The enforced withdrawal of the Connecticut troops was a blow to the new commander. They alone were accompanied by a band of Mohegans, whose presence had saved them repeatedly from running into ambuscades, and Appleton had depended upon these Mohegans for his guides and scouts in the coming campaign. Notwithstanding the refusal of Seeley1 to join him, Appleton, having concentrated the bulk of his command, set out for Northfield on the 15th of October. He had but started, however, when information reached him that a large force of Indians was encamped on the west bank of the river. He hastened back to Hadley, and, crossing the river to Hatfield in the evening, struck the Deerfield trail and pushed forward in the hope of effecting a surprise, but the flash of a gun and the shouts of the Indians soon made clear that his movement had been discovered. A tempestuous night was setting in, and, fearful for the unguarded towns of Hadley and Hatfield in his rear, he turned back.
Hardly had he arrived at Hadley than Seeley at Northampton asked for reinforcements, as the Indians were near by. The air was full of rumors. Indians were here, there, everywhere, but Appleton, marching from one place p126to another, could not get in touch with them. Vague unrest prevailed throughout the towns and insubordination grew more rife among the troops as their long and hurried marches proved ever fruitless. The Connecticut troops were unwilling to remain in garrison at Westfield and among the captains jealousies and misunderstandings were frequent.
Across the river, a mile through the meadows from its north bank, and opposite Hadley, stands the little village of Hatfield. Here, on the 19th of October, Captains Poole2 and Moseley were resting their companies, when, about noon, several large fires were observed to the north of the village. Moseley immediately sent out a party of men to reconnoiter. The building of these fires was a trap such as the Indians delighted to set and in which the colonial forces were only too prone to be caught. There is little doubt but that the ambuscade was laid with full expectation that the whole garrison would march out and fall into it, for the scouting party had progressed but a short two miles beyond the stockade when a fierce volley fired from brush practically exterminated them. Six were killed, three captured, and a lone survivor found his way back.3
p127 Moseley was too well acquainted with the Indian character to believe this ambuscade the work of any but a large and aggressive force, who meant to attack the village. Sending word to Appleton who soon joined him, having left only twenty men at garrison at Hadley, the arrangements for defense were quickly completed. Several hours passed and no Indian had yet appeared, when suddenly, about four o'clock, a large body of warriors made their appearance at the edge of the meadows, rushing toward the stockade. Several heavy volleys, however, told them that the force on guard was large and well prepared, and after killing Freegrace Norton,4 a sergeant of Appleton's company, and sending a bullet through Appleton's hat, "by that whisper telling him that death was very near,"5 they retired, as Treat, who had at last returned to Northampton, appeared upon the scene. Hatfield had escaped the intended stroke, but no safety existed outside the stockade. The crops, ungathered in the fields, afforded subsistence to the Indians, and the scattered farms throughout the valley and to the eastward lay in ruins or deserted.
From Springfield northward the warriors lay in wait for any too venturesome settler or small body of troops and watched patiently for any opportunity to surprise the towns themselves.
The mill at Springfield had been destroyed and the people found it necessary to carry their corn to the mill at Westfield.6 On the 27th Major Pynchon and a small p128force, having ground the corn they were escorting, were fired upon from ambush and three of the party were killed.7
The previous day a party of seven or eight Northampton settlers, gathering their crops from the Pynchon meadow,8 had been surprised by a small force of Indians. No sentinels had been posted; their arms were deposited under the carts, but, cutting the traces, they mounted their horses and fled, followed almost up to the stockade by the Indians, who retired only after having burned four or five houses and several barns. The next day the same band surprised and killed two men and a boy in the meadows in Northampton opposite the town mill,9 p129but in an attempt to destroy the mill were driven off.10
Operations conducted in other parts of the field in a more or less perfunctory manner had brought but little result and the end of the war seemed farther off than ever and the Council found fault with Appleton for his failure. "I am not without feeling some smart in your lines, though I would not be over tender," he wrote them in reply, and the fault was as much theirs as his.11
Captain Henchman, marching from Boston, November 1st, to reconnoiter the country around Hassamenesit, came, November 3d, on some fires recently kindled by the Indians and, urged by his officers, continued on to the Indian encampment. No Indians were found, but the scouts, under Captain Sill, early in the morning discovered a miller's lad who, recently captured near Marlboro, had been abandoned on their approach.
A few days later Henchman, drawing near to Mendon, received information of Indian wigwams about ten miles off. Mounting twenty-two of the company, Henchman and Philip Courtice,12 his lieutenant, set out in the hope of surprising them. Having come within a short distance p130of the Indian encampment they tied their horses and divided, Henchman taking one-half the company and Courtice the remainder. Henchmen's men were closing in upon the village when the Indian dogs began to bark. All halted, then slowly moved forward; but the "the captain's foot slipping, he could hardly recover himself and suddenly looking behind him he saw no man following him."
Courtice, however, had pushed on and coming upon the wigwams was met by a sharp and sudden fire. Courtice himself was shot as he reached the door of a wigwam, one of his men also fell dead, while the remainder took to flight. Henchman called upon them to shoot into the wigwams and "they replied that they only went back to fall on and charge, yet left the field entirely."13
Winter was near at hand, the trees were shedding their foliage, the naked forests no longer offered opportunities for ambuscades, and as November progressed hostilities ceased and the Indians vanished.
In the valley operations also had come to a close. Treat, who had maintained a friendly attitude toward Appleton during the campaign at the instance of the Connecticut Council, finally returned to Connecticut, and Appleton, having destroyed the Indian crops wherever he could find them in the valley, left small garrisons in Hadley, p131Northampton and Springfield, and departed with most of the troops for Boston, where plans were already prepared for a blow at the Narragansetts in their winter quarters.
The campaign in the Connecticut Valley had been a disastrous failure through lack of harmony, hampering commands from the Council and commissioners, and the absence of a definite plan of operations. The anxious inhabitants settled down with meager supplies to face the hard winter, while houses were strengthened against attack, and the burned out settlers of Springfield crowded the houses of their friends or covered over their cellars for a winter refuge. The Indians, their crops destroyed, their powder scarce, and without their winter supply of dried fish, faced winter in the recesses of the swamps or wandered to remote parts in search of sustenance. The constant defeats, the wiping out of settlements where destruction and death struck so near and poignantly to all, aroused the stern but latently emotional New Englanders to vengeance. With the spread of the war from one end of the land to the other, the conflict assumed a religious and racial character that could have no other outcome than the extermination of one or the other of the combatants. The fury of fire and sword, without mercy, was to sweep alike over cabin and Indian village. Suspicion and hatred of all Indians became intense throughout Massachusetts. Though many of the Christian Indians remained faithful, there were others who joined the hostiles and distinguished themselves by their cruelty. It was but natural that the settlers, knowing not whom to trust and suspicious of all, should include innocent and guilty in the same condemnation. It is unnecessary to p132enumerate the results born of this attitude. Even a year later when peace had come in the south, the women of Marblehead, coming from church, massacred Indian prisoners from Maine who were being convoyed through the town.14 The rough element of the community plundered the wigwams of the neighboring friendly Indians and in several cases wounded and murdered the women and children.15 Indian prisoners were tortured for the purpose of eliciting information and women, children and old men were sold into slavery. Christian Indians who had served successfully as scouts were driven to join the hostiles. The Indians in the stockaded towns near Boston were ordered by the General Court not to be received in any town except in the prison, and were finally removed to Deer Island where, ill supplied with the necessaries of life, they suffered great hardships during the winter.16 A mob called upon Captain Oliver17 to lead them in an attack on the jail where the Indians were confined, but Oliver, though an exponent of the harsh policy, belabored the p133ringleaders with a stick.18 It became necessary for the time being for the authorities to bend to the popular tempest and disband the companies of Indians organized by Gookin,19 and the courts appeased popular clamor by convicting prisoners whom they afterwards released. "O come, let us go down to Deer Island and let us kill all these praying Indians," was the cry of the irresponsible. But the Council, informed of the plot of about thirty men to pull out to the Island from Pullings Point to kill the Indians, sent for two or three of the ringleaders and warned them to attempt it at their peril.20
Whoever adopted most repressive measures won popular approval, and the appeals of men like Major Gookin and Rev. John Eliot for humane treatment, and their representations as to the folly of estranging the friendly Indian, alike fell upon deaf ears. "The error of selling away such Indians unto the islands for perpetual slaves" wrote Eliot to the commissioners, "may produce we know not what evil consequences upon all the land, . . . this usage of them is worse than death. Christ hath said, Blessed be the merciful. . . . All men (of reading) condemn the Spaniards for cruelty . . . in destroying men and depopulating the land. Here is land enough for them and us too."21
Gookin and Eliot were threatened by angry mobs, and the former was defeated at the election for magistrate. p134Several curious depositions show the feelings of the baser element toward him. One Rie Scott called him an "Irish dog, never faithful to his king or his country, . . . a rogue, God confound him, he is the devil's interpreter. I and a few more designed to cut off all Gookins' brethren on the island and some English dog discovered it."22
Warnings were sent both to Gookin and Eliot purporting to be from a secret society, calling them traitors and warning them to prepare for death.23 The men of Captain Henchman refused to serve under him on account of his moderate views, and even Major Savage and Captain Prentice were held up to popular hatred as friends of the "incarnate devils."
These measures cost Massachusetts dear; it left her forces hopeless to carry on a successful campaign. Many a company was ambushed because of the lack of Indian scouts, and many a town was burned because of the refusal to credit the reports of friendly Indians and their own Indian spies. Connecticut, comparatively free from Indian attacks, was naturally able to take a broader view, and, by employing the Mohegans, did not suffer a reverse or surprise in the whole campaign.
