At first, the farmers trod lightly, consulting with local fishermen to find sites that wouldn't harm wild salmon runs. But a few years after the farms arrived, things began going wrong. Big corporations bought out smaller operators; the farms metastasized and anchored their net pens in places where wild salmon smolts rested and fed on their way out to sea. Shrimp fishermen began pulling up traps full of farm muck, a gooey black mixture of feces, excess antibiotic-laden fish feed, and decayed salmon carcasses that filtered out of the pens. Piercing acoustic sirens installed to keep seals and sea lions away from the salmon pens drove the killer whales out of the archipelago. To rid their fish of sea lice, farmers dosed them with ivermectin, a potent antiparasitic known to kill some species of shrimp. Farmed fish contracted antibiotic-resistant strains of furunculosis, a fatal disease that produces ugly skin ulcers; wild salmon that migrated past their pens also contracted the disease.
"I've been catching salmon up here all my life," says Chris Bennett, a fishing guide who runs a floating lodge in the archipelago. "I'd never seen a fish with a lesion until the farms came in."
Some of the early farmers raised native Pacific chinook and coho, but most soon switched to the more profitable Atlantic salmon. The fast-growing, hardier, and comparatively docile Atlantics adapted better to life in a crowded pen. When local environmentalists voiced alarm about introducing the nonnative Atlantic species into Pacific waters, the industry and the provincial government dismissed their worries. If any escaped, they said, they'd never survive. "These fish are inept at surviving in the wild," says Anita Peterson, spokeswoman for the British Columbia Salmon Farmers Association. "They're seal and sea lion fodder."
The fish did escape, either because of human error or when storms or hungry sea lions tore the nets. According to the Canadian government, in the past decade nearly 400,000 farm-raised Atlantics escaped into British Columbia waters and began competing with wild species for food and habitat. (That number relies primarily on escapes reported by fish farmers; environmentalists put the actual figure closer to 1 million.) And they survived. After years of speculation about whether Atlantics could make it on the lam, in 1998 researchers found that Atlantics had actually spawned in the Tsitika River on Vancouver Island, a few miles west of the archipelago. By the summer of 2001, Atlantics had turned up in 77 British Columbia rivers and streams.
"We were told they wouldn't escape. They escaped," says Jennifer Lash, director of Living Oceans Society, a local conservation group. "We were told they wouldn't survive in the wild. They survived. We were told they wouldn't get upstream. They got upstream. We were told they wouldn't reproduce. They've reproduced."
Instead of relieving the pressure on wild salmon, industrial fish farming has become one of their greatest threats. Besides mucking up the farm sites and passing lice and disease on to wild fish, escaped Atlantics threaten to outcompete an already stressed population of Pacific salmon, replacing a diverse genetic pool with a single strain of invasive fish that may be ill adapted for long-term survival.
An environmental outcry forced the provincial government to impose a moratorium on new farm sites in 1995 and to subsidize farmers if they experimented with greener, solid-wall pens. But the industry responded by stuffing twice as many fish into the 87 active sites. By 1999, British Columbia's fish farmers were cultivating $292 million worth of farmed fish, more than 11 times the value of Canada's wild Pacific salmon catch.
Now, with British Columbia's industry-friendly premier, Gordon Campbell, in office and the province hurting for jobs, the industry is pushing to open new megafarms in some of the region's most ecologically sensitive spots.
"I can appreciate the value of the jobs," says Glen Neidrauer, a game warden who patrols the archipelago for Canada's Department of Fisheries and Oceans. "But why would you jeopardize a place so pristine? We're not just talking fishall the birds, bears, and sea mammals depend on wild salmon. I wonder how long you can mess with that until they finally don't return."
The conflict in the Broughton Archipelago is the latest skirmish in what is emerging as a global environmental battle over high- intensity fish farming. Environmentalists and fishermen in Chile have called for a moratorium on that country's radically expanding salmon-farm industry. Conservation activists in Scotland, Canada's eastern province of New Brunswick, and Maine are battling deadly farm-incubated diseases. Yet despite its environmental problems, salmon farming remains a booming business. As the production of wild fisheries continues to push its limits, aquaculture corporations are expanding existing farms and seeking out new sites, such as Iceland, for their "blue pastures." Some companies are already looking past salmon. In Hawaii, for instance, the industry is keeping close watch on a pilot project to raise Pacific threadfin in open-ocean net pens. If the fish thrive, the industry's next conquest may be the pristine waters of the South Pacific.
"Aquaculture has grown in huge bounds, faster than anything we've seen in traditional agriculture, and mistakes have been made," says Rosamond Naylor, a senior fellow at Stanford University's Center for Environmental Science and Policy who recently published a study of international fish farming in the journal Nature. "The question is, Can we make changes fast enoughbefore the damage becomes irreversible?"
Back when we envisioned the future in utopian terms, aquaculture was an integral part of the dream. As surely as we would all drive flying cars, wet-suit-clad cultivators would farm the seas and feed the world with their bounty.
It has not turned out as clean and easy as we'd imagined.
Modern fish farming traces its roots to Norway in the 1960s, when that nation's wild salmon stocks crashed due to overfishing, overdamming, acid rain, and development. Inspired by the success of Danish trout farmers, salmon cultivators found Norway's sheltered fjords ideal for farming salmon in ocean net pens.
European restaurateurs loved the farm-raised Atlantics, which allowed them to offer fresh salmon year-round. As demand increased, the industry expanded to Scotland, Ireland, and New Brunswickanywhere that offered cheap access to cold, sheltered salt water. Meanwhile, problems began to crop up. In Norway, the growth of fish farming was marred by outbreaks of disease and parasites and the escape of millions of farm-bred salmon.
In the 1980s, Europe's salmon-farming corporations sought to continue their westward expansion. They eyed two promising areas: Alaska and British Columbia.
Spurred by a politically powerful commercial fishing industry, Alaska outlawed salmon farming outright. British Columbia, on the other hand, welcomed the industry with open arms. In a province whose economy remains bound to extractive industries like logging, capitalizing on its marine resources seemed to make good economic sense.
"In the '80s and early '90s, Norway strengthened its environmental regulations in response to the problems they were having with fish farms," says Lynn Hunter, a former Canadian member of parliament who now works on fisheries issues for the David Suzuki Foundation, a leading Canadian environmental group. "So a number of Norwegian farmers moved to Canada, where they wouldn't face such a strict environmental regime. We got their bad apples."
Today, Alaska's wild salmon fishery ranks among the healthiest, best managed in the world. But British Columbia's commercial fishing industry barely survives; in 1999, the wild salmon harvest was the lowest in 50 years. The Canadian government is trying to keep the industry afloat by buying out commercial fishing licenses and decreasing the number of boats in the water. Canada's farmed-salmon industry, meanwhile, now ranks fourth in worldwide production. (In the United States, so far, salmon aquaculture has been limited to a few sites in Maine and Washington state.)
During the 1990s, salmon farming exploded around the globe. Stymied by environmentalists from further expansion in Canada, the industry headed to Chile, where farming corporations found cheaper labor and few environmental restrictions. The past decade also saw a frenzy of takeovers and mergers, as large companiesmost notably Stolt-Nielsen, a Norwegian shipping company, and Nutreco, a Dutch conglomeratebought smaller ones in order to achieve "vertical integration of the value chain," industry-speak for the ability to hatch salmon fry, produce fish-food pellets, raise market-size fish, and distribute filets worldwide. The consolidation of the supermarket industry also fueled the merger mania; megagrocers preferred to contract with one supplier large enough to fill their freezers. This is how your Costco comes to offer farmed Atlantic filets at $3.99 a pound, less than half the price of wild salmon.
Farm-raised Atlantic salmon now rule the global premium fish market. In 2000, fish farmers raised 860,000 metric tons of Atlantic salmonmore than 1 metric ton for every wild salmon caught in the North Atlantic. Chilean-raised Atlantics are dumped so cheaply in the United States that they're making it hard for Alaska fishermen to make a living. "When you've got Chilean filets hitting the Port of Miami at $2 a pound, raised by workers making $1.50 a day, that's when the WTO hits home," says John van Amerongen, editor of the Alaska Fishermen's Journal.
For now, major environmental groups including the National Audubon Society and the Sierra Club recommend against eating farmed salmon because of the industry's poor environmental record. Recognizing that aquaculture is likely to continue to grow, however, many environmentalists have also focused on moving the industry toward more sustainable practices. Two start-up companies in the Pacific Northwest are experimenting with a promising technology that uses solid-wall pens, which, though more expensive, could eliminate the problems of escaped fish and disease transfer to wild stocks. "Closed-containment systems," says Rebecca Goldberg, a senior biologist with Environmental Defense, "are definitely a step in the right direction."
Alexandra Morton doesn't get too close to the fish-farm workers anymore. "They all know my boat," she says. "I've had 'em moon me, call me all kinds of nasty names." She gives a Stolt Sea Farm site wide berth, and then zips into a nearby cove and gets out her dip net.
Morton, who moved to the Broughton Archipelago nearly 20 years ago to study the habits of local orcas, became an anti- fish-farming activist in the late 1980s when the industry's "seal scarers" drove the killer whales out of their traditional feeding grounds. To placate Morton, many of the farming companies turned off their alarms, and the orcas eventually returned. "It wasn't just me," she says. "Some farmers think they actually attract more predatorsthey call it the dinner-bell effect."
Morton stands at the stern of her boat, dip net poised, waiting for two pink salmon smolts to swim within striking distance. A sea lice infestation broke out three weeks ago among this run of wild pinks, and Morton wants to check these two for parasites.
She nets the fish and releases them into a saltwater tank. Morton scoops one into her hand. "This one's loaded," she says. Parasites as small as sesame seeds scuttle across the fish's tiny scales. Through a magnifying lens, the lice resemble tiny horseshoe crabs.
"He's got a bunch of little ones hanging off his throat, too," says Morton. Baby lice, hangnail-size, beard the fish. Over the next few weeks they will eat the salmon's mucus, skin, and blood, killing their host. "This guy," Morton says, "doesn't have a chance."
