new reserve in the Brazilian Amazon.
Neotropical Primates 5(4): 117. (Amana Sustainable
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Boubli, J. 1997. A study of the black uakari, Cacajao melanocephalus melanocephalus, in the Pico da Neblina National Park, Brazil. Neotropical Primates 5(4): 113-115.
Burnett, M., August, P., Brown, Jr., J. and Killingbeck, K. 1998. The influence of geomorphological heterogeneity on biodiversity I. A patch-scale perspective. Conservation Biology 12(2): 363-370.
Carmel, Y. and Safriel, U. 1998. Habitat use by bats in a Mediterranean ecosystem in Israel - conservation implications. Biol. Conservation 84(3): 245-250.
Clark, T. and Wallace, R. 1998. Understanding the human factor in endangered species recovery: an introduction to human social process. End. Species UPDATE 15(1): 2-9.
Cox, M. 1998. A new approach to tiger conservation: integrating top-down and bottom-up strategies. End. Species UPDATE 15(1): 10-14.
Demaynadier, P. and Hunter, Jr., M. 1998. Effects of silvicultural edges on the distribution and abundance of amphibians in Maine. Conservation Biology 12(2): 340-352.
Dinerstein, E. 1998. It takes a village. Zoogoer 27(2): 17-23. (WWF's tiger conservation program in Nepal)
Dodd, Jr., C. and Cade, B. 1998. Movement patterns and the conservation of amphibians breeding in small, temporary wetlands. Conservation Biology 12(2): 331-339. (Florida)
Dorfman, R. 1998. Museum publishes book on biodiversity and conservation in the Philippines. In the Field May/June: 10.
Dorfman, R. (Ed). 1998. Vanishing Treasures of the Philippine Rain Forest. Field Museum of Natural History, Chicago, Illinois. 96 pp.
Drechsler, M. 1998. Spatial conservation management of the orange-bellied parrot Neophema chrysogaster. Biol. Conservation 84(3): 283-292.
Drechsler, M., Burgman, M. and Menkhorst, P. 1998. Uncertainty in population dynamics and its consequences for the management of the orange-bellied parrot Neophema chrysogaster. Biol. Conservation 84(3): 269-282.
Duckworth, J., Timmins, R. and Evans, T. 1998. The conservation status of the river lapwing Vanellus duvaucelii in southern Laos. Biol. Conservation 84(3): 215-222.
Ehrlen, J. and Groenendael, J. 1998. Direct perturbation analysis for better conservation. Conservation Biology 12(2): 470-474.
Fensham, R. 1998. The grassy vegetation of the Darling Downs, south-eastern Queensland, Australia. Biol. Conservation 84(3): 301-310.
Fenton, M., et al. 1998. Bats and the loss of tree canopy in African woodlands. Conservation Biology 12(2): 399-407.
Garcia-Marin, J., Sanz, N. and Pla, C. 1998. Proportions of native and introduced brown trout in adjacent fished and unfished Spanish rivers. Conservation Biology 12(2): 313-319.
Macilwain, C. 1998. Bid to block Yellowstone enzymes deal. Nature 392: 117. (Firm to search for enzymes in park's hot springs)
Maleshin, N. 1998. On preserves and peregrines: three months in America. Russian Conservation News 14: 15-17.
Mansur, E. and Gilmour, D. 1998. Sustainable forest management in the Southern Cone. Arborvitae 7: 7. (Argentina, Chile, Uruguay)
Marren, P. 1998. When the wind blew. Plant Talk 12: 26-28. (Ten years after the great storm hit SE England)
McGrady, M. 1998. Radio-tracking of Stellar's sea eagle yield surprises. Russian Conservation News 14: 29-30.
Melisch, R., Fomenko, P. and Hejada, B. 1997. The status of Panax ginseng in the Russian Far East and adjacent areas: a matter of conservation action. Medicinal Plant Conservation 4: 11-13.
Menner, A. 1998. New perspectives on the European bison in Russia. Russian Conservation News 14: 18.
Merrill, S., Cuthbert, F. and Oehlert, G. 1998. Residual patches and their contribution to forest-bird diversity on northern Minnesota aspen clearcuts. Conservation Biology 12(1): 190-199.
Michal, S. and Wyse Jackson, P. 1997. Developing an in- country capacity for biodiversity conservation in Haiti: the Haitian Botanical Foundation. Bot. Gardens Conservation News 2(9): 50-53.
Mikusinski, G. and Angelstam, P. 1998. Economic geography, forest distribution, and woodpecker diversity in central Europe. Conservation Biology 12(1): 200-208.
Mills, C. and Carlton, J. 1998. Rationale for a system of international reserves for the open ocean. Conservation Biology 12(1): 244-247.
Moraleva, N. 1998. Is the future of the Amur tiger really so bright? Russian Conservation News 14: 34-36.
Moran, K. 1997. Healing Forest Conservancy project in Nigeria on ethnobotanical research and benefit sharing. Medicinal Plant Conservation 4: 3-4.
Moreno Saiz, J., Castro Parga, I., Humphries, C. and Williams, P. 1997. Strengthening the national and natural park system of Iberia to conserve pteridophytes. Pp. 101-124. In Camus, J., Gibby, M., Johns, R., Eds, Proceedings of the Holttum Memorial Pteridophyte Symposium. Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, England.
Mukhina, E. 1998. Kyzyl Kum sheep: both protected and hunted in Uzbekistan. Russian Conservation News 14: 30-32.
Naeem, S. 1998. Species redundancy and ecosystem reliability. Conservation Biology 12(1): 39-45.
Naughton-Treves, L. 1998. Predicting patterns of crop damage by wildlife around Kibale National Park, Uganda. Conservation Biology 12(1): 156-168.
Ortega-Rubio, A., Castellanos-Vera, A. and Lluch-Cota, D. 1998. Sustainable development in a Mexican biosphere reserve: salt production in Vizcaino, Baja California (Mexico). Natural Areas J. 18(1): 63-72.
Palmer, J. 1997. Why conduct research in environmental education? Roots 15: 16-19.
Pazhenkov, A. 1998. Pearl of the Urals. Russian Conservation News 14: 27-28. (South Urals, home to rare animals)
Pearman, D., Preston, C., Roy, D. and Stewart, A. 1998. The use of B.S.B.I. Monitoring Scheme data to predict nationally scarce species in Britain. Watsonia 22(1): 21-28.
Pennisi, E. 1998. Lawsuit targets Yellowstone bug deal. Science 279: 1624. (Collecting microbes in Yellowstone National Park)
Pereria, T. 1997. Rio de Janeiro Botanic Garden's Conservation Unit and seed desiccation tolerance research. Bot. Gardens Conservation News 2(9): 36-37. (Brazil)
Pererva, V. 1998. Caucasian bison: another round of extermination. Russian Conservation News 14: 22. (Near extinction)
Peters, D. and Weste, G. 1997. The impact of Phytophthora cinnamomi on six rare native tree and shrub species in the Brisbane Ranges, Victoria. Australian J. Bot. 45(6): 975- 995.
Privitera, M. and Puglisi, M. 1997. Riella notarisii (Mont.) Mont. (Hepaticae, Riellaceae) rediscovered in Italy. Flora Mediterranea 7: 149-152. (Endangered in Europe)
Rabenold, K., Fauth, P., Goodner, B., Sadowski, J. and Parker, P. 1998. Response of avian communities to disturbance by an exotic insect in spruce-fir forests of the southern Appalachians. Conservation Biology 12(1): 177-189. (Balsam woolly adelgid insect, USA)
Rasoanaivo, P. 1997. Ravensara aromatica: a threatened, aromatic species of Madagascar. Medicinal Plant Conservation 4: 9.
Richardson, D. 1998. Forestry trees as invasive aliens. Conservation Biology 12(1): 18-26.
Robbins, C. 1997. Panax quinquefolius popularity prompts probe. Medicinal Plant Conservation 4: 13-15. (Chinese herb becoming one of the most popular herbs in western markets)
Rosenberg, P. and Dorre, G. 1998. European forest hotspots identified. Arborvitae 7: 11.
Rudomakha, A. 1998. Preserving wilderness intact in the Adygeya Republic. Russian Conservation News 14: 24-27.
Rumsey, F., Russell, S., Ji, J., Barrett, J. and Gibby, M. 1997. Genetic variation in the endangered filmy fern Trichomanes speciosum Willd. Pp. 161-166. In Camus, J., Gibby, M., Johns, R., Eds, Proceedings of the Holttum Memorial Pteridophyte Symposium. Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, England.
Safford, R. and Jones, C. 1998. Strategies for land-bird conservation on Mauritius. Conservation Biology 12(1): 169-176.
Schindler, D., Kitchell, J. and Ogutu-Ohwayo, R. 1998. Ecological consequences of alternative gill net fisheries for Nile perch in Lake Victoria. Conservation Biology 12(1): 56-64. (East Africa)
Schneider, E. 1997. Sustainable use in semi-wild populations of Harpagophytum procumbens in Namibia. Medicinal Plant Conservation 4: 7-9.