For some time the mutual suspicion between the Narragansetts and the settlers had been drawing to a head. It was believed that numerous women and children of the Wampanoags had taken refuge in Canonchet's domains, and Uncas had spread the story that many young warriors were to be found in the Narragansett villages recovering p135from wounds received in the conflicts in the valley.
The unprovoked invasion of the Narragansett country at the beginning of the campaign had added fresh fuel to the bitter remembrance of Miantonomah's fate and the harsh and arbitrary acts of Massachusetts constantly repeated in the intervening years; nor can Canonchet have been blind to the fact that, whatever Philip's failings might be, every hope of Narragansett independence would fall with him.
The treaty, wrung by Captains Moseley and Savage at the sword's point from the old men, requiring the surrender of all Philip's subjects, even women and children who should take refuge with the Narragansetts, was for a long time openly flouted by Canonchet, yet on the demand of the commissioners of the United Colonies he confirmed, on the 18th of October, the terms of the treaty of July to deliver all the men, women and children to the Governor or Council at Boston before October 28th and was presented with a coat trimmed with silver, and dismissed.24
The sachems would have remained neutral if possible. They had kept aloof from any alliance with Philip and were held by both Philip and his allies to be friendly to the English. Such was the testimony of James Quanapohit, an Indian spy in the service of the English among the Quabaugs and Nashaways, who, questioned by Captain p136Nathaniel Davenport as to "whether the Narragansetts had aided or assisted Philip and his company in the summer, against the English," replied that they had not and that the hostiles "regarded them as friends of the English all along, and their enemies." This view of the Narragansetts was also held by the Indians around Plymouth, for when Peter, Awashonk's son, who had warned Church of Philip's designs just previous to the outbreak of hostilities, was examined at Plymouth in June, 1676, he testified that the Saconet Indians when the English had fired their houses, "understanding that the Narragansetts were friends to the English, we went to them." No hostile actions marked their course, but in the excited state of mind that existed among both magistrate and people of New England at the time, neutrality was impossible.
If the friendly Indians were objects of keen distrust and suspicion, a neutral tribe could only be regarded as hostile, harboring evil intention and waiting only a favorable opportunity for war and massacre.
The policy of peace at any price among the Narragansetts, so diligently pursued by Canonicus and Pessacus,º had broken down. Submission and subserviency had neither mitigated the white man's suspicions nor made the English less diligent in furthering their own interests and those of Uncas. The lesson taught by the Pequot war had grown dim in memory, and the young warriors found in Canonchet a leader who represented far more than his father or uncles, the warlike spirit of their traditionary leaders.
Swayed by such influence the Narragansetts were in no mood to commit so great an outrage against the traditions p137of Indian hospitality as to surrender the women and children who sought their protection, among them, no doubt, many from the sub-tribes of the Wampanoags who feared the resentment both of the English and their own kindred.
The attitude of reserve and suspicion assumed by the Narragansetts and the sullen temper of the young warriors had not passed unnoticed by those who knew them best. Pessacus, soon after the signing of the Pettaquamscat treaty in July had told several of the Rhode Islanders that the young warriors would not listen to his words of peace, and were desirous of war. Roger Williams had warned the authorities late in July that their words of peace were treacherous. He knew only too well the humiliations to which the whole tribe had been subjected, and weighed the desire for vengeance which burned in their hearts.
Immediately after the signing of the October treaty, Williams, while carrying one of the sachems (probably Canonchet,º returning from Boston) in his canoe to Smith's Landing, took the opportunity to warn him against breaking the treaty.
"I told him and his men that Philip was his looking-glass, and how Philip was dead to all advice and now was over set.
"He asked me in a consenting, considering kind of a way 'Philip over set?' . . . and I told him that if they were false to his engagements we would pursue them with a winter's war when they should not, as mosquitoes and rattlesnakes in warm weather, bite us. They gave me leave to say anything, acknowledging loudly your great kindness in Boston, and mine, and yet Captain p138Fenner25 told me yesterday he thinks they will prove our worst enemies at last."26
The warning did not fall upon deaf ears. The 28th of October came and the anxious but resolute commissioners knew that the treaty had been in vain.
It was believed at the time that Philip was Canonchet's evil counselor, but there exists no doubt that the Narragansett had himself determined to submit no more to every demand and threat Massachusetts might see fit to make, for his was a nature imbued with a strength and temper more certain to act on its own initiative than on the persuasion of others.
One more attempt at persuasion the English are reported by a popular tradition of the time to have made, only to meet in the stern, inclusive reply, "No, not a Wampanoag nor the paring of a Wampanoag's nail,"27 a refusal that bade them do their worst.
The commissioners, as well as public opinion, racked with the anxiety and depression over the disasters in the valley and the failure of the plan of campaign, felt it was safer to strike at the Narragansetts immediately, while concentrated in winter quarters, than to be hampered by fear of their rising in the spring.
On the refusal of Canonchet to keep the terms of the treaty, the commissioners of the United Colonies assembled at Boston, November 2d, and, without further p139negotiations, practically declared war in the following proclamation:
"For as much as the Narragansett Indians are deeply accessory in the present bloody outrages of the barbarous Indians that are in open hostilities with the English, this appearing by their harboring the actors thereof, relieving and succoring their women and children and wounded men, and detaining them in their custody notwithstanding the covenant made by their sachems to deliver them to the English, and as is creditably reported, have killed and taken away many cattle from the English, their neighbors, and did for some days seize and keep under a strong guard Mr. Smith's house and family, and at the news of the said lamentable mischief that the Indians did at or near Hatfield, did in a most reproachful and blasphemous manner triumph and rejoice. . . . The commissioners do agree to raise one thousand men beside the number of soldiers formerly agreed upon, and the commander-in‑chief shall with the said soldiers march into Narragansett country, and in case they be not permitted by the Narragansett sachems the actual performance of their covenant made with the commissioners, by delivering up those of our enemies that are in their custody, as also making reparation for all damages sustained by their neglect hitherto, together with security for their further conduct, then to compel them thereunto by the best means they may."28
The commissioners appointed Governor Josiah Winslow of Plymouth commander-in‑chief, referred the appointment of a second in command to the Council or p140General Court of Connecticut, fixed the allotment of men to be furnished by each of the colonies and advised that all troops be picked men, well equipped, warmly clothed, and supplied with a week's provisions in knapsacks and a supply in reserve. The 2d of December was named as a day of humiliation and prayer.
The fact that the Rhode Islanders, within whose boundaries the Narragansett country lay, were opposed to hostilities, and the contemplated invasion was in defiance of the royal charter of that colony was entirely ignored.
The hierarchy of the other colonies seldom wasted courtesy upon the authorities of heretical Rhode Island, and in this case, when they deemed time all important, they can hardly be blamed for considering that the safety of their people must not be endangered by the attitude of a weak government and the terms of a general charter.
1 Lieutenant Nathaniel Seeley, son of Robert of Wethersfield, was of New Haven in 1646 and later removed to Fairfield. He early entered upon military duty in the service of Connecticut, and fell in the Narragansett Swamp fight at the head of his company, December 19, 1675. — Savage.
2 Captain Jonathan Poole was of Reading. In October, 1671, he was appointed quartermaster, and in May, 1674, cornet of the "Three County Troop," and held that office when the war broke out in 1675. He served at Quabaug and Hadley and when Major Appleton was given command of the army of the west he appointed Poole to a captaincy. The Council refused for a time to confirm the appointment, but, later, when the main army was withdrawn for the Narragansett campaign Captain Poole was placed in command of the garrison forces in the valley towns. He served as representative to the General Court in 1677, and died December 24, 1678. — Bodge, page 258. Savage.
3 Drake's "Old Indian Chronicle," page 166.
4 Freegrace Norton was the son of George of Salem. He was first of Saco but removed to Ipswich.
5 Hubbard, Vol. I, page 125.
6 The original location of Westfield was at the junction of the Westfield and Little Rivers. Here was the log fort, under which a cellar had been provided for the retreat of the women and children in case of an attack. The ground on which this stood has disappeared through the encroachment of the river. Close upon the present highway stood the church, built of logs, "barn fation with a bell coney." The settlement was surrounded by a stout palisade. The original saw and gristmill was built upon the brook in the easterly part of the town, probably near the present village of "Little River," two and a half miles east of the center of the present Westfield.
7 These were John Dumbleton, and William and John Brooks.
8 Pynchon's meadow was a tract of •120 acres of ground granted to Major John Pynchon, situated at the most northerly turn of the "Ox Bow," and bounded on the south by Hurlburt's Pond, into and through which the Mill River at that time flowed. The Indians followed the fleeing settlers along what is now South Street, and the houses and barns destroyed by them were located not far from the present iron bridge over Mill River, and were at that time the most southerly buildings of the town. — See Trumbull's History of Northampton.
9 Northampton Town Mill, built in 1671 at "Red Rocks," was located on the bend of Mill River between what is now College Lane and Paradise Road, and upon the land of Praisever Turner, who had been murdered and scalped on the 29th of the previous month (September) while cutting wood on the hill just above the mill. Opposite the mill on the west side of the river was the meadow, now known as Paradise meadow, where the Indians had killed two men and a boy just before the attack on the mill.
