- Posted by alvifaiq
- On October 21, 2021
Latin symbols of matrimony have lengthy reflected the importance of the union of a person and women. The marriage meaning shaped early Christian ideas and medieval tactics. In the Middle Ages, everyone entered into some https://latinwomendating.com/ form of marriage. The lick was Christ and everyone otherwise was the House of worship. All marriages made mention of the the union of Christ and the Cathedral, which is viewed as the paradigmatic symbol of love and faithfulness.
During the marriage ceremony, the groom provided his new bride with a small ring produced from gold. He surrounded her with a rosary and placed the bride in the hand. Several friends and family members wandered with the groom and did jokes to celebrate the event. The marriage ceremony ended while using the exchange of rings. When the procession reached the bride’s house, the groom asked her “who are you? ” and she responded, “I i am my husband, I am a woman”.
In historical Athens, partnerships were arranged by the bride’s guardian, who had been the head within the household. It absolutely was customary for a suitor to have the hand of his little princess to a good friend, as it signified the bride’s submission to his expert. In Medieval Europe, the diamond ring served as the seal on legal files and was used as a image of the fidelity and take pleasure in between the wedding couple.
In ancient Greece, the groom and bride were betrothed during the Gamelion month, which can be equivalent to the month of January. The bride and groom would offer special surrender to the gods during this month to ensure the success of the union. A wedding party was also held during this month to celebrate their fresh status while husband and wife. A nuptial shower was one other tradition, and the groom gives his star of the event a luxurious container filled with 13 coins.
In Latin-American weddings, a lasso jewelry the wedding couple together. In lots of cultures, a lasso is a ribbon or perhaps rosary made of rosary beads. In addition, it symbolizes a married couple’s devotedness to each other. A wedding diamond ring is a popular icon for commitment and unity. It is a symbolic representation from the relationship among two people. In ancient days, the wedding rings were provided to the groom and bride by priests who blessed them with a ring and an apple.
The bride’s mother went her little girl down the interchange and was often accompanied by her dad or sibling. In historical times, relationships were established and a father wandered his little girl down the church aisle. In contrast, contemporary brides may pick a cousin, somebody, or even her best friend. In a latina ceremony, the groom has on a dark-colored tuxedo. The bride should typically have on a white gown, which usually symbolizes her purity.


I’ve mentioned it before on more that one occasion, but it’s worth saying again. Phil Bradley writes an informative blog and is a valuable source of information for Teacher- Librarians. He created the above picture for a presentation he gave and made it Creative Commons for others to use. Great sharing Phil – I love the picture as it encompasses the newer search engines now available. I (and I’d have to say the majority of students at my school) continue to default to Google as do the vast majority of the population. I was pleased to hear a staff member say today that she gets her students to use Mooter after I introduced it to her last year. She thinks the students can make greater sense of the results with the clustering technology it employs.
I’ve read about a couple of new search engines via my google reader that may be useful. Phil highlighted Green Maven – the green search engine for people interested in looking for websites focusing on green issues – sustainability and the like. I searched for light globes and my return focused on the energy efficient kind. Phil’s take on it was this;
It works well if what you want is in that subject area – if you do rather more general searches the results start to get a little bit flaky.
Jane Hart highlighted another quirky offering aimed at the K-12 audience. It’s called Boolify and uses a drop and drag of pieces that resemble a jigsaw to teach kids the importance of boolean logic in their searches. I can see the appeal for younger kids but think secondary students would get frustrated with the time it takes to formulate a search. It could be good to use when teaching kids explicitly about boolean operators however, particularly in the junior end of secondary schools. It’s worth having a bit of a play with. It’s creator, Dave Crusoe, has said this about it;
“So, we’ve worked with a team of librarians and others to develop something called Boolify, a graphical search tool meant for K12 use. It pulls results from Google’s SafeSearch (Strict), so it’s reasonably classroom-safe, and we get the best of both worlds: a great way to understand and build searches, as well as great results provided by Google.”


High-resolution satellite images and newly developed computer software have enabled NASA researchers to create the most accurate map to date of the snaking line that marks the edge of the ice sheet covering much of Antarctica.
This is crucial for determining the rate at which the continent is losing ice. Antarctica's ice sheet is the world's largest, and holds more than 60 percent of the Earth's freshwater supply.
Data had already revealed the continent was losing ice — a potentially dangerous trend by almost any calculation since ice loss in Antarctica could lead to a dramatic rise in sea levels. However, the question remained: How much ice was disappearing, and how fast?
Antarctica's ice generally flows from the middle of the continent toward the edges, dipping toward the sea before lifting back up and floating. The point where ice separates from land is called the "grounding line" – essentially, the outermost edge of the ice sheet. For scientists, an accurate map of the grounding line is a first step toward a complete calculation of how much ice the continent is losing, because the most significant changes in ice mass are likely to occur at the intersection of the ocean and the ice sheets.
Previous maps of the southernmost continent lacked the details needed to properly calculate ice loss rates; sometimes islands or shadows were mistaken for the grounding line.
A team at the Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md., put together the new map of Antarctica's grounding line over the course of eight months, connecting 3.5 million geographic points around the continent and revealing a winding, 33,300-mile (53,600-kilometer) ice edge.
"This project has been a major achievement to come from the International Polar Year," said Robert Bindschadler, a cryosphere scientist based at Goddard who presented his team's work in June at the International Polar Year Science Conference in Oslo, Norway. "This project included young scientists, it was an international effort, and it produced freely available data — all from satellites."
Next, the scientists will use additional satellite data to determine the thickness of the ice sheet near Antarctica's edges. By combining the data sets, scientists will be able to predict with unprecedented accuracy how fast Antarctica's ice is disappearing.
- Images: Ice of the Antarctic
- Reason Antarctic Glacier Is Melting Faster Is Found
- South Pole Has Warmest Year on Record
This article was provided by OurAmazingPlanet, a sister site to LiveScience.


By The National Institute of Health, March 27, 2014
Here are two academic articles about delayed onset muscle soreness, or “DOMS.” Both are available from the National Institute of Health. Along with the information and links below, we’ve included quotations from each of their conclusions, which confirm the effectiveness of warming-up before exercise to prevent DOMS
“The Effect of Warm-Up and Cool-Down Exercise on Delayed Onset Muscle Soreness in the Quadriceps Muscle: a Randomized Controlled Trial” by Olav Olsen, Mona Sjøhaug, Mireille van Beekvelt, and Paul Jarle Mork. Department of Human Movement Science, Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Trondheim, Norway.
From the summary: “This study indicates that aerobic warm-up exercise performed prior to resistance exercise may prevent muscle soreness at the central but not distal muscle regions, but it does not prevent loss of muscle force.”
“Warm-up reduces delayed onset muscle soreness but cool-down does not: a randomised controlled trial.” by R.Y. Law and R.D. Herbert. The University of Sydney, Australia.
From the summary: “Warm-up performed immediately prior to unaccustomed eccentric exercise produces small reductions in delayed-onset muscle soreness but cool-down performed after exercise does not.”
Learn more about bellicon's flexibility and stretching benefits!


Fear of crime ‘contagious’, new study finds
The study found the fear of becoming a victim crime often does not correspond to the likelihood.
Fear of crime is “contagious”, according to a new study.
Concern is perpetuated by the opinion of others and often it does not correspond to the actual likelihood of falling victim to an offence, academics said.
They suggested the findings help to explain how a “generalised” fear of crime exists in cities and countries with low crime rates.
Study lead Rafael Prieto Curiel, of University College London, said: “The fear of crime can be considered contagious, because social interaction is the mechanism through which fear is shared and chronically worried populations are created.
“Even those that have never been a victim of crime can be seriously worried about it.
“Most studies about the fear of crime and perception of security are static observations of the current situation in a particular region or country.
“We wanted to find out how collective perception of insecurity emerges and changes over time, and how it compares among victims and non-victims of crime.”
The study, which is published in Proceedings of the Royal Society A, was developed through a mathematical model which simulated the perception of security among a population of 10,000 individuals.
Three different groups were established to mimic the distribution observed in a city: a large majority which is “statistically immune” to crime; a group that experiences a small amount of crime; and a small population that experiences the majority of crimes.
They found that when individuals who never suffer crime only interact with people from their own group, they feel secure.
However, only a small amount of interactions between groups is enough to change their perceptions of security.
Mr Curiel added: “Fear of crime is not a negative feeling, in fact it creates healthy precautions, like locking the door of our house, but it becomes an issue if it is disproportionate and unmanageable.
“From a policy perspective, we hope the findings of this study can be used to improve communication and knowledge of crime at regional levels.”
Official crime measures for England and Wales draw on two main sources – a large-scale survey and police-recorded offences.
The latest findings from the survey show there were an estimated 11.5 million incidents of crime last year, when experimental data on fraud and computer misuse offences are included in the total.
Stripping out the two categories gives an estimated tally of 6.1 million – a non-statistically significant fall from 6.4 million in the previous year.
By contrast, police recorded offences showed a 9% increase to 4.8 million. The increases driving the trend are said to reflect changes in recording processes and practices, although there have been smaller but genuine rises in some categories including knife crime.


This CVCE Mystery Words Hands-On Center is the perfect year-round center for your young reader to practice using their beginning sound reading skills to create a mystery CVCE word. This set includes 36 different CVCE words. Students will look at the image and pick out the beginning sound. Then, they will find the correct letter and place it on the box below. Once they have figured out all four beginning sounds, they will be able to read the CVCE word. For additional practice, you can have them write the word after they have built it.