Setiawan, I. 1997. Saving Indonesia's garuda. Wingspan 7(4): 29. (One of the world's rarest birds of prey in Java)
Shah, N. 1997. Faulty export policy of herbs and crude drugs in India. Medicinal Plant Conservation 4: 4-5.
Slade, N., Gomulkiewicz, R. and Alexander, H. 1998. Alternatives to Robinson and Redford's method of assessing overharvest from incomplete demographic data. Conservation Biology 12(1): 148-155.
Smith, M. 1998. The cactus cops. Plant Talk 12: 24- 25. (Cactus rustling in Arizona)
Souza Ferreira da Rocha, E., Luiz de Araujo, W. and Conceicao Pereira da Silva, D. 1997. Bombacaceae da Reserva Florestal "Vista Chinesa", Rio de Janeiro. Albertoa 4(22): 301-308. (Conservation status given)
Stevens, W. 1998. One in every 8 plant species is imperiled, a survey finds. New York Times April 9: A1, A24. (IUCN Red List of Threatened Plants)
Stewart-Cox, B. 1998. Sri Lanka's man of the trees. Plant Talk 12: 32-35. (Sam Popham's sanctuary of tropical trees)
Stewart, D. 1998. Prosimians find a home far from home. Nat. Wildlife 36(2): 30-35. (Duke University's Primate Center, North Carolina)
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Worthington, L. 1997-1998. Capitol Hill briefed on how biodiversity loss could translate into a "medical catastrophe". DIVERSITY 13(4): 11-14.
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13855110027909485399 is an odd composite number. It is composed of two distinct prime numbers multiplied together. It has a total of twelve divisors.
Prime factorization of 13855110027909485399:
3373 × 71272(337 × 337 × 337 × 7127 × 7127)
See below for interesting mathematical facts about the number 13855110027909485399 from the Numbermatics database.
Names of 13855110027909485399
- Cardinal: 13855110027909485399 can be written as Thirteen quintillion, eight hundred fifty-five quadrillion, one hundred ten trillion, twenty-seven billion, nine hundred nine million, four hundred eighty-five thousand, three hundred ninety-nine.
- Scientific notation: 1.3855110027909485399 × 1019
Factors of 13855110027909485399
Divisors of 13855110027909485399
- Number of divisors d(n): 12
- Complete list of divisors:
- Sum of all divisors σ(n): 13855116087336449882
- Sum of proper divisors (its aliquot sum) s(n): 6059426964483
- 13855110027909485399 is a deficient number, because the sum of its proper divisors (6059426964483) is less than itself. Its deficiency is 13855103968482520916
Bases of 13855110027909485399
- Binary: 11000000010001110011110100101001101100010111111101010011010101112
- Hexadecimal: 0xC0473D29B17F5357
- Base-36: 2X9IYLPOLB51Z
Squares and roots of 13855110027909485399
- 13855110027909485399 squared (138551100279094853992) is 191964073885477981272017155236994189201
- 13855110027909485399 cubed (138551100279094853993) is 2659683365089043350341042524142988802105072818153152976199
square rootof 13855110027909485399 is 3722245293.8931208217
13855110027909485399 is a
perfect cube number. Its cube rootis 2401799
Scales and comparisonsHow big is 13855110027909485399?
- 13,855,110,027,909,485,399 seconds is equal to 293,274,701,009 years, 3 weeks, 3 days, 15 hours, 30 minutes, 7 seconds.
To count from 1 to 13,855,110,027,909,485,399 would take you about two hundred ninety-three billion, two hundred seventy-four million, seven hundred one thousand and nine years!
This is a very rough estimate, based on a speaking rate of half a second every third order of magnitude. If you speak quickly, you could probably say any randomly-chosen number between one and a thousand in around half a second. Very big numbers obviously take longer to say, so we add half a second for every extra x1000. (We do not count involuntary pauses, bathroom breaks or the necessity of sleep in our calculation!)
- A cube with a volume of 13855110027909485399 cubic inches would be around 200149.9 feet tall.
Recreational maths with 13855110027909485399
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"Number 13855110027909485399 - Facts about the integer". Numbermatics.com. 2023. Web. 6 December 2023.
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Keywords: Divisors of 13855110027909485399, math, Factors of 13855110027909485399, curriculum, school, college, exams, university, Prime factorization of 13855110027909485399, STEM, science, technology, engineering, physics, economics, calculator, thirteen quintillion, eight hundred fifty-five quadrillion, one hundred ten trillion, twenty-seven billion, nine hundred nine million, four hundred eighty-five thousand, three hundred ninety-nine.


Two different laboratories of researchers, one in France and one in the U.S. have found that alpha-synuclein, while the same biologically and molecularly, can form two distinct types of forms or strains, which perhaps explains why people with PARKINSON’S DISEASE experience such different symptoms.
The French team from the Laboratoire CNRS d’Enzymologie et Biochime Structurales published their paper on October 10 in the Journal Nature Communications. This team identified two distinct shapes for the aggregates of alpha synuclein, one is round, “spaghetti” like and the other is flat, “linguini” like. The spaghetti shape is much more toxic, rapidly penetrating and ultimately killing the cells in the brain. It is very resistant to cell chemistry that would normally be able to eliminate unwanted intruders, such as viruses or other destructive proteins. Linguini forms on the other hand, are more easily controlled by the cell and become toxic to the cell much more slowly.
This team thinks that the differences in the shapes of the aggregates may be responsible for the differences in the symptoms of PARKINSON’S DISEASE between those that are primarily motor affected, such as tremor, and those that are cognitive or behavioral. While they are continuing to refine their research and better characterize the structures of alpha-synuclein, they believe that this process could lead to a targeted therapeutic treatment specific to each strain.
In the US, a team led by Virginia Lee and John Q. Trojanowski, two esteemed researchers in PARKINSON’S DISEASE from the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, have discovered that alpha-synuclein can take on two different forms despite having the same chemical make up and interact with other disease proteins found in Alzheimer’s, PARKINSON’S and other neurodegenerative disease.
Tau protein is a marker of Alzheimer’s and alpha-synuclein is a marker for PARKINSON’S. Post mortem brains of people with PARKINSON’S who had symptoms of cognitive decline or dementia showed both tau and alpha-synuclein closely entwined. Brains of patients that did not have dementia also has aggregates of alpha-synuclein, but the shape of the protein was different. This could correspond to the “spaghetti” and “linguini” models. However, Lee and Trojanowski found that over time, this strain could change into the more fibril type found with the dementia, but it took longer for it to become entangled with tau. They speculate that these different shapes assumed by alpha-synuclein may be responsible for the different symptoms observed in different PARKINSON’S DISEASE patients, why some patients have more motor symptoms and others are affected with more cognitive decline or dementia.
More research is needed to validate and explore these findings more clearly. But it also could lead to more therapeutic targets for treatment. If each strain can be clearly defined, it can be selectively targeted by antibodies designed specifically for each strain. Lee says “What we’ve found opens up new areas for developing therapies and particularly immunotherapies for PARKINSON’S and other neurodegenerative diseases.”
Luc Bousset, Laura Pieri, Gemma Ruiz-Arlandis, Julia Gath, Poul Henning Jensen, + et al. Structural and functional characterization of two alpha-synuclein strains Nature Communications 4, doi:10.1038/ncomms3575
Jing L. Guo, Dustin J. Covell, Joshua P. Daniels, Michiyo Iba, Anna Stieber, Bin Zhang, Dawn M. Riddle, Linda K. Kwong, Yan Xu, John Q. Trojanowski, Virginia M.Y. Lee Distinct α-Synuclein Strains Differentially Promote Tau Inclusions in Neurons Cell: 3July2013; 154:1
Review by Marcia McCall


Over the past few years, turtle poaching in Mozambique’s Ponta do Ouro Partial Marine Reserve (PPMR) has effectively disappeared.
The last poaching incident involved a visitor to the area; monitors reported him immediately and he was arrested.
This gives an idea of how passionate the community living around the reserve is about turtle conservation.
Vicente Matsimbe, a law enforcement officer for the PPMR, has been monitoring leatherback and loggerhead turtles on the beach between Ponta do Ouro and Santa Maria since 2009.
He oversees the community turtle monitors and knows these turtle species as well as he does his own family.
Sixteen of the 42 turtle monitors operate from Ponta Milibangalala, which is 50km north of Ponta do Ouro.
These monitors walk the beach every night during the turtle nesting and hatching season between October and March.
This involves collecting data on nesting loggerheads and leatherbacks, and monitoring the hatchlings as they emerge from their nests in January and February and head out to sea.
The monitors can cover 20km each in a night, every step of the way in beach sand. For many months, they get little sleep.
Bongani Mabuswane, one of two supervisors in the group, has been monitoring turtles for 10 years.
“This job is about respect for animals, and I learn new things every day. We’re the guardians of the turtles and there are definitely more turtles every year,” he says.
Ramiro Reis, the second supervisor, has monitored turtles for the same length of time.
“We understand the importance of protecting turtles, and nobody kills turtles anymore,” he says.
“Our job is important and we talk about turtle conservation with our families and friends too.
Children here grow up understanding turtle conservation, which is why they create safe passages for hatchlings to reach the sea.
The community is now very protective of the turtles.”