Her sampling indicates that wild smolts near fish farms carry far more lice than smolts caught away from the industrial sites. Morton fears that B.C.'s salmon may suf- fer the fate of Ireland's fabled sea trout, which were devastated in the early 1990s by a fish-farm-incubated infestation of sea lice. British Columbia's salmon farmers say lice hasn't been a problem, but local fishermen believe the close-packed Atlantic salmon act as disease and lice hothouses. "They're disease reservoirs stuck right on the migration path of wild salmon," says fishing guide Chris Bennett. "You couldn't dream up a better pathogen vector." Fish farmers counter that they're getting a bad rap. Their cages are sitedfor environmental reasonsaway from freshwater streams, in the high-saline waters where sea lice flourish. Of course you'll find more lice around our farms, they argue; that's where the saltier water is.
Morton disagrees. After documenting her latest lice survey, she calls an official at the government's Pacific Biological Station research lab in Nanaimo, 150 miles south, and pleads with him to investigate the outbreak. "Look," she says, "we've got a real problem up here."
It's a tough sell. The agency that runs the Biological Station, Canada's federal Department of Fisheries and Oceans (DFO), is charged with both promoting fish farming and conserving wild salmon runs. That dual mission has led the dfo to turn a blind eye to the environmental threat posed by the farms. Earlier this year the auditor general, the Canadian government's independent investigator, scolded the DFO for failing to enforce Canada's Fisheries Act, the nation's most sacred environmental law, when the law came into conflict with the salmon-farming industry.
Morton has allies, though. Using her data, a group of First Nations leaders calls a press conference in Victoria to denounce the fish farms and the government's failure to regulate them. Dressed in full tribal regalia, they threaten to take action if the government doesn't. "Our people are prepared to do what it takes to take care of our land, water, and resources," says Percy Williams, chief of the Kwicksutaineuk-kwaw-mish tribe.
The DFO relents and dispatches a research vessel. By the time the boat reaches the archipelago, however, the run of infected pinks has passed out to sea.
As industrial salmon farming swept westward from Norway, it left a trail of environmental destruction in its wake. In Norway between 1989 and 1992, furunculosis-infected farm fish escaped and spread the disease to 550 other farms and 20 Norwegian rivers. In the 1990s, Infectious Salmon Anemia (ISA), a sort of hoof-and-mouth disease of the sea, ripped through farms in Scotland and New Brunswick. The New Brunswick Fisheries and Aquaculture Department ordered the slaughter of more than 1.2 million salmon in 1998 in an effort to control one ISA outbreak. That same year, ISA ravaged more than 11 farms in Scotland. In both cases, the disease eventually made its way into wild stocks. And just this past March, ISA spread into U.S. waters, infecting salmon farms in Maine.
"Whenever you raise organisms in dense concentrations, disease transfer happens a lot faster," says James Karr, a professor of fisheries at the University of Washington. "When these fish are moved from one region to another, they may move disease that's never been found in that area before."
From the air, a salmon farm looks like a posh racquet club under floodwater. Farms usually float within a few hundred yards of shore, with the nets anchored by heavy cables. Hatchery-born fish are transferred to net pens when they're 10 months old. In their new home, they're fed pellets made of fish meal, fish oil, vitamins, and, as needed, antibiotics. Farmed salmon eat two to five pounds of protein for every pound of weight gainedprotein that comes from small pelagic fish like anchovies, mackerel, herring, and sardines. Typically, 15,000 to 50,000 fish share a single pen, and 8 to 10 pens operate on a single site. Since the pens are open to the surrounding water, any waste generated by the fish flushes into the local ecosystem.
Farmers count on the tide to disperse net pen effluent, but the water often doesn't flush it all away. A salmon farm of 200,000 fish releases an amount of fecal solids roughly equivalent to a town of 62,000 people. That's a lot of fish poop, and it can create an oxygen-depleted "dead zone" on the seafloor under the net pens.
Then there are the jailbreaks. Everywhere the Atlantics go, they escape. In Norway, at least half a million farmed salmon escape from pens every year. Canadians worry about farmed fish displacing wild species. But in Norway, that battle is already over. The wild lost. Farmed Atlantics now outnumber wild salmon spawning in Norwegian rivers. "Salmon aquaculture," the World Wildlife Fund said in a report issued last May, "now constitutes a major threat to wild salmon stocksif not the major threat."
On the Pacific Coast, it's still an open question whether escaped Atlantics will displace native Pacific salmon. "Native salmon have evolved over thousands of years to live in this region," says the University of Washington's James Karr. "Their life histories are finely tuned to live in concert with other organisms in the region." Each run of Pacific chinook, coho, sockeye, pink, and chum salmon knows how to survive in a specific spawning stream. When one stream goes haywireperhaps it's too hot, too low, or gets dammedsalmon in other streams survive. Farmed Atlantics are artificially bred to get fat fast and survive the close confines of a net pen. By allowing a homogeneous species of Atlantics to replace the diverse species of wild salmon, we'd be setting up an entire ecosystem for a horrendous crash. If that one species failed, all salmon would fail. And the reverberations of that would be felt up and down the food chain.
On days like this it's almost not work," Brian Wiley says as he pilots a skiff between salmon pens. The brilliant afternoon sun bounces off the emerald waters of Upper Retreat Pass. Wiley, a 42-year-old fishfarmer, gives an unannounced visitor a brief tour of his net pens, a site 20 miles east of northern Vancouver Island that's owned by Stolt-Nielsen. He is buoyant; his eight-day shift ends in a couple of hours, and a company boat is coming to take him home to Campbell River for six days off.
Like any farmer, Wiley is proud of his product. "You get attached to 'em," he says. "They're your fish. That's what's cool about the work. They come in as smolts and stay with you for a year or two."
This farm, one of Stolt's 27 sites in British Columbia, holds 308,000 Atlantic salmon. Wiley and three co-workers pour 10 metric tons of food pellets into the pens each day and monitor the fish with underwater video cameras to see when they stop eating. "That way we don't waste food," says Wiley. "The pellets go for about $1,300 a ton, so you don't want to waste it or kill any fish."
When the fish near market size, farmers add astaxanthin, a pigment similar to beta-carotene, to their feed to give their gray flesh a salmony pinkish glow. (In the wild, asta- xanthin is synthesized by microalgae and passed up the food chain. Since farm-raised salmon eat only pellets, they must be dyed pink. The pharmaceutical giant Hoffman-La Roche, a leading supplier of astaxanthin to salmon farms, distributes a "SalmoFan"kind of like a paint-store swatchto let farmers perfect the desired hue.)
Brian Wiley and his colleagues are only a 10-minute boat ride from the island village of Echo Bay. But they don't mix much with the locals. A fish tech is a lot like a loggerusually single, male, in his 20s or 30s, strong enough to handle the demanding physical work, willing to call in rangers to shoot seals and other predators, not overly concerned with the environmental nuances of the watershed in which he works. The farm's floating bunkhouse has pretty much everything he needs: fully stocked kitchen, booming stereo, satellite TV.
"When I first heard about this job, I thought, 'Oh great, feeding fish all day,'" says Wiley. "But you've got all kinds of stuff to deal with out here. We take plankton samples every day, do our environmentals, test the salinity of the water, the dissolved oxygen. Lot of stuff to know about."
A lot of jobs did follow the fish farms to British Columbia. They just didn't materialize so much in the archipelago, which bears the brunt of the environmental damage and ongoing risk. But back in Vancouver Island towns like Port Hardy, Port McNeill, and especially Campbell River, which bills itself as the Salmon Capital of the World, the salmon farms employ fish processors and farmers, and support businesses like boxing companies, net makers, trucking firms, construction contractors, and fuel docks.
"This industry is critical to our small communities," says Anita Peterson, the spokeswoman for the Salmon Farmers Association. Not all small communities see the benefits, however, and the taverns of Port McNeill have seen heated arguments between pro-farming townies and anti-farming islanders.
Technology may ultimately help broker peace on the coast. Two companies, Future Sea Technologies (FST) of Nanaimo, British Columbia, and MariCulture Systems of Lake Stevens, Washington, are developing closed-containment pens that seal farmed salmon off from the outside water. These pens can cost up to one and a half times as much as conventional nets to install but pay off in faster-growing, healthier fish. And they have caught the attention of environmentalists and scientists. "Certainly the problems relating to escapement of fish and the waste disposal of fish would be largely or entirely solved with a closed-containment system," says Rebecca Goldberg, the senior scientist with Environmental Defense.
A major problem, though, may not just be the initial cost: It may be that the systems appear too eco-friendly. Aquaculture corporations have become so embittered toward environmentalists that they're leery of trying anything that comes with a seal of green approval. "Our customers are fish farmers," says FST operations director Andy Clark, "but the environmental lobby says fish farming is the second coming of the deviland they point to us as the savior. We're caught in the middle."
Moreover, many in the fish-farming industry do not acknowledge that there is a problem with open-flow pens. "With a closed system," says Peterson of the Farmers Association, "you're taking an absolutely prime growing environment and trying to artificially re-create it. Why would you do that?"
Aquaculture is not going away. We're eating more fish even as the oceans and rivers run dry. Since 1989, the world's commercial seafood catch has stagnated between 85 and 90 million tons. The United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization reported last year that most of the world's fishing areas have "reached their maximum potential for capture-fisheries production, with the majority of stocks being fully exploited." Meanwhile, aquaculture output has nearly tripled, from 12.3 million tons in 1989 to 30.9 million tons in 1998.
This is the paradox of salmon farming. "Aquaculture," writes Stanford's Rosamond Naylor, "is a possible solution, but also a contributing factor, to the collapse of fisheries stocks worldwide."
The National Audubon Society, Environmental Defense, and the Sierra Club not only caution against eating farmed salmon; they in fact recommend eating wild Alaskan chinook and coho and other salmon that are sustainably fished.
Meanwhile, other groups including the David Suzuki Foundation and Living Oceans Society have begun campaigns to educate consumers about the health benefits of eating wild salmon, which, unlike farmed fish, contain no antibiotics, are not artificially dyed, and are higher in the omega-3 fatty acids that lower the risk of heart disease and breast cancer.
"The fish-farming industry has fed us a line about eating farmed salmon to protect wild stock," says the Suzuki Foundation's Hunter. "Actually, the reverse is true. If you purchase farmed salmon, you're contributing to the risk to the wild fish."
It's a counterintuitive proposition: Eat the wild to save the wild. But if enough consumers vote with their purchases, fish farmers may start cleaning up their act. To that end, Hunter and her allies have come up with a slogan to beat the industry's marketing machine. You can see it on her car's bumper sticker as she drives away: Wild Salmon Don't Do Drugs.