In the next decade, there's a 1-in-10 chance that our nation's water supply, power grid, transportation system or other critical infrastructure will be hit by a cyberattack.
In the next decade, there's a 1-in-10 chance that our nation's water supply, power grid, transportation system or other critical infrastructure will be hit by a cyberattack, causing a major disruption in service, according to estimates from the World Economic Forum.
The question: Will the country be ready?
The answer might be found in Executive Order 13636. Issued in February 2013, the order calls on the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) to develop a cybersecurity framework aimed at protecting the nation from cyberattacks on all critical infrastructure. The voluntary program will include standards, methodologies, procedures and processes that help owners and operators of critical infrastructure identify, assess and manage cybersecurity-related risks.
The order also encourages cyberthreat information sharing by directing federal agencies to produce unclassified cybersecurity reports. Under the order, a utility or company may, for example, be notified by the government if it is the target of a cyberthreat.
"The White House got involved last year after the Senate blocked passage of a sweeping cybersecurity bill," explains Jeff Grieg, senior vice president of the Burns & McDonnell Business & Technology Services Group. "Although the framework would be voluntary, the order calls on federal agencies to adopt incentives that encourage compliance."
The nature of these incentives and how the NIST framework will integrate with NERC CIP standards remain to be seen, he says.


We have had a very creative afternoon today. As part of our welsh week we have been studying the myth The Giant of Snowdon. The children activated their prior knowledge by sharing lots of interesting Snowdon facts as well as learning many more. They then looked at images of Snowdon and tried to re-create a scene using oil pastels. We talked about the shading and mixing of colours and the work that the children produced was fantastic! Bring on our Eisteddfod on March 1st!


The precisely located water drops on this Ficus septica leaf are not the result of rain or early morning dew but have been expelled by the plant itself an activity known as “guttation”. Guttation is common with many species of figs including Ficus elastica and Ficus chartacea.
All photographs in this article are by Honor Phillipps and include several different individual Ficus septica plants.
SEPTIC FIG Ficus septica Burm (1768) SECTION: SYCOCARPUS
Greek: septic, putrid, referring to the poisonous latex and its corrosive effect on human skin. An alternative common name is White-veined Fig, referring to the prominent white veins on the upper surface of the leaf.
Habit: Large shrub to small tree (25m) often along roadsides and in gardens, city plots or areas of poor soil. The most common roadside fig in Sabah but absent from Sarawak and large areas of Kalimantan.
Leaf: Large spirally arranged leaves up to 15 x 30 cm, with prominent white veins. White dots on the leaf (hydathodes) used for expelling excess water (guttation) are often very noticeable.
Fig: The ridged figs are ramiflorus growing along the branches and ripen green to yellow/green in a steady sequence night after night attracting “traplining” fruit bats and palm civets to visit regularly.
Distinguish: The large dark green floppy leaves with prominent white veins mimic the appearance of the leaves of similar small trees with bat dispersed fruit such as Morinda citrfolia and Poikilosperniuim suaveolens. The young twigs are hollow and the glands on the nodes attract black ants.
Similar species: Ficus lepicarpa and F. septica are often found together eg at Tabin, Sabah but F. lepicarpa prefers more shade and dampness. Lepicarpa figs also ripen green but are ridged latitudinally not longitudinally and develop a scurfy’ brown surface when ripe.
Distribution: Abundant in many areas of Borneo but curiously missing from others. Very common in both urban and forested areas of Sabah up to 1,500m on Kinabalu but absent from Sarawak and West Kalimantan where it appears to be replaced by F grossularioldes as the most common roadside fig. Ficus septica is tolerant of both limestone, eg on Pulau Maratua and on ultramafic soils eg Kinabalu and Gunung Silam. The most common fig on the coral atol of Pulau Maratua, E. Kalimantan where it is dispersed by Island Flying Fox and Cynopterus Fruit Bats.
Range: N. India east to Taiwan, south to Queensland, Australia, and east to the Solomon Islands. Absent from Singapore.


Hello, i'm trying to understand what represents the rotational. On wikipedia I saw that for a vector field F it gives the rotation axis of F at the point (x,y,z), but I don't undersand how the formula
can give me this rotation axis, how can i interpret this formula?
I believe that means that the rotation of F equals the wedge product of the gradient and field, thus the rotation is defined as the perpendicular to the gradient on F? Hmmm, I am not sure that is too helpful, I am not too versed in this sort of thing? Try looking at: Applet: A rotating vector field - Math Insight, perhaps that will help you? Best of luck!


Draft UN nature deal calls to protect 30% of planet by 2030
A UN nature deal proposed Sunday (18 December) calls to protect at least 30% of the planet by 2030 and asks rich countries to stump up $30 billion in yearly aid for developing nations to save their ecosystems.
Fraught talks seeking an agreement to save the species and ecosystems on which life depends came to a head as summit chair China presented a long-awaited compromise text.
Mapping out action for the next decade to reverse destruction that scientists say threatens a million species, the proposal called on wealthy countries to increase financial aid to the developing world to $20 billion annually by 2025, rising to $30 billion per year by 2030.
It also called on countries to “ensure and enable that by 2030 at least 30% of terrestrial, inland water, and coastal and marine areas” are effectively conserved and managed.
The text includes language safeguarding the rights of Indigenous people as stewards of their lands, a key demand of campaigners.
The compromise text was largely welcomed by conservationists, but still needs to be agreed upon by the 196 signatories to the Convention on Biological Diversity before it is finalised.
Risk of pushback
Opening the talks in Montreal, UN chief Antonio Guterres warned humanity had become a “weapon of mass extinction” and called on parties to forge a “peace pact with nature.”
The COP15 meeting is being held in Canada because of China’s strict COVID rules.
Delegates began examining the draft agreement just as the football World Cup between France and Argentina kicked off in Qatar.
A plenary session was scheduled for Sunday evening when countries will have the opportunity to approve the deal. Negotiations over the past 10 days have been slow however and observers warned the talks, scheduled to end on Monday, could run over.
“The Chinese presidency’s draft final paper is courageous,” said Germany’s environment minister Steffi Lemke. “By protecting nature, we protect ourselves.”
“By including a target to protect and conserve at least 30 percent of the world’s lands and oceans, the draft text makes the largest commitment to ocean and land conservation in history,” said Brian O’Donnell, of the Campaign for Nature.
But there was also concern that some areas of the text had been watered down.
Georgina Chandler, of Britain’s Royal Society for the Protection of Birds, said she was worried about a lack of numeric “milestones” for restoring ecosystems by 2050.
“We’re basically not measuring progress until 28 years’ time, which is madness,” she said.
Another major issue of contention is the funding mechanism.
Developing countries, spearheaded by Brazil, were seeking the creation of a new fund to signal the Global North’s commitment to the cause. But the draft text instead suggests a compromise: a “trust fund” within the existing Global Environment Facility.
Observers had warned the COP15 conference risked collapse as countries squabbled over how much the rich world should pay to fund the efforts, with developing nations walking out of talks at one point.
But Chinese environment minister Huang Runqiu said Saturday he was “greatly confident” of a consensus and his Canadian counterpart Steven Guilbeault said “tremendous progress” had been made.
The more than 20 targets also include reducing environmentally destructive farming subsidies, asking businesses to assess and report on their biodiversity impacts, and tackling the scourge of invasive species.
But the issue of how much money the rich countries will send to the developing world, home to most of the planet’s biodiversity, has been the biggest sticking point.
Lower income nations point out developed countries grew rich by exploiting their natural resources and therefore they should be paid well to protect their own.
Current financial flows to the developing world are estimated at around $10 billion per year.
Several countries have recently made new commitments. The European Union has committed €7 billion ($7.4 billion) for the period until 2027, double its prior pledge.


My colleague and robotics coach, Donna Horn gave me a Wall Street Journal article on Coding that’s worth sharing. It’s about why coding shouldn’t be so intimidating (at least to us teachers who didn’t learn to code).
Titled “We want our children to code, even if we can’t.” it argues why this is a skill we need to introduce early and often. Reading. Writing, and Coding…The timing of the article is not accidental.
February is when Coding fills the news, since Digital Learning Day is on Feb 17th. This year we have plenty to pick from –the usual powerhouses Code.Org and Khan Academy. There’s also Scratch, and other visual programming tools. Plus, there’s Mindstorms, the visual programming language we use in robotics.
Grant Smith, a tech writer for Edutopia makes a god point about teaching coding in schools. We need to set the stage first by (a) Curating the resources into the curriculum (b) Organizing the classroom to be coder-friendly and (c) Rallying around those who might support your initiative. Including use some of the social media tools to build one’s personal learning network or PLN.
I’m planning on getting experts to come into the classroom, and teach.Ideally I’m thinking of App developers, from surrounding tech companies.
Please contact me if you know of someone!