10 Appleton to Governor Leverett, November 10th. — Massachusetts Archives, Vol. LXVIII, page 52.
11 Appleton to Governor Leverett, November 17th. — Massachusetts Archives, Vol. LXVIII, page 63.
12 Philip Curtis, born in 30, was of Roxbury.
13 The account is taken from Henchman's letter in Massachusetts Archive, Vol. LXVIII, page 80, and Hubbard.
14 Letter of Increase Mather, May 23, 1677.
15 Gookin's Christian Indians. — American Soc. Coll., Antiquarian Vol. II, page 482.
16 Ibid. page 485.
17 Captain James Oliver came to New England from the mother country with his parents, March 9, 1632. He was admitted freeman of Boston, October 12, 1640; became a merchant; was of the Artillery Company, ensign 1651, lieutenant 1653, captain 1656 and again in 1666. He was of the First Military Company of Boston and elected captain about 1673.º His appointment to the command of a company for the Narragansett campaign was dated November 17, 1675. He was one of the few officers commanding companies that came out from the Swamp Fight unscathed. After this campaign his company returned to Boston where it was dismissed February 5, 1675/1676. He died in 1682. — Bodge.
18 Old Indian Chronicle, page 152.
19 Order dated August 30th.
20 American Antiquarian Soc. Coll., Vol. II, page 404. Gookin's Christian Indians.
21 Letter from Rev. John Eliot to Commissioners of United Colonies. Acts of Commissioners, Vol. II, page 451. Plymouth Colony Records, Vol. X.
22 Massachusetts Archive, Vol. XXX, pages 192‑193.
24 The signers on behalf of the English include no members of the Massachusetts Council, but Samuel Gorton, James Brown and Richard Smith, all neighbors of the Narragansetts.
Acts of the Commissioners of the United Colonies, Vol. II, page 361. Plymouth Records, Vol. X.
25 Captain Arthur Fenner of Providence was born in England in 1622. He was made freeman in 1655. He was commissioned captain of the trainband in 1672 and when a garrison was established at Providence he was appointed commander, and is sometimes called "the Captain of Providence."
26 Roger Williams to Gov. Leverett, Mass. Archives, Vol. 67, 296.
27 See Hubbard's account of Canonchet's Trial, Vol. 2, page 60.
28 Acts of the Commissioners of the United Colonies, Vol. II, page 357. (not literal). Plymouth Colony Records, Vol. X.
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King Philip's War
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Abel Tasman National Park is named after the captain of the first European vessels to reach New Zealand. In 1642 the Dutch Sailor Abel Tasman anchored in what is now known as Golden Bay. Tasman sent some crew in a small boat to make landfall. However before they could make it shore the crew was confronted by a group of Maori who were distressed by what they believed to be fair-skinned ghosts approaching them. A conflict ensued after one of the Dutch sailors fired his gun, and four sailors were subsequently killed. Tasman named the place Murderers Bay and sailed north without ever having set foot on land.
Isaac Gilsemans - A view of the Murderers’ Bay, as you are at anchor here in 15 fathom, 1642 - Image © National Library of New Zealand


It happens to even the best students. You work insanely hard on an assignment and study for days on end for an exam. Then, the day comes when you receive the grade and you are shocked. It is not as high as you expected.
It’s a gut-wrenching feeling, especially when you worked hard and usually get higher grades. However, a not-so-good grade happens every once in a while.
It is okay to be upset for a moment, but there are things that can be done to bounce back from the grade.
Look over the exam or assignment or exam to see where you went wrong.
If it is the first assignment or exam, it can be difficult to know what the teacher is expecting, so the first assignment or exam is difficult. Take a look at comments to see how to improve next time. See if there was a pattern in incorrect answers to see what kind of questions the teacher is likely to ask so you know what material to focus on next time. You may have just had a bad day, and it is important to remember that one assignment or exam does not determine how good you are in the class or in you given major.
Come up with a strategy for how to improve next time.
Looking at where you went wrong allows you to see what the teacher expects from assignments and what material might be included on an exam. Knowing the type of questions the teacher puts on exams allows you to hone in on what the teacher thinks is important and not be distracted by material that is not as crucial to the assignment or exam. If you did not study at all or need to study more, you can adjust for that on the next exam. Seeing what mistakes were made on an assignment can give you valuable insight for how to avoid them in the future.
Talk to your professor.
If you look at your assignment or exam and still cannot figure out what you did wrong or are having trouble figuring out what the comments mean, talking to your professor will help you gain insight as to what he or she was looking for so you can fix it for next time. If you are truly struggling in the class, your professor can help you set up a plan for how to succeed for the rest of the semester. Attend your professor’s office hours or set up an appointment. Bring a list of questions and/or concerns so that you have a clear idea of what to talk about and to avoid awkward silence.
Visit your school’s tutoring center.
Many schools have free tutoring centers that offer help in a wide variety of topics. Some schools even have a tutor that focus specifically on preparing for exams, so if you understand the material but are having issues with how to approach the exam itself, they can help you with that. A lot of schools have a specific place for those who need help with writing and editing papers. Check to see what days and times the tutors in the subject you need help in are in the center. Be prepared with specific questions so you are not wasting time.
If you are failing the class and it is too late in the semester to bring your overall grade up to a passing grade, talk to an advisor about withdrawing from the class.
Different schools have different policies about when to withdraw. Also, various aspects of your status, such as financial aid or athletics, might be affected if you withdraw. If you missed the deadline, you will have to stick it out. Talk with your professor about how you can bring your grade up. Meeting with an advisor will give you the information you need to decide how to continue with the class and will give you the scenarios that can happen.


First, we need to make sure that the cause of the lack of appetite is not physical. Before the public "this child is like this" cliché, it is necessary to make sure that your child is allergic to certain nutrients, does not have a disease such as reflux or does not have a disorder related to the digestive system.
In almost every article I mention that children love order and a routine life. That goes for food, too. At regular tables, the child makes a habit of eating.
The unintended child often lingers at the table, either playing with food or refusing to eat by keeping the food in his mouth. Your reaction as a parent to this behavior is very important. Be patient and be careful not to press.
Do not try to increase the amount of food. Let him have the pleasure of finishing the meal in front of him a little bit.
One of the biggest mistakes I have observed in Turkey is mothers running after the child and trying to stuff it in his mouth. Be careful not to do that! It will be healthier for the years to come if he learns that food should be eaten sitting at the table.
Try to avoid acts that bring you an award-punishment relationship, such as feeding the food in front of the TV or saying, "If you eat this, you'll be surprised." These behaviors, of course, make your life easier, but believe me, they also invite long-term eating problems.
No child goes hungry. Believe me, he will get the nutrients he needs by somehow showing his hunger. So instead of panicking and taking the easy way out, keep walking the long way patiently.
1- 30 minute rule
Let your child stay at the table for a maximum of 30 minutes to eat. The fact that he's staying longer than that means he's making eating a game. If he ate very little at the end of 30 minutes, lift his plate and let it leave the table.
2- Do not make comparisons
If he has a brother at the table, avoid comparisons. Comparisons like "Your brother's finished and you haven't eaten yet" will backfire. Appreciate what he eats, but don't get used to the prize.
3- Small portions
Don't discouraged your child by putting too much food on his plate. In fact, especially if you put it little by little and appreciate it every time it finishes. Children's stomach capacity is actually much less than we mothers think.
It is also useful to support the individual development of the child when eating. Encourage your child by giving them tasks such as setting a table, bringing their own plate or eating their own spoon. Over time, he will realize that these responsibilities have been given to him and will make eating more endearing for himself and for you.
5- Do not force
Most importantly, don't force it, don't be stubborn, and don't run after it.
6- Table habit
Patiently, take care that they get into the habit of sitting at the table together at the same time. And remember, no child has ever starved to death out of spite.
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Corporal J.H. “Dummy” Armstrong at Adelaide River, Northern Territory, 1941, just before going to Timor with the 2/40 Battalion. (Photo courtesy Sue Beard, Hobart)
In the early months of 1946 the mother of a Tasmanian soldier was still waiting for news of her son who had gone to Timor to fight the Japanese in December 1941. He had not returned home when other men of his infantry battalion were being repatriated towards the end of 1945 from Japanese prison camps scattered far and wide across East Asia. But she had reason to hope. Her son’s name had not appeared on any casualty lists, except as “missing”. The survivors of his unit – the 2/40 Battalion – could only say that they hadn’t heard about him since he left the prison camp near Koepang in Timor (at Usapa Besar) on a mission to make contact with the Australians operating as commandos in East Timor.
The mission had been given to him by the battalion commander, Lieutenant-Colonel Bill Leggatt, who later wrote that he “has not been seen since”.
By April 1946 army authorities hadn’t given Florence Armstrong of Beaconsfield any other information about her son, Corporal James “Dummy” Armstrong. Then, in the middle of a war crimes trial being held in Darwin, a story appeared in the Melbourne Sun on 16 April, which said this:
“Darwin – Monday. A helpless, blindfolded war prisoner had been seen running around a Timor village before he was shot by Japanese, a War Crimes court was told today.
The Japanese were charged with having murdered TX Cpl J.H. Armstrong AIF and Gunner Martin, British Army, near Koepang on or about June 12 1943. The prosecutor, Capt J. Simpson, said his first witness Willem Latunahina, would say that in June 1943, a Japanese truck carrying two blindfolded white men, passed his hut.
Soon afterwards some Japanese troops marched into the village and he was told to go inside and close the doors and windows.
He looked through a crack in the bamboo walls and saw the two white men faced by a row of Japanese. A little later he heard the sound of a volley and then a single shot.
He saw one of the blindfolded prisoners run around a building, knock his head on the corner of it and fall. The prisoner was picked up and later there were more shots. Later he saw where some bodies had been dragged and found two fresh graves…”.
This was how Florence Armstrong found out about the death of her son, and how he died. The story must have chilled her to the bottom of her soul. She learned, on one single devastating day, in a brutal and unforgivably impersonal way, that her son had died a horrible and lonely death, probably believing his fate would never be revealed, and never be known except by his executioners.