Loggerhead and leatherback turtles come ashore at night to nest.
When nesting, a single female turtle slowly excavates a hole in a sand dune.
She begins by scraping away the loose, dry sand, using all four flippers, and then scoops out an egg chamber in the damp sand with just her rear flippers.
When this is as deep as she can make it (roughly 45cm), she deposits between 60 and 100 eggs, each the size and shape of a ping-pong ball.
Then, just as methodically, she scrapes sand back to cover and secure the eggs.
These will hatch in 45 to 55 days.
Interestingly, the sex of the hatchlings is determined by the temperature inside the nest.
After covering her nest, the exhausted female loggerhead lumbers back to the ocean.
Some turtles swim away immediately, but others lie in the shallow waves, mustering the energy to head out to sea again.
In two or three years, this turtle will be back to lay more eggs.
How she and other female turtles navigate to ‘their’ beaches year after year is still unknown.
Throughout this time, none of them ever sees any of their eggs hatch.
Predation by wildlife is a real threat to the eggs; hatchlings are taken by ghost crabs, seabirds and fish.
Once turtles reach adulthood, they have fewer predators, with sharks being the main threat.
There is good reason a female turtle lays so many eggs; statistics indicate that out of 1 000 eggs, only three turtles finally make it to maturity.
Pierre and Yvonne Lombard, volunteer turtle taggers and data collectors, work these beaches for six weeks a year during nesting season, and have been doing so for 23 years.
Their main aim is to tag the turtles, and last year they tagged 125 new loggerheads and 12 new leatherbacks in the 30km of beach they patrol.
The warden of the PPMR and the Maputo Special Reserve, Miguel Gonçalves, says that having turtle monitors is a win-win conservation concept.
“We started with six monitors and now have 42.
The value of live turtles is high now as they offer salaries to these people.”
The vigilance of the turtle monitors has had a profound effect on the turtles’ survival rate.
Miguel says that in nearby Machangulo, the community used to feed turtle eggs to their goats to make them fertile, and men ate the eggs for the same reason.
“In the past eight years, we’ve had only two turtles poached, and both incidents were reported by the monitors.
The poachers were caught and fined, and one was driven out of the village by the community.
“There’s a team at work here; it can’t be done by one person.
Our biggest success is that the beach is well patrolled and the community has taken ownership of the turtles.
This is important because turtle monitoring is forever.”
There are plans afoot to upgrade some of the monitors to turtle guides, so that tourists can walk with them on the beaches.


- News Update
|Photo © Julia Bucknall/World Bank|
The Gulf News is reporting that oil-rich United Arab Emirates is among the few developing countries to host a major international organization. Abu Dhabi will be the interim headquarters for the International Renewable Energy Agency, appealingly named IRENA. That fact is remarkable enough, but what is really surprising is that it was chosen over environmental powerhouses Germany, Austria, and Denmark.
The World Development Report is full of recommendations – transform agricultural subsidies in rich countries, make US$ 50bn a year in additional funding available for adaptation in developing countries – that readers may be tempted to dismiss as politically impossible. Yet political transformations are possible. Ten years ago would anyone have thought that Abu Dhabi could become a leader in sustainable development? The transformation reaches deep. Consultants making recommendations about the UAE's drinking water tell us that reform of the tariff structure is now being considered at the highest levels - not because it would improve water management, but because the efficiency gains predicted would reduce the country's carbon footprint.
Even if all emissions of greenhouse gases and aerosol precursors ended today, more warming would occur in coming decades than the 0.8°C that has occurred to date, greatly intensifying climate change and its associated impacts. Already, sea level is rising, sea ice and mountain glaciers are retreating, the ranges of plant and animal species are shifting poleward and upward, and the Greenland and Antarctic ice sheets are both losing mass. Each round of the assessments of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change has found that change is occurring more rapidly than previously projected.
The World Bank Group advocates the integration of development issues into the next global climate agreement, without taking sides based on the negotiating positions of individual parties to the UNFCCC. One of the purposes of the upcoming World Development Report (WDR) 2010: Development and Climate Change—as well as a number of other country-level studies at various stages of completion—is to actively share economic analysis and practical knowledge intended to help policymakers in various countries take informed decisions on poverty reduction and sustainable development in “a changing climate”.
We are often inspired by strong oratory based on solid data, and carefully expressed facts. Many of us spend our lives trying to craft messages from sprawling data to figure out the best way to proceed.
Yet we are also inspired by the beauty of words or images. In the US, a book was published recently called "Can Poetry Save the Earth". I found a story about it on the National Public Radio website.
The author of the book, John Felstiner, selected one poem that, he thought, could really save the earth if everyone read it.


This is a sketchy timeline of Jewish History
as background to the conflicts with Palestinians.
It is beyond hubris to try to summarize the antecedents of the Arab-Israeli conflict. Scholars much more knowledgeable than me have debated almost every point made here. This timeline was meant to accompany a series of presentations outlining overarching historical trends which lay behind the conflict. There were discussions of Jewish, Christian and Muslim relationships, anti-Semitism, European imperialism, etc. The outline only occasionally mentions these themes. I hope this timeline will help in orienting interested people to what are crucial issues of our time.
1800? BCE Abraham migrates to Canaan according to Jewish tradition.
1300? BCE Migration and conquest of Canaan by the Philistines and Israelite tribes.
1000? BCE Jewish conquest of Jerusalem; reign of David; After the death of Solomon, the kingdom split into two: Israel in the north, Judea in Jerusalem and the south
721 BCE Fall of Israel (Northern Kingdom) to Assyria.
586 BCE Fall of Judea (Southern Kingdom) to Babylon and destruction of the first temple. Exile to Babylonia
539 BCE Conquest of Babylon by Persia. Jews allowed to return to Judea.
519 BCE Rebuilding of the Second Temple under Persian rule.
331 BCE Alexander the Great conquers Persia. The land was subject to Egyptian rule after his death, followed by Seleucid Syrian rule.
166 BCE Revolt of Judah Maccabee against Syrian Hellenic dynasty.
164 BCE Liberation of Jerusalem. Judah is named Friend of the Roman Senate and People; Rule of the Maccabees.
38 CE Anti-Semitic riots in Alexandria during the reign of Caligula. Christians (thought of as a Jewish sect) were as much the victims. Political rather than religeous because of Jewish resistance to Roman rule.
66-73 CE First revolt against Rome.
70 CE Fall of the Second Temple.
133-135 Second revolt under Bar Kochba crushed. Judea renamed Palestina. Jews are banned from Jerusalem by Hadrianus Caesar. Jew spread around the Roman empire. They follow Roman occupiers into Europe and move to towns in North Africa. A population is established in southern Russia. Jews become tradesmen along the East Coast of Africa.
614 Persians conquer Judea and Jerusalem..
628 Emperor Heraclius defeats Sassanid Persians and reconquers Jerusalem.
638 Arab conquest of Jerusalem. Caliph Omar provides the Christians of Jerusalem with a Covenant guaranteeing their protection. As monotheists and “Peoples of the Book” Jews and Christians are granted tolerance with in Muslim Society. Conversion is discouraged because of taxes bounties paid by Christians and Jews. Over the years many Jews and Christians convert because it reduces their taxes and, as some scholars claim, they find Islam a “more rational” religion. North Africa and Near East goes from being pagan, Christian, Jewish and Zoroastrian to Muslim. Except for occasional communal outbursts Jewish communities survive and prosper in the Islamic world.
9th Century onwards. The Golden age of Jewish culture in Islamic Spain.
11th C. several Muslim pogroms against Jews; Cordoba in 1011, Granada in 1066. In 1033 and 1465 Fez, Morocco, Muslim mobs murdered thousands of Jews.
1096 Massive violent attacks against Jews during Crusades such as the Pogrom of in France and Germany as well as the massacres of Jews at London and York in 1189–1190.
1099 Crusaders conquer Jerusalem, slaughter Jewish and Moslem inhabitants and expel Jews.
1187 Saladin reconquers Jerusalem and allows the Crusaders to withdraw to Acre when they agree to stop aggressions. They go back on their word.
1291 Crusaders defeated at Acre and evicted from Palestine.
13th Century Jews fare well in Western Europe.
1348 Black Death increase in anti-Semitism. Jews were massacred in Chillon, Basle, Stuttgart, Ulm, Speyer, Dresden, Strasbourg, and Mainz. Many surviving Jews fled to Poland, which welcomed them.
1492 Conquest of Granada and expulsion of Jews. Those Muslims and Jew remaining are forced to convert. The Inquisition questions the Christianity of conversos. Using trial by fire.
1517 Ottoman Turkish conquest of Palestine.
1648–1654 Jews and Poles were also massacred during an uprising of Ukrainian Cossacks.
1740 Beginnings of religious return. Ottoman Sultan invites Rabbi Abulafi, the Kabbalist Rabbi of Izmir, to rebuild the city of Tiberias; thousands of Jews immigrate to the land in a wave of Messianic fervor.
1543 Martin Luther advocated persecution Jews people. During the Reformation and counter-Reformation Jew were often victims. The Dutch confederation was a safe haven.