In Part 1, we looked at the pieces strewn about our living room floor. In Part 2, we examined the Goals and Destinations in Chapter 3.0. And in Part 3, the three current Human Space Flight programs were reviewed (International Space Station, the Space Shuttle and the Constellation Program).
Chapter 5.0 Launch to Low-Earth Orbit and Beyond
In this section, The Augustine Commission examines launch vehicles. We begin with the opening statement, with which we agree:
Launch to low-Earth orbit is the most energy-intensive and dynamic step in human space exploration. No other single propulsive maneuver, including descent to and ascent from the surfaces of the Moon or Mars, demands higher thrust or more energy or has the high aerodynamic pressure forces than a launch from Earth. Launch is a critical area for spaceflight, and two of the five key questions that guide the future plans for U.S. human spaceflight focus on launch to low-Earth orbit: the delivery of heavy masses to low-Earth orbit and beyond; and the delivery of crew to low-Earth orbit.
5.1 Evaluation methodologies for Launch Vehicles
The Commission used “cost, performance and schedule parameters, as well as safety, operability, maturity, human rating, workforce implications, development of commercial space, the consequences to national security space, and the impact on exploration and science missions”. They note that some of these are quantitative and some are qualitative measures. Evaluations of the claim for each launcher was made and adjusted, and the uncertainty was assessed. Historical bounds were employed where appropriate. Some 70 lower-level metrics were used to construct 13 top level metrics.
5.2 Heavy Lift to Low-Earth Orbit and Beyond
The Commission began by reiterating the Constellation plan to loft about 600 metric tons (mt) per year to low Earth orbit (LEO). By comparison, NASA launched 250 mt per year during Apollo and the International Space Station (ISS) has a mass of about 350 mt.
Figure 5.2-1 listed the five candidates and their lift to LEO (see Launch Vehicles for visuals) and Figure 5.2.1-1 gave Trans Lunar Injection (TLI) with no refueling and with in-space refueling:
TLI no refueling
TLI in-space refueling
EELV Super Heavy
Directly Shuttle Derived
Ares V Lite
Ares V plus Ares I
Notice that the Commission has brought the potential of in-space refueling front and center, either as propellant transfer from one spacecraft to another (as in a dual launch Ares V Lite or Jupiter 246), or from a true propellant depot, which would be supplied by commercial contract. However, “the Committee found both of these concepts feasible with current technology, but in need of significant further engineering development and in-space demonstration before they could be included in a baseline design”. Thus, the initial set of evaluations would need to examine the mass that an Earth Departure Stage (EDS) could push through TLI without refueling.
A detailed study of launch reliability of multi-launch missions commissioned by the Committee concluded that at most three critical launches be used. Reasonable chances for success required 90+ days of on-orbit life for an EDS or propellant depots.
Subsequent to Shuttle retirement, the need for NASA to launch 400 to 600 mt to LEO each year would consume much if not all of the existing and planned excess EELV capacity. Further, it would be expensive.
Finally, the Commission notes that heavy lift vehicles “would allow large scientific observatories to be launched, potentially enabling them to have optics larger than the current five-meter fairing sizes will allow. More capable deep-space science missions could be mounted, allowing faster or more extensive exploration of the outer solar system”.
All the foregoing was seen as justification for the development of Heavy Lift vehicles. The Commission then reviewed the choices in the chart above.
Ares V: This is the most capable of the proposed rockets. Together with the Ares I, it can launch 185 mt to LEO, 71 mt through TLI and land 14 tons of cargo only on the lunar surface, or 2 mt of cargo plus crew. Ares V requires expansion of the External Tank (ET) to 10 meters, the development of new 5.5 segment solid rocket motors (SRM), development of a regenerative version of the RS-68 engine and the development of the J2-X second stage engine (modified from the Saturn J2 engine).
Ares V Lite: Ares V Lite is a derivative of the Ares V, but with an LEO payload of 140 mt. This rocket would require the completion of the 5 segment SRM under development for Ares I. The remaining new Ares V components would still require development. For lunar missions, the Ares V Lite would be human-rated and used in the “dual mode”. In single launch it can place 14 mt of cargo on the lunar surface, and with a larger Lander than Ares V, it can land 5 mt of cargo plus crew.
SDLV Side-Mount: The side-mount and the in-line SDLV both use the existing Space Shuttle ET, the 4 segment SRM and the Space Shuttle Main Engines (SSME). The side-mount replaces the Shuttle with a cargo pod. The Committee combined the side-mount with the in-line variants for purposes of evaluation. They did note, however, that “the side-mount variant is considered an inherently less safe arrangement if crew are to be carried, and is more limited in its growth potential”.
SDLV In-Line The in-line variants are represented by the Jupiter family of rockets, as proposed by the Direct team. The Committee assumed that three Jupiter 241 vehicles would be used for a lunar mission, and that 5 mt of cargo could be landed with crew. No figure was given for a cargo only dual-launch mission, but the report states that more than 20 mt of cargo can be landed by a single Jupiter 241 using in-space refueling. Now, the three launch scenario is peculiar. Perhaps the Commission was trying to replicate the LEO loft mass of a dual Ares V Lite mission (2 x 140 mt). However, that much fuel, lander and crew far exceeds the Constellation Program (CxP) requirements. Furthermore, Ross Tierney, from Direct, has stated that “the right 2-launch Jupiter architecture is actually capable of landing 19mT of useful payload mass on the lunar surface every crew mission…Given that the Ascent Module only consists of about 6.4mT of that, this architecture is actually capable of landing almost the same 14.5mT* cargo modules as CxP are currently planning to land using cargo-only missions”. So we are left with unanswered questions concerning the assumptions and evaluations made by the Commission, not only about SDLV, but the Ares mission architectures.
EELV Super Heavy The Extended Expendable Launch Vehicle (EELV) is represented by the Atlas 5 Phase 2 Heavy, which consists of the core rocket plus two boosters of the same basic design along with an upgraded common upper stage (to be used by both Atlas and Delta). The common upper stage would use four RL-10 rocket engines, which have a long history of successful flights aboard Titan, Delta and Atlas among others. This configuration is capable of lofting a maximum of 75 mt to LEO. A dual launch configuration with in-space refueling is capable of conducting Flexible Path missions.
Summary of Findings
- Heavy Lift capability is beneficial to human exploration as well as national security and the scientific community.
- In-Space refueling represents a significant benefit to space transportation systems beyond low Earth orbit. It requires development and would not be on the critical path. A prudent approach is to develop Heavy Lift capable of early missions and phase in in-space refueling when it becomes available.
- A new emphasis of sustainable operations is needed. “NASA’s design culture emphasizes maximizing performance at minimum development cost, repeatedly resulting in high operational and lifecycle costs. A shift in NASA design culture toward design for minimum discounted life-cycle cost, accompanied by robustness and adequate margins, will allow NASA programs to be more sustainable”.
- In-Space Propulsion for missions beyond LEO that last for weeks or months require stages using efficient engines with high-reliability restart capabilities.
The Lunar Surface Capabilities of the various systems are compared in the following table:
Cargo and Crew
EELV Super Heavy
Directly Shuttle Derived
Ares V Lite
Ares V plus Ares I
5.3 Crew Launch to Low-Earth Orbit
Crew safety is an overriding issue in human space flight. The safe delivery of crew to LEO and their return is critical. This is the fourth key question (see Part 1) that the Committee examined. The assumed that Orion would be the crew vehicle, and that the launch vehicle would either be government provided and operated, or a commercial service.
Ares I was selected in 2005 as part of the ESAS study, and was expected to be operational in 2012. The Constellation program now projects initial operational capability (IOC) in 2015, and the Committee thinks this will slip further. Both budgetary and design problems have been encountered.
International Transportation was deemed acceptable by the Committee. However, sustained U. S. leadership in space requires domestic crew launch capability.
A human rated EELV was considered by the Commission. An independent study found that the launch of Orion on the Delta IV Heavy was technically feasible, but the long term development and carrying costs offset any savings versus Ares I.
Commercial Transport of crew to LEO is a hot topic. The Committee asked “can a simple capsule with a launch escape system, operating on a high-reliability liquid booster, be made safer than the Shuttle, and comparably as safe as Ares I plus Orion”? A number of factors were considered:
- A strong role for NASA oversight of the development would be required.
- The cost to NASA of underwriting design, development, test, and evaluation (DDT&E).
- The potential non-NASA uses of LEO crew transport
The Committee made several estimates of total costs, and arrived at a preliminary estimate of $5 Billion dollars. Assuming a “less-constrained” NASA budget, a commercial LEO crew transport service could be available by 2016.
Finally, the Committee assessed the risks to the human space flight program associated with commercial crew transport. Such development could distract from the near-term goal of developing commercial cargo capability. The commercial community might fail to deliver a crew transportation system. The fall-back position for NASA would be human rating the Heavy Lift Vehicle. The Committee assumes that the first stage of the HLV will be developed as quickly as possible. We leave the implications of this statement as an exercise for the reader.
5.4 Additional Issues in Launcher Selection
Launch Vehicle Performance and Costing The factors in this section include:
- Evaluation of the claimed cost, schedule and performance of the various launch vehicles.
- The advantage of shifting to commercial purchase of space transportation systems.
- The loss of the workforce and expertise built up within NASA from shifting to commercial sources.
- The health and viability of the solid rocket motor industry from all-liquid fuel launch vehicles.
Launcher Reliability The Committee reviewed the historical reliability of the Shuttle, Saturn, Titan, Delta and Atlas programs. Launchers derived from existing systems have shown greater reliability in early stages of development than newly developed systems.


