As a genre, science fiction frequently runs roughshod over the hard limits of the universe as we currently understand them. Above all else, science fiction writers consistently forget, hand wave away, or blatantly ignore what is perhaps the most foundational rule in the universe: nothing travels faster than the speed of light.
Of course, science fiction is just that: fiction. All a science fiction author must do to avoid responsibility for scientific oversight is to slowly spell out the name of her genre. And yet, many readers of scifi can recognize and respect scientific integrity. Limitation breeds creativity – and for stories with a scientific focus, what better limitations than the very limitations binding reality?
Why You Should Stick to Sub-Light Speeds
Why is the speed of light so important and inviolate, you ask? The short answer: because it’s a hard limit on the functions of the universe, required in order to prevent a violation of causality,* and one of the foundational constants of existence. (Our universe doesn’t have walls, and may not even have a beginning or ending. Its bounds are defined by math: limits on speed,* size,* and time.*) A more complete answer must address the fact that humanity has conquered – or slipped through loopholes in – apparent limitations before.
As the past few centuries have made clear, humanity is capable of incredible advances over the course of just a few generations. Our understanding of the universe grows increasingly complete, and we have applied this expanding knowledge towards ever more impressive materials, machines, and structures. We even bend truths once thought to be universal and inviolable.* It is reasonable, then, for authors to assume that this ascension to omniscience will lead to our species’ omnipotence as well. And yet, this is a fallacy: even a perfect understanding of all aspects of the universe would not enable us to break the core rules. And the speed of light is about as “core” as rules get. Even the lesser laws of the universe are typically read-only; sometimes we find a useful loophole to exploit, but we can’t just plug in the universe’s equivalent of the Konami Code and change things as we see fit. It’s worth noting that, as revolutionary as scientific advances can be, its laws are almost never overturned.*
Humanity has generated an impressive array of technological wonders, weapons, and time-wasters. Some of these (human flight, moving pictures, microwaves) would have indeed been inconceivable centuries prior – but most are simply improved versions of previous technologies. None sprang forth from the corpse of some previously-incontrovertible natural law.* Bypassing the speed of light is serious business compared to impressive-yet-incremental advances like cloning vats, nanobots, and artificial intelligence.
But I Read Somewhere That…
Hold on a second: Popular science blogs and optimistic futurists proclaim that NASA is already working on the Alcubierre drive! This Star-Trek-esque warp drive would coerce a ship to travel at faster-than-light (FTL) speed by bending spacetime in front of and behind the ship. The math is sound! There’s just one teensy little problem: it requires the mass-energy equivalent of the planet Jupiter. No, not how much energy Jupiter radiates, how much energy exists in Jupiter as mass.*
But wait! We can modulate the warp field oscillations* to allow a ship to travel at FTL speeds – with only the mass-energy equivalent of a Volkswagen Beetle! It’s still more energy than humanity can currently produce or store, but it’s a simpler scale-up problem, one that we can eventually solve. Now the only missing ingredient is negative-mass matter. Not antimatter, which has positive mass, but matter that has NEGATIVE mass, which most physicists say is an impossibility.*
Other, more exotic solutions are occasionally offered for FTL travel – solutions from both hand-waving scifi authors and math-wielding physicists. These include such phenomenon as wormholes (speculation, but technically possible), hyperspace (no evidence exists and no theories support any version of it), tachyons (again, no evidence for their existence), portals (basically just wormholes plus magic), and manipulating alternate timelines or mirror universes.* Like negative-mass matter, these all fall into the same category as Santa Claus or the Abrahamic God: impossible to disprove, but highly improbable and suspiciously narrative-convenient.
Creating Your Slower-Than-Light Universe
For the purpose of discussion, let’s say I’ve convinced you. You’re committed. You’ve become the scifi equivalent of vegan: faster-than-light travel is off the table. You’re going to have to cook up a plot with all-natural ingredients. So what recipe can you follow for a plot-friendly universe with this restriction?
For the most part, this is as simple as shrinking the scale. If you’re in space, it goes without saying that you have more than enough, well, space. It cannot be stressed enough that space is impossibly large and impossibly empty. “Impossible” is truly the best adjective: there’s no good way to convey the scale of interstellar distances to planet-lubber humans, and all analogies break down. Interplanetary distances within the same solar system are still ridiculous enough to accommodate any space battle, epic voyage, or megafortress your plot could require.
And speaking of solar systems, you aren’t limited to the one you live in. For example, Firefly’s ‘Verse is a wonderful, only slightly-implausible* multi-star system filled with dozens of terraformed planets and moons. If we’re being a stickler for backstory, you have three options here:
- Humans came from Earth via a long journey in colony or sleeper ships.
- This is the past.*
- You’re writing a space-fantasy, and any concept of “Earth” is irrelevant.
Can you still blend the delicious flavors of space opera science fiction without your characters hopping effortlessly from star to star? Can you still have interplanetary space empires? Can your characters cruise to distant worlds, falling in love with the locals or bombing them into submission? Can you have epic space battles and space piracy? Yes! Not without restrictions, of course, but the curious implications of the cosmic speed limit can inspire unique settings and plot mechanics. Let’s look at these questions one at a time to see how they might work (or already do work) in a slower-than-light space story.
Interplanetary space empires
This is the bread and butter* of epic, space opera style science fiction. And yet, most of these empires are poorly-disguised stand-ins for the Victorian British Empire.* Their spaceships are just chrome-hulled sailing ships with glowing rear ends. Or, if space is for fighting over rather than exploring, ships become thinly veiled analogs of World War II era carrier groups. The oceans explored and fought over by the clippers, cruisers and carriers of the past few centuries are stunningly vast – yet they have nothing on outer space.* There’s plenty of room in our planet’s backyard for empires to sprawl – but they’ll need to work for it, since even the easiest terraforming gig will be a backbreaking and bankbreaking endeavor. But humans have a much better track record with overcoming seemingly impossible engineering difficulties (say, building continent-spanning walls, or city-sized exotic matter generators) than they do with overcoming universal laws of reality like the speed of light. If a slower-than-light empire gets really ambitious, they can be the first to send humans to Alpha Centauri, Barnard’s Star, or Sirius.
I’ll give you a freebie: here’s your custom-generated Epic Space Empire™ in a distant but non-FTL future.
Example: A Non-FTL Space Empire
The barbarian migrations from Alpha Centauri were finally defeated, but the terrifying weaponry of the All-War left every surface sunward of Pluto an irradiated hellscape. A new Dark Age fell. But human civilization rose again from an unlikely place: the innumerable, sun-spurned worlds of the Oort Clouds.
Our Sun’s neglected stepchildren – the Oort Cloud comets – weren’t as large as planets, but they became good candidates for colonization after Prometheus* and Icarus* teamed up to steal the nuclear fires of the Sun for humankind. These miles-wide islands of ice were estimated to be more numerous than the stars of our galaxy. They weren’t Earth-clones with wondrous ecosystems, but they became home to cities, factories, spaceports, and most of the other trappings of imperial power.*
Despite the bleakness of time and place, humans of this millennia-distant Oort Cloud thrived and prospered, powering their incredibly resource-hungry gravity fields, terraforming projects, radiation deflectors, and miniature suns with the Oort Cloud’s plentiful fusion fuel: water. Relative isolation and DNA manipulation created distinctly alien subspecies of humans. Adventure capitalists occasionally braved the deadly Inner System to plunder its wondrous treasures: stone, metal, and ancient artifacts. The far-flung settlements grew into fiefdoms, then nations, then a vast and unruly empire. The Empire didn’t span anything so pretentious as a galaxy; it didn’t need to, to encompass the greater portion of the universe’s diverse human-inhabited worlds.
In the end, almost any story about the Galactic Empire could be told about the Cometary Empire of the Solar Oort Cloud instead.
Travel between worlds
Interplanetary travel can still be wonderfully plot-convenient in a sub-lightspeed universe. If the worlds are the planets of our solar system, travel times for an advanced, yet lightspeed-abiding civilization will range widely. Minutes between inner planets, or hours for visits to asteroids and the wondrous moons of Jupiter or Saturn. For a location as distant as Neptune or Pluto, perhaps a day or two.
If your plot requires a longer trip, there are two simple options. The most obvious is to banish your characters somewhere more distant: the exotic shadowlands of the Oort Cloud or the twin suns of Alpha Centauri. But lowering the tech level can be the more interesting choice, since trips aren’t just longer, but stranger. For example, near-future shuttles to Jupiter and Saturn will involve months-long* curved and ponderous trajectories, as slow craft hijack planetary gravity wells for use as slingshots.*
Positions of planets in their orbits affect travel times as well, which can be highly plot-convenient.* For shorter trips, consider setting the story amongst the terraformed moons of a huge gas-giant.* If distant stars are your goal, consider generation ships,* sleeper ships,* or seed-ships.* And remember, a traveler could age just a few years in a 100,000 light-year trip across the galaxy.* Of course, everything else will have aged a hundred thousand years. Plot hook, anyone?*
Here’s where sub-light speeds can be a huge benefit. So, remember how space is obnoxiously big? Well, if you can travel faster than the speed of light, the amount of space potentially involved in a battle – the distances between ships – is so vast that a spectator would likely never see more than one ship at a time. That is, real battles would look boring. Concentrate everything in an interesting corner of one solar system and slow the ships way down, and suddenly there’s a reason for a battle to be crowded into a small space again. “Small” being defined as “you can probably see at least a handful of them at the same time,” but a viewer might at least recognize what they’re seeing as a space battle.
(Almost) Everything Else
I concede that not every component of the standard space opera formula can be replicated in a rigorously sub-light universe.* Your characters can no longer relish the exploration of far-flung anomalies such as quasars, black holes, nebulae, supergiant and dwarf stars, and more exotic or author-designed phenomena. Even different types of stars and planetary systems – mundane, but interesting in their variety – are going to be missed. A handful of local stars* are fair game for dedicated travelers, but your characters won’t be able to pick a shining point of light and proclaim, “There! I shall travel there!”
Yet if our planet is any guide, it’s not unreasonable to expect that any solar system full of humans will eventually become a microcosm of wonders: a display case for the artifacts and engineering projects of increasingly advanced civilizations. Quasars and black holes may be impossible destinations, but as humans add to the natural wonders of space, your characters will be able to visit enormous light harvesters, reflector dishes, Moon Rushmore, comet herders, ringworlds, and even artificial (if comparatively small-scale) nebulae and black holes.* The speed of light should limit you, but your imagination should not.
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How did you hear the Pope is quitting: Horseback messenger or Taxi TV?
Television reporters get ready for a live report in front of St. Peter's Basilica on February 13, 2013 in Rome.
How did you hear the news the Pope is quitting? Whether on a TV screen in the back seat of a taxi cab or on a gossip website, chances are technology was involved.
But what was the technology the last time a Pope resigned -- Gregory XII in 1415 at the end of the Great Schism?
With the Gutenberg press, invented in 1453, still decades off, widespread dissemination of printed information was mere technological fantasy.
According to Michael Sizer, who has a background in medieval studies and teaches history at MICA in Baltimore, a church body called the Counsel of Constance would have been the central news source.
"Institutions had agents there who were eager to spin information and to report back to their superiors to strategize," says Sizer. "And the way that they did that was they either went in person and they would send letters with messengers, and messengers would go on horseback."
From there, news of Gregory XII's resignation might have been read aloud in far off counsel meetings across Europe and then copied by hand. Sizer says by that time, the West had the technology of inexpensive paper which made the task of copying news and spreading it much easier.
"In the early Middle Ages, most of the writing was done on expensive manuscript paper made from animal hide. When access to Asia was opened up after the Mongol invasions of the 13th and 14th centuries, the west got the technology of paper -- cheap paper. Because paper was cheap people didnt feel any financial restraint about copying things down," says Sizer.