1777 Menachem Mendel of Vitebsk along with a large group of followers emigrates and settles in Safed.
1783 They were forced out of Safed, and moved to Tiberias.
1799 Napoleon conquers Jaffa but retreats before Acre;
1799 Napoleon's Proclamation of a Jewish State was stillborn, and his declaration of equal rights for Jews was repealed in part in 1806. In Europe Napoleon emancipates Jews who lose some rights on his defeat.
1808 The first group of Perushim, influenced by the teachings of the Vilna Gaon settle in Jerusalem and Safed.
1831 Conquest of Palestine area by Mehmed Ali of Egypt, who rebelled against the Ottomans. He was forced to withdraw in 1840 under pressure by European allies.
1839 Judah Alkalai publishes a pamphlet advocating the restoration of the Jews in the Land of Israel.
1843-4 First Zionist writings of Rabbi Alcalay and of Rabbi Kalischer, Emuna Yeshara and Mordecai Noah.
1844 The Old Yishuv Jews constitute the largest of several ethno-religious groups in Jerusalem. First census in Jerusalem shows 7120 Jews, 5760 Muslims, 3390 Christians.
1856 Ottoman reforms including requirement to register ownership of land in Palestine and pay taxes on it.
1860 First Jewish settlement outside Jerusalem walls.
1861 Enlightenment secular movement to return begins. The Zion Society is formed in Frankfurt, Germany.
1861 First neighborhood outside the Old City of Jerusalem, built by Sir Moses Montefiore.
1862 Moses Hess proposes a socialist country in which the Jews would become agrarianised through a process of "redemption of the soil." His ideas later evolved into the Labor Zionism movement.
1862 Zvi Hirsch Kalischer maintains that the salvation of the Jews, promised by the Prophets, can come about only by self-help. His ideas contributed to the Religious Zionism movement.
1867 Mark Twain visits Palestine as part of a tour of what westerners call the Holy Land.
1869 Twain publishes “The Innocents Abroad, or The New Pilgrims' Progress.” He wrote Palestine was primarily an uninhabited desert.
1870 The first modern Jewish agricultural school and settlement was established in the Land of Israel by the Alliance Israélite Universelle.
1870-1890 The Russian group, Lovers of Zion, sets up 30 Jewish farming communities in the Land of Israel.
1878 Petah Tikva, First Zionist Settlement, is founded by Jerusalem Jews, but abandoned after difficulties. Resettled in 1882 with help from first aliyah.
1881-1884 Pogroms in the Russian Empire kill several Jews and injure large numbers, destroy thousands of Jewish homes, and motivate hundreds of thousands of Jews to flee.
1882 Russian May Laws. Beginning of the First Aliya (wave of immigration).
1881-1920 Over two million of the Russian Jews emigrate. Most go to the US, some to Palestine.
1881 Eliezer ben Yehuda makes aliyah and leads efforts to revive Hebrew as a common spoken language.
1882 Leon Pinsker publishes pamphlet, “Autoemancipation,” urging the Jewish people to strive for independence and national consciousness.
1882 Baron Edmond James de Rothschild begins to buy land in Palestine and finances Jewish agricultural settlements and industrial enterprises.
1882-1903 Estimated at 25,000-35,000 Jews immigrate to Ottoman-occupied Palestine.
1883 Rabbi Isaac Rülf calls for a Hebrew-speaking Jewish homeland in Palestine.
1890 Austrian publisher Nathan Birnbaum coins the term Zionism for Jewish nationalism in his journal Self Emancipation.
1890 The Russian Tsarist government approves the establishment of "The Society for the Support of Jewish Farmers and Artisans in Syria and Eretz Israel."
1894 The Dreyfus affair reveals how much anti-Semitism there is in Western Europe.
1896 After covering the trial of Dreyfus and witnessing anti-Semitic rallies in Paris, the Austro-Hungarian journalist Theodor Herzl writes “The Jewish State” advocating the creation of a Jewish state.
1896-1904 Herzl unsuccessfully approaches world leaders for assistance in the creation of a Jewish National Home.
1897 The Zionist Organization of America is founded.
1897 The First Zionist Congress in Basel, Switzerland, urges "a publicly and legally assured home in Palestine.”
1898 Émile Zola exposed the Dreyfus affair in a famously incendiary open letter to President Félix Faure under the headline "J'accuse!"
1903-1906 More pogroms in Russian Empire. Unlike the 1881 pogroms, which focused primarily on property damage, these pogroms resulted in the deaths of at least 2,000 Jews and an even higher number of non-Jews.
1903 Uganda Proposal for settlement in East Africa splits the 6th Zionist Congress. 1903 Kishinev Pogrom.
1905 Abortive revolution leads to reactionary Pogroms and catalyze Second Aliya.
1904-1914 Approximately 40,000 Jews mostly from Russia immigrated into Ottoman-occupied Palestine. Nearly half of these immigrants leave Palestine by the start of World War I.
1909 Tel Aviv is founded on sand dunes near Jaffa.
1914 WWI. Ottoman Empire sides with Germany.
1915 October-1916 January McMahon-Hussein Correspondence, agreeing to give Arabia to Arabs, if Arabs will fight the Turks. The Arab Revolt begins in June 1916.
1916 Britain and France sign a secret agreement which details the proposed division of Arabia into French and British spheres of influence at the conclusion of WWI.
1917 The formation of the Jewish Legion (Zion Mule Corps).
1917 T.E. Lawrence leads Arab militias to defeat various Turkish Garrisons in Arabia.
1917 Deeply influenced by Zionist lobbying (Weizman and Ben-Gurion convince Balfour and Churchill that Jewish immigration will bring Western Civilization to Palestinians who could leave they if objected), Britain issued the Balfour Declaration:
* Official support from the British Government for "the establishment in Palestine of a national home for the Jewish people", and promised aid.
* The British Government would not support actions that would prejudice the civil and religious rights of the existing non-Jewish residents of Palestine.
* It confirmed that Jews living in any other country would, similarly, not be prejudiced.
1917 The British Army gains control of Palestine with military occupation, as the Ottoman Empire collapses in World War I.
1918-1920 Massive pogroms accompanied the Russian Revolution of 1917 and the Civil War. Death of an estimated 70,000 to 250,000 civilian Jews; the number of Jewish orphans exceeded 300,000, mostly at the hands of White Russian anti-revolutionary forces.
1919-1923 A Third Aliyah was triggered by pogroms in Russia, Poland and Hungary and the Balfour Declaration. Approximately 40,000 Jews arrived in Palestine during this time.
1920 The San Remo conference of the Allied Supreme Council in Italy resulted in an agreement that a Mandate for Palestine to Great Britain would be reviewed and then issued by the League of Nations. The mandate would contain similar content to the Balfour Declaration. In anticipation of this forthcoming mandate, the British military occupation shifts to a civil rule.
1920 Haganah founded.
1921 Britain grants autonomy to Transjordan under Crown Prince Abdullah. Jewish settlement is outlawed there.
1922 The offer of a Mandate for Palestine.
1930s Both Martin Buber and Einstein object to Zionism that doesn’t include rights for resident Palestinians.
1936-1939 Arab Revolt against Britain. Over 5,000 Arabs were killed. Several hundred Jews were killed by Arabs. They leader flees to Nazi Germany. British White Paper (1939) severely restricts Jewish immigration.
1933-1948 Jewish refugees flee Europe with many turned away from Palestine because of the British-imposed immigration limit.
1936 The British propose a partition between Jewish and Arab areas. It is accepted by the Zionists, but rejected by the Arab parties.
1939 The British government issues the White Paper, which sets an absolute limit of 75,000 on future Jewish immigration and increases Zionist opposition to British.
1942 Biltmore Program - Zionist leaders, headed by Chaim Weizmann and David Ben-Gurion-- recommended end to the British Mandate and demand Jewish control over immigration to Palestine with the aim of founding a Jewish "Commonwealth."
1946 Irgun carries out terrorist activities against British. They kill 91 bombing the King David Hotel in Jerusalem.
1947 November 29 The United Nations approves partition of Palestine into Jewish and Arab states. It is accepted by the Jews, but rejected by the Arab leaders.
1947 November 30 The 1947–1948 Civil War starts between Jewish forces, and Palestinians.
1948 May 14 Declaration of the Establishment of the State of Israel. Truman, against State Dept. advice, recognizes Israel as does the Soviet Union.
1948 May 15 Five neighboring Arab countries invade, and the 1948 Arab-Israeli war ensues.
1948 Flight of Palestinians from some Israeli occupied territories. Later arguments over whose to blame.
April 3, 1949 Armistice - Israel and Arab states agree to armistice. Israel gained about 50% more territory than was originally allotted to it by the UN Partition Plan.
1949 on Israel prevents with deadly force the return of Palestinian farmers and land owners.
1956 Egypt nationalizes the Suez Canal. In a secret agreement with the French and British to regain Suez, in retaliation for the closure of the straits of Tiran and Suez to Israel and to prevent Egyptian use of newly acquired Soviet arms Israel invades the Sinai peninsula,. Britain and France invade Egypt to “save” the Canal. Egypt blocks the Canal by sinking ships. The Russians threaten to back Egypt. Furious at France, Britain and Israel, Eisenhower threatens to break the British pound. France and Britain save face by withdrawing.