Laelius Socinus, or Lelio Sozzini, (January 29, 1525-May 4, 1562), a peripatetic Italian Bible scholar, was a pioneer theologian of the radical branch of the Reformation. In his few surviving writings he laid the foundation for the unitarian theology that his nephew Faustus Socinus later promulagated in Poland. Laelius is also suspected of assisting Sebastian Castellio and Matteo Gribaldi to compose their critiques of John Calvin for his role in the prosecution and execution of Michael Servetus. A great traveler in his time, Socinus ranged as far west as England and journeyed to Poland in the east.
Socinus was a friend of fellow Italian exiles Bernardino Ochino, Camillo Renato, Matteo Gribaldi, and Celio Curione. He was befriended and sponsored by reformers Heinrich Bullinger, Pier Paulo Vergerio, Philip Melanchthon, and Peter Martyr Vermigli. He was cautiously tolerated by John Calvin, with whom he debated by correspondence. A man of great personal charm who reserved his most heretical ideas for private communication, he avoided the persecutions and trials suffered by the more overtly outspoken heretics of his time.
Born in Siena, Lelio Francesco Maria Sozzini was the fifth of thirteen children born to Camilla Salvetti (d.1554) and Mariano Sozzini (1482-1556). In 1529 Mariano Sozzini, a distinguished legal scholar at the University of Padua (later at the University of Bologna), against instructions from the government of Venice, offered the opinion that Henry VIII could have his marriage to Catherine of Aragon annulled. The elder Sozzini had connections with legal scholars in Basel, including Erasmus’s friend Boniface Amerbach, and with royal clients in Württemberg. He used these connections to help his son Lelio gain entrance into Protestant circles in Switzerland and Germany.
Many members of Mariano Sozzini’s family exhibited his independence of thought. At least four of Lelio’s brothers—Celso, Camillo, Dario, and Cornelio—were pursued or tried by the Inquisition in Italy. Camillo and Dario Sozzini fled Italy and were active antitrinitarians in Switzerland and elsewhere. The celebrated antitrinitarian Faustus Socinus (Fausto Sozzini) was the son of Lelio’s older brother, Alessandro.
Lelio grew up in Siena, Padua, and Bologna, where he and other members of his family were exposed to humanist and evangelical influences. His participation in a Protestant youth group in Siena that became subject to church investigation led his father to send him in 1544 to study law at the University of Padua in the relatively more tolerant Venetian territory. While there Lelio shifted to the study to religion. Accordingly he began to learn the biblical languages, Greek and Hebrew, and even became interested in Arabic. He was briefly in contact with proto-unitarian anabaptists who began to meet in Vincenza in 1546. (Nearly a decade later his name was given to the Venetian inquisition by one of his former radical acquaintances, who claimed that Sozzini had at that time denied the divinity of Christ.) In 1547, while a session of the Council of Trent was meeting in Bologna, Lelio publicly expressed his feeling of disappointment over the progress and direction of Roman Catholic church reform. In order to avoid the inquisition, he pursued the remainder of his education outside Italy. He ended up residing in Switzerland for most of the remainder of his life.
Socinus eventually chose Zurich as his home base, but he traveled often—sometimes for long periods. He sought out the best teachers in Hebraic studies. Among others, he studied with Sebastian Münster in Basel, Konrad Pellikan in Zurich, and Johann Förster in Wittenberg. During 1547-48 he traveled through western Europe, visiting Geneva, France, and England.
It was on this trip, in 1548, that Socinus first met Calvin. In their subsequent correspondence he raised questions about the validity of marriage and baptism outside of the Reformed Church, the necessity of attending mass while in Roman Catholic territories, and the nature of resurrection. On the latter topic he asked Calvin whether the elect would be raised in their old bodies, as some scripture passages seemed to indicate, or in more perfect bodies. “It is difficult,” Socinus wrote, “to persuade oneself that impossible things will happen and to compel the will to aspire to something that the intellect always suggests can never be.” Around this time he developed his own ideas in a short tract, On Resurrection, which remained unpublished until 1654, nearly 100 years after his death.
Socinus spent a year in Wittenburg, 1550-51, staying part of the time with Melanchthon, whom he impressed with his modesty and desire for learning. With the help of a letter of introduction from the eminent Lutheran reformer—“lest anyone in this turbulent time should be suspicious of this wanderer”—he pursued an eastward journey through Germany and Bohemia to Poland, returning to Zurich via Augsburg and Vienna.
During 1552-53 Socinus was back in Italy, spending time with his family in Siena, his father in Bologna, and Gribaldi in Padua. When he was staying with Gribaldi, he heard the news of Servetus’s execution in Geneva. He likely encouraged his host to write A Defence of Michael Servetus, 1554, a work which since has been wrongly credited by some to Socinus. Shortly afterwards, in Basel in early 1554, he consorted with Sebastian Castellio and was overheard making statements that were interpreted as being pro-Servetus. Theodore Beza, a disciple of Calvin, suspected that Sozzini was a co-author of Castellio’s Concerning Heretics: Whether They Ought to Be Persecuted, 1554. A number of complaints were sent to his pastor, the Zurich reformer Heinrich Bullinger. Socinus defended himself, saying that, although he had been unhappy with the haste in which Servetus had been dispatched and that it would have been better to fight Servetus’s heresy by convincing him to give up his error rather than by killing him, he did not approve of Servetus’s “perverse doctrine.” Pleased by this response, Bullinger urged him to lay to rest all suspicions by composing a confession of his personal faith, which Socinus dutifully did in 1555.
In this Confession of Faith, Socinus endorsed various church creeds and explicitly rejected Servetus’s teachings. This satisfied Bullinger. Yet a careful reading of the confession discloses a document that is also a proclamation of freedom of inquiry. “I would in every respect prefer it if the Christian, apostolic, and evangelical faith were still set forth for us today in the actual words of Christ, the apostles, and the evangelists,” Socinus wrote. “I am not seeking a new kind of doctrine, but only desire that those things necessary for eternal salvation . . . be daily set forth with greater truth and that I be more firmly convinced by them. . . . I shall never allow myself to be deprived of that sacred liberty to ask questions of my elders, and modestly and reverently to engage in discussion, that we might enlarge our understanding of divine things.”
Mariano Sozzini died in 1556. This had a great impact upon Socinus’s finances, for his portion of his father’s estate was sequestered by the Inquisition. Socinus spent much of the next three years on a quest to recover his patrimony. With letters from Melanchthon, Calvin, and Bullinger that introduced him to the kings of Poland and Bohemia, and to Protestant leaders Nicholas Radziwill and John Laski, in 1558 Socinus set out once again for Poland. Here he obtained papers from the kings which would protect him as a royal diplomatic representative while he pursued his inheritance in Italy. Although he was thus enabled during the following year to safely visit Italy, he found that several members of his family, because of their religious beliefs, were either in prison or had been forced to flee. Moreover, his royal connections were powerless to extract any of his money from the Inquisition. In 1559 he returned to Zurich empty-handed.
The visit to Poland, which Socinus had undertaken as preparation for his unsuccessful trip to Italy, was not itself without result. Socinus made friends everywhere, as was his custom, and consulted with a number of reformers—including Nicholas Radziwill, Stanislas Lasocki, and Jerome Filipowski—who would later become leaders of the antitrinitarian movement. He repaid Calvin for his support by sending him two letters reporting on the current state of the Reformation in Poland.
Socinus spent the remaining years of his short life, 1559-62, quietly in Zurich. It was during this time that he probably wrote his most substantial, influential, and radical work, A Brief Exposition of the First Chapter of John. When he earlier disclaimed the teaching of Servetus to Bullinger he was not dissembling. A Brief Exposition does not contain Servetan theology, nor even the Arian theology of Servetus’s follower Matteo Gribaldi. Rather it constitutes an entirely separate point of origin for Unitarianism. In this he presents “the beginning,” mentioned by the writer of the Gospel of John, not as “the time before the foundation of the world,” but as “the time in which the Gospel first began to be preached by Christ.” Christ, the Word, did not actually exist from eternity, but came into existence only when the man Jesus was conceived in Mary. According to Socinus, Christ was not God in the way God the Father was God. The title “Son of God” is only a special dignity conferred on him in the same way that he is called Messiah, Saviour, and Lord. He was not the creator of the world, but one who made a “new creation” through his teaching and enlightenment. Although Christ was given extensive powers and was elevated, with his resurrection, to a special status, Socinus contended that he remained entirely a human being.
None of Socinus’s works were published in his lifetime. After his death his nephew Faustus rushed to Zurich to take possession of his uncle’s papers. Faustus read the manuscript of A Brief Exposition and shortly afterwards composed his own more extensive work, An Exposition of the First Part of the First Chapter of John. Laelius’s work was first published in 1568 in the compilation, The False and True Knowledge of God, edited by Giorgio Biandrata and Francis Dávid. In another entry in the same work, the author (possibly Dávid) wrote, “What shall I say about Lelio Sozzini of Siena? He was highly skilled in Hebrew. His pious manuscripts are now in circulation. He was an irreproachable man, one who lived for a long time in Wittenburg, Geneva, and Zurich amid universal admiration.”
All of Laelius Socinus’s works can be found in Antonio Rotondò, ed., Lelio Sozzini: Opere (1986). Rotondò, in his critical notes discusses the genuine items—On the Sacraments, On Resurrection, A Brief Exposition of the First Chapter of John, and 53 letters—as well as a number of other works which are now considered to be spurious. For further discussion of the authorship of the literature critical of Servetus’s execution see the introductions to Roland Bainton, trans., Concerning Heretics (1935) and Peter Hughes and Peter Zerner, trans., Declaratio (2010). A Brief Exposition, in the original Latin, is Book 2, Chapter 11 of Antal Pirnát, ed., De Falsa et vera, unius dei patris, filii et spiritus sancti cognitione (1988). A few letters are translated into English in Ralph Lazzaro, trans., “Four Letters of the Socinus-Calvin Correspondence, ” in John A. Tedeschi, ed., Italian Reformation Studies in Honor of Laelius Socinus (1965). This collection also contains John A. Tedeschi’s “Notes towards a Genealogy of the Sozzini Family.” Among the works containing biographical accounts of Socinus are Frederic Church, The Italian Reformers, 1534-1564 (1932); Earl Morse Wilbur, A History of Unitarianism: Socinianism and Its Antecedents (1945); and George Huntston Williams, The Radical Reformation (3rd ed., 2000).
Article by Peter Hughes - posted October 5, 2012


I just read a thread in better ways to get help and thought I would make it easier by asking a specific question at a time as I get help. I don't really understand piecewise defined functions. For example:
Suppose that the function h is defined , for all real numbers, as follows.
h(x)= x if x is not equal to -3
5 if x =-3
I know I would have to plug in and solve for both, and make an x-y chart, but I don't get how to do that in this problem.. It still confuses me. I also need to know how to graph it. Any help would be very much appreciated.