Honey bees are perhaps one of the most important insects because without them, many fruits, vegetables, and field crops would not be pollinated. Commercial agriculture, which is large-scale production of crops for sale, intended for widespread distribution to wholesalers or retail outlets, of many specialty crops such as almonds and other tree nuts, berries, fruits and vegetables are truly dependent on the honey bees task of pollination. These are the foods that give the human population’s diet diversity, flavor, and nutrition. Although, within the last decade, the numbers of colonies of bees have dropped severely. According to Kaplan, the total number of managed honey bee colonies has decreased from 5 million in the 1940s to only 2.5 million today. No one has quite figured out why this mysterious occurrence is happening, but there are several theories on what could be causing the honey bees decline. Some scientists hypothesize that certain diseases could be the cause of their troubles, while others believe it could be pesticides, parasites, or even the actions of the human population. One might ask why this is such a big deal. An astounding $15 billion dollars would be lost in crops if honey bees were to not pollinate all the fruits, vegetables, and field crops. One-third of the U.S. food supply depends on bees pollinating and cultivating all the crops. If the causes of the disappearances of honey bees are not correctly confronted and established, bees could potentially become an endangered species in the future, leading to a terrible downfall of not only the United States, but all across the globe.
Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD) is a serious problem threatening the health of honey bees and the economic stability of commercial beekeeping and pollination operations throughout the United States. What this pathological condition adheres to be is the various stresses that may be leading to the abrupt disappearance of worker bees from the hive, leaving behind the queen, drone and newly hatched bees, thus causing the colony to stop functioning. It is theorized that commercialized agriculture, which puts a severe amount of stress upon honey bees, could have ultimately led to Colony Collapse Disorder. This is a serious issue in the world, and the majority of society does not realize the severity of this disorder.
Colony Collapse Disorder was first addressed in 2006 in the U.S.A. It has most recently been reported in Japan in the spring of 2009, so it is not caused by the climate that the bees are exposed to, but by how the beekeepers manage them instead. Some scientists believe that Colony Collapse Disorder is caused by changes in the environment, mites and parasites, diseases, malnutrition, and pesticides. The average healthy hive loses on average of one thousand bees in the course of one day. One man reportedly lost half of his thirteen thousand hives, about three hundred million bees, in a matter of weeks.
Beekeepers are people who operate a sufficiently large number of colonies of bees for honey production or crop pollination as a business for profit. The job of a beekeeper is difficult but satisfactory. A beekeeper keeps bees in order to collect their honey and other products of the hive, such as beeswax, propolis, pollen, and royal jelly, to pollinate crops. A location where bees are kept is called an apairy or a "bee yard".
Some may say that commercial beekeepers may be helping the apple orchards, orange groves, and almond fields, but it is possible that they are causing more harm than they are helping. By constantly moving their hives, maybe once every three or four weeks, they are putting an enormous amount stress upon the honeybees. Every time they move a hive, the bees have to forget the layout of the old area, and have to learn the new one. The bees memorize almost seven square miles of territory for pollination purposes.
Serious damage occurs to...


- What’s another word for utilize?
- Is use and utilize interchangeable?
- What is the meaning of Utilisation?
- What is another word for have been?
- What is wrong with the word utilize?
- Which is or that is?
- What does the word derived mean?
- What does elude mean?
- What deploy means?
- What is another word for leveraging?
- What is the utilize?
- Is the word utilize?
- Is being utilized meaning?
- Is it Utilised or utilized?
- Is first and foremost grammatically correct?
- What is the difference between use and utilize?
- How do you use utilize?
- How do you use utilize in a sentence?
What’s another word for utilize?
In this page you can discover 27 synonyms, antonyms, idiomatic expressions, and related words for utilize, like: use, capitalize, harness, make use of, exercise, consume, employ, turn to account, exploit, bring into play and bring-to-bear..
Is use and utilize interchangeable?
Therefore, use can always be used, but utilize should only be used when indicating a creative use.
What is the meaning of Utilisation?
Noun. 1. utilisation – the act of using; “he warned against the use of narcotic drugs”; “skilled in the utilization of computers” usage, use, utilization, exercise, employment. activity – any specific behavior; “they avoided all recreational activity”
What is another word for have been?
What is another word for have been?waswerecame to behad beenturned out to behas beenwuswastwuz2 more rows
What is wrong with the word utilize?
Meanwhile, the definition of use is more straight forward. It means employing any old thing to achieve your goal, whether or not you use that any old thing for its intended purpose. So if you are not actually creating an alternate use for something, utilize is the wrong word.
Which is or that is?
The clause that comes after the word “which” or “that” is the determining factor in deciding which one to use. If the clause is absolutely pertinent to the meaning of the sentence, you use “that.” If you could drop the clause and leave the meaning of the sentence intact, use “which.”
What does the word derived mean?
: to take, receive, or obtain, especially from a specified source specifically : to obtain (a chemical substance) actually or theoretically from a parent substance. intransitive verb. : to have or take origin. Other Words from derive.
What does elude mean?
transitive verb. 1 : to avoid adroitly : evade the mice eluded the traps managed to elude capture. 2 : to escape the perception, understanding, or grasp of subtlety simply eludes them victory continued to elude us.
What deploy means?
transitive verb. 1a : to extend (a military unit) especially in width. b : to place in battle formation or appropriate positions deploying troops to the region. 2 : to spread out, utilize, or arrange for a deliberate purpose deploy a sales force deploy a parachute.
What is another word for leveraging?
In this page you can discover 21 synonyms, antonyms, idiomatic expressions, and related words for leverage, like: influence, lift, advantage, backing, power, capability, leveraged, know-how, consolidate, exploit and hold.
What is the utilize?
verb (used with object), u·ti·lized, u·ti·liz·ing. to put to use; turn to profitable account: to utilize a stream to power a mill.
Is the word utilize?
To utilize is to use what you have or what’s available, and it’s a three-syllable word meaning the same thing as the one-syllable “use.”
Is being utilized meaning?
To seek or achieve an end by means of; exploit: used their highly placed friends to gain access to the president; felt he was being used by seekers of favor.
Is it Utilised or utilized?
1 Answer. In most words containing the ending, both -ise and -ize are acceptable in British English. Oxford University Press (which publishes all the Oxford Dictionaries) is well known as preferring -ize, but most other British publishers and authorities prefer -ise.
Is first and foremost grammatically correct?
Avoid saying, for instance, “first and foremost came the chicken, and then the egg…” A common phrase to read in student essays is “first and foremost”, as in “First and foremost, we need to look at the evidence.” Since “first” and “foremost” mean the same thing, it’s unnecessary to say both: “Firstly” would suffice.
What is the difference between use and utilize?
Utilize means to give a use to something that was previously useless (this may share the improvisation idea with #1). Utilize is neutral, while use has a negative connotation (as in “I feel used”). Utilize means to use something in a tactical or technical manner for advantage.
How do you use utilize?
When you utilize something, you make do with something not normally used for the purpose, e.g., you utilize a dime when the bloody screwdriver is nowhere to be found. If the screwdriver were there, you’d use it, not utilize a stupid dime for the purpose.
How do you use utilize in a sentence?
Utilize sentence examplesShe will only utilize it for common good. … If I can somehow utilize this gift I can’t do it without all your help. … Cynthia continued to utilize her camera, apologizing for her time-consuming perfectionism.More items…