October 28, 2010
- A d v e r t i s e m e n t
Forget touchscreens, the iPhones and iPads of the future might be controlled by something even more impressive: the human mind.
Scientists have discovered that it is possible to manipulate complex visual images on a computer screen using only a handful of brain cells.
The study, published in Nature, found that when volunteers had their brains connected to a computer displaying two merged images, they could force the computer to display one of the images and discard the other.
The signals transmitted from each subject’s brain to the computer were derived from just a small number of brain cells.


International cooperation is a strategic area for a space programme because relationships with other countries are influenced by political, economic, cultural, and human personality factors as well as scientific and technological factors. India has always recognized that space has dimension beyond national considerations, which can only be addressed along with international partners. Over the years, as ISRO has matured in experience and technological capabilities, the scope for cooperation has become multifaceted. While exploratory missions beyond the earth are the natural candidates for such cooperative efforts, there are many other themes like climate change impacts on earth, space science and planetary exploration that are of interest to international cooperation because of their global impact.
International cooperation has been part of Indian space programme since inception. Establishment of Thumba Equatorial Rocket Launching Station (TERLS), conduct of Satellite Instructional Television Experiment (SITE) and Satellite Telecommunication Experiment Project (STEP), launches of Aryabhata, Bhaskara, Ariane Passenger Payload Experiment (APPLE), IRS-IA, IRS-IB satellites, INSAT series of satellites, Mission to Moon, etc., have the components of international cooperation.
ISRO is pursuing bilateral and multilateral relations with space agencies and space related bodies with the aim of building and strengthening existing ties between countries; taking up new scientific and technological challenges; refining space policies and defining international frameworks for exploitation and utilization of outer space for peaceful purposes. Internationally India is viewed by space faring nations as an emerging space power, capable of achieving its goals in a more cost effective and time-efficient manner. Specifically, the developing countries look to India for assistance in building up their capabilities to derive benefits of space technology. The scope of international cooperation has become wider and diverse, as ISRO has made tremendous progress in recent time.
Formal cooperative arrangements in the form of either Agreements or Memoranda of Understanding (MoU) or Framework Agreements have been signed with Afghanistan, Algeria, Argentina, Armenia, Australia, Bahrain, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Bolivia, Brazil, Brunei Darussalam, Bulgaria, Canada, Chile, China, Egypt, Finland, France, Germany, Hungary, Indonesia, Israel, Italy, Japan, Kazakhstan, Kuwait, Maldives, Mauritius, Mexico, Mongolia, Morocco, Myanmar, Nepal, Nigeria, Norway, Peru, Portugal, Republic of Korea, Russia, Sao-Tome & Principe, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, South Africa, Spain, Sultanate of Oman, Sri Lanka, Sweden, Syria, Tajikistan, Thailand, The Netherlands, Tunisia, Ukraine, United Arab Emirates, United Kingdom, United States of America, Uzbekistan, Venezuela, Vietnam. Also formal cooperative instruments have been signed with international multilateral bodies like European Centre for Medium Range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF), European Commission, European Organisation for the Exploitation of Meteorological Satellites (EUMETSAT), European Space Agency (ESA) and South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC).
Highlights of a few achievements through international cooperation
ISRO’s maiden mission to Moon, the Chandrayaan-1, has been an exemplary example of international cooperation with its international payloads. It has also earned several national and international laurels and was instrumental in the ISRO-NASA joint discovery of water molecules on the moon surface, unattained by any of the previous missions of such nature.
The Indo-French joint satellite mission called MEGHA-TROPIQUES was launched in 2011 for the study of the tropical atmosphere and climate related to aspects such as monsoons, cyclones, etc. The data products from this satellite are made available to the international Scientific community.
Another joint mission with France, named SARAL (Satellite for ALTIKA and ARGOS) for studying ocean from space using altimetry was successfully launched on February 25, 2013. CNES provided a radar altimeter instrument called ALTIKA and an onboard relay instrument for the international ARGOS data collection system, while, ISRO provided the satellite platform, launch and operations for this joint mission. The data from the altimeter is currently made available to global scientific community.
Ongoing and future activities
ISRO and NASA are realizing a joint satellite mission called NISAR (NASA ISRO Synthetic Aperture Radar) for earth science studies. As part of the Indo-French cooperation, ISRO and CNES have completed the feasibility study on realizing an earth observation satellite mission with thermal infrared imager, named as TRISHNA. ISRO and JAXA scientists are conducting the feasibility study to realize a joint satellite mission to explore the moon’s polar region.
As part of ISRO’s prestigious Gaganyaan programme, the cooperation opportunities with countries and space agencies having expertise in human space flight are being explored. The cooperation activities are focused in astronaut training, life support systems, radiation shielding solutions etc.
ISRO has announced an 8-week capacity building programme on nano satellite development, named as UNNATI (UNispace Nanosatellite Assembly & Training by ISRO) as an initiative of UNISPACE+50 (the 50th Anniversary of the first United Nations conference on the exploration and peaceful uses of outer space) . The programme will be conducted at UR Rao Satellite Centre (URSC) of ISRO at Bengaluru for three years. In the first batch, 30 participants from 17 countries were successfully trained during Jan 15 - Mar 15, 2019. The second batch was conducted during Oct 15 - Dec 15, 2019 and had 30 participants from 16 countries.
Participation in international bodies in the field of Space
India continues to play active role in deliberation on Scientific and Technical and Legal sub-committees of the United Nations Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space (UN-COPUOS). India also plays major role in other multilateral fora including United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (UN-ESCAP), International COSPAS-SARSAT system for search and rescue operations, International Astronautical Federation (IAF), International Academy of Astronautics (IAA), International Institute of Space Law (IISL), Committee on Earth Observation Satellites (CEOS), Committee on Space Research (COSPAR), Inter Agency Debris Coordination Committee (IADC), Space Frequency Coordination Group (SFCG), Coordinating Group on Meteorological Satellites (CGMS),International Space Exploration Coordination Group (ISECG), International Space University (ISU), Asian Association for Remote Sensing (AARS), International Society for Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing (ISPRS), etc.
Internationally, ISRO plays active role in sharing its expertise and satellite data for the management of natural disasters through various multi-agency bodies like International Charter for Space and Major Disasters, Sentinel Asia and UNSPIDER.
The Centre for Space Science and Technology Education for Asia and the Pacific (CSSTE-AP) has been set up in India under the initiative of UN Office for Outer Space Affairs (UN OOSA) and offers nine month post graduate diploma courses in Remote Sensing and Geographic Information Systems (every year), Satellite Communication (every alternate year), Satellite Meteorology and Global Climate (every alternate year) and Space and Atmospheric Science (every alternate year). After completion of the course, students have opportunity to carry out research in their own country for one year leading finally to the award of a Master’s Degree from Andhra University.


Swimming and Water Recreation Resources in King County
Swimming is a fun and great way to get exercise. Knowing how to swim is a skill that can help keep you safe. There are many places for children, teens, families and adults to enjoy swimming in King County. These handouts can help you find a pool, boating program or beach in your community.
Life Jacket and Swimming Videos
Stay on Top of It: Fact Sheets
These fact sheets are provided to help you make smart choices so you and your family can safely enjoy the water.
Water Safety for Children Birth to 5 years - English | Spanish | Cantonese | Vietnamese (PDF)
Discusses drowning prevention at home, in the yard, and in and near the water.
Tips for Children Ages 6-11 Years - English | Spanish | Cantonese | Vietnamese (PDF)
Discusses drowning prevention at home, in the yard, in and near the water, and on a boat.
Water Safety for Teens 12 to 18 Years - English | Spanish (PDF)
Discusses alcohol and drugs, swimming and diving, babysitting, and boating.
Life Jackets for Children and Teens - English | Spanish (PDF)
Learn when you and your child should wear life jackets, why they are important and how to buy life jackets that fit correctly.
Myths and Facts about Water Safety (in English and Spanish)
Covers six myths about water safety and gives the facts. Emphasizes that drowning prevention has three parts: precautions, supervision and consistent use of personal flotation devices.
Water Safety Tips For Families - English | Amharic | Cantonese | Spanish | Vietnamese | Somali (PDF)
Water Safety for Children with Seizures - English | Spanish | Vietnamese (PDF)
Drowning prevention tips for children with seizures and epilepsy at home and around the water.
Swimming in Seattle: English (black and white, color) | English and Spanish (black and white, color) | English and Vietnamese (PDF)
Borrow a Life Jacket in Washington State (PDF)
Information on where to find life jacket loaner programs in Washington state.
Open Water Guidelines - English | Spanish (PDF)
Open Water Guidelines and Rationale (PDF)
Drowning in open water, such as lakes, rivers and the ocean, is a major concern around the world. An 18-member international task force from 12 countries has developed a set of guidelines for families and individuals recreating at any open-water site.