Butternut government response statement
Ontario’s policy direction for the protection and recovery of Butternut.
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Protecting and recovering species at risk in Ontario
Species at risk recovery is a key part of protecting Ontario’s biodiversity. Biodiversity – the variety of living organisms on Earth – provides us with clean air and water, food, fibre, medicine and other resources that we need to survive.
The Endangered Species Act, 2007 (ESA) is the Government of Ontario’s legislative commitment to protecting and recovering species at risk and their habitats. As soon as a species is listed as extirpated, endangered or threatened under the ESA, it is automatically protected from harm or harassment. Also, immediately upon listing, the habitats of endangered and threatened species are protected from damage or destruction.
Under the ESA, the Ministry of Natural Resources (the Ministry) must ensure that a recovery strategy is prepared for each species that is listed as endangered or threatened. A recovery strategy provides science-based advice to government on what is required to achieve recovery of a species.
Government response statements
Within nine months after a recovery strategy is prepared, the ESA requires the Ministry to publish a statement summarizing the government’s intended actions and priorities in response to the recovery strategy. The recovery strategy for the Butternut (Juglans cinerea) was completed on May 31, 2013 (Butternut (Species at Risk) Scientific name: Juglans cinerea).
The response statement is the government’s policy response to the scientific advice provided in the recovery strategy. All recommendations provided in the recovery strategy were considered and this response statement identifies those that are considered to be appropriate and necessary for the protection and recovery of the species. In addition to the strategy, the response statement is based on input from stakeholders, other jurisdictions, Aboriginal communities and members of the public. It reflects the best available traditional, local and scientific knowledge at this time and may be adapted if new information becomes available. In implementing the actions in the response statement, the ESA allows the Ministry to determine what is feasible, taking into account social and economic factors.
Butternut is a medium-sized tree in the walnut family that grows up to 30 m in height and 116 cm in diameter. Butternut leaves are made up of 11 to 17 leaflets. Young trees have smooth, grey bark, which becomes ridged as the trees age. Mature trees produce large, edible nuts in the fall, each containing a single seed.
Moving forward to protect and recover Butternut
Butternut is listed as an endangered species under the ESA, which protects both the tree and its habitat. The ESA prohibits harm or harassment of the species and damage or destruction of its habitat without authorization. Such authorization would require that conditions established by the Ministry be met.
Butternut is a wide-ranging species that occurs throughout central and north-eastern North America. In Canada, Butternut is native to Ontario, Quebec and New Brunswick. In Ontario, natural populations of this species are generally found south of the Canadian Shield, ranging from the southwest, north to the Bruce Peninsula, and east to the Ontario- Quebec border, where the species reaches its northern limit in the province. Over the past 40 years, Butternut has suffered significant declines, primarily due to Butternut Canker (Ophiognomonia clavigignenti-juglandacearum), a fungal disease that kills trees of any size by restricting the flow of water and nutrients. In addition to causing the eventual death of the tree, stem cankers reduce the commercial value of the wood. This fungus has already devastated North American Butternut populations. The extent of infection in Ontario is not fully understood; however in parts of the U.S., Butternut Canker has infected more than 90 percent of Butternut trees. Other threats to the species in Ontario include hybridization with exotic species in the walnut family, harvesting of trees in anticipation of eventual infection and mortality, habitat loss and degradation in areas where forest cover is already limited (e.g. southwest Ontario), and other diseases, insects and exotic pests that would not likely affect declines on their own, but that weaken the trees, making them more susceptible to Butternut Canker. Threats to the species may also include excessive seed predation by hyper-abundant species such as insects and Common Grackles (Quiscalus quiscula); however the significance of this potential threat is unknown at this time.
The most important threat to the survival of Butternut populations in Ontario is the Butternut Canker. The successful recovery of the species in Ontario will depend on well-grounded management approaches that address the threat imposed by this disease. While infected trees typically exhibit a number of symptoms, including stem cankers, loss of crown and vigour, and the presence of epicormic shoots
A tree is considered to exhibit resistance to Butternut canker if there is evidence that it is immune to infection by the disease or if the symptoms of infection are less severe compared to other trees that have been infected to a similar extent.
Whether Butternut Canker resistance exists and, if so, the mechanism of resistance (i.e., genetic, environmental, or both), remains largely unknown.
In contrast, some Butternut trees are so diseased that they would not contribute to the protection and recovery of the species. In Ontario, an ESA regulatory system has been put in place to recognize that certain Butternut trees may contribute more than others to the protection and recovery of the species, and to streamline the authorization process for proponents undertaking activities that involve the removal of Butternut trees. The regulation identifies three different categories of Butternut, based on their ability to contribute to the protection or recovery of the species and utility in determining possible mechanisms of Butternut Canker resistance (s. 23.7, O. Reg. 242/08):
- Category 1: the tree is in the advanced stages of disease as a result of Butternut Canker; retention would not contribute to protection or recovery of the species.
- Category 2: the tree does not have Butternut Canker or disease is not as advanced; retention could contribute to the protection or recovery of the species.
- Category 3: the tree could be useful in determining how to prevent or resist Butternut Canker.
Under the regulation, the conditions for the removal of a Butternut tree vary depending on the category to which the tree belongs, as determined by a designated Butternut Health Assessor. The regulation allows for the removal of Butternut trees assessed as Category 1. The regulation also provides for the removal of a limited number (i.e. 10 or less) of Category 2 Butternut, subject to conditions specified in the regulation, including requirements to plant replacement seedlings in suitable habitat for the species. Given the importance of Category 3 Butternut trees to the protection and recovery of the species in Ontario, harm or removal of these trees is not authorized by the regulation.
For more detail on Butternut health assessment, please refer to the Butternut Assessment Guidelines: Assessment of Butternut Tree Health for the Purposes of the Endangered Species Act, 2007, available to the public on the Ministry’s website.
Given the knowledge gaps about Butternut Canker and the importance of retaining healthy Butternut trees on the landscape, recovery efforts at this time are focused on surveying and monitoring Butternut and their habitat in Ontario, identifying and protecting healthy (i.e. Category 2 and 3) trees, and continuing research on Butternut Canker resistance and control, for the purpose of protecting and restoring disease-resistant populations of Butternut across the species' range in Ontario.
The government’s long-term goal for the recovery of Butternut is to maintain existing populations, or increase them, such that they are self-sustaining throughout the species' current range in ontario.
As research into Butternut Canker progresses over the next five years, the government’s goal for the recovery of Butternut may be re-evaluated as the potential feasibility and options for addressing Butternut Canker evolve.
Protecting and recovering species at risk is a shared responsibility. No single agency or organization has the knowledge, authority or financial resources to protect and recover all of Ontario’s species at risk. Successful recovery requires inter-governmental co-operation and the involvement of many individuals, organizations and communities.
In developing the government response statement, the Ministry considered what actions are feasible for the government to lead directly and what actions are feasible for the government to support its conservation partners to undertake.
To help protect and recover the Butternut, the government will directly undertake the following actions:
- Continue to apply provincial direction for Crown forestry practices in areas occupied by Butternut.
- Continue to apply section 23.7 of Ontario Regulation 242/08 and monitor its implementation. The government will re-assess the direction provided in this regulation within five years, through the review of progress towards protecting and recovering Butternut. The review will evaluate whether the implementation of the regulation continues to align with the government’s goal for the recovery of Butternut in Ontario.
- Maintain the Ministry of Natural Resources' Butternut Assessment Guidelines: Assessment of Butternut Tree Health for the Purposes of the Endangered Species Act, 2007 and the list of designated Butternut Health Assessors that are in good standing.
- Set standards for the training of Butternut Health Assessors and coordinate training in collaboration with partners.
- Co-operate with federal partners where appropriate to support their implementation of the protection and recovery actions identified in the "Recovery Strategy for the Butternut (Juglans cinerea) in Canada" by Environment Canada.
- Educate other agencies and authorities involved in planning and environmental assessment processes on the protection requirements under the ESA.
- Encourage the submission of Butternut occurrence data to the Ministry’s central repository at the Natural Heritage Information Centre.
- Undertake communications and outreach to increase public awareness of species at risk in Ontario.
- Protect Butternut trees and their habitat through the ESA.
- Support conservation, agency, municipal and industry partners, and Aboriginal communities and organizations to undertake activities to protect and recover Butternut. Support will be provided through funding, agreements, permits (including conditions) and/or advisory services.
- Establish and communicate annual priority actions for government support in order to encourage collaboration and reduce duplication of efforts.
The government endorses the following actions as being necessary for the protection and recovery of Butternut. Actions identified as "high" will be given priority consideration for funding under the ESA. Where reasonable, the government will also consider the priority assigned to these actions when reviewing and issuing authorizations under the Endangered Species Act. Other organizations are encouraged to consider these priorities when developing projects or mitigation plans related to species at risk. The government will focus its support on these high-priority actions over the next five years.
Focus area: Inventory and monitoring
Objective: Improve knowledge about the distribution, abundance, and health of Butternut populations and habitat in Ontario.
- (High) Develop and implement a standardized survey and monitoring protocol for collecting tree and stand information for use in conjunction with the Butternut Assessment Guidelines: Assessment of Butternut Tree Health for the Purposes of the Endangered Species Act, 2007, published by the Ministry of Natural Resources. This program should:
- identify the locations, numbers, and health of Butternut trees and hybrids in Ontario;
- assess habitat conditions at occupied sites;
- locate and monitor putatively resistant trees;
- assess population demographics, such as age structure, recruitment, and mortality rates; and,
- submit detailed data to the Ministry.
- Support capacity development for Aboriginal communities to collect, store and manage Aboriginal traditional knowledge they hold about the distribution, abundance and historic use of Butternut. Encourage information sharing within the recovery community.
Focus area: Research
Objective: Improve knowledge of Butternut and its threats, including Butternut Canker, and hybridization with other species in the walnut family.
- (High) Continue investigations into whether there is a genetic or environmental basis to Butternut Canker resistance, which may include:
- assessing the genetic diversity of the Ontario Butternut population;
- developing and implementing reliable methods to screen trees for resistance;
- evaluating the influence of environmental conditions such as habitat type and the prevalence of stressors (e.g. other diseases, insects and exotic pests) on resistance to Butternut Canker; and,
- as appropriate, investigating approaches to increase resistance through breeding or modifications to the environment.
- Research approaches to kill or control Butternut Canker, or to provide resistance to individuals (e.g., inoculation, habitat management).
- Investigate the extent, and potential threats and benefits of hybridization of Butternut with other species in the walnut family. This may include further investigation into the severity of the threat posed by hybridization to the protection and recovery of Butternut in Ontario, whether hybrids exhibit genetic resistance to Butternut Canker, and if so, whether this knowledge may assist Butternut recovery in Ontario.
- Investigate new and emerging threats to Butternut (e.g. Thousand Cankers disease).
Focus area: Stewardship and management
Objective: Increase public awareness about Butternut Canker and the need to protect healthy Butternut trees.
- (High) Promote awareness among private landowners, land management authorities, conservation partners and Aboriginal communities and organizations about Butternut, including:
- negative effects of Butternut Canker;
- protection afforded to the species and its habitat under the ESA; and,
- actions they can take to help protect or recover the species, such as implementing forest management practices that support the growth and recruitment of healthy Butternut trees in their woodlots.
- Collect and archive genetic material from Butternut trees that may contribute to the recovery of the species. This may include collecting and storing seeds, establishing and monitoring orchards of archived Butternut trees to support research and stewardship efforts, and exploring opportunities to store back-up seed/germplasm from Butternut trees.
Financial support for the implementation of actions may be available through the Species at Risk Stewardship Fund, Species at Risk Research Fund for Ontario, or the Species at Risk Farm Incentive Program. Conservation partners are encouraged to discuss project proposals related to the actions in this response statement with the Ministry. The Ministry can also advise if any authorizations under the ESA or other legislation may be required to undertake the project.
Implementation of the actions may be subject to changing priorities across the multitude of species at risk, available resources and the capacity of partners to undertake recovery activities. Where appropriate, the implementation of actions for multiple species will be co-ordinated across government response statements.
The ESA requires the Ministry to conduct a review of progress towards protecting and recovering a species not later than five years from the publication of this response statement. The review will help identify if adjustments are needed to achieve the protection and recovery of Butternut.
We would like to thank all those who participated in the development of the "Recovery Strategy for Butternut (Juglans cinerea) in Ontario" for their dedication to protecting and recovering species at risk.
- footnote Back to paragraph Epicormic shoots are shoots that sprout from buds that lay beneath the bark of a trunk after higher parts of the plant are damaged.