The stacking of stones is a recent practice, and is probably due to buddhist monks stacking stones, as well, in the past. This practice is probably a form of worshipping, but it’s mainly a gesture of asking or wishing for good fortune to be bestowed on the stacker and his/her family. Each stone within the stack represents a particular wish and possibly, family member.
“Water does not resist. Water flows. When you plunge your hand into it, all you feel is a caress. Water is not a solid wall, it will not stop you. But water always goes where it wants to go, and nothing in the end can stand against it. Water is patient. Dripping water wears away a stone. Remember that, my child. Remember you are half water. If you can’t go through an obstacle, go around it. Water does.” ― Margaret Atwood
“Nothing in the world is more flexible and yielding than water. Yet when it attacks the firm and the strong, none can withstand it, because they have no way to change it. So the flexible overcome the adamant, the yielding overcome the forceful. Everyone knows this, but no one can do it.”


Eastern Gulf of Finland National Park
|Eastern Gulf of Finland National Park (Itäisen Suomenlahden kansallispuisto,
Östra Finska vikens nationalpark)
Island Ulko-Tammio in Hamina
|Area||6 km2 (2 sq mi)|
|Animal||Goosander, tufted duck|
|IUCN category||II - National Park|
Eastern Gulf of Finland National Park (Finnish: Itäisen Suomenlahden kansallispuisto, Swedish: Östra Finska vikens nationalpark) is a national park in the Kymenlaakso region in Finland. It was established in 1982 and covers 6.7 square kilometres (2.6 sq mi) on land. The park consist only of small (under 1 km2) islands and islets, some of which grow forest, mostly pine trees.
Most of the islands are treeless rocks with sheer shores. Their sheerness is due to the rapakivi granite splitting in a sharply cubical manner.
The national park is known for its aquatic bird fauna. The most common aquatic birds are the goosander and tufted duck. Other birds, including the razorbill and black guillemot, nest on the park's protected islands.
|This article related to a protected area in Europe is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it.|
|This Southern Finland location article is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it.|


René Colato Laínez
Writing Outside the Culture
There are many opinions and controversies about writing multicultural literature:
*Authentic books include only those written by a member of an ethnic group about that ethnic group, its cultural traditions, and its people.
*The most accurate portrayal of a culture will come from authors who have lived within the culture they are writing about all or most of their lives regardless of their race.
*Authors can write authentic books if their writing is based on experience and a growing awareness in our society of other cultures and provided an accurate representation of the culture being portrayed.
If you are writing outside your culture, you must never write off the top of your head. If you have never lived in Mexico, China or Morocco and want to write a story about these cultures, you will have to do extensive research in libraries, archives, and museums. But the best way to research is to meet the people you want to write about. Talk to them, participate in their games, visit the country, eat their food, become one of them while you are writing your story. Remember, it is better to overdo your research, later you can pick what is important for your story. When you finished your manuscript show it to organizations and people it is written for and ask them to look for stereotypes and misconceptions.
The people most passionate and involved in a culture are typically the best ones to write about a multicultural story. With the passion comes the desire to spend hours and hours in a library or most important with the people you are writing for. If there is no passion, there will be no desire to write an authentic story.
I need this passion to research and spend hours with people I am writing for. Being Hispanic does not make me the right person to write about the Mayans or the Aztecs, or to write about the people in El Salvador that made rubber from the trees, or to write about the artisans who create and paint great ceramic in Oaxaca, Mexico. My knowledge about these topics is very limited. I did some research to write my picture book PLAYING LOTERIA/ EL JUEGO DE LA LOTERÍA. Lotería was my favorite game when I was growing up in El Salvador. I did not know that this game arrived all the way from Europe to Mexico more than two hundreds years ago. It was Don Clemente, a man from France, who created the images of the games using Mexican colors, flavors and traditions. I did not use all this research in my picture book but by knowing the history of la lotería, I feel more secure that I was writing an authentic story.
Most important, keep in mind that the same criterion for authenticity in multicultural literature is the same in any good book: strong characters, good plot, great climax, convincing ending plus no stereotypes and misconceptions.
The following is a criteria developed by teachers to choose authentic literature for the classroom. I believe that the same criteria can be use as a checklist for writers of multicultural books.
*No distortions or omissions of history. Look for various perspectives to be represented.
*Authenticity. Look for books with accurate representations of the cultural attitudes, feelings, and perspectives, both visually and literally.
*Stereotyping. There are no negative or inaccurate stereotypes of the ethnic group being portrayed.
*Loaded words. There are no derogatory overtones to the words used to describe the characters and culture, such as savage," primitive," "lazy," and "backward."
*Historical Representation. Look for books that dispel misconceptions by reflecting truths.
*Lifestyles. The lifestyles of the characters are genuine and complex, not oversimplified or generalized.
*Dialogue. The characters use speech that accurately represents their oral tradition.
*Standards of success. The characters are strong and independent, not helpless or in need of the assistance of a white authority figure. Characters do not have to exhibit extraordinary qualities, or do more than a white character to gain acceptance and approval.
*The role of females, elders, and family. Women and the elderly are portrayed accurately within their culture. The significance of family is portrayed accurately for the culture.
*Possible effects on a child's self-image. There is nothing in the story that would embarrass or offend a child whose culture is being portrayed. A good rule of thumb: would you be willing to share this book with a mixed-race group of children?
* Author's and/or illustrator's background. The author and/or illustrator have the qualifications needed to deal with the cultural group accurately and respectfully.
*Illustrations. The illustrations do not generalize about or include stereotypes of a cultural group and it's people. The characters are depicted as genuine individuals. Characters of the same ethnic group do not all look alike, but show a variety of physical attributes.
*Relationships between characters from different cultures. Minority characters are leaders within their community and solve their own problems. Whites do not possess the power while cultural minorities play a supporting or subservient role.
*Heroines and Heroes. Heroines and heroes are accurately defined according to the concepts of and struggles for justice appropriate to their cultural group. They are not those who avoid conflict with and thus benefit the white majority.
*Become Proactive. Read and recommend quality multicultural literature to students, teachers, librarians, curriculum committees, administrators, and student’s parents.
In conclusion, the writer who wants to write about any specific group, must research, read, visit, meet and have personal connections with members of that group. By doing this, the writer will be less likely to have stereotypes in the story. When the author finishes the story, it would be a great idea to show it to members of the specific group. In this way, the author will have an authentic story. A story that depicts the variety of ethnic, racial, and cultural groups within U.S. society and allows young children opportunities to develop their understanding of others, while affirming children of diverse backgrounds. Good luck and have fun writing a multicultural story or any story that you have the passion for.