Michelangelo Merisi left his birth town of Caravaggio in the north of Italy to study as an apprentice in nearby Milan. In 1593 he moved to Rome, impatient to use his talents on the biggest stage possible. Caravaggio's approach to painting was unconventional. He avoided the standard method of making copies of old sculptures and instead took the more direct approach of painting directly onto canvas without drawing first. He also used people from the street as his models. His dramatic painting was enhanced with intense and theatrical lighting. Caravaggio's fate was sealed when in 1606 he killed a man in a duel. He fled to Naples where he attempted to paint his way out of trouble, he became a Knight, but was then imprisoned in Malta and then finally he moved to Sicily. He was pardoned for murder in 1610, but he died of a fever attempting to return to Rome.


Each year, cerebral aneurysms cause
death and permanent damage
to millions around the world.
Here’s what you should know about
the causes of hemorrhagic stroke,
and what to do when a stroke occurs.
It’s difficult to overstate the magnitude of the global threat: According to the World Stroke Organization (WSO), nearly 15 million people worldwide suffered a stroke last year, and half of them didn’t survive. Stroke and other types of cerebrovascular disease continue to rank at or near the top of the world’s leading causes of death and disability.
Most people have a basic understanding of strokes, and many have lost loved ones to stroke. Fortunately, significant progress has been made in stroke diagnosis, treatment and prevention; patients now have a better chance of surviving a stroke, and there are better ways to limits its damaging effects.
Unlike the more common ischemic stroke, which involves a clot or blockage, hemorrhagic stroke – one cause is cerebral aneurysm or brain aneurysm – results from the dilation or thinning of the wall of an artery or blood vessel in the brain that eventually tears or ruptures, allowing blood to flow into the brain.
The nature of the threat
Cerebral aneurysms are caused by an abnormal thinning of the wall of a blood vessel or artery carrying blood to the brain. The normal flow of blood through the body’s circulatory system exerts constant pressure on blood vessels – even more so when the patient has high blood pressure or hypertension. A blood vessel already weakened by thinning of its wall is at risk of developing a balloon-like bulge susceptible to tearing or rupturing, an event that can cause severe brain damage or even death.
“We can try to identity a probable cause for a cerebral aneurysm, but it’s difficult to know precisely why some areas of the arterial wall are thinner than others,” explains Dr. Somkiet Siriwimonmas, a neuroradiologist at Bumrungrad. “It can be due to a congenital abnormality or the consequence of another disease. While Thailand doesn’t compile statistics on cerebral aneurysm, it is estimated that the condition is present in about two percent of the population.”
“It’s impossible to determine when the aneurysm
might rupture; there won’t be any symptoms
to alert the patient of the potential threat.”
Dr. Somkiet Siriwimonmas
According to Dr. Somkiet, there are a number of aspects that add to the medical challenges of dealing with cerebral aneurysm: It’s impossible to determine when the aneurysm might rupture; most patients don’t know that they have an aneurysm; and so long as the blood vessel or artery doesn’t rupture, there won’t be any symptoms to alert the patient of the potential threat.
“If ever you get a headache unlike
any you’ve had before,
get to a doctor immediately.”
Dr. Roekchai Tulyapronchote
The threat of cerebral aneurysm can feel especially ominous due to the reality that it cannot be prevented. Dr. Somkiet points out that while the danger has been described as a time bomb ticking away inside the head, “there’s no widely-used screening test to detect the condition, and the methods that are capable of aneurysm detection require expensive equipment, making their widespread use impractical. Even with advanced testing, it’s not possible to predict if or when an aneurysm will eventually rupture,” Dr. Somkiet notes. “But not all aneurysms end up causing strokes.”
Detecting the presence of an aneurysm is often a case of coincidence or chance. “Detection tends to occur in one of three scenarios,” notes Dr. Somkiet. “The aneurysm may be spotted by coincidence when a patient undergoes a CT scan or MRI while being diagnosed for an unrelated condition; sometimes it’s found after a patient experiences symptoms resulting from the aneurysm causing compression of certain areas of the brain; or it is discovered when the patient has been admitted after suffering an actual stroke.”
When to treat?
Dr. Somkiet notes the distinction between patients who have suffered a ruptured cerebral aneurysm and those whose aneurysm has not yet ruptured. “If a cerebral aneurysm ruptures, it’s critical for the patient to get medical attention as quickly as possible,” he explains. “For patients who have an aneurysm that has been detected by coincidence but hasn’t ruptured, doctors must determine if there is a high risk of rupture, and whether the aneurysm is located in an area prone to more severe damage if a rupture occurred.”
Dr. Somkiet continues: “The size of the aneurysm also must be considered; those larger than seven millimeters are classified as high risk. We typically recommend treatment for high-risk situations, while low-risk patients would typically be monitored frequently for changes in the shape or size of the aneurysm. In deciding whether to proceed with treatment, patients should thoroughly consider and compare the risks of having the treatment versus the inherent risk of not receiving any type of treatment.”
There are several treatment methods that doctors consider for patients with cerebral aneurysms. One method employs a surgical technique to locate the aneurysm and attach a clip to the affected area. Another surgical treatment option involves the insertion of a catheter through the femoral artery into the aneurysm, followed by the packing of coils onto the affected site. Both methods share the same objective: to prevent the weakened area of the arterial wall from growing larger in size, thereby reducing the risk of a dangerous rupture.
The suitability of each treatment depends on a number of factors that can vary from one patient to another. Every aneurysm has a unique set of disease characteristics. “Treatment recommendations must consider the aneurysm’s size and location, and the patient’s overall physical health must be factored into the decision,” says Dr. Somkiet. “Doctors must carefully consider each situation on a case-by-case basis.”
Whether or not to treat
One of the more vexing questions that arises after detection of a cerebral aneurysm is: If no one can know with certainty whether the aneurysm will actually rupture or not, is treatment truly necessary?
To help find an answer, turned to Dr. Roekchai Tulyapronchote, a neurologist specializing in neurovascular diseases. “The treatment of cerebral aneurysm aims to reduce the chances of a future rupture because there is no way of knowing exactly when a stroke will occur, or what its effects will be,” says Dr. Roekchai. “Data from clinical research indicates that aneurysms larger than 7mm have a high probability of rupturing at any time, while those smaller than 7mm have a less than or equal to one percent chance of rupture per year – a very insignificant risk.
But doctors must be mindful of the fact that when aneurysms rupture, patient mortality rates are as high as 50 percent. Even if they survive, they may face severe neurological deficit. Personally, I think those patients who know they have a cerebral aneurysm are fortunate and should seriously weigh the risks before deciding whether to undergo treatment or not.”
Final points to ponder
When an aneurysm ruptures, time is critical. “If patients get medical attention quickly, the potential damage to the brain can be minimized,” Dr. Roekchai explains, “and the risk of a re-rupture can be reduced.”
Dr. Roekchai stresses the critical lesson that his many years’ as a doctor has taught him about stroke: “If ever you get a headache unlike any you’ve had before, get to a doctor immediately. We still see too many stroke patients who, because they looked and acted normally, neglected to seek medical treatment. Without being properly assessed by a doctor, these patients have put themselves in greater danger of a second stroke, which is more deadly.” While that severe headache may turn out to be a harmless event and not a sign of stroke, the danger of a severe headache signifying stroke is too great to dismiss without having a doctor take a look just to be sure.
These symptoms require urgent medical attention
- Severe headache unlike any before: Everyone has headaches from time to time. But the onset of a sudden severe headache unlike previous headaches requires urgent medical help.
- Other signs and symptoms: The simultaneous onset of a headache together with weakness of the limbs is a sign of a possible stroke. Urgent medical attention is necessary, even if the patient appears fine and is able to walk and talk normally.


The Education Services of the City of Jyväskylä are responsible for basic education. Basic education (comprehensive school) is free of charge all-round education.
Every child residing permanently in Finland is obliged to attend comprehensive school. Comprehensive school takes nine years and is intended for children/teenagers from 7 to 16 years of age. This also applies to immigrant children/teenagers residing permanently in Finland.
In comprehensive school, the teaching groups are established by class year. From the 1st to the 6th year, there usually is a class teacher providing education in most of the subjects. From the 7th to the 9th year, education is provided by subject teachers specialising in their respective subjects.
Compulsory education ends once the student has completed the years (from first to ninth years) of comprehensive school, or ten years has passed since the student first went to school. After that responsible for the upper secondary school education, vocational upper secondary education and apprenticeship training is the Jyväskylä educational consortium, www.gradia.fi/.
Teaching is based on a national curriculum for all schools in Finland
In Comprehnsive schools students are supplied with books, school meals and health care free of charge. Commuting to school is also paid for, with the following conditions: the distance to school for students in first to third year must exceed 3.5 kilometres, and the distance for pupils in fourth to ninth year must exceed 5 km.
Co-operation between the school and parents is part of the teaching process. This co-operation is based on teachers and parents engaging in mutual contact. Examples of this include parents’ meetings, personal meetings with the teacher, and evaluation discussions for primary schools.
The Education Services department is open from 8 am to 4 pm.