The Torchwood Institute (also known as Torchwood) is a top secret covert organisation established by Queen Victoria in 1879 and disbanded in September 2009, after the British Goverment turned against them. Torchwood's main goal is is to defend the Empire (later Earth) against extraterrestrial threats, particularly the alian known as The Doctor. Torchwood would later become known in the 42nd Century as The Torchwood Archives
While described as "beyond the United Nations",The Torchwood Institute is seen to cooperate with UNIT (the Unified Intelligence Taskforce, formerly known as the United Nations Intelligence Taskforce) to some extent. There appears to have been some rapport with the Prime Minister, although it is noted by Harriet Jones in The Christmas Invasion that she is not meant to know of Torchwood. Those who have come in contact with Torchwood primarily believe it to be a special forces team. They appear to maintain this illusion by using false witnesses, or by sectioning any journalists who threaten to expose the truth and via the use of memory altering drugs.Following a major incident which led to the destruction of Torchwood One, Jack Harkness rebuilds Torchwood to become less confrontational and more secretive in honour of The Doctor.
Torchwood's origins date back to an incident involving the Tenth Doctor, Rose Tyler and Queen Victoria in the mid-19th century. At Torchwood House in Scotland, a monastic group called the brethren stored a Werewolf, which menanced the countryside, and the Queen. Ultimately, and with the monarch's assistance, the Doctor and Rose killed the werewolf. Victoria knighted the Doctor and Rose for their service, but then banished them from the kingdom, declaring the Doctor in particular a danger to the Empire. Now made aware of the reality of alien/supernatural life forms, Victoria ordered that an organization be created to protect the British Empire from both the Doctor and threats such as the werewolf. Victoria named the organization the Torchwood Institute, after the location of the werewolf encounter. (DW: Tooth and Claw). She issued a royal decree establishing the Institute on 31st December, 1879. (TW: Children of Earth)
In 1889, agents Eliza Cooper and Robert Lewis attempted to capture the the Doctor when they realised he had been stranded in London. They came across H. G. Wells with the Doctor, and interrogated him about all he knew about the man. Wells leads them to the TARDIS, which disappears, apparently leaving the Doctor behind for them to apprehend. (IDW: The Time Machination) The man was however revealed not to be the Doctor when he was dissected. (IDW: Final Sacrifice)
After discovering a spacetime Rift in Cardiff, Queen Victoria founded a third branch of Torchwood (after the first and second in London and Scotland), Torchwood Three. (WEB: torchwood.org.uk) In 1899 Cardiff Jack Harkness was recruited by two of this branch's operatives, Alice Guppy and Emily Holroyd to become a freelance agent for the Institute. His first mission was to apprehend an intelligent blowfish alien; he succeeded, but was greatly disturbed when Guppy summarily executed the creature before his eyes. He continued to work for Torchwood largely against his will, having been informed by a fortune-telling tarot card reader that he would have to wait more than a century before seeing the Doctor again, during which time he needed money to live. He continued to work for the organization over the decades that followed, although he remained disturbed by the Institute's callous disregard for alien life forms.(TW: Fragments) At some point, Victoria also established Torchwood India to collect all things alien in the British Raj (BBCR: Golden Age).
In 1901 Alice Guppy and Charles Gaskell dug up a future version of Jack Harkness that had been taken from the 21st century and buried in 27AD Cardiff. He told them to freeze him in the cryo-chambers so he could defeat his brother Gray. Subsequently, Jack's future self resided in the cryo-chambers even as his younger self continued to work nearby. Guppy reportedly died sometime thereafter (torchwood.co.uk).
In 1906 Eliza Cooper and Robert Lewis used a machine they commissioned Professor Alexander Hugh to build to travel to another planet thousands of years into the future. Neither Cooper nor Lewis returned; the former remained on the planet while the latter was killed. Professor Hugh was returned home by the Doctor. (IDW: Final Sacrifice)
In 1918, Torchwood Three investigated ghost sightings in a hospital in Cardiff. As present and future blended, they caught glimpses of 2009. At this time they had a team of 5, the leader being a man called Gerald Carter and, based on a photo, were very possibly already based out of the Hub. They already had equipment capable of detecting disturbances in Time. (TW: To the Last Man)
Circa 1919, Harriet Derbyshire, one of the investigators of the hospital sightings and in only her mid-20's, died in action. (TW: To the Last Man)
Harkness continued to work as an operative throughout the 20th century, For reasons unknown, he was put in charge of a group of soldiers in 1909 (TW: Small Worlds), and in the 1920s worked undercover with a travelling circus in pursuit of the Night Travellers (TW: From Out of the Rain), though it would appear the latter mission was unsuccessful as he never found them until 80 years later.
In 1923 Torchwood found evidence that an alien race called the Pyroviles invaded Earth at Pompeii in 79 AD This is because of a human professor called Livesy-Smythe (Captain Jack's Monster Files, referencing DW: The Fires of Pompeii)
In 1924, Torchwood sent Jack Harkness to India to close down the branch there before the fall of the Raj (BBCR: Golden Age).
By 1953 the London branch was influential enough that London Police feared its involvement when investigating the strange occurrences provoked by the activities of an alien entity known as The Wire (DW: The Idiot's Lantern)
In 1965 the government asked five highly ranked officers, including Jack Harkness, to give twelve children to the 456 as a gift. It was decided that the children would be taken from a Scottish orphanage as they wouldn't be missed. Despite eleven children being taken, Clement MacDonald managed to escape. (TW: Children of Earth: Day Three)
Circa 1996, Torchwood recovered a Jathaa sunglider and reverse-engineered weaponry from it. (DW: Army of Ghosts)
At the end of 1999, Harkness became the leader of Torchwood 3 when one of its members, Alex Hopkins, killed the rest of the team and himself after being driven insane by an alien artefact that revealed the events of the coming years. (TW: Fragments)
Over the next few years, Harkness rebuilt the Torchwood 3 team, recruiting Toshiko Sato and Owen Harper. Disapproving of the ethics of Torchwood 1, Harkness told Sato of his intent to reform the organization to be more benevolent. (TW: Fragments) Sato was also sent to London to investigate the alien lifeform recovered from a crashed spacecraft. (DW: Aliens of London)
On Christmas, circa 2006, the alien Sycorax attempted an invasion of Earth by blood control and a ship built out of an asteroid which hovered over London. (DW: The Christmas Invasion) Torchwood was preparing a weapon for just such a contingency, based on alien technology that they had scavenged from a Jathaa sun glider. At the same time, in Torchwood Tower, the Institute examined the Void Ship (though they did not call it by that name), to them an obviously alien artefact which they struggled to understand. Meanwhile, it was discovered that tapping into the resonance around it could provide massive amounts of what they believed was free energy. A side-effect of these experiments was the appearance of millions of "ghosts" all over the world; humanoid figures that seemed to glow with an unearthly light. (DW: Army of Ghosts)
It was at this point that the Tenth Doctor became involved, and explained to the then-administrator Yvonne Hartman that their experiments were in fact weakening the barrier between dimensions, which would eventually lead to dramatic problems in their own world, perhaps even resulting in the collapse of their dimension altogether. His warnings were not heeded, and the experiments continued. As a result, a massive invasion force from another dimension came through the 'hole', allowing the Earth to be conquered by the Cybermen for approximately an hour.
At the same time, the Void Ship opened, revealing a hidden cadre of Daleks. Four Daleks, members of the secret Cult of Skaro, had come to Earth to help restore the Dalek race using a stolen piece of Time Lord technology called the Genesis Ark. They promptly killed a Torchwood technician while stealing his knowledge of current events, and seeing the Cybermen as an impediment to their own return, they began a war against them, despite an offer from the Cyber-Leader to form an alliance.
The 'hole' in space time created by the Void Ship also allowed a resistance army from another dimension to cross over, initially with the intention of stopping the Cybermen. However with the advance of the Cybermen and Daleks, a rather sudden and uneasy truce began, with Torchwood militia men and the Preachers all fighting together against the Daleks and Cybermen. This turned the Torchwood Tower into a battleground, and the fighting did not stop until The Doctor found a way to intervene, reversing Torchwood's power machinery and sending the Daleks and Cybermen into the Void. (DW: Army of Ghosts / Doomsday)
With the vast majority of the Torchwood administration stationed in London and thus killed or 'upgraded' by the Cybermen, the organization was severely weakened. Jack Harkness worked to reform the remainder of Torchwood into a more humane organization, recruiting Canary Wharf survivor Ianto Jones and other members (including, ultimately, Gwen Cooper). (TW: Everything Changes,DW: The Sound of Drums) Meanwhile, Rose Tyler was recruited by the version of Torchwood that existed on the parallel Earth nicknamed Pete's World.
In 2008 a major event occurred with the opening of the Cardiff rift, resulting in massive temporal displacements and the release of the demon Abaddon. (TW: End of Days) Shortly thereafter team leader Captain Jack Harkness mysteriously disappeared. (DW: Utopia) Subsequently, The Master under the guise of Harold Saxon, sent the crew of Torchwood three on a wild goose chase in the Himalayas in order to look for him. Actually, the Master just wanted them out of the way. (DW: The Sound of Drums)
After a few months had passed for Torchwood Three (and about a year for Jack, who had lived through the Year That Never Was, Jack returned to Torchwood Three. Although Gwen Cooper had taken charge during his absence, Jack resumed command upon his return. (TW: Kiss Kiss, Bang Bang) Some months later, the Torchwood Three team was depleted by the deaths of two members (TW: Exit Wounds) and the survivors later became involved in assisting the Tenth Doctor restore the Earth to its original location after it was forceably moved by the Daleks to the Medusa Cascade. (DW: The Stolen Earth/Journey's End) Meanwhile, Rose Tyler, presumably using her Torchwood's resources (though this is unconfirmed) returned to her home Earth on several occasions, including once to an alternate timeline (DW: Turn Left) before rejoining the Doctor and fighting the Daleks once more. She eventually was returned to the alternate earth (DW: Journey's End).
Perhaps due to their frequent influence during alien invasion, by the late 2000s, Torchwood was beginning to be known by the public at large, although more by name and reputation than by their actual purpose. (TW: Kiss Kiss, Bang Bang).
Near the end of the first decade of the 21st century, the Institute was left in disarray thanks to an intentional effort by the British Prime Minister to destroy Torchwood in order to prevent the revelation of previous dealings between the UK and the alien race known as The 456, in which Harkness was involved. The Cardiff Hub was destroyed by a paramilitary unit headed by Agent Johnson, and attempts were made on the lives of the surviving members of Torchwood 3 (TW: Children of Earth: Day One and Day Two). (The fate of Torchwood 2 is unclear.)
After the defeat of The 456, Torchwood was left with only two active operatives: Jack Harkness and Gwen Cooper, the latter being pregnant. Torchwood's activities immediately following the incident are unknown, but six months later Harkness, having spent an unknown amount of time travelling the world on his own, made the decision to leave Earth, leaving Cooper -- now heavily pregnant -- as the last known Torchwood operative. Whether the Institute itself officially disbands at this time is as yet unknown, (TW: Children of Earth: Day Five), but when Joshua Naismith speaks about how he obtained the Immortality Gate, he sates that it was after "the fall of Torchwood" and speaks of the institute as if it no longer exists. (DW: The End of Time). By 2012, the name (if not necessarily the function) of Torchwood was widely known by the public, to the extent that the Battle of Canary Wharf had come to be known as the "Battle of Torchwood". (DW: Fear Her)
It would appear that Torchwood reformed or was reestablished at some point, because by the 2080s, Torchwood Three was capable of controlling the Rift. (BBCR: Asylum) Because Torchwood series 4 has been confirmed, the reformation of Torchwood will obviously be chronicled.
The Institute still existed, as the Torchwood Archive, in the 42nd century. (DW: The Impossible Planet)
The Great Cobalt Pyramid was built on the ruins of Torchwood (although it's unclear which branch this refers to). (DW: Bad Wolf) In the same period (the year 200,100), Big Brother contestant Strood lists his home as "Torchwood", implying it to have grown into a sovereign state.
The Torchwood Institute is known to have four branches across Britain and international one branch:
- Torchwood One, in Canary Wharf, destroyed during the battle with the Cybermen, and consequently abandoned. Last director was Yvonne Hartman.
- Torchwood Two, run from above a bank in Glasgow by a "very strange man" called Archie.
- Torchwood Three, in Cardiff, set above the Cardiff rift. Lead by Captain Jack Harkness since 2000. Cardiff headquarters destroyed on orders of the UK government circa 2009; status of the branch is unclear after the defeat of The 456 (TW: Children of Earth).
- Torchwood Four, lost, but, in the words of Captain Jack Harkness, "we'll find it someday".
- Torchwood India, operating in Delhi to collect all artefacts in the Raj. Closed in 1924 by Captain Jack Harkness, though the facility, and some of its members, continued to survive, unageing due to an alien artefact, until 2009. (TWA: Golden Age)
Torchwood One also had a base under the Thames Barrier and owns the security firm "H.C. Clements" used to recreate Huon particles. (DW: The Runaway Bride)
The parallel Earth, Pete's World, also had a version of Torchwood. (DW: Doomsday).