Life and Writings
John Stuart Mill was born in London on May 20, 1806, and was the eldest of son of James Mill. He was educated entirely
by his father, James Mill, and was deliberately shielded from association with other boys of his age. From his earliest years,
he was subjected to a rigid system of intellectual discipline. As a result of this system, according to his own account, he
believed this gave him an advantage of a quarter of a century over his contemporaries. Mill recognized, in later life, that
his father's system had the fault of appealing to the intellect only and that the culture of his practical and emotional life
had been neglected, while his physical health was probably undermined by the strenuous labor exacted from him. James Mill's
method seems to have been designed to make his son's mind a first-rate thinking machine, so that the boy might become a prophet
of the utilitarian gospel. He had no doubts at the outset of his career. On reading Bentham (this was when he was fifteen
or sixteen) the feeling rushed upon him "that all previous moralists were superseded." The principle of the utility, he says,
understood and applied as it was by Bentham, "gave unity to my conception of things. I now had opinions; a creed, a doctrine,
a philosophy; in one among the best senses of the word, a religion; the inculcation and diffusion of which could be made the
principle outward purpose of a life." Soon afterwards he formed a small Utilitarian Society, and, for some few years,
he was one of "a small knot of young men" who adopted his father's philosophical and political views "with youthful fanaticism."
A position under his father in the India Office had secured him against the misfortune of having to depend on literary work
for his livelihood; and he found that office-work left him ample leisure for the pursuit of his wider interests.
He was already coming to be looked upon as a leader of thought when, in his twenty-first year, the mental crisis occurred
which is described in his Autobiography. This crisis was a result of the severe strain, physical and mental, to which
he had been subjected from his earliest years. He was "in a dull state of nerves;" the objects of his life for which he had
been trained and for which he had worked lost their charm; he had "no delight in virtue, or the general good, but also just
as little in anything else;" a constant habit of analysis had dried up the fountains of feeling within him. After many months
of despair he found, accidentally, that the capacity for emotion was not dead, and "the cloud gradually drew off". Another
important factor in his life was Mrs. Taylor, who co-authored pieces with him. He maintained a close relationship with her
for many years while she was married. When her husband died, Mill married her in 1851. His work in connection with the literary
journals was enormous. He wrote articles almost without number and on an endless variety of subjects (philosophical, political,
economic, social). They began with The Westminster Review and extended to other magazinesespecially The London Review
and, afterwards, The London and Westminster Review. They were valuable as enabling us to trace the development of his
opinions, the growth of his views in philosophy, and the gradual modification of his radicalism in politics.
His first great intellectual work was his System of Logic, R atiocinative and Inductive, which appeared in 1843.
This was followed, in due course by his Essays on some Unsettled Questions of Political Economy (1844), and Principles
of Political Economy (1848). In 1859 appeared his little treatise On Liberty, and his Thoughts on Parliamentary
Reform. His Considerations on Representative Government belongs to the year 1860; and in 1863 (after first appearing
in magazine form) came his Utilitarianism. In the Parliament of 1865-68, he sat as Radical member for Westminister.
He advocated three major things in the House of Commonswomen suffrage, the interests of the laboring classes, and land reform
in Ireland. In 1865, came his Examination of Sir William Hamilton's Philosophy; in 1867, his Rectorial Inaugural
Address at St. Andrews University, on the value of culture; in 1868, his pamphlet on England and Ireland; and in
1869, his treatise on The Subjection of Women. Also in 1869, his edition of his father's Analysis of the Phenomena
of the Human Mind was published. Mill died at Avignon in 1873. After his death were published his Autobiography
(1873) and Three Essays on Religion: Nature, the Utility of Religion, and Theism (1874), written between 1830 and 1870.
Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy


The United States is marking the 14th anniversary of the September 11th terrorist attacks on Friday with a series of observances to remember that horrifying day.
Low clouds surround the top of the One World Trade Center tower, center left, at sunrise during the 14th anniversary of the terrorist attacks, Sept. 11, 2015.
Defense Secretary Ash Carter bows his head during a moment of silence at the Pentagon Memorial, Sept. 11, 2015, during a service on the 14th anniversary of the terrorist attacks.
On the 14th anniversary of the attack, a U.S. flag is draped on the side of the Pentagon, Sept. 11, 2015, where the building was attacked on September 11th in 2001.
President Barack Obama, first lady Michelle Obama and others observe a moment of silence to mark the 14th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks, on the South Lawn of the White House in Washington, Sept. 11, 2015.


How to write progress reports for research projects
Progress reports are a requirement for all students on research programmes, but how best to construct and use them is often misunderstood. This page offers suggestions, advice, tips and general help, in particular on developing the content of a progress report, writing it and the use of literature.
Developing the content of a progress report
The content of a report must depend on its purpose. For most fields of study, the content of early reports probably ought to be such as to review progress to date and identify a plan of action for the next phase of the work.
Reviewing progress is not merely a matter of cataloguing what tasks one has done, although this will come into it. Rather, it should make a case that what one has done has been thoughtful, directed and competent. At all stages of the report-writing, students should be in the barrister role.
Sections from The Research Student's Guide to Success in the chapter on progress reports for research
Students should normally include something of the following in their reports although the emphasis will change as the research develops. The following are listed in the present tense, although, depending on the stage of the research, some aspects will need to be written as future intentions and others as statements of achievement. The report should be presented largely as a substantiated argument rather than as a straight description:
- How the research question(s), problems(s), etc with which the research is concerned, have been developed or refined (or are in the process of so being). This should probably be with reference to the original research proposal or a previous report.
- How the research methodology is being developed and why it is appropriate.
- How appropriate data is being collected which is convincing for its purpose.
- How the literature is being used.
- How any constraints are being handled.
- How subjectivity, where relevant, is being handled.
- Progress to date.
- Problems or potential problems to be flagged up.
- General reflections. These should be relevant, not just padding, and the nature of what is required is likely to vary considerably from one discipline to another.
- A plan for the next phase of the work.
Interim reports should build on previous ones and, where appropriate, refer to them, possibly copied into an Appendix. Thus there should be no need for repetition of previously reported material that remains unchanged. Progress reports suitably edited can form a basis for the thesis/dissertation.
With a report for an external body such as a funding agency or for an MPhil/PhD transfer, certain headings or sections may be obligatory. However, once the report has been developed along the above lines, editing it for particular headings should be straightforward.
If you are expected to develop your own headings, it is a good idea to use the 'styles' facility of your word processing system. (Microsoft Word and Open Office have them.) Use styles for the title, main headings and sub-headings, then the software can produce a contents list for you. It is outside the scope of this website to explain how, but, if 'styles' are something that you don't normally bother with or don't understand, you are very strongly urged to find someone to explain them to you. All progress reports will benefit, as will the thesis/dissertation. An important reason is that an up-to-date contents list reflects the 'shape' of what you are writing and can alert you immediately to gaps, obscurities and errors, etc, so saving hours of writing that later has to be discarded.


With Rabbi Ariel ABEL.
THE ISRAELITES multiply in number and this is resented by the Egyptians. The reason for this is evident from the end of the Book of Genesis. Joseph secured a privileged place in society for his brothers and their descendants, to the envy of the Egyptian masses whom Joseph had subjugated into feudal servitude to the pharaoh. Although Joseph’s urbanisation of the people had saved them from certain famine and even death, it had also deracinated them and thrown them to the bottom of the societal pile.
Egyptian labour was now providing wealth for the pharaoh and for the ruling and priestly classes. Therefore, after Joseph’s death, the Hebrews became easy targets for national wrath and xenophobic politics. For us as 21st-century Jews, this story is a warning to avoid eliciting popular jealousy. We should take care neither to occupy positions of too much privilege nor shirk equality of burden in the national effort.
This principle is a hot topic in the state of Israel, where some Jews believe it is justifiable to reap the benefits of state-subsidised living while others work hard, pay taxes and serve in the military. This is a reckless way to live, inviting disaster upon the whole community when the available money and resources become too scarce to finance natural growth. Even though oppression was foreseen prophetically by Abraham, the cruelty inflicted upon the Hebrews by their overseers was in no way justifiable.
The Egyptians would not be exonerated for the part they played. The Hebrew redeemer was, ironically, a baby saved by the pharaoh’s daughter, who named him Moses. As an adult, Moses’ burning sense of justice does not allow him to stand idly by while a Hebrew slave is mercilessly beaten; he kills the attacker and is obliged to flee to Midian. Similarly, his first act there is to save the daughters of Jethro from bullies in the workplace. He marries Zipporah, a shepherdess and the eldest daughter of Midian’s high priest.
Later, Moses encounters God in the form of a burning bush and receives the instruction to approach the pharaoh and tell him to release the people from slavery. Moses refuses the mission, pleading inability to express himself adequately. God is angry and deputes Moses’ brother Aaron as Moses’ spokesman. Forced into the role of leader, Moses dedicates himself to spread good news of impending redemption. The people reject his optimism and slavery, conditions worsen, but God promises deliverance.
• Rabbi Abel is consultant to the For Life Projects