1964 Palestine Liberation Organization founded with the aim of destroying Israel.
May, 1967 Egyptian President Nasser closes the straits of Tiran to Israeli shipping and dismisses UN peacekeeping force. Negotiations with US fail.
June 5-10,1967 Six day war Israel peremptorily attacks destroying the Egyptian air force on the ground. It conquers and occupies Sinai and Gaza, then conquers the West Bank from Jordan, and Golan Heights from Syria. UN resolution 242 called for Israeli withdrawal, establishment of peace.
June 19, 1967 Israeli Cabinet decides on secret offer, to be delivered to Syrians and Egyptians though American diplomats, calling for return of territories conquered in the Six day war in return for peace. Israel begins policy of population expansion and resource seizure within occupied Palestine, Sinai and Golan.
1968 The Palestinian National Charter officially called for liquidation of Israel.
Oct. 6, 1973 Yom Kippur War. In a surprise attack on the Jewish day of atonement, Egypt retook the Suez canal and a narrow zone on the other side. Syria reconquered the Golan Heights. Israel probably loaded bombers with A bombs to retaliate in case of defeat. Following massive US and Soviet resupplying of both sides, Israel succeeded in pushing back the Syrians and threatening Damascus. Ariel Sharon was instrumental in the successful crossing of the Suez Canal, which cut off the Egyptian Third Army. Israeli casualties were unacceptably high however, and Israel, Syria and Egypt all celebrate the anniversary of the war as a victory.
1979 Peace treaty signed between Egypt and Israel.
1981 Israel destroys Iraqi nuclear reactor in daring raid.
Oct. 6, 1981 Egyptian President Anwar Sadat is assassinated while on the reviewing stand of a victory parade.
1982 Massive Israeli invasion of Lebanon to fight PLO. Massacre at Palestinian refugee camps by Lebanese Christian faction with tacit support of the Israelis.
1993 Oslo Declaration of Principles. Israel and PLO agree to mutual recognition.
1995 Oslo Interim Agreement signed. Palestinian Authority to be established. The agreement is rejected by many Palestinians because it would leave Palestine “Balkanized.”
Nov. 4, 1995 Israeli PM Yitzhak Rabin assassinated by right-wing Israeli fanatic.
1996 Right-Wing Likud leader Benjamin Netanyahu elected Prime Minister.
Sept, 1996 Al-Aqsa tunnel riots. The false rumor that a gate opened in an underground tunnel tourist attraction by the Israeli government, endangered the foundations of the Al-Aqsa mosque. This caused several days of rioting and numerous casualties.
1997 Israel and Palestinians reach agreement on Israeli redeployment in the West-Bank city of Hebron
1998 Wye River Plantation talks result in an agreement for Israeli redeployment and release of political prisoners and renewed Palestinian commitment to correct its violations of the Oslo accords including excess police force, illegal arms and incitement in public media and education.
1999 Israel elects Barak as Prime Minister in a landslide. Barak promises rapid progress toward peace.
2000 Israeli-Syrian peace negotiations fail when Hafez Assad rejects an Israeli offer relayed by US President Clinton in Geneva.
Sept. 28, 2000 Palestinians initiated First Intifada after Israeli opposition leader Ariel Sharon visited the Temple Mount.
2001 Right-wing Likud leader Ariel Sharon elected Prime Minister promising "peace and security."
2002 Israel conducts operation Defensive Wall in the West Bank, following a number of Palestinian suicide attacks on civilian targets. Saudi peace initiative adopted at Beirut summit.
2003 Elections give wide margin to right wing Likud party, returning Ariel Sharon.
2004 International court of Justice rules that the Israeli security barrier violates international law and must be torn down.
Nov 11, 2004 President Yasser Arafat dies.
2005 Mahmoud Abbas elected President of the Palestinian Authority.
2006 Ariel Sharon suffered a massive stroke, leaving the leadership of Israel and the new Kadima party in the hands of Ehud Olmert
2006 On January 26, the radical Islamist Hamas movement won an upset victory in Palestinian elections, threatening to end about 40 years of Fateh-PLO leadership of the Palestinians. Hamas spokesmen sent mixed signals, but vowed never to recognize Israel and never to give up their claim to all of Palestine.
2006 Second Lebanon War - Hezbollah attacks an Israeli patrol, killing 3 and capturing 2 soldiers. Israel retaliates. Hezbollah began a series of rocket attacks on northern Israel. Israel carries out massive bombing of Beirut killing over two hundred persons, many civilians. Hezbollah responds with rocket attacks on Haifa, Tiberias, Safed and other towns deep in northern Israel, killing 13 civilians. A Hezbollah missile hits an Israeli missile cruiser, killing 4. Rockets also sink one neutral ship and damage Egyptian ship. G-8 meeting calls for cessation of violence.
2006 Cease fire, based on UN Security Council Resolution
2007 Israeli renovations near the Mughrabi gate of the Al-Aqsa mosque spark unrest in the Arab world, over false charges that Israel is destroying the mosque.
Feb. 8, 2007 Palestinian Unity Agreement in Mecca. Hamas and Fatah agree to share power. Hamas officials reiterate that they will never recognize Israel.
Feb. 19, 2007 Trilateral Israeli-Palestinian-American summit with Secretary of State Rice, PM Ehud Olmert and President Abbas ended with no visible result.
March 17, 2007 Palestinian unity government sworn in.
June 2007 Hamas ousts Fatah from Gaza in bloody coup.
Nov. 26-28 Israelis and Palestinians are forced to agree on a joint statement that vows to implement the quartet roadmap in parallel, with US monitoring.
Jan. 2008 President Bush visit to Middle East; Hamas "breakout" into Egypt at Rafah Crossing.
Feb. 12, 2008 Hezbollah "militant" killed by car bomb in Damascus. Israel denies any involvement in the killing of Moughniyeh.
Dec 27, 2008-Jan 18, 2009 Operation Cast Lead - Israeli operation in Gaza to stop Hamas rocket attacks. Over 1,000 Palestinian casualties.
April 1, 2009 Likud party head Benjamin Netanyahu becomes Prime Minister.
2009 Despite Obama criticisms Israel announces intended seizure of largest block of land since 1968.
Benny Morris, “Righteous victims : a history of the Zionist-Arab conflict, 1881-1999.”
John Mearsheimer and Stephen Walt, “The Israel Lobby.” ksgnotes1.harvard.edu/Research/wpaper.nsf/rwp/RWP06-011/$File/rwp_06_011_walt.pdf –
Richard Evans. “The Third Reich at War” on the Holocaust
There must be a good book on the history of Palestine during the Jewish absence.
Edward Said, “Out of Place” on life in Palestine/Egypt and Lebanon before Israel.
Part of my review of Arno Mayer, “Plowshares into Swords” on Amazon.com
“I am ashamed of my own people.”
Page 144: “Even after Krystallnacht on November 9, 1938, when Neville Chamberlain offered a refuge for Jewish children in England, Ben-Gurion confided that, given the choice between saving ‘all the Jewish children of Germany [and Austria] by sending them to England’ and saving ‘only half of them by taking them to Palestine,’ he would opt for the latter.” This along with the Zionist axiom that Palestine was “a land without people” for taking by the Jews, “a people without land,” goes to the heart of why the Zionists have created so much misery in the Near East and have helped destabilize the world. It is inconceivable that in October of 2000, after both the UN General Assembly and Commission on Human Rights overwhelmingly criticized Israel for excessive use of force (1000 Palestinian deaths versus a few Israelis) following Palestinian riots in response to Sharon’s symbolic arrogation of the Temple Mount, that the US House of Representative voted 365 to 30 denouncing the UN and blaming the Palestinians. We are living through that Looking Glass again.
Like Arno Mayer, I grew up on the lies the Zionists told me only to be awakened to the realities of the history of Zionist aggression and abuse by the Israeli revisionist historians. As I sit here and write the Israeli army is bombing woman and children, destroying universities and infrastructure in Gaza, claiming this as incidental collateral damage in their pursuit of a few terrorists who, after Israel had blockaded Gaza for months, hurled missiles into Israel which had little effect. The three or four hundred Palestinians currently being killed (and the count keeps rising) are not very many by the standard of Israel’s bombing of the UN refugee camp in Lebanon or Sabra and Chatila, or the expulsions of 1948. As the conflict has become more open, Hamas’ rockets are now a little more accurate. While the death of Israelis are to be genuinely mourned, Zionists are still trying to make Palestine a land without people in spite of the Palestinians refusal to go away.
Arno Mayer’s preface and long prolegomena, which begin the book, lay out how he came to need to write about the history of Zionism. It reads like my own awakening---we are both Western European Jews (עקע or yekes--assimilated Jews, regarded as arrogant snobs by Eastern European stettl Jews) who have lived the Western Enlightenment which the Zionists used to rationalize their land grab. He is a European historian at Princeton and I was a sociologist at Brandeis. Although Mayer’s family escaped the Nazis and his father was an early secular Zionist it wasn’t until Sharon’s armed visit to the Temple of the Mount (the holiest Muslim sight in Jerusalem) that Mayer began to apply that same Enlightenment scholarly bent to explore the roots of Zionism. My German-American and Russian-Canadian parents met in Baghdad. I bought Israel bonds in Hebrew school in the late ‘40s. My childhood was steeped in a love/hate of Germany and idealization of Israel where relatives from Russia had found refuge. My father, as I did later, poured over Churchill’s monumental history of WWII.