She immediately complained to military authorities about their callous insensitivity, which sparked a scramble for cover between different sections of the army. One senior officer responsible for organising a response to Florence Armstrong’s complaint wrote this: “In order that a reply may be given to Mrs Armstrong on the publicity aspect of the matter early advice would be appreciated as to how authority came to be given (if it was given) for publication of the name of Cpl Armstrong in the newspaper report”.
Indeed. But did it ever cross the minds of anyone – including Armstrong’s commanding officer Bill Leggatt – to take the time to visit Florence Armstrong and speak with her about how it was that her son came to be executed by the Japanese? Did anyone bother to explain to her that he was sent on a dangerous mission in July 1942 to make his way through Japanese-occupied territory to East Timor? Did anyone consider that it would have been of some comfort to her to know why her son had been chosen for such a dangerous job?
Did anyone seek to tell her that the qualities he demonstrated in combat against the Japanese before the 2/40 Battalion surrendered were the reasons he was given a lonely and difficult task which resulted in his torture and murder by the Japanese military police, the Kempetai?
Unfortunately, the evidence suggests something else entirely, the application of a cloak of silence, obligatory and untouchable. It wasn’t until the 1990s, when historian Lynette Silver was investigating the mass murder of Australians at Parit Sulong in Malaya – in another case of men listed as “missing” – that she came across the story of Armstrong in the records of the war crimes trials. In all the interviews I had with men of the 2/40 Battalion between 1977 and 1994 not one veteran seemed to know what had happened to Armstrong, even though many of them spoke about him. Somehow, irrespective of the publicity given in April 1946 to Armstrong’s death, the men of the 2/40 Battalion seemed unaware of his fate.
On the face of it, this seems both perplexing and extraordinary, given that for half a century after the war the unit held annual reunions on the weekend closest to the date of their capture by the Japanese, 23 February.
However, these were all men who had been in combat, and had seen men die in battle. All of them had witnessed the deaths of fellow prisoners in prison camps and had lived through all kinds of privations. More than 260 of them had not come home – a death rate of 25%. In 1946 there was only so much that they could take on board as they each faced their own issues of readjustment, rehabilitation and reintegration into a society which had little understanding or comprehension of their experiences – and never would.
There is also another context, paradoxically reinforced by the publicity given about Armstrong by the Melbourne Sun. These ex-POWs sought to protect the families of men who had died by withholding detailed information. The best way to do that was by silence, total silence. They were very aware of the notion of betrayal of trust of those who had died, and that meant comforting the bereaved relatives by saying little, if anything. That was a lifelong commitment. They also knew they couldn’t articulate the reality of their lives as POWs to those who had not had similar experiences, so they rarely did so. It was almost always too personally difficult as well, exceptionally emotionally draining, and likely to revive nightmares, flashbacks and other problems.
A Murdoch journalist who contacted 2/40 veterans at the time of Lynette Silver’s revelation in 1998 of Armstrong’s torture and murder expressed surprise at their “lack of interest”, as he put it, but even if they knew – and had long since decided to put it out of their minds – there was much else they had seen and experienced, lived through and tried to cope with as best they could. “Lack of interest” is a total misrepresentation and misinterpretation. Just another example of failure to understand and empathise with men who had confronted issues of mortality while still in their twenties and thirties, decades before most of us even think about it in personal terms.
Nevertheless, it is inevitable that keeping their own counsel about things meant that much of what they knew was never revealed during their lifetimes, but died with them, and was even forgotten by them with the passage of the years. For most of them, their memories remained confined to themselves and shared only with those who had been with them in Usapa Besar, in cycle camp on Java, in Changi, on the Burma-Thailand railway and in the mines and factories at Omuta and many other hell holes.
So it was, perhaps, how the story of “Dummy” Armstrong’s death came to be forgotten by being put away, but how he died is not the end of his story. What happened to Armstrong was briefly and ingloriously publicised in April 1946, but then put in a place to be forgotten for half a century. But in returning to his death, we are also returning to his life, and asking the question which Bill Leggatt should have answered if he ever tried to comfort Florence Armstrong all those years ago.
Why was Armstrong chosen by Leggatt to risk his life in such a way rather than someone else? Why him? He was but one of about 1,000 men held in the camp at Usapa Besar.
What was special about Armstrong?
Armstrong was from the mining town of Beaconsfield in Tasmania’s Tamar Valley. By the time he enlisted in the AIF in June 1940, describing himself as a 21 year-old labourer, he had a police record and had spent time in gaol for breaking and entering and stealing. In May 1939, he and a close mate were sentenced to a year in jail. They both pleaded guilty to having broken into a saddler shop in Launceston and stealing two suitcases, two calico tents, two tent flies, a camp bed mattress, two cartridge belts, two pairs of mittens, a clock, a plough-line, whip, rope clothes line, two leather kitbags, an electric torch and five shillings in cash. Armstrong admitted to the court that he had been previously convicted of breaking and entering, stealing, receiving and illegally using a motor vehicle.
Some of the stolen items were found by police at a camp the two had set up near Ben Lomond. Which tells us something else about Armstrong. He was a skilled bushman. To have a rabbit or wallaby see him first was a serious mistake, and to miss with a single-shot .22 rifle was seriously stupid. Armstrong was at home when hunting and trapping. He was in his element being silent and unseen, alone and independent, backing his judgment. Well before he joined the army he was used to making his own decisions, not always in his own best interest or the interests of others. When the 2/40 Battalion went to Timor in December 1941 he was one of the few soldiers whose name was well known by most men in the unit.
His reputation had its beginnings during army training exercises in Tasmania in 1940. One 2/40 veteran, Dennis Scanlon, remembered that when the battalion “had these platoon stunts, with one section acting as the enemy, if we put Armstrong out as a scout we’d have no worries. He’d nail them and they wouldn’t even know he was there. He was like that”.
Another story told about Armstrong while the battalion was travelling by train and truck through the Northern Territory to Katherine in the early months of 1941 reveals another dimension. At one of the stops, probably at Alice Springs, where the battalion marched through the town, Armstrong got involved in a fight with two men who followed him from a pub.
According to Scanlon, Armstrong told him “he worked them around until he had the light of the moon to see them”, and soon ended the fight.
Another 2/40 veteran, Ron Dunn, who also enlisted in June 1940, had known Armstrong since they were schoolboys together. “From a young kid nothing scared him”, said Dunn. “He was called Dummy when he was at school, not because he was stupid or anything like that, but the name stuck and everyone called him Dummy in the army”. Dunn also recalled that when the 2/40 Battalion left Darwin for Timor in December 1941, just after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbour, “Dummy took a little kangaroo on the ship just to prove he could get away with it, which he did”.
The main role of the 2/40 Battalion was to protect the forward air base near Koepang in Dutch Timor. But when the Japanese attacked on 20 February 1942, they had complete control of the sea and the air, choosing where they landed troops without opposition, as well as by parachute across the Australians’ lines of communication to the east. The battalion and its attached units were forced to fight successive battles to clear their way to their base camp at Champlong. In one of those actions, for control of the town of Babau, which had been captured by Japanese paratroops, Armstrong took independent action to gain control of a key position in the town which was holding up the Australian advance.
Phillip “Bluey” Renshaw described what Armstrong did. “Everyone took cover when the Japs opened up on us, but he just kept walking firing this Lewis gun from his hip at the Jap positions and a house from where the Japs had us pinned down. He was right out in the open. If anyone should have won a VC for the action on Timor, he should have.”
Bill Leggatt later recommended that Armstrong be awarded the Distinguished Conduct Medal for his bravery. Leggatt’s citation for the award stated that when “very heavy resistance was encountered especially from enemy on the side of the road running through the village and no progress was being made”, Armstrong “with a Lewis gun moved by himself around the left flank. In the face of heavy enemy fire he entered a building which enfiladed the enemy position and opened fire, killing five of the enemy and driving off the remainder. This enabled a vital position to be secured and materially assisted the eventual capture of the village”. Leggatt’s final comment mirrored Renshaw’s assessment. Armstrong “showed an utter disregard of personal safety and a matter of fact coolness and initiative which were an excellent and much needed example to soldiers who had come under fire for the first time”.
After the battalion was captured by the superior Japanese forces and imprisoned at Usapa Besar near Koepang, Leggatt used a small number of men to do reconnaissance work outside the camp. Armstrong and another Tasmanian, Bill Rainbow, did much of this work. Leggatt said after the war that his aims were to gather information about Japanese forces, obtain weapons to arm reconnaissance and escape parties, to seek information about men who hadn’t surrendered and to find ways of communicating with Australia.
Armstrong had a .303 rifle hidden in his hut at Usapa Besar which he took with him when he left the camp. Ted Sweetman, who was in the same hut, recalled that “Dummy got a bit of galvanised sheet from somewhere and poked it in the roof to hide the rifle”. Other men managed to get ammunition into the camp, including grenades, some of which ended up with Armstrong. “There’s a story about him going out with one of the Englishmen from the Bofors-gun battery”, said Dennis Scanlon. “They ran into a patrol of four or five Nips. Dummy slung a hand-grenade among them and skittled some of them, and then killed the others with a knife”. He told the British soldier that he used a knife because he’d “made enough noise for one day”.
Leggatt became particularly interested in getting information to Australia about the way Japanese aircraft used the airfield near Koepang, and the times when Japanese bombers were likely to be on the ground and vulnerable to air raids from Darwin. When In late March 1942 a Hudson bomber was shot down by Japanese fighters and the Australian pilot was captured and brought to the prison camp, Leggatt’s second-in-command, Major Ron Campbell, raised the possibility of organising an escape by plane to get information to Australia.