The End of the Year Subject Scrapbook is a cumulative end of the year assignment where students will compile a “scrapbook” based on all that they have learned throughout the year. Students will use 50 magazine cutouts as their pictures and the assembly instructions are explained in depth in the packet. Included is an instruction/grading value page, a table of contents page, and a cover page. All of the pages are in Microsoft Word and Powerpoint so they can be changed to suit your specific needs. The current templates included are geared toward a sixth grade science curriculum, but this project is easily changed to fit virtually any curriculum and grade level.


It’s June, which not only means it’s the official start of summer, but it’s also time to celebrate Pride Month UK!
Yes, that’s right - this month is dedicated to celebrating LGBTQ+ communities around the world and promoting diversity, equality and visibility.
After spending the last two years celebrating from our homes or at a distance, we can’t wait to get back into the swing of things and celebrate Pride Month in all its glory with the likes of festivals, marches and parades.
So, whether you’re a member of the LGBTQ+ community or an ally just like us, there are plenty of ways you can show your support. Our LGBTQ+ community deserves all the respect, love and support and we’re here to give it to them, not just now, but always.
WHAT IS PRIDE?
Pride Month is a celebration of solidarity, acceptance and equality which encourages individuals all around the world to be proud of who they are regardless of their sexuality (preach!)
In June, people come together in love and friendship to celebrate the work of LGBTQ+ people, promote how far LGBTQ+ rights have come and raise awareness of issues affecting the LGBTQ+ community, including homophobia and hate crime.
WHEN IS PRIDE MONTH?
Pride is celebrated in June to honour the 1969 Stonewall Uprising in the US, which acted as the driving force for changes in gay rights worldwide.
This year, International LGBTQ+ Pride Day will be celebrated on Tuesday 28th June.
HOW TO SHOW YOUR SUPPORT DURING PRIDE MONTH
From educating yourself about the history of LGBTQ+ to supporting local LGBTQ+ businesses and charities, there are many ways to celebrate Pride Month.
Discover more about how you can make a positive impact below.
1. BE AN ALLY
The simplest, and arguably most effective, way you can support Pride Month is to be an ally. Take the time to show your support to your friends, family, coworkers and other LGBTQ+ people in your life. Whether that means being their plus-one at a Pride Parade or going for a coffee date at a local LGBTQ+ owned cafe, it’s the little things that make a big difference.
2. EDUCATE YOURSELF
While most people have heard of Pride Month, not everyone knows why we celebrate it. Use this opportunity to educate yourself about the history of the LGBTQ+ community.
Did you know an American lady called Brenda Howard is known as ‘The Mother of Pride’ after organising the first ever gay pride march?
Remember, a big part of Pride is recognising the struggles and achievements of the LGBTQ+ community and understanding the journey they have been on to get to where they are today.
3. ATTEND A PRIDE PARADE OR EVENT
From London to New York, and everywhere in between, there are a whole host of Pride events to show your support and have fun, of course!
Colourful, diverse and uplifting, these events are a serious treat for your senses and are a great way to experience what Pride is all about.
4. DISCOVER LGBTQ+ FILMS, TV SHOWS AND LITERATURE
Another great way to celebrate Pride Month is to immerse yourself in LGBTQ+ media. The LGBTQ+ community is full of vibrant and influential works which provide for an entertaining, yet equally informative, way to enrich your knowledge.
And the best part? You can do it from the comfort of your own home. Cosy up on the sofa and enjoy a LGBTQ+ movie marathon or bury your head in a book by an LGBTQ+ author. Unveil a whole other world and try something new this Pride Month.
5. DONATE TO LGBTQ+ CHARITIES
Since Pride is all about celebrating the strength, resilience and beauty of the LGBTQ+ community, consider giving back to causes that support exactly that.
Remember, donating isn’t just about giving money, you can also donate your time and even knowledge. Activism is at the heart of the LGBTQ+ community and you can help make a real difference by getting involved with organisations, all whilst having heaps of fun.
Check out these LGBTQ+ charities and discover how you can help:
6. DON’T PREJUDGE
Prejudice is never the answer, no matter what situation you’re in.
When someone in your life tells you that they are LGBTQ+, it can be difficult to know how to react. You may feel surprised, excited, confused, a mixture of all three or none of the above. Regardless of how you feel, be honest, but above all, be supportive. Consider the importance of your response and the impact it could have.
However you choose to celebrate, Pride Month UK is all about showing your support and simply standing up for what’s right.
Our community means everything and more to us and we will continue to stand by them no matter what.