The story Mayer tells is basically that of the revisionist historians although he puts great emphasis on the warnings Buber and others made that dehumanizing the Palestinian Arabs would have terrible consequences. And Mayer doesn’t recant as apparently some revisionist historians have, because surviving in Israel continuing to give lie to the ever increasingly dominant military-political and religious ideology, that the Palestinians are non-peoples who are not entitled to either the land they once lived in, political independence, their religious sites or their olive trees under which the bible asserts humans have the right to sit and not be made afraid, is just too difficult.
Arno Mayer has done a masterful (and very depressing) job of portraying Zionism’s history, the dilemma of Jews in Europe, the Wedding of Zionism to European imperialism, the impact of the Holocaust, etc. He does not stint in showing the selfishness and self-defeating dishonesty of both the Palestinians and the Arab rulers of nearby countries. But the scales tip overwhelming in the direction of Zionist viciousness and historical falsehood. It is totally reasonable that the Arabs should not be made responsible for righting the wrong of European Judeocide. What Chamberlain offered for the children, the US and Western Europe never extended either before the war or after there was knowledge of the “Final Solution.” We conveniently exported the responsibility for righting the wrong to the Arabs. I remember going through some historical papers at the Institute for Advanced Studies in Princeton and coming across its director’s discussion of which Jewish mathematicians to save before Dec. 7th. He had been known as an anti-Semite. It seemed to me he lacked enthusiasm for the saving Jews. I know that opening the floodgates either before or after the war might not have been politically feasible, but neither would the Zionists have sanctioned it. Better half dead than all saved outside of Canaan.
It is interesting how little of the perspective portrayed by Mayer is acknowledged by either US politicians or available to the public at large. The blurbs on the book jacket are from a Muslim, the London Times, and the Nation. The book is published by a radical press. Where are Princeton University Press, Pantheon, and Random House who published Mayer’s earlier books? Has fear of the Zionist lobby gotten to them. Look how Jimmy Carter was pilloried for making the apt comparison of Israel’s treatment of Palestinians to Apartheid or the calumny heaped upon the two academic authors who showed how much the Zionist lobby has influenced American foreign policy to the detriment of the US. Would a Nancy Pelosi, Hilary Clinton, or Barak Obama have the courage to say they learned something from this book which might lead them to be more even handed in US, Near East policy? Bill Clinton tried in a weak sort of way, but never confronted Israeli leadership with the most powerful lever the US has, its blind financial and military support. And the Bush regime: well they certainly left the world and the US much worse off they found it. One could hardly imagine a more destructive and self-destructive policy than Bush and company, abetted by the Democrats, have foisted on the Middle East. If Israel was threatened with withdrawal of US support, it is my guess that its military-politicians and religious fanatics would not back down. They would go it alone. But, at least, they would not have the resources of the US to use to continually brutalize the Palestinians and threaten their neighbors. In the end real US even-handedness might bring a more just accommodation. In the mean time, I weep while listening to the news and try to give a little succor to the Palestinian children who do not deserve the death and destruction which is raining down on them from F-16s. What is the solution? A bi-national state? But then Jewish identity, which has drifted far from the vision of its Enlightenment, social democratic, Zionist founders, could not be enforced. Open the gates of the US? We did it for the Vietnamese and Hmong Something has to give and the Palestinians have little left. It thus remains to Israel to find a way to live with those they dispossessed and the US to stop supporting their refusal to do so. Mayer shows how weak their excuses for not doing so are. This book should be required reading for any one who cares.
Charlie Fisher is an Emeritus Professor of Sociology at Brandeis University. He taught at Brandeis for thirty years. His teaching included the history of science, anthropology, political economy, community organizing, environmental history and the social psychology of consciousness. Charlie Fisher was very active in the civil rights and antiwar movement during Viet Nam which was not without considerable risk to himself. He is the author of "Dismantling Discontent: Buddha's Way Through Darwin's World." He has explored the history of Jews, Arabs, Muslims and Christians and is a long time supporter of Middle East Children's Alliance.


Gastroesophageal reflux disease (GORD) / Acid Reflux
Gastro-oesophageal reflux disease (GORD) is defined as reflux of gastroduodenal contents into the oesophagus, causing symptoms that are sufficient to interfere with quality of life. People with GORD often have symptoms of heartburn and acid regurgitation.
The oesophagus carries food from the mouth to the stomach. The lower oesophageal sphincter is a ring of muscle at the bottom of the oesophagus that acts like a valve between the oesophagus and stomach.
Gastro Oesophageal reflux disease, or GORD, is a chronic disease that occurs when the lower oesophageal sphincter does not close properly and stomach contents leak back, or reflux, into the oesophagus.
When refluxed stomach acid touches the lining of the oesophagus, it causes a burning sensation in the chest or throat called heartburn. The fluid may even be tasted in the back of the mouth, and this is called acid indigestion. Occasional heartburn is common but does not necessarily mean one has GORD. Heartburn that occurs more than twice a week may be considered GORD, and it can eventually lead to more serious health problems.
Anyone, including infants, children, and pregnant women, can have GORD.
Incidence / Prevalence
Surveys from Europe and the USA suggest that 20–25% of the population have symptoms of GORD, and 7% have heartburn daily.
What causes GORD/Acid reflux
Obesity is reported to be a risk factor for GORD. Smoking and alcohol are also thought to predispose to GORD. It has been suggested that some foods, such as coffee, mints, dietary fat, onions, citrus fruits, or tomatoes, may predispose to GORD. Drugs that relax the lower oesophageal sphincter, such as calcium channel blockers, may promote GORD and there may be a genetic predisposition to GORD.
- Hiatal hernia- hiatal hernia occurs when the upper part of the stomach is above the diaphragm, the muscle wall that separates the stomach from the chest
- Alcohol use
The main symptom of GORD is heartburn. Heartburn often happens after a meal when your stomach is full, or when you lie down, which allows acid to flow upwards more easily. Heartburn is more common if you are a smoker, overweight or pregnant.
Other symptoms of GORD can include:
- An acidic, sour taste in your mouth
- Burning pain in your throat
- Bloating and belching
- Stomach pains
- Burning pain in your throat and oesophagus when you swallow hot drinks
- Regurgitating food (when food comes out of your stomach and back up your oesophagus)
- Nausea and vomiting, and
- Vomiting blood
- Endoscopy - a thin tube with a microscope on the end is passed down your oesophagus towards your stomach. It enables doctors to see whether the inside of your oesophagus is red and inflamed.
- Acidity test on the inside of the oesophagus – the test is performed for a 24-hour period and involves a thin wire being passed through your nose and into your oesophagus. The wire measures how acidic your oesophagus is and displays the results electronically.
- Barium swallow – a substance called barium, which shows up white on an X-ray, is swallowed to enable doctors to identify any abnormalities in your oesophagus. or
- Radiolabelled technetium – in some hospitals radioisotope imaging may be used to demonstrate gastro-oesophageal reflux. The technique uses very small doses of technetium-sulphur colloid to help confirm a diagnosis.
GORD is a chronic condition, with about 80% of people relapsing once medication is discontinued. Many people therefore require long term medical treatment or surgery.
Aims of intervention
To relieve reflux symptoms, increase healing rates, and reduce the complications of GORD, such as stricture formation; to improve quality of life; to minimise adverse effects of treatment.
- Life style modification
- Medications including antacids, Foaming agents, H2 receptor blockers, Proton Pump inhibitors
- Proton Pump Inhibitors - Proton Pump Inhibitors (PPIs) reduce the amount of acid produced by your stomach, and are usually the first treatment for GORD. Omeprazole is the only type that is available without a prescription, and is mainly used for the short-term treatment of indigestion.
- H2 receptor antagonists - H2 receptor antagonists also reduce the amount of acid produced by your stomach. However, PPIs tend to be used more commonly to treat this condition.
- Motility stimulants - These medicines speed up the rate at which your stomach empties. They also improve the squeezing of the sphincter muscle, to help stop stomach contents being brought back up into your oesophagus. Motility stimulants are normally used as an additional treatment to reduce symptoms such as bloating and a feeling of fullness soon after you start a meal.
- Alginates and Antacids - Alginates and antacids are usually available without a prescription and are best taken when symptoms occur, such as after meals and at bedtime.
Surgical Treatment - ‘Fundoplication’
If medicines do not help to control the symptoms of GORD, surgery may be considered. The operation is called ‘Fundoplication’. The aim of surgery is to make it harder for stomach contents to re-enter your oesophagus so that there is less reflux.
A number of different surgical procedures are available. You should discuss the alternatives with your specialist so that you are fully aware of what is required and understand the pros and cons of each procedure. The two main types of procedure are:
- Open anti-reflux surgery – where a large incision (cut) is made to allow the surgeon to gain access to your oesophagus, and
- Keyhole surgery, also known as laparoscopic surgery – for this procedure, a small incision is made and a small camera (telescope) is passed down your oesophagus to let the surgeon view the affected area.