On July 24, 2018, at the Museum of the Second World War in Gdańsk, the temporary exhibition "The fate of policemen during World War II" was opened. The exhibition is presented in hall l at level -2.
The opening of the exhibition accompanied the provincial celebrations of Police Day, which began at the square in front of the Museum at 12.00.
The exhibition is devoted to the fate of the officers of the State Police of the Second Polish Republic during the Second World War. The exhibition presents the circumstances of the founding of the police in the reborn Poland, the participation of policemen in the war of 1939, the situation of policemen after the defeat of the Republic and the fate of officers in Soviet captivity and under German occupation.
The exhibition was opened by Prof. Grzegorz Berendt, Deputy Director of the Museum of the Second World War in Gdańsk: "What you see here is largely the merit and the result of the work of Prof. Tomasz Chinyciński, but also all the people fascinated and absorbed in researching and documenting the history of the state police before September 1 and later, because, thanks to their collections, the collections of photographs and objects in the exhibition you will see could be enriched and diversified. This exhibition is devoted to 32 thousand functionaries of the pre-war State Police, of which thousands did not survive World War II because the aggressors considered the officers a deadly enemy".
The Police Day celebrated annually on July 24 was established on the anniversary of the establishment of the State Police in 1919. Eight months after achieving independence, Poland organized a formation responsible for security, peace and public order. "The exhibition shows how the history of the pre-war State Police was violently interrupted by the outbreak of World War II and shows the fate of our predecessors - who took the oath of office and came to fulfill it until the end. (...) Let's watch the exhibition in the conviction that such events will never be repeated" - said Supt. Jarosław Rzymkowski, the Provincial Police Commandant in Gdańsk, to those gathered.


Here are the main/broad ideas you need to learn here:
- Understand the role of China as “superpower” among the third-wave civilizations.
- Synthesize China’s deep influence on East Asia.
- Analyze the ways in which interaction with other peoples had an impact on China
- Question modern assumptions about China.
I've noticed that the people who are doing the best on the tests are engaging in this forum in some way. Frankly, you're crazy if you aren't using this as a test prep tool!
Oh, and you will have noticed that I compromised on the fonts. Paragraph text is in this more standard serif font while I'm keeping the cool, funky font for titles...hope you can live with that...
Get engaged with Strayer and it all get easier!


When the hole becomes too deep for the miner to simply shovel the dirt, known as mullock or overburden, up and out of the shaft it has to be hauled out and this can be done with –
Hand windlass - a hand operated winch used to lift buckets of mullock out of the shaft. There are not many people using these on the fields anymore.
Power winch - operates on the same principles as the windlass but is powered by compressed air or a power generator.
Yorke hoist – a hoist mounted on a vertical pipe, stayed by wires from the top, enabling free movement of the hoist mechanism around the mine shaft. Using a hoist is generally a two person job. A bucket of mullock from deep inside a mine shaft can be hoisted to the surface, swung away from the shaft and emptied by an operator at the surface. The entrance of the shaft, known as the shaft collar, can be reinforced by boxing with galvanised iron or wooden frames to prevent mullock falling down into the shaft potentially injuring the miner below. In some horizontal tunnels leading off from the main shaft, the miner underground may fill the buckets at the face of the tunnel where they are working, and slide it to the vertical shaft along lengths of water pipe on the floor lubricated by sump oil. Hand carts can be used to move buckets of mullock along horizontal tunnels to the vertical shaft also. Once at the shaft a safety hook is used to prevent the bucket dislodging from the winch cable as it is raised to the surface. Once emptied the whole process is repeated again.
Vehicle mounted winch – these days most miners have a portable winch mounted on their work vehicles. They are used to lower persons and equipment down mine shafts. The one I made, pictured below, is charged by a solar panel with dual batteries and can fold away for travelling long distances.
Ute Mounted Winch System
The most common method of sinking a shaft is by the use of –
Calweld drill – The California Welding Co. in the USA produced large diameter drill rigs, which comprise of a truck with a separate engine on the back running a hydraulic system for the rig assembly at the back of the truck. It comprises of a large cylindrical steel bucket with a diameter of around 1 metre. The bucket has a hinged base with two slots fitted with cutting teeth. The base is locked, the bucket is lowered down the hole and filled by a rotary action. When full, the bucket is brought to the surface and pulled away approximately 5 metres from the drill hole by a boom and pulley system. The hinged base is then opened to dump the mullock out of the bucket to the ground. As each bucket is emptied, miners search for signs of opal. Calweld holes can be reamed out to approximately 2 metres diameter to allow tunnelling machines and other machinery down the shaft. When several of these drill rigs were brought to the opal fields in the 1970’s they became the preferred method of shaft sinking and are still used today.
Prospecting Drill – comprising of a setup similar to that of a Calweld drilling rig, an auger of approximately 9 inches in diameter, drills a hole to the desired level. The material bought up by the auger is checked by the driller for signs of potch, precious opal or signs of different layers of sandstone or clay which in turn can hold precious opal. A prospecting drill can also be used to sink ventilation shafts.
9" Prospecting Drill
Ventilation Shafts – the extent of mining in the clay levels of a mine was often limited because of difficulty in providing ventilation to remove hot air and dust at the end of a long tunnel, especially after explosives were used. After the introduction of auger drills for prospecting in the 1980’s miners could quickly drill ventilation shafts down to the longest tunnels to allow more air to circulate.
Following the opal level - driving on the level or (vertical) means following along the opal bearing ground. The potentially opal rich layer can run horizontally or vertically. It can then be removed with mechanical means or by hand using a pick or a rotary hammer drill etc. I usually chase this along using a Blacklight. It works by using a Ultra Violet lamp or LED. when the UV light hits the face of the mine any opal including potch opal (trace opal) lights up or glows making it easier to follow the vein until it hopefully turns into precious opal gemstones. Once precious opal is found it's usually worked with a hand pick or a screw driver in preference to a jackpick to avoid damaging any opal.
Using a UV light to chase opal
Using a hand pick is always used once an opal pocket is found
The mullock from underground mining is removed in a number of ways, some of them peculiar to the opal fields.
These include -
Hand windlass - (see above description)
Power winch - (see above description)
Yorke hoist – (see above description)
Automatic bucket tipper – or self-unloader allows the entire operation to be controlled by one miner from underground. A full bucket of mullock is strapped to a cradle at the base of the shaft. The miner pulls a lever which engages the winch motor. The bucket is hauled to the surface along two parallel rails which when are above the ground curve downwards to allow the bucket of mullock to be emptied about 5 metres from the shaft. At the point of tipping, an automatic reversing switch is tripped sending the now empty bucket back down the shaft to repeat the process when the miner is ready.
Automatic bucket tipper dumping into a mullock heap
Blower – a truck mounted machine which is similar to a vacuum cleaner. A big fan or blower, driven by a separate diesel engine on the back of the truck, sucks mullock out of the shaft through a series of large metal pipes, the mullock is then collected in a hopper (large metal bin) on the surface, which is emptied either automatically or when requested.
Blowers working on the 6 mile field Coober Pedy
Bogger – a small, air powered, front end loader. After blasting underground, the bogger is used to scoop up the scattered mullock with its small bucket and then tips it into a small holding bin. This is then emptied into a sump where a bucket elevator takes it to the surface. A sump is a dumping area dug out below the tunnel floor.
Bucket elevator – consists of a series of buckets on an endless chain which continually come out of the shaft full, are emptied out on the surface, and go back down the shaft empty to repeat the cycle again. It starts in the bottom of a sump where loads of mullock are dumped from the tunnels face by a bogger.
Backhoes – used for digging trenches where opal is close to the surface, or for working in abandoned bulldozer cuts. The large bucket on the front can be used for moving mullock heaps or loading trucks and hoppers, etc.
Kanga Mini Loader - This is what I am currently using in the underground drives in my opal claim. Its a very versatile machine that I can change attachments on so that I can either drill prospecting holes, rip the face of a mine, cut into the face and also simply use the front bucket to clean out the waste mullock out of the drive.
My Kanga working at our claim in Coober Pedy
Excavator – consisting of a boom, dipper (or stick), bucket or head attachment and a cabin which sits on top of a turret with tracks or wheels. Excavators are frequently used to dig trenches to get to the opal layer, and to work on the face of an open quarry.
Mate prospecting for opal on the Hitachi Excavator Coober Pedy
Bulldozers – operate more efficiently on combined claims where there is enough area for the disposal of overburden by pushing from one claim to the next, allowing maximum exposure of opal bearing ground. The Bulldozer operator rips up and pushes overburden from out of the open cut mine until they reach the level that they hope to find opal on, often with spotters watching for opal in case the opal level is shallower than expected. When opal is spotted, the ground is worked over by hand, first with a pick and shovel, then smaller hand tools can be used to carefully remove a precious opal seam.
Bulldozer pushing overburden
Quite a bit of precious opal may be crushed, broken or overlooked by careless operators. As a result, bulldozed mullock heaps are the preferred choice for noodling machines rather than the dumps resulting from underground mining. Noodling is often on a commission basis, with the noodling contractors employed by the claim owner who gives them a percentage of what they find.
Types of tunnelling machines –
Circular tunneling machine
This particular type (see picture) has a large rotating arm on the front with a cutting head attached, this makes a circular tunnel. The mullock is generally removed with a blower. I haven’t seen one of these in action so I don’t know much about them, but I’m guessing having a rounded floor underneath you would create its own problems.
Multiple discs with teeth
The tunnelling machine (see above picture) consists of a large drum with discs of teeth, mounted on two boom arms either side of the drum. The drum is rotated and lifted up and down with the arms. It cuts out a curved rectangle shape and is inches forward by the rest of the machine driven with small bulldozer like tracks. The mullock material is either removed with a blower or a conveyor belt type removal system. It is commonly used to make dugouts, which are underground dwellings commonly found in Coober Pedy.
Hydraulic tunneling machine with bogger
The picture of this last tunnelling machine (see picture above) is similar to a mini excavator consisting of a two-toothed pick and is hydraulically driven to pick and scrape away at the face of a mine. It has two large vertical hydraulic stays that jam up into the tunnel roof to stop the machine moving and to help support the roof while digging. It moves forward by digging the pick into the floor and dragging itself forward. The mullock is removed usually with a blower system.
Hopefully this has given you a brief overview of some of the mining techniques used on opal fields in Australia. If there is something specific about mining for opal that you would like to know, leave me a comment below and I will do my best to give you the information you request.
To check out more information on Opals or to see our finished opal jewellery in stock click on the link.