Armstrong was delegated to spy on the Japanese at the airfield, to collect information about their routines, how the planes were guarded and when they were fuelled, and to work out the best way to get a group of eight men to the airfield during the night. On 23 April the escape plan was put into operation, and Armstrong guided the group of officers to the plane that had been earmarked. Ron Campbell recalled that as they approached the airfield Armstrong swore at some of them for the noise they were making, including Leggatt, telling them they were “bloody clumsy bastards”.
Armstrong and one of the officers were given the responsibility of dealing with a Japanese sentry, but they couldn’t find him at his usual position, so the whole group then quickly went to the plane and broke in. For the next few hours the Australian pilot, Jack MacAllister, tried to start the plane, without success. Luckily for all the prisoners at Usapa Besar the mission failed. Luckily because if it had succeeded the reprisals would have been severe.
Another incident which occurred while the Australians were in Usapa Besar which has been linked to Armstrong, was the destruction of Japanese ammunition stores. Many 2/40 POWs remembered a massive explosion some time after they had been incarcerated, an explosion which was not the result of a bombing raid from Darwin. Leggatt made no reference to it in his post-war report, but anecdotal evidence which circulated among veterans after the war suggested that Armstrong was responsible.
After the failure to highjack the plane, Leggatt didn’t give up on his plan to get information to Australia. In July, Armstrong was given his final task. He left the prison camp for the last time “carrying an intelligence report in order to contact the 2/2 Independent Company in Portuguese Timor”. The Independent Company was operating as a guerrilla force in East Timor, and it was hoped that they could get the intelligence report to Darwin.
There is no indication that Armstrong made contact with the Australians in East Timor, and there is no evidence about how he and Martin survived in Japanese-occupied territory from July 1942 until they were captured in about April or May 1943. Timorese witnesses to the torture of Armstrong in May 1943 and to his murder in June described to the war crimes court in Darwin what had happened. He was tortured on several occasions by being hung from his arms off the ground and bashed, and by hitting his head on a concrete floor.
There were others like Armstrong who left Usapa Besar and were never seen again. Some men refused to surrender, and went “bush”. Armstrong’s story is also their story. There are still men listed as “missing in action” in Timor whose story will never be told. When Bill Leggatt recommended Armstrong for a decoration he did not mention the roles that Armstrong had been given while a POW, a most odd omission.
Armstrong was not awarded a posthumous Distinguished Conduct Medal or any other decoration. But it is impossible to disagree with Bluey Renshaw that he should have been recommended for a Victoria Cross, and that he should have got one. It is also doubtful that Bill Leggatt or any other senior military officer told Florence Armstrong that her son had been recommended for an award for bravery, or that she ever knew about his leadership in action at Babau or his work for Leggatt outside the prison camp.
Leggatt himself received a DSO (Distinguished Service Order) for his command of the 2/40 Battalion and from April to September 1946 he was based in Melbourne as officer in charge of the war crimes investigations. He would have followed the Darwin trials very closely. From 1947 to 1956 he was a Liberal member of the Victorian parliament, and then Victorian agent-general in London until 1964. In 1957 he was knighted.
— Peter Henning


If you’re having trouble losing weight, you might think about food first, but did you consider how your hormones affect weight loss? Cortisol, one of your main stress hormones, can sabotage your weight loss efforts if levels are elevated in your body. Here’s how cortisol makes you fat and what to do about it.
How Cortisol Can Make You Fat
Cortisol is one of our main stress hormones, produced by the adrenal glands. The adrenals sit atop your kidneys and are the command and control center of the body. They produce and secrete stress & sex hormones and govern thyroid hormones, sleep, stress, weight, sex drive, and metabolism. Ideally, cortisol in normal levels has an anti-inflammatory effect in the body and impacts blood sugar, digestion, and immunity. But the human body is designed around the concept of survival rather than optimum health. When we are under stress, regardless of the source of stress, our system reacts with the intent of keeping us alive under whatever dire circumstances we may encounter. There is simultaneously a hormonal (endocrine) and brain (neurological) response to stress. Combined, this is referred to as the neuroendocrine system. The main stress hormone we produce is cortisol (actually named for its production location on the cortex, or outer edge, of the adrenal glands).
In the days when a saber tooth tiger would jump out of hiding and attack, we had two choices with which to respond: Pick up a spear and fight, or run really fast and try to get away. This is what is known as the fight or flight response. We are hard wired through our neuroendocrine system for this basic survival mechanism to kick into gear when threats appear. When the stressor appears (in this case, the tiger), cortisol shoots up to get you through the stressful situation. As these chemical messengers are produced, numerous body processes speed up, and others slow down. As cortisol is released, it travels through the blood stream and converts amino acids into sugars or glucose, our basic fuel needed to fuel our system to fight or run. Dopamine, adrenaline, and noreadrenaline levels go up, and these stimulating neurotransmitters motivate us, helping to bring us up to full speed—action mode. Not only does the flow of hormones and neurotransmitters shift, our blood supply also shifts. When under stress, we divert blood from non-critical functions like digestive tract organs and shunt it towards skeletal muscle so we can move. Even our sex hormone levels drop in response to increased production of stress hormones. Stress is no bueno for your sex life.
This scenario is not problematic in a situation where occasional stress occurs and there are extended periods of time for full rest and recovery to take place. Does that sound like modern day life? Uh, no. These days we are under constant stress, and the mechanism designed to fight off a tiger is invoked every morning and afternoon in rush hour traffic or during hectic days at work or a fight with a spouse or friend. When we experience chronic stress, the body is constantly churning out cortisol, and this can have negative physical side effects, causing anxiety, insomnia, increased fat storage (especially around the mid-section–“belly fat!”), poor digestion, inflammation, and lowered immunity (more frequent illness), to name a few. Cortisol is catabolic (meaning it breaks down) , so high levels can cause loss of muscle tissue. This is the beginning of imbalance in the body. Stress really is the root cause of disease.
Back to how cortisol makes you fat. When your cortisol levels remain high, your body thinks it is going through a hardship and that it may starve. It will begin to store more fat around the midsection for times of famine (a stress). This also increases insulin levels, and insulin is–you guessed it–the fat storage hormone. High cortisol increases blood sugar to help get you through the stressful situation, but high blood sugar = increased sugar cravings. Physiology is working against you–high cortisol triggers high insulin and high blood sugar, all of which cause increased fat. This was useful for our ancestors but works against us in modern life. If you’re consuming a diet high in sugar, flour, or grains that break down into sugar, you’re storing even more fat. If cortisol is high at night (it should be lowest at that point), you’re not sleeping or getting restful sleep, and the body interprets that as stress, and the vicious cycle continues: lack of sleep is a stress = high cortisol = high blood sugar = cravings. You ever notice how you crave sugar & carbs when you don’t sleep well?
High cortisol can be caused by the following:
- emotional stress
- poor diet (lots of sugar, booze, refined carbs)
- pain (from an injury, for example) & inflammation (from poor diet or eating foods you’re sensitive to, like wheat or dairy for most people)
- lack of sleep
- moving, new job, getting fired
- getting married OR divorced
Aside from increased fat storage, high cortisol wrecks your digestion, and the majority of your immune system is in your gut, so there goes your immunity. But that’s a story for another day. How do you balance cortisol?
How to Balance Your Cortisol Levels for Weight Loss
You can measure cortisol via saliva test or blood. If cortisol is high, you can also be sure that sex hormones are low and that digestion and immunity are suffering. I have very specific protocols for treating high cortisol, and I use plant based hormones. Various adaptogenic herbs work well: ashwaganda, holy basil, schizandra, for example. Also, vitamin C is a must, as your adrenals use a lot of C. A mineral complex should be taken at night, and increase your consumption: sea veggies, leafy greens, supergreens formulas with spirulina and chlorella. If you have trouble sleeping, consider taking a supplement like Seriphos at night. It contains phosphatidylserine to support adrenal function and promote restful sleep. Obviously, you need to regulate blood sugar levels through good diet (going long periods without eating or eating the wrong foods affects blood sugar, which your body interprets as a STRESS!). Targeted stress reduction like deep breathing & yoga work well, too. Chill out!
Mary Vance is a Certified Nutrition Consultant and author specializing in digestive health. She combines a science-based approach with natural therapies to rebalance the body. In addition to her 1:1 coaching, she offers courses to help you heal your gut and improve your health. Mary lives in San Francisco and Lake Tahoe in Northern California. Read more about her coaching practice here and her background here.


What Is OldWeather?
Want to help conservation scientists without leaving your desk?
Curious about what the weather was like long ago or interested in maritime history?
You can satisfy your curiosity and improve data about weather from around 1850 to 1950 with oldWeather.
Citizen scientists volunteering for oldWeather transcribe ships’ logs. The ships currently available are from United States and spent time in the Arctic.
The project was started as a way to find out what past weather was like in order to better predict the climate’s future.
Learning about weather was the primary goal of oldWeather, but as they got data back from citizen scientists, they found many things of historical interest.
Now historians also use the transcriptions to tell the stories of the ships and the people on board.
You can be a citizen scientist and a citizen historian at once!
Why Is It Important?
Data from the transcriptions is used in climate model projections; because the more scientists know about past weather, the better their models get at predicting future climate.
“oldWeather provides basic information about how the weather has varied in the past, and I hope to see this information provide critical context and understanding for the weather that’s affecting us today,” Philip Brohan, a climate scientist and part of the oldWeather team, reports.
Why don’t we already have weather data for this time period?
There are no satellite data for the Arctic prior to 1979, but ships had been exploring the area and observing and recording weather data long before.
Why can’t computers read the data?
Ships’ logs from this time period were handwritten. People are much better at deciphering handwriting than computers.
“I originally thought of oldWeather as entirely a science project, so the strangest thing for me was seeing how much historical information we are generating,” Brohan remarks.