What does ‘fundoplication’ involve?
Where there is a hiatus hernia, the surgeon will bring the stomach back into its original position under the diaphragm, then wrap the upper few centimetres of the stomach around the oesophagus to make a new valve. This prevents acid reflux and heartburn recurring. Permanent stitches are used to keep the stomach in place.
There are some lifestyle changes you can make to help prevent GORD developing, or stop simple heartburn turning into GORD. These include:
- Quitting smoking
- Avoiding foods that you find bring on heartburn
- Eating small, regular meals
- Changing your medication if you think it could be causing symptoms. Make sure you speak to your GP before stopping or starting any medication
- If you are overweight try losing weight, to reduce pressure on your stomach
- Avoid altering your posture – don’t wear tight belts and waistbands, and try not to leaning forward a lot during the day, and
- If you have symptoms at night, try not eating three hours before bed, and not drinking two hours before. If you must have a drink, sip water or milky drinks, and avoid caffeine


The way a family interacts can have more of an impact on a child’s predicted school success than reading, writing, or arithmetic, according to a University of Notre Dame study published recently in the Journal of Child Development.
Professor and Notre Dame Chair in Psychology Mark Cummings and colleagues at the University of Rochester studied the relationship patterns of some 300 families with six year-olds over the course of three years and found distinct family-school connections. Specific family “types” emerged as predictors of school success.
“Coming from a cohesive family, in which members tend to be warm and responsive to one another, where problems are resolved, and members cope well, increases the likelihood of children doing well in school,” according to Cummings.
Children from enmeshed families, characterized by over involvement, hostility, and only moderate warmth, enter school with no more problems than their cohesive family peers but suffer more anxiety and feelings of alienation later.
The third family type, “detached,” in which all problems are avoided, in which hostility is present, and without displays of affection, tend to have children with the most problems. “They often start school with more disruptive behavior and higher levels of aggression and difficulty cooperating,” Cummings explains.
Though dysfunctional family relationships can negatively impact a child’s school experience, Cummings points out that other factors— schools in high-crime areas or poverty, for example—also can contribute to problems in school.
Specializing in parental impact on child development and the psychology of children and families, Cummings is author or co-author of several books including Marital Conflict and Children: An Emotional Security Perspective (Guilford Press, 2010).
Learn More >
Originally published by newsinfo.nd.edu.


Global Amphibian Assessment Coordinating Team (Simon Stuart, Janice Chanson, Neil Cox and Bruce Young)
Listed as Vulnerable because its Extent of Occurrence is less than 20,000 km2, all individuals are in fewer than five locations, and there is continuing decline in the extent and quality of its habitat in Ecuador.
This species occurs at 1,200-1,800m asl on the Pacific slopes of the Cordillera Occidental in Ecuador, from the provinces of Imbabura and Esmeraldas, south to Bolivar. It has been recorded from around ten localities.
It is a cloud forest species that lives in bromeliads by day. At night, individuals have been found on ferns and leaves up to 2m above the ground, in dense forest, and along streams. It is not known whether or not it can adapt to disturbed habitats. It is presumed to breed by direct development, but the site of egg deposition is not known.
Habitat destruction and degradation are taking place due to agricultural development, plantations, logging, and human settlement. Some other species of Eleutherodactylus that are associated with streams have undergone dramatic declines and disappearances, possibly due to chytridiomycosis, so the status of this species should be monitored carefully.
Boulenger, G.A. 1899. Descriptions of new reptiles and batrachians collected by Mr. P.O. Simons in the Andes of Ecuador. Annals and Magazine of Natural History: 454-457.
IUCN. 2004. 2004 IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. www.iucnredlist.org. Downloaded on 23 November 2004.
Lynch, J.D. and Duellman, W.E. 1997. Frogs of the genus Eleutherodactylus in western Ecuador: Systematics, ecology, and biogeography. University of Kansas Museum of Natural History Special Publication: 1-236.
John Lynch, Luis A. Coloma, Santiago Ron. 2004. Pristimantis crucifer. The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species 2004: e.T56534A11493727. . Downloaded on 24 October 2016.
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Dr. Weeks’ Comment: Great article linking excess sugar intake (insulin resistance) and inflammation. Eat clean!
Source: thanks ARCH!
Study finds molecular link between insulin resistance and inflammation August 26th, 2009 An exploration of the molecular links between insulin resistance and inflammation may have revealed a novel target for diabetes treatment, say scientists at the John G. Rangos Sr. Research Center, Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh of UPMC. Their findings were published earlier this month in the online version of Diabetes, one of the journals of the American Diabetes Association.
Signs of low-grade systemic inflammation are not uncommon among people who have the pre-diabetic condition known as metabolic syndrome, as well as in animal models of obesity and type 2, or insulin-resistant, diabetes, said senior author H. Henry Dong, Ph.D., assistant professor, Department of Pediatrics, University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine.
“But it’s not yet clear if there is a cause-and-effect relationship between chronic exposure to low-grade inflammation and the onset of insulin resistance,” he explained. “Other studies have shown that in patients who have inflammation and diabetes, insulin-sensitizing drugs seem to reduce inflammation while anti-inflammatory therapies improve sensitivity to insulin.”
Dr. Dong’s team examined the role played by a protein called Forkhead Box 01 (Fox01), which his previous research showed contributes to elevations in triglycerides in an animal model of obesity and diabetes.
In the current paper, the researchers found in cultured cells and mouse experiments that Fox01 stimulates inflammatory white blood cells called macrophages, which migrate to the liver and adipose, or fat, tissue in insulin-resistant states, to increase production of a cytokine called interleukin-1 beta (IL-1B). The cytokine in turn interferes with insulin signaling. Insulin typically inhibits Fox01, setting up a feedback loop in healthy tissues that helps regulate insulin levels.
“The findings suggest that when there is a lack of insulin or when cells such as macrophages are resistant to its presence, there are no brakes on Fox01’s stimulation of IL-1B and its further interference with insulin signaling,” Dr. Dong said. “That might explain why chronic inflammation often is coupled with obesity and type 2 diabetes. Also, a drug that acts on Fox01 might be able to better control blood sugar.”
According to the ADA, an estimated 24 million Americans have type 2 diabetes, formerly known as adult-onset diabetes. As obesity becomes more common, however, the prevalence is rising in children. In type 2 diabetes, the body becomes resistant to the effect of insulin, leading to elevated blood sugar levels.
Source: University of Pittsburgh Schools of the Health Sciences


Memorial Rolls at Cambridge Cenotaph.
The Cambridge Cenotaph was built in 1923. It is located right in the centre of town in a small park known as Jubilee Gardens which is situated in front of Cambridge Town Hall and is bordered by Victoria Street and Lake Street. The Town Clock also stands within the park and gardens.
Many of Cambridge's men and boys lost their lives in both World Wars. The Cenotaph remembers them, as well as contributions by Cambridge men in other conflicts. There are several parts to the Cenotaph.
The most noticeable is the obelisk, which is flanked to the north by the statue of a young man who represents 'Youth'.
On the opposite side of the obelisk is a statue of a lion, representing our links to the Empire.
The Lion looks upon the tablets which contain the Memorial Rolls for both World Wars. The Great War dead are in the centre, and the Second World War dead are represented on either side.
Potography courtesy of Dave Homewood


The Coolest Spot in the Universe
Latest News:NASA Selects Physical Science Research Proposals for
the International Space Station
Seven proposals will be funded to conduct physics research using the agency's new microgravity laboratory, which is scheduled to launch to the International Space Station in 2016. Read More >
The quest for ever colder temperatures has been a major theme of physics for over a century, leading to such breakthroughs such as the discovery of superfluidity and superconductivity, and more recently to the development of laser cooling techniques and the observation of dilute atomic-gas Bose-Einstein Condensates (BEC) and super-fluid Fermi gases.
Beyond the great interest in the scientific aspects of these phenomena, these advances have also been at the heart of several important devices from superconducting quantum interference devices (SQUIDS) to lasercooled atomic clocks and atom interferometer-based sensors such as a gravity gradiometer for global gravity mapping.
The 2011 NRC Decadal Survey report, "Recapturing a Future for Space Exploration, Life and Physical Sciences Research for a New Era," recommended a set of high priority areas in Fundamental Physics which includes research related to the physics and applications of quantum gasses. The Cold Atom Laboratory (CAL) will be a multi-user facility designed to study ultra-cold quantum gases in the microgravity environment of the International Space Station (ISS). One of the primary goals of this facility will be to explore a previously inaccessible regime of extremely low temperatures where interesting and novel quantum phenomena can be expected.


The drama being played out right now in Russia and Ukraine isn’t merely geopolitical. It’s a deep-seated drama of the national soul that’s been around for centuries. And Russian literature is the place we see it in full flower. You see, the question Vladimir Putin is grappling with is the one that recurs throughout the 19th century Russian classics: What is the source of our national greatness?