Please note, this page is printable by selecting the normal print options on your computer.
What are the ankle ligaments?
The ankle Ligaments are tough fibrous bands that hold the bones in the ankle together, making the joint strong and stable, whilst allowing ankle movement within a specific range. These ligaments are divided into three main groups, that are located on the outside of the ankle (lateral ankle ligaments), above the ankle (syndesmosis) and on the inside of the ankle (deltoid ligaments).
What is an ankle sprain?
A lateral ankle ligament injury is what most people picture as the ‘classic’ ankle sprain and is the focus of this information sheet. It is a frequent injury that can happen while walking on uneven ground, playing sport or wearing high heels. The ankle rolls inwards (inversion) beyond it’s normal range and the lateral ankle ligaments are stretched or torn, leading to pain and swelling on the outside of the ankle.
The ATFL is the weakest of the lateral ankle ligaments and is the most commonly injured, followed by the CFL. People are more likely to have an ankle sprain if they play running and jumping sports, are overweight, have hypermobile joints, weak ankles or high arched feet.
What is a high ankle sprain?
A high ankle sprain is a different injury and much less common. This occurs when the ligaments above the ankle joint (syndesmosis) are stretched or torn. A longer rehabilitation period is required to fully recover.
What are the symptoms of an ankle sprain?
The immediate symptoms will vary on how severe the ankle sprain is, which can include: pain, swelling and bruising on the outside of the ankle with a popping or tearing sound at the time of injury, difficulty putting weight through the ankle and restricted ankle movements.
If a severe ankle injury is sustained medical advice should be sought immediately. Symptoms that suggest a severe injury include: pain preventing any weight bearing, a deformed ankle, the skin over the ankle is broken, the injury was caused by a severe force (for example fall from a height) or the pain and swelling gets worse over the first few days.
In some cases, other structures around the ankle can be injured at the same time. These include damage to the ankle joint surface (osteochondral defect), injury to the peroneal tendons or deltoid ligament and bone fractures (5th metatarsal, anterior process of the calcaneum, fracture lateral process of the talus).
How are ankle sprains graded?
Ankle sprains can be graded to help determine the severity of the injury and how long it will take to heal. An ultrasound or MRI scan can be arranged if accurate grading is required.
Grade 1 (mild) is when at least one of the lateral ankle ligaments are overstretched, with minimal ankle swelling, pain and bruising. Grade 2 (moderate) is when at least one of the lateral ankle ligaments are partially torn, with moderate ankle swelling, pain and bruising. Grade 3 (severe sprain) is when at least one of the lateral ankle ligaments are completely torn with severe ankle swelling, pain and bruising.
What is the initial treatment for an ankle sprain?
Most ankle sprains are minor injuries, which will improve overtime with simple treatments. Follow the RICE protocol as soon as possible after your injury to reduce the swelling:
Non-steroidal anti-inflammatory mediations (NSAIDs) such as ibuprofen or naproxen can help control the pain and swelling. Ask advice from your doctor or pharmacist before taking these medications as they can have side-effects in some people.
For moderate and severe ankle sprains immobilisation may be required, with a supportive ankle brace or surgical walking boot, for several weeks.
Do I need physiotherapy after an ankle sprain?
Most ankle sprains get better without any specialist treatment. Moderate to severe ankle sprains will benefit from physiotherapy exercises, once the initial symptoms of pain and swelling have settled.
Physiotherapy involves early ankle motion to prevent stiffness, then ankle strengthening exercises with balance (proprioception) training to prevent chronic ankle instability. Return to sport will vary depending on the severity of the ankle sprain and your own individual activity level.
Will I need surgery after an ankle sprain?
Surgery is reserved for patients with persistent ankle instability in their normal daily activities, that does not improve with a course of physiotherapy. Even a complete ligament tear (grade 3) can heal without surgical repair if it is immobilised appropriately.
Surgery can provide a stable ankle. It usually comprises of a lateral ankle ligament reconstruction (Broström procedure), to reattach and retighten the damaged ligaments to the bone on the outside of the ankle.
Patients that have a healthy diet, take regular exercise and refrain from smoking are more likely to experience a quicker recovery with a more successful outcome from their surgery.
If you have any concerns about your general health and well-being (diet, exercise, smoking cessation) you are encouraged to discuss this with your GP, who will be able to provide advice on the options available to you.
We hope this leaflet has answered any questions you might have. If you have any further queries, please feel free to discuss them with any of the medical or nursing staff.


The last thing that many new mothers want to hear when they intend to breastfeed is the word “formula.”
However, according to a new study, formula may help mothers with low milk supply keep their child breastfeeding for a longer duration.
Dr. Valerie Flaherman, a pediatrician at UC San Francisco, teamed up with colleagues to evaluate 38 infants that had lost 5 percent of their birth weight within their first 36 hours. One group was given 10 milliliters of formula through a syringe after each breastfeeding session with their mothers. They stopped giving the formula once the mothers’ milk supply came in. The other group—the control group—included infants only breastfed.
After a week, only two of the 20 babies who had received the syringe feedings had received formula in the previous 24 hours. In the control group, nine of 19 babies had wound up going on formula.
Three months after the children were born, 79 percent of the babies who had the early formula feedings were breastfeeding exclusively, while just 42 percent of the control group babies were solely breastfed.
“By partially ameliorating weight loss and signs of fussiness and hunger, early limited feeding may provide mothers with a strategy to allay their milk supply concern and continue with their desire to breast-feed for a longer duration,” the team wrote.
The researchers say that the use of the syringe made sure the infants did not learn to prefer bottles to the breast.
In other news, more women in the U.S. are breastfeeding in general.
A Centers for Disease Control and Prevention report showed that the percentage of women who breastfed babies from birth went from 70.3 percent to 74.6 percent in recent years. The number of women still breastfeeding when children were six months old increased from 34.5 percent to 44.4 percent and children who were breastfed for a year rose from 16 percent to 23.4 percent.
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The mini-pyrotechnics of fireflies could prove to be lightning in a bottle for drug researchers, providing a way to speed up the long and arduous process of developing and testing new drugs.
Washington University (St. Louis) radiologist David Piwnica-Worms and his team are using a firefly protein to make mouse cells glow when triggered by a drug. When they sedate the mice and put them under a special camera, they can see changes in the glow in real time. In the experiment they put the glowing protein into tumor cells treated by an experimental cancer drug.
"You're actually looking at how much of the drug got in and affected the target protein, because that protein is now fused to the glowing firefly protein," he says. "By following the light coming out, you can very sensitively follow, over time, different doses of the drug and know how long it takes and how much it takes to get into the tumor. So you have a much more precise tool for understanding the molecular targeting of the drug."
As he and his team reported in the journal Nature Methods, the new technique could make tests of many kinds of new drugs faster and more efficient. And the technique does not harm test subjects.
"You can just image the animals over and over and over again for hours and hours and days on end... at any type of time interval that you want," he says.
Piwnica-Worms' study on the cancer drug took five days and required only 30 mice. He says it normally might have taken six months and 300 mice.
"A traditional way of studying that would be to [give] the animal with a certain amount of the drug and then wait a number of days or weeks and see how the tumor grew," he says, "but you still never knew if the drug was acting on the tumor in the way you'd designed it to. The end result — the tumor stopped growing — is helpful; but you'd still have to wait days and weeks to find that out ... and of course you have to destroy the cells or the animal in order to study these particular proteins."
The researchers recently published a similar paper in the journal Analytical Chemistry, but with proteins from click beetles, which glow red and green. Combined with the yellow of fireflies, these extra colors give them the option of watching a drug's effect on several different areas at one time.