The headline reads ‘Vandals paste ‘butcher’ sign on Alexander the Great statue’. You can read the full report here.
Was Alexander the Great a butcher? In answering this question we have to be careful that we don’t do so with a twenty-first century mindset.
The reason for this is simple. If we impose our morality on Alexander we learn nothing about him and only a little – that is not good – about ourselves. Alexander lived, after all, in the fourth century B.C. not the twenty-first A.D.
So what about in terms of fourth century B.C. morality? Was he a butcher? I don’t have a firm answer to this yet, but at the moment I am leaning towards yes. There was no international law that stated what was and wasn’t acceptable in combat back then but there were definitely times when Alexander and his men went too far (e.g. the destruction of Thebes and terrorising of the civilian population in India) in the prosecution of campaign war aims.
No one should be insulted by Alexander being called a butcher. He was a king and a general. That was always going to involve bloodshed. Always. And sometimes, he would go too far. If one wishes to know the real Alexander, one has to accept that this happened.
But also that more happened, or rather, didn’t happen because on other occasions Alexander reigned his men in; prevented blood from being spilt. For example, which was the last city to be sacked before Persepolis? Gaza. Between them, Alexander passed through Pelusium, Memphis, Babylon and Susa without allowing the cities or their citizens to be harmed. He could easily have put any or all of these cities to the sword. His men would have been delighted if he had.
And by-and-bye, though our focus is always naturally on Alexander the conqueror, it is also worthwhile remembering that his life involved more than fighting. We get a glimpse of it in the sources – for example, his love of medicine, of literature, and of philosophy. You may call Alexander a butcher if you like, and in a way, you would not be wrong, but if you do, or if you insist upon its primacy as a way of understanding him you run the very real risk of missing out on the other facets of his character instead revealing only your own prejudices.


Cleveland Public Library (CPL) is “The People’s University,” the center of learning for a diverse and inclusive community. CPL’s vision is to be the driving force behind a powerful culture of learning that will inspire Clevelanders from all walks of life to continually learn, share and seek out new knowledge in ways that are beneficial to themselves, their community and the world.Ohio Center for the Book at Cleveland Public Library (OCFB), as an affiliate of the Center for the Book in the Library of Congress, is dedicated to promoting and celebrating books, reading, and literacy. The YWCA Greater Cleveland (YWCA) states as its mission a dedication to eliminating racism, empowering women and promoting peace, justice, freedom and dignity for all. The YWCA’s values are courage, accountability, integrity and social justice. Throughout its history, the YWCA has been at the forefront of many major movements in the United States as a pioneer in race relations.
These exceptional institutions have come together in partnership to present: It’s Time to Talk: Book Clubs, “Improving Cultural Competency through Community Reading Experiences.” Book clubs are one of many options offered by the YWCA’s “It’s Time to Talk” programs, and offers a unique experience for individuals and organizations willing to talk about the complex issues of race. It is an effort to increase awareness, knowledge and levels of cultural competency in the workplace and the community. Cultural competency has been defined as: the ability to interact with persons from cultures and/or belief systems other than one’s own. It is the ability to understand and appreciate the differences that make us unique.
WHY BOOK CLUBS?
It’s Time to Talk: Cleveland Book Clubs are a way to engage in thoughtful and intelligent dialogue, where people–co-workers, community members of different racial and ethical backgrounds–can sit down together to discuss selected books on race-related topics. The intent is to get people listening to one another, which will lead to greater understanding. This is a worthwhile effort, given that recent research by scientists involving emotional transportation, i.e., how sensitive people are to others’ feelings, have concluded that reading literary fiction can improve empathy. After all, the ability to put oneself in someone else’s shoes—the capacity to understand what others are thinking and feeling—can be a first step toward becoming stronger in race relations.
OCFB Book Set Titles on Race. OCFB and Cleveland Public Library have made 35 book sets (27 fiction, including graphic novels, and 8 non-fiction) available for borrowing. The literary fiction titles selected are award-winning books that deal with issues of race and cultural diversity. For a description of each title, search CPL’s online public access catalog; download or print a copy of the OCFB Book Set Titles on Race here.
Helpful Resource. The YWCA has developed conversation guidelines to help facilitate discussion around topics on race and racism. You can download or print a copy of “It’s Time to Talk” Book Club Conversation Guidelines here.
Description of Book Kits. Each Book Kit Contains:
1 hard copy of the YWCA’S “It’s Time to Talk:” Book Club Conversation Guidelines; 1 hard copy of the Reading Group Book Discussion Guide; 1 USB Drive loaded with the book discussion guide, articles, books and websites recommended for continuing the conversation; 10 copies of the book. All contained in a sturdy tote bag.
How to Borrow Book Sets. Interested in borrowing books for your discussion group? Please contact CPL’s Literature Department at firstname.lastname@example.org or 216.623.2881. CPL’s Main Library is located at 325 Superior Avenue, Cleveland, OH 44114; operating hours are: Monday-Saturday, 10:00 a.m. – 6:00 p.m.
YWCA Greater Cleveland is located at 4019 Prospect Avenue, Cleveland, OH 44103. For more information about “It’s Time to Talk” programs and services, contact the YWCA.


A foundation school
The first response to a progress concern is high quality teaching targeted at a child’s area of weakness. There may also be some targeted group intervention for 6-8 weeks aimed at boosting a particular area of Maths, English, Social Skills, Memory Skills and/or Confidence Levels. Where progress continues to be less than expected the teacher, working with the Special Educational Needs Coordinator (SENCO), will assess whether the child has Special Educational Needs (SEN). Parents will be contacted to ascertain their point of view about their child’s learning and progress and will have the opportunity to discuss any additional support that will be given at school and how they can support at home. If further assessment is undertaken the class teacher and/or SENCO will make contact with the parents. This will also be discussed with the child and self-esteem questionnaires can be used to help gain a child’s view.
Having agreed group or individual support, this will usually be delivered by our learning support assistants under the direction of the class teacher. Sometimes teachers will have a role in delivering some interventions. The Headteacher and Deputy are kept informed of additional support and the impact of that support on learning through progress meetings and the updating of the provision map for that year group. Individuals will also have their profiles annotated using the Inclusion register; a school register of children who have received additional support. Children’s progress is monitored throughout.
Regular meetings are held with the SEN Governor, who reports back on school strategy, including identification of pupils with SEN, additional provision, assessment and monitoring, to the Full Governing Body. SEN updates are shared with the Local Authority School Improvement Partner. The school’s SEN Policy and practice is also evaluated during OFSTED inspections.


Food allergies affect 8% of children in the United States. Now, new findings published in the Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology: In Practice reveal that Black kids have higher rates of shellfish and fish allergies than white kids, reports Rush University Medical Center.
For the study, researchers examined 664 children ranging in age from newborn to 12 years old. (The group was composed of 36% Black kids and 64% non-Hispanic white children.) Youngsters were diagnosed with a food allergy and seen in allergy and immunology clinics at four urban care centers across the United States.
Findings showed that Black kids were more likely than white children to be allergic to shellfish and finned fish as well as wheat.
Researchers theorized that shellfish allergies were a result of children inhaling tropomyosin, a protein found not only in dust mites and cockroaches, which are two common household allergens, but also in fish with fins. (Eighty percent of the amino acids contained in this protein are similarly sequenced in shellfish.)
Prior findings showed that exposure to cockroaches might trigger shellfish allergies in kids. In addition, higher levels of these allergens were found in lower socioeconomic and inner-city neighborhoods, where many Black children live.
Previous investigations also confirmed that the immune system might misidentify proteins in fish that are similar to those found in the muscles of cockroaches, which frequently trigger an allergic reaction.
The study also showed that Black children with food allergies exhibited higher rates of asthma, and those with shellfish allergies experienced more severe asthma.
Mahboobeh Mahdavinia, MD, PhD, chief of the Division of Allergy and Immunology at Rush University Medical Center and the study’s lead author, explained that asthma accompanies 70% of fatal food anaphylaxis incidents. Additionally, Black children were two to three times more likely to face these deadly allergic reactions than their white counterparts.
“We need to conduct further research to identify food allergies and food sensitivities among all races and ethnicities so we can develop culturally sensitive and effective educational programs to improve food allergy outcomes for all children,” Mahdavinia said.
For related coverage, read “FDA Approves First Drug to Treat Peanut Allergies in Kids” and “Infants Treated With Certain Meds Face Greater Risk for Childhood Allergies.”