“Reading ship logbooks from 1913-1923 enabled us to map the movements of the Royal Navy through the First World War, which gave me a totally new view of that period of history.”
All of the data from oldWeather is open access and can be used by scientists, historians, geographers, and the public around the world.
How Can You Get Involved?
Everything about oldWeather is designed to make the experience easy, fun, and collaborative.
As volunteer Annette De Havilland puts it, “I saw the attractive interface and thought I can do this! I don’t need to be an expert. I can record what I see and contribute to the scientific understanding of climate change.”
Sometimes the logs record a unique perspective on historic events.
“Last month my ship happened to be in New York Harbor on the day the Statue of Liberty was unveiled. They described seeing President Cleveland approach and giving multiple 21 gun salutes. I’m doing primary source history here,” De Havilland says.
To make things extra fun, you get points for every page that you record and you can move up the ranks from cadet to captain.
Intrigued, but worried that you don’t have the transcribing skills?
The folks at oldWeather have a forum where “old hands” and others will answer your questions.
Some reassuring words from De Havilland: “Even having done it for two years sometimes you see something new, like directions in decimals.”
“The community will answer and they are very fun loving – there are even games on the side. You don’t need to be a sailor or know weather. It’s easy. There are tutorials,” he adds.
In case you do make a mistake, multiple people transcribe every page, so any mistakes will be filtered out.
“Go on, you can do one page – who knows what you’ll find on it?” urges Brohan.


This is a guest post by Professor Sir Nigel Shadbolt, Chairman and Co-Founder, Open Data Institute
The UK is a world leader in open data. Open data is data that is published for anyone to use for any purpose at no cost. Open data about transport, spending, health, crime, the environment, mapping and much more is now freely available from the UK government. We are also seeing companies release some of their data as open data. Open data is not usually personal data unless it is released as aggregate or anonymised data that does not identify an individual. Read more
This is a guest post by Liz Carolan, International Development Manager at the Open Data Institute
Literally translated Burkina Faso means “land of the upright people”. It has long been one of West Africa’s most stable countries, despite having one of world’s lowest GDPs and being surrounded by countries with serious security issues, like Mali and Nigeria.
In October 2014 Burkina Faso made its way onto TV screens around the world – a 36 hour popular uprising forced long-term leader Blaise Compaoré from office. An interim administration was put in place and the first elections for thirty years without Compaoré’s candidacy are planned for 11th October 2015.
And now the country hopes that open data and transparency will offer a stabilising force. It sees open data as a vehicle for distinguishing itself from the previous administration – open, transparent, and better at engaging with the public. Read more
That might be changing. The British government and a few others including Canada, Costa Rica, Colombia and Paraguay are working towards opening up the information about public procurement through an ‘open contracting data standard’.
The first version is launched today and sets out a technical standard for the data and documents that ought to be published at each stage of the contracting process, from the invitation to tender through to completion. Read more
Trust in institutions to use data is much lower than trust in them in general, according to a new survey for the Royal Statistical Society.
The poll of just over two thousand British adults carried out by Ipsos MORI found that the media, internet services such as social media and search engines and telecommunication companies were the least trusted to use personal data appropriately. Read more
The Freedom of Information Act has a clause which allows public authorities to ignore a request for information “if the request is vexatious”. It says little about what members of the public can do if they encounter vexatious government departments.
The Cabinet Office – which includes the prime minister’s office – seems now to be openly refusing to comply with the transparency law, especially when it comes to the person of the prime minister. His courtiers seem to regard FoIA requests as lèse-majesté, and to see fighting transparency as part of their roles. Read more
By Kate Allen and Jonathan Moules
A new institution which aims to maximise the UK’s world-leading position in the emerging field of data use for the creation of new businesses and services is set to launch today.
The Open Data Institute, which was announced by George Osborne in last year’s Autumn Statement, will be the first such organisation of its kind in the world. It will receive £10m government funding over the next five years and aims to raise an equal amount from private donors. It has already attracted $750,000 from eBay founder and philanthropist Pierre Omidyar. Read more
The government has made admirable moves towards openness and transparency in recent years, with one landmark step being to publish all payments by government departments of £500 or more. Communities secretary Eric Pickles has gone further, this week deciding to start publishing all spending by his department of £250 and above.
But there is a problem. The spreadsheets list each individual payment, not total amounts per supplier. And suppliers’ VAT numbers are not provided. This makes summarising the payments – often across thousands of lines of data – a very difficult job for anyone aspiring to create aggregate figures.
Let’s take Mr Pickles’ department, Communities & Local Government, as an example. Its latest quarterly release contains 9,750 lines of data. It encompasses all sorts of activities, from PFI grants to mobile phone line rental charges. Many of the payments require an expert jargon-buster to interpret: did you know that “NNDR billing authorities receipts” means business tax?
The smallest payment listed during the period was £1.24 to Banner Business Supplies for stationery. The largest was £1.9bn to the Office of the Paymaster General (those NNDR billing authorities receipts again). A government department is a very complicated entity and trying to understand its activities through scrutinising its history of individual payments is rather like trying to write a biography of a subject by looking solely at their bank statements. Read more
Your birthday matters: children who are older when they start school as 4 year-olds outperform their peers. This is not a small effect, nor does it peter out as they get older. We can spot it easily at the national level among 16 year-olds. Read more


MIDLAND, TX (KWES) - George P. Bush taught a lesson at Milam Elementary
Friday, students at Milam Elementary were taught a Texas railroad history lesson by a special guest.
Texas Land Commissioner George P. Bush visited the school with replicas of an original map of Texas railroads and cattle that are kept in Austin.
“So [the original maps] are really the crown jewels of Texas History so to replicate the experience of being an archivist we thought we’d bring some gloves and try to reproduce that in the classroom,” said Bush.
The Commissioner brought white gloves for the children to wear while studying the maps.
Bush believes it's much larger than just a lesson for the kids, in the grand scheme of things, there was also a lesson for the adults.
State officials connecting with students, parents, and educators is important.
“Being in the classroom and reconnecting allows us to have better decision making in Austin,” said Bush
Students in the classroom studied the map and answered questions Bush, a former educator, asked.
Then, the students were able to ask Bush questions of their own.
One student asked something along the lines of, “what inspired you to go from being a baseball player to where you are now?”
Bush responded with a chuckle and explained there were many steps in between and continued by giving the child an inspiring answer.
Bush and his team will continue to visit other schools around Texas.


Welcome to our blog, offering historical insights to the 17th- and 18th-century history shared at Jamestown Settlement and the American Revolution Museum at Yorktown.
Raise a Glass to Colonel William Woodford at the Battle of Great Bridge (And in Your Liquor Cabinet)
Posted on December 9, 2020, by
View of the Great Bridge Near Norfolk in Virginia where the Action Happened between a detachment of the 14th Regt. & a body of the Rebels, William L. Clements Library, Ann Arbor, Mich.
Early in the morning on December 9, 1775, one of the earliest and least known actions of the American Revolution took place in Virginia. The Battle of Great Bridge was one of the most important actions of the war — and one of its main combatants left a legacy much closer than you think…it might even be hiding in your liquor cabinet!
Months earlier as tensions escalated between colonial governor Lord Dunmore’s loyalists and patriots in southeast Virginia, the Virginia Assembly authorized Colonel William Woodford to muster his 2nd Virginia Regiment, along with the Culpeper Minute Battalion, and march to confront Dunmore. Woodford’s forces arrived at Great Bridge on December 2 but surveying the situation, Woodford chose not to immediately engage.
This was far from Woodford’s first military rendezvous. Born in Caroline County, Va., on October 6, 1734, young Woodford distinguished himself during the French and Indian War. Upon his return home he married the daughter of George Washington’s cousin and nestled into a life typifying that of Virginia’s well-placed gentry elite. Woodford busied himself with politics and the patriot cause before the Virginia Assembly granted him command over the 2nd Virginia Regiment in August 1775, in a move that prepared Virginia to take up arms against their colonial governor.
Billy Flora, a free Black Virginian, defended the patriot earthworks at the Battle of Great Bridge. African Americans fought on both sides of the battle. Learn more about Billy, and Dunmore’s Ethiopian Regiment, at the American Revolution Museum at Yorktown. Jamestown-Yorktown Foundation.
In the months between Woodford’s August appointment and the first week of December, Dunmore and his loyalist forces wreaked havoc on Hampton Roads, confiscating food, supplies, and even a printing press from colonists. The situation continued to escalate, reaching a fever pitch when Dunmore’s November proclamation of martial law promised freedom to enslaved African Americans who ran away from their “rebel” owners to join his “Ethiopian Regiment.” By December Dunmore’s support included a then-unknown number of Virginia loyalists, formerly enslaved men, and detachments from the 14th Regiment of Foot—professional British soldiers recently arrived from Florida.
From Woodford’s vantage point on December 2, he had no idea how many armed loyalists sat inside the walls of the hastily built Fort Murray, on the opposite side of a marshy causeway in Great Bridge, Va. Woodford positioned sentries ahead of the patriot earthworks to wait out an assault until more troops—and badly needed supplies—could arrive. But a week later, it was Dunmore who broke the stalemate. Having marched overnight from Norfolk to reach Great Bridge, members of the 14th Regiment under Captain Samuel Leslie scarcely had time to rest before wheeling out two artillery pieces and taking shots at the patriot position on the morning of December 9.
One of Colonel Woodford’s letters describing the action at Great Bridge notes the only patriot casualty: “one man of ours wounded in the hand.” William Woodford to the President of the Virginia Convention, 9 December 1775, Revolutionary Government, Papers of the Fourth Convention, Record Group 2, Library of Virginia, Richmond, Va.