Who Regulates Vermont's Water? Records Show Confusion, Delayed Enforcement By Two Agencies
Two Vermont agencies share responsibility for regulating water pollution from farms. But public records reviewed by VPR show the bureaucratic divide can lead to confusion among regulators, as well as delays in enforcement cases – delays that sometimes cause pollution to flow unchecked for months.
The public is increasingly sounding the alarm about farms polluting waterways. Here’s a message someone left with the state after seeing manure running directly into water:
“You got acres of it! And you got an active stream running right through the middle of it. It’s just above freezing, it’s melting and going into the stream, which then goes into the St. Albans Bay, as you well know.”
Listen to the audio from the voicemail left by a citizen filing a complaint about agricultural runoff near St. Albans Bay:
Farm waste – carrying phosphorus pollution – has fed toxic algae blooms on Lake Champlain and threatens other lakes around Vermont. And the taxpayers have invested heavily to get the water clean. Since 2017, the state has dedicated $25 million to help farms reduce pollution in the Lake Champlain watershed.
State Treasurer Beth Pearce has estimated it could cost almost $1 billion, and take 20 years, to fully clean the lake.
How Vermont addresses agricultural pollution, now
Another caller left a voicemail, wanting to know what the state was doing now about the runoff he saw flowing into streams in Franklin County:
“And why we’re letting these people pollute the rivers, and eventually the Lake Champlain basin? Instead of spending millions of dollars on lake clean-up, let’s take care of it at the source.”
Listen to the audio from a different voicemail left by a citizen filing a complaint about agricultural runoff in Franklin County:
Farm regulation is divided between two state agencies. The Agency of Agriculture inspects and permits farms, and it can also help farms find funding. But if water pollution leaves the land and runs directly into a ditch or stream, the Agency of Natural Resources (ANR) takes over.
But it’s hardly a perfect partnership. Records show that cases are tossed back and forth between the two bureaucracies, even when evidence seems to be compelling. Sometimes pollution can continue to flow for months. In some cases, despite repeated warnings and legal sanctions, the same violations repeatedly re-occur.
Since 2017, the agriculture agency has referred 88 suspected cases of farm waste entering waterways to ANR. Twenty-nine cases – about a third – are still open at ANR. Four cases were sent to the Vermont Attorney General's office for possible legal action.
Kim Greenwood is a deputy commissioner at ANR, and she said her agency often would wait until the agriculture agency had tried to help the farmer by, say, getting funds to build a new manure pit.
“What we found is that, unfortunately, that process can take a really long time,” she said. “If you are waiting on a grant, let’s say for $300,000 or whatever the cost is for a new manure pit, that could be a long period of time. And in the meantime that discharge is continuing to occur. And it was really slowing down our ability to be able to close those incidents out.”
Yet sometimes cases get stalled because the two agencies don’t agree on what to do. Last May, an agriculture agency inspector visited a large farm owned by the Vorsteveld family in Addison County.
According to records, the inspector saw farm waste coming out of a culvert and going into a ditch that flowed toward the Dead Creek and Lake Champlain. The agriculture agency told the Vorstevelds to fix the problem, and sent a report and photos over to ANR.
But state records show one month later, ANR closed the case, having never visited the farm. The agency has since said it’s taking a second look at the farm, eight months after the initial report.
Greenwood said in an email the decision was based on a more recent referral from the agriculture agency. She said the split jurisdiction over water quality can get confusing for all involved.
“Having one body who is regulating farms would certainly help with that, so then the issues would be dealt with at the moment that they’re found,” Greenwood said.
A difficult marriage?
Greenwood said ANR has now accelerated its enforcement process.
“A year or two years is just too long, in terms of our priorities and the urgency with which we are trying to address the issues around Lake Champlain and all our waters,” she said.
But despite this sense of urgency, state records show that months-long delays in enforcement – even a year or more – are not unusual.
“I think that delay is inherent in having multiple bodies regulate,” Greenwood said.
Laura DiPietro is director of water quality at the Agency of Agriculture, and she said it’s important to keep her specialists working with farms to curb pollution, even if the case has been referred to ANR for enforcement. Agriculture agency staff have the expertise, she said, to help the farmer find funding to install a new manure pit, for example.
More from VPR: Divided Oversight Hampers Enforcement In Major Vermont Farm Pollution Case [Nov. 22]
And, she added, her inspectors are quick to take action and that they refer cases over to ANR when they see pollution leaving a farm.
“What we can do is put the farm on notice, and then work through the different partnerships to try and make the correction,” DiPietro said. “Because typically when something is a direct discharge or a point discharge, there’s typically an infrastructure need to fix it. If for some reason they choose that it's not a point source, then we can pick it up and follow it from there."
Where the process between the agriculture agency and ANR can become problematic, she said, is making sure farms are on notice and a case is moving forward. And records show the two agencies aren't always on the same page.
In one case this past summer, manure was allegedly flowing into Lake Champlain from a farm near St. Albans. Officials from ANR and the agriculture agency exchanged a series of terse emails over whether the pollution was a direct discharge, and thus ANR’s responsibility, or an indirect discharge, which falls under the agriculture agency's authority.
An agriculture agency inspector said the problem seemed to be a lack of buffers along a field. But the ANR official quotes a witness who said manure-tainted brown runoff reached 50 feet into the lake.
“This sounds like a discharge complaint to me,” the ANR official said.
State records reviewed by VPR show the two agencies have struggled for years to even agree on a shared definition of a point source – like a straight pipe sending waste into a stream – or a non-point source – like runoff from a field.
DiPietro said finding a workable definition is harder than you'd think.
“On paper, every definition is clear. In the field, no definition is clear,” she said. “There’s this space where, depending on the precipitation, before, after, the conditions of soil saturation, the timing and nature of the type of discharge it might be, it may not all be happening at the same time and space. And so, what one entity may see on one day, the next day it looks totally different.”
In the era of climate change
Listen to the audio version of the second part of this story:
As a whole, 2019 was a very wet year in Vermont, following a trend with annual precipitation above normal.
All that rain and snow melt filled up manure pits at dairy farms around the state, and saturated fields made it tough for farmers to plow or to spread manure as fertilizer for their crops. Last winter and this winter, the agriculture agency lifted a seasonal ban and allowed farmers to spread manure on snow.
The agriculture agency cited the wet weather caused by a changing climate as a major reason for allowing farmers to do this. The practice is normally banned because if the snow melts, the manure can easily run off into streams.
“This is likely what it looks like to live in a changing climate," said Ryan Patch, the deputy director of water quality at the Agency of Agriculture. “And the agency needs to support farmers to, you know, identify solutions and try to address the challenges of managing all this additional rainwater.”
The agriculture agency granted the spreading exemption with the strict warning that waste could not enter waterways. Yet despite that warning, and concerns raised by ANR, that’s allegedly exactly what happened at least four times last winter and spring.
“They banned spreading manure on snow because the obvious is going to happen,” said Michael Colby, the leader of the group Regeneration Vermont, which advocates for clean water and sustainable farming practices. “It’s going to melt, it’s going to slide off and it’s going to head right to our waterways.”
Colby said the agriculture agency needs to recognize weather patterns have changed and exemptions to the spreading ban should no longer be allowed.
“And it’s really disturbing that here we are two years in a row, that they’re declaring an 'emergency,'” he said. “And the emergency last year was early snow, and this year it’s kind of, it was late rain and early snow. And this is the new norm.”
Colby pointed to one Franklin County case he said shows the problems of divided regulation.
State records show a Highgate farmer spread manure on snow in November of 2018. The waste then ran off toward a stream, according to video taken by a state agriculture agency inspector.
Because it was pollution leaving the farm, the inspector notified the Agency of Natural Resources. Twelve days later, an ANR enforcement officer rode with the farmer in his truck around the fields. The officer found no violation and closed the case.
“That’s a serious problem,” Colby said. “Because this is a direct discharge, of farm runoff into a waterway in Vermont, in the middle of a water crisis.”
Sole authority or stronger leadership?
One lawmaker wants to end the bureaucratic back and forth. Bennington Democratic Senator Brian Campion has introduced legislation that would give ANR the sole authority to regulate farm pollution.
“We don’t talk about agricultural air, we shouldn’t be talking about agricultural water,” he said. “Water is something that we all want to make sure is clean. It belongs with the entity that is responsible for keeping our natural resources clean. It’s really as simple as that.”
While he doesn’t have any co-sponsors on his bill, Campion said the idea is beginning to get support, especially as toxic algae blooms fed by farm runoff continue to plague Lake Champlain.
More from VPR: High Heat + Precipitation = Blue-Green Algae Blooms In Vermont [July 19]
“I think we are at the tipping point," Campion said. "Again, when you look at agricultural runoff, sure there are some improvements happening, but to put [the Agency of] Agriculture in charge of clean water does not make sense to me whatsoever."
Clean water advocate James Ehlers, executive adviser to Lake Champlain International, said the problem is not just that agriculture water cases are divided between two agencies.
“If it were as simple as the Agency of Natural Resources taking over, I would wholeheartedly support that,” he said. “But as we can see from stormwater and wastewater and drinking water, the Agency of Natural Resources isn’t doing their job in that regard either.”
Ehlers said stronger leadership is needed to force the agencies to work together to protect public health and the public’s water.
More from VPR: 'It's The Dairy Sewer': Neighbors Say State Is Failing To Regulate Agricultural Pollution [Dec. 9]
“These multiple agencies all have one thing in common, and that’s their boss,” he said. “There’s a governor at the top.”
But state officials and other experts insist Vermont has made significant progress, both with new money and by promoting changes in farming practices.
Progress on the farms
University of Vermont extension service agronomist and soils specialist Heather Darby recently told lawmakers that Vermont farmers don’t get the credit they deserve for making dramatic improvements in how they farm, such as switching to no-till agriculture, which reduces runoff.
Darby said 30,000 acres in Vermont are under no-till farming, up from virtually none a few years ago.
“The rate of implementation over the last three to four years is what I think is going to start to turn the tide,” she said.
Darby said the criticism of farming detracts from the progress farmers are making.
“We just constantly fight over: Do we need more wetlands, do we need less ag land? Do we need that food? Do we need clean water? It’s not an argument we should be having,” she said. “We should be coming together around, ‘How do we get all of it?’”
Darby added that regulation of farming in Vermont is strict, compared to other states.
“When I go to other states, they love to hear about Vermont, because they actually make comments to me like, ‘We do whatever the hell we want,’” she said.
But advocates like Colby and Ehlers are not so sanguine about the state’s progress. They argue there are simply too many cows on too little land to absorb all that manure without eventually polluting water.
Given the millions of dollars taxpayers are spending to clean up the lake, they said, that level of public investment, deserves a more coordinated response to farm pollution.