Protecting America and
promoting economic growth and freedom require international
partnerships that serve mutual interests. The Visa Waiver
Program (VWP) is one example. The VWP enhances security by setting
common standards and promotes economic growth and cultural ties.
Congress should use the VWP more effectively by giving the
Department of Homeland Security (DHS) broader authority to expand
the program to other countries.
The Visa Waiver
Program. Established in 1986 to
promote better relations with U.S. allies and to allow the
Department of State to focus consular resources on other areas, the
VWP allows nationals from selected countries to travel to the
United States for tourism or business without a visa for up to 90
days. Although these travelers are inspected at U.S. points of
entry, they do not undergo the more rigorous background
investigations and in-country interviews associated with regular
visa applications. To participate in the VWP, a country must
visa-free travel to U.S. citizens;
Have a visa refusal
rate of less than 3 percent (i.e., less that 3 percent of
non-immigrant U.S. visa applications by its nationals are
countries participate in the VWP. By law, the DHS and State
Department jointly review each participating country's status every
two years. Countries can be removed from the program, as Argentina
was in February 2002 after an economic crisis led a high
percentage of its nationals to overstay the 90-day
Benefits. The VWP is a means of
creating security partnerships. By agreeing to common
standards and policies, participating countries help to limit
illegal entry and unlawful presence in their countries,
hindering travel by terrorists and transnational
In a significant
policy move, Congress mandated in 2002 that all VWP participants
must have biometric passports. While a machine-readable
passport allows agents to verify only a traveler's name, documents
containing biometric data allow verification of a person's
identity. This will allow U.S. Customs and law enforcement to track
suspected terrorists from VWP countries.
Problem. U.S. allies are eager
to be admitted to the VWP for both the economic benefits and
the symbolic most-favored-nation status. However, although this
criterion makes sense, many U.S. allies struggle to meet the third
requirement because control lies in the hands of American
consular officers who must subjectively decide in a matter of
seconds whether or not an applicant deserves a visa. Since
September 11, 2001, consular officers have rightly shown an
abundance of caution. No one wants to admit the next "9/11"
terrorist into America.
Still, this problem
needs to be solved. It has created a perception of unfairness and
double standards, causing resentment toward the United States. The
Poles see that they cannot travel freely to the United States even
though Poland sent several thousand troops to Iraq to support
the U.S. effort, while the French and Germans, whose governments
condemned the war, can travel freely.
In the past
year, various Members of Congress have introduced legislation to
admit Poland and South Korea and other U.S. allies to the VWP, but
with no results. Remedying this situation for the sake of homeland
security requires a more permanent, decisive action-a change in the
visa waiver law.
should consider legislation that allows the Secretary of Homeland
Security to waive the 3 percent requirement for a country that
meets five criteria:
The country is of
significant geostrategic importance to U.S. security and
The country proposes
measures to assist the United States in combating terrorist and
transnational criminal travel.
The country is working
with other regional partners and the United States on
international travel issues related to security and
The country produces a
road map demonstrating a good-faith effort to reduce overstays
by its nationals in the United States.
passports meet congressionally mandated biometric
Each waiver should
last for 10 years to allow the country to reduce its overstay rates
to acceptable levels. Congress should not authorize any
extensions, and it should require the DHS to revoke the waiver
if the country fails to implement the five-point plan. These
requirements will demonstrate to other countries that the United
States is serious.
Countries. Based on these
criteria, six countries could immediately be granted VWP waivers:
South Korea, Poland, the Czech Republic, Hungary, the Slovak
Republic, and India. All of them are proven friends in the war on
terrorism. They also have young, vibrant, growing market economies
that are an important part of the rapidly growing global economy
that is benefiting both developing and developed democratic
nations. Their youth populations want to come to the United States
to visit Niagara Falls and get business training, not to settle.
Admitting such nations to the VWP now would make America safer and
promote economic growth and freedom.
Amending the VWP
law to allow for exceptions that help U.S. national security makes
sense. On a general level, the Visa Waiver Program is an important
means of facilitating friendlier relations with other countries by
promoting travel, trade, and the exchange of ideas. On a more
strategic level, it is a tool for building partnerships that
bolster homeland security, and it should be utilized to its
fullest extent. Congress should act now by authorizing the
Department of Homeland Security to grant temporary waivers to
countries that meet the five criteria.
Carafano, Ph.D., is Senior Research Fellow for
National Security and Homeland Security in the Douglas and Sarah
Allison Center for Foreign Policy Studies, a division of the
Kathryn and Shelby Cullom Davis Institute for International Studies
at The Heritage Foundation. Melanie Youell contributed writing
and research to this article.


History of Stamp Collecting Part 35 – England in 1866
In the late 1970s a fascinating series of articles written by Mr. K. Kouwenberg about the history of Stamp Collecting, appeared in the Dutch magazine Philatelie. This series has been the source of inspiration for PostBeeld owner Rob Smit to rewrite the history of stamp collecting in instalments. This is Part 35, England in 1866.
One of the most important philatelic events in England in 1866 was the appearance of a new magazine, “The Philatelist” on December 1, 1866. From 1862 to 1866, no fewer than 24 philatelic magazines had appeared in England. Yet this new magazine had a special feature article stating that the brothers Henry and Alfred Smith from Bath had decided to break up after years of working together on the “Stamp Collector’s Magazine”. The article did not state why.
The store he had with his brother in Bath was located at number 13 George Street. (click here: bath_shop for a current view). There is a plaque on the right-hand side of the building, see the enlargement below.
Henry Stafford Smith decided to leave Bath and settle in Brighton. There he began publishing “The Philatelist”. He had, of course, already gained considerable experience and moreover knew none other than Dr. Viner (see History of Stamp Collecting Part 14) who was recruited as an editor.
Furthermore, Adelaide Lucy Fenton, an avid philatelist, was an important employee. Among other duties, she wrote articles under the pseudonyms “Fentonia” and “Camoëns”. Adelaide Fenton was the first major female collector and philatelic author. She studied stamps a lot and owned an extensive library of philately-related material.
Her library was auctioned by Ventom, Bull and Cooper in 1900, a Mr. Hadlow representing the London Philatelic Society making the winning bid of 32 Pounds. Among the items was a complete set of ‘The Stamp Collector’s Magazine’ with notes from Miss Fenton, letters from Mount Brown (for more see Part 10), Edward Pemberton (see Part 13) and others. This was a lot of money at the time, but Miss Fenton and Pemberton were already legendary figures in the world of philately.
The “Philatelist” magazine also gave away free stamps and imitations, which were also included in the sale. The magazine existed until 1876, after which it was converted to the “Philatelic Quarterly”
Henry Stafford Smith’s business flourished in Brighton, but in the end it was taken over by Stanley Gibbons. Henry died on February 23, 1903.
Another important trend in 1866 was the decrease in the craze for collecting essays. Such a torrent of essays had entered the market that many collectors gave up as they could not tell the forest from the trees. Only a small number persisted, so that the number of essays issued fell sharply in the following years.
Dutch dealers also appeared in The Philatelst’s advertisements. Among others, Roodhuyzen from Amsterdam, Dressel from Amsterdam, de Reus from Haarlem and George Satori in Rotterdam. Apparently even then places with a good stamp trade! Peculiarly, in addition to stamps they also offered cigars and sticks of vanilla!
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The marine protected area (MPA) of Arrábida was created in 1998 and implemented in 2005. It was named after the famous Portuguese marine biologist Luiz Saldanha (1937-1997), who dedicated his career to studying this region. The MPA covers about 5300 hectares, with varying depths of up to 100 meters.
It spans from the beach Praia da Figueirinha southwest of the city of Setúbal to Cape Espichel and Praia da Foz.
This MPA is divided into eight zones with varying regulations, from a fully protected zone where no activities are allowed to partially protected zones, where large commercial fishing operations are prohibited but sustainable artisanal fishing is allowed and regulated.
Why is it important?
The marine park is home to over 1500 marine animal and plant species, making its natural richness unique at a European level. The area is sheltered by the surrounding Arrábida Mountains from winds, which minimizes wave exposure. This sheltered environment favours the breeding of many different species, as it gives the juveniles of marine animals a protected area to develop.
In this marine protected area, we can find various habitats, from rocky reefs, kelp forests, sea grass beds and sand banks. The rocky reefs are where most biodiversity is concentrated and where important commercial species, such as the white sea bream (Diplodus sagrus) and the common octopus (Octopus vulgaris), make their home. The kelp forests are also very valuable as they provide shelter and feeding grounds for many species. Deeper down, below 60 meters, corals and sponges dominate, forming complex habitats attracting a variety of flora and fauna.
This MPA was established in order to protect the unique habitats and species but also to bring sustainability to the socio-economical activities that have been ongoing here through history, namely fishing.
Arrábida is the perfect place to explore while enjoying one of the best that it has to offer – the beaches! All along the park there are beautiful sandy beaches, some with easier access than others. Praia do Ribeiro do Cavalo is a 20min hike near Sesimbra down a little dirt trail, but who makes the effort will be rewarded with a pristine beach with crystal clear water. The hard access also makes it less crowded, but you better wear good shoes and bring plenty of water! The beaches get quite crowded during the hottest months of the year, so make sure you get a head-start; get out of bed early and pack your swim suit and snorkelling gear.
Indeed, getting wet is the best way to explore the underwater world of this MPA. In Portinho da Arrábida there are some rocks that make for great snorkelling. SCUBA divers can find dives from various diving schools in Sesimbra, Setúbal or Portinho da Arrábida.
Yet, if you missed spotting some of the wildlife out in nature, you can learn about it in the Oceanographic museum at Portinho da Arrábida. This is the best way to learn about the unique features of the MPA without getting wet. In Portinho you can also arrange a boat trip and chances are high you will get a glimpse of the resident dolphins.


A Guide to Planning an Inclusion Project
Inclusion can be defined as being a part of a group or a part of something. Inclusion can also be defined as learning to live together; treasuring diversity; and sharing gifts and abilities. There have been numerous demands from individuals with disabilities living in the community who are tired of being denied or ignored by a society that does not honor their right to participate in all aspects of community living.
The materials found in this guide were prepared by youth leaders with disabilities as part of a three year grant from the VDOE. This grant is coordinated by the Partnership for People with Disabilities at Virginia Commonwealth University. This guide is intended to be used as a resource primarily for local education agencies (LEAs). You may envision investing in hosting an Inclusive Project event. It is recommended that you take an integrated approach, taking advantage of the rich resources within your entire community. Any organization
or agency you partner with could also use the information in this guide to host an Inclusive Project event lasting a day or week. You may wish to launch a series of events within the school and broader community.
This guide is divided into three sections:
1) Inclusion Project Planning
2) Inclusive Project Implementation
3) Inclusive Project Sample Activities


Posted Dec 1, 2016 by Martin Armstrong
New research is giving new meaning to the term “fresh blood” and an additional motive to the legend of Dracula. In a recent study, U.S. researchers injected the blood of human adolescents into older mice who would be the equivalent of 50-years-old humans. Suddenly, their memory, cognition, and physical activity improved. “The treated mice ran around like young mice. Your ability to remember seemed improved and they were much more quickly able to find your way in a maze, as the animals from the untreated control group,” reported the New Scientist. The researchers also assume that the method can be applied to humans. This is a very interesting line of research. Maybe Dracula was on to something.