After observing the cannon fire, the next thing Woodford saw was a line of grenadiers, led by Captain Charles Fordyce of the 14th Regiment, marching men across the narrow and recently-repaired bridge that separated the two positions. As the British advanced, the patriots readied their guns and waited for the command from Lieutenant Edward Travis, who ordered the men to hold their fire until the enemy advanced within 50 yards of their position. The wait paid off. After they opened fire patriot militiamen decimated the approaching British at close range. The British suffered 48 wounded and 15 killed—among them Captain Fordyce who fell just feet from the patriot earthworks. After another unsuccessful charge the British turned and made their way back to the safety of Fort Murray. It was all over before Woodford even got close enough to engage.
The next day, Woodford described the short but deadly exchange:
“Capt. Fordyce of the Grenadiers led the van with his company, who, for coolness and bravery, deserved a better fate, as well as the brave fellows who fell with him. All of them behaved like heroes. They marched up to our breast-works with fixed bayonets, and perhaps a hotter fire never happened, or a great carnage for the number of troops. I have the pleasure to inform you that the victory was complete.”
After the battle, Woodford allowed the British to collect their dead and wounded under a flag of truce. Of the fallen Captain Fordyce, “a gallant and brave officer,” Woodford provided a full military burial owing to his “great merit.”
With the British threat to Virginia largely quelled, Woodford and his 2nd Virginia joined Washington’s Continental Army in 1776. Woodford became one of the few men to receive the rank of brigadier general, and commanded forces at the Battle of Brandywine in 1777 and the Battle of Monmouth in 1778. At the Siege of Charleston in May 1780 the British took Woodford prisoner, along with the Virginia Line of the Continental Army under his command. For months Woodford languished onboard the prison ship Packet, anchored off the coast of New York, before dying on November 13, 1780.
On October 13, 1789, the Virginia Assembly honored William Woodford by naming a Kentucky County in his honor—the same county which is home to Woodford Reserve Distillery which then, by extension, was also named for the Revolutionary colonel!
Raise a glass to Colonel William Woodford, and the patriots’ victory at the Battle of Great Bridge on December 9, 1775!
Katherine Egner Gruber Special Exhibition Curator, Jamestown-Yorktown Foundation
Image of Plimoth Patuxet Museum (Plimoth Plantation) in Plymouth, Mass.
On Thanksgiving, thoughts turn toward those intrepid “Pilgrims” (Separatists) and “Strangers” who arrived at Plymouth on the shores of New England in 1620 and shared their famous harvest feast the following year with local Indians. This year, 2020, Plymouth, Mass., commemorates the 400th anniversary of the Pilgrim arrival. In
On November 20, 1993, an intimate group that included members of Virginia’s Indian tribes gathered at the Governor’s Land at Two Rivers, a residential and recreational community near the mouth of the Chickahominy River in today’s James City County. With dignity and respect, they reburied human remains representing at least 18 individuals along with associated funerary objects that had been recentl
All the stories of ghosts and goblins that he had heard in the afternoon now came crowding upon his recollection. The night grew darker and darker; the stars seemed to sink deeper in the sky, and driving clouds occasionally hid them from his sight. He had never felt so lonely and dismal. He was, moreover, approaching the very place where many of the scenes of the ghost stories had been laid…
“The dominant spirit, however, that haunts this enchanted region, and seems to be commander-in-chief of all the powers of the air, is the apparition of a figure on horseback, without a head.”
Americans love a good ghost story—and what better time to indulge this guilty pleasure than Halloween? This season we’re looking back to what might be the OG of all-American ghost stories, Washington Irving’s
“First there is salt, without which practically nothing is edible.” Plutarch (46-120 AD)
Today, we take salt for granted. It is a common condiment — inexpensive and readily available to sprinkle on our foods. But it hasn’t always been that way. As Mark Kurlansky expressed in his 2002 study on the topic, “from the beginning of civilization until about 100 years ago, salt was one
In April 1607, the first English settlers in Virginia planted a cross at Cape Henry. They stepped off their ships and claimed the land in the name of their king, James I. They planned to prevent any foreign powers from meddling in their new mid-Atlantic claims. This would be England’s colony, settled primarily with English settlers, establishing English governmental policies and procedures,
After its passage in Congress on June 4, the 19th Amendment to the Constitution of the United States was ratified on August 18, 1920. The amendment finally guaranteed that the federal government could not discriminate suffrage — a citizen’s right to vote — on their sex, stating: “The right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any
Shall we all go plant tobacco? As the coronavirus pandemic still spreads in our country, economists, politicians, and business owners continue to seek ways to stimulate our devastated economy. The Virginia Company faced economic difficulties 400 years ago and moved to diversify the products coming from Virginia to stimulate and assist England’s economy. They sought alternative options to t
On the night of July 9, 1776, brigades of the Continental Army assembled on the common in New York City to hear a reading of the Declaration of Independence. General Washington issued the directive in his General Orders, commanding that at 6:00 “the several brigades are to be drawn up this evening on their respective Parades…when the declaration of Congress…is to be read with an audible voice.” Wa
Fresh exhibits at Jamestown Settlement feature several new colorful graphics drawn by modern artists to help bring the 17th century back to life for the visiting public. Production of these graphics involved much more than meets the eye. Museum curators had to work very closely with the illustrators to ensure that all the details were correct to the period. These included such things as the clothi
In 1777 Prince Hall signed his name on a petition to free enslaved persons in Massachusetts. He was a free man, but that didn’t stop him from dedicating his life to advocating for the end of slavery and for granting African Americans full rights under the law. Formerly enslaved, Hall obtained his freedom in 1770. While living in Boston, Hall adopted the revolutionary rhetoric of liberty and freedo
About 15 years ago a group of grassroots activists encouraged the commemoration of June 12 as “Loving Day” to highlight the 1967 unanimous decision by the U. S. Supreme Court that declared Virginia’s law banning interracial marriage unconstitutional, through the landmark case of Loving v. Virginia. In recent weeks strong voices in the United States and around the world have been driving Americans
Salt-glazed stoneware baluster jug, Westerwald Germany, c. 1600-20. Molded around mid-girth with the biblical motif of The Good Samaritan. H 12 ½”. JYF 2017.5. Photography by Robert Hunter.
A Good Samaritan has a home in the Jamestown Settlement Museum. Unlike the human kind we admire so much for their selfless contributions in our most unsettled world, the Settlement’s “Good Samaritan” is a 400-y
Social distancing got you in a crafty mood?
Needle working might not be as broadly practiced today, but in the 17th-19th centuries, young girls learned needle working soon after they began learning the alphabet, and quite often earlier than they learned to write. While many extant samplers appear to be worked by girls in their early teenage years, and perhaps a tad younger, curators and collectors
A William & Mary commencement celebration.
For the first time in any recent history, college students this spring, including those at the local College of William & Mary, took classes online and sadly missed spring activities on campus. College seniors lament celebrating their May graduations while college officials work on steps going forward. Roughly 400 years ago, Virginia Company offi
Jamestown Island, seen today from the deck of Jamestown Settlement’s re-created ship Godspeed.
After a voyage of almost five months, the English colonists arrived at Jamestown Island on May 13, 1607. The following day, they began landing their supplies and building what became the first permanent English colony in America. The English colonists arriving in Virginia in 1607 were operating und
Traditional fertility figure (akua’ba) made in the 19th century by the Ashanti of Ghana, Africa. H 10 9/16″. JYF2003.23
At first glance, she looks like a simple wooden doll with no feet and a large disk-shaped head. However, the small African figure in the collection of the Jamestown-Yorktown Foundation is much more than a child’s plaything. Known as an akua’ba and produced in the 19th
In late March 2020, Virginia Governor Ralph Northam issued strict directives for the Commonwealth of Virginia to protect the health and well-being of its citizens. These are in place until at least mid-June. What will be the “state” of Virginia come June 2020? Considering the present conditions, it’s obviously too early to tell. We can learn about the “state” of the Virginia colony 400 years e
Day 1: The Show Must Go On!
If you’re anything like me, you sat down for your first day of pandemic-induced teleworking and felt a strong, overwhelming urge to document the experience — to share with Facebook, Twitter or Instagram a photo of your makeshift home office, or make a snarky or startling observation about your new at-home co-workers. My Instagram post that first Monday morning included
Bone hornbook, English, late 18th century, Jamestown-Yorktown Foundation YP96.15
Have you recently found yourself thrust into the role of homeschool teacher? Maybe you have a small child learning her ABC’s or a youngster practicing her penmanship.
Eighteenth-century children began to learn to read as young as 4 or 5, aided by tools such as this late 18th-century hornbook in the collection of the J
Portuguese tin-glazed earthenware apothecary jar dating to the third quarter of the 17th century. Painted in cobalt blue and manganese with a large rabbit on one side and the Portuguese coat of arms on the other. Height 9.25 inches.
Painted on one side of a Portuguese tin-glazed apothecary jar in Jamestown Settlement’s museum collection is a large rabbit depicted in mid-hop. This rabbit moti
A mural in Jamestown Settlement’s refreshed exhibition galleries by Bruce McPherson reflects the population of Jamestown in 1620, which marked the first systematic count of people living in America’s first permanent English colony. The colony’s population totaled 928.
It is 2020, and America is counting! The United States Census Bureau hopes to tally every person in the 50 states, the District of
In 1855, William Cooper Nell published the first historical tome acknowledging the African Americans who fought in the American Revolution. The “Colored Patriots of the American Revolution,” according to its author, was “an attempt…to rescue from oblivion the name and fame of those who, though ‘tinged with the hated stain,’ yet had warm hearts and active hands in the ‘times that tried men’s souls.
“Book of Negroes,” New York, 1783, on loan from The National Archives, United Kingdom.