Asbestos was a major component in many construction materials up until the 1980s because of its durability and heat-resistant properties. Today, materials with high asbestos content are banned in the U.S. due to the very serious associated health risks. However, many homes built before the 1980s still have many asbestos-containing materials, including types of insulation, textured ceilings, drywall, and many types of flooring.
If you suspect your flooring could contain asbestos, it’s important to take steps to identify it and remove it. This is especially important if you’re planning a renovation or other project that could disrupt the flooring in your home, as disturbing asbestos flooring can create asbestos-containing dust, which is hazardous to breathe. Continue reading to learn how to identify asbestos in your flooring and what to do if you find it in your home.
What is Asbestos?
Most homeowners and homebuyers know that finding asbestos in our homes is generally not a good thing. But what is asbestos? How common is it in homes? How do we identify it and what should you do if you discover it in your space? If you’re a homeowner or in the process of buying an older home, these are questions worth getting answers to.
The broad term “asbestos” refers to a group of six naturally occurring fibrous silicate minerals:
Asbestos offers heat and chemical resistance, in addition to fireproofing and durability. This explains why it was so frequently included in building materials, and especially flooring materials, prior to regulation in the 1980s.
The Health Risks of Asbestos in Flooring
If it’s left undisturbed, asbestos-containing floor tiles or other materials generally don’t pose a serious health risk. However, disrupting or disturbing asbestos flooring in any way during a remodel or other project can release small particles of hazardous asbestos dust into the air in your home. Although these particles may be undetectable by sight or smell, you can easily breathe them into your lungs and expose yourself to serious long-term health risks, including:
If you suspect there is asbestos in your flooring, it’s worth identifying it through certified lab testing and taking steps toward remediation before you begin replacing your flooring or undergoing other home renovations.
How to Identify Asbestos in Flooring
Asbestos in flooring is extremely common, especially in older homes. Many types of flooring may contain asbestos, including vinyl tiles, vinyl sheet flooring, linoleum flooring, and laminate flooring. It’s also common to find asbestos in flooring adhesives.
Although the only way to know for sure whether your flooring contains asbestos is to have it professionally tested, there are a few factors that may indicate that your flooring has asbestos. These include the following:
- Your home was built before 1980
- The flooring looks oily, greasy, or discolored
- You have 9-inch, 12-inch, or 18-inch floor tiles
- The flooring adhesive is black
Asbestos in Tile Flooring
Many homes have asbestos-containing floor tiles, especially those built or updated in the 1970s and before. Prior to regulation that banned their use, many flooring companies produced tiles that contained high concentrations of asbestos. Since asbestos is known for its heat-resistant properties and durability, asbestos tiles were often installed in high-traffic areas in homes, including kitchens, bathrooms, hallways, and entryways.
Asbestos in Sheet Flooring
In older homes, it’s common to find asbestos in vinyl sheet flooring, as well as linoleum and laminate. Generally, the sheet flooring itself does not contain asbestos. Prior to the 1980s, however, manufacturers would often incorporate a felt-like backing to provide a cushion underneath the flooring surface. This felt-like backing often contains very high concentrations of asbestos.
Asbestos in Flooring Adhesives
Your floor tiles or sheet flooring may or may not include asbestos. In addition to the flooring itself, the adhesives used to install your flooring may also contain the toxic mineral compound. In the 20th century, black mastic was used frequently as an adhesive to install floor tiles and other types of flooring, and many black mastic adhesives contain asbestos. If you pull up your flooring and find black adhesive underneath, it’s a good idea to stop and get a sample of the adhesive tested to identify whether or not it contains asbestos before you proceed.
Get Your Flooring Lab Tested For Asbestos
If you own an older home or are planning to buy a home that was built before 1980, it’s worth taking steps to determine whether or not asbestos is present in the flooring, as well as other areas in the home. It’s especially important to know if your floors contain asbestos before you begin any kind of home renovation or floor replacement.
There are factors that can give you some hints as to whether asbestos is present, but the only way to know for sure is to get a sample professionally tested at a lab. JSE Labs offers safe, accurate, and quick asbestos testing and results that you know you can trust.


The Global Muslim Brotherhood has been present in Europe since 1960 when Said Ramadan, the grandson of Hassan Al-Banna, founded a mosque in Munich.1 Since that time, Brotherhood organizations have been established in almost all of the EU countries, as well as non-EU countries such as Russia and Turkey. Despite operating under other names, some of the organizations in the larger countries are recognized as part of the global Muslim Brotherhood. For example, the Union des Organizations Islamiques de France (UOIF) is generally regarded as part of the Muslim Brotherhood in France. The network is also becoming known in some of the smaller countries such as the Netherlands, where a recent NEFA Foundation report detailed the activities of the Muslim Brotherhood in that country.
2 Neighboring Belgium has also become an important center for the Muslim Brotherhood in Europe. A 2002 report by the Intelligence Committee of the Belgian Parliament explained how the Brotherhood operates in Belgium:
“The State Security Service has been following the activities of the International Muslim Brotherhood in Belgium since 1982. The International Muslim Brotherhood has had a clandestine structure for nearly 20 years. The identity of the members is secret; they operate in the greatest discretion. They seek to spread their ideology within the Islamic community of Belgium and they aim in particular at the young people of the second and third generation of immigrants. In Belgium as in other European countries, they try to take control of the religious, social, and sports associations and establish themselves as privileged interlocutors of the national authorities in order to manage Islamic affairs. The Muslim Brotherhood assumes that the national authorities will be pressed more and more to select Muslim leaders for such management and, in this context, they try to insert within the representative bodies, individuals influenced by their ideology. With this purpose, they were very actively.
1 Ian Johnson, “How a Mosque for Ex-Nazis Became Center of Radical Islam,” The Wall Street Journal, July 12, 2005.
2 Ron Sandee, “The Influence of the Muslim Brotherhood in the Netherlands,” The NEFA Foundation, December 2007.
Nine Eleven / Finding Answers (NEFA) Foundation – ©2008
www.nefafoundation.org – firstname.lastname@example.org 2
involved in the electoral process to carry out the election of the members of the chief body for the management of Islam in Belgium. Another aspect of this strategy is to cause or maintain tensions by positing that a Muslim or Islamic association is a victim of Western values, hence the affair over the Muslim headscarf in public schools.“3 4
Three factors have contributed to this development in Belgium. First, high concentrations of Arabic-speaking, immigrant populations are a natural support base for the Muslim Brotherhood and Belgium has such a large and concentrated Islamic populations estimated at about 400,000, which is about 4% of the total population.5 The majority of these are Arabs, mainly Moroccans who have settled mostly in Brussels and the French-speaking areas of the South with about half living in the Brussels conurbation. This has brought the percentage of Muslims in Brussels to approximately 17%.6 Second, the presence of important EU institutions in Brussels is a logical attractor for any Muslim organization with aspirations for achieving legitimacy at the Europe-wide level. Finally, the Belgian government is the only European government not to have acted against the local branch of a Hamas fund-raising organization, discussed later in this report, with strong ties to the Brotherhood, allowing it to operate freely while branches in other countries were shut down or restricted.
The environment resulting from these factors fostered the creation of a set of interrelated institutions that constitute the Muslim Brotherhood in Belgium today. The remainder of this report will examine these institutions, paying special attention to their structure, leadership, and public activities. It is important to note that almost none of the organizations or individuals that are part of the global Muslim Brotherhood identify 3 Sénat et Chambre des Représentants de Belgique, Session De 2001-2002, Rapport d'activité 2001 du Comité permanent de contrôle des services de renseignements et de sécurité, 19 Juillet 2002, http://www.senate.be/www/?MIval=/publications/viewPubDoc&TID=33618007&LANG=fr
5 “Islam & Muslims in Europe,” euro-islam.info/pages/belgium.html.
7 “Islam in the Benelux Countries” in Shireen T. Hunter (ed.), Islam, Europe's Second Religion: The
New Social, Cultural, and Political Landscape.
8 Lionel Panafit, “First for Islam in Belgium,” Le Monde Diplomatique, June 2000.
Nine Eleven / Finding Answers (NEFA) Foundation – ©2008
www.nefafoundation.org – email@example.com 3
themselves as such and no doubt, if asked, would deny any such connection. It is therefore necessary to establish such a connection to the Muslim Brotherhood through analysis of factors that include the history, affiliations, ideology, and backgrounds of the organizations under question and their leaders. It should further be noted that this kind of structural analysis is, by nature, limited and can only reveal the public structure of a Muslim Brotherhood network. As the Belgian parliamentary report explained, the global Muslim Brotherhood operates clandestinely and these clandestine structures are not normally accessible through examination of the public record. In the U.S., for example, previously secret documents have recently come to light that revealed an extensive and covert Muslim Brotherhood infrastructure in that country.9 Nevertheless, public information can provide a great deal of useful information about Brotherhood structures, leadership, and activities and can point the way for investigators with access to non-public information.
Early Student Organizations
Muslim Brotherhood networks often began as student and/or youth organizations and Belgium was no exception. The earliest known Muslim Brotherhood organization was the Association Humanitaire pour la Promotion de la Jeunesse (AHPJ).10 Founded in May 1988, the AHPJ was identified as one of a number of Muslim Brotherhood organizations operating under other names by a July 2002 report of the Belgian parliamentary Intelligence Committee.11 Bassem Hatahet, later to become one of the most important individuals in the Belgian Muslim Brotherhood network, was elected as the Secretary of the AHPJ in January 1991, serving in that position until November 1996.12 13 This report also says that the AHPJ was also operating under the name Union Islamique des Etudiants et de la Jeunesse en Belgique (UIEJB), which Belgian records show was founded in April 1995 and dissolved in February 2000.14 15 In February 1999, Bassem Hatahet attended a conference in Kuwait where he was described as being affiliated with the Islamic Students Union in Belgium, likely the UIEJB.16
The Belgian parliamentary report describes the student organizations as:
“...also close to the Turkish movement ‘Milli Gorüs’. These associations publish a newspaper which propagates anti-Western ideas and anti-Zionists. They actively supported the Muslim cause in Afghanistan by the collection of funds and the exchanges were made with the ‘Office of Afghan Mujahideen in Brussels’. They organize camps where immigrants of second and third generations are indoctrinated.”
Read more: UP Pompeii