A single treatment of a genome editing agent partially preserved hearing in mice with genetic deafness. The work could one day help scientists treat certain forms of genetic hearing loss in humans.
Using molecular scissors wrapped in a greasy delivery package, researchers have disrupted a gene variant that leads to deafness in mice.
A single treatment involving injection of a genome editing cocktail prevented progressive hearing loss in young animals that would have otherwise gone deaf, Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI) Investigator David Liu and colleagues report December 20, 2017 in the journal Nature.
The work is among the first to apply a genome editing approach to deafness in animals, Liu says. Because the study was performed in mice, the implications for treating humans are still unclear. But, he says, “We hope that the work will one day inform the development of a cure for certain forms of genetic deafness in people.”
Nearly half of all cases of deafness have a genetic root, but treatment options are limited. That’s because, until recently, researchers didn’t have the technology to directly treat the underlying problem: the genetic mutations that sabotage hearing.
When scientists treat infant mice with a genome-editing tool to disrupt the mutated Beethoven gene, hair cells are partially preserved in the treated ears. This helps prevent hearing loss and profound deafness. Scale bar, 50 micrometers.
One such mutation is in a gene called Tmc1. A single spelling error in this gene causes the loss of the inner ear’s hair cells over time. These delicate bristle-covered cells help detect sound: sound waves bend the bristles, like stalks of wheat in the wind; hair cells then convert that physical information into nerve signals that travel to the brain.
Just one copy of a mutated Tmc1 gene causes progressive hearing loss leading to profound deafness, both in humans and in mice. Liu and colleagues surmised that destroying the mutated copy of the gene, called Beethoven in mice, might preserve some hearing.
So the researchers tapped the genome editing technology known as CRISPR-Cas9. Cas9, an enzyme that acts as molecular scissors, snips both strands of the DNA double helix, which can ultimately disable a gene. But directing Cas9 to only the bad copy of Tmc1 – and not the good one – is tricky, because the two copies differ by just one DNA letter. Scientists use an RNA guide to lead Cas9 to its target, but after a while, the enzyme can begin cutting other DNA that looks similar.
Liu’s team employed a technique that they had reported in 2015. They packaged Cas9 and the guide RNA into a greasy bundle that slips inside cells – and doesn’t stick around. That let Cas9 hit the bad gene copy, and fade away before it could harm the good one, says Liu, who is the Richard Merkin Professor and vice chair of the faculty at the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard, and professor of chemistry and chemical biology at Harvard University.
Liu’s team began this work a few years ago – before his team invented genome editing tools known as base editors. But, in principle, he says, the precision editing capabilities of base editors could also directly correct, rather than disrupt, mutations linked to hearing loss disorders.
Study coauthor Zheng-Yi Chen of Harvard Medical School and coworkers injected the CRISPR-based tool into the inner ears of infant mice with the hearing loss mutation. After eight weeks, hair cells in treated ears resembled those in healthy animals – densely packed and tufted with hairlike bundles. The hair cells of untreated ears, in contrast, looked damaged and sparse.
Then the researchers measured inner ear function by placing electrodes on mice’s heads and monitoring activity of brain regions involved in hearing. Researchers needed more sound to spark brain activity in untreated ears compared with treated ears, the team found. On average, after four weeks, treated ears could hear sounds about 15 decibels lower than untreated ears. “That’s roughly the difference between a quiet conversation and a garbage disposal,” Liu says.
In humans, such a change could make a major difference in hearing-loss patients’ quality of life, he says.
Scientists still have a long way to go before trying this approach in humans. But if applicable, the treatment could work best during childhood, Liu says. That’s because hair cell loss in the inner ear is progressive and irreversible. “The conventional thinking in the field is that once you’ve lost your hair cells, it’s difficult to get them back.”


In the film adaptation of The Third Man, conman Harry Lime, played by Orson Welles, famously sneers that while Italy’s perpetual tumults gestated the Renaissance, Switzerland’s centuries of stolid stability bequeathed the world little except the cuckoo clock. A smart response would have been to enquire in which of the two countries Lime would rather bank his salary.
Switzerland’s franc, in keeping with the characteristics stereotypically ascribed to its country, has never put itself ostentatiously about. The franc has none of the cultural cachet of the US dollar and little of the hubris of the euro (the franc is legal tender only in Switzerland, the tiny principality of Liechtenstein and the Italian enclave of Campione d’Italia, and widely used in the German enclave of Büsingen).
The franc is, by any measure, a small currency issued by a nation of fewer than eight million people. But it’s also the world’s fifth-favourite reserve currency, behind the dollar, sterling, the euro and the yen – and an enduringly popular investors’ haven in times of trouble.
Between the collapse of Lehmann Brothers on 15 September 2008 and the present day, the Swiss franc has soared above the confusion besetting the world’s financial markets, climbing 19 per cent against the dollar, 23 per cent against the euro and 34 per cent against sterling. And it seems likely, for tragic reasons, that it will recover the single-digit shortfall it suffered against the yen during that period. “In financial markets,” says Serge Ledermann, head of asset management at Geneva-based Banque Heritage, “there are times when certain assets are favourites, but the chief characteristic of the franc is that its value is long-lasting.”
The modern Swiss franc has its origins in the provisions of the 1848 Swiss constitution, which reserved the sole right of manufacturing currency to the federal government. Before that, Switzerland’s monetary system was an ungovernable riot of currencies issued by individual Swiss cantons and private banks, plus inflows of foreign money. The Federal Coinage Act of 1850 preceded the issue of the first coins in 1851. These featured the Swiss totem Helvetia on denominations of half a franc and up and the Swiss cross on the smaller change – motifs that still dominate Swiss coins to this day.
Another constant is the practice of only inscribing the coins in Latin, to avoid conflict between Switzerland’s four official languages: German, French, Italian and Romansch. The currency’s trade name, CHF, is an abbreviation of the Latin phrase Confoederatio Helvetica Franc.
Switzerland’s mint does, however, regularly let its hair down with commemorative coins. These have included tributes to physicist Albert Einstein, Red Cross founder Henry Dunant, designer Le Corbusier, balloonist Auguste Piccard and Second World War military commander Henri Guisan, as well as various significant historical events. This year’s special issues include a CHF20 coin acknowledging the 100th anniversary of the birth of author Max Frisch and a CHF10 coin celebrating the Bern onion market. Banknote production was left to the cantons until the establishment, in 1907, of the Swiss National Bank; eight series of notes have followed since (in denominations of 10, 20, 50, 100, 200, 500 and 1,000).
All countries which have a currency of their own deploy the physical manifestation of it, to some extent, as a nation- binding agent and advertisement of their virtues. And Switzerland is no exception – the current notes, designed by the late Jörg Zintzmeyer, include tributes to historian Jacob Burckhardt, artist Alberto Giacometti and composer Arthur Honegger. The notes also reveal something of Switzerland’s prosperity – its CHF1,000 note buys 10 of America’s biggest bill, the $100 note, plus some change – and something of the country’s fractured heritage: that same CHF1,000 note declares itself as Tausend Franken, Milli Francs, Mille Francs and Mille Franchi.
“It is becoming more important as an expression of national identity,” says Patrick Halbeisen, head of the Swiss National Bank’s archive. “When the modern Swiss state was founded in 1848, it wasn’t that important. And then Switzerland became part of the Latin Monetary Union until the 1920s. In the post-war period, the franc became more important in this regard, especially as we did not join the euro.”
The Swiss National Bank is due to issue a new series of banknotes in late 2012. The design was selected by a 2005 competition and the winner was Zürich designer Manuel Krebs. But the notes issued will actually be designed by the runner-up, Manuela Pfrunder. Pfrunder claims to be forbidden from discussing the project, while Halbeisen insists that the switch was largely for technical reasons.
“There has to be a lot of secrecy about it, because you don’t want the forgers to catch up,” says Halbeisen. “The reason that the new issue has been delayed is the complexity of the security measures.” These must be indeed formidable. The current banknotes have no less than 14 individual security features – and these, of course, are just the ones the Swiss National Bank is willing to admit to.
The Swiss franc’s long-held status as one of the few currencies everyone can agree on has led, in some circumstances, to a tarnishing of its reputation. A 1998 report by the US State Department stated that Nazi Germany transferred fortunes in looted gold into Swiss francs – the only convertible currency available to the Axis powers – enabling the purchase of war materiel from Spain, Turkey, Portugal and Sweden. In 2002, a Swiss inquiry, headed by historian Jean-François Bergier, published a report that was essentially a rueful meditation upon the blurriness of the line between pragmatism and collaboration.
For the forseeable future, however, the Swiss franc seems likely to remain a popular shelter on a rainy day. “There is a multitude of reasons for that,” says Otto Waser, chief investment officer at Zürich-based asset management and equity research firm R&A Group. “Traditionally, the franc is a bit of a substitute for gold. There has always been a good economy here – low inflation, current account surplus – and stable politics.”
Waser notes that flights to the franc tend not to be panicked stampedes – he says that there has been an almost surprising lack of stockpiling in response to 2011’s political crises in the Middle East and physical upheavals in Japan. People seem to buy the franc much in the way it has always sold itself – in a considered and orderly fashion. “Maybe Switzerland is a dull country,” says Banque Heritage’s Ledermann. “But when times are rough, it’s reliable.”