The 17th Amendment revisited
By Thomas E. Brewton
Original provisions of the Constitution intended to prevent Congress from enacting "dumb" laws were vitiated by ratification of the 17th Amendment.
Before ratification of the 17th Amendment it's unlikely that a Senate committee would have needed to raise the sort of question posed by Senator Coburn during confirmation hearings on Elena Kagan's nomination to the Supreme Court. A Wall Street Journal editorial reports:
I must disagree, however, with the Journal's understanding. Abundant evidence from James Madison's notes on the 1787 Constitutional Convention debates, as well as from the Federalist Papers and correspondence and speeches by prominent political leaders of the founding era, make clear that the Senate's role was to prevent Congress from passing laws that infringed upon powers traditionally reserved to state governments.
Delegates to the Constitutional Convention explicitly recognized that the broad language of a constitution cannot prescribe limits upon Congressional legislative power for every one of the myriad occasions in which regulatory questions can arise. Such questions, the delegates noted, are political in nature, not judicial issues. Ms. Kagan is correct that the courts have no constitutional authority to reject Congressional enactments solely because judges regard them as "dumb." Deference to Congress in such matters is a position of proper judicial restraint.
The Senate was intended to be the bulwark against unwise political actions that infringed upon the rights and powers reserved to the states and to the people by the 9th and 10th Amendments of the Bill of Rights. Because Senators were originally elected by their state legislatures, they had to be attendant to the wishes of the individual states and could not, as now under the 17th Amendment, respond primarily to pressure from national political parties to conform to the dictates of special interest groups such as public employees labor unions or "green" fanatics.
Ratification of the 17th Amendment thrust upon the Supreme Court the burden of attempting to play the role originally intended for the Senate, a role that the courts simply cannot fulfill. Since 1913 the Supreme Court has twisted and turned, seeking constitutional justifications, however indirect, to impose restraints upon egregiously damaging and unwise legislative action. It should not have to assume that role. Without the 17th Amendment, Federal courts would not be the centers of bitter political fights, litmus tests, and poisonous confirmation hearings that destroy reputations and careers.
The 17th Amendment, ratified in 1913, was one of many initiatives championed by liberal-progressives to facilitate transformation of the Federal government from one limited by constitutional constraints into one with almost unlimited powers to impose new sociological standards. It was a key piece in the push to neuter states' rights and to collectivize power at the Federal level.
The commerce clause of the Constitution has been stretched since 1913 to confer upon Congress the power to regulate any action or event anywhere in the universe on the grounds that it might, however indirectly, affect interstate commerce. The birth of every new baby, for example, indirectly affects interstate commerce, because the parents will need to buy food, clothing, and other items. Some of such items will surely have been manufactured, warehoused, or shipped from states other than that of the baby's residence, bringing the birth of a child within the purview of the commerce clause. There is thus theoretically no constitutional limitation upon Federal power to regulate the number of children a family is permitted to have.
It is noteworthy that very few issues of judicial activism arose prior to ratification of the 17th Amendment, because the Senate generally did its job, which was preventing passage of power-grabbing legislation. It is also noteworthy that growth of the Federal bureaucracy accelerated only after the 17th Amendment.
Thomas E. Brewton is a staff writer for the New Media Alliance, Inc. The New Media Alliance is a non-profit (501c3) national coalition of writers, journalists and grass-roots media outlets. His weblog is The View from 1776Z. Email comments to email@example.com.


Human rights are a big buzz word in today's media. Tibet, China, Iran, Iraq and even the countries of North America have been questioned over their human rights policies. But what exactly are human rights?
“ All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. They are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood. ”
—Article 1 of the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR)
Being born free. Equal. With dignity.
All humans are born free to have the right to the basics in life. Right? Well it depends on where you are born. If you are born poor you may not get those same rights that everyone is spouting out about.
Human rights are a 'new age' philosophy if you look back to its humble beginnings. It is also a very selective philosophy.
Consider that women were just recently deemed equal to men in most parts of the world, historically speaking. In other parts of the world they are still not quite so equal.
Let's get to the root of human rights. If you bring it down to brass tacks it was meant for the 'average white man' to have the same freedoms as all other 'average white men.'
The thoughts about human rights of course have changed since the humble beginnings of many Western governments giving their citizens basic rights.
Seriously though when one considers what human rights are who has them all? In North America we are allowed to worship who we choose. But are we? If we go against the grain and opt for a non-Christian lifestyle then even the rulers that govern us condemn us with their words.
"I am committed to the First Amendment principles of religious freedom, tolerance, and diversity. Whether Mormon, Methodist, Jewish, or Muslim, Americans should be able to participate in their constitutional free exercise of religion. I do not think witchcraft is a religion, and I do not think it is in any way appropriate for the U.S. military to promote it." -George Bush
What about the right to obtain an education? That again depends on where you live and if you were lucky enough to be born into a family with money.
We can expect to not be arrested for something without a reason. Well, unless the government thinks you have ties to terrorism or are a terrorist because then human rights are not so much there. We have the right to fall in love, as long as we fall in a heterosexual type of love. Otherwise it's iffy and depends on where you live. We have the right to have food, as long as we can afford it. If you can't afford it and you fit in the right boxes on the welfare agenda then you are given money for food. If you don't fit into the box though there are soup kitchens and the like in the bigger cities. There is always mudpies it you are dirt poor.
Did you ever notice that the right to medical care isn't listed in human rights? Free medical care is not a right in parts of the world. Loopholes have all the fun.
Human rights are a glorious idea but are they real? In a perfect world yes but this world isn't perfect. Human rights are a standard that governments aim for but often fall short. The West does have some of the best human rights of the world but it's not perfect. We have to remember that it's also not always the same desires of other cultures to be like the West.
We are all the same under our coverings yet that covering changes what rights we can hope to have. Men have different rights than women, whites have different rights than blacks, religious people have different rights than non-believers and so on. It's not perfect, it's not fair but it is the reality that we live in.