The items on display in our exhibition galleries at the American Revolution Museum at Yorktown and Jamestown Settlement have their own biographies, just like you do.
How and why was this object or document created? What journey did it take before it came to our galleries? Just as we research the people of the pa


Milwaukee Riverkeeper director Karen Schapiro talks about the ongoing impact of the Clean Water Act, 40 years after its passage.
A piece of landmark environmental legislation hits middle age today. The federal Clean Water Act - passed exactly 40 years ago - was precedent setting: It passed with strong bipartisan support over then-president Richard Nixon's veto.
Since 1972, the law has done more to help restore waterways than any other single piece of legislation – before or since.
WUWM Environmental Reporter Susan Bence joined Milwaukee Riverkeeper's executive director Karen Schapiro - appropriately – on the water's edge. They met up at Discovery World, where a special "Clean Water Act" exhibit is on display through November 24th.
Schapiro says the series of "super enlarged" historic photos help tell the overlapping stories of the federal law and local waters - starting with a vintage "snapshot" of Riverside Park on the Milwaukee River.


Anemia is a condition where there is a reduced amount of hemoglobin in your Red Blood Cells. Hemoglobin is a protein present in the Red Blood Cell responsible for transporting oxygen to your body’s organs and tissues.
Now! In the case of Iron Deficiency Anemia (IDA), low Hemoglobin levels is caused by insufficient iron in your blood system.
- The normal level for Hemoglobin in Adult females is 120-160 g/l
- The normal level for Iron storage is 9.0-30.0 Mcmol/l (Male/Female)
The reasons for low iron in the blood system of women can be due to different factors like,
- Heavy menstruation
- Not eating Iron-enriched diet
- Internal bleeding
- Low absorption of iron into your body.
I recently recovered from IDA, The illness lasted for about 8months, 4 out of the 8 months I had no idea that I was suffering from IDA. The anemia was moderately severe because my Hemoglobin level was really low, at my first blood and iron test my Hemoglobin level was 75 g/l (I was few grams away from being in the really severe stage) and my iron level was 1.5 mcmol/l. Yeah! My blood was almost out of irons and I was dying. Iron Deficiency Anemia symptoms are mostly ignored or go unnoticed by everyone because at the beginning the symptoms are mild and you wouldn’t give it much thought. Let’s touch on some symptoms of IDA that you should definitely watch out for, and my personal experiences with these symptoms.
I’m going to start from the mild signs to the major signs.
- EXTREME TIREDNESS AND WEAKNESS, In my case, I was always tired, After the slightly physical activity. I seemed to be losing energy easily and fast, no matter how much sleep I got. So if you’re not pregnant but you get tired fast and easily. It might be IDA.
- SHORTNESS OF BREATH, I couldn’t speak a lot of sentences without taking huge breathes in between as I was quite often out of breath after physical activities like talking or moving. So if you’re not pregnant, and you experience this, you probably have IDA.
- DIZZINESS, I always felt very dizzy when I stood up too fast or get up from my bed quickly, it was always like wow!wow! wow! easy there, be slower or you’ll fall. If you feel dizziness like in this situation, be suspicious!
- BRITTLE NAILS AND WEAK HAIR, I am a nail enthusiast, I love getting my nails pampered, but then I noticed that my nails were extremely weak, breaks easily and felt so soft. I had to use acrylic powders at all time to strengthen my nails. My nails was very evident but some women notice changes in their nails and hair.
- ITCHY FEET AND RESTLESS LEGS, The base of my feet were very itchy especially in the night and it was accompanied by restless legs when I’m about to sleep. My legs won’t just stay still! It was very annoying because here I am kicking my blanket, moving my legs and itching the base of my feet furiously when I’m supposed to be soundly asleep but I really didn’t think much of it. So, this is a major sign that is quite easy to be overlooked that you should look out for.
- COLD HANDS AND FEET, My hands and feet were always cold, no matter how much I rubbed them and this is due to the insufficient amount of oxygen transported to my hands and feet. Everyone that took my hands always ended up asking “why are your hands so cold?” then I would reply, “hmmm, I don’t know. Let go of my hands”😁 But seriously, look out for this symptom.
- PICA, This is the situation when you have really strong cravings for unusual “snacks” like chalk, ice, dirt, loving the smell of metal, petroleum and so many other usual things you can think of. I had my fair share of unusual cravings too. I loved to eat ice, chalk and smell the metallic/petroleum scent of the subway station. I would go to the store just to purchase chalk to snack on, It tasted horrible but I couldn’t stop myself, the smell and the crunch really pleased me! Also, In the middle of winter, I was straight up snacking on ice cubes, I know! stupid, but I couldn’t help it. Well my negligence earned me a pneumonia for about 2 months (don’t take anything cold in the winter guys!). If you have an habit of eating and smelling unusual things, go to the doctor for an iron prescription because you definitely have IDA.
- POOR APPETITE, Self explanatory, I couldn’t eat nothing, so many delicious delicacies and I only picked at it. Having a poor appetite is associated with a lot of illnesses, so if you notice this, go to your doctor for confirmation.
- PALE CONJUNCTIVA OR SKIN, Your conjunctiva should be vibrant red but if it’s a pale color, there’s definitely anemia present. And if you have a fairer skin complexion, your skin will be visibly pale. My conjunctiva was drained of all color.
- RACING HEARTBEAT AND SEVERE CHEST PAIN, Due to the low storage of iron in your blood, your body is then unable to produce enough Hemoglobin to transport oxygen to the tissue, thereby causing the heart to do twice more work of pumping blood and transporting oxygen to the tissues, Which is a lot of work for the heart! it could cause heart failure in severe cases. This extra work causes the heart to be really stressed, which then leads to a pounding heart and also chest pains.
Now, because I have left the anemia for far too long! I experienced this symptoms severely, I had severe chest pain that seemed to be getting worse day by day. At some point, I began to fear for my life because I just couldn’t take it anymore, I couldn’t sleep, I couldn’t sit, I couldn’t walk well, I couldn’t bathe, I couldn’t bend. I couldn’t do anything comfortably. Pain killers were not working, no medication was working, I was crying everyday out of severe pain. It was horrible.
So my boyfriend and I took me to the hospital, firstly the doctor (a therapist) assumed the worse, she said I had a myocardial infarction, even though my ECG readings came out normal. Well I guess my symptoms were very misleading. But after a complete blood count, an Iron test and a consultation with a gynecologist, I was diagnosed with moderate anemia due to heavy menstruation.
I was prescribed iron supplements and my condition improved drastically after I started taking my medications. And now the anemia is completely gone (as my hemoglobin level now is 125 g/l) but I am still iron deficient, as my iron level is not up to norms yet (6.1 mcmol/l). So I still happily and religiously take my iron supplements each day till when my body get stocked up on enough iron.
So ladies, if you notice any of these symptoms especially the specific ones, don’t waste time like me, see a doctor Immediately to carry out all necessary tests.
Be strong. Stay In Good Health.
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Ethics is the practice of discerning right and wrong, based on societal standards, and studying the development of those standards. An analysis of the print media's ethical practices involves studying how the media cover stories and make coverage decisions, and the consequences of those decisions. To understand media ethics, journalists often look at case studies.
A writer commits plagiarism when he copies the work of another and claims it as his own. Newspapers and magazines have fired many writers for plagiarism. Some writers commit acts of plagiarism for years before they are discovered. The consequences include damage to the publication's reputation, possible lawsuits, loss of credibility and ultimately loss of readership. Studies of plagiarism include investigating why journalists plagiarise and the steps they take to cover it up.
The use of photo editing software creates a number of ethical issues for print media. Photo editors can change a subject's skin tone and clothing, and even trim her hips or change her facial features. Ethical issues that arise include the credibility of the photographer and the publication. Studies also address the prevalence of photo editing software, ethics training for photographers and editors, and how managers can spot photo manipulation.
Conflict of Interest
News reporters can run into ethical dilemmas regarding conflicts of interest when they report on something or someone they are close to outside of their journalism career. For example, it's considered unethical for a reporter to cover the mayor if the reporter and mayor are related. It's also considered unethical for a reporter to cover a company's business dealings if he has relatives who work for the company. Ethical issues also arise when an advertising executive seeks news coverage because of an ad purchase.
Many print publications now publish online as well, with audio and video as part of their content. Especially when news is breaking, editors must make quick decisions about what to post, including ethical decisions about appropriate coverage and audience standards. Posting video, audio and photographs can also present issues of copyright and fair use.


Know your sulfates from your sulfites, and your chlorates from your perchlorates? This graphic gives a helping hand with remembering the names, formulae and charges of various different polyatomic ions. The selection covers all of the ions GCSE students are likely to come across, as well as the vast majority of those that will be encountered by A level students.
The structures of the ions are shown with dashed bonds to indicate where the charge is delocalised across the ion. The charge itself is shown by the surrounding circle. I’m aware that this manner of drawing them, showing the charge delocalised, might be somewhat unfamiliar to GCSE and A level students, but as it’s the more correct way of showing them, I decided to stick with it. However, if there’s interest in an alternate version with an example resonance structure shown for each ion, then I can probably make that happen.
As far as the ions included go, there are obviously some that miss out and aren’t included, but I’ve tried to make these ones that wouldn’t normally be encountered by school chemistry students anyway. An omission that’s already bugging me a little is that of the iodate ion, simply because I know that A level students will encounter that one – however, the analogous chlorate ion is included. Again, if there’s interest, I’m already considering expanding this one to include ALL the polyatomic ions (or, at least, as many as possible)!
You can grab a PDF download below, or purchase a large poster from the site’s Redbubble store.
Edit: Due to popular demand, I’ve created a version that’s colour-coded and grouped by type of ion. Click here to download the PDF of this version.
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