Everyone has experienced stress at some point in their lives, whether in the run up to exams, before a driving test, or around a big change in your life.
Stress can either be caused by our thoughts and anxieties, or by events and experiences.
What is stress?
Stress is the feeling of being under too much pressure and feeling unable to cope with situations.
People are affected by stress in different ways.
A little bit of stress can be a good thing as it triggers the 'fight or flight' response which can help you to deal with certain pressures.
But when the stress builds up and hangs around, we need to learn how to relax and de-stress.
Stress can be brought on by exams. For more info visit our page 'planning for exams'.
How does stress affect me?
If you're feeling stressed, you might experience a range of physical and emotional symptoms, which include:
- Trouble sleeping
- Struggling to concentrate
- Change in eating habits
- Feeling irritable or angry
- Feeling unable to cope
- Muscle tension
What can I do to stop feeling so stressed?
Stress is an warning sign that something in your life might need to change.
To reduce the stress you're feeling, you might need to think about whether there are things you could do differently.
For example if you're going to school, working in the evenings, and revising for exams all at once, this could be causing stress.
It might not be as simple as this, and you might have to think hard about what could be causing you to feel this way.
It might help to write down all the different things in your life that you feel pressured by, to work out if there is something you could change to help ease the stress.
Try ChildLine's Wall of Expression - Write or draw what's bothering you on the wall, then knock it all down and watch your worries crumble away!
Try The Mix's Stressheads game - Helps you to relax.
Watch the MTV video above called 'Advice on coping with everyday stress'.
The MTV video asks young people at a festival how they coped with everyday stresses like exam stress and how to chill out when you're stressed.
Tips for de-stressing
There are things you can do to help reduce stress, both instantly, and over a period of time. Here are some top tips:
- Breathe - to relax your mind and body, try out some breathing exercises.
- Exercise - you don't have to spend all day in the gym, anything to get your muscles moving can help to boost your mood, clear your thoughts and reduce stress - it's science!
- Sleep - try to go to bed and wake up at a similar time each day to regulate your sleeping hours.
- Laugh - laughing is proven to relieve stress, so stick on a comedy, catch up with a friend, or watch some funny animal clips on YouTube.
- Talk - it can help to talk things through with someone you trust, even if it's just to offload while the other person listens.
- Say No! - if you have too much to do and everyone seems to want a piece of you, it's okay to say no or turn something down. It might help to make some lists and prioritise what needs to be done, and what can wait.
Visit the Mind website for more information on the signs of stress and tips and advice on how to manage stress.
Find some emotional wellbeing support?
The below support services offer free, confidential support on health and wellbeing issues if you need to talk or get some advice:
- Emotional Wellbeing Hub – Confidential information, advice and support if you're worried about yours or a friends mental health.
- Kooth - A free, safe and confidential online service where you can find someone to talk to when you need it.
- ChatHealth Service - To speak to a school nurse about any health issue.
- Suffolk Young People's Health Project (4YP) - To speak with a 4YP youth worker for confidential advice and support. Drop in or call them.
- Point-1 Service - Provides an online referral service and helpline (like the Hub) for young people who live in Lowestoft and Waveney area.
- Suffolk Wellbeing Service - Provides a range of support for common emotional wellbeing issues, such as low mood, depression or stress.


While you’re curled up comfy in your bed each night, the crew of the International Space Station is getting unrivaled views of our planet. For anyone wishing they could see what the astronauts see, here are recent videos of the Earth at night taken from space.
These spectacular videos feature city lights piercing the darkness like shining beacons announcing the extent of human habitation. But they also include incredible natural phenomena — such as ethereal auroras, shimmering lightning, and the silvery Milky Way — which surpass anything created by man.
These videos are actually compilations combining hundreds of still images in order to give a good approximation of what the ISS crew sees as they fly over the Earth. Most of them are taken in sequences of one frame per second, closely resembling the true speed of the station in orbit.
U.S. East Coast
This video from Jan. 29 features glowing nighttime lights along the Atlantic Coast of North America. Starting near the Gulf of Mexico, the ISS passes over recognizable cities such as New Orleans, Jacksonville, Washington, D.C., Baltimore, and New York City. With the aurora borealis shining in the background, it ends with a view of Newfoundland and northern Canada.
Southwest Canada and Auroras
The greenish haze of the Northern Lights lingers over shining cities in Canada in this video from Jan. 25. Passing near the border of British Columbia and Washington state, the sequence travels across Vancouver Island and reaches southern Alberta, near Calgary.
Mexico to Canada Express
Traveling across the U.S. in less than a minute, this video from Jan. 30 starts in northwestern Mexico. From there, it passes over San Antonio, Houston, and Dallas/Fort Worth before plunging through the Great Plains states. The outline of Michigan is easily spotted as the ISS flies over Chicago and continues to the east coast of Canada.
The ghostly aurora borealis is prominently featured in this video from Jan. 26. The ISS travels over North Dakota, passing to central Quebec. But the most captivating aspect of this sequence is not the glowing cities but the dancing fires of the Northern Lights.
Central Plains at Night
Scattered like hundreds of campfires, the nighttime lights from many Great Plains cities glow in this video from Jan. 30. Starting near the U.S.-Mexico border around Texas, southwestern cities such as Phoenix and El Paso can be seen. The next brightest specks are Oklahoma City and Tulsa, followed by Kansas City. Last up is the blazing metropolis of Chicago with Cincinnati also seen to the east.
Aurora Over the Pacific
This video from Jan. 25 shows the dark Pacific Ocean, lit only by a strange ribbon of green – the Northern Lights. This aurora arises when charged particles emanating from the sun hit the Earth’s upper atmosphere, glowing in the process. This sequence was taken just southwest of Vancouver Island.
Storms and Milky Way Over Africa
This amazing sequence from Dec. 29 flies over much of Africa. Starting near southeast Niger and making its way toward the South Indian Ocean, near Madagascar, the ISS spots dozens of thunderstorms across the continent. But the most spectacular sight is the creamy Milky Way, seen as a white band slowly coming up over the horizon beyond the limb of the Earth just before sunrise.
Video: Image Science & Analysis Laboratory, NASA Johnson Space CenterGo Back to Top. Skip To: Start of Article.


Just because a grain is supposed to be “naturally” gluten-free, doesn’t mean that it is!
Gluten is a protein found in the grains wheat, barley, and rye, and is inherently lacking in grains such as oats, buckwheat, quinoa, millet, soy, sorghum, flaxseed, rice, and amaranth seed. However, a study tested 22 of these “naturally” gluten-free grains, and 7 of them had a gluten amount higher than 20 ppm, which would disqualify it from being labeled as gluten-free under the proposed FDA guidelines. One type of soy flour tested had nearly 3,000 ppm of gluten, two millet flour products had an average of between 305-327 ppm, and the sorghum flour had a mean average of 234 ppm. Four of those seven products didn’t have allergen advisory statements.
Why is this? Most likely due to cross-contamination during processing and because companies aren’t testing their final products for gluten.
According to Dr. Mercola of http://mercola.com, several autoimmune disorders, not just celiac disease, can be “significantly improved by avoiding grains,” and eliminating grains from your diet can also decrease your risk of heart disease, high cholesterol, Type 2 Diabetes, and cancer.
This is due to the fact that, as Dr. Mercola explains, “grains and sugars are inherently pro-inflammatory and will worsen any condition that has chronic inflammation at its root – and not just inflammation in your gut, but anywhere in your body.” In his experience, about 75-80% of all people benefitted from going grain-free.
If you decide to continue eating inherently gluten-free grains, look for grain products that are certified gluten-free by such organizations as the Gluten-Free Certification Organization (GFCO).
Mercola.com: Beware: ‘Gluten-Free’ Foods are Often Contaminated http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2010/08/03/glutenfree-foods-are-often-contaminated.aspx
From our home to yours, Tina Turbin
If you have any questions or suggestions just email me at info (at) GlutenFreeHelp.info.