In approaching this question, Putin, whose two favorite writers happen to be Tolstoy and Dostoevsky, has two distinct traditions to choose from: Dostoevsky’s belief in Russian exceptionalism or Tolstoy’s belief in the universality of all human experience, regardless of one’s nationality, culture, or religion. Alas, he has chosen Dostoevsky, not Tolstoy.
Dostoevsky believed that Russia’s special mission in the world is to create a pan-Slavic Christian empire with Russia at its helm. This messianic vision stemmed from the fact that Dostoevsky thought Russia was the most spiritually developed of all the nations, a nation destined to unite and lead the others. Russia’s mission, he said in 1881, was “the general unification of all the people of all tribes of the great Aryan race.”
This sort of triumphalist thinking was anathema to Tolstoy, who believed that every nation had its own unique traditions, none better or worse than the others. Tolstoy was a patriot—he loved his people, as is so clearly demonstrated in War and Peace, for example—but he was not a nationalist. He believed in the unique genius and dignity of every culture. One of the hallmarks of his writing from the beginning was his capacity to uncover the full-blooded truth of each one of his characters, no matter their nationality. In his Sevastopol Tales, which were inspired by his own experiences as a Russian soldier fighting against the combined forces of the Turks, French, and British in the Crimean War of the 1850’s—in the very region recently re-annexed by Russia—Tolstoy celebrates the humanity of all his characters, whether Russian, British, or French.
Unfortunately, amid all the spiritual turmoil following the fall of the Soviet Union, Russians have tended to cling more to the starker, messianic vision of Dostoevsky than the calmer vision of universal humanity Tolstoy espoused, finding the latter perhaps a tad too democratic, humanistic, and soft for their hardened tastes. After all the tragedies of 20th century Russian history, and the humiliations of the past 20 years in particular, many ordinary Russians are seeking unequivocal proof of their national worthiness—indeed superiority—among the family of nations.
It is precisely that contingent of the population that Putin plays to. He rarely quotes Tolstoy in his speeches, yet often quotes 20th century Russian messianic philosophers such as Solovyev, Berdyaev, and Ilyin, who were themselves influenced by Dostoevsky’s brand of nationalism, and took it to a whole new, sometimes virulent level. Putin has called the fall of the Soviet Union the greatest geopolitical catastrophe of the 20th century and a “genuine tragedy” for the Russian people. In a television interview in April, he went so far as to say, “There are enough forces in the world that are afraid of our strength, our ‘massiveness,’ as one of our sovereigns said. So they seek to divide us into parts.”
Listening to Putin speak during that interview and other speeches he’s given recently, you’d hardly guess that it was 2014 and Russia recently invaded and then annexed Crimea, and is now saber-rattling on the Ukrainian border. You’d think that it was 1941 and Hitler had just attacked; or even 1812 as Napoleon crossed the Nieman River to invade Russia. Both of these events remain firmly rooted in Russian national consciousness to this day, which is one reason why Putin’s xenophobic words find such resonance among the majority of the Russian public.
Fear of foreigners runs deep in Putin’s own blood. One of his brothers died of diphtheria during the Nazi siege of Leningrad in World War II. His maternal grandmother was killed by the Germans in that war. And his maternal uncles disappeared at the front without a trace. Given Russia’s past and Putin’s biography, then, this perceived need to assert Russian superiority in a hostile world makes perfect sense.
But genuine strength, as Tolstoy understood so well, comes from humility, not hubris. That is a central message not only of Sevastopol Tales, but of War and Peace, which memorializes Napoleon’s failed invasion of Russia in 1812. If Putin draws on the trope of a country under siege in order to justify Russian bellicosity and his own tight grip on power, then Tolstoy uses that self-image to illustrate a very different point: Russia’s greatness, he believed, stems from the ability of its people to maintain their dignity in the face of aggression and keep a clear moral compass in even the very worst of times.
This is the sort of greatness exhibited by characters like the unnamed Russian soldier who, during the mayhem of the Moscow occupation, steps outside of his assigned duties to help a shopkeeper protect his store from looters; or of a teenage girl who insists that her family leave behind their possessions during the Moscow evacuation in order to make room in the carriages for wounded soldiers; or of a poor, elderly servant who gives a 25 ruble note of her own to a stranger who shows up at the doorstep saying he is a relative of the family she serves.
It is also the sort of greatness embodied in Russian Commander-in-Chief Kutuzov, who is beloved by his troops and compassionate toward his enemies, even refraining from attacking the wounded, departing French army, as some of his generals and members of the court urged him to do. It’s no coincidence that Nelson Mandela, who read War and Peace during his incarceration on Robben Island, would later call it his favorite novel, and single out Tolstoy’s Kutuzov as an exemplar of humane and effective leadership.
And then there’s Pierre Bezukhov, that big-hearted, bespectacled Russian count who at the beginning of the novel inherits the largest fortune in Russia. After that, he enters into a disastrous marriage, becomes a leading Freemason before growing disillusioned with its politics, botches his attempts to free the peasants on his estate, and eventually winds up as a French prisoner of war during Napoleon’s 1812 invasion of Russia.
Just when he believes things can’t get any worse, Bezukhov is brought before a firing squad. Prepared to die, he discovers, miraculously, that he has been escorted there only as a witness. Still, the sight of the blind-folded factory worker being shot in the head (which Pierre well realizes might just as easily have been him) is enough to shatter every illusion he’s ever had about his own power, every ounce of his faith in “the world’s good order, in humanity’s and his own soul, and in God.”
Yet he survives, both physically and spiritually, and emerges from captivity neither cynical nor bitter, but with a redoubled commitment to the ideals of compassion and compromise he has always believed in. “‘I don’t say we should oppose this or that. We may be mistaken,’” he tells his wife after the war, upon returning from St. Petersburg, where Pierre has been trying to unite conservatives and liberals, who are at each other’s throats over the future direction of the country. “‘What I say is, let’s join hands with those who love the good, and let there be one banner—active virtue.’”
The only real inspiration Putin seems to have taken from War and Peace, unfortunately, is from neither Kutuzov nor Pierre Bezukhov, but from the character of Napoleon himself. The French emperor arrogantly imagines himself to be the ultimate geopolitical strategist, and never more so than when he achieves his long-awaited goal of conquering Moscow. But what did that victory cost him? Nine tenths of his army, for one thing, on the long, winter march out of Russia. For while enjoying their wartime booty in Moscow, Napoleon and his army were using up the very provisions they needed to get back to Europe. Tolstoy’s message—which seems to have been entirely lost on Putin—is that when we think we’re winning, we may in fact be losing, or even planting the seeds of our own destruction.
Putin’s conquest of Crimea and saber-rattling on the Ukrainian border may seem to him right now like a masterful strategic move to re-establish Russian hegemony, but a few years or even months down the road it could well prove to be his country’s undoing. With sanctions mounting, Russia becoming more ostracized internationally, and the looming administrative and cultural challenges of reintegrating Crimea back into Russia, Putin’s Napoleonic gambit has already cost his country dearly—not just economically and politically, but spiritually, as well.
If Dostoevsky unintentionally laid the philosophical groundwork upon which Putin now stands, then Tolstoy offers the solution. He provides an alternative path that can lead Russia back to its own highest ideals, back to its deservedly proud place among the family nations. But that is the path of humility, not hubris. As Tolstoy writes in War and Peace: “There is no greatness where there is no goodness, simplicity, and truth.”


The Transfer of the Relics of the Apostle Bartholomew took place at the end of the sixth century. His apostolic activity and martyr’s end are remembered by the Church on June 11. The Apostle Bartholomew suffered for Christ in Armenian Albanus (now Baku) in the year 71, where his holy relics were. Numerous miracles occurred from the relics of the holy Apostle, and many of the unbelieving were converted to Christ. Under the emperor Anastasius (491-518) the relics of the Apostle Bartholomew were transferred into the newly constructed city of Anastasiopolis (or Dura) and remained there until the end of the sixth century.
When the city of Anastasiopolis was captured by the Persian emperor Chozroes, Christians took up the chest with the relics of the Apostle Bartholomew and fled with it to the shores of the Black Sea. Having overtaken them, pagan priests threw the chest with the relics of the Apostle Bartholomew into the sea. Four other chests containing the relics of the holy Martyrs Papian, Lucian, Gregory and Acacius were also thrown into the sea.
By the power of God the chests did not sink into the depths of the sea, but miraculously floated upon the waves and reached Italy. The chest with the relics of the Apostle Bartholomew came to land at the island of Lipari, and the remaining chests continued their journey and came to land at various places in Italy. The chest with the relics of the Martyr Papian halted at Sicily, the Martyr Lucian at Messina, the Martyr Gregory at Calabria, and the Martyr Acacius at Askalon.
The arrival of the relics of the holy Apostle Bartholomew was revealed to Bishop Agathon of the island of Lipari, who went with clergy to the shores of the sea, took the chest from the waters and solemnly transferred it to church.
Myrrh flowed from the relics of the Apostle Bartholomew, healing people of various illnesses. The holy relics remained in the church of the island of Lipari until the middle of the ninth century when the island was captured by pagans. Christian merchants took up the holy relics of the Apostle Bartholomew and transferred them to the city of Beneventum, near Naples, where they were received with great veneration and placed in the main church